Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	law_n	power_n	time_n	3,535	5	3.5329	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45157	A second discourse about re-ordination being an answer to two or three books come out against this subject, in behalf of the many concern'd at this season, who for the sake of their ministry, and upon necessity, do yield to it, in defence of their submission / by John Humfrey, min. ; together, with his testimony, which from the good hand of the Lord, is laid upon himself, to bear, in this generation, against the evil, and to prevent, or repress (as much as by him may be possible) the danger, of the imposition.	Humfrey, John, 1621-1719.	1662 (1662)	Wing H3709; ESTC R9881	127,714	152

about it it appears to me that both what this author sayes may be fully answered and what I have is for the main not touched or in the weight not impaired I can but be sorry my ability hath been no more to serve those I have desired and be content such as I have to lay out yet once more in their behalf and my own though I must needs say with such a heavie and weakned spirit in good earnest that I have more need to crave their prayers unto God and be supported my self then to offer fresh support and furthersatisfaction to others He giveth power to the saint and to them that have no might he encreaseth strength A hard task it is upon me unto him I look up and I cannot well tell from whence to derive my discourse which is sure to meet with so much prejudicate interest and opinion It is Custom I know and the common apprehension that rules the many and while their heads run shallow it is not enough for a man to embark in a sound bottom unlesse we have something of the tide also and stream with us I remember what a strange thing the Antipodes seem to Lactantius as others of the Fathers and to beleeve any habitable land beyond the Ocean was to the antient Clemens another world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is enough certainly to make truth it self seem a crime if it appears but singular and if Paul himself but offers to bring some new thing they will determin it before-hand to be babbling though it was the spread doctrine of the Christian Religion And yet is not this all but there are the several engagements of mens spirits and concernments to bee met with also wherein one must look to run the fate of such who are engaged in arbitrations who when they have most carefully discharged their trust doe reap but ill will on both sides and only have left them the testimony of their own conscience that though both parties that are extream be displeased yet both have cause to be content Hee persued and possed safely even by the way that he had not gone with his feet There is a School adage well applyed to the Intellect Intus existens prohibet alienum and I perceive indeed here that the common notion which lies upprrmost hath so filled the minds of most that Orders makes us Ministers which should bee rightly understood and that we are Ministers already that they have no thoughts hardly left them free born for the discussion of this matter It is besides the Original humour of man to be apt to think of himself more high then he ought to think as the Apostle speaks and not soberly according to the measure God hath dealt him and hereupon is the Ordainer ready to beleeve that in Orders he conferrs no lesse then the holy Ghost it self his grace or gifts or the spiritual power at least of the Ministry which all are indeed the prerogative I take it alone of Jesus Christ and does argue both the pride of some mens understandings that dare assume so much without Gods word and the lownesse of others to take it up upon trust as if our Protestants all as well as the Papists were of that opinion A large presumption that lying at the bottom of this dispute does require some of our first and most serious thoughts about it as introductory to our businesse I said I will answer also my part I also will shew my opinion To fetch this matter from the beginning Let us look unto the Priests under the Law and observe what God almighty hath said in the first place Exod. 29.9 The priests office shall be Aarons and his sonnes for a perpetual statute I gather from hence that the Right power dignity office of Priesthood did flow immediately upon the priests under the law from this statute which is undoubtedly Gods will appointing of it If the spiritual power or authority of the priest as our Book of Orders calls us came only by such a delegation that conveighes the same through mans hands then was the priests under the law no priests or had no power for they were not ordained priests but born priests and this right and power of priesthood was theirs we see expresly by this statute for ever We read indeed of the priests sanctifying themselves often to some particular work as to carry the Ark to cleanse the Sanctuary and the like but we read not that they were to be consecrate to their office as I yet finde We read indeed that the high Priest as he succeeded was to be consecrate and annointed and so Aarons garments were