Selected quad for the lemma: power_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	apostle_n	church_n	presbyter_n	5,413	5	10.2530	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59876	A sermon preached at the funeral of the Reverend Benj. Calamy, D.D. and late minister of St. Lawrence Jewry, London, Jan. 7th, 1686 by William Sherlock ...	Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.	1686 (1686)	Wing S3347; ESTC R21708	14,846	42

between good and evil and the plain Rules of Morality but the Mysteries of the Kingdom the whole oeconomy of mans Salvation by Jesus Christ is to be known onely by Revelation Christ came down from Heaven to reveal this to us and he instructed his Apostles and his Apostles by their preaching and Writings instructed the Church and have left us a standing Rule of Faith and Manners but yet it is necessary that there should be some men peculiarly devoted to the Service of Religion the study of the Scriptures and the Work of the Ministry to instruct and teach those who have neither leisure nor opportunities for enquiry nor capacity to learn without a Guide which is the case of the generality of Christians especially since Religion has been clogged with such infinite Disputes and there has been so much art used to make the plainest truths difficult obscure and uncertain to corrupt the Christian Faith and to make it comply with mens sensual Lusts or secular Interests A Guide and Instructor is absolutely necessary when there are so many Turnings and Labyrinths wherein men may lose themselves and their way to Heaven But though there were no Disputes in Religion no difficulty in understanding it though all men were agreed about the way to Heaven though the meanest Christian understood the Mysteries of Christianity as well as the greatest Divine yet there would be constant need of a Spiritual Guide while men are apt to be unmindful of their Duty and careless in the practice of it The work of an Evangelical Pastor is not meerly to instruct the Ignorant but to exhort to reprove to admonish to watch over the Lives and Manners of Christians to make seasonable Applications to their Consciences to administer Comfort to afflicted Spirits to excite and quicken the slothful and to encourage the fearful and timerous and to assist and direct men in their Spiritual Warfare how to obtain a glorious victory over the World and the Flesh. This is to feed the Flock of Christ and to give them Meat in due season to instruct them in those things of which they are ignorant and to put them in mind of those things which they already know that their Faith may be turned into a principle of life and action and this heavenly Food may be digested into Bloud and Spirits to the edifying of the Body of Christ in all Christian Graces and Vertues 2. Another part of the Ministerial Office consists in Acts of Discipline and Government Christ has made these Ministers and Servants Rulers over his houshold No Society can be preserved without Order and Government which is as absolutely necessary in the Church as in the State Christ is the Head of the Church the Husband the Shepherd the Lord which are all names of Authority and Power and the Church is his Body his Spouse his Flock his Houshold and Family which are names of Subjection and denote a regular and orderly Society but Christ has now left this World and does not visibly appear among us to direct and govern the Affairs of his Church he is ascended into Heaven where he sits at the right hand of God and exerciseth an invisible Power and Providence for the defence and preservation of his Church on Earth He governs us by his Laws and by his Spirit and by his Ministers for when he ascended on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men And he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ Till we all come in the unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. When our Saviour was risen from the dead he tells his Disciples All power is given unto me both in Heaven and in Earth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the World This is their Commission to preach the Gospel and to govern his Church which was not meerly a Personal Commission to the Apostles but extends to all their Successors as appears from Christ's promise to be with them in the discharge of his Ministerial Authority to the end of the World Thus St. John acquaints us that Christ after his Resurrection appeared to his Apostles when they were met together and said unto them Peace be unto you as my Father hath sent me so send I you And as he had said this he breathed on them and said unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained This invested them with Authority but then the actual communication of Power which especially at that time was necessary to the discharge of their Office was reserved for the descent of the Holy Ghost and therefore our Saviour commanded them Not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father that is the gift of the Holy Ghost For says he Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the Earth And accordingly we find that during the time of the Apostles the Supreme Authority of the Church was in their hands which they committed to their Successors and has ever since been exercised by Christian Bishops and Presbyters with regard to their different Order and Power But what is this Power which Christ hath given to his Ministers They have no Rods nor Axes as secular Princes have to compel men to the Faith of Christ and to force their obedience No this is contrary to the Genius and Spirit of Christianity If men will be Infidels if they will be wicked we cannot help it For though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal such as earthly Princes use but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Our Saviour in my Text acquaints us what this Power and Authority is he makes them Rulers over his Houshold to give them meat in due season This is the Authority Christ hath given to his Ministers to instruct to exhort to advise to admonish to reprove and that with sharpness too when there is occasion for it according to the power which the Lord hath given to edification and not to destruction as St. Paul speaks But what