Selected quad for the lemma: power_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	key_n	open_v	shut_v	4,285	5	9.4567	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A94070	XXXI. select sermons, preached on special occasions; the titles and several texts, on which they were preached, follow. / By William Strong, that godly, able and faithful minister of Christ, lately of the Abby at Westminster. None of them being before made publique.	Strong, William, d. 1654.	1656 (1656)	Wing S6007_pt1; Thomason E874_1; ESTC R203660	309,248	523

set before other men and exalted above them for in Church societies it is not outward honours or wealth that exalts men men may be great men yet have but mean gifts and of little honour and esteem in the Church of God but also they are called by terms of authority they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place and v. 7. they are your Guides Leaders and Commanders and therefore it is taken from the Master or Pilot in a Ship that turns it about to steer it in its right course and therefore they were of old called The Masters of Assemblies Eccl. 12. and this appears so much the greater if you do consider also that they speak to you in the name of Christ for 1 Thes 5.12 They are over you in the Lord and what they do require by vertue of their office they can do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as an Embassador hath great power because he speaks in the name of the King and they can enjoyn you as you owe obedience to Christ in whose name we speak and whose work we do therfore he that rejecteth you rejecteth me 1 Cor. 5.4 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ deliver such a man to Satan if they did it in their own name there were little power in it indeed but in the name of Christ there is great authority and there is this the more to be added because as it is a power given them by Christ and Christ is despised in them so it is a power given them by your own consent now for a man to give consent to put power into a mans hand and afterwards he denyes him the exercise of that power which he hath given him it is for a man to Judge and condemn himself in the thing which he himself allows therefore it layes a necessity upon you of subjection to this power both for conscience sake and as a thing that was done by your own free election and consent and so there is not only an authority that commands it but a Law of love also as a woman subjects her self to her husband not only as God hath commanded it and given him authority over her but also from a principle of love because this is the man that I did chuse to my self to obey and to be subject unto all my dayes therefore a double Law is broken in this respect and this still argues the greatness of an Officers power in the Church It s called the power of the keyes which doth note a very great authority and office Isa 22.22 power in the house the ordering of governing of all the affairs in a family shall go through their hands as it is said of Joseph what ever was done in all the land of Egypt he was the doer of it so it is true of them what ever is done in the Church of God it must go through their hands they must also be the doers of it and Math. 16.19 it is the keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven which is meant both of grace and glory a power to bind and loose in the Church by vertue of the Institution of Christ and what they do bind and loose or they remit or retain shall be so done in the world to come in the Kingdom of Heaven so that they shall open Heaven to the Church and if they shut them out heaven shall be shut out if they binde upon their consciences so will the Lord also in the world to come in Heaven and in this respect it is a far greater power then if a man had the keyes of the authority and Government of all the Kingdoms of the Earth Thirdly the subjects of this authority it is not the bodies lives of men or their estates but the authority is spiritual and it relates unto the soul only and this will appear First because it is managed only by spiritual means as the Kingdom of Christ is not of this world the management of things in the Church of Christ are not to be done in the way of the world it is not by any outward power and greatness or by authority and force of arms c. but all is ordered by the word 2 Cor. 10.5 The weapons of our warfare are mighty through God for it is this that is the Scepter of the power of Christ and all the authority that he doth exercise by his Ministers and Officers under him it is by the word only and if they wil not hear the word let such a man be unto thee a Heathen man let him be Anathema Maranatha to the coming of the Lord we must leave him as a man incurable we can do no more to him 1 Cor. 16.22 if the word will not reclaim him we have no way to deal with him but to set before him the Judgement that is written which if he despise then Church-Officers have no more to do but as they when they refused the Gospel did shake off the dust of their feet it will be easier for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgement they have no power either to imprison or afflict their bodies or seise upon their estates if they obey not they can only leave men to the Judgement of the Lord. Secondly answerable unto the power such are the censures and they are all spiritual they relate unto the soul they can inflict no corporal punishment upon men but the Punishment in Scripture and first a binding of their sins Joh. 20.21 as they pardon sin in the conscience and in regard of their Church-state by receiving them after sinning upon their repentance So there is a binding of sin upon the conscience convincing a man of the guilt of sin and also the putting him out of the society so that the mans sin is bound in his own conscience and before the Church and the Lord saith It shall be bound in heaven and shall not be pardoned to him or if he be godly he shall not have the sense of pardon till by this ordinance of Christ he be again received Secondly they withdraw communion with him 2 Thes 3.14 If any man obey not our word note that man and have no fellowship with him that he may be ashamed all this is in reference to the soul that the man may be reclaimed it is only Mingle not with him that when he shall see all godly men to avoid him as a Pest and his communion as some filthyness he may thereby take shame to himself Thirdly deliver him to Satan 1 Cor. 5.4,5 Ordinances are means to inflict spiritual Judgements as well as to convey spiritual Blessings cast him out by a Judicial act from the Assemblies of the Saints and so being cast out he is in the world where Satan rules he shall have nothing to do with Ordinances more and yet all this is with special respect unto his soul it is for the destruction of the flesh that the soul may be saved in the day of the Lord therefore all power

