Selected quad for the lemma: saint_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
saint_n	bishop_n	church_n	presbyter_n	1,570	5	10.2756	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45303	A modest offer of some meet considerations tendered to the learned prolocvtor and to the rest of the Assembly of Divines, met at Westminster by a true lover of truth and peace.	Hall, Joseph, 1574-1656.	1644 (1644)	Wing H394; ESTC R14524	9,261	19

of the difference betwixt the Episcopacie of those first Ages of the Church and that of the present times I doe willingly yeeld it but withall I must adde that it is not in any thing essentiall to the calling but in matters outward and meerly adventitious the abatement whereof if it shall be found needfull diminisheth nothing from the substance of that holy institution What can be more expresse then in the ancientest of them the blessed Martyr Ignatius the mention of the three distinct degrees of Bishops Presbyters Deacons encharged with their severall duties which were yet never intermitted and let fall to this present day How frequently and vehemently doth he in his genuine Epistles twice in that to the Ephesians call for due subjection to the Bishop and the Presbyterie How distinctly doth he in his Epistle to the Magnesians name their Bishop Dama and their Presbyters Bassus Apollonius Stephanus How doth he in his Epistle Ad Trallianos set forth the Bishop {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and the Presbyterie {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} c. And if any man shall be so unjustly scrupulous as to call into question the credit of this gracious Author reserved no doubt by a speciall providence for the conviction of the schismes of these last times therein out-doing Vedelius himselfe who stoutly asserteth some of these Epistles whiles he rejects others as suppositious let him cast his eyes upon the no lesse famous and holy Martyr and Bishop Polycarpus who as Irenaeus an unquestionable Author tels us one whose eyes beheld that Saint did not onely converse with those that had seene Christ but also was by the Apostles constituted in Asia Bishop of the Church of Smyrna Let him if he can deny Cyprian the holy Martyr and Bishop of Carthage writing familiarly to the Presbyters and Deacons there sometimes gravely reproving them sometimes fatherly admonishing them of their duties in divers of his Epistles Let him deny that his contemporanye Cornelius Bishop of Rome acknowledgeth 46. Presbyters committed by the Catholique Church to his charge Shortly let him if he stick at this truth deny that there was any Christian Church of old any Historie All which duly considered I would faine know what reason can be shewed why that ancient yea first government by the Bishop and his Presbyterie received and with all good approbation and successe used in the Primitive Church and derived though not without some faulty omissions and intertextures which may easily be remedied untill this present day should not rather take place then a government lately and occasionally raised up in the Church for the necessity or convenience of some speciall places and persons without any intention of an universall rule and prescription If you shall say that this Government by Bishops hath been found by sad experience hitherto a block in the way of perfect Reformation destructive to the power of Godlinesse and pure Administration of the Ordinances of Christ give me leave to answer That first I feare the Independent part will be apt to say no lesse of the Presbyterian boldly pressing their defects both in constitution and practice and publiquely averring the exquisitely-reformed way to lye betwixt the Episcopall and Calvinian which they have had the happinesse to light upon neither want there those who upon challenge of further illumination taxe those Semi-separists as comming far too short of that perfection of Reformation which themselves have attained Secondly I must in the feare of God beseech you here to make use of that necessary distinction betwixt Callings and Persons for it oftentimes fals out that the Calling unjustly suffers for that whereof onely the Person is guilty Let the Calling be never so holy the rules of Administration never so wise and perfect yet if the person in whose trust they are be either negligent or corrupt or impotent in ordering his passions and carriage it cannot be but all things must goe amisse and much disorder and confusion must needs follow to the Church of God and if such hath been the case in some late times why should the blame be laid upon the Calling which both is innocent and might have been better improved Give me a Bishop such there have been and such there are let D. Potter the late Bishop of Carlile for instance be one that is truly conscionable pious painfull zealous in promoting the glory of God ready to encourage all faithfull Preachers and to censure and correct the lazie and scandalous carefull of the due imposition of his hands meek and unblameable in all his carriage and now tell me how the government of such an one regulated by the holy and wholsome Lawes of our Church can be said to be obstructive to the successe of the Gospel or to destroy the power of Godlines certainly if all be not such the fault is in the Men their Calling doth not onely admit of but incites them to all vertue and goodnesse whereof if they be defective let the Person take off the blame from the Function Neither doubt I to affirme that it may well be made good that the perfectest Reformation which the Church of God can be capable of here upon earth may consist with Episcopacie so regulated as it may be if it please the High Court of Parliament to pitch upon that course And indeed how can it be conceived that the carefull inspection of one constant prudent and vigilant overseer super-added to a grave and judicious Presbyterie should be any hindrance to the progresse of godlinesse especially when he is so limited by the bounds of good lawes and constitutions that he cannot run out without the danger of a just censure There are already many excellent rules of Government if they were awaked and actuated by full authority and where there is any deficiency more might be easily added to make the body of Church-lawes complete To give a taste of what may be effected with very little or no alteration of one Forme of Government to another I remember one of our Brethren of Scotland in a Discourse tending to the advancing of the Presbyterian way tells us that Dr. Montague the late worthy Bishop of Winchester asked King James of blessed memory whose sweet affability the world well knew How it came about that there were so few heresies and errors of doctrine broached and prosecuted to the publique disturbance of the Church of Scotland Unto which the wise and learned King is said to have returned this Answer That every Parish hath their Pastor ever present with them and watching over them That the Pastor hath his Elders and Deacons sorted with him That he with them once a week meets at a set time and place for the censure of manners or what ever disorder falls out in the Parish so as he by this meanes perfectly knowes his flock and every aberration of them either in matter of opinion or practice And lest any Error or Heresie may seize upon the