kept on purpose but forasmuch as this dignity it self of the high priesthood came also by birth it is apparent that their annointing and consecration did not give them their right and office but only solemnize and confirm it as princes who are so by birth cannot have the regal office conveighed but declared and ratified by their inauguration As for the rest of the priests we read of one consecration only by Moses at once for all of them Lev. 8. Exod. 29. And certainly we may conceive if God did intend that the Ministerial power should be conveighed ordinarily through the hands of man any otherwise then as the signifiers of his will then should not one consecration it is like have sufficed for all but he would have commanded every one of them to be particularly consecrate or set apart for the receiving that power by man in their generations Besides when Aarons sonnes are consecrate at once by Moses this is all you shall find in it An Investiture by several ceremonies you may see Lev. 8. which all are manifestly without the least word or form of conferring power by the way onely of external solemnization and an Attonement made by sacrafice for them because else they might not approach the holy God in their fins and therefore is is said This shalt thou do to hallow them to minister in their office Exod. 29.1 It is not said This thou shalt do to give them their office Their office was conferred by Gods appointment and the hallowing them is only to the work that they might stand before the Lord to execute their service in the holy place And now let us come to look also under the Gospel All power sayes Christ is given me in heaven and earth Go preach and baptize Here we see from whence the authority of the Ministry is derived and that is from him only who is the Master of discipline and fountain of power And does he say this to his Apostles only No it followes And lo I am with you alway even to the end of the world Again when he ascended and gave gifts to men as he gave some to be apostles so he gave some to be pastors and teachers Eph. 4 It is he then gives the office putting us in the Ministry as Paul speaks 1 Tim. 1.12 In Mat. 9.38 It is the father

called Oratio benedictio among the antients If I were near some good Library I might perhaps turn over a score of Common places and Compends of Protestant Divinity to prove this further but I doe see half a dozen more before my eyes and brought to my hands without labour Hunnius Amesius Crocius Junius Tarnovius Voetius Lutherans and Calvinists who express Ordination accordingly Declaratio solennis Constitutionis testificatio missio solennis in possessionem manifestatio promulgatio coram Ecclesiae as Dr. Seaman hath them in his book of Ordination and tells us They are to be understood of the rite of Ordination to wit as I intend it distinguisht from election and in that sense may be admitted and so is it rightly compared he acknowledges by our Protestants to Coronation p. 16. Now then as there may be reason of State sometimes for a double inauguration of the Magistrate So may there be if I may so speak reason of Church for re-ordination of the Minister and so long as both agree in their nature the one may be I suppose a good argument for the other There is a learned but too vehement adversary I see upon this subject that does mention Olivers double investiture before a Lord Mayor and before a parliament as Protector but he might have made mention of other examples that would have relished better Our English of old did feel of what advantage it was against them to the affairs of France that Charles the 7th was crowned more then once Yet will not I rest here for we have sacred instances in Scripture even of the most famous of all the Kings of the Jewes who were annointed from the Lord by the hand of Prophets and Priests and yet inaugurated again after before the face of all Israel And if what the forequoted judicious Doctor intimates to us pag. 15. bee good that annointing to Kings amongst the Jewes was in some sense essential to their calling this one comparison alone I judge must needs strike a great stroak to the determining this matter It is true that the Papists and Schoolmen and some Antients who make Orders to be a Sacrament and a means of conferring the Holy Ghost may look on it as injurious to the Rite it self as doth appear by a sentence of Austin and Cyprian this Author quotes to repeat the same but our Protestants and especially the more learned Rabbies of them who tell us that this imposition of Hands was doubtlesse taken up from the custome of the Jews some add in their Synagogues in ordaining their Elders and not from the sacred mouth and command of Christ as Baptisme was are not and need not be so strait laced in this matter It is true also that some of our own grave Divines are willing to put as high an honour as they can on this Ordinance Mr. Hocker who strives to do so Ec. Pol. p. 410 411 412 413. hath these words What Angel in Heaven could have said to man as our Lord did to Peter Feed my sheep Preach Baptize Do this whosoever sins you retain are retained O