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
A61130	A treatise partly theological, and partly political containing some few discourses, to prove that the liberty of philosophizing (that is making use of natural reason) may be allow'd without any prejudice to piety, or to the peace of any common-wealth, and that the loss of public peace and religion it self must necessarily follow, where such a liberty of reasoning is taken away / translated out of Latin.; Tractatus theologico-politicus. English	Spinoza, Benedictus de, 1632-1677.	1689 (1689)	Wing S4985; ESTC R21627	207,956	494

their Kings could not personally officiate as a Priest in the Temple because all men that could not derive their Pedigree from Aaron were counted profane and unclean which is now no Obstacle in a Christian Common-wealth for in these days the Priesthood not being entailed upon any particular Family but requiring only some particular Qualifications Kings or Supream Magistrates cannot be barred from medling with Matters belonging to Religion upon any account of profaneness but all is in their power and no body but by their authority or allowance hath any Right to officiate in the Church for the Power of chusing Ministers of setling the Church of stating and determining the Doctrines thereof prescribing Religious Rites and Ceremonies judging of Mens Piety and Manners the power of excommunicating and receiving again into the Church and of providing for the poor are all in the Supream Magistrate and these things are not only true but likewise very necessary not only for the good of Religion but also for the safety of the Commonwealth for all men know how much the People esteem and depend upon the Power and Authority of those whose Function is accounted Sacred they having an absolute Dominion over their Minds He then that endeavours to deprive the Supream Magistrate of this Power goes about to share and divide or else usurp the Government from whence must necessarily arise such Contention and Discords as were heretofore between the Kings and Iewish High Priests which could never be appeased If this Power be taken away from Supream Magistrates how can they determine of Peace or War or of any other Business if they must be obliged to follow other Mens Opinions by whom they are to be taught what is good or evil That Power is Supream and there can be none greater which hath the Right of declaring and determining what is Piety what Impiety and what in Religion is lawful or unlawful All Ages have been sensible how many Mischiefs such a Power in any but the Supream Magistrate hath produced I will give you but one Example As soon as such a Power was granted to the Pope or Bishop of Rome by degrees he became Superiour to all Kings and at last ascended to so high a pitch of earthly Dominion that whatever Kings or Emperours have since done to lessen it hath been to no purpose but they have rather much encreased it and that which no Monarch ever effected by Fire and Sword Church-men have been able to do only with their Pen which is a plain proof of the Pope's Power and a convincing Argument to perswade Supream Powers to keep that Authority he pretends to in their own hands If we consider the Observations I have made in the preceding Chapter we shall find that the residing of this Power in the hands of Supream Magistrates is very much for the Benefit and Advancement of Religion and Piety for as I have already declared the Prophets themselves though fill'd with Divine Power and Vertue yet because they were but private men the great Liberty they took in admonishing reproving and upbraiding the People did rather provoke than amend them who notwithstanding patiently submitted to the Reproof and Chastisement of their Princes Besides Kings themselves because they had not the power of judging and determining Matters of Religion many times forsook the true Religion and most of their People with them which hath likewise upon the same account often happen'd in Christian Governments But here perhaps some will ask if Supream Powers should chance to be wicked who shall then have the Power and Authority of vindicating and maintaining Religion and Piety And who shall then be the Interpreters of it I ask them on the other side What if Priests and Ecclesiasticks grow wicked and impious must they continue Interpreters of Religion and God's Word If they that have Supream Power should do whatever they please whether they do or do not meddle with Religion all things without doubt both Sacred and Civil are like to be in a very ill Condition but in much worse when private men shall seditiously pretend to a Divine Right of defining and defending all chings which concern or in any wise pertain to Religion The denying of this Power to Supream Magistrates must necessarily cause very ill Consequences for they will in all probability as did the Iewish Kings who had not this Power absolutely grow wicked and ungodly and from that which is but uncertain and contingent will follow most certain Mischief and Ruin to the Government If then we have any regard either to the Just Right of Supream Power to the safety of Government or the advancement of Religion and Piety we must grant that the regulating and determining all things concerning Religion and the Worship of God depends upon the Decrees of the Supream Power and that such only are Ministers of God's Word who are authoriz'd by the Supream Magistrate to teach and instruct the people in those principles of Religion and Piety which they that have the Supream Power think most likely to procure the publick Good of the Common-wealth I have now no more to do but to declare the Cause why in Christian Governments there hath been so much dispute about this Power when in the Iewish Commonwealth it never that I know came into controversie It is little less than a Wonder that a thing so necessary and profitable should still be a Question and the Subject of continual Cavil and that Supream Magistrates should never be able to exercise this Power without contention and without fear of danger and prejudice to Religion If the Cause of this could not be found out I would confess all I have said in this Chapter to be meer Theoretical Speculative Notions of no use but any person that will but look back and consider the beginnings of Christian Religion may easily discover the Cause of this Controversie They that first taught Christian Religion were not Kings but private persons who contrary to the Will and Commands of those in Supream Power whose Subjects they were preached in private Churches or Congregations and instituted Forms of Worship without any respect had or account given to the Government and likewise regulated and determined all things relating to Religion Though Christian Religion after many years began to be profest in Commonwealths by those that had the Supream Power yet the Ecclesiasticks who instructed Emperours and Kings in the Christian Religion were without any difficulty still acknowledged Teachers and Interpreters of God's Word Pastors of the Church and God's Ministers but that Christian Kings and Princes might not afterwards assume any such Authority to themselves Churchmen very warily provided against it by forbidding the Chief Ministers and the High Priest of the Church to marry by multiplying the Doctrines and Tenets of Religion to a prodigious number and by so confounding them with Philosophy that it was absolutely necessary for the Chief Interpreter and Judge of Religion to be a Philosopher as

