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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	call_v	name_n	read_v	1,589	5	5.8219	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45549	The hierarchy exalted and its enemies humbled a sermon preached on the first Sunday in Advent, being the 2d day of Decemb. 1660 : after the consecration of the Right Reverend Fathers in God, John, Lord Bishop of Durham, William, Lord Bishop of St. Davids, Benjamin, Lord Bishop of Peterborough, Hugh, Lord Bishop of Landaff, Richard, Lord Bishop of Carlisle, Brian, Lord Bishop of Chester, and John, Lord Bishop of Exceter in the Abby Church of St. Peters Westminister / by Nathanael Hardy ...	Hardy, Nathaniel, 1618-1670.	1661 (1661)	Wing H724; ESTC R20456	14,673	34

of themselves They say they are Jews and are not The true judgement of Christ concerning them that they were liars and of the Synagogue of Satan The false opinion these persons had of themselves was that whereas they were not they said they were Jews Our late learned Annotatour conceiveth the them here spoken of to be Gnosticks who said they were Jews by their compliance with them in observing their Jewish rites and persecuting the orthodox Christians The generality of Interpreters understandeth the them to be such as were of the Nation and people of the Iews but then the difficulty will be in what sense our Saviour denieth them to be Iews and chargeth them for saying they were so To which the Answer is fitly returned by distinguishing between a Iew according to the flesh and according to the spirit He is not a Iew saith St. Paul which is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Iew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart In this notion he that is not a Iew may truly say he is a Iew and he that saith he is a Iew may be truly said to be none They which are of the faith of Abraham saith the Apostle are the children of Abraham though not descended from his loyns and if you were the children of Abraham you would do the works of Abraham saith Christ to those who were of his lineage In vain therefore did these in the Text say and saying boast that they were Iews whenas they were so unlike to their godly progenitors That Christ whom their Fathers expected they rejected and whereas the end of Moses his rites was to lead them to these set up Moses in opposition against Christ. It will yet further serve to clear the meaning of these words if we interpret Iews Metonymically pro unico Dei populo for Gods only people so indeed the Iews were before the coming of Christ to whom saith St. Paul pertained the adoption and the glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the promises and such did these Iews glory themselves still to be but in truth they were not yea they were so far from being his only people that they were not his people at all Loammi were become Ammi and Ammi Loammi the Gentiles who were not become his people by the reception and the Iews who were of old now were not his people through their rejection of Christ. That which I shall here take notice of in brief is one speciall character of an hypocrite namely to say he is that he is not The Greek word for hypocrite is used concerning a Stage-player who in acting puts on the person of another and it is his fit Emblem as being one who careth not to appear as he is nay appeareth what he is not Singuli caetus haereticorum suam esse Catholicam Ecclesiam putant was Lact antius his observation in his time And to the same purpose St. Austin Omnes haeretici se Catholicos dicivolunt And it is still verfied Hereticks would be accounted by others and esteem themselves to be Catholicks and their Conventicles to be the true nay only Churches of Christ. Believe not fair showes and specious pretences all is not gold that glistereth many faces seem beautifull which are but painted You read in the ninth Verse of the former Chapter of Pseudo-Apostoli those who say they are Apostles but are not and here of Pseudo-Iudaei those who say they are Iews but are not whom therefore our blessed Lord brands with these two black characters They are of the Synagogue of Satan and do lie which is the next particular Christs true judgment and censure concerning them 1. The first brand which Christ sets upon these persons is that they were of the Synagogue of Satan and what here he saith of them is no more than what he said to them when he tels them to their faces You are of your Father the Devil Indeed when you consider who they were namely a people whom God had separated from all the Nations of the earth to be his it cannot but seem strange that they should deserve such a mark as this yet thus it was and too often is the faithfull City proveth an harlot Bethel becometh Bethaven the Temple is made a den of theeves and Gods Church is turned into a Chappell for the Devil How far may both persons and Churches degenerate both in doctrine and manners They who were Orthodox haereticall Apostolicall apostaticall and Divine diabolicall Nor was this charge how severe soever it may seem unjust or untrue if you consider their inveterate malice against the Preachers and professours of Christian Religion The name Satan here used is derived from a Verb that signifieth to hate nor is any thing more diabolicall then hatred He is called in this Book the accuser of the Brethren and wll might these Jews be stiled his Synagogue of whom we read in the Acts that they were hatefull accusers and violent opposers of the Apostles and Disciples of Christ. 2. The second mark of infamy upon them is that they were liars Nor is this less true then the former since to affirm what we know to be false or deny what we know to be true is to lie and these in the Text affirm themselves to be what indeed they were not and either they did or might have known it themselves Liars they were and that of the worst sort pernicious liars boasting themselves to be what they were not that thereby they might withdraw others from embracing Christianity to the ruine of their precious souls This is not unsitly annexed as a justification of the former for since as our Saviour tels us in the forementioned Scripture the Devil is a liar and the Father of it all liars are justly charged to be the Synagogue of Satan And now to close up this first part of the Text though the blessed Jesus delights in the still voice yet see what sharp language he useth towards these enemies of his Church In the like manner he dealt with the Scribes and Pharisees whom he cals ravening Wolves and a generation of Vipers hereby setting a pattern to all his Ministers when they meet with obstinate sinners gross hypocrites and malicious adversaries to rebuke them sharply It is a known Proverb Malo nodo malus cuneus not the axe but the wedge must be used in knotty pieces of wood Plutarch observeth of Physicians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they use strong potions in violent diseases God bids the Prophet cry aloud and not spare to wit his vehement increpations Provided our reproofs arise not from anger but zeal ill will to mens persons but hatred of their sins we cannot be too severe Nor need we fear that such a spirit is incongruous to the Evangelicall dispensation whenas we find not only John