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	interpretation_n	4,397	5	10.0901	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10748	A treatise of ecclesiasticall and politike povver Shewing, the church is a monarchicall gouernment, ordained to a supernaturall and spirituall end, tempered with an aristocraticall order, (which is the best of all and most conformable to nature) by the great pastor of soules Iesus Christ. Faithfully translated out of the Latin originall, of late publikely printed and allowed in Paris. Now set foorth for a further warrant and encouragement to the Romish Catholikes of England, for theyr taking of the Oath of Allegiance; seeing so many others of their owne profession in other countries doe deny the Popes infalibility in indgement and temporall power ouer princes, directly against the doctrine of Iesuits. To the prince.; De ecclesiastica et politica potestate. English	Richer, Edmond.	1612 (1612)	STC 21024; ESTC S102957	32,246	64

most strictly to him and neuerthelesse two of them at least doe but hold by a bare and verie small threed As the third also would stand in the like case but that beeing so neere and terryfying a neighbour of all sides vnto the Pope he holds him by the throat as they say being able to starue him to death with all the Consistorie whensoeuer he will but restraine the transportation of corne out of Sicily and other his dominions round about whereby he commandeth more then he is commaunded not perhaps more then hated if they durst shew it and neuer giues their holy Ghost leaue to sing any other song but that which hee sends him ready prickt from Madrid Now then if these men when they haue done al their vtmost power yea in the stretching of their loue filial duty enlarged kindnes beyōd that which they can wel warrāt yet can they assigne vnto their father the Pope no more then a generall care of soules with a ministeriall direction onely for order and execution of Canons ouer particular Churches no power at all ouer the vniuersall Church in grosse much lesse ouer a generall Councell much lesse or in the same degree ouer the bodies of men by violence or any temporall punishment but by meere counsell persuasion onely And if not so much as ouer priuate bodies least of all ouer Kings and ciuill Princes which rather they allow and openly acknowledge to haue right and authoritie to commaund both Church and Church-men in some cases to which Princes all men aswell Ecclesiasticall as Ciuill must be most humble and faithfull subiects as being in so much as they be Lords of the territorie established by God Protectors and Defendors of the Church and of both Diuine and Naturall lawes with attribution of the materiall Sword to themselues only priuatiuely and exclusiuely from all others within their owne dominions What stop then any more deere brethren but that you shold gladly yeeld your naturall dutie and allegiance to your naturall king since ye are boūd to yeeld it euen to the froward 1. Pet. 2.18 That you should willingly giue him but that simple pawne of your loyaltie your oath the simplest that could euer be imagined vpon that great straight and necessitie whereunto the State was brought by that portentuous mischiefe which did once so nearely and daungerously threaten kingdome and vs all as you your selues haue bene most vndoubting eye-witnesses You shall not be Catholikes neuerthelesse and you know how little or nothing besides that is required at your hands your consciences are no waies pressed your thoughts are most free and your words thank God for it and your gracious King may freely expresse them In so much that euerie day some of you God forbid I should say all dispute as peremptorily speake as odiously decide as vnchristianly inueigh as publikely against vs and our Religion here in the midst of London to our selues and one to another to our owne faces as thogh they were in the verie middle of Rome or Seuil very farre from the pittilesse fiers of those hot Countries where they burn without remission not only such as speak the least word I doe not say against God for they let them alone but against the Pope for that is the greater sinne yea euen against those they can by any meanes discouer to haue had at any time any thought or bee able afterwards to haue it against him Onely all you may complaine of is that yee haue not as free and as publike exer●ise as we of the rites of your Religion And yet in some sort haue yee it by hooke and by crooke or by a soueraigne transcendency of grace so much haue euer all Magistrates of our Religion abhorred extreame execution of the lawes but being forced thereunto by violent attempts For shame therefore be contented Enioy peaceably that liberty which you may buy so cheape and rather loue the certaine quietnesse of your present estate then the incertitude of another which sure cannot be but troublesome Force