Selected quad for the lemma: state_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	government_n	king_n	monarchy_n	1,384	5	9.4516	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50109	The spiritual house in its foundation, materials, officers, and discipline describ'd the nomothetical & coercive power of the King in ecclesiastical affairs asserted the episcopal office and dignity, together with the liturgy of the Church of England vindicated in some sermons preached at St. Clement Danes and St. Gregories neer St. Pauls, London / by Geo. Masterson.	Masterson, Geo. (George)	1661 (1661)	Wing M1073; ESTC R30518	52,267	136

had he said more then you received he had prejudiced himself who desired earnestly to see the faces of his Thessalonians That he might perfect that which was lacking in their faith 1 Thes 3.10 Or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 other then that which you have received quicquid Evangelio quasi ad salutem necessarium additur Parae whatsoever is added to the Gospel as necessary to salvation I said therefore we are to receive our direction from the Lips of God only in things Essential and Fundamental A fundamental in general is that upon which other things are built Fundamentalls in Religion are those primitive truths without the knowledge of which we can neither believe aright nor yield that obedience which we owe to God In these I say we are to dedepend upon God only for direction to hear no voice but his for as they observe in Architecture the yielding of a stone in the lower part of a Fabrick but an hairs breadth will make a cleft of more then half a foot aloft So important are fundamental errors A small error in the beginning and foundation of all things proves in the procedure and end of them a great mischief And therefore God appointed the Foundation of the Tabernacle to be of massy pieces of silver intimating thereby the solidity and purity of the Truth whereupon the Church is founded And a Rabby of our own observes that every man in Israel from twenty years old and upward was to give half a shekel towards these foundation-pieces whereas to other things they were not bound to a set summe but every man to give as his heart moved him which might teach them that to the Fundamentalls of Religion they were all bound but in other things each one according to the gift given him gold or silver or purple or scarlet or fine linnen or goats hair Lightfoot on Exod. 30. So that thus you see in things fundamental and essential we are to receive directions from the great Master of the house God only But In things circumstantial even in Religion and the Worship of God it is the masters pleasure that we should receive directions in them from his stewards The High Steward in this house under God is the King or Higher Powers intrusted by God with a legislative and coercive or constraining power By the Higher Powers I intend the person not the office And that by no less authority then St. Pauls who calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Higher Powers Rom. 13.1 at the 3d. verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rulers Now this higher or highest Power is a single person or company of men intrusted with Soveraign Power over the people he or they being subject only to the Empire or power of God himself I say a single person or company of men For though that which commands in chief or in whom the highest Power is invested must necessarily be one yet it is not of necessity that it be one in or by nature but it sufficeth if it be one by institution so that the highest Power is not appropriated to Kings or absolute Monarchs onely but in a rightly constituted Aristocracy or Common-wealth the Optimates Senat Estates or by what other Title they are Dignified are the highest Power And they or He the King is only subject to the Empire of God himself For he is not cannot in any propriety of speech be called the highest Power but because there is not among men any higher Power Super Imperatorem saith Optatus contra Parmenianum l. 3. Non est nisi solus Deus qui fecit Imperatorem There is none superiour to the Emperour but God only who made the Emperour And so Tertullian ad Scap. Colimus Imperatorem sic quomodo nobis licet ipsi e● pedit ut hominem a Deo secundum solo Deo minorem We so reverence the Emperour as it is meet for him and lawfull for us as a man second unto God and inferiour to God only You may perceive by this what I mean by the Higher Power but since the good providence of God hath cast us under the best of Governments Monarchy I shall speak in the ensuing discourse concerning the single person the King only And 1. He is intrusted by God with Authority and Power not only in Civill matters and affairs of State but in Ecclesiasticall matters the Affaires of Religion in the Church There are 3. Arguments that evince this 1. St. Paul tells you Rom. 13.4 He is the Minister of God to thee for good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indefinitely universally And explicating himself afterward more distinctly he tells us that Kings and persons in eminent or the highest place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were instituted and appointed of God to this end and purpose that we should lead a quiet and peaceable life under them not only in all honesty but in all piety 1 Tim. 2.2 The happiness of a City Country or Kingdom consists in this ut Dei sit amans amata Deo That it love and be beloved of God Vt illum sibi Regem se illius populum agnoscat August de Civit. Dei l. 5. c. 14. That it be in subjection to God whom it hath over it for its King And the Father-pronounceth Kings happy Si suam potestatem ad Dei cultum maxime dilatandum Majestati ejus famulam faciant If by promoting his worship as far as they can they subject their power to the Majesty of God Thus the Emperours Theodosius and Honorius Epist ad Marcellinum tell him that they design'd not any thing in all their Labour of War and Councells of Peace Nisi ut verum Dei cultum orbis nostri plebs devota custodiat That the people devoted to their service might follow the right worship of God Theodosius likewise in Ep. ad Cyrillum Caesarei est muneris ut non solum pacifice sed pie etiam subditi vivant The Emperour must take care that his Subjects live under him not only peaceably but piously Thus Isidor Pelusiota propounds the same end to the Prince as to the Priest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Salvation of their Subjects to which that of Ammianus Marcellinus agrees fully Nihil aliud est imperium ut sapientes definiunt nisi cura salutis alienae l. 39. Empire is nothing else in the judgment of wise men but the care of the Welfare and Salvation of others Since then this is the end which Kings are to propound unto themselves that their Subjects may live under them not onely honestly but godly it necessarily follows that they must be intrusted with Authority and Power in Ecclesiasticall matters For the end being admitted we must admit those things without which the end cannot be attain'd And accordingly we find God laying his command upon Kings in Scripture When the King sitteth upon the Throne of his Kingdom he shall write him a Copy of this Law in a book out of that which is before the Priests and the Levites and

