Selected quad for the lemma: power_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	bishop_n	deacon_n	presbyter_n	3,323	5	10.5055	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26371	A modest plea for the clergy wherein is briefly considered, the original, antiquity, necessity : together with the spurious and genuine occasions of their present contempt.	Addison, Lancelot, 1632-1703.	1677 (1677)	Wing A524; ESTC R21288	59,187	185

Ordain'd his Apostles it was according to the tenor of his own Ordination As my Father sent me so send I you and to shew wherein the Similitude consisted he breathed on them and said Receive ye the Holy Ghost John 20.21 22. Which clearly implies that as at his Mission from his Father to his Office he was Anointed or Consecrated by the Holy Ghost which visibly descended upon him at his Baptism when he entered upon his Ministry So when the Apostles had their Mission from Christ and were to enter upon their Ministry they also were Consecrated by the Holy Ghost Which they received not only to gift and inable their Persons but also to impower them for their Office as is undeniably evident upon the account of the words immediately following Receive ye the Holy Ghost which actually instate upon them the Power of the Keys 'T is true after they had thus received the Holy Ghost and were Commission'd to all the Offices of the Clergy the Apostles were not immediately to fall upon their Execution but were bid to stay at Hierusalem till they should receive such Miraculous Gifts by the visible descent of the Spirit as should render their entrance upon the Ministry more solemn and remarkable and their performance thereof more efficacious and convincing That men seeing the Wonders done by the Apostles none might have the least occasion to doubt of the truth of their Doctrine or their Authority to Preach it But not only in Christs Authorizing the Apostles for the Clergy but also in their Authorizing others and so forward the work is still ascribed to the Holy Ghost As to the Apostles the matter is evident in the Case of Barnabas and Saul whose separation of them to the Ministry is attributed to the Spirit And we find the same verified of the Presbyters of the Churches of Asia and in Timothy the Bishop of Ephesus Of whom it is said expresly The Holy Ghost made them Overseers Act. 20.28 Which according to some may signifie two things First their Ordination to the Ministerial Office attributed to the Holy Ghost as to the Original by whose descent upon the Apostles they were Authorized to Communicate this Authority to give Commissions to others who were to succeed them in the Dignity and Office of instructing and governing the Church Secondly it may signifie the Act of Designation Election Nomination to the Ministry which at that time was done by the Special Revelation of God and might properly be attributed to the Holy Ghost And after this latter manner Matthias was chosen to succeed Judas in his Office and Saul and Barnabas for the work Act. 1.24 Act. 13.2 And if we have recourse herein to Church Story we shall find how that the Apostles Ordain'd none of their Converts till they were Tryed and Approved by the Holy Ghost And that when St. John was return'd into Asia he ordain'd every where such as were signified by the Spirit And we are generally told by the Greek Fathers that the primitive Bishops did not make Clergy of their own Heads but by the order and command of the Spirit Which being understood according to the distinction now mention'd leaves no place of doubting of the manner or reality of the Spirits concernment in ordaining men for the Clergy especially when it is considered that all the sorts and degrees of Primitive Ecclesiasticks are ascribed to the Appointment of the Holy Ghost Eph. 4.11 And we have no ground of surmising that the Holy Ghost hath quitted his Interest in this great Concern but rather to believe that he doth still preside at Holy and Regular Ordinations Which are that Ecclesiastick Generation whereby the Clergy is propagated the Apostles still survive and Christ is still present with them And we have no reason at all to doubt but that the Spirit doth as Truly though not so Visibly assist at the present Ordering of Ministers as he did at the separation of Barnabas and Saul and that Christ is as really present by the same Spirit as when he breathed Him upon the Apostles and thereby gave them Authority for the Work of the Ministry And to this purpose we are to understand our own Church when she bids the Persons to be Ordain'd and Consecrated Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and Work of a Priest in the Church of God now committed to thee by the imposition of our hands c. And Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and Work of a Bishop in the Church now committed to thee by the imposition of our hands c. The Holy Ghost in both forms is I doubt not to be taken in the same sense and imports no more but the conferring of Authority for the Execution of the Offices there Specified Which Authority being convey'd by that we call Orders and Consecration is fitly expressed by the same words which were used by our Saviour in bestowing the same power upon the Apostles at his sending of them forth to Preach the Gospel and gather and constitute a Church I have not as yet met with any thing considerable relating to the Forms of Ordination used in the Ancient Church but I suppose they were all agreeable to that our Saviour used at the Ordination of the Apostles But the Form of Ordination being only of Ecclesiastical Institution the Churches might inoffensively vary therein In the Greek Church the form was to this effect The Divine Grace which always heals our Infirmities and supplies our wants doth create or promote N. the Venerable Deacon to be a Presbyter the Presbyter most beloved of God to be a Bishop In the Western Church they use another Form wherein they confer upon the Presbyter the power of Consecrating the Elements in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and of Binding and Loosing Our own Church hath a Form peculiar to her self yet much resembling the old Greek Form mention'd by St. Clem. in his Constitutions Lib. 8. c. 16. Wherein the power of Preaching also is confer'd upon the Presbyter And though I am not able at present to give a full account of all the Ancient Forms of Ordination yet it sufficeth our purpose that none was ever yet met with wherein the Original and supreme power of Ordaining is not attributed to the Holy Ghost CHAP. VII Of the incommunicableness of the Offices of the Clergy THough what has been said renders the Holy Ghosts Interest and Agency in the Separation of men to the Calling of the Clergy to be undeniable yet there are still some who opine the Ministery to be a thing of Labour rather than Honor and to which Abilities without Authority are sufficient by which position the Concern of the Spirit must be wholly evacuate as to yielding any orderly power and certain Method of attaining unto the Sacerdotal Office And though the Socinian and Enthusiast are the more known and professed Assertors of this Conceit yet it is much to be feared that all Contemners of the Clergy are sowr'd with the