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	primitive_a	2,508	5	9.0550	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43547	Parliaments power in lawes for religion, or, An ansvvere to that old and groundles [sic] calumny of the papists, nick-naming the religion of the Church of England, by the name of a parliamentary-religion sent to a friend who was troubled at it, and earnestly desired satisfaction in it.	Heylyn, Peter, 1600-1662.	1645 (1645)	Wing H1730; ESTC R200234	30,417	44

of Worship THIS rub removed we now proceed unto a view of such formes of Worship as have beene setled in this Church since the first dawning of the day of Reformation in which our Parliaments have indeed done somewhat though it be not much The first point which was altered in the publique Liturgies was that the Creed the Pater-noster and the ten Commandements were ordered to be said in the English tongue to the intent the people might be perfect in them and learn them without book as our phrase is The next the setting forth and using of the English Letanie on such daies and times in which it was accustomably to be read as a part of the Service But neither of these two was done by Parliament nay to say truth the Parliament did nothing in them All which was done in eyther of them was only by the Kings authority by virtue of the Head ship or Supremacy which was vested in him eyther cooperating and concurring with his Convocation or else directed and assisted by such learned Prelates with whom he did advise in matters which concern'd the Church and did relate to Reformation By virtue of which Head-ship or Supremacy he ordained the first and to that end caused certain Articles or Injunctions to be published by the Lord Cromwell then his Vicar-Generall An. 1536. And by the same did he give order for the second I meane for the saying of the Letany in the English tongue by his own royall Proclamation An. 1545. for which consult the Acts Mon. fol. 1248. 1312. But these were only preparations to a greater worke which was reserved unto the times of King Ed. 6. In the beginning of whose Reigne there passed a Statute for the administring the Sacrament in both kindes to any person that should devoutly and humbly desire the same 1 Ed. 6. cap. 1. In which it is to be observed that though the Statute doe declare that the ministring of the same in both kinds to the people was more agreeable to the first Institution of the said Sacrament and to the common usage of the primitive times Yet Mr. Fox assures us and we may take his word that they did build that Declaration and consequently the Act which was raised upon it upon the Iudgement and opinion of the best learned men whose resolution and advise they followed in it fol. 1489. And for the Forme by which the said most Blessed Sacrament was to be so delivered to the Common people it was commended to the care of the most grave and learned Bishops and others assembled by the King at his Castle of Windsor who upon long wise learned and deliberate advice did finally agree saith Fox upon one Godly and uniform Order for receiving the same according to the right rule of Scriptures and the first use of the primitive Church fol. 1491. which Order as it was set forth in print An. 1548. with a Proclamation in the name of the King to give authority thereunto amongst the people so was it recommended by especiall Letters writ unto every Bishop severally from the Lords of the Counsell to see the same put in execution A copy of which Letters you may find in Fox fol. 1491. as afore is said Hitherto nothing done by Parliament in the Formes of Worship but in the following yeare there was For the Protector and the rest of the Kings Counsell being fully bent for a Reformation thought it expedient that one uniform quiet and godly Order should be had throughout the Realm for Officiating God's Divine Service And to that end I use the very words of the Act it selfe appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury and certain of the most learned and discreet Bishops and other learned men of the Realm to meet together requiring them that having as well eye and respect to the most pure and sincere christian Religion taught in Scriptures as to the usages in the primitive Church they should draw and make one convenient and meet Order Rite and Fashion of Common Prayer and Administration of Sacraments to be had and used in this his Majesties Realm of England Well what did they being thus assembled that the Statute tells us where it is said that by the ayd of the holy Ghost I pray you marke this well and with one uniform agreement they did conclude upon and set forth an Order which they delivered to the Kings Highnesse in a book entituled The Booke of Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church after the use of the Church of England All this was done before the Parliament did any thing But what was done by them at last Why first considering the most godly travaile of the Kings Highnesse and the Lord Protector and others of his Highnesse Counsell in gathering together the said Bishops and learned men Secondly the godly prayers Orders Rites and Ceremonies in the said book mentioned Thirdly the motives and inducements which inclined the aforesaid learned men to alter those things which were altered and to reteine those which were reteined and finally taking into consideration the honour of God and the great quietnesse which by the grace of God would ensue upon it they gave his Majesty most hearty and lowely thanks for the same and most humbly prayed him that it might be ordeined by his Majesty with the assent of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament and by authority of the same that the said Form of Common-prayer and none other after the Feast of Pentecost next following should be used in all this Majesties Dominions with severall penalties to such as either should deprave or neglect the same 2. 