Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	act_n	faith_n	word_n	2,063	5	4.6173	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91392	The true grounds of ecclesiasticall regiment set forth in a briefe dissertation. Maintaining the Kings spirituall supremacie against the pretended independencie of the prelates, &c. Together, vvith some passages touching the ecclesiasticall power of parliaments, the use of synods, and the power of excommunication.	Parker, Henry, 1604-1652.	1641 (1641)	Wing P428; Thomason E176_18; ESTC R212682	61,943	101

God and to Religion and as concerne Gods service in the Church and the welfare of the souls and spirits of men so all men have a spirituall charge in generall for all men by their generall callings are servants to God and are not only bound to provide for their owne souls but to promote also the worship of God and the salvation of other men And in this respect that man which is most pious is most holy and spirituall and most acceptable to God and though his condition be but private here in this World yet his reward in Heaven may be more glorious then theirs who have publike Offices and Dignities here and whose particular callings are farre more sacred But besides this internall holinesse of persons visible only to God there is an externall politicall holinesse also of persons which arises from our particular Functions in this World and the measure of this holinesse is the profit and consequence of our professions and employments The Regall and Sacerdotall Offices have ever beene held comparatively of all other the most holy and worshipfull and the reason is because of all others they are the most advantagious and of most extensive benefit to the people of God And therefore the person is alwayes valued according to the function and the function according to its benefit and not on the contrary The man is Honourable because hee is a King and the King is honourable because He is the Conservator of the people and of this reason of Honour man is able to Judge God accepts of such a man to serve him in such an honourable place the place is not here honourable because He serves in it but he is Honourable because the place is profitable and though of Gods meere acceptance of the person no reason can be given yet there is great reason that all men should bee Honourable with men as they are acceptable with God God honoured the Israelites before other Nations they were a royall Priesthood in comparison of Heathens because God by his peculiar choice of them to his service did give them that more then regall or more then Sacerdotall priviledge The Israelites in condition were more contemptible and in disposition more incorrible than other Nations but because God separates them they are holy and because God separates them to serve him according to his pure will they are holy as Princes and Priests Christians also may now be termed Princes and Priests in comparison of the Iews in as much as God of his free pleasure is now more extensive and diffusive of his graces amongst us that we may adore him more ingenuously more intelligently and more comfortably then the Jews did and in the like manner amongst Christians Princes and Priests are yet higher elevated above common lay-men in as much as they have neerer accesse to God at the Throne and at the Altar and by their more sublime employments are more highly dignified more honorably consecrated With the Prince and the Priest no man will enter into any cōpetition but the cōpetition now being between the Prince the priest we must search into the nature of this political sanctitie that we may the better distinguish its de-grees Calvin wee see complains that the persons of Princes are made too spirituall by our appropriating to them spirituall authoritie because hee holds that authority too spirituall for their persons The same thing is here the reason of the same thing spirituall offices and services belong not to Princes because their persons are not spirituall and why are their persons not spirituall because their offices and services are not spirituall This is unjust and unscholasticall against the person no exception lies but such as is drawn from the function the person is coruscant only by the rayes of the function they which wil prove Kings to be not spiritual must first prove their offices to be meerly temporall and not on the contrary Such proofs as infirme the Kings power and interest in spiritualibus are proper such proofs let us heare Ambrose and Athanasius indeed say directly that Emperours have no right over divine things nor power over sacred things but they are very briefe and give no reason for their allegations nor doe they leave us satisfied in their true meanings The persons and offices of Kings were ever held sacred and if that which is sacred be not spirituall it were good that the difference were set forth between them Palaces are for Princes and Temples for Priests but palaces are not the sole interest of Princes so as that they are excluded thereby from all power in Temples nor is this a good result because priests may not move in the Civill Orbe therefore Princes may not in the Ecclesiasticall But Nazianzen is more full and expressive of his reasons and those reasons also are further pressed by Bishop