Selected quad for the lemma: power_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A04840
|
Two sermons. vpon the Act Sunday, being the 10th of Iuly. 1625 Deliuered at St Maries in Oxford.
|
King, Henry, 1592-1669.; King, John, 1559?-1621. aut
|
1625
(1625)
|
STC 14972; ESTC S108030
|
43,354
|
86
|
thee in the teeth with them and in the very next words he â—â—atly prohibits the necessity of such priuate confession leauing 〈…〉 vpon the scope of this text Thou art not to confesse to thy fellow seruant least he may divulge it but to him that is thy Lord that careth for thy soule to him that is most mild and curteous to him that is thy Physitian I said I will confesse my sinnes vnto the Lord. But doth God need an informer Did he not know Dauid's sinne before his confession or cannot he know mine vnlesse I tell him Yes surely he knew them before But he knew them as my Iudge not as my Confessor He knew them but not that way which most delighteth him and is best for me in a repentance In a word he knew them before but he knew them to my Condemnation He knew them not to my Comfort so as to forgiue them till he receiued them from mine owne mouth I said I will confesse my sinnes and thou forgauest Like the tidings of release vnto a Captiue or a repriue vnto a coÌ„demned man so is the sound of this word Tu remisisti thou forgauest It is the savour of life vnto life a reuiuing or recouery from the death of the soule Sinne and an earnest of a new-life both in the Body and the Soule in the new Ierusalem 'T is the voice of the Turtle the true language of the Gospell deriued from his lippes that left the blessing of his peace vpon all that loue the Peace of his Church that legend of mercy which Christ commanded his Apostles to divulge in all parts of the world for the remission of sinnes This was the end of Christs comming into the world to saue sinners his owne peculiar worke who alone as he hath the property to haue mercy so hath he the sole power to forgiue Quis potest peecaâ—ae dimittere nisi solus Deus That the Church hath a power to remit sinnes also is true in a subordinate sense that is a Ministeriall a Declaratory power as our Liturgie fully expresses it and hath giuen power and commandement to his Ministers to Declare and Pronounce to his people being penitent the Absolution and remission of their sinnes c. But he hath giuen them no Iudiciary or Authoritatiue power to pardon absolutely of themselues This is Gods prerogatiue he alone doth that act the Church but reports it he signes the deed the Church as a witnes testifies it he hath the originall power to absolue the Church hath power not to dispence but to pronounce his absolution he grantes and seales the pardon the Church conveyes and publishes it he hath the possession the true inheritance as of the Throne so of the keyes of Dauid the Church hath but the vse and custody of those keyes by which she opens and shuts yet not at her owne pleasure as if she could hang new locks where she listed or make new dores for sinners to goe out at but with a limitation Shee must not presume to goe farther then those Keyes lead her So many roomes as Christ hath opened by those keyes she may opeÌ„ or she may shut The Ministers who are his Dorekeepers should take too much vpoÌ„ them if they should presume beyond this Mistake me not I doe not in any sense of diminution call the Ministers Dorekeepers as if I would inferre their office determined at the Church-doore No their keyes open farther then so and by vertue of them they may goe as high as Gods Presence Chamber the Church there to receiue and to deliuer his messages to his people to signifie his pleasure to them either for the Remission or Reteining of their sinnes but beyond this their keyes will not lead them They cannot open Gods Priuy Chamber where all his secret Counsellâ— â—his Acts of mercy or of iudgement of Pardon or Condemnation are concluded this is accessible to none but God himselfe They are not able with any key in their bunche to open that doore And if by violeÌ„ce they shall attempt to breake it open as the Successors of Peter haue done for many yeares sitting there as Counsellours 〈◊〉 in Commission with God nay sitting 〈◊〉 Godâ—â—aith â—aith St. Paul to condemne or to absolue 〈◊〉 him let them know in this they haue committed a Riot not lesse then Lucifers and their aspiring insolence muâ—t expect a Praecipitation as violent and deepe as his I haue almost lost my selfe in this Labyrinth of Pâ—pâ—ll vsurpation I retrait to my teâ—t in S. Ambrose his words who hath briefly stated and limited the Power of Preists Absolution In the forgiuenesse of sinnes saith he men vse their Ministery but exercise no right of any Authoritie men aske an men pronounce but the Deity graunts Tu remisisti Thou forgauest Which speech doth not onely intimate his Power but his readines to forgiue See in what a forward terme Dauid expresses Gods alacriâ—â— and propension to mercy setting it downe in the Prâ—terperfect tense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hast forgiuen as a thing past in graunt before the suit was commenced Seneca spake it of the Court 〈…〉 praecipâ—â—s beneficia lenta sunt They were prone and speedy to doe injuries but their benefitâ— came slowlie from them and with difficulty ' â—is otherwise with God he is of no 〈◊〉 Power nor doth he for slow his faucâ—â—s 〈…〉 price vpon them by delay God is not slow or 〈◊〉 concerning his promise saith S. Peter Or if he be slow he is slow to nothing but to wrath only In that Act which was the swifâ—est exclusion of his vengeance the Floud howsoeuer theâ— that suddaine Inundation surprised the World came vpon it vnawares whilst they were eating and drinking as our Sauiour saith yet when it was done He is sorrie Though he repented he had made man and from that repentance put on a resolution to destroy him Yet after his destruction he relents into mercy he is sorry he had demolished and annihilated his creature by water though most deservedly and then makes a Promise and Couenant neuer to destroy him so againe Did he not giue Abraham leaue to dispute and argue Sodom's reprieue to plead a Pardon for it after his sentence was past and the Executioner ready to giue fire Yet for all that he heard him cut till haâ—â— said all he could say till he had made all his Abatements from Fiftie euen to the last Ten. And when he sate downe before Niniveh and had beleaguered it with his Iudgements yet you see he giues them faire Quarter Fourty Dayes to parley and to make their Composition with Him Nay he allowed Rebellious Israel Fourty yeares Fourty yeares long was I grieued with this generation so slow is he to wrath so loath to execute his vengeance And yet He is not so slow to punish but he is by many degrees swifter to shew mercy and to forgiue Nescit tarda molimiâ—a spiritus