Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	apostle_n	church_n	pastor_n	3,324	5	9.0283	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20001	A summarie ansvvere to al the material points in any of Master Darel his bookes More especiallie to that one booke of his, intituled, the Doctrine of the possession and dispossession of demoniaks out of the word of God. By Iohn Deacon. Iohn Walker. Preachers.	Deacon, John, 17th cent.; Walker, John, preacher. aut	1601 (1601)	STC 6440; ESTC S109440	212,590	277

his said absolute authoritie either the onely efficient or an instrument at least in euery such powerfull expelling of spirits and Diuels If you make Christ his absolute authoritie the onely efficient cause for the powerfull expelling of Diuels in these dayes of the Gospell then surely howsoeuer you may vrge your pretended ordinarie meanes of prayer and fasting for the intreatie of Christ the authoritie or power that expels the Diuell is either but one and the same and so by consequence the casting out of Diuels euen now in these latter daies of the Gospell it must needes be as miraculous as euer before On the other side if the driuing out of Diuels be now wrought by the absolute authoritie of Christ but instrumentallie at the becke and appointment of your prayer and fasting then your said speech it implieth thus much at the least Namely that either the bare exercise of your prayer and fasting is able efficiently to accomplish that worke ex opere operato by the onely bare worke being barely done or that in the very words of your prayer at least there is couertly contained some certaine magicall force for the timely effecting thereof Thus then as your reason is very ridiculous so surely your fond allusion from the Queene and Lord Chancellor is to too absurd For first you propound a case which neuer shall be and therefore the same can neuer illustrate your purpose in hand Besides that you do by the Lord Chancellors death too highly derogate from her Maiesties absolute authoritie in making those matters whatsoeuer which her highnes being thereunto entreated by some of her subiectes shall by her absolute authoritie effect in her owne proper person to be lesse admirable by many degrees then those which were wrought before by the Lord Chancellor his committed power Howbeit to the end we may liuely illustrate the matter it selfe let vs admitte the case to be thus The Queenes Maiestie next and immediatly vnder God doth gouerne this kingdome by her absolute authoritie This absolute authoritie she hath in part dispensed to some certaine persons subordinate vnder her for the orderly execution of iustice and mercie among the rest of her subiectes ratifying and approuing whatsoeuer those persons shall correspondently conclude according to the tenour of her Maiesties pleasure expressed at large in her Lawes Yea and approouing the same to be as authenticall as if she by her absolute authoritie had effected the same in her owne proper person And which more is vpon the primarie establishment of her said absolute authoritie she appointeth as a temporarie officer the L. Keeper of her great seale to confirme and establish from time to time as occasion requireth all those the former constitutions of mercie or iustice by annexing the broade seale of England vnto them ratifying and approuing as before whatsoeuer he accomplisheth accordingly This Lord Keeper being as you heard but a temporarie officer he dieth whereupon her Maiestie intendeth that his said temporarie office shall fullie determine for euer and reseruing that extraordinarie power to her selfe she neuer purposeth to set to her said seale as before but will now haue her said subiects very dutifully to accept of her future graunts and decrees in no lesse assurance of her former experimented faithfulnes then if they were extraordinarily sealed vp as in former times with tenne thousand authenticall seales The case being thus the question is this Whether her subiects seeing her Maiesties pleasure to the contrarie may warrantablie supplicate now for her Highnesse said temporarie seale to any her future graunts or decrees or if any shall rashly attempt such a course whether the same doth not argue in him an vndutifull presumption or hopelesse distrust at the least and so by consequence doth highly offend her Maiestie There is no man of common sense that may iustly denie the same Now then the application is this Christ Iesus hauing absolute authoritie from God the Father to gouerne his Church committeth part of his said authoritie to Apostles Prophets Euangelists pastors and teachers commaunding them by his Word and Sacraments to witnes his good will towards his Church to the end of the world Giuing to some peculiar persons among the rest a temporarie grace or power to seale vp for a season his said Word and Sacraments with extraordinarie and miraculous actions These extraordinarie actions he doth after determine for euer and will now haue all men to receiue his said Word and Sacraments as the authenticall truths of his former experimented faithfulnes towards his said Church without any farther superfluous seales to the end of the world and reseruing that extraordinarie power to himselfe neuer purposeth to set to his said extraordinarie seale as in former times but will now haue his said Church very faithfully to entertaine the timely reuelation of his future