Bilson let us bend our forces thither Nazianzen concludes the regiment of Priests to be more perfect and excellent then that of Princes and compares it to that of the soule over the body because things committed to the priests charge are heavenly and spirituall whereas Kings he sayes have in their power things earthly and bodi●y He takes three things here for granted First that the office of a Priest is as properly and truly a power and rule as that of Princes Secondly that the rule of Princes extends only to earthly things Thirdly whatsoever may be spoken of the whole order of Priesthood that he applyes to every particular Priest And thus hee seems to attribute a greater sanctitie not only intensive but extensive also to any priest then to any Prince The glosse of Bilson also hereupon is That Priests governe the souls of men and dispense the mysteries of God whereas Princes are set to rule the bodies of their Subjects and to dispose the things of this life And therefore if the fruits and effects of their callings be compared the Preachers he sayes passes that of Princes by many degrees of excellence and perfection God giving earthly food and peace by the Prince but heavenly grace and life by the Word and Sacraments which wee receive from the mouthes and hands of his Messengers As to externall power and corporall compulsion So Preachers are servants to their brethren Princes are Lords over them Preachers may reprove threaten but Princes must seize the goods and chastise the bodies of offenders Preaches may shut the gates of Heaven against non-repentants Princes must root them from the face of the earth and inflict the just vengeance of their sins in this world And whereas the Princes and Preachers functions concurre in ghostly and heavenly things that the Preacher declareth and the Prince establisheth the word of truth yet the Preachers service in these cases excelleth the Princes for that the word in the Preachers mouth ingendreth faith and winneth the soule unto God to serve him with a willing minde whereas the Sword in the Princes hand striketh only a terrour into

Excommunicate as they pretend yet this concludes not that they may excommunicate Princes We know the Primitives did use excommunication very moderatly and tenderly and not without great policy and respect had to the good of the Church and therefore Saint Aug. openly avers that excommunication is a proud pernicious and sacrilegious attempt when it is denounced against any considerable number of people ubi periculum sit schismatis We must know that it is of worse example when it is used against Princes than diverse other great bodies and societies in as much as one Prince is of more consequence and power than thousands of other Lay-men We know also that in all judgments there is a necessity of legall tryall to precede conviction and that great multitudes may be convented examin'd sentenced and punished with lesse disturbance of peace lesse violation of Majestie and lesse obstruction to policy than those which sway the Ball imperiall And if the condemnation of Princes might bee upon due tryalls without violence yet the execution of the sentence would produce more grievous and rigorous events in them than in private men for how shall the people honour obey and worship him in the State as Gods Lievtenan● whom they see accursed cut off and abhorred in the Church as the Devils Vassall That which was obtruded upon private men at first as a wholsom Corrosive plaister for their spirits declined after into corporall penances and after that into pecuniary mults but what have beene the sufferings of private men in comparison of that which Princes have lost hereby to the Clergie Vpon the Excommunication of Princes whole Nations have bin interdicted whole States ruined the innocent with the obstinate the Prince with the people all have bin sacrificed to bloud thirsty Priests under pretence of Obedience to the holy Church It will be objected that if Princes be not this way punishable they are no other way punishable and that it is very mischievous in the Church that there should be any scandall given and no meanes left for its purgation and expiation I answer The Iewish Kings did sinne in the most offencive manner that can be imagined yet God assigned no spirituall Rulers for their Castigation and the Heathen Emperors were also free from any coercive restraint or punishment and this God suffered and we must suppose that if it had bin so extremely and publikely mischievous God would not have suffered it Besides in civill transgressions of the Law Priests doe not usually clayme jurisdiction though Saint Ambrose vindicated murder upon Theodosius for so their power would be as temporall and as large as the Princes and yet there is no reason why God should not have left a judicatory to punish civill violations in all men whatsoever as well as Ecclesiasticall In the last place also if scandal shal not remaine unpunishable in the supreme temporall Magistrate yet it shall in the spirituall and that is a mischiefe of the same nature as the other For if the King shall abide the judgement of this Bishop or that Consistory yet what judgment shal that Bishop or Consistory abide If this spirituall supremacy rest in any one that one must be unpunishable for two