wretched blindnesse if we admire not so great power more if we consider it aright and notwithstanding imagine any but God can bestow it The learned Grotius De Imp. Sum. Pot. circa sac c. 10. will have these two things accurately distinguished Ipsa facultas or jus praedicandi Sacramenta et claves administrandi and applicatio hujus facultatis ad certam personam the one he attributes wholly to Christ the other onely he allowes to Ordination The eminent Voetius De desp caus Pap. lib. 2. sect 2. c. 20. is proving that solemnizatio seu consecratio seu ordinatio seu investitura 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocant patres groeci illa externa quam nos confirmationem dicimus does not tribuere ministerium or is not ejus fundamentum I note the words in the expression as well as the position of greater concernment to us Honest Mr. Perkins upon Gal. 1.1 does speak here as truly fully and well methinks to my mind as any mortall man can I gather from hence saies he that the right to call belongs to God the Father thrusts forth Labourers into his Vineyard the Son gives Pastors and Teachers the Holy Ghost makes Overseers It may be objected that the Church hath Authority to call and ordain Ministers I answer that the Churches Authority is no more but a Ministery or service whereby it doth testify declare and approve whom God hath called Whose doctrine that is that Orders do Imprint a Character those that read the Councill of Treat may know That some of the eminent Papists do understand by this ind lible Character nothing but spi●itualis potestas those that reade Bellarmine and Lombards definition before may know unto what parties then consequently these two opinions on one side that Ordination does give the Spiritual power and on the other that it is the Confirmation of our Call do appertain may be known without a Monitor also There is five Disputations about Church Government of Mr. Baxters the second whereof as soon as the Book came to my hand did put me methinks out of countenance to see when I had been beating long about something with what fullnesse and perspicuity h● hath gone before me Let me set down a few passages The Ordainers p. 146. do not give the power as from themselves to others nor doth it passe through their hands It is the standing act of Christ in his Law that giveth the power immediately The ordinary judgement I think of Divines is that the Ministerial Authority is from Christ but mediately But this acute and known Divine sayes immedi●tely He explains it p. 147. As in the making of Bayliffs for our Corporations either the people or the Burgesses have the power of choosing and the Steward or Recorder of swearing him and performing the Ceremonies and yet none of these conferre the power which he receives from the Prince alone by the Charter of the Cities or Towns as his Instrument So is it in the Ordaining of Ministers The People may choose and the Pastors may invest but it is God only by the Gospell Charter that conferrs the power from himself You will say though we have a Charter a man is not a Magistrate till chosen nor compleated till sworn therefore it is mediately I answer true it is mediately or through the means of the people and Steward doing that which is their part which is only designing the person but not mediately through them as deriving the power which they have not themselves that is if you will it is through them putting the condition according to the Charter for the Charter requires this that a man be chosen and sworn but the condition being put the power flowes immediately from the charter itself Why so here The power is immediately sayes he p. 234. from Christ and men do but open the door or determine of the person that shall from Christ

is with the most Learned only reputed reckoned acknowledged amongst the Apostles The other instance is in Num. 27. where we have a Civil Ordination if I may so say of Joshua to the Government as of us to the Ministry Now the Lord there v. 18. commands Moses to take him and set him before the Congregation and lay his hands upon him Here is this same Symbolical Rite from whence it is supposed by some to be taken up in the New Testament And wherefore must be do this I pray read on v. 20. And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him that all the Congregation of the Children of Israel may be obedient Lo● here the very genuine natural reason of such Solemnities The meaning is I take it as much as to say Commend him in publick as appointed of God Hoc ritu denotat eum saies one legitime a deo electum esse and meet for the Office that h● may thereby have a value repute honour or authority before the people as may qualifie him like thy Successor for the execution of his charge and acceptation with them I will close it up with hemnitius Application Impones Josuae manus dabis ei p●rcem gloriae tuae hoe est authoritatem quâtis hactenus ornatus fussti dabis successori tuo Ita quoque publice authoritas coram ecclesia tribuitur ei cui manus sunt impositae I must add lest this be mistaken There is I count the jus and faculty coram deo and this