Ecclesiastical affairs

“ It is the ambiguity of this single word which misleads people. Let us attend to it in its Romanist and in its Protestant acceptation. In the Roman Catholic acceptation, the word “church " means the clergy as distinguished from the laity—not that it excludes the laity; but it implies that the supreme rule in ecclesiastical affairs has been committed by God, not to them, but to the priests. And here the doctrine of the apostolical succession bears out the pretension. But in the Protestant acceptation, the word “church" means very nearly the reverse of this ”

“ In matters ecclesiastical we believe, first, that civil magistrates have no power to make or constitute laws about church affairs, which the Lord Jesus hath not ordained in his word for the well-ordering of the church; for the apostle solemnly chargeth Timothy, and in him all governors of the church, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, that the commandment given by him for the ordering of the church be kept without spot, unrebukeable, to the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Tim. ”

“ Such is the spirit of government under the priesthood: it may be summed up in this: men are to be taught correct principles and then govern themselves. [99]
3. The Church.—From the gospel and the priesthood comes the church. The church is the medium through which the gospel is promulgated—by which it is made known among the children of men. It is the system of government by which those who accept the gospel are controlled in things religious. It is the government of God on earth pertaining to religious affairs. ”

“ Whereupon oftentimes the worldly princes do grant the bare use of the church, and oftentimes use power to exercise justice, which the clergy cannot; exercise by any ecclesiastical minister, or any other person of the clergy. ”

“ As the real founder of the ecclesiastical state, he must be held mainly responsible for the evils which resulted from the policy of the church in exalting the ecclesiastical over the secular authority. ”

“ If we regard the Constitutions as a production of the third century, (containing remnants of earlier compositions,) the work possesses a certain kind of value. It contributes to give us an insight into the state of Christian faith, the condition of the clergy and inferior ecclesiastical officers, the worship and discipline of the Church, and other particulars, at the period to which the composition is referred. The growth of episcopal power and influence, and the derivation of the episcopal authority from the apostles, is here clearly shown. ”

“ To settle difficulties, then, which may arise between members on the one hand, and to enforce church discipline on the other, there exists in the church an ecclesiastical judiciary system, that is most admirably adapted to answer the purposes for which it exists. ”

“ His theory, which marks the culminating point of English sacerdotalism, represents the episcopate and episcopally ordained clergy as a spiritual power co-ordinate with the temporal power, and associated with it in a federal union, the regal supremacy in matters ecclesiastical being treated as a mere derivative from the papal usurpation. ”

“ Churches, on the other hand, whatever the varying principle on which the system is based, or the difference in its practical application, the essential conditions are that the ecclesiastical law is also the law of the land, the decisions of the church courts being enforced by the civil power. ”

“ Although many things are introduced here in the topic of Ecclesiastical Power, with greater bitterness than is just, yet it must be declared that to most reverend bishops and priests, and to the entire clergy, all ecclesiastical power is freely conceded that belongs to them by law or custom. ”

“ It is quite clear that those words contemplate that there are or may be persons who ' shall pretend to be priests, &c.,' and shall 'have ecclesiastical living' in some diocese 'by reason of some other form of consecration or ordering' than the one contained in the Book of Common Prayer, and to such persons the Act prescribes, not re-ordaining, but that they shall, in the presence of the ordinary, declare and subscribe their assent to the Articles. ”

“ Following the statutes of the holy fathers, as, in the former councils which by the mercy of God Ave have held, we decreed concerning the ordering of ecclesiastical dignities, so also now we decree and confirm: that, if any one henceforth shall receive a bishopric or abbey from the hand of any lay person, he shall by no means be considered as among the number of the bishops or abbots ”

“ If any parishes are established in the houses of the mighty, and the clergy who serve there have been admonished by the archdeacon of the city, according to the duty of his office, and they neglect to do what they ought to do for the Church, because under the protection of the lord of the house, let them be corrected according to the ecclesiastical discipline ”

“ God hath commanded, that unto the civil power every soul, or all members of the commonwealth, of what condition and estate soever, be subject; for what have we to do with the Papists, who will have them whom they call the clergy or ecclesiastical persons, to be free from the yoke of the civil magistrate? The ecclesiastical power extends itself to none other subjects than unto those which are called brethren, or members of the church. ”

“ That the Holy Catholic Church is artfully constituted to subjugate all secular and ecclesiastical power under its authority, and that its object is not to advance the interests of moral goodness, but to acquire temporal dominion, must be admitted by every one that fully comprehends the principles upon which its religious Orders are organized. These Orders were founded by Catholic saints and Bishops. ”

“ Benefit of clergy began with the claim on the part of the ecclesiastical authorities in the 12th century that every clericus should be exempt from the jurisdiction of the temporal courts and be subject to the spiritual courts alone. ”

“ No person, whether lay or cleric, shall have the right to receive and harbor any such deserters. You shall have your altars and churches consecrated, your clergy ordained, and your other ecclesiastical matters attended to by the bishop of the diocese [in which you may happen to be] , provided that he is in the favor and communion of the Roman church, and he shall not wish to charge you anything for these services. Otherwise, you may secure the services of any catholic bishop. When you, who are now the master of the order, die, the brothers shall have the right to elect your successor. ”

“ The practice, under the Roman empire, of making the areas of ecclesiastical administration very exactly coincide with those of the civil administration, was continued in the organization of the church beyond the borders of the empire, and many dioceses to this day preserve the limits of long vanished political divisions. ”