3. Ed. 6. cap. 1. So far the very words of the Act it selfe By which it evidently appeareth that the two Houses of Parliament did nothing in the present businesse but impose that Form upon the people which by the learned and religious Clergie men whom the King appointed thereunto was agreed upon and made it penall unto such as eyther should deprave the same or neglect to use it And thus doth Poulton no meane Lawyer understand the Statute who therfore gives no other Title to it in his Abridgement published in the yeare 1612 than this The Penalty for not using uniformity of Service and Ministration of the Sacraments So then the making of one uniform Order of celebrating Divine Service was the worke of the Clergy the making of the Penalties was the worke of the Parliament And so much for the first Liturgy of King Edwards Reigne in which you see how little was done by the authority or power of Parliament so little that if it had beene lesse it had been just nothing But some exceptions being taken against the Liturgy by some of the preciser sort at home and by Calvin abroad the book was brought under a review and though it had been framed at first if the Parliament which said so erred not by the ayd of the holy Ghost himself yet to comply

Parliaments Power In Lawes for RELIGION OR AN ANSVVERE To that old and groundles Calumny of the Papists nick-naming the Religion of the Church of England by the name of a Parliamentary RELIGION Sent to a freind who was troubled at it and earnestly desired satisfaction in it OXFORD Printed by HENRY HALL Printer to the UNIVERSITIE 1645. The Preface SYR AT my being with you last you seemed to bee much scandalized for the Church of England You told me you were well assured that her Doctrine was most true and orthodox her Government conform to the word of God and the best Ages of the Church her Liturgy an Extract of the Primitive Formes Nothing in all the whole composure but what did tend to edification and increase of Piety But that you were not satisfied in the waies and meanes by which this Church proceeded in her Reformation That you had heard it oft objected by some Partisans of the Church of Rome that our Religion was meere Parliamentarian or as Doctor Harding said long since That we had a Parliament-Religion a Parliament-Faith and a Parliament-Gospell to which Sanders and some others added That we had none but Parliament Bishops and a Parliament-Clergy That you were apt enough to think the Papists made not all this noise without some ground for it in regard you see the Parliaments in these latter times so bent to catch at all occasions whereby to manifest their power in Ecclesiasticall matters And finally that you were heartily ashamed that being so often choaked with these objections you neither knew how to traverse the Inditement or plead not guilty to the Bill This was the sum of your Discourse and upon this you did desire me to be think my selfe of some fit plaister for this sore to satisfie you if I could of your doubts and jealousies assuring me that your desires proceeded not from curiositie or an itch of knowledg or out of any disaffection to the high Court of Parliament but meerly from an honest zeale to the Church of England whose credit and renown you did far prefer before your life or whatsoever else could be deere unto you adding withall That if I would take paines for your satisfaction and help you out of those perplexities which you were involved in I should not only doe good service to the Church it selfe but to many a wavering Member of it whom these objections mainly stagger in their Resolution In fine that you desired to be informed how far the Parliaments of England have been interessed in the former times in matters which concern Religion and God's publique worship what ground there is for all this clamour of the Papists and whether the two Houses or eyther of them have exercised of old any such authority in things of Ecclesiasticall and Spirituall nature as they now pretend to VVhich though it be a dangerous and invidious Subject as the times now are yet for your sake and for the truths and for the honour also of Parliaments which seeme to suffer much in the accusation I shall undertake it Premising first that I intend not to say any thing to the point of Right whether or not the Parliament may lawfully meddle in such matters as concern Religion but shall apply my selfe