Authority coram ecclesia It is the last flowes from Orders the other only from Christ And here there be some I suppose of my Episcopal Fathers may act upon such an account as this The Presbyterians have thought it good in their Orders to have no such Form of Words as are actually conferring of power the true reason by the way though they have not all known one anothers minds being indeed lest we should think the spiritual power it self to be conferred hereby which is but the outward investiture only and hereupon they are apt to think such no Ministers or without power and so ordain them again But though I take this to be the very best plea that such who go so high can have yet must I needs judge it a conception both injurious and fond to believe that a man who is set apart to the Office of a Minister by all other solemnity that is needful shall yet have no Authority given him by God for that Office only for the defect of a Formality That there are not such words used as are in the Episcopal Orders is a conceit never like to lodge with me Such men as these I judge have not yet learned what Mr. Hooker hath taught them that neither Spirit nor spiritual Authority proceedeth from man Or what others have added more perspicatiously that it is derived to us as that of elected Magistrates in C●●●es immediately from our Charter which they have from the King and we from Christ Jesus But now Sirs if you wi●l distinguish here betwixt our Authority Spiritual and our authority only before men and account that those words Take thou Authority are necessary if you will for the giving only the last that is that unless our Orders be these which are according to our Church they will not suffice now to the putting that estimation upon us as Ministers that we may have the f●ee use of our Ministry thereby and thereupon re-ordination only be urged and used I must sit down here and dri●e the n●i● along with you There is one thing only remains to be vindicated in this Section and that is that other instance I have produced for me on this subject to wit of the Apostles themselves who are sent out by Christ with Authority to preach the Gospel Mat. 10.7 in his life and yet after he is risen he renews their Authority Jo. 20.21 As my Father sent me so send I you There is a second mission and yet is not this all for if we mark the Text we find that this was the same day at evening v. 19. when he rose while his Disciples are in a house at Jerusalem and Thomas expresly not with them v. 24. There must be another time therefore wherein this Commission is again delivered unless Thomas had not the same Power or Commission with the rest and that we have expresly on a Mountain in Galilee where Christ had appointed them to meet him Mat. 28.16 And there is their grand Commission finally repeated and established Go Preach and Baptize I am with you to the end of the world Now let the question say I in my sheets be put then to the highest whether an Authority or Commission to an Office or Work may be renewed even supposing Orders did give the Ministerial Authority and it is here exemplyfied and proved in the most signal President we can have in the earth Who can think that to be unlawful which Christ did to his Apostles himself But I will not let this go thus I have before somewhere distinguish'd from Hooker between the spiritual power or commission it self and the delivery of i● I will choose to say here if I may that the Commission it self and Authority Christ gave the twelve to be his Apostles might be but one and the same and given at first which besides that we cannot but think Christ gave them the Office when he gave them the Name of the Office Thomas absence mentioned at the time the power of binding and loosing was particularly given may be p●rh●ps a medium o prove yet the d●livery of it by way of ch●rge was often as he saw it goo● for the ful●er enforcement thereof or establishment of them in the same And this is no new Doctrine but as a person worthy of all credit in a matter of this nature as being most throughly read in the Fathers does tell us that the powers Matth. 16.19 Jo. 20.23 Mat 18.18 are t●ken to be one and the same powers by the Doctors of the Primitive Church which they do unanimously acknowledge to be given unto the Apostles both in right and possession as to the essential parts of the powers before Christ's death Chry●ost de sacerdo●io 3. Ambros l. 1. de paenit c. 1. 6. Hier. ad Heliod de vita so it Athanas Sc●m in i●lud perfecti in pagum Cypr. de simplicit Praelat The learned Author proceeds and having considered and compared their sayings with themselves and the Scriptures gives us two assertions First They do not deny saies he the said powers to have been given as to their essentials unto the Apostles when he called them to the Apostleship and gave them the name of Apostles Second●y They agree that all the Apostles received those powers when our Saviour bre●thed on them and that this was a solemn Ordination of them giving them more grace to accompany their Ministry than they had in their first call and less solemn Ordination Chrysoft