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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	ordain_v	ordination_n	presbyter_n	4,289	5	10.5064	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29665	A discovrse opening the natvre of that episcopacie, which is exercised in England wherein with all humility, are represented some considerations tending to the much desired peace, and long expected reformation, of this our mother church / by the Right Honourable Robert Lord Brooke.	Brooke, Robert Greville, Baron, 1607-1643.	1641 (1641)	Wing B4911; ESTC R17972	85,248	148

of basest men In good earnest I would thank any man that can shew me one good Antiquity to countenance such Delegation of an entrusted Office to Deputies specially to such Deputies as themselves doe not cannot trust Doth any man dare or can any man think it fit to Delegate the Tuition or Education of a tender Prince committed to his Charge or Care by his Royall Father I beseech you Is not the flock of Christ stiled by the Spirit of Christ An Holy Priesthood a Royall People Shall it then bee fit or lawfull For any man to transmit this Trust to any whomsoever especially to such a crue of faithlesse Hirelings God forbid SECT II. CHAP. III. I shall passe their Sole Iurisdiction also being the Common Theame of all that write of this Question specially when I finde some of themselves disclaime that Epithet of Sole and if they can bee content to leave This out I have lesse to speak against them Wee come to Ordination or to speak as they use though some of them love not to heare of it Sole-Ordination This is the main Master-piece of all Episcopacy All things else in the Church they yeeld equally committed to Presbyters onely Imposition of Hands they say is solely retayned to the Bishop so Downham Bilson and of late One of their owne that offers to yeeld the Cause for one example of Lawfull Ordination by Presbyters without a Bishop One Example what dare he say France Belgium no parts of Germany hath Lawfull Ordination though by sole Presbyters without Bishops Downham is somewhat more moderate and yeelds such Orders Lawfull but in case of Necessity or at least some great Exigency in which hee hath the Charity to include the Reformed Churches abroad though as hee saith They are of age and might speake for themselves But they urge us to shew Antiquity allowing any such Ordination without a Bishop It hath beene shewed and yet never answered that I know that some Councels have intimated enough Presbyters were wont of old to Ordaine without Bishops As that of Ancyra Can. 1● It shall not bee lawfull for Choriepiscopi or Presbyters to Ordain without consent of the Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so the words are in Balsamon though some of themselves translate the words very strangely Which cleerly intimates That before this Canon Presbyters and Choriepiscopi who had not still Ordination from three Bishops though some had so did usually Ordaine without the Bishops leave much more without his presence and that too in Other parishes besides their Owne Else it is strange the Councell should now forbid it if It had never beene done before Nay the Canon doth not now absolutely forbid it which is much to bee marked but onely commands the Bishop's leave should bee asked to all such Ordinations But if This Imposition of hands were a Sole property of Bishops as now some make it the Bishop could not give leave or depute others to doe it For This even among themselves is a received Axiome Episcopus potest delegare ea quae sunt Iurisdictionis non ea quae sunt Ordinis Hitherto also may be refer'd all those Canons that require Presbyters to Lay on their hands with the Bishop in Ordination As Can. 3. Concil Carth. about the yeare 418. and that of Aken 400. yeares after Yea and this was the practice of the Church in St. Cyprians time as appeares by his 6. and 58. Epist. So Ierome in his Epistle to Rome and St. Ambrose among his Epistles Book 10. Yea and This is our Law also which requires ●●oadjutors to Bishops in Ordination Consonant doubtlesse to the most Antient practice of the Primitive Church even in the ●postles Times as appeares by that of Paul to Timothy on whom were laid the Hands of the Presbytery not of the Presbyterate or one Presbyter as learned Mr. Thorndick not onely yeelds but proves who yet is no enimy to Bishops Neither could I ever finde one good Antiquity against Ordination by Presbyters or for Sole Ordination by Bishops I finde indeed Collythus and some others Un-priested by Councels because Ordained by Presbyters alone but That Act of the Presbyters was done in faction against the Bishop and their fellow Brethren Yea and in most cases if not in all Those Orders so annul'd by Councels were confer'd by One Priest alone and so were indeed as unlawfull as if by one Bishop alone I might adde that some Great men of good Note have strongly maintained all those Councels erred which so Unpreisted Those that had beene Ordained by a Presbyter or Presbyters without a Bishop Amongst These are some of Note in the Popish Church It being a Common Instance among the School-men disputing Whether