the pulpits in times past sound with such words as these Lord remember bleeding and dying Ireland Lord this is Ireland that is a cast-out peopl● hat none cares for but when thou makest inquisition for blood remember them c. and those prayers which were put up from many a gracious heart which are now answered though now many of them haply are displeased and discontented with the return of their own prayers Secondly it is a mercy given in when all things were desperate and even all hope of a deliverance was gone Now is God a help found in the needful time of trouble when the enemies power and confidence was high and they said Ireland is our own we will pursue them even take them and satisfie our lusts upon them we will surely root out the English name from amongst us and we will try if they can swim into England it may be their faith will bear them up as that partie hath alwayes scoffed at godliness in all their successes but be no more mockers least your bonds increase Now when you had not an Armie in the field the whole Kingdom was their own and not a Garrison left in the whole Kingdom but one and that brought to the very brink of destruction also and must have been surrendred speedily after they made their approaches to it Now God gives in the mercy now doth the Lord judge his people and repent him concerning his servants when he sees that their power is gone and that there is none shut up or left Deut 32.36 when there is no Army in the field no souldiers in garrison now is the time that the Lord doth appear and take to himself his great power and raign Thirdly when the Lord doth therein exceed the expectations of his servants a deliverance they hoped for but not so great not so sudden so that when it came they seemed as men that dream and they can scarce believe that God would do so great things for them when the Lord is come to do them when the son of man comes shall he find faith upon earth its a faith in reference to the coming of Christ for to take vengeance on the Churches adversaries Isa 64.3 thou didst great things for us which we looked not for for God doth not answer prayers according unto our hopes but according to his own mercies as he doth not reward our services according to the measure of our duty but in the mouth of mercy Hos 10.12 a man doth sow in duty but he doth reap in ore misericordiae Fourthly when it is by the hand of those whom they have oppressed when the witnesses that were slain shall rise again and they shall destroy their persecutors by the sword that comes out of their mouthes then it is the greater mercy and far the greater confusion unto the enemy Isa 41.15 When the worm Jacob shall thresh the mountains and when the arm of the Lord should be made bare in it and his hand more immediately seen beyond the purpose courage and intention of men they are engaged before they are aware and victorie is won before they know they are engaged in a Battle when the Lord shall bend Judah for him and fill his bow with Ephraim and they shall have the honour of the conquest that have had their great share in their Torments and were by the enemies designed for destruction and they shall fall by their hand it makes the mercy far the greater Fifthly when it is such a mercy as lets us see still that God owns the same cause and however men warp and turn too and fro yet the good old cause in which the people of God were engaged against the Antichristian party the Lord owns that cause still and gives unto his people hereby hopes of a settlement For the Lord Christ when he rides forth in the conquest of the Gospel he doth ride forth conquering and to conquer not all at once but by degrees and doth give to his people yet a ground of their faith to see if they be of the seed of the Jews before whom they have begun to fall they shall surely fall God hath given us therein Hos 2.15 the vally of Achor for a door of hope it is true that Achor was a pleasant vally and it was sweet in it self therefore it was joyned with Carmel and Bashan but yet it was much more sweet in reference to the hope for it was at the first entrance into the Land of Canaan and as the first fruits gives them possession of the whole Sixthly it is still a carrying on of the grand design that the Lord Christ hath to do in the world in the latter daies for Christ in glory hath not only Saints to gather home to himself and to bind them all up in a bundle of life and he doth raign for their sakes for he is the head over all things for the Churches sake but the Lord hath also enemies to be subdued he must raign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet and he will be faithful as the Fathers servant in the one as well as in the other therefore Rev. 14. there is a harvest of all the Saints to be reaped and there is a wine press of wicked men at the same time to be trodden c. Now the great enemy unto Christ in the latter daies of the world is that wicked one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Baylon the great the Mother of Harlots Now so far as this tends to the promoting of that great design as it doth exceedingly so far should the Saints of God rejoyce therein for they must by degrees go into p●rdition and though all the former subjects would be fit matter for our meditation throughout this day and might have given us several Considerations of very publike concernment in reference to the mercy of the day yet at present I have chosen this rather to draw out your praises thereby concerning which I shall present you but with these three considerations First the least return that you can make of a mercy is praise to God for it and it is all that the Lord doth expect of you Hos 14. and we will give thee the calves of our lips it is all the promise that the Lord would have his people make to him in the time of their straits Afflictions they are stupefactive and of a confounding nature and they close the mouth J●r 8.14 let us enter into our fenced Cities and let us be silent there for the Lord our God hath put us to silence but mercies they are of an expansive and dilating nature and they open the mouth as Hannah not only her heart 1 Sam. 2.1 was filled but her mouth was enlarged also Secondly if you do not return praises for mercies God will surely add Judgements unto mercies and will turn his hand against you do you evil after he hath done you good Hezekiah received a mercy but he did not render according to