promises in as full an assurance of that his former experimented faithfulnes towards her and euery member as if this said faithfulnes were extraordinarily sealed vp with ten thousand such temporarie seales Now then the case being so as you see the question is this Whether the purpose of Christ standing so as wee say it be not an intolerable presumption or filthie distrust at the least for any whomsoeuer to supplicate Christ for that extraordinarie fauour afresh which he hath finally and fully determined and so by consequence whether it bee not now a presumptuous sinne for any how holie soeuer in shew to vndertake or attempt such a rash and vnwarranted course I verely beleeue it is sinne and that your selfe dare neuer denie the same Notwithstanding admit by the way that any presumptuous person so supplicating our Sauiour in such doubtfull vncertainties should for the bewitching of himselfe and the triall of others obtaine in some secret iudgement his hearts desire the question is whether that extraordinarie seale so set to in iudgement by Christ his absolute authoritie bee not as glorious yea much more glorious and more admirable now then that which was put to before by some such special persons as were thereunto enabled by Christ for a time and whether that power which effecteth such worke either then or now bee not euermore one and the same of equall authoritie and like admiration I hope you haue not the face to withstand the infallible truth thereof And therefore in auouching so confidently that this your new-found ordinance for the powerfull expelling of Diuels by prayer and fasting is now establisht and continued for euer euen by the apparant proclamation of our Sauiour himselfe when no such proclamation is any where recorded throughout the Canonicall Scriptures you doe therein verie blasphemously belie our Sauiour Christ and make it apparantly euident that your idle head it was fraught too full of phantasticall and idle proclamations forsooth when you thus proclaimed in print all these your idle and phantasticall conceits to the world Exorcistes Not so sir for howsoeuer the same be not apparantly exprest in the Word our

the worke in hande and if so then the parties themselues whatsoeuer they seeme to report they are not to be beleeued in any those intricate matters For first if they but dissembled the thinges they reported there is no reason at all that men should giue credit to any such false dissemblers as make no conscience of any such cosoning courses Againe if they did not dissemble but were in deed possessed of Satan yet you doe tell vs your selfe that all the while they are in their fits they be altogether senselesse not knowing what they either say or doe and then by Master Darell his vnchangeable rules they are not to be credited whatsoeuer they seeme to report And so by consequence these their dissembling reports concerning Satan his earnest desire of repossession they are none other then the bare reports of a lying diuell or senselesse Demoniake at least and no better to be esteemed of vs then meerely phantasticall and senselesse reports Besides all this those your pretended Demoniakes they reported no more concerning these admirable matters then either that alone which they were taught before to prattle like parrats or then that which they being grossely deluded by the diuell him selfe or his diuellish dissembling ympes did verely imagine to be vndoubtedly euen so as they supposed the same and therefore they onely reported the idle imagination of their own idle braine For Master Darell doth tell vs directly that the Demoniakes them selues they neither saw nor heard nor felt nor perceiued any such matters In like manner that your confident auouching of the bare literall sense of entring in and of going out is to too absurd as we shewed before For neither will such a sense be made to agree with the maine purpose of Christ and Master Darell himselfe more simplie more plainely expoundeth those Scriptures m●●●aphorically accordingly also as Christ himselfe applies the same to the Iewes And therefore these your collections from thence as they are to too absurd and senselesse so doe they argue apparantly the beggerlinesse of this your cause and mightily bewray your vnspeakeable pouertie in supporting the same Who perceiuing your selfe destitute of direct and plaine Scriptures to proue your phantasticall fooleries doe vnconscionablie seeke to vnderprop the same by those your phantasticall conceites which you haue violently inforced from the onely bare literall sense of such metaphoricall termes as the holy Ghost hath peculiarly put downe in a quite contrarie sense or purpose to that which your selfe would falsely pretend as may plainly appeare by conferring faithfully the one with the other from point to point For first how can you soundly collect the essentiall possession of diuels from the Iewes their onely accursed condition as they are without Christ in the world Or how can you imagine any essentiall dispossession of diuels from the Iewes their present desisting from sinne Or how may you fitly inferre an essentiall repossession of diuels from the Iewes their reiecting the profered graces of God in Christ and their returning afresh to their former vomite Or to be briefe how can you soundly conclude the reentring of seuen distinct seuerall diuels from the Iewes their seuenfold more accursed