Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	christian_a	church_n	unity_n	1,522	5	9.2638	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12187	A miracle of miracles or Christ in our nature Wherein is contained the vvonderfull conception, birth, and life of Christ, who in the fulnesse of time became man to satisfie divine iustice, and to make reconciliation betweene God and man. Preached to the honourable society of Grayes Inne, by that godly and faithfull minister of Iesus Christ, Richard Sibbes. D.D.	Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635.	1638 (1638)	STC 22499; ESTC S117264	26,445	58

maine thing I desire you to observe is matter of comfort from this Emanuell That now hee having taken our nature upon him that he might take our persons into unity of his mysticall body wee might have comfort in all conditions For hee tooke our nature upon him beside his other ends that hee might take our persons to make up mysticall Christ hee married our nature to marry our persons And therefore if hee did it for this end that wee might bee neere him as our nature is neere him shall not wee make it a ground of comfort that our persons shall bee neere Christ as well as our natures As CHRIST hath two natures in one person so many persons make up one mysticall CHRIST so that our persons are wonderfully neere to Christ. The wife is not neerer the husband the members are not neerer the head the building is not neerer the foundation then Christ and his Church are And therefore comfort our selues in this Christ is Emanuell God with us in our nature And will hee suffer his Church to want that hee hath taken so neere to himselfe can the members want influence when the head hath it can the wife be poore when the husband is rich whatsoever Christ did to his owne body to his humane nature taken into the unity of his person that hee will doe in some proportion to his mysticall body I will shew you some particulars Hee sanctified his naturall body by the Holy Ghost and hee will sanctifie us by the same spirit For there is the same spirit in head and members He loveth his naturall body and so as never to lay it aside to eternity And loveth his mysticall body now in some sort more for hee gave his naturall body to death for his mysticall body And therefore as hee will never lay aside his naturall body hee will never lay aside his Church nor any member of his Church for with the same love that hee loved his naturall body hee loveth now his mysticall members As hee rose to glory in his naturall body and ascended to Heaven so hee will raise his mysticall body that it shall ascend as hee ascended I beseech you therefore consider what a ground of comfort this is God tooke our nature on him besides the grand end of satisfaction that hee might make us like himselfe in glory that hee might draw us neere to himselfe And therefore now Christ being in Heaven having commission and authority over all things put into his hand hee having a Name above all names in Heaven and earth that at the Name of Iesus every knee should bow that is every subjection should bee given will he suffer any member of his body to suffer more then hee thinkes fit No seeing hee is in Heaven and glory for his Churches good For all that he hath done and suffered is for the Church and the Churches use To conclude all Let us consider what wee are let not a Christian bee base minded let him not bee dastardly in any cause that is good or Gods Let him be on Gods side Who is on his side a Christian is an impregnable person hee is a person that can never bee conquered Emanuell became man to make the Church and every Christian to be one with him Christs nature is out of danger of all that is hurtfull The Sun shall not shine the wind shall not blow to the Churches hurt For the Churches head ruleth over all things and hath all things in subjection Angells in heaven men on earth Devills in hell all bow to Christ and shall any thing befall them that he loveth unlesse for their greater good Therefore though they may kill a Christian and imprison him yet hurt him they can not If God bee on our side who can bee against us but God is on our side and on what grounds God-man hath procured him to be our friend hee hath satisfied God and therfore if we beleeve we be one with Christ and so one with God Wee have many against us the Devils are against us the world is against us to take away the favour of God to hinder accesse to him in prayer to stoppe the Churches communion with God and hinder the sweet issue of all things that befall us as farre as they can but their malice is greater then their power If God should let them loose and give the chaine into their owne hand though they seeme to hurt yet hurt they cannot in the issue And shall not we make use of these things in times of distresse wherefore serve they but to comfort us in all conflicts with Satan and in all doubtings that arise from our sinfull hearts Answer all with this If God be with us who can bee against us If any bee against us name them if not be satisfied And therefore come life come death Christ is our surety he layeth up our dust keepeth our ashes in the grave and will Christ loose any member Feare not Iacob to goe into Egypt For I will bring thee backe againe So feare not to goe into the grave The spirit of God will watch over our dust and bring us to heaven Therefore feare nothing God will be with us in life and death yea for ever and we shall be for ever with the Lord as the Apostle saith in the Thessalonians And that issue of all that Emanuell hath done Christ was one in our nature that hee might bring God and us into favour that wee may be for ever with him in heaven that we may be for ever with the Lord which is the accomplishment of all the promises FINIS Imprimatur Tho. Wykes Octob. 26. 1638. The scope of the Text. Wicked men admire their owne devices Those that brag out of danger are most cowardly in danger Infinite mercy in God and stubbornnesse in man conflicting Meaning of the Text. Reason He that will doe the greater he will doe the lesser Object How this can confirme their faith for present Answ. Make use of the Grand promises to comfort us in petty crosses Divers Articles of faith Nothing more strange then a virgin to be a mother and God a man Christ conceived not by ordinary Propagation The Masse wherof Christ was made was sanctified by the holy Ghost Christ conceived upon Maries assent to the message by the holy Ghost Observ. