Selected quad for the lemma: power_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	ceremony_n	church_n	rite_n	2,845	5	10.3412	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23665	A friendly call, or, A seasonable perswasive to unity directed to all nonconformists and dissenters in religion from the Church of England, as the only secure means to frustrate and prevent all popish plots and designs against the peace of this kingdom both in church and state / by a lover of the truth and a friend to peace and unity.	Allen, William, d. 1686.	1679 (1679)	Wing A1064; ESTC R10550	37,078	70

upon it is an Imposture enough discover'd and unmask'd Speak out is there any thing Sinful or Unlawful in the Liturgie Or that is not agreeable to Gods Word Prove but that and then you do something for the Church holds in her Articles of Religion That it is not Lawful for her to ordain any thing that is contrary or besides the Word of God Besides have not your requests been gratified in many things in altering several passages in the Liturgie as in the Offices of Marriage Churching of Women and Burials what is it you would then have all or none Cannot you be pleased without it be wholly cast aside Will no Concessions else serve your turn O that you would make some weighty exceptions and not use such a frivolous and vain Cavilling against it not worth the Answering or that you would shew the World one of your own that were better before you take away this that would be reasonable and worthy your undertaking And since some of you have allowed of a Liturgie and for peace sake of many inconvenient Circumstances in Gods Worship Baxt. Disp p. 487. Safe way p. 198. and acknowledg also that the Governors of the Church have a decisive power in things undetermined in Scripture why should you not yield to accept of this equitable Proposition to accept of and Conform to this Form of Prayer and these Rites of the Church till better be Instituted or Ordained As to the Cross in Baptism a Moral Hiroglyphick only of our Saviours Death and Crucifixion Godfathers and Godmothers Confirmation Kneeling at the Sacrament Bowing at the Name of Jesus Standing up at Reading the Creed and other things of the like Nature are these things worthy to cause an Eternal Separation betwixt you Are they of so great moment as to make so wide and long a breach in a Nation Are they of worth and value to make you run into Contempt and Rebellion Let us know your Minds if any of these should be yeilded to your tender Consciences and disused to please you would you then Conform in all the rest Would not your Answer be as formerly to Queen Elizabeth That you would not leave a Hoof behind All the Ceremonies of the Church must be laid aside you would have a naked Religion without Cloaths which is not seemly Ceremonies are but the Garments and decencies of Religion not part of it but somewhat that it cannot well be seen without they are like our Cloaths that may be altered that may be cut to the mode and size of the Times without altering the form of our Body There have been Laws made for prohibiting the use of some Garments and that have injoyned the wearing of others though before it was at the choice of the People to wear or not wear them after such Laws made they were no longer indifferent It is even so of our Ceremonies they are indifferent things of themselves but being injoyned by Authority they are now no longer so Obedience is no indifferent thing that is absolutely injoyned by the Word of God 't is obedience to Ecclesiastical Laws that is required This obedience is either justly due to these Laws or it is not If it is why then do you disobey If you say it is not 1 Pet. 2.13 you contradict the Scriptures Submit to every Ordinance of Man whether it be unto the King as Supream or unto Governors c. Rom. 13.1 Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers However it is the safest way to obey should they Command things doubtful let the blame lie upon them you will be excused God requires not impossibilities But certainly God has given to the Governors of the Church a Power of making Laws and Canons Let all things be done decently and according to order 1 Cor. 14.40 And according to this Rule of the Apostle the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England are as few decent comly and fitting as in any Church of the Christian World and all Exceptions against them that I ever could yet see empty and of no substance Manton on Jude Some of you have told us there are but two Lawful Causes of Separation from the Church Persecution and a general corruption of Doctrine for both these Causes and no other have we Separated from the Church of Rome and if you can prove these two marks of Separation to be inherent to the Church of England you will have sufficient to ground your Separation as Lawful and have some plea for what you do but till then I beseech you set your face towards the Temple of Obedience and be refractory no longer and since these things which make this Breach between you are not of any great Moment are but Ceremonies and the outward Garments and Garnatures of Religion leave off that obstinacy and submit your selves to the Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake The great Cry that you have made against these Rites and Ceremonies of the English Church hath been that they were Popery and of Popish extraction borrowed from the Church of Rome but all this while you tell us not what Popery is neither can you disown or dissent from all that is held or practised by the Church of Rome Certainly our Forefathers to whom we owe these things our Reformation from the Romish Church and the Purity of our Religion would not have laid down their Lives and have been Martyr'd by the Church of Rome if it had then been thought either by themselves or by the others that what they had done as to the Reforming the Ceremonies of the Church or towards the maintaining the Doctrines they Held or that the Orders and Discipline they had Constituted had been Popery or rather not opposite in some measure thereto As by Dissenting she shewed the Church of Rome that she had no dependency upon her and that she so far disowned her as she had disowned God by laying aside all those gross Corruptions for which our Church Separated from her so on the other side by retaining some of her harmless and innocent Ceremonies they shew'd her they did not do any thing by the Spirit of Opposition only whereby they might take offence without having a just ground and cause for it But Bishop Sanderson in his Preface to his Sermons tells you what in Truth Popery is Sand. Pref. Sect. 15. That it is those Doctrines which are contrary to the Word of God or but superadded thereunto as necessary Points of Faith to be of all Christians Believed under pain of Damnation and all those Superstitions used in the Worship of God which either are Vnlawful as being contrary to the Word of God or being not contrary and therefore Arbitrary or Indifferent are made Essentials and imposed as necessary parts of Worship From all which the Church of England hath been sufficiently Vindicated and Cleared and you cannot but know in your own Consciences that she disowns the shaddow of all those things and you