Orders once confer'd could be annul'd and they all conclude the contrary Yea and many of These also strongly prove that Priests may as well Ordain as Bishops and their Reason seemes very good for say they Seeing a Preist can Consecrate and by Consecration Transubstantiate which is more Why can hee not also Administer the Sacrament of Orders which is lesse Yea and some of them dare affirme Neither Bishop nor Pope can licence Priests to give Ordination except The Power of Ordination bee de jure in Presbyters For They all yeeld the Pope himselfe cannot licence One that is not a Preist to Consecrate the Hoste because none but Preists have That Power of Consecration And a Licence doth not confer Orders without Imposition of hands as They all grant F●r my owne part I ever thought That of Bucer most Rationall Deus non simpliciter singularibus Personis sed Ecclesiae Ordinandi potestatem tradidit For so indeed it seemes the Work of the whole Church who are to Elect to testifie also and seale their Election by Laying on their hands And the Presbytery are but the Churches servants in This Act. I could heartily wish It were reduced to This againe which I fully conceive to be most agreeable to Right Reason Scripture and All Good untainted Antiquity Yet till This be again restored I much desire the Prelates would leave off some of the Ceremonies which I hear they use in it though not by Law I think lest they drive all good men from taking Orders SECT II. CHAP. IV. I Shall now passe from this kinde of Church Antiquity and passe to the best Antiquity the infallible Truth of God in Holy Scripture In it I shall shew there is little for much against Bishops whether we consider the Name or Office of a Bishop as now it is setled The Name I finde but foure times in all the New Testament In Two of which the Name is so indifferently used that it maketh nothing towards an issue of This Question Those are 1 Tim. 3. vers 1 2 3. and 1 Pet. 2.25 And what can be gained from hence truly I see not In the other places it maketh against them as I shall shew more at large by and by But the Word Elder a true Bishop is used

opposeth and exalteth himselfe above all that is called God or is worshipped This is the Pope and this is Popery Yea I may adde This is truly and most properly Antichrist though indeed perhaps not That Antichrist of whom S. Iohn speakes in his first Epistle Chap. 2.22 and 4.3 who it may be was Ebion or Cerimbus or some other though perhaps also Saint Iohn might speake that of some Lordly Prelacy which began though but to dawne if I may so speake of that darke mystery beginning to shew it selfe even in Saint Iohns daies for in some respect wee will not stand to yeeld a Bishops Pedegree might perhaps extend so high for even then Antichrist was conceiv'd However I doubt not to affirme the Pope is now most Really Truly and properly The Grand Antichrist For such is Hee most properly that encroacheth on Christs Regall Office This being It which now of all the three is most proper to him in his Glory and This he hath received as a most glorious Reward if I may so speake for all his sufferings in his humane Nature and This I think the Scripture Language Esay 53.12 Psal. 110.7 Phil. 2. 8 9 10 11. 1 Cor. 15.27 His Priestly worke was for the most part accomplisht in his Death His Propheticall Office as it were resigned over to his Holy Spirit But his Kingly Office is his owne propriety till the end come and so He that opposeth This is most truly Antichrist This is the Pope and this is Popery Now on the other part if any man please to survay Episcopacy with an unpartiall eye he shal find this kind of Episcopacy Popery to be all one in Re for they have the same Rise the same Media of their progresse and the same End The rise of Popery was by overthrowing Christs ordinances and setting up of his owne That this may appeare the more distinctly give me leave to shew you the Bishops boldnesse in the particulars of it Christs ordinances in the New Testament are either concerning Doctrine or Discipline I confesse the Pope hath made great assaults upon the doctrinall part but what he hath done in that kind he hath done many times by gathering up the negorgements of others and so they are not his owne or as an Heretique but not as Pope for the reasons which I have even now mentioned But he hath plaid his part mainly in point of Discipline This most properly belonging to Christs Royall Office as Doctrine to his Propheticall In the Discipline there are two things considerable 1 That which concerneth the Officer 2 That which concerneth the Nature of his office In the case of the Officer you have his Accesse to his Office and his Execution of the Office In the first Election and Ordination are considerable By Gods rule his Election is to be by the people his Ordination from the people by the hand of the Presbytery By the rule of Popery a Minister is Ordained by the Pope and his substitute and is elected by the same power and in the same way And as their Schoole darkens with a mist of their termes what they cannot cleere So do These to cloud their swarving from Christs rule They raise up new termes and