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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	bind_v	key_n	loose_v	3,794	5	10.2737	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33902	A defence of the absolution given to Sr. William Perkins, at the place of execution, April the 3d with a further vindication thereof, occasioned by a paper, entituled A declararion of the sense of the arch-bishops and bishops, &c.	Collier, Jeremy, 1650-1726.	1696 (1696)	Wing C5247; ESTC R171438	9,760	16

A DEFENCE OF THE ABSOLUTION GIVEN TO Sr. WILLIAM PERKINS At the Place of Execution April the 3 d. WITH A Farther VINDICATION thereof Occasioned by a Paper Entituled a Declaration of the Sense of the Arch-Bishops and Bishops c. ADVERTISEMENT THo' I hope to be rightly understood in all the particulars of my Defence it not being my intention to give any provocation Yet I think my self obliged to advertise the Reader that Mr. Snatt and Mr. Cook have been altogether unacquainted with unconcerned in and unconsenting to the Penning or Publication of these two Papers A DEFENCE OF THE Absolution given to Sir William Perkins at the Place of Execution April the 3d. MY being present and in some measure Officiating at the Place of Execution on Friday last has been extreamly misunderstood The Weekly Intelligence together with the Remarker have censured this Action with a great deal of Liberty and Heat I thank God I am not easily disturbed with intemperate Language especially when us given without Occasion So that it Matters had gone no farther I could have passed over the ill Usage and said nothing I confess having received notice that some Persons of Figure threatned me with Imprisonment I took a little care of my self and as it happen'd not without reason For on Monday about Twelve at Night six or eight Persons rushed into my Lodgings broke open a Trunck and seiz'd some Papers of Value tho' perfectly Inoffensive and Foreign to their Purpose And since I understand there is a Bill found against me for High Misdemeanors And now one would think I had done something very extraordinary I shall therefore make a brief Report of Matters of Fact and leave the World to judge whether all these Censures and Severities are deserved or not Sir William Perkins whom I had not seen for four or five Years last past after his Tryal desired me to come to him in order to his Preparation for another World I accordingly visited him in Newgate as I thought my self obliged by my Character I was put in the List of those who had leave to see him by Publick Order and had the first two Days the Liberty of conversing with him in Private Afterwards I was not permitted to Speak or Pray with him alone a Keeper being always present At last even this Permission was recall'd insomuch that I could never see him from Wednesday Morning April the 1 st till Friday at the place of Execution Sir William being under an Expectation of Death from the time of his Sentence had given me the State of his Conscience and therefore desired the Solemn Absolution of the Church might be Pronounced to him by me the last Day And understanding I was refused Admittance on Friday Morning he sent me word that he would gladly see me at the Place of Execution I went thither and gave him the Absolution he requested it being impracticable for me to do it elsewhere This Office I perform'd Word for Word in Form as it stands in the Visitation of the Sick And now where lies the great Crime of all this When a Man has declared his Sorrow for all the Faults and Miscarriages of his Life and qualified himself for the Priviledge of Absolution with what Justice could it be denied him Ought not Dying Persons to be Supported in their last Agonies and pass into the other World with all the Advantage the Church can give them I am surprized so regular a Proceeding as this should give so much Offence and make so much a Noise as I perceive it has done Some People I understand are displeas'd at the Office being perform'd with imposition of Hands Now this is not only an innocent but an ancient Ceremony of Absolution ' T was the general Practise of the Primitive Church in such cases long before there were any Exceptions to the Roman Communion 'T is in the Opinion of several Fathers and good Modern Expositors refer'd to by the Apostle 1 Tim. 5. 22. 'T is likewise prescribed the ●ssisting Presbyters in our own Ordination Form But I suppose I need say no more in defence of this Circumstance To proceed Others seem very much shocked at the Thing it self and think it a strange Presumption to admit a Person charged with so high a Crime to the benefit of Absolution With submission on this is concluding a great deal too fast Are all people damned that are cast in a Capital Indictment If so to what purpose are they visited by Divine why are they exhorted to Repentance and have Time allowed them to fit them for death But if they may be acquitted hereafter notwithstanding their Condemnation here if they may be recovered by Recollection by Repentance and Resignation why should the Church refuse them her Pardon on Earth when she believes t is passed in Heaven The Power of the Keys was given for this purpose that the Ministers of God might bind or loose as the Disposition of the Person required The latter I sincerely believed to be Sir William's Case I judged him to have a full Right to all the Priviledges of Communion And therefore had I denied him Absolution upon his Request I had failed in my Duty and gone against the Authority both of the Ancient and English Church If 't is said that the Nature of this Gentleman's Charge required his be●ng Absolved in Private To this I answer so he had been had I been permitted to visit him the last Morning But this Liberty was refused me more than once And I hope I shall not be blamed for Impossibilities of other Mens making In short he seem'd very desirous of Absolution at my Hands as being the only Person acquainted with his Condition Privately 't was not in my Power to give it him So that he must either receive it Publickly from me or not at all But Sir William confess'd himself acquainted with the intended Assassination Pray did he confess it to me and have I revealed any Part of his Confession Then I had been guilty of High Misdemeanor indeed I had broke the 113 th Canon and been Pronounced Irregular by the Church And he that falls under Irregularity is for ever after incapable of Executing the Office of a Priest Dr. Heylin's Introduct to Cyprian Angl. p. 6. I confess there is an Exception in the Canon but that does not reach the Case in Hand even upon the largest Supposition Well! But Sir William own'd this Charge before the Committee How could I know that I neither saw Sir William after his Examination till Friday Noon nor the Votes which mentioned it till after that Time But he confess'd it in his Paper What then Which way does the Paper concern me 'T is well known Sir William Perkins was a Man of Sense and bred to Law and Letters and needed no help to assist him in Writing a few Lines Besides I was not permitted to come near him for more than two Days before he suffer'd Neither was he allow'd so much as Pen