Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	body_n	church_n	society_n	1,721	5	9.2198	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51817	A sermon concerning publick worship preached before the Queen on Wednesday the 23d of March, 1691/2 / by Thomas Manningham ...	Manningham, Thomas, 1651?-1722.	1692 (1692)	Wing M499; ESTC R3514	10,669	35

and Rage of their Enemies But they very well knew than Christ had required an open Confession and Acknowledgment of his Religion from all his Followers and had made it their Duty to keep up a constant Communion with him and with one another in the Publick Offices of Divine Worship and that to be excluded that Publick Worship upon the account of any notorious Crime was so dreadful a punishment that it was no less than an Anticipation of the Future Judgment of the last Day when the Wicked shall be Eternally separated from all Communion with the Righteous Christians are not to look upon themselves as single Persons of distinct and separate Interests but they are to consider themselves as Members of the same Mystical Body as Parts of the same Spiritual Society that they are Redeem'd as a Church and are to glorifie God as a Church that their chief Blessings are those they enjoy in Common and that no Private Devotions are acceptable to ●od when set in opposition to the Publick ●o●●…ny indeed say what we can to the con●●●●… are apt to suppose themselves good Chr●●●ians barely by Believing in Christ and by Praying in private but they would do well to consider that the Carechumens of old or those who were but in a preparation for their Baptism were accounted Believers were taught their Creed and instructed how to pray before they were admitted into the Christian Union or into the Society of the Church by way of Baptism and before they were made Partakers of those Priviledges which Christ has purchas'd for such who serve him in the Assembly of the Saints Wherefore upon these and several * See Mr. Thorndike of Religious Assemblies Bishop Patrick Dean Sherlock on the same Argument other Accounts which I shall not insist on at present it may plainly appear that the Nature of our Religion is such that it especially requires a Publick Profession and Exercise III. There is nothing that so much promotes a Spirit of Vniversal Charity as a due esteem and practice of the Publick Worship The best Natural Argument that we have for the loving one another is the Consideration that we are Creatures made for Society that our private welfare is infinitely advanc'd by mutual Beneficence and that our truest Interest is infolded in the Publick Good But Christ who has form'd us into a Religious Society and made us Members of the same Body by a Mystical and Sacred Union has laid a Foundation for a stronger Tye of Friendship and for more generous Acts of Love For how can the things of this World divide us when we must expect them no otherwise than as the Effects of our Prayers and must desire them no further then as they are serviceable or at least no Impediment to our everlasting good What can bring us to a greater concern for one another and more Unite our Affections than a frequent Meeting at the same place of Worship and joyning together in the same Duties of Religion If common Conversation has so many Attractives so many Charms in it how must a Sacred Familiarity endear us Where we have but one great Business to prosecute and 't is the Interest of us all to promote that where we endeavour to appear in the best Temper the mildest Disposition and the most humble frame of Mind where we lay by the distinctions of Family Place and Title and all the little Differences that the order of this Life creates where we advance no particular ends that are contrary to the general Good but rejoyce to promote each others Salvation where we withdraw our Minds from Earthly things which occasion so much Passion in Mankind and set our Hearts upon that Heaven which is large enough to receive us all and to satisfie us with full content How can we be angry with those Persons who meet at the same place of Worship with our selves and appear in such Postures of Reverence and Humility as plainly signifie that they are Repenting of all their Sins and humbling themselves for their Infirmities How can we retain any Enmity against our Fellow-Christians when the very Duties which we our selves are engag'd in must needs suggest the many Provocations we have offer'd to God the gracious Pardon we have receiv'd from him and the Condition upon which that Pardon was dispens'd viz. the Forgiving of one another Or how can there be any Entertainment for those narrow and sor did Passions of Malice and Hatred and Revenge in the Breasts of those who are the Worshippers of God in Publick who cannot but have their Minds rais'd their Affections sweetned and their Hearts enlarg'd by the Solemn Praises in the Congregation 'T is in the Church that we must learn the truest Union of Hearts and Affections where we are all concern'd for our Common Salvation and all rely upon one Common Saviour and Redeemer where all the Girts and Graces of Christ are bestow'd for the Edification of his Body and all our greatest Benefits are enjoy'd in Common where we are dispos'd to pray for one another to rejoyce with one another to suffer with one another But the greatest part of the Christian World are as yet Strangers to this Happiness for they are most divided in that very thing which should pecullarly Vnite them what Peace therefore can be expected in Temporal Matters when Men will not indure a Communion in Holy things And what more probable Reason can we assign of the Divisions and Hatreds and the malicious Oppositions of one another throughout the Christian World than that we are unhappily Divided in the Publick Worship of God That some Mens Devotions are held either Idolatry or Superstition to others and that many look upon it as a main part of Religion to expose and vilifie the Worship of others O gracious God the Lord of Peace and Concord look down in Mercy upon thy Universal Church and give us through the Light of thy Gospel and the Influence of thy Spirit such an understanding of the True Christian Worship that we may all come to glorifie Thee with one Heart and with one Voice That all Factions and Persecutions and bloody Wars may cease in the Christian World and all who call upon thy Name may be at Unity among themselves That we may be as tender of other Rights and as sensible of their Calamities as if they were our own That at length we may become one Holy People one City of God one Body of Christ IV. The frequenting the Publick Worship with that Preparation and with those Dispositions which it requires is the best way whereby we may attain to Solid Piety It is a great Blessing to have a Soul inflam'd with the Love of God and then to be able to guide that Flame with Discretion to keep it regular and within the compass of the Altar and not to suffer it to waste away in violent Agitations or an Enthusiastical Zeal It is much better to be pious in the old way of daily