supremes are things incompatible and if this supremacy rest in more than one this is not consistent with Monarchy for either the one or the other must be predominant and transcendent We reade that lustinian did command the Clergy to be proceeded against by excommunication suspension and deprivation and we cannot deny this to be his right and all other Princes in the like manner when misdemeanours are scandalous in the highest Cleargy-men or Consistores and we know that such command and constraint in Iustinian is more than to excommunicate suspend or deprive We may justly therefore inferre that Iustinian having a power above excommunication ought not himselfe to be excommunicated by those which were under his power for so the excommunication of the inferior would disable the excommunication of the superior And since excommunication cannot be promiscuously and oppositely used by two one against the other without variance and confusion but either the one or the other must be above excommunication it is more reasonable that the higher bee exempted and priviledged than the lower And so it is a stronge argument that Princes are not liable to excommunication because even in the power of excommunication it selfe their function is more excellent and their power more sublime than theirs is which excommunicate under them and at their command the Prince doing herein the nobler office quantum qui navem temperat anteit Remigis officium but when it is argued against Princes that they may be excommunicated by Priests because they beare offices lesse sacred and serve God in places lesse glorious than Priests the grounds are here utterly false and repugnant to all right reason and sound Divinity Let us not then doubt to submit all things under one supreme on Earth submitting him to his supreme in Heaven For it is no small thing as we imagine in such case to be left to the searching judgment of God for God is not negligent of his office therein nor need we doubt or hold our selves utterly remedilesse whilst we can say truly Omne sub regno graviore regnum est And let us not mistake our supreme on earth for if God had intended to have left us a spirituall sword and miraculous judicatory under the Gospell never before knowne or usefull to the world and that of perpetuall necessity doubtlesse he would have left us some cleere command in Scripture and not have involved his meaning in metaphors so intricate and ambiguous THe next argument against the Soveraigne Dignity of Kings is this If servants are to be measured by the degree of their Master whom they serve they are the greatest servants which serve Christ But Ministers serve Christ Ergo This can decide nothing for Princes and Priests serving both the same Master The argument hath the same force for Princes and for Priests and if it be further said that Christ as a Priest is greater than Christ as a Prince and that Princes therefore serving under him as a Prince are not so great as Priests serving under him as a Priest I shall deny that to bee so for Christ as Mediator was inferior to his Father and all workes of his regiment over the Church are not done by him as Mediator but doe belong to his Kingly Office and as to his Kingly power He is equall with the Father THe next Argument therefore of truer force is this There can be no office more sacred or dignity more excellent then such as is signified under these glorious Titles of Gods Starres Angels Embassadors Rulers Fathers Stewards Pastors Leaders Teachers but these glorious Titles are applyed to Ministers Ergo Wee will acknowledge all these Honourable badges given to Ministers and duely given and wee will acknowledge these no empty words without truth and so make words and things

men to refraine the outward act but reformeth not the secrets of the heart This is Bilson's sense and I thinke the sense of almost all our Divines by this is Nazianzen fully seconded and abetted for first the true and proper rule of priests is not only asserted but also explained for it gives grace and life by the Word and Sacraments it reproves and threatens it shuts the gate of Heaven against Non-repentants Secondly the rule of princes is lesned and that by this instance for that the preacher winneth soules to a willing service but the prince by externall terrour restraineth only from the outward act of sin And thirdly his comparison is indefinite betweene Prince and preacher that which is implyed of Priest in generall hee seemeth to apply to every priest in particular I must frame my answer to every particular Power and Dominion of it selfe is divine and adde but infinite or absolute to it it is Divinitie it selfe Nothing is more desirable to man or more adequate to the aymes of intelligent creatures then power the Angels in Heaven are known to us by the Names of Thrones and Principalities Heaven it self is knowne to us by the name of a Kingdome and our best devotion to God consists in ascribing to him honour worship subjection c. and the first and greatest sin of men and Angels was an aspiring to undue Power and excellence Absolute perfection and blessednesse is the Unitie of the Godhead and that Unitie must needs subsist in absolute power absolute wisdome and absolute goodnesse Absolute power also in order of Nature according to mans