Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	authority_n	church_n	infallible_a	12,744	5	10.2258	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42231	Hugo Grotius, Of the government and rites of the ancient church, conciliation of grace and free will, certainty and assurance of salvation, government of the highest powers in church affairs in a letter to the states embassador.	Grotius, Hugo, 1583-1645.; Barksdale, Clement, 1609-1687.	1675 (1675)	Wing G2118; ESTC R34449	21,440	54

not If forbidden by Divine law as I conceive it is if the King be supposed not yet repenting the King will not be subject to the Ecclesiastick laws which Molinaeus saith but to the Divine which none denies The like is in a judge of petty causes commanded by the King to give sentence against equity This Judge will not do so if he be wife Is the King therefore subject to the Judge No verily but the Judge is so subject to the King that he must acknowledge above the earthly King the Empire of his heavenly King who forbiddeth injury to be done to any But if you suppose here some law not Divine but positive proceeding from humane will to this law whosoever shall affirm a King to be subject so as to be unable in any case to relax the legal bond he denies him to be a King The Canons of many Synods forbid Episcopal seats to be erected into Metropolitan they forbid new Bishops or Metropolitans to be constituted or a Bishop to do sacred offices in another Diocese they forbid Bishops to undertake civil imployments Nevertheless by command of the Emperors all this was done very often The Greek Interpreters give the reason because the Emperor is not subject neither to the Laws nor Canons Next Molinaeus enquires whether the Kings Counsellors must be Doctors of Divinity or it be also necessary for the King to be a learned Divine Verily my opinion is that the knowledge of things Divine is requisit in a King and in his chief Counsellors not that he may be a King They Counsellors but to the end they may rightly perform the work of their places But I say nor such knowledge as to distinguish every truth from falshood for the greatest Professor of Theology cannot promise himself this but to put a difference between things necessary to be believed or done and things not necessary between Heretical and not Heretical And in the same manner I conceive both the knowledge of the laws and the art of Governing are desired in a King But saith Molinaeus 't is fit the less learned be taught by the more learned This argument if it prove the less learned must submit to the judgment of the more learned then in Synods also the Pastors ought to yield to the Doctors for Molinaeus names them as men of the greatest learning And yet 't is certain that Pastors have not less if not more right than Doctors Our men are wont to use the testimony of Panormitan that a private person's Judgment confirmed with better autority of Scripture is to be prefer'd before the judgment of a Patriarch To come to the matter It is indeed the part of the more learned to teach the less learned but not to have command over them Therefore a Country Judge as the laws tell us is not obliged by the Response of Lawyers nor is a sick man bound to the prescript of his Physitian but so far as no reason of his own strongly perswades him to the contrary Another question follows whether a Magistrate may adjoyn himself to the lesser number of Pastors Strange that this should be asked by a Pastor reformed seeing all Magistrates who have in our age reform'd the Church rightly believ'd the lesser number of Pastors against the greater But in the Nicene Synod Constantine yielded to the more and did not addict himself to the fewer Yea he yielded to the plain and manifest truth which the greater number at that time by Gods blessing followed This doth not always happen for the greater part oft overcomes the better But if sentences are to be numbred not weighed the Arimin Council of cccc Bishops will be of more value than the Nicene of cxviii And what should the Emperor have done when as Jerom testifies the whole World groaned and wonderd it was turned Arian was paucity then to be despised multitude to be followed No man in his right mind will say so The two Kings are blamed for not believing one Michaia rather than four hundred false Prophets Well then the different parties are to be heard but the Prince ought to lend his autority to that cause not which hath most suffrages but whose equity the vigor of truth well try'd hath commended to him That Rule Every man must be believ'd in his own Art hath some probability but not perpetual certainty And there is a difference of Arts-men that often times it is expedient to trust a few rather than many So true is the common saying The worst are most Theology indeed is not the proper Art of a King but the Art most convenient for him is that which learned Writers call regal leading architechtonical whereof the most noble part is that which I have named the knowledge of things Divine not descending to all subtilties of the School nor yet staying within the mean endowments of a private man but comprehending all the chiefest points and of such a measure that if any thing be wanting it may be supplied by the Ministery of others And I have said before the like measure of other Arts is desir'd in a King though I doubt not if there be any science to which a King should addict his peculiar study it is Theology They greatly erre who do either represent or make it so obscure and difficult as to deter Princes from that study which the Divine law so much commends unto them But if in that respect the highest power in causes Ecclesiatical is to be denied the King neither will the right of making laws many being better Lawyers belong unto him I fear also that the same reason will exclude many Pastors from all right of suffrage I do not well understand what Molinaeus saith of the King of England For he affirmeth him to be the supreme Judge in all Causes as well Ecclesiastick as civil yet not to be the judge of controversies nor to own that Title How Controversies can be exempt from the universal appellation of Causes I see not when Judgment is not usually given but