Selected quad for the lemma: power_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	earth_n	heaven_n	loose_v	3,928	5	10.4731	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01252	The comforter: or A comfortable treatise wherein are contained many reaso[n]s taken out of the word, to assure the forgiunes of sinnes to the conscience that is troubled with the feeling thereof. Together with the temptations of Sathan to the contrarie, taken from experience: written by Iohn Freeman sometime minister of the word, in Lewes in Sussex.	Freeman, John, fl. 1611.	1606 (1606)	STC 11368; ESTC S113774	85,859	215

secret counsell and hiddē mysteries of God Giue therfore credit vnto the Lords ministers an● glory vnto God that hath giuen in hi● great loue this blessing and grace vnto thee that thou shouldest continuall● haue abiding with thee his Prophets his Angels at whose mouth thou mai● be certified of the forgiuenesse of thy ●●ns Yea the Lord hath not giuen on●y this name vnto his ministers to con●inue vnto thee the forgiuenesse of thy sinnes but hee hath further giuen vnto them power authoritie vs ministers of the word to forgiue thee thine offences For is those keies of the kingdom of God that the Lord gaue in Peter vnto the Church saying Whose sinnes ye remit they are remitted whose sins ye retaine they are retained whatsoeuer ye bind in earth shall be bound in heauen whatsoeuer ye loose on earth shall be loosed in heauen So that if the Ministers of the Gospell of God shal in the spirit of God and power of Christ forgiue thee thy sinnes if they shall say vn●o thee as Nathan did vnto Dauid The ●ord hath taken away thy sinne or as Christ vnto the sicke of the palsie Sonne by sinnes are forgiuen thee assure thy ●elfe that insomuch as they haue loosed ●hee from thy sinnes on earth the Lord ●ath loosed thee from thy sinnes in hea●en insomuch as they haue remitted and forgiuen thy sinnes they are re●●●●ed and forgiuen indeed And ta●● heed ●hat thou do not as the most part of t●● world doth that depriue themselues o● this comfort and other the like by the contempt and base account of the Ministers of the grace of God beleeue th● Lord and his Prophets saith Iehosophat and thou shalt prosper Despise not this gift which God hath giuen thee for it is one of the principall gifts mentioned by Paul in the fourth of the Ephesians that Christ when hee tooke his farewell from the earth gaue thereunto I speak not these things to maintaine the Popes auricular confession or vsurped authoritie but the lawfull power giuen by God to his ministers and the●fore herein must meet together I meane in the forgiuenes of thy sinne by the minister his discretion thy contrition his faithfulnes thy faith his wisedome thy repentance hi● calling and thy calling his calling must be lawfull thy calling must be true he must be faithfull thou must be penitent he must be faithfull thou must be faithf●ll he faithfull in his office thou in thy conuersion vnto the Lord. And then if these things be ioyned 〈◊〉 ●ether in thee and in him thou mai● 〈◊〉 assured that the Lord in heauen ●●th forgiuen thy sinnes as his ministers on the earth haue pardoned them ●nd that God hath loosed thee in hea●en that art loosed in the earth from ●hy sinnes Thus from the testimonie ●itnes of the ministers of the kingdom of God thou maist approue vnto thine own conscience the forgiuenesse of thy ●ins And this shall be the more strongly confirmed vnto thy soule if thou shalt ●erevnto adde the testimonie of Moses Dauid Salomon Esay Ieremy Ezekiel Da●iel and all the rest of the Prophets the testimonie of Christ Peter Paul Iames Iohn Mathew Marke Luke and all the other Apostles Euangelists holy men of God who as it were out of the dead being dead speak vnto thee auouching and confirming with one voyce one mouth one spirit that thy sinnes are forgiuen and all in offences clean blotted out so that being compassed about with such a cloud of witnesses and those such as are g●eater than all exception wee ought to rest peaceably in the forgiuenes of our sins which these so many and so faithfull witnesses confirme vnto vs. These are the testimonies of men wstich confirme vnto as the forgiuenes of our sinnes The 17 Chapter VVherin is contained the third reason taken from others which is deriued from the Deuill he testifying and in his owne language confirming vnto vs the forgiuenesse of our sinnes THe third reason being taken from others is taken from the testimonie of the deuill who very sufficientlie in his naturall language if we rightly vnderstand the same confirmeth vnto vs the forgiuenesse of our