Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	church_n	peter_n	successor_n	2,942	5	9.2143	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42899	A sermon of St. Peter preach'd before Her Majesty the Queen-Dowager, in her chappel at Somerset-House, on the twenty ninth of June, 1686 : being St. Peter and St. Paul's Day / by Thomas Godden ...	Godden, Thomas, 1624-1688.	1686 (1686)	Wing G920; ESTC R21804	17,094	44

it be true as most certainly it is what our Saviour said that Every Kingdom divided against it self shall be brought to ruin and on the other side that The Gates of Hell shall never prevail against his Church which is his Kingdom it manifestly follows That as the Church is to continue for ever so also the Authority given to Peter was not to die with him but to descend to his Successors and to remain for ever in the Chair of Peter Of which Chair St. Austin speaking says Ipsa est Petra quam superbae non vincunt Inferorum Portae This is the Rock which the Proud Gates of Hell do not overcome And therefore S. Hierom when three unhappy Factions brake out at the same time and each endeavour'd to gain him to their Party cries out to them Si quis Cathedrae Petri jungitur meus est Let me know which of you holds Communion with the Chair of Peter and him I shall acknowledge for mine Super illam Petram aedificatam Ecclesiam scio I know the Church to be built upon that Rock I know that whosoever eateth the Lamb out of that House is Prophane and whosoever shall not be in the Ark of Noe when the Deluge comes peribit regnante diluvio shall perish in the Waters Some perhaps may think this to be a dreadful Saying and so indeed it is for as St. Austin says Nihil sic debet formidare Christianus quam separari a corpore Christi A Christian ought to dread nothing so much as to be separated from the Body of Christ which is his Church For if he be separated from the Body of Christ he is no Member of Christ And if he be no Member of Christ he is not quickned by the Spirit of Christ The Spirit quickens only the Members which are united to the Body How much then are They bound to give thanks to Almighty God whose good Lot it has been either to have been brought up from their Infancy in the Communion of this Chair upon which the Church is built or after having been bred otherwise to have been powerfully and yet sweetly drawn and incorporated into it Who can recount all the Graces and Blessings which those enjoy who are in this happy Communion and of which those remain destitute and depriv'd who are out of it I shall give a brief Account of some of them in the words of the Great S. Austin and so conclude First then by being Members of this Holy Communion it is as the same Father says that we are Inhabitants in that Holy Mountain of which David foretells in his 42. Psalm that when God has brought us into it by his Light and Truth he graciously hears the Prayers and Supplications we offer up to him in order to our own Eternal Salvation Mons Sanctus ejus Ecclesia ejus est This Holy Mountain is his Church There it is that as himself has promis'd Every one that asks shall receive Every one that seeks shall find and that knocks at the Gate of Heaven shall have it open'd to him Happy Condition to be thus assur'd of being heard when we pray for our selves And then again of being Partakers also of the Prayers and good Works of others For the Soul of all true Believers as the same S. Austin says being One Soul per unam Fidem by the Vnity of the same Faith and all the Faithful One Man by reason of the unity of the Body of Christ As the Functions of the several Parts in the Natural Body so also the Prayers and good Works of each Member of this Mystical Body redound to the benefit of the Whole Every one has a share in the Prayers and good Works of all and may say with holy David Particeps ego sum omnium timentium te I am a partaker of all those that fear thee and keep thy Commandments And this not only whilst they were labouring in this Life to gain Heaven for themselves but after that they are reigning in it with Christ Their Charity by change of State is not diminish'd but increas'd Securi says St. Cyprian de sua salute de nostra sunt soliciti Being now secure of their own Salvation they are solicitous for ours And the Prayers they offer up for us are so much more efficacious and available by how much the Saints in Glory are in greater union and favour with God Nor do we reap this benefit of partaking the Prayers and good Works of others only whilst we are in this Life but also after we are departed out of it for as the same St. Austin speaking of the Custom of the Catholic Church in his Time as in ours of Praying for those who were departed in the Communion of it says Neque negandum est It is not to be deny'd but that the Souls of the Faithful deceased are reliev'd by the Piety of their living Friends when the Sacrifice of the Mediatour that is of the Body and Blood of Christ is offer'd or Alms given for them in the Church These dear Catholic Brethren with many others too long to be insisted on at present are great Advantages which those only can be partakers of whom the Grace and Goodness of God has plac'd in this Holy Mountain his Church Quisquis praeter hunc montem erat non credat se exaudiri ad salutem aeternam Whoever Prays out of this Mountain says St. Austin let him not flatter himself with a vain belief that he shall be heard to Eternal Salvation Many who Pray out of the Church have their Petitions granted in many things as for Health Wealth Children and the like But he that will obtain Eternal Salvation for himself must Pray in this Holy Mountain if he will be heard There says he let him Worship who will be accepted there let him Pray who will be heard and there let him Confess who will obtain remission of his Sins And as those only Prayers which are offer'd in the Communion of the Church are by vertue of this Communion efficacious to Eternal Life so also those good Works only which are done in it and those Sacraments which are received in it Multi says he quasi exercent bona Opera Many exercise themselves in Works seemingly good but they belong not to that Husbandman whom our Lord calls Father because they dwell not in the Land which he Cultivates and Waters Ipsam formam habet Sarmentum c. A Branch cut off from the Vine has the same Form it had whilst it was in it But what will it avail it to have the same Form of Godliness if it live not from the Root What more glorious State of Life than that of perpetual Continency a State so high and sublime that our Saviour do's not enjoyn it to any but only exhorts to it with a Qui potest capere capiat Let him that can take it take it And yet the same holy Father