of things controverted But he seemeth to distinguish between matters of Faith and other Church-affairs But to judge what is an Idol what is Idolatry does it not pertain to Faith Queen Elizabeth and her brother King Edward preferred the Reformation above Papism not by an ignorant zeal I suppose but with good judgment Now the contention between the Papists and the Reformed is concerning Articles of Faith The King whose words are alledged as removing from himself the judgment about Articles of Faith did he not hear at Hampton Court the Bishops on the one side the Puritans on the other as Arbiter as Judge When the Conference was not only of Church Government but of predestination and assurance of salvation Did he not pronounce what seemed to him right What is it then that he putteth from himself That authority which the Pope claimeth who makes himself a Judge infallible to be believ'd on his own word without the Scriptures This Right certainly

that sobriety to be used in determining questions that a fit respect may not only be had for Austin and Prosper and Fulgentius but also that men may abstain from condemning those sentences in which 't is manifest most holy men liv'd and dv'd who after the Apostles and before the Empire of Constantine in the Ages most conspicuous for all piety edified the Church of Christ by their words and writings by their life and blood I am now come to the last part which is concerning the Magistrate And here Molinaeus saith pleasantly He is eased by me because I am forward to teach him what ought to be his Opinion Wherein he shews himself much mistaken in my purpose For my intent was neither to teach him whom I thought fit to be admonisht by your Honor as from your self touching some things and that he should never see what I had written to you nor to teach any other but freely to deposit my thoughts in your bosom my most noble Friend And that upon this occasion because I understood by you that Molinaeus bestowed upon learned Magistrates some Right which he would not grant to the less learned That did not please me I confess and therefore I gave a clear distinction as it seemeth to me and perspicuous between the right or power and the Aptitude or Ability But Molinaeus here was so far from taking my sense that he ascribes to me a meaning contrary to my words He saith I would have a right of making laws to pertain to the learned Magistrates I said it not yea I signified the contrary that learning makes nothing to the right it self He saith after a Senator or Judge if he be a Lawyer is so as he is a judge I much dislike this For there are many Lawyers not Judges and many Judges not Lawyers The one is a name of office the other of skill Take another example There are many Pastors alas too unskilful of holy letters Their office is to interpret Scripture nor are they without a right but they have not an Aptitude thereto requisit Science therefore neither giveth nor encreaseth right but to the good using of it conduceth much An unskilful Prince not to speak yet of Church-affairs hath no less right to give commands in civil affairs and to make laws than a Prince most learned I much admire these things were not consider'd by a man most acute That which is spoken of knowledge understand also of probity of mind He must be a good man that will govern well but the right it self of governing depends no more upon Virtue than the dominion of a private estate For the covetous man is as well Master of his goods as the liberal though the liberal rightly useth riches which the covetous abuseth Molinaeus supposed I would have the Magistrate who shall govern the Church to be Orthodox Really I would and all rich men to be liberal He asketh who shall judge whether the Magistrate be Orthodox If himself great danger if others then will the Magistrate be subject to others Judgment I will ask likewise who shall judge whether the Magistrate be sufficiently skill'd in civil matters and if that argumentation prevail I will conclude the Magistrate to be subject to the judgment of the people I will ask again when the Magistrate must apply himself to some Church who shall judge whether this or that Church be the more Orthodox shall he or the Church If he there is also the same danger as before if the Church this is to beg the question for there is no Assembly of Christians which calls not it self a Church and that Orthodox too But saith he an Infidel Magistrate will abuse this example and usurp the same power As if to alledge an incommodity were to solve the Argument What is there in humane affairs without some incommodity May not I in like manner say if that be given to the Church which I conceive is to be given to the Magistrate an Assembly of Heretical Pastors will also abuse this example and usurp the same right if any where it prevail as it hath happened more than once I will answer in the words of Austin Kings when they are in Error make laws for error against the truth and when they are in the truth make laws for truth against error So are good men tryed by evil laws and by good laws are evil men reformed You see how little Austin feared that incommodity And in truth it is of no moment Aurelian the Emperor was not Orthodox therefore he could not expell from his Bishoprick the Heretick Samosatenus This consequence was not perceived by the Holy Fathers who yielded the judgment of Samosatenus to the Emperor so far that the cause being examined they requested he might by the Imperial autority be dethron'd Neither would Paul have appealed unto Nero had he believed no right of judging in a case of Religion belonged to him Wherefore as Trajan civilly honest Nero wicked are nevertheless equal in the right of Government so pious Constantine and impious Nero are equal in the right of judging in aptitude and skill unequal This most learned man further enquires whether by Governing the Church I understand being judge in the heads of faith or a power to purge the Church of scandals and to command belief of those things which are contained in the word of God But I wonder these are parted which do seem to me indissolubly joyned For if it be the office of a King to command that those things be taught which