instead of Election have Presentation Institution Induction The first is done by the Patr●n the second by the Bishop a way which Christ never knew It is so well knowne to all men that Episcopacy traces these very paths of Popes that I shall not need to say more for this part of their Identity In the execution of his O●●ce there are Acts of 2. sorts some wherein he hath a Ioynt power with other some wherein he is a sole Agent he is sole in Church preaching and in administration of the Sacraments he is coadjutor to others in Admission of members in Excommunication Under the Papacy the Minister or Priest hath the power of Preaching and Administration according to Gods Law and this onely with relation to the Bishop who in his Church superintends But in the other hee hath no power at all it is wholly given up to the Pope and by him committed to the Bishop And thus the Pope may truly while he is Dominus Dominorum stile himselfe servum servorum for hee impropriates all offices to himselfe and in liew of coadjutors given by God to the Minister the Bishop hath Officers appointed him by the Pope The Coadjutors of the Ministers by the Word in some cases were the People in some cases the Elders and Deacons and sometimes people Elders and Deacons but the Pope in lieu of these hath instituted another generation of helpers and lest that true name should reduce true Officers he hath given them yet another title as Apparitor Surrogate Chancellour Officiall Commissaries Deanes Church-wardens Overseers of the poore In all which Episcopacie and Popery have so twin-like a frame that seeing one you see both Nec Sofia Sofiae similior nec simiae simia And so I leave that point which concernes the Officer In the Nature of his office it is considerable 1 What the worke of his Office is Secondly from what power and thirdly in what manner he doth it For the first the subject matter of his office is Administration of the Sacraments Preaching Admission of members Excommunication In reckoning these the Pope conformeth to Gods Word and so doth Episcopacy for if we will erre we must sometimes goe right and then we may transgresse with lesse suspicion But Consider from what power the Minister of the Gospell Acts. He ought not to borrow his Commission from any but from Christ from Scripture and he ought to keepe close to That now the Papacie is wholly steared by Traditions Decretals Councels Canons Colledge of Cardinals and the Pope in the Chaire where he cannot erre in matters of Faith The Pandects of the Civill Law are too too boystrous and of too great extent for any Civilian to comprehend and yet that body of their learning is boyled up to such a degree that it runnes over and no memory is able to attaine it more than to compasse perfection in the learning of the Chin●es where the A. B. C. amounts to 10000 letters Constitutions crosse one another and almost all fight against the Gospell of Christ. Doth not Episcopacie Si magna licet componcre parvis according to its modicum do the same I confesse with them the Scripture is the rule but who must expound this Scripture Synods Councells Convocations Bishops Archbishops Some of these sometimes sometimes All of them And though by their owne confession These bind not mens Consciences yet They bind them to obedience which obedience they doe precisely Challenge and when they faile thereof they doe without the least scruple of conscience proceede to excommunication fine imprisonment deprivation and what not In the meane time it is held a sinne for a Lay man at all to thinke of these studies The Priests lips they say must preserve knowledge It is a sad case

twenty severall times in the New Testament And you shall find the Apostles honouring This Name so much that one of them stiles himselfe an Elder but none calls himselfe a Bishop Indeed Iudas is so called Who as it were Prophetically behaved himselfe so that his Arch-Bishoprick was given to another I doubt not but the Spirit fore-saw this Word would bee quickly mounted high enough so that it brands Iudas first with This stile Of much more ●ajesty is the Word Presbyter which signifies Senior Under the Law Youth was bound to pay Tribute to Gray haires and Senatus of old was so stiled à Senioribus Whereas Episcopus signifies nothing but an Overseer And such indeed Bishops have beene for many yeares Perhaps the Name of Bishop is sometimes though rarely used that the wilfully blinde might stumble But the Name Presbyter very frequent that Those who love Truth and Light might still see such a Glympse that might Enlighten them in the midst of Egyptian darknesse from which I doubt not but God will deliver all Christendom in due time I can finde as little also for the Office of a Bishop as for his Name in Scripture yea much lesse I can finde our Saviour rebuking his Disciples striving for precedency saying Hee that will bee first shall bee last I can finde St. Peter saying Lord it not over the flock of Christ And St. Iohn branding Diotrephes with seeking the Preheminence But where shall wee finde the usurped Office of our Bishops in all the Scripture Can they finde it by a multiplying glasse where ever they see