Selected quad for the lemma: power_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	bind_v	heaven_n	loose_v	4,825	5	10.6036	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42763	CXI propositions concerning the ministerie and government of the Church	Gillespie, George, 1613-1648.	1647 (1647)	Wing G752; ESTC R21587	30,033	52

Ministers and Schools and supplieth the temporall necessities of Gods Servants by his command assembleth Synodes when there is need of them and summoneth calleth out and drawes to triall the unwilling which without the Magistrates strength and authority cannot be done as hath been alreadie said he maketh Synodes also safe and secure and in a civill way presideth or moderateth in them if it so seem good to him either by himself or by a substitute Commissioner In all which the power of the Magistrate though occupied about spirituall things is not for all that spirituall but civill 66. Fourthly they differ in the end The immediate nearest end of civill power is that the good of the Commonwealth may bee provided for and procured whether it be in time of Peace according to the rules of Law and counsell of Judges or in time of Warre according to the rules of Militarie prudence and so the temporall safety of the Subjects may bee procured and that externall Peace and civill Liberty may bee preserved and being lost may be againe restored 67. But the chiefest and last end of civill Government is the glory of God the Creator namely that those which do evil being by a superiour Power restrained or punished those which doe good getting praise of the same the Subjects so much the more may shun impiety and injustice and that Vertue Justice and the Morall Law of God as touching those eternall dueties of both Tables unto which all the posterity of Adam are oblieged may remain in strength and flourish 68. But whereas the Christian Magistrate doth wholly devote himself to the promoting of the Gospel and Kingdom of Christ and doth direct and bend all the might and strength of his authority to that end This proceedeth not from the nature of his office or function which is common to him with an Infidell Magistrate but from the influence of his common Christian calling into his particular vocation 69. For every member of the Church and so also the faithfull and godly Magistrate ought to referre and order his particular vocation faculty ability power and honour to this end that the Kingdome of Christ may bee propagated and promoted and the true Religion bee cherished and defended So that the advancement of the Gospel and of all the Ordinances of the Gospel is indeed the end of the Godly Magistrate not of a Magistrate simply or if yee will rather t is not the end of the office it self but of him who doth execute the same piously 70. But the end of Ecclesiasticall power yea the end as well of the Ministery it self as of the Godly Minister is that the Kingdome of Christ may bee set forward that the pathes of the Lord bee made straight that his holy mysteries may bee kept pure that stumbling-blocks may bee removed out of the Church lest a little leaven leaven the whole lump or lest one sick or scabbed sheep infect the whole flock that the faithfull may so walk as it becometh the Gospel of Christ and that the wandering sheep of Christ may be converted and brought back to the sheepfold 71. And seeing this power is given of the Lord not to destruction but to edification Therefore this same scope is propounded in Excommunication which is the greatest and last of Ecclesiasticall censures namely that the soul of an offending brother may be gained to Christ and that being stricken with fear and the stubborne sinner filled with shame may by the grace of God be humbled and may as a brand plucked out of the fire bee snatched out of the snare of the devill and may repent unto salvation at least the rest may turne away from those which are branded with such a censure lest the soul infection do creep and spread further 72. Fifthly they are distinguished by the effect The effect of civill power is either proper or by way of redundance The proper effect is the safety temporall of the Common-wealth externall tranquillity the fruition of civill Liberty and of all things which are necessary to the civill Society of men The effect by way of redundance is the good of the Church to wit in so far as by execution of Justice and good Lawes some impediments that usually hinder and disturbe the course of the Gospel are avoided or taken away 73. For by how much the more faithfully the Magistrate executeth his office in punishing the wicked and cherishing and encouraging good men taking away those things which withstand the Gospel and punishing or driving away the troublers and subverters of the Church so much the more the orthodox Faith and Godlinesse are reverenced and had in estimation sinnes are hated and feared Finally all the subjects contained as much as concerneth the outward man within the lists of Gods Law whence also by consequence it happeneth by Gods blessing that the Church is defiled with fewer scandals and doth obtaine the more freedome and Peace 74. But the proper effect of the Ecclesiasticall power or keyes of the Kingdome of heaven is wholly spirituall for the act of binding and loosing of retaining and remitting sins doth reach to the soul and conscience it self which cannot be said of the act of the civill power And as unjust Excommunication is void So Ecclesiasticall censure being inflicted by the Ministers of Christ and his Stewards according to his will is ratified in heaven Matth. 18. 18. and therefore ought to be esteemed and acknowledged in like manner as inflicted by Christ himself 75. Sixthly they are also differenced in respect of the subject The politick power is committed sometimes to one sometimes to more sometime by right of election sometime by right of succession But the Ecclesiasticall power is competent to none under the New Testament by the right of succession but he who hath it must be called by God and the Church to it neither was it given by Christ to one either Pastor or Elder much lesse to a Prelate but to the Church that is to the consistory of Presbyters T is confessed indeed and who can bee ignorant of it that the power as they call it of order doth belong to particular Ministers and is by each of them apart lawfully exercised But that power which is commonly called of jurisdiction is committed not to one but to the unity that is to a consistory therefore Ecclesiasticall censure ought not to be inflicted but by many 2 Cor. 2. 6. 76. Seventhly they differ as touching the correlative God hath commanded that unto the civill power every soul or all Members of the Commonwealth of what condition and estate soever be subject for what have wee to doe with the Papists who will have them whom they call the Clergy or Ecclesiasticall persons to bee free from the yoke of the civill Magistrate The Ecclesiasticall power extends it self to none other subjects then unto those which are called Brethren or Members of the Church 77. Eighthly there remaineth another difference in respect of the distinct and