condition then euer before Surely Exorcistes such vnsauorie collections they doe rather proceede from the senselesse profunditie of some new found senselesse Diuillitie then from the depth of sacred Diuinitie yea and which more is these your absurd and senselesse collections they are vndoubtedly such as being also obserued literallie in other like metaphors might teach melancholike persons to cut off their owne hands to put out their owne eies to cut their owne throates yea and that also the eie of a foole is sette in his heele because a wise-mans eie is placed aloft in his head Yea and this I say further they would make wise men to wonder in what part of your bodie your owne eie was fixed when you first squibbed foorth these your squinting ●ollections For your dealings herein is not vnlike to the fetches of a wylie fox who when he looketh a man very full in the face will then most couertly squint aside with his eies to espie an escape on the one side or other Howbeit these your squinting collections they are ouer much squeamish to settle vs soundly in an vndoubted assurance of tha● your pretended essentiall dispossessions Exorcistes Why sir those our Demoniakes they haue euer since remained well in their bodies and haue been free for these two yeeres or more from those their former extraordinarie vexations whatsoeuer and therfore essentiallie dispossessed of Satan Orthodoxus They were neuer essentially possessed by Satan but did counterfeite their fittes as them selues haue confessed being euerie way free from all such supposed extraordinary vexations both then and before and so by consequence they were not essentiallie dispossessed at all And howsoeuer you fondly beare vs in hand that those voluntarie confessions of theirs concerning their counterfeytings are vndoubted demonstrations of Satan his repossession in euery of them very certaine it is that the parties them selues they knew their owne estates farre better then you could by much and therefore deposing the contrarie to that you auouch they are to be beleeued before your selfe Yea euen Thomas Darling him selfe of whome you threape so much kindnesse he plainely confesseth as Master Darell doth graunt that he also for his part did but counterfeite whatsoeuer he did and therefore either he was not essentiallie possessed at all or else by your own reason he is as vndoubtedly repossest as any of the rest whom you so confidently charge that way Howbeit we doe resolutely assure our selues that those your pretended demoniakes they were neither possessed dispossessed nor repossessed at all For very certaine it is that the casting out of diuels is a miraculous worke but the working of miracles it was onely in Christ and his Apostles daies and is ceassed long since and therefore also the casting out of Diuels it is ceased long since Exorcistes The casting out of diuels in the daies of Christ was effected either by an absolute or committed authoritie The one was in Christ alone the other in the twelue Apostles and seauenty Disciples both which manner of expelling diuels are ceased long since as you say Onely now there remaineth prayer or prayer and fasting by which we entreate Christ to cast them out now by his owne absolute authoritie and therefore the casting out of diuels by these meanes is no miracle at all Orthodoxus If Christs absolute authoritie for the driuing out of Diuels be ceased long since doe tell vs I beseech you how Christ notwithstanding any your earnest entreaties by fasting and prayer may now possiblie driue forth Diuels by that his said absolute authoritie which you say is ceased long since For in that you auouch the worke of dispossessing Demoniakes now to be also effected by the absolute authoritie of Christ you must necessarilie make that

experimentall practise of prayer alone and then next if this course preuaile not at all to vse prayer and fasting together for a more speedie dispatch of the busines What may wee imagine hath taught you these different and variable practises but only a certaine secret feare of being taken tardie at vnwares in those your different and variable courses concerning the supposed expelling of Spirits and Diuels Notwithstanding let it be graunted to bee so as you say how proues this the matter in question namely that prayer and fasting is an ordinance establisht by Christ for the perpetuall expelling of Diuels Moreouer whereas you confidently auouch that this your new-found ordinance being rightly obserued of those your pretended Demoniakes it will vndoubtedly prosper either to the remouing or sanctifying of the iudgement at least doe tell vs I pray you how it comes to passe that this your said ordinance should now at this present enioy but a doubtfull prosperitie the prosperitie thereof being in Sommers and some of the rest so certaine before as you purposely vsed the same to make sure worke at the first Here is a strange metamorphosis and mightie alteration yea a sudden exchange from that in former times But how doe you certainly know that prayer and fasting being so vsed will certainly prosper either to the remouing or sanctifying of the iudgement at least Exorcistes I proue it from former experience thus The same prospered so farre forth by the practise of Abraham as it opened the wombes of all the women in Abimelech his house Againe it so prospered by the Israelites practise as that thereby