Jeremy Taylor and the power of the keys

Following on from yesterday's post, another Laudian example, this time from Jeremy Taylor, of how 'the power of the keys' was interpreted not in terms of private absolution but rather, in Protestant terms, as the ministry of Word and Sacrament:

but the power of the keys is another thing; it is the dispensing all those rites and ministries by which heaven is opened: and that is, the word and baptism at the first, and ever after, the holy sacrament of the supper of the Lord, and all the parts of the bishops’ and priests' advocation and intercession in holy
prayers and offices - Unum Necessarium, or The Doctrine and Practice of Repentance, Chpt. X.IV.

this further appears in the case of baptism; which is the most apparent and evident use of the power of the keys, it being truly and properly the intromission of catechumens into the house God, and an admitting them to all the promises and benefits of the kingdom , and, which is the greatest, the most absolute and most evident remission of all the sins precommitted; and yet towards the dispensing this pardon no particular confession of sins is previous, by any necessity or divine law ... baptizing is for remission of sins, and is the first act of the power of the keys - Second Part of the Dissuasive from Popery, Book I, Section XI.

God hath erected in his church a whole order of men, the main part and dignity of whose work it is to remit and retain sins by a perpetual and daily ministry: and this they do, not only in baptism, but in all their offices to be administered afterwards; in the holy sacrament of the eucharist, which exhibits the symbols of that blood which was shed for pardon of our sins, and therefore by its continued mystery and repetition declares, that all that while we are within the ordinary powers and usual dispensations of pardon, even so long as we are in any probable dispositions to receive that holy sacrament - The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying, Chpt. V. Section V.

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laudable Practice

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