only unto matters of fact as they relate unto the Reformation here by Lawe established And for my method in this businesse I will begin with the Ejection of the Pope and his authority descending next to the Translation of the Scriptures into the English tongue and the Reformation of the Church in Doctrinals and Formes of Worship and so proceed unto the power of making Canons for the well ordering of the Clergy and the direction of the people in all such particulars as doe concern them in the exercise of their Religion And in the canvasing of these points I shall make it good that till these busie and unfortunate dayes in which every man intrudeth on the Preistly function the Parliaments did not any thing at all either in matters Doctrinal or in making Canons or in translating of the Scriptures and that concerning Formes of Worship they did nothing neyther but strengthen and establish what was done before in the Clergy-way by adding the Secular authority to the Constitutions of the Church according to the usage of the best and happiest times of Christianity PARLIAMENTS POWER in Lawes for Religion 1. Of the Ejection of the Pope AND first beginning with the Ejection of the Pope and his authority that led the way unto the Reformation of Religion which did after follow It was first voted and decreed in the Convocation before ever it became the subject of an Act of Parliament For in the yeare 1530. 22o H. 8. the Clergy being caught in a Premunire were willing to redeeme their danger by a summe of money and to that end the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury bestowed upon the king the summe of 100000 pounds to be paid by equall portions in the five yeares following But the king would not so be satisfied unlesse they would acknowledge him for the supreme head on Earth of the Church of England which though it was hard meate and would not easily downe amongst them yet it passed at last For being throughly debated in a Synodicall way both in the upper and lower houses of Convocation they did in fine agree upon this expression Cujus Ecclesiae sc. Anglicanae singularem Protectorem unicum et supremum Dominum et quantum per Christi leges licet supremum Caput ipsius Majestatem recognoscimus To this they all assented and subscribed their hands and afterwards incorporated it into the publique Act or Instrument which was presented to the King in the name of his Clergy for the redeeming of their error and the graunt of their money which as it doth at large appeare in the Records and Acts of the Convocation so is it touched upon in an Historicall way in the Antiq. Britan Mason de Minist. Anglic. and some other Authors by whom it also doth appeare that what was thus concluded on by the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury was also ratified and confirmed by the Convocation for the Province of Yorke according to the usuall custom save that they did not buy their Pardon at so deare a rate This was the leading Card to the game which followed For on this ground were built the Statutes prohibiting all Appeales to Rome and for determining all Ecclesiasticall suites and controversies within the Kingdome 24. H. 8. c. 12. That for the manner of Electing and Consecrating of Archbishops and Bishops 25. H. 8. c. 20. and the prohibiting the payment of all impositions to the Court of Rome and for obtayning all such Dispensations from the See of Canterbury which formerly were procured from the Popes of Rome 25. H. 8. c 21. which last is built expresly upon this foundation That the King is the only supreme Head of the Church of England and was so recognized by the Prelates

the liberty granted to the people in having in their hands the bookes of the old and new Testament had beene much abused by many false glosses and interpretations which were made upon them tending to the seducing of the people especially of the younger sort and the raysing of sedition within the Realme And thereupon it was enacted by the authority of the Parliament on whom he was content to cast the envy of an Act so contrary to his former gracious Proclamations that all manner of bookes of the old and new Testament of the crafty false and untrue Translation of Tyndall be forthwith abolished and forbidden to be used and kept As also that all other Bibles not being of Tyndalls translation in which were found any Preambles or Annotations other than the quotations or Summaries of the Chapters should be purged of the said Preambles and Annotations eyther by cutting them out or blotting them in such wise that they might not be perceived or read And finally that the Bible be not read openly in any Church but by the leave of the King or of the Ordinary of the place nor privately by any Women Artificers Prentices Iourneymen Husbandmen Labourers or by any of the servants of Yeomen or under with severall paines to those who should doe the contrary This is the substance of the Statute of the 34. 