a mean Sacrifice and will make us capable of Adoring him hereafter in a more Perfect way He has several Orders of Pure and Spiritual Beings to glorifie him with the immediate Adoration of their Minds but we are confin'd to Bodies and must give him glory as he has made us capable of giving it we must declare his Greatness and his Goodness to one another and give outward Testimonies of the inward sense we have of his Perfections of his Majesty of his Power and of his Mercy Now to do this in the most Publick manner is the way of giving the greatest Honour to God and is a Veneration most suitable to the Majesty of him we Adore When a Multitude of People meet together to Worship the Almighty and to set forth his Praises it makes some little Figure of Heaven it raises our Minds to more magnificent Conceptions of God and more fully represents him to us as the Governour of the World Whereas if we look upon him as only intending our private Interest as busied only to serve our present wants we may be thought to conceive of him rather as an Idol than as that Infinite Being whose Care and Providence are extended to the concerns of the whole Creation To Worship God truly is to make him known to be the Lord of the Universe the Common Parent Preserver and Benefactor of all Mankind and therefore Publick Assemblies are the best signification of his glorious Perfections and vast Dominion for They are a Visible expression of the greatness of God they enlarge our Idea of him and make us more sensible of his Majesty than words and language can do They who cannot use their Minds to any abstracted ways of Thinking may be wonderfully confirm'd and heighten'd in their Acknowledgments and Thoughts of a Deity when they see how the Learned and the Rich and the Honourable and the greatest Persons upon the Earth do bow and kneel before their Maker and humble themselves in the Dust of the Sanctuary to witness their profound Veneration of an Infinite Wisdom Power and Goodness What becoming Thoughts and Affections towards God must this needs inspire into the Multitude when they shall observe those whose Knowledge and Judgment whose Vertues and Excellencies they exceedingly admire to behave themselves most Reverently and Devoutly in the Presence of God What Excuse can they have to neglect that Religion which they plainly perceive to be in such high esteem with those of the greatest Place and Dignity and of the clearest repute for Wisdom and Piety What Desire what holy Ambition must it raise in the Common People to appear often in the Place of Divine Worship and to make up the great Congregation that they may mingle themselves with the Noble and Wise and be equal Worshippors with them of the same God and the same Mediator II. The Nature of Religion is such that it especially requires a Publick Exercise That which makes all our Actions religious is the performing them in Obedience to God and with an Intention of his Glory whatever the particular Duties are in which we are engag'd whether they immediately respect our Neighbours or our selves if the chief Motive of doing them be derived from the Will and Pleasure of God they are a Religious Service But what we more properly call Religion is that which has an immediate Respect to God and is directly intended for the promoting of his Glory and the most eminent part of this Religion is the Publick Service of the Church which is still more eminently so as it is more Publick and Solemn because more becoming the Honour and Greatness of him we Worship This Religious Service is a Natural Debt which we owe to God as we are his Creatures and had we continued Innocent would have principally consisted in Praises and Thanksgivings and high Admirations of God's Power and Wisdom and Bounty But since we are in a Fal'n Condition and a State obnoxious to the displeasure of God there is a Necessity of glorifying him by an humble Confession of our Sins and an earnest Importunity for Pardon and Forgiveness And this can never be so Acceptable as when it is Publick for by that means we take more shame to our selves by making a more Solemn Acknowledgment of our guilt and we give more glory to God by our open Confessions and Humiliations Most of the Psalms of David were design'd to a Publick end and to make up the Service of the Congregation and he himself reckons it as one of the more bitter Afflictions of his Life that the Troubles of his Kingdom sometimes banish'd him from the Publick Service of God For thô we have no reason to doubt but so Religious a Person maintain'd a continual intercourse with God by way of private Prayer yet the Solemn Service of the Sunctuary was that in which the Honour of God was so signally acknowledg'd and display'd and his Name so eminently glorify'd that nothing else could properly carry the Title of Divine Worship among the Jews and therefore in their Captivity whenever they made their private Addresses to God they directed themselves towards Jerusalem where the Temple of the Lord was founded Our blessed Saviour in the Reformation he made of Religion was most tender of the Honour of his Father and took nothing from the Publick Worship that did any way conduce to his Glory He put an end to the repeated Sacrifices of Beasts by fulfilling what they signify'd in offering up his own Body once for all upon the Cross and leaving to the Church that Alsufficient Sacrifice of himself for their perpetual Commemoration He taught that God was to be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth St. John iv 24. not in the least to derogate from the Publick Worship of God but to shew that the Typical Service was within a while to cease and that the Heart and Inward Affections were always to accompany the External Worship He gave an especial Command for Secret Prayer St. Matth. vi 6. because there was no need at that time of Exhorting to the Publick Worship which was then sufficiently frequented and in which the Hypocrisy of that Age did so much Reign And besides by that Precept of his he tacitly reprov'd the Ostentation of the Pharisees which was so notorious in all their Publick Devetions Our Saviour was so far from Discountenancing the Publick Service of Religion that he came to remove the Jewish Confinement and to make way for all the Nations of the Earth to come in and glorifie God with one Heart and with one Voice Wherefore our Christianity does consist in serving God as Parts of the Body of Christ and in a Joynt and Festival Commemorating of the exceeding great Blessing of our Common Redemption Had an Inward Faith and a Private Devotion been sufficient to have carried Christians to Heaven they would never have Assembled together in the hottest Times of Persecution when their Meetings expos'd them so much to the Observation