sinnes And therefore for the better vnderstanding of his speech and language I will set thee down but two precepts rules as it were characters by the which thou shalt easily vnderstand the darkest and hardest words in the deuils toong and so shalt in short space become a good languager The first rule shall shew thee when he speaketh the second what he speaketh Concerning the first know for a certain that whensoeuer thou receiuest any answer in thy conscience contrarie to that which is promised or spoken in the word contrary to the forgiuenes of thy sin to the receiuing of the spirit of adoption to the increase of the graces of the holy Ghost to the attaining of the inheritāce of the Saints in light or the possession of eternal life or any such like that then the deuill tempteth thee and speaketh that word and maketh that answere in thy soule For this perswasion and this answer and this word that the Lord wil not forgiue thy sin or giue thee his spirit or eternal life saluation commeth not frō God For the word of God saith the cleane contrarie And we know that the Lord speaketh not one thing in his word and another thing in thy conscience one thing in his scriptures another thing in thy soule Learne therfore this for a true and an infallible precept that whensoeuer thou receiuest an answere in thy self contrary to that which the Lord hath promised that then the deuill speaketh this thou must know to be true althogh the perswasion come from thine owne concupiscence corrupt nature For the Apostle calleth the prick of the flesh which is the motion and worke of original sinne the messenger of Sathan 2. Cor. 12. This then is the first precept by which thou maiest know when he speaketh The second rule which must make thee vnderstand his wordes must make thee first vnderstand his nature which is to lie For it is naturall for the deuill to lie For he is naturally a lyer as appeareth both by the testimonie of Christ in the eight of Iohn whe●e he saith the deuil was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth There is no truth in him as oftētimes as he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own because he is a lier and the father of a lie and also by the practise of the deuil himself who both lied to our mother Eue saying that if shee did eate of the tree of the knowledge of good and euill that shee shuld be like vnto the gods in the knowledge of good and euill and that they should not die and also was a lying spirit in the mouth of the Prophets of Achab and so deceiued Achab and his Prophets Out of this knowledge of the deuils lying nature thou shalt presently picke the meaning of his speeches and

forgiue vs and not forgiue me onely but forgiue my brother also yea euen thee and all other that are as thou art afflicted and pressed down with the sight of thy sins So that the elect the holy and the beloued of God poure forth their prayers for thee that not one of them a●one althogh perchance some one more especially but all of them intreat the Lord for thy sinne euen for the pa●don thereof Now thou knowest that the prayer of the faithfull auaileth much as Saint Iames telleth thee it caused the Sun to stand still it stopped the heauens it brought downe plentie of raine and is able also to bring downe plentie of grace of pardon and of mercie for thy sinnes to open the heauens and to stay the wrath of God against thee deserued by the same 5 Adde lastly hereunto thine owne prayers which thou contin●est with the widow in the Gospell vn o the vnrighteous Iudge with the woman of Canaan vnto the righteous Christ with all feruencie in the spirit and importunitie● so that thy continuance in praier strengtheneth thee against all length thy importunitie against all s●rength in temptation the one against all delaies the other against all de●●ies and assure thy selfe that thou shalt finde the Lo●d as gracio●s vnto thee fo● thy importunity as the widdow sound the vnrighteous Iudge and as merciful as the woman of Canaan found the righteous Christ For howe can the Lord denie so many so continuall so importunate so gracious and so earnest suiters in thy behalfe some of them hauing so well deserued that the father should gratifie thē herein His son intreateth for thee the blood of his sonne intreateth for thee his spirit intreateth for thee his spouse which is his Church and all his dee●e and beloued seruants intreat for thee thou thy selfe humblest thy selfe before God also for thy sins and how thinkest thou can God say nay to a●l these suiters in thy behalfe Imagine that thy seruant had offended thee and thy son readie to die