Angel of the Church to whom he directs those things which he would have the rest to learn from him Again the most antient Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament in the concluson of the second Epistle to Timothy have these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The second Epistle to Timothy erdained the first Bishop of the Church of the Ephesians c. And in the end of the Epistle to Titus we translate from the same Manuscripts It was written to Titus ordained the first Bishop of the Church of the Cretians And St. Ignatius tells us that Evedius his Predecessour was ordained Bishop of the Ephesians by the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will add onely to this that God himself who gave Laws in mediately to the people of the Jews constituted and appointed an High-Priest upon whom he conferred Prelacy and Preheminence over the rest of the Priests And if any man object that the High-Priest was a Type of Christ I acknowledg it is true But the entire Institution of his Office was not for that end onely his Eminence was conferred upon him for Order sake in the Church As Kingly Government was in a sort Typical of Christ but because it was not onely Typical of Christ but Instituted likewise for the great ends of Government it may and ought to be retained and so Prelacy among Pastours conducing so much as it doth to Order in the Church ought not to be abolished though it were Typical in the High-Priest Thus you have an account of these Governours in the Church the Reverend Bishops sent by the King I mean in respect of the External and Accidental things of Religion they have another Mission even from the Holy Ghost in respect of the Internal Preaching and Administring Sacraments Ordaining Binding and Loosing and such like Since then Prelacy is not contrary to the Scriptures since the Church Catholick hath received and embraced it since it is of very Reverend Antiquity and approved of by Divine Right this one would think should be enough to prepare a room for it in the heart of any pious and sober Christian enough to beget in us a reverent esteem of the calling of Bishops to work in us a chearfull submission to and ready compliance with the Rites and Ceremonies in the Worship of God commended to and required of us by such persons delegated to that end by the Prince whose Authority in matters of Religion hath sufficiently been asserted I will yet add for the better reconciling this Order to the affections of some men two words I. The Conveniency and Expediency that I say not Necessity of Conformity and Agreement between the Ecclesiastical and Civil Government There is such an affinity between these two that in Common-Wealths where the Government is by many they always commend the Affairs of the Church to the Clergy or Presbytery and not to a Bishop but where the Government is Monarchical in the State Episcopacy in the Church is onely conformable to it Presbytery no way comporting with Monarthy Hence that Preverbial saying No Bishop No King A saying that may be easily derided but not so easily refuted Our late sad Experiences have engraven it in such Capital Characters upon the understandings of all sober and unprejudiced persons than it will not easily be defaced II. The Utility and Advantages that redound to the Church by Episcopacy I might entertain you upon this Head with the unanimous consent of all Historians but I select his Testimony onely who of all the Antients had the least affection for Bishops St. Jerom ad Tit. c. 1. Toto orbe decretum est ut ad tollenda schismata dissidia unus de Presbyteris electus superponeretur caeteris It is universally decreed that for the prevention of Schisms and differences one chosen out of the Presbyters be set over the rest And again Ecclesiae salus in summi sacerdotis id est Episcopi dignitate consistit The safety of the Church consists in the Dignity of the High-Priest that is the Bishop to whom if there be not a Peculiar Power distinct from all others annexed Tot in Ecclesia efficientur schismata quot sacerdotes advers Lucif There will be as many Schisms as Priests in the Church Our own Chronicles tell us that King Edward the Elder by Constituting five new Bishops stopped an Inundation of Paganism ready to break in on the West for want of Pastours If any man question or doubt of the Utility of this Reverend Order let him look back upon the Torrent of Confusion Heresy and Blasphemy that brake in upon us while these Banks were by violent hands thrown down Hoc Ithacus velit c. The Extirpation of Episcopacy in these Kingdoms is the first-born of the Pope's desires That which his Soul longs for as for the first-ripe fruit you know the Apologue how the Wolves would make peace with the Sheep upon the condition they would hang up all their dogs Let but Episcopacy and the Liturgy be abolished and the Papists assure you shall promise you peace upon any terms There is nothing that I know of objected against this Order but that great Bug-bear the Covenant Have we not lifted up our hands to the God of Heaven and sworn the Extirpation of Prelacy How then can we admit of Bishops or submit to them being restored To this I Answer An unlawfull Oath obligeth to nothing but repentance An unjust Oath voluntarily taken or imposed by an unlawfull Authority is not binding to any man's Conscience You have Covenanted and sworn the Extirpation of Prelacy so did Herod binde himself with an oath to Herodias Daughter that he would give her whatsoever she should ask Matthew xiv 7. so did certain Jews binde themselves with an Oath of Execration that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul Acts xxiii 12. Had those men done well in killing Paul because they had bound themselves by a curse or did Herod well in giving John Baprist's Head to the Damsel for his Oath 's sake you will I presume say No. Why No would you not have them keep their Oath I but it was an unjust Oath So was yours and will be found defective in the Properties required in a just Oath Truth Judgment and Righteousness Jer. iv 2. And we may soberly suppose that many men Covenanted against the Bishops for their Land's sake onely As the Earl of Kildare being Arraigned for burning a Church in Ireland said He would never have set fire to the Church if he had not thought the Bishop had been in it Bur if any man can say He took the Covenant in Truth Judgment and Righteousness he might lie under some temptation or keeping it had it not wanted that which is essentially necessary to render an Oath obliging a lawfull Authority to impose it But seeing it wanted this which it were Treason to deny no man's Conscience is obliged by it and he who will persist in it because he hath