understanding as a Father gives being to absolute wisdome as both give being to absolute Goodnesse Whatsoever is in God must needs be God and of the same substance indivisible and so infinite wisdome and infinite Goodnesse must needs be coeternall and consubstantiall with infinite power yet this excludes not all order of distinction and according to order of distinction it is more proportionable to our capacitie that infinite Wisdome should derive its divine generation from infinite power then infinite power from infinite Wisdome Unitie of perfect blessednesse cannot comprehend any thing more then this Trinity neither can it comprehend any thing lesse and therfore though this word Trinity cannot have any relation to the essence of God or to his works ad extra which flow from the essence yet to his persons it may and to his internall operations wherein one person is more generative then another And according to these internal operations of the Deitie we ought to speak after the manner of men to ascribe prioritie of Order to infinite power the first person of the Godhead in as much as wee cannot conceive but that God is rather wise as he is powerfull and Good as hee is both powerfull and wise then that hee is powerfull as hee is wise or wise and powerfull as he is good Having premised these things in generall concerning power and dominion and the excellence thereof I am come now to see what that power and Dominion is which Churchmen clayme to themselves Our Hierarchists use the words Power and regiment to describe all their actions and employments the Power of Order the Power of Jurisdiction the Power of the Word and Sacraments and the Power of the Keys all their spirituall Offices and Faculties are expressed in commanding and high terms that they may seem to owe no subordination or dependence to any above themselves And this art they further use when they would prove the excellence of their spirituall rule they derive it from preaching and the subordinate Offices of the Ministery but when they would exercise their rule then they alleage that to rule over Preachers is more greater then to preach because the spirits of men are properly subject to no rule and because preaching though it be one of Gods most effectuall Ordinances yet is no proper rule but a service rather therefore they lay hold of Ecclesiasticall juridiction for proofe of their holy spirituall rule And yet because Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction is of it selfe no such divine sublime thing as the ministration of the Word and Sacraments nor so incompetent for Princes as to the use of it therefore their proofs are chiefly grounded upon the ordinances of the Word and Sacraments but this slight imposture cannot so delude us for either Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction is more sacred and spirituall then the ministration of the Word and Sacraments or not if it be then these arguments drawne from the Word and Sacraments are impertinent The question is whether Princes be capable of such jurisdiction or not and this proves not the incapacity of Princes this only proves the honour of such capacitie but on the other side if it be not yet there is the same impertinence for if priests challenge to themselves power in things more excellent and holy this excludes not Princes from things lesse excellent and holy but wee shall not need to stick here The papists themselves doe acknowledge that to preach c. is lesse then to rule and to prescribe Laws to preachers c. and Bilson makes a plaine confession that the Sacerdotall Office is rather Ministeriall then Imperiall and that such reverence and subjection as is due in spirituall affaires from Princes is not due to the persons of priests but to the Ordinances of God and to the graces of the Church For says hee the word is to be submitted to in the mouths of Prophets and the Ordinances are to be honoured in the administration of Priests but the persons of Prophets and Priests must not be objects to terminate this submission and honour God is to be honoured in the service of his Ministers not the Ministers in Gods stead for in these services there is the same honour due to GOD from Ministers themselves as from Lay-men And therefore wee see if the greater Priest heare the word c. from the lesse this does not sanctifie the lesse above the greater as it would if sanctitie did rest in the person and not in the Ordinance or if it did not passe from the actor or instrument to the Author and Ordainer himselfe I thinke wee may therefore proceed now from this that power and Government is a thing in it selfe most awfull and honourable to this that the truest owners thereof next under God whom the Church ever look't upon as Gods immediate Vicegerents and Deputies thereof are Princes Saint Peter 1. 2. writing to the Church in the time of a Heathen and impious Emperour commands every soul to be subject to the higher powers He acknowledges power in a very Nero and that to be the higher power and to that higher power of that Nero he subjects every soule Christian and Heathen Priest and Laymen For the same cause also the primitives in Tertullians mouth make this humble profession Colimus imperatorem ut hominem à Deo secundum solo Deo minorem this profession was made under the