Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	authority_n	church_n	scripture_n	9,317	5	6.6427	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42758	An assertion of the government of the Church of Scotland in the points of ruling-elders and of the authority of presbyteries and synods with a postscript in answer to a treatise lately published against presbyteriall government.	Gillespie, George, 1613-1648.	1641 (1641)	Wing G745; ESTC R16325	120,649	275

about the controversie betwixt Boaz and the other Kinsman not as Judges but as witnesses and beholders that the matter might bee done with the more gravity and respect Which doth further appeare from vers 9.11 In like manner wee answer to Deut. 21.19 the Judges decided that cause with advice and counsell of the Elders and so the name of Elders in those places may bee a name not of office but of dignity signifying men of chiefe note for wisedome gravity and experience In which sense the word Elders is taken Gen. 50.7 as Tostatus and Rivetus expound that place In the same manner we say of Deuter. 19.12 and in that case it is further to bee remembred that the Cities of refuge had a kinde of a sacred designation and use for the Altar it selfe was sometimes a place of refuge Exod. 21.14 and when the sixe Cities of refuge were appointed they were of the Cities of the Levits Numb 35.6 that by the judgement and counsell of the Levits who should best understand the Law of God such controversies might be determined as Pellicanus on that place saith well for this cause some read Josh. 20.7 They sanctified Kedesh c. Besides if it bee true that these causes were judged not in the City where the murder was committed but in the City of refuge as Serrarius holdeth with Masius and Montanus and alledgeth for it some very considerable reasons then doth Bilsons Argument from Deut. 19.12 faile also in this respect for the Elders there mentioned are the Elders of the City where the murder was committed CHAP. IV. The second Argument taken from Matth. 18.17 OUR second argument we take from Matth. 18.17 Tell the Church Let an obstinate offender whom no admonition doth amend bee brought and judged by the Church Where first of all it is to bee condescended upon That though hee speaketh by allusion to the Jewish Church as is evident by these words Let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a Publican Yet hee meaneth of the Christian Church when he saith Tell the Church as may appeare by the words following Whatsoever ye bind on earth c. which is meant of the Apostles and Ministers of ●he Gospell Joh. 20.23 so that hee did not send them to the Synedrium of the Jewes when hee bade them tell the Church nor 2. doth hee meane of the Church universall for then we should have none of our wrongs redressed because wee cannot assemble the Church universall nay nor the representative of it which is an Oecumenicke Councell Nor 3. can wee underderstand it of the collective body of a particular Church or Congregation for hee who is the God of order not of confusion hath committed the exercise of no Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction to a promiscuous multitude Nor 4. can it be taken of a Prelate who being but one can no more be called the Church nor one can be called many or a member be called a body Non enim una persona potest dici Ecclesia saith Bell. de Eccles. l. 3. c. 17. Cum Ecclesia sit populus regnum Dei. It is plaine that the Church there spoken of is a certaine number met together Where two or three are gathered together c. Nor 5. can wee with Erastus and Bilson expound it of the Christian Magistrate which exposition beside that in a new-fangled language it calleth the Magistrate the Church and goeth about to overthrow all Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction It is also utterly contrary to the purpose of Christ and to the aime of that discipline which he recommendeth to bee used which is the good of our brother and the gaining of him from his offence whereas the exercise of civill jurisdiction of the Magistrate is not intended for te● good of the offender and for the winning of him to repentance but for the publike good of the Common-wealth and for the preservation of peace order and justice therein according to the lawes Wherefore by the Church whereof our master speaketh we must needs understand such a representative meeting of the Church wherein a scandalous and obstinate person may and ought to be judged And what is that Collegium Presbyterorum saith Camero The Presbytery whereof mention is made 1 Tim. 4.14 Tell the Church that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chrysostome expounding the place he meaneth the Presbyterie made up of Pastors and ruling Elders And so Zanchius and Iunius expound him The Pastors were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of their presiding in the Consistories of the Church The ruling Elders were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of their ruling the flocke Whitgift saith Truth it is that the place of Matthew may be understood of Seniors but it may bee aswell understood of any other that by the order of the Church have authority in the Church His confession in behalfe of Seniors we accept but that he maketh this Scripture like a nose of waxe and the government of the Church like the French fashion that we utterly abhorre But how is the Presbytery called the Church and why First even as the body is said to see when as the eyes alone doe see so saith Camero The Church is said to heare that which they alone doe heare who are as the eies of the Church Secondly it is a common forme of speech to give the name of that which is represented to that which representeth it So wee commonly say that this or that is done by the States of Holland which is done by the Senate at Hague Now though Bishops or Pastors alone cannot represent the Church because hearers also belong to the definition of the Church yet the Presbytery can well represent the Church because it containeth beside those who labour in the word ruling Elders put in authority by the Church for the government thereof as Gerard rightly resolveth Our Divines prove against Papists that some of these whom they call Laickes ought to have place in the Assemblies of the Church by this Argument among the rest because otherwise the whole Church could not be thereby represented Thirdly the Lord commanded that the children of Israel should lay their hands upon the Levits at their consecration and that the whole congregation should bee brought together for that effect This as some have observed out of Aben-Ezra cannot bee so understood as if the many thousands which were then in the Hoste of Israel had all laid their hands upon them but the Elders of Israel onely representing them So the Lord saith speake to all the Congregattion of Israel c. But the execution of this command is expressed thus Then Moses called for all the Elders of Israel and said unto them c. So Josh. 20.6 Fourthly Pastors and Elders as they are the Ministers of Jesus Christ so are they the Ministers and servants of his Spouse the Church From that which hath beene said we may draw our Argument in this forme Whatsoever Courts doe