not by an vnnatural rebelliou● wilfulnesse in so iust in so lawfull a matter your naturall and most gracious King to be most vnvnwillingly and with a great griefe to h●s heart more sharp against you then the sweet inclination and meeknes of his royall nature will beare I conclude with an addition to your further encouragement of some decrees d cided and set downe two hundred yeres agoe by the verie same Sorbonne against that false doctrine and such as seemed then to broach it a new whom they neuer failed to condemne and caused them publikely to aske pardon and make satisfaction as Frier Iohn Sarazin Iohn Tanquarell Florentin Iacob Thomas de Blanzy and sundrie others at sundry times did Which decrees yet now of late they haue caused againe to bee printed by their owne Printer Felix de Blanuile in S. Victors streete in Paris and bound together with this present booke with this title Of the power and supremacie of the Pope Against the Sectaries of this age Repeating once more the diffinition of the Church as it is set downe in the title page of this booke to point as it were with the finger that both sprung together out of one the same fountaine Whereby you may see how carefull they haue euer beene to dash the young ones of Babilon against the right rocke of the truth The decrees are these after a long rehearsall of the cause and ceremonies of Sarrazins recantation in presence of the Rector of the Vniuersity and whole scores of Doctors there named one by one as witnesses THat all powers of Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction other then that of the Pope are from Christ himselfe in as much as concerneth primary institution and collation but from the Pope and from the Church for limitation and ministeriall dispensation onely That those powers are of diuine right and immediatly ordeined by God That we finde in the Scripture that Christ hath founded his church and expresly ordained other powers differing from that of the Pope That whensoeuer any matters bee ordained in a Councel the whole authoritie which giueth force to the decrees doth reside not in the Pope onely and alone but principally in the holy Ghost and the Catholike Church That by the text of the Scripture and doctrine of the Apostles wee see directly that authoritie of iurisdiction was conferred vpon the Apostles and Disciples when Christ did send them forth That the power of Iurisdiction of inferiour Prelates either Bishops or Curates is immediatly from God according to the doctrine of the Gospell and the Apostles That there is some power that is the power of the Church which of right and incertaine cases can decree against the Pope That any man liuing of whatsoeuer title authority dignity or preeminence hee may be euen though hee were a Pope if onely he haue the vse of reason may commit Simony Finally most heartily intreating you to take in the best part of this my louing

Councell would haue taken vp the difference betwixt them as a little before she had decided the controuersie about the obseruation of legall Ceremonies Act. 15.1 In this place as for a little accessorie and enlarging of fauour wee may adde that Saint Peter by the right interpretation of the Scripture and Canons may strengthen in the faith particular persons or a Church which are gone astray and in that sence Saint Hierome in an Epistle to Pope Damasus doth require of him leaue to say or not say Hypostases in the plurall number which is as much as the interpretation of the Nicene Creede I desire saith he from a Pastor the assistance hee owes to a sheepe Consider of it according to your iudgement I shall not feare to say three Hypostases if if you bid me And the same hath euer beene the regard of Theodoret and of all the rest when at any time they haue had their refuge to the holy Apostolicall Sea The first principle shewes That often celebration of Councells is absolutely and simply necessarie for the better and more holy gouerning of the Church for as Aristotle saith in his Politikes It is farre more expedient to be ruled by lawes then by the absolute power of any whosoeuer For lawes indeede are instead of God and are not possessed either with loue or hatred or any other humane passion Whence it comes that you find so oftē these Phrases in the Actes of the Councells To doe any thing besides the Canon without the Canon against the Canon according to the Canon By which stile is shewed that the Church must bee directed by Canon and that in auncient times nothing was decreed without a Councel and Aristocraticall moderation Hence also is it that we reade how the Bishops of France wrote vnto Pope Nicholas that the Bulls and Decretalls of Popes doe no way bind vnlesse they agree with the discipline of Canons and Councells formerly receiued and approued Can. Si Romanorum Dist 9. To which also ought to bee referred the Canon Omnia Quaest 1. Whereupon looke Flodoardus