in all these places where the Gospel of Jesus Christ was Received all having the same Faith the same Sacraments and the same Form of Government so as they seemed but one Body and in a perfect Unity one with another that every thing might be done with Decency and in Order Socrates and Euschius have given us whole Catalogues of Bishops successively to their Times and we find them nominated in many Histories and Writings of Old and from their beginning deduced down to our Times This is the Regiment you would have pull'd down this is one Form you oppose a Government of Divine Institution by that of the Holy Ghost conferred on the Apostles and by them on others and so successively in the Church in all Ages and thorow all times by Ordination and Laying on of Hands so that there can hardly be manifested a more plain and evident Truth I am not Ignorant that you admit of the Name of Bishops and of Presbyters but would make them of equal Authority you would indeed be all Bishops or Popes rather Subjection and Obedience are things that have seem'd very scandalous to you But there is nothing more plain than that Bishops had not only the preheminency of Order but of Rule also And as there were in the Jewish Church the High Priest the Inferior Priest and the Levites who were not only different in Order and Superiority but there was a distinction so that the one might do what the other might not do the Levites might not Intrench on the Office of the Priests and the Priests could not enter into the Sanctum Sanctorum So in the Church of Christ the Bishops the Presbyters and the Deacons were distinct in Order and Office the Deacons were subservient to the Presbyters and they to the Bishop to whom the Power of Rule and Ordination was only given and the Presbyters again received theirs of Administring the Sacraments Dispensing the Word c. from them being by them Ordained thereto The Bishops are the Fathers the other the Children they Command not as Lords and Arbitrarily these obey not as Slaves but as Sons they Rule and these obey according to the Word of God and according to that Primitive Institution which made that excellent Harmony all things being done for the Glory of God I know the many long and tedious Cavils and Disputes which some of the most Subtle of you have entred into about this thing and what dust you have raised about this Jurisdiction But it has been all laid and none that have Eyes but can see clearly into the matter that Christ gave Power to his Apostles to Rule and Govern his Church and that the same Power was by them Conferred to others Mar. 16.15 Matt. 10.24 Matt. 28.19 20. and so shall continue to the end of the World according to Christs Commission But if you cannot find in Scripture that you ought to submit to Bishops as your Fathers I hope you will believe Mr. Calvin and for his sake have at least a better Opinion of them who says Calvin Epist ad Card. Sandolet Nullo non anathemate dignos Arbitror qui se Episcopis libentissime non submittunt I think them worthy of a Curse who do not willingly submit themselves to Bishops Open then your Eyes at last and look not so asquint on this Form of Government and more particularly as it is here Establish'd in the Church of England which certainly is the most like and comes nearest to the Primitive Institution of the Apostles and the next Ages of any Church in the World both for the Purity of its Doctrine and the Order of its Government its Ceremonies being both Few and Decent and its Power regulated by Just Laws And as one says Vindication of the Conforming Clergy p. 50. The Church of England is a body of so firm a Constitution and so excellently Temper'd and so well Shap'd and of so clear a Strength and Vigor in all its Limbs that no outward Force is able to Injure it nothing but some inward Corruption and decay in the Vital parts that can possibly bring it to the Ground Indeed you had trip'd up its Heels and lay'd it along but it was but a Foil you see how soon it arose again and in that little Interspace or Interregnum as I may term it what horrid Confusions were amongst us With all your Arts you could not hinder others from invading your Province Instead of Surplices you beheld Scarlet Cloaks Wigs and Swords as Ornaments to those who Preached in your Pulpits nay the very Women invading the Chair and challenging a Liberty though expresly contrary to the Rule of the Apostle You saw what ill Steers-men you were and how the Ship of the Common-wealth thrived under your Government in what danger of Drowning or of being Split upon the Rocks or Perishing in the Quicksands Methinks this little Tryal might Convince you of the Weakness and Imbecillity of the one and the Firmness and excellent Temper of the other Government by which this Land has so long Flourished and which is so fitted not only to Monarchy making that Maxim good as we by Experience saw no Bishop no King but also to the Temper and Constitution of the People of England that there can be no better Government ever thought on which shall be here so well Approved and Received It is not only my Opinion but of many more the most Eminent and Learned of the Nation and those not of small Repute and who have been Able to give sufficient Proof to maintain their good Opinion of the Excellency of our present Form of Church Government and among the rest the Learned Mr. Hooker has these Words Pref. Sect. 1. which he sets down as his full Perswasion Surely the present Form of Church Government which the Laws of this Land have Established is such as no Law of God nor Reason of Man hath hitherto been alledged of force sufficient to prove they do ill who to the uttermost of their power withstand the alteration thereof And contrarywise The other which instead of it we are required to accept is only by Error and Misconceit named the Ordinanee of Jesus Christ no one proof as yet brought forth whereby it may clearly appear to be so in very deed And these two Assertions he hath so fully and unanswerably Maintained in his excellent Book of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity that methinks you should lay your Finger on your Mouths and no longer speak against this Form of Church Government nor remain at this Distance and in this state of Separation till you have found out better Arguments for to Justifie your so doing than those you have yet made known to the World However low and mean Opinion you have of this Form of Church Government as it is now Establish'd in England 't is otherwise respected abroad By others 't is look'd upon with Envy and Admiration The beauty of the Church of England is not so