if thou deniest him did intreat thee thy wife intreated thee thy seruāt intreated thee and the offendor himselfe intreated thee how har●ly couldst thou deny their requests The v●righteous Iudge could not denie the i●portunitie of one poor widdow and therefore the righteous God who is the iudge of all flesh cannot deny not one but many petitioners crauing pardon at his handes for thy transgressions Thus the●fo●e thou maiest see how by the intercessiō of Christ thou maist assure thy self of the forgiuenesse of thy sinne And this is the second reason taken from the consideration of Christ that prooueth the same vnto vs which is also the same reason that Iohn in his first Epistle and first chapter vseth saying If any man sin we haue an Aduocate with the Father euen Iesus Christ the righteous The 7 Chapter VVherein the forgiunes of sins is proued by considering Iesus Christ as he is our king and spirituall prince THirdly this is prooued vnto vs by condering of Christ not onelie as the Priest but as the Princ of his church not onelie as our Aduocate but as our King not onely as our mediator but as our Iudge for he beareth both those offices As he beareth the office of the mediator he intreateth for vs as he beareth the office of a Iuge we intreat him as he beareth office of the mediatour we pray in his name as he beareth the office of the king we pray vnto his name as he is a Priest he praieth for vs as he is a prince we pray vnto him as he is our aduocate he int●eateth the father to forgiue vs as he is our king and gouernour he himselfe with the father forgiueth vs. For as himselfe testifieth of himselfe all power is giuen vnto him both in heauen and in earth and the father iudgeth no man but hath commmitted a●l iudgement vnto the sonne that all men should honour the sonne euen as they honour the Father Yea the sonne of man as he testifyeth to the Iewes in the healing of the man sicke of the palsey hath power also to forgiue sinnes And thi● as he saith hee would that they should know and therefore also that we should acknowledge and beleeue For that the knowledge hereof is especially profitable and comfortable to the soule that is burdened with the sight of his sins For what and bee more for our comfort than to know that our Prin●e is our Priest our aduocate i● our king our iudge is our Sauiour and that he that intreateth for ●he forgiuenes of our si●● can of hi● self forgiue vs our sinnes To speake in a word what can be more comfortable than to know and to beleeue that Iesus Christ hath absolute power in himselfe to forgiue vs our offences For whē the soule once knoweth that it hopeth easily to obtain the same and that for certaine especiall good reasons 1 First for that it knoweth that Iesus Christ to purchase the forgiuenes of our sinnes did lay downe his owne life and therefore hauing nowe purchased the same for vs he wil bestow it vpon vs. For hauing pu●chased the same so deerly he will not let it perish vnprofitably which yet notwithstanding it should doe if it were not giuen vnto vs. For Christ gaue his life vnto death that he might giue vs the forgiuenesse of our sins for as for himselfe he had no need of the forgiuenesse of sins because he had no sin It was therefore for the forgiuenesse of our sinnes that he paid the ransome of his blood If therefore he hauing purchased the same for vs should not himselfe hauing no vse thereof bestowe it vpon vs in vaine should hee haue died in vaine should hee haue p●●chased the same with his owne blood in vaine should he haue suffered the shame of the crosse and so the crosse of Christ should be made vain if the forgiuenesse of our sins should not be by Christ giuē to vs for the vse thereof is in vs as the end thereof was for vs. Now we know that Christ would not lay downe his life in vaine and tehrefore that he will readily and cheerfully forgiue vs our sinnes And this so much the rather we do belee●e for that he gaue his life that he might giue it vnto vs and therefore much more hauing it in his own power to giue freely he wil most willingly giue it vnto vs The father that to purchase an inheritance to bestow vpon his son will indaunger his life would much more willingly if it lay in his hands his bands to giue the same freely freely bestow it vpō him The friend no doubt that to saue the life of his friend and to purchase his pardon at the hands of the king would giue his life vnto death would much more willingly bestow his pardon vpon him if hee might doe the ●ame with the safety of his own life if ●e had power in himselfe to forgiue and ●o pardon his offence So that Lord that