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
A53732	The true nature of a Gospel church and its government ... by the late pious and learned minister of the Gospel, John Owen ...	Owen, John, 1616-1683.	1689 (1689)	Wing O815; ESTC R13410	211,358	294

Order or Degree which also as unto the Scripture the most learned Advocates of Prelacy begin to grant 1. THE Apostle describing what ought to be the Qualifications of Presbyters or Elders gives this Reason of it because a Bishop must be so Tit. 1.5 6 7. Ordain Elders in every City if any be blameless c. for a Bishop must be blameless He that would prove of what sort a Presbyter that is to be Ordained so ought to be gives this Reason for it That such a Bishop ought to be intends the same Person and Office by Presbyter and Bishop or there is no congruity of Speech or consequence of Reason in what he asserts To suppose that the Apostle doth not intend the same Persons and the same Office by Presbyters and Bishops in the same place is to destroy his Argument and render the context of his discourse unintelligible He that will say that if you make a Justice of Peace or a Constable he must be magnanimous liberal full of clemency and courage for so a King ought to be will not be thought to argue very wisely Yet such is the Argument here if by Elders and Bishops distinct Orders and Offices are intended 2. THERE were many Bishops in one City in one particular Church Phil. 1.1 To all the Saints that are at Philippi with the Bishops and Deacons That the Church then at Philippi was one particular Church or Congregation was proved before But to have many Bishops in the same Church whereas the nature of the Episcopacy pleaded for consists in the Superiority of one over the Presbyters of many Churches is absolutely inconsistent Such Bishops whereof there may be many in the same Church of the same Order equal in Power and Dignity with respect unto Office will easily be granted but then they are Presbyters as well as Bishops There will I fear be no end of this contest because of the prejudices and interests of some but that the identity of Bishops and Presbyters should be more plainly expressed can neither be expected nor desired 3. THE Apostle being at Miletus sent to Ephesus for the Elders of the Church to come unto him that is the Elders of the Church at Ephesus as hath been elsewhere undeniably demonstrated Act. 20.17 18. unto these Elders he says Take heed unto your selves and to all the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Bishops to feed the Church of God ver 28. If Elders and Bishops be not the same Persons having the same Office the same Function and the same Duties and the same Names it is impossible so far as I understand how it should be expressed For these Elders are they whom the Holy Ghost made Bishops they were many of them in the same Church their Duty it was to attend unto the Flock and to feed the Church which comprize all the Duties the whole Function of Elders and Bishops which must therefore be the same This plain Testimony can no way be evaded by pretences and conjectures unwritten and uncertain the only answer unto it is It was indeed so then but it was otherwise afterwards which some now betake themselves unto But these Elders were either Elders only and not Bishops or Bishops only and not Elders or the same Persons were Elders and Bishops as is plainly affirmed in the words The latter is that which we plead If the first be asserted then was there no Bishop then at Ephesus for these Elders had the whole oversight of the Flock If the Second then were there no Elders at all which is no good exposition of those words that Paul called unto him the Elders of the Church 4. THE Apostle Peter writes unto the Elders of the Churches that they should feed the Flock 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taking the oversight or exercising the Office and Function of Bishops over them and that not as Lords but as ensamples of Humility Obedience and Holiness to the whole Flock 1 Pet. 5.1 2 3. Those on whom it is incumbent to feed the Flock and to superintend over it as those who in the first place are accountable unto Jesus Christ are Bishops and such as have no other Bishop over them unto whom this charge should be principally committed But such according unto this Apostle are the Elders of the Church Wherefore those Elders and Bishops are the same And such were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Guides of the Church at Jerusalem whom the members of it were bound to obey as those that did watch for and were to give an account of their Souls Heb. 13.17 5. THE substance of these and all other Instances or Testimonies of the same kind is this Those whose names are the same equally common and applicable unto them all whose Function is the same whose Qualifications and Characters are the same whose Duties Account and Reward are the same concerning whom there is in no one place of Scripture the least mention of inequality disparity or preference in Office among them they are essentially and every way the same That thus it is with the Elders and Bishops in the Scripture cannot modestly be denied I do acknowledge that where a Church is greatly encreased so as that there is a necessity of many Elders in it for its Instruction and Rule that Decency and Order do require that one of them do in the management of all Church Affairs preside to guide and direct the way and manner thereof So the Presbyters at Alexandria did choose one from among themselves that should have the preheminence of a President among them Whether the Person that is so to preside be directed unto by being first Converted or first Ordained or on the account of Age or of Gifts and Abilities whether he continue for a Season only and then another be deputed unto the same Work or for his Life are things in themselves indifferent to be determined according unto the General Rules of Reason and Order with respect unto the Edification of the Church I shall never oppose this Order but rather desire to see it in practice namely that particular Churches were of such an extent as necessarily to require many Elders both Teaching and Ruling for their Instruction and Government for the better observation of Order and Decency in the publick Assemblies the fuller Representation of the Authority committed by Jesus Christ unto the Officers of his Church the occasional instruction of the Members in lesser Assemblies which as unto some ends may be stated also with the due attendance unto all other means of Edification and Watching Inspecting Warning Admonishing Exhorting and the like and that among these Elders one should be chosen by themselves with the consent of the Church not into a New Order not into a degree of Authority above his Brethren but only unto his part of the common work in a peculiar manner which requires some kind of Precedency Hereby no New Officer no New Order of Officers no New degree of Power or