flocke according to this glosse for Peter opposeth the Lording over the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to being ensamples to the Flocke Surely if this Popish Glosse bee true Protestants in their Commentaries and Sermons have gone wide from that Text. But Matthias the Apostle was chosen by lot What then By what reason doth the Canon law draw from hence a name common to all the Ministers of the Gospell Let 〈◊〉 then banish from us such Popish names and send them home to Rome Bellarmin thought we had done so long ere now for he maketh this one of his controverted heads Whether wee may rightly call some Christians the Clergie and others the Laity or not ascribing the negative to Protestants the affirmative to the Church of Rome Yet beside the Clergy and the Laity Papists hold that there is a third sort in the Church distinct from both whom they call Regulares These are such of their religious orders as are not taken up with contemplation alone like the Monkes but with action such as the Dominicans Franciscans c. Who helpe and assist the Clergy in their Ecclesiasticall imployments though they themselves bee not admitted into any particular charge in the Church Now hee who will needs side with the Papists in the distinction of Clergy and Laity may also with them admit a third member of the distinction and make ruling Elders of that sort especially since the reason why the regular Chanoins are assumed as helpers to Parish Priests is propter multitudinem fidelis populi difficultatem inven●endi curatos sufficientes idoneos saith Cardinall Cajetan adding further male consultum populo Christiano invenitur sine hujusmodi supplemento Which reasons agree well to ruling Elders For 1. Parishes containe so many that the Minister cannot oversee all and every one without helpe 2. Sufficient and fit Ministers shall hardly bee every where found 3. It is found by experience that sinne and scandall are never well taken neede to and redressed where ruling Elders are not To let all this passe if any man will needs retaine the name of Lay Elders yet saith Gersomus Bucerus What aspersion is that to our Churches is it any other thing then that which Papists object to us for admitting Lay men into Councels They who have place in the highest and most supreame assemblies of the Church wherein the weightiest matters are determined ought much more to be admitted into inferiour meetings such as Presbyteries are But if we will speake with Scripture wee shall call them Ruling Elders Rom. 12.8 he that ruleth 1 Tim. 5.17 Elders that rule well They are called ruling Elders non quia soli sed quia solum praesunt Pastors rule the Church even as they doe but Pastors doe something more from which they may bee designed Whereas the Elders of which wee are to speake have no other imployment which can give them a designation except the ruling of the Church onely That wicked railer Lisim●chus Nicanor who assumed the name but forgot to put on the vizorne of a Jesuit in his congratulatory I should say calumniatory Epistle pag. 61. alledgeth that they are called ruling Elders because the Ministers are their ruled Elders If he were a Jesuit he may remember that in their own society besides their Priests Doctors Preachers Confessionaries c. They have also Rectores or Regentes whose office it is to see the rules of their order kept to observe the behaviour of every one when they perceive any seeds of Heresie to signifie the same to the Provinciall and hee to the Generall Yet are these Rectores among the lowest rankes of their officers so that Jesuites need not stumble when wee call our Eldersruling Elders CHAP. II. Of the function of Ruling Elders and what sort of Officers they be NOtwithstanding of all the multiplicity of Popish orders yet Peter Lombard treading the vestiges of the primitive simplicity did observe that the Apostles left only two sacred orders to bee perpetuall in the Church the order of Deacons the order of Elders The administration of Deacons is exercised about things bodily The administration of Elders about things spirituall The former about the goods the latter about the government of the Church Now Elders are of three sorts 1. Preaching Elders or Pastors 2. Teaching Elders or Doctors 3. Ruling Elders All these are Elders because they have voice in Presbyteries and all assemblies of the Church and the government of the Church is incumbent to them all nor onely to the Pastor and Elder but to the Doctor also The Bishop of Dune in his examen conjurationis Scoticae p. 35. alledgeth that our Church of Scotland did never yet determine whether Doctors and Deacons have right of voycing in the Consistories Assemblies of the Church But had he read our booke of Policie hee might have found that it excludeth Deacons from being members of Presbyteries and Assemblies Cap. 8. but admitteth Doctors into the same Cap. 5. The Doctor being an Elder as said is should assist the Pastor in the government of the Kirke and concurre with the Elders his brethren in all Assemblies by reason the Interpretation of the Word which is onely Iudge in Ecclesiasticall matters is committed to his charge But they differ in that the Pastor laboureth in the word of exhortation that is by the gift of wisedome applieth the word to the manners of his flocke and that in season and out of season as he knoweth their particular cases to require The Doctor laboureth in the word of Doctrine that is without such applications as the Pastor useth by simple teaching he preserveth the truth and sound interpretation of the Scriptures against all heresie and error The ruling Elder doth neither of these but laboureth in the government and policie of the Church onely The Apostle hath distinguished these three sorts of Elders 1. Tim. 5.17 Let Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour especially they who labour in the Word and Doctrine Where as Beza noteth hee distinguisheth the Word which is the Pastors part from Doctrine which is the Doctors part Even as Rom. 12.7.8 hee distinguisheth teaching from exhortation and 1 Cor. 12.8 putteth the word of wisedome and the word of knowledge for two different things Now beside those Elders which labour in the Word and those which labour in Doctrine Paul speaketh to Timothy of a third sort of Elders which labour neither in the Word nor Doctrine but in ruling well Hence it appeareth how truely the Booke of Policie Cap. 2. saith That there are foure ordinary perpetuall and necessary Offices in the Church the office of the Pastor the Doctor the Elder and the Deacon and that no other office which is not one of these foure ought to bee received or suffered in the Church But when we speake of Elders Non personatos c. we will not have disguised and histrionicall men puffed up with titles or idols