they conquered and killed the Beniamites And therefore the same so obserued of vs will likewise prosper in this speciall busines Orthodoxus Examples may serue very fitly to illustrate a point of doctrine proued before but they suffice not of themselues to proue any matter in question Besides that you doe grossely forget your selfe and ouer-rashly auouch you care not what For did Abrahams prayer get Abimelechs women with child or the Israelites fasting conquer the Beniamites I was euer perswaded till now that the act of generation had effected the one and the men of warre had accomplisht the other Exorcistes Very true Howbeit by prayer and fasting those selfesame meanes were sanctified for the powerfull effecting of those speciall workes Orthodoxus Then their prayer and fasting were not the meanes it selfe which effected those works but onely a spirituall exercise to sanctifie the meanes themselues which were to effect the same And so by consequence prayer and fasting they are not the sole meanes that driues foorth a diuell but they are rather a spirituall exercise to sanctifie and strengthen the meanes in deed that must doe it namely the miraculous faith Which said faith being then ouer sluggish and weake in the Apostles themselues should necessarily haue been stirred vp and supported thereby So then those words of Christ they implie no established ordinance for the perpetuall expelling of diuels but doe only import a speciall meanes for the timely confirmation of the Apostles faith And therefore this which you hitherto speake will neuer endure the hammering for that which you purpose Exorcistes Why sir I vsed that selfe same meanes to Katherine Wright to Tho. Darling to W. Sommers to the seuen in Lancashire and preuailed thereby why therefore may I not now as safely say that prayer and fasting was the sole and only meanes of expelling Satan in euery of these as the Physition applying a naturall medicine for the cure of a naturall maladie that same medicine hauing prospered also in the timely recouery of sundry diseased parties before may boldly auouch that that his said medicine was the onely meanes of curing those parties diseased If Paul did iustly make the Corinthians conuersion the vndoubted true seale of his Apostleship why may not my selfe with like boldnesse propound my seuerall dispossessions as a full confirmation of this established ordinance Orthodoxus The Phisition who cureth naturall diseases he cures them not I hope by sole prayer and fasting but by meere naturall medicines as by the naturall remedies appointed of God for that purpose Although yet I denie not but that earnest prayer before is a warranted spirituall exercise to sanctifie the medicine it selfe and to make it by the good blessing of God become much more effectuall in working the cure Howbeit possession of diuels the same I am certaine is no naturall maladie neither yet are prayer and fasting any naturall medicine to cure the same And therefore euen as prayer it selfe cannot possibly cure but serueth onely to sanctifie that naturall medicine which must helpe the naturall malady so surely prayer of it selfe cannot possibly dispossesse any man of the diuell but is onely a spirituall exercise to stir vp and to strengthen that spirituall meanes which must doe it in deed I meane the miraculous faith And so by consequence sole prayer and fasting alone they are no ordinarie meanes establisht by Christ for the perpetuall expelling of spirits and diuels Besides that howsoeuer the Apostle Paul might iustly challenge the Corinthians as his peculiar seale and call them the proper defence of his Apostleship because they themselues by meanes of his powerfull preaching were soundly conuerted vnto the faith and the authoritie of his Apostleship more authenticallie sealed vp and confirmed yet the falsely pretended cures of those your supposed patients being in very deed but counterfeite seales they cannot possibly seale vp your Exorcists calling nor be any other in effect but counterfeite confirmations of your falsely pretended new ordinance and so by consequence they proue you to be but a counterfeite Exorcist For we haue euer denied and your selfe haue not hitherto proued any such certaine ordinance establisht by Christ. Exorcistes Well be it admitted that neither those words of Christ nor any one Scripture else doe purposely institute praier and fasting an established ordinance for the perpetuall expelling of diuels yet notwithstanding the same may well be and is also in deed a meanes ordeined by God himselfe to that same end Orthodoxus Are you fled on the sodaine from this your newe found established ordinance of prayer and fasting for the powerfull expelling of spirits and diuels and doe now make them but onely a meanes thereunto ordeined of God I perceiue you are to too afraid to tarrie ouer long in a squatte the following crie of the Hounds is so hotte in your eares But goe to how are you certainly sure that praier and fasting is a meanes ordeined by God himselfe to that selfe same ende Exorcistes I am not simplie fled from the ordinance it selfe but herein doe make it more apparantly euident that albeit prayer and fasting be not reuealed yet are they vndoubtedly a secret ordinance of God at the least to that selfe same end For euen as this or that medicine applyed by the Phisition or Chirurgian to this or that maladie and healing the