lib. 3. cap. 21. pag. 231. Whō Father Sirmond a Iesuite hath euen of late published since indeede the Pope which is but the ministeriall head cannot bind the vniuersall Church without calling her without hearing her and without taking her counsell and consent For then are the lawes established when they are published and then confirmed when approued by the practise of those that liue vnder them As Austen witnesseth Dist 4. Can. In istis And therein stands principally the libertie of the Catholike Church or the Aristocraticall gouernment and is the speediest and gentlest meanes to vnite and preuent Schismes againe Vpon the ground of which principle Hinemarus Archbishop of Rhemes answereth to another Hinemarus Bishop of Laon his Nephew That the decretall Epistles of Popes reported to be set forth before the Councell of Nice are but of small credit because they agreed not with the holy Canons Whereupon looke likewise Flodoard lib. 3. cap. 22. fol. 243 verso c. 244. recto And from thence also wee may plainely learne what law our French Predecessors haue euer vsed The sixt principle defines the fulnesse of the Popes authoritie First towards the particular Churches dispersed through the world but no manner of way towards the whole Church gathered together in a Councell Secondly in the matter of execution interpretation and dispensation but no wayes to the constitution of Canons vnlesse either by himselfe or by his Legats hee preside in the Councell and gather the voyces and consent of all the Fathers as we haue proued Sect. 6. But the Pope may dispense with the decrees of Councells in such a case only as the Councell it selfe might dispence were it assembled And that is confirmed by the opinion of Pope Zozimus which wee haue commended Sect. 6. As also of Leo 7. Can. Priuilegio Dispensation saith he is comitted vnto vs and it shall be laid to our charge if the Canons decreed by the fathers be violated either with our consent or carelesnesse Saint Bernard lib. 3. ad Eugen. cap. 10. What saist thou doest thou forbid vs to dispense No but to dissipate I am not so ignorant that I doe not know that you are placed to be dispensers but to edification not to destruction Finally it is required at the hands of dispensers that they bee found faithfull Where necessitie vrgeth dispensation is excusable when vtilitie inciteth it is commended common vtilitie I say not priuate So that in these two points which wee haue treated of in this discourse all the Monarchicall estate of the Church or the fulnesse of the Popes authoritie doth principally consist not in an absolute power which many of our Noualists now against both diuine and naturall law striue to intrude into the Church Certainly eight hundred yeares agoe and aboue that is euen before the translation of the Roman Empire to our Nation the Popes did but call them selues maintainers and executors of the Canons Finally by tract of time when all Christendome lay altogether buried in the logs of darknes and ignorance they gathered to themselues absolute authority to decree of all things Especially since the time of Gregorie the seuenth whole life largely written by Onuphrius those that are curious of the truth of the Storie may read And they shall further obserue that the Pope regularly and ordinarily hath the power to call the generall Councells in so much as hee hath power ouer the particular Churches dispersed ouer the face of the whole Earth Now the summe of all this disputation is that from the monarchicall State of the Church all vnitie and order with a powerfull execution of the Canons doe proceede But from the Aristocraticall gouernment proceedeth most holy counsell infalible prouidence and finall decision Whereby the Christian Common-wealth is gouerned to a perpetuall edification not destruction The seuenth principle teacheth vs That the Church taken either for the whole companie of the faithfull or for the Christian Common-wealth is contented with her sole only head and essentiall foundation our Lord Iesus Christ Neuerthelesse in the matter of exercise and execution of gouernment in this Christian Common-wealth shee is differently ruled by two diuers persons that is by the Pope and the Ciuill Prince Can. Duo sunt Dist 96 and Can Principes 25 Quaest 5. Conformably to the commaundement of the Lord Mat. 22.21 Giue vnto Caesar the things which are Caesars and to God those that are Gods For by this as by a mutuall band of loue and obligation the Lord was pleased to knit together the Church the Ciuill power that Princes Church-men should not quarrell one against another Which wholesome distinction whosoeuer they be that know not or doe dissemble or confound doe runne vpon huge and most perilous rockes and make Church men as factious and dangerous persons suspected to the Ciuill Princes But for our 8 principle Let vs enter a little further in this point for since