having publike occasions they may be more publickly useful then otherwise ever their gifts could have been had they continued only as private Christians therefore the Lord having gifted men and thereby fitted them for the publike good he doth give unto them a call unto a publick office that thereby they may have opportunity to exercise these gifts that he hath given them which else in a private condition must needs in a great measure lie idle the man wanting opportunity to draw them forth as in an office he may do and thereby improve them so then officers there are by the appointment of Christ and we may not neglect them least we despise any institution and least we run into confusion and be enemies to our own perfection and edification and therefore it is a great fault in some Christians that they are without them sometimes they are without a Preaching Officer sometimes they are without Ruling Officers and all upon some curiosities they cannot have a man so qualified as they desire a man that hath eminent gifts or a great name an honourable repute there is a great deal of pride and vanity that men do manifest even in such things as these are that are spiritual pride as men glory in officers in Paul in Apollo c. They are said to be puffed up one against another 1 Cor. 4.6 that is they were puffed up for their Teachers and they grow proud and boast one against another because we have higher and more eminent officers then you therefore they despise one another and so they were in their boastings and glorying carnal there is a great deal of pride and vanity in mens glorying in them carnally when they have them and it s manifested in many that because their pride this way cannot be satisfied therefore they will chuse rather to be without them Secondly These officers have an office there is an employment and a power which is put into their hands by Christ for the good of the Church we read in Scripture of the power of the keyes Math. 16.18 which is an Ensin of Authority put for the Authority it self as to give a man a sword is to put the power of the sword into his hand to commit authority to him of which this is the Ensign and so it notes a Commission given by Christ unto some persons to rule in his house according to the order and the rules prescribed in the word and this power in Scripture is three-fold First it is Monarchical in respect of Christ the head Secondly it is Democratical in respect of the body of believers Thirdly Aristocratical in respect of the officers So Dr. Whitaker p. 2. pag. 519. there is a threefold power that belongs unto the members of a Church first a power of admission of members and of ejection of them therefore the people are taxed that they did not cast out the man there is a virtus expulsiva belongs to the body 1 Cor. 5.13 Take away from amongst you that wicked person and the same is the Judgement of Peter Martyr loc com p. 886. sect 9 10. where he doth peremptorily deny Absque Ecclesiae consensu quempiam excommunicari posse c. and if so ejusdem potestatis the same power that can cast out they only can admit for if the officers may admit without the body they may cast out without them also Secondly there is a power of Election they have a power given them by Christ to chuse their own Officers that the Apostles would not interpose but Acts 6. the Church do chuse their Deacons chuse out amongst your selves Thirdly there is a power also of admonition Math. 18.15 Take two or three with thee and admonish them and it is an authorative act for it is in a way of process after a private admonition hath been refused and if there were not such a power given unto the Church then First if Officers abuse their power they have no remedy against them they must lie under it for ever the Church having power to withdraw from any particular man may also do the same to an Officer Secondly then that Officer is without any remedy himself and he hath not the priviledge of the meanest member for if excomunication be an Ordinance and is for edification and to reclaim if an officer go astray and persevere in it it is a misery to be deprived of it but yet there is a power and authority that belongs to the Officers which must not be intrenched upon by the Community as to preach the word administer the seals observe the waies of the Church to visit the sick c. These are the acts of the Elders which the whole Congregation are not to meddle withal and though it is true that a private Christian may watch over his brother and visit the sick they are to do it yet he doth it not as an act of office but of brotherly love and Christianity only and there is a great deal of difference as it is one thing for a man to give an alms and another thing as a Deacon to communicate to the Necessities of the Saints as every one hath need the Church may chuse the Deacon but they cannot execute the office of a Deacon they must not give all of them their own alms because it is not the way into which Christ hath put it there is a great deal of difference between these two as it will appear in this we pray one for another ex charitate ut fratres non ex officio ut mediatores out of Love not out of office It is very different to do the same thing as a brother and as an officer these two powers must be kept distinct that as the Church must not meddle with the authority and power of the officers so neither must the officers ingross and take to themselves the whole power of the Church for in the primitive times it was not so Now these Officers have a power committed to them they are as the Churches servants and so they are to acknowledge themselves VVe preach our selves your servants for Christs sake and they are to manage it with all humility therefore not as Lords over Gods heritage for all is for the good of the Church and so the Angels are ministring Spirits because it is for the good of the Church though the greatest power and authority under Christ is committed unto them in ordering of all things here below but yet there is an authority committed unto them by Christ 2 Cor. 10.8 there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an authority given them for edification of the body c. though to keep in and cast out belong to the body yet they have a special hand in it and the managing of all the business of the body belongs to them wholly and therefore the names that they have do note a great deal of power and great authority they are not only called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thes 5.13 men