the Name of Bishop though but in a Postscript of St. Pauls Epistles Whither I see many of them fly for their owne Name I must confesse I have found some Praescripts of Davids Psalmes and other Texts to bee now part of Scripture but never yet found any Postscript of such Authority I dare not therefore give it unto These Which first were never that I could learn received by the Church for Authentick Scripture nor ever fully joyned to the Scripture but by some distinctive note till our Bishops times Yea some Antient Copies have them not at all as one very old Greek Copy in Oxford Library if I be not mis-informed Againe These Postscripts have many Improbabilities and some repugnancies as many Learned men observe As That of the first to Timothy From Laodicea the cheifest City of Phrygia Pacatiana Which sure was never so subscribed by St. Paul who would not have spoken of a First Epistle when as yet there was no Second nor appearance of any Againe the Epithet Pacatiana came from Pacatianus a Roman Deputy 300. yeares after St. Paul wrote The Epistle to Titus is thus subscribed or rather superscribed To Titus ordained the first Bishop of Creet from Nicapolis of Macedonia but it should have beene added Whither St. Paul meant to come after the Epistle but was not there at his writing as appeares very probably from the third of the same Epistle verse 12. But what meanes that Phrase Bishop of the Church in Creet was there but one Church in all Creet This sounds not like the Scripture stile which alwayes expresseth Nationall Congregations by Churches in the Plurall But it may very well be Titus was Bishop or Pastor but of one Church in Creet so that wee shall not need to contend about This. Our Adversaries themselves yeeld there cannot bee much urged from these Subscriptions Baronius Serrarius and the Rhemists will ingenuously confesse so much and Bishop Whitgift also against Mr. Cartwright ●he Postscripts failing where will they shew either Name or Office of a Bishop as now it is used I know their strong Fort Tit. 1.5 For this cause I left thee in Creet that thou shouldest set in Order the things that are Wanting and Ordain Elders in every City c. Here they think the Power of a Bishop is set forth at large But what if so Will they bee content to bee limited to This Power if so wee shall the sooner agree I think no man ever thought Good Titus had a Commission heere to draw the Civill Sword or so much as to strike with his Church Keyes Let us a little examine This Commission Which seem● but a Briefe of a large Patent which Saint Paul had given him before If we first examine the Date of This Commission wee shall finde it before any Church Government was setled and so an Extraordinary Case not fit perhaps not lawfull to be produced as a constant president Extraordinary Cases of Necessity breake through the Ceremoniall yea Morall Law too The Shew Bread may refresh fainting David Cain and Abel may marry their owne sisters to propagate the World Samuel may be a Priest though not of Aarons House as was shewed before And why then may not an Extraordinary way be taken in the first setling of Church Government where there is yet none setled Any man might now in the conversion of the Americans or Chinois give direction how to admit Members elect Pastors exercise the keyes c. This Titus did and no more But secondly in what manner his Commission was I know not and nothing can be proved from hence till that be agreed upon It is as probable he did it but instructivè exhortativè and not imperativè Timothy received his gift by imposition of Presbyteriall hands If an extraordinary gift was conveyed in an ordinary way Why might not an ordinary calling and affaires of an ordinary nature be managed by an extraordinary man be carried forth in an extraordinary way The contrary is not proved and so This must till then be Ineffectuall to them But thirdly and lastly I beseech you consider by what power he did it by the power of an Evangelist There are two sorts of them 1. Who write 2. Who proclaime the Gospell in an extraordinary way as coadjuters and messengers to the Apostles in this great worke Of this last sort certainly he was A Bishop he was not for our adversaries doe all agree that it is the duty of a Bishop curae sue incumbere to watch over his charge now this he did not for if Creet was his Charge which in no way neither by Scripture nor Antiquity is proved he did not attend it for we finde him continually journeying up and downe he leaveth Creet and commeth to Ephesus from thence he is sent to Cor●nth after that into Macedonia from Macedonia he is returned to the Corinthians Neither is it to be found in History that he ever returned to Creet Thus if I mistake not the Text is lesse advantageous than the Postscript Some thinke to finde Episcopacy established in that example of Saint Iohn writing to the Angels of the seven Churches But this is Argumentum longè petitum Because Paul endorseth the Letter of a Corporation or an Assembly to the most eminent man in the Congregation Therefore He shall have sole Jurisdiction therefore the Maior shall have sole power without the Aldermen est par ratio