35. H. 8. cap. 1. which though it shewes that there was somewhat done in Parliament in a matter which concern'd Religion which howsoever if you marke it was rather the adding of the penalties than giving any resolution or decision of the points in Question yet I presume the Papists will not use this for an Argument that we have eyther a Parliament-Religion or a Parliament-Gospell or that we stand indebted to the Parliament for the use of the Scriptures in the English Tongue which is so principall a part of the Reformation Nor did the Parliament speede so prosperously in the undertakiug which the wise King permitted them to have an hand in for the foresaid ends or found so generall an obedience in it from the common people as would have beene expected in these times on the like occasion but that the King was faine to quicken and give life to the Acts thereof by his Proclamatiom An. 1546. which you shall find in Fox his booke fol. 1427. To drive this nayle a little farther The terror of this Statute dying with H. 8. or being repealed by that of K. E. 6. 1 E. 6. c. 12. the Bible was againe made publique and not only suffered to be read by particular persons either privately or in the Church but ordered to be read over yearely in the Congregation as a part of the Liturgy or divine Service which how farre it relates to the Court of Parliament we shall see anon But for the publishing thereof in print for the use of the people for the comfort and edification of private persons that was done only by the King at least in his name and by his authority And so it also stood in Q. Elizabeths time the Translation of the Bible being againe reviewed by some of the most learned Bishops appointed thereunto by the Queenes Commission from whence it had the name of the Bishops-Bible and upon that Review reprinted by her sole Commandement and by her sole authority left free and open to the use of her well affected and Religious Subjects Nor did the Parliament doe any thing in all her Reigne with reference to the Scriptures in the English tongue otherwise than as the reading of them in that tongue in the Congregation is to be reckoned for a part of the English Liturgy whereof more hereafter In the translation of them into Welch or British somewhat indeed was done which doth looke this way It being ordered in the Parliament 5. Eliz. c. 28. That the B. B. of Hereford St. Davids Bangor Landaffe and St. Asaph Should take care amongst them for translating the whole Bible with the booke of Common Prayer into the Welch or British tongue on paine of forfeiting 40 a peece in default hereof And to encourage them thereunto it was enacted that one booke of either sort being so translated and imprinted should be provided and bought for every Cathedrall Church as also for all parish Churches and Chappells of ease where the said tongue is commonly used the Ministers to pay the one halfe of the price and the parishioners the other But then you must observe withall that it had beene before determined in the Convocation of the selfe same yeare An. 1562. That the Common-prayer of the Church ought to be celebrated in a tongue which was understood by the people as you may see in the booke of Articles of Religion Art 24. which came out that yeare and consequently as well in the Welch or British as in any other And for the new Translation of K. Iames his time to shew that the Translation of Scripture is no worke of Parliament as it was principally occasioned by some passages in the Conference at Hampton Court without recourse unto the Parliament so was it done only by such men as the King appointed and by his authority alone imprinted published and imposed care being taken by the Canon of the yeare 1603. That one of them should be provided for each severall Church at the charge of the Parish No flying in this case to an Act of Parliament either to authorize the doing of it or to impose it being done 3. Of the Reformation of Religion in points of Doctrine NExt let us look upon the method used in former times in the reforming of the Church whether in points of Doctrine or in formes of Worship and we shall find it still the same The Clergy did the worke as to them seemed best never advising with the Parliament but upon the post fact and in most cases not at all And first for Doctrinals there was but little done in king Henries time but that which was acted by the Clergie only in their Convocations and so commended to the people by the Kings sole authority the matter never being brought within the cognizance of the two Houses of Parliament For in the yeare 1536 being the yeare in which the Popes authoritie was for ever banished there were some Articles agreed on in the Convocation and represented to the King under the hands of all the Bishops Abbats Priors and inferiour Clergy usually called unto those meetings the Originall whereof being in Sir Robert Cottons Library I have often seene which being approved of by the King were forthwith published under the Title of Articles devised by the Kings Highnesse to stable Christian quietnesse and unity amongst the people In which it is to be observed first that those Articles make mention of 3 Sacraments only that is to say of Baptisme Penance and the Sacrament of the Altar And secondly that in the declaration of the Doctrine of Iustification Images honouring of the Saints departed as also concerning many