Selected quad for the lemma: word_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
word_n	feed_v	peter_n	sheep_n	4,057	5	9.4959	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56257	Of the nature and qualification of religion in reference to civil society written by Samuel Puffendorff ... ; which may serve as an appendix to the author's Duty of men ; translated from the original.; De habitu religionis Christianae ad vitam civilem. English	Pufendorf, Samuel, Freiherr von, 1632-1694.; Crull, J. (Jodocus), d. 1713?; Pufendorf, Samuel, Freiherr von, 1632-1694. De officio hominis et civis.	1698 (1698)	Wing P4180; ESTC R6881	106,116	202

publick unless with Consent or at least Connivance of the Higher Powers who may put a stop to them at Pleasure But the Case is quite different with the Apostles who having received their Commission of Teaching from Christ the same cannot be annulled by any Civil Power so as to oblige them either to be silent or to alter their Doctrine when commanded neither can they be esteemed disobedient or rebellious if they refuse in this Point to follow the Commands of Civil Magistrates It is very remarkable what Christ spoke to his Apostles by way of Preface when he was just going to put them into Possession of their Office Th●se were his Words All Power is given unto me in Heaven Mat. 28. 18. and in Earth And that this Power might not be mistaken for a Temporal Authority as exercised by Sovereigns over their Subjects but to be understood of the Power of leading Mankind and shewing them the true Way to Salvation plainly appears out of our Saviour's Words when he speaks thus concerning himself to his heavenly Father As thou hast given S. Joh. 17. 2 3. him power over all Flesh that he should give eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him And this is eternal Life that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent And in St. Luke He that heared you heared me and he that despised you despised me 10 16. and he that despised me despised him that sent me The holy Apostles therefore could not by any Civil Power on Earth be absolved from this Command of Preaching the Doctrine of Christ throughout the World and Baptizing such as received this Doctrine They were instructed with the Gift of doing Miracles as a Proof of their Authority and Verity of their Doctrine which being now sufficiently propogated and received by so many these Miriacles are become useless Like it is the Custom in some Countries that new Laws are published under the Sound of Trumpets which is never repeated after the first Promulgation They having then received their Authority from Christ it was a vain Expropration which was made to St. Paul by the Athenians when they said What will this Babler say Neither Act. 17. 18. could they be justly punished because they went about to abolish the antiently received Rites and Ceremonies And when they were commanded to desist from spreading their Doctrine they might legally refuse to be obedient in this Case For they ought to obey God Acts 4. 19. 5. 29. rather than Men Nay they were rather to undergo corporal Punishment than to renounce the Doctrine of Christ And those Princes Mat. 10. 28 32 3● that violently opposed the Christian Doctrine are so far from having exercised a legal Civil Authority that they have rather made themselves guilty of a most enormous Crime against the Divine Majesty by violating his Legats or Ministers it being sufficiently known that publick Ministers sent by Temporal Princes are esteemed inviolable The Apostles never assumed a Power to Command § 20. Besides this Power of Preaching the Gospel even in opposition to any Civil Command there is nothing to be met withal in the whole Apostolical Doctrine that has the least resemblance of Command or force 'T is not to be denied but that sometimes Teaching cannot so well be performed without something of Force or Command especially among young People But this has its off-spring from the Paternal Authority and is from ●h●nce derived unto others But the Apostles were to Teach whole Nations such as were independent from others and past all School Discipline And what could one single Body or perhaps two and that without Weapons pretend to do by Force against whole Nations and Commonwealths It was therefore That the Apostle said The Weapons of our Warfare are not carnal but mighty 2 Cor. 10. 4. 5. through God to the pulling down of Strong-holds casting down Imaginations and every high thing that exalted it self against the Knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every Thought to the obedience of Christ And these Weapons are more plainly described in the foregoing 6 Chap. to be Patience Tribulations Necessities Destresses ● Cor. 6. 4. seq Stripes Imprisonments Labours Fastings Watchings Pureness Knowledge Kindness the Holy Ghost unseigned Love the Word of Truth the Power of God the Armour of Righteousness and such like as may more at large appear out of several places especially out of the Epistle to the Ephes 6. 11 out of the 2 d. to the Corinth 8. 8 9 7. to the Coloss 1. 23 25 and out of the 2 d. to the Thessal 3. 12 14 15. Luk. 14. ● 3. 'T is true in the Parallel of the great Supper the Master of the Feast orders his Servants to go out and compel them to come into his House which is as much to say as to oblige them to come in but not by forcible Means or Threatnings or to pull them in by Head and Shoulders but in such a manner as was suitable to an invitation to so great a Feast by Prayers and Exhortations and making them sensible of the Majesty and Greatness both of the Master and the Feast In the same manner as St. Paul expresses it We are Ambassadours 2 Cor. 5. 20. for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God And what can be more evident than that Ambassadours never pretend to any Authority over those unto whom they are sent but that their Negotiations ought to be accomplished by force of Reason and Perswasions The word also of feeding which is used by St. John implies nothing of Command Chap. 21. but only the due Administration of Food especially since our Saviour told expresly to Peter Feed my sheep not thine lest he should be apt to imagine by the said words he had liberty given him to use his Flock according to his own Discretion But to make him sensible he was bound up to the same Rules Gen. 31. 38 39 40. Mat. 10. 14 23. which the Patriarch Jacob had formerly prescribed to himself Lastly our Saviour is very plain in this Point when he says And whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your Words when you depart out of that House or City shake off the Dust of your Feet leaving them to receive condign Punishment for this Contempt of the Gospel at the Day of Judgment This was actually performed by St. Paul at Antiocha and Acts 13. 50 51. 18 6. Corinth But those Rules which are prescribed in the 1 Epistle to the Corinthians Chap. 11. from v. 2 to 22 23 24 and 1 Corinth Chap. 14 as also in Tim. 2. 8 Ver. Chap. 5. 9 Ver. and some other passages of the same nature do not imply any Command or Legislative Power but are only Moral Precepts and Points of Doctrine § 21. But it may perhaps be objected That Whether the power of