“ As a term of ecclesiastical law “peculiar” is applied to those ecclesiastical districts, parishes, chapels or churches, once numerous in England, which were outside the jurisdiction of the bishop of the diocese in which they were situated, and were subject to a jurisdiction “peculiar” to themselves. ”

“ In continuation, the Lords and Commons desired that, for the removal 'of all occasion of contention, suspicion, and trouble, both outwardly and inwardly, in men's consciences,' the Pope's Holiness, as represented by the legate, 'by dispensation, toleration, or permission, as the case required,' would recognize all such foundations of colleges, hospitals, cathedrals, churches, schools, or bishoprics as had been established during the schism, would confirm the validity of all ecclesiastical acts which had been performed during the same period ”

“ The church was now in the highest power—every vestige of episcopacy banished, popery treated as a crime, the doctrine of the headship of Christ in full paramountcy, and enabling the clergy to exercise an unlimited authority over the external religious practice and professions of the community. It was ruled that each head of a family should conduct worship and reading of the Scriptures daily in his house, catechise, reprove, and exhort amongst his children, servants, and dependents. ”

“ Hitherto holding strong High Church views in some directions, he now assumed a position which ultimately led to his abandoning the doctrine of Apostolical succession, and ordaining pastors and bishops, and finally creating a separate ecclesiastical organisation. ”

“ I. The light of nature and right reason may discover to us (though more dimly) the divine warrant of the greater presbyteries, and of their power for the governing of the church. For,
1. There are many ecclesiastical matters which are of common concernment to many single congregations, as trial of church officers, ordination and deposition of ministers, dispensation of censures, judicial determination of controversies, resolution in difficult cases of conscience, ordering of things indifferent, &c. ”

“ All those whose ecclesiastical offices for church government, under the New Testament, were instituted by Christ, before any formal visible Christian Church was gathered or constituted, are the first and immediate receptacle or subject of the power of the keys from Jesus Christ. ”

“ And a clergyman who holds any cathedral preferment, benefice, curacy, or lectureship, or is licensed 22or is otherwise allowed to perform the duties of any ecclesiastical office, is subject to certain specific legal restrictions as to engaging in business or trade. ”

“ The Imperial Commission’s Decree, 1803.―The significance of this for church history consists not merely in the secularization of the ecclesiastical principalities and corporations, but even still more in the alteration caused thereby in the ecclesiastical polity of the territorial governments. ”

“ They order their clergy to make the people sensible of the great blessings they enjoy under the present family that governs them, particularly of the strict administration of justice, of the sacred regard that is paid to the laws, and the great security of their religion and property. ”

“ Canon 116. “No churchwardens, questmen, or sidemen of any parish shall be enforced to exhibit their presentments to any having ecclesiastical jurisdiction above once in every year where it hath been no oftener used, nor above twice in every diocese whatsoever, except it be at the bishop’s visitation: provided always, that, as good occasion shall require, it shall be 798lawful for every minister, churchwardens, and sidemen, to present offenders as oft as they shall think meet: and for these voluntary presentments no fee shall be taken.” ”

“ L. The secular authority possesses, as inherent in itself, the right of presenting Bishops, and may require of them that they take possession of their dioceses, before having received canonical institution and the Apostolical letters from the Holy See. ”

“ Seven millions and a half of us are Presbyterians and Catholics, and our whole ecclesiastical funds go to the gorgeous support of the Clergy of the remaining 800,000, who are Episcopalians. Where else on earth does a similar injury and dishonour exist? ”

“ But no distinction between the clergy and the laity of a Reformed church can be founded on that circumstance. The question is, who are to officiate? The church of Rome answers this question by saying,—those are to officiate who are appointed by God's ordination through the apostolical succession. Thus, according to the Roman theory, the Deity himself makes a distinction between men ordained and men unordained; and, if that theory be sound, truly this is a distinction. But the Reformed church answers the question by saying—those are to officiate who are appointed to do so by men. ”

“ No Catholic could remain away from the regular services of the established church: as the law required that "all and every person and persons inhabiting within the realm or any other the queen's majesty's dominions shall diligently and faithfully, having no lawful or reasonable excuse to be absent, endeavor themselves to resort to their parish church or chapel accustomed ... ”

“ The authority of the church comes from the priesthood, and may be said to be the collected authority of all the quorums of the priesthood combined—the aggregation of God's authority in the earth, in relation to things religious. ”

“ On the other hand, he had a vigilant eye upon the indispensable accompaniments of episcopal authority, issuing in 1268 an order to his archdeacon to summon all parish priests to repair to the cathedral every Whitsuntide and to pay their pentecostals, and to exhort their parishioners to do the like, under pain of ecclesiastical censures {ib. ”

“ In every country where a Christian Church is permitted to exist, the power and authority of her clergy to exercise their functions will rest upon a triple basis and be subject to twofold restrictions and limitations. ”

“ Vetranio, perceiving himself to be abandoned, immediately threw himself at the feet of the emperor; Constantius, taking from him his imperial crown and purple, treated him with great clemency, and recommended him to pass the rest of his days tranquilly in the condition of a private citizen: observing that a life of repose at his advanced age was far more suitable than a dignity which entailed anxieties and care. Vetranio’s affairs came to this issue; and the emperor ordered that a liberal provision out of the public revenue should be given him. ”