difference in Religion and is believed to be pious There was no Reason why their Hatred should decrease for all other Nations did as mortally hate them Let Reason and Experience judge then whether the Liberty of the Subject Devotion towards their Countrey Absolute Power over all Nations against whom their Hatred was not only counted lawful but pious Singularity of Religious Rites and manner of living were not powerful Arguments to perswade the Iews with great Courage and Constancy of Mind to suffer any thing for their Countrey For while Ierusalem stood they would never endure any other Government therefore was it called the Rebellious City Ezra chap. 4. v. 12 15. The second Government which was scarce a shadow of the first after the Priests had usurped the Power of the Princes was with great difficulty destroyed by the Romans as Tacitus tells us in the second Book of his History Vespasian saith he put an end to the Iewish War by the taking of the City Jerusalem an hard and difficult work because of the Peoples Disposition and Obstinacy in their Superstition and because the besieged had Courage and Strength enough to suffer all Extremities Beside all these things which only Opinion made dear and valuable there was another thing in this Government which was a fingular and solid Argument to continue the People in their Obedience and take from them all thoughts of deserting their Countrey and that was Profit which is the Strength and Life of all Humane Actions In this Particular their Advantages were very considerable for Subjects had no where greater Right to any thing they possest The Iewish Subjects had an equal portion of Land and Fields with the Prince and every one was an eternal Lord of his part for if any man forced by poverty sold his Land when the Year of Iubilee came it was to be intirely restored There were likewise other Institutions of this kind so that a fixed Estate could never be perpetually alienated Where could poverty be more tolerable than in a Country where every man 's mutual Charity was that part of his Religion whereby he hoped to purchase the Favour of God who was his King so that the Iews could never live well in any Country but their own and out of it were sure to meet with Injury and Reproach To keep them in their own Country from Civil War and to take away the Causes of Contention their being subject to no Equal but only to God himself contributed very much so likewise did their mutual Love and Charity which was not a little increased by the general Hatred all other Nations had against them Another thing which beyond all that I have mentioned much contributed to keeping the people within the Limits of their Duty was that strict Discipline of Obedience under which they were educated for they were to do nothing but according to positive prescriptions of Law they could not when they pleas'd but only at certain times and in certain Years plow and that but with one sort of Cattel they had likewise prescribed Rules for sowing and reaping and indeed as we have shewn in the Fifth Chapter concerning the Use of Ceremonies their whole course of Life was but a continual practice of Obedience so that being accustomed to it it seemed rather Liberty than Servitude This was the Reason they desired not what was forbidden but that which was commanded At certain times of the Year they were to give themselves up to Mirth Pleasure and Ease not to indulge their own Appetites but to serve God the more chearfully Thrice in a Year they were God's Guests see Deut. chap. 16. v. 16. Every Seventh day of the Week they were to cease from all kind of Labour and take their rest at other set times rejoicing honest Recreations and Feasting were not only allow'd but commanded which above all things prevail upon mens Minds especially that Joy which ariseth from Devotion that is from Love and admiration together Their Worship prescribed on Festival Days being short and various kept them from loathing and weariness To all this add the high Reverence and Veneration they had for the Temple which was still preserved by the particular Worship they were to perform in it and by many things they were to observe and do before it was lawful for any one to enter into it So that even now we cannot without great horror read that abominable wicked act of Manasseh who caused an Idol to be set up in the Temple Nor was the Reverence much less which the People had for the Law which was religiously kept in the Sanctuary so that no Rumors or Discontents among the People were here to be feared for no body could meddle or pass any Judgment in matters of Religion but every man without consulting Reason was to do all things which God by his Answers in the Temple or by the Laws already given commanded them It now then appears under what manner of Government the Iews lived of which I hope I have given a very clear though but brief Account It now remains that we enquire Why the Iews did so often forsake the Law why they were so often conquer'd and why at last their Government was totally destroyed Perhaps some will tell me Their stubborn and rebellious Humour was the Cause That 's but a childish and frivolous Answer Why was this Nation more rebellious than any other was it their Natures Nature doth not make Nations but only individual Persons who are distinguish't and divided into Nations by diversity of Language Laws and Customs From Laws and Customs every Nation acquires a particular Disposition a particular Condition and peculiar Prejudices and Opinions If it must be granted That the Iews were more stiff-necked and rebellious than any other Nation it must be because they had Bad Laws and Evil Customs and it is a certain Truth That if God had decreed their Government should have had a longer continuance he would have given them other Laws and Statutes and another Administration of Government Therefore what can we say more than that God was offended and angry with them not only as Ieremy saith from the building of their City Ierem. chap. 32. v. 31. but from the very time he gave them their Laws which Ezekiel testifies chap. 20. v. 25. saying I gave them statutes which were not good and judgments whereby they should not live and I polluted them in their own gifts in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb that is the first-born that I might make them desolate to the end that they might know I am the Lord. That these Words and the Cause of their Destruction may be rightly understood we are to take notice That God's first Intention was to commit the Administration of all things pertaining to Religion to the First-born not to the Levites as appears Numb chap. 8. v. 17. where God says all the first-born of the children of Israel are mine I