Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	church_n	minister_n	power_n	7,372	5	5.4211	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56457	Seasonable counsel to an afflicted people in a letter to the distressed inhabitants of Wem in the county of Salop, after the dreadful fire, which consumed that market-town, March 3. 1676/7. Written by Andrew Parsons, M.A. and sometime minister there.	Parsons, Andrew, 1615 or 16-1684.	1677 (1677)	Wing P559D; ESTC R220462	17,781	51

do you good Wem shall flourish and men did not so much marvel at its desolation but they shall as much admire your restauration But if you fulfill the Proverb 2 Pet. 2.22 The dog is returned to his vomit and the sow to the wallowing in the mire I tremble to think what will befal you in the latter end but I hope better things of you things that accompany salvation I shall forbear because my Letter hath gteaten'd beyond my first intention to write to them whose Houses and Goods were preserved from being consumed by this dreadful Fire because there is a book Printed in 67 called Counsel to the Afflicted will give them better advice than I can which begins at pag. 293 which book some of their Neighbours can and will willingly accommodate them with the reading of and any others may have it I suppose at Mr. Parkhursts at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside London And now my Friends I commend you all to the grace of God whom I beseech to comfort you under your present grievous Afflictions which I doubt not of if you will but hear his voice which crys aloud unto you Micah 6.9 Hear the rod and who hath appointed it And put in practise this Counsel given in much love to your souls from the unworthiest of Christs Servants sometime yours And. Parsons ERRATA Pag. 4. Line 4. for March read May. POssibly this Letter may come into more hands besides theirs to whom 〈◊〉 have particularly written who have also suffered in like manner with them Where ere it comes I shall follow it with my Prayers that it may contribute something to revive the sense in all places which are not a few in England these ●ate years people had when the heavy hand of God by Fire was upon them Great judgments are to be kept in remembrance and to be improved for promo●ing repentance and the fear of God all our days yea the memory of them should be conveyed to posterity after us as Joel 1.3 Tell your children and let your children tell their children Men think unworthily of Gods Judgments if they suppose they are only to be regarded a few days Men and Brethren who have suffered by so great and unusual Fires as have been in our Land What were your thoughts when your eyes were sadly beholding those terrible flames Were they not such as these We have anger'd the great an● terrible God whose fury hath broke● out in these terrible flames Wo unto u● we must repent or else our souls and bodies as well as our houses and goods wil● be also as dry stubble to this Consuming Fire Lord what wilt thou hav● us to do We will sin no more but offe● our bodies and souls a living and acceptable sacrifice to God for ever It cannot be hurtful it may be profitable if I the unfittest of those that mak● mention of the Lord be your remembrancer of these promises made to God i● the day of your distress the word is gon● out of your mouth and recorded in Heaven and ye cannot go back It is therefore your wisdom and mus● be your chiefest care that these bonds b● taken up and that payment be made o● these vows lest execution be taken out o● the Court of Heaven and a worse thing come unto you than the dreadful Fir● could procure there can be no security against greatest fears and dangers till Gods anger be turned away so long as his hand is stretched ou● still past misery may be but the beginning of future sorrows As a Minister of the Catholick Church I have Authority from Christ to speak if I could to the whole Nation or where-ever he hath a Church in the World being call'd thereto but if I had opportunity and power answerable to desire I would chiefly if not only confine my self to put those places and people where the merciless Fire hath been so raging for a few years past in remembrance whether they have answered the call of God when he cry'd then so loud O Drayton New-port Marlborough London Northhampton Southwark with many other places of note in England which have suffered the vengeance of fearful Fire you were once in ashes have you repented in dust and ashes I make no question but your respective Ministers cryed aloud calling you to repentance the main Errand which my Letter goes on as seasonably but much more powerfully than I have done to the place and people I once belonged to But Men and Brethren what answer and return Methinks God hath pickt out these and other burnt places the light of whose flames was seen all the Countrey over to be the purest and visiblest patterns of Piety towards God and sobriety towards men of all places in this Kingdom and if they should not prove such should I speak too hardly if I did adventure to say it shall be more tolerable in the day of Judgment for any other place in the Kingdom than for these What can be said for these places when Christ speaketh saying What could I have done more You would not be reasoned which my faithful Ministers did wisely and earnestly attempt no nor be burnt out of your sins which the power of my anger and my out-stretched arm attempted also Beloved Christians you have been pul'd out of the Fire but were you purifi'd in the Fire Have you testifi'd the truth of your repentance for those sins that were the chief fuel for the fire which the wrath of the Lord did kindle Have you testifi'd indeed the sincerity of this repentance as the believing Corinthians did 2 Cor. 7.11 as all the Saints recorded in Scripture did by reformation of life This Nation is sick and ready to dye for want of repentance and reformation God hearkens and hears men look and enquire from one end of the Kingdom to another who shall begin be the first and best example of this real universal and effectual reformation that England though it droops may not dye Sure these great places who all had this loud call from Heaven God calling out of the Fire unto them are to be first I am sure God expects and designs such so to be Joel 2.3 12. The Fire devoured before and the voice of the Lord comes after saying Turn unto me with fasting weeping and mourning So when the Citys of Judah were burnt with Fire the design of God was that the filth of the daughter of Zion should be cast away Isa 1.7 God hath the same expectations from you O people whom the Fire of the Lord hath destroyed and laid waste Hath God ever since waited for this when shall it once be O give not God occasion to speak of you as he did of Judah Amos 4.10 Ye were as a brand pluckt out of the burning yet have ye not returned unto me Though Judah thus offended by being incorrigible O let not cause be given for God to set this brand upon you He had you in the Fire to melt you under his hand to work you up to his good pleasure but you failed his expectation as much as they did Zeph. 3.6 7. But I hope better things from these places who have passed through the Fire I hope then they pray'd effectually like David O God create in us new hearts that we might lead new lives and walk in a perfect way in our new houses that we might sin no more that so we might be burnt no more Which shall be the earnest prayer also of their souls well-wisher A. P. April the 5th 1677. FINIS