Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	catholic_n	church_n	visible_a	3,605	5	9.5506	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60758	Some additional remarks on the late book of the Reverend Dean of St. Pauls by a conformable clergy-man.	Conformable clergy-man.	1681 (1681)	Wing S4471; ESTC R37573	30,505	38

and Censures and I am very well content they have them provided they will or can discharge them But of the impossibility of that I am past doubt for though the Diocesses of our English Bishops be not so great as that of the Pope which the Dr. acknowledges to be too great and spacious yet I think they are too large for their management and that the duty incumbent on them with respect unto them is utterly impracticable Mount Athos Polion or Ossa are neither of them so great as the Globe of the earth yet they are all burthens utterly insupportable Whether the Dr. will allow this multiplication of Bishops or Suffragans rather that the name Bishop may not become too common and so become less venerable I cannot tell I find him in many places of his Book and in his Preface very jealous of the honour of our Reformation and positively resolved never to condemn the Constitution of this Church nor the lawfulness of the Ceremonies hitherunto practised in it vide Pref. p. 89. I have my self a very great esteem for the Reformation of this Church and a mighty honour for the great and incomparable Hero's that were the Reformers of it but 't is no disparagement to say they were but men though the greatest men nor is it any Reproach to the Reformation to say it was imperfect The Learned and Pious Dr. Burnet hath observed divers defects and imperfections in it and I know not how they can be denied and to speak the truth concerning it is not to reproach it And what if it should be said that among others 't was an imperfection in our Reformation that the number of Bishops was not increased so far as that they might be sufficient for the work and duty incumbent on them Can a Bishop inspect the Clergy in a Diocess of the present dimensions can he exercise the Censures of the Church upon all the culpable delinquents in it can he confirm all the Children in it can he ordain Priests for all the Parishes therein with that circumspection wariness and care which was observed by the primitive Bishops and which the honour of this Church the Christian Religion and the salvation of souls doth require Doth the Reverend Dr. think those things can be done by any the most diligent and industrious Bishop on earth I dare say he cannot think it possible and if he doth not think it possible I would enquire further of him whether he does not think it very necessary and desirable that all this work were put into more hands that they may be capable of performing it for till then I am much assured it can never be done however necessary or desirable it may be These things being said I will now add I shall never desire the Dr. to condemn the Constitution of this Church nor will I brlieve many of the Nonconformists desire him to do it but I would humbly desire him to put to his helping hand for the amendment and perfecting of it and to perfect and compleat it is not to condemn it 't is only to confess it a little short of that perfection that it may attain and what great work is perfect of a sudden at its birth into the world In brief Diocesan Episcopacy I like and that 's the Constitution of this Church and so doth Mr. B. for ought that I can see but I would fain have more Bishops not to controul Episcopal Power but to assist in the performance of Episcopal Duty Page 301. The Dr. undertakes to confute what Mr. B. had said viz. that wherever there is the true notion of a Church there must be a constitutive regent part i. e. a standing governing power which is an essential part of it and this he promises to do from Mr. B. himself How well he hath done it let the Reader judg by what the Author of the Peaceable Design hath replied to him upon this Subject But the Dr. infers from what Mr. B. had said of the necessity of a Regent Head to every Church as followeth And so Mr. B's Constitutive Regent part of a Church hath done the Pope a wonderful kindness and made a very plausible plea for his universal Pastorship But there are some men in the world who do not attend to the advantages they give to Popery so they may vent their spleen against the Church of England To which I answer Mr. B's Constitutive Regent part of a Church hath done the Pope no kindness at all for another visible Head may be assigned to the Catholick Church and that is the holy Jesus he is both the visible and invisible Head thereof he is unto it both a Head of government and a Head of influence he governs it by his Laws and by the influence of his Spirit and hath appointed inferiour officers for the government and direction of it according to his own institutions and though he be not seen by mortals here below yet he is visible and that is enough to constitute him the visible Head of the Catholick visible Church There are some Kingdoms that never see their Prince and in all Kingdoms multitudes of Subjects that never lay their eyes on him and yet he is never the less their Civil visible Head But there are some men in the world that will take very small occasions to signifie their displeasure against Mr. B. and what hath he done to deserve their lash and why must he be the Subject of these most twinging Satyrs they are the words of a late Author and what is the spleen that he vents against the Church of England that makes their choler to ferment and boyl 'T is true Mr. B. doth with a brave and generous courage rebuke what he thinks amiss in the gnvernours and government of the Church of England he speaks plainly and without respect of persons he flatters none nor fawns upon none but indifferently reproves whatever he thinks worthy of it in whomsoever it be And if this be to vent his spleen against the Church of England I think he hath very venerable patterns and examples for it both in the Old Testament and the New as this Learned Dr. very well knows If it should be said that Mr. B. reproves where there is no fault I answer I should much rejoice if this were true and I believe so would Mr. B. as well as I but he must shut his eyes against the mid-day light that thinks there is no fault in the Government of this Church or nothing worthy of the plainest and most keen reproofs therein 'T were very easie to name many things if a man delighted to rake in Sinks and Kennels I mean the proceedings in the Spiritual Courts Page 302. The Dr. tells us that Mr. B. had said in his Answer to his Sermon that he would fain learn of him what those rules and ties are which make a National Church whether divine or humane If it be a divine rule we says Mr. B. are of the National