are true that scandals be avoided amongst which Heresies have the chief place how shall he do this unless he judge what is true what is Heresy For the act of commanding reguires the power of judging But he saith Those things must be commanded to be believed which are establisht by the Assembly of Pastors Orthodox And he that says this does he not shew 't is at least required to judge who are those Orthodox Pastors Now because the examples of King Edward of the States of Holland of the Prince of Orange are alledged I enquire when there were in England Romish Pastors and there were also Reformed in Holland not only Romish but Anabaptists also and Lutherans that the Reformed Religion was publickly introduced in both Nations other being either prohibited or postposed did it not so come to pass because the King the States the Prince judged this Religion purest They embraced then what was suggested by faithful Pastors and demonstrated by Scripture not for the Autority of Pastors for there were many families of them but because they judged the things agreeable to the Scripture Albeit they understood not the knots and subtilities of Theology it was sufficient that they did cast off Idolatry and Popish Tyranny and other errors with an assured judgment A question follows impertinent to this place touching a King who will with blasphemous mouth receive the holy mysteries I answer either this is forbidden by Divine law or

is due neither to King nor Council For neither may a Council be believ'd for it self but for the testimony of Scripture on which it relies because true Faith of things Divine cannot be had but by Divine authority This sense of the King the King himself shall I say or Molinaeus best of all explains in his book against Cardinal Perron saying The Emperors never ascribed to themselves absolute judgment and infallible concerning Doctrin but that they took knowledge of the Decisions of Councils and not of Discipline alone he there both confesses and proves adding that the Emperors examin'd whether nothing was decreed in the Assembly of Bishops repugnant to former Councils and that unless this be lawful for a King the King will be nothing else but Lictor Ecclesiasticorum Hence it appears sufficiently that the Kings judgment is bound to the word of God but may be instructed and led by the Bishops yet not so but that he ought to make use of his own judgment And reason exacts as much For no action is good but which proceeds from the judgment of the doer and the King as King his office is to cherish true Doctrine by his laws and to suppress the contrary He ought therefore to have judgment also of the Doctrine Nor is here any more attributed to a King than to a private man For private men for themselves by the Word of God judge of Articles of Faith but the effects differ in as much as a King can do more than a private person as also the judgment of a Father of a family who is chief in a great house is more largly extended than his who is the poor inhabitant of a Cottage To that censure where they are called flatterers who moved this question in Holland 't were easy to return one as sharp that they are justly suspected of affecting a new papacy who so much decline the judgment of the Magistrate What follows that it might more easily be suffered that the Magistrates should judge of controversies in Religion if our Country were sure to have such Magistrates as it hath now I cannot fully approve knowing Theses ought not to be changed as the Times change nor is any thing because expedient the more or less true Herein also he is mistaken when he opposeth a few Magistrates to a great assembly of Pastors For with us the Government is not in the hand of fewer persons then they who are wont to meet in Synods who if they be not as skilful in Theological points as the Pastors are though he that thinks so knows not what many of our Pastors be but grant this Surely they are for the keeping of peace and tranquillity much better affected than they that are the Preachers of peace For so much as skill conduceth unto judgment no less doth study of parties hinder it We do not speak this that Judgments of Synods should be omitted No verily for they are of very great use But for a King to be so tyed up with them that against his own conscience he ought to follow the Synodical decrees I cannot consent to this And these matters are under dispute among us but in Germany and other places the Princes do openly exercise this Right not one of the Pastors contradicting I must now make an end for if I would cast into paper whatsoever comes into my mind about this Argument I should be not sparing of my own time and prodigal of yours This only I protest to you in conclusion that concerning predestination of Grace Free will and other questions of this kind I had rather hear the Judgments of other men than declare my own but of Magistrates I have here said nothing whereof I am not very certain 1515. The decease of Grotius Doctor Quistorpius in his letter dated at Rostoch Anno 1645. The next day after his entrance into this City Aug. 18. He sent for me about nine at night I came and found him drawing nigh to death I saluted him and said Oh that I had been so happy as to have conferred with you safely arrived Thus it hath pleased God said he I exhort him to prepare himself for a blessed departure to confess himself a sinner to be sorry for his sins and with the Publican beg for mercy I saith he am that Publican Then proceeding I refer him to Christ without whom is no salvation He adds In Christ alone is all my hope reposed I rehearsed aloud the usual Form of Prayer Heer Jesu c. He with closed hands and an humble voice said after me At the end I asked whether he understood me He replied I understand you well I go on minding him of such Scriptures as are wont to be suggested at the hour of death and ask if he understands me He answers I hear your voice but hardly understand what you say Having said this he was silent and a little after expried at the point of twelve Let him rest in peace The End Ad Bonis I. 1. Epist 46 de gra and lib. arbis c. 2. De fide ad Pet. Ad obj Vinc. resp 12. Ad Oan Gal. 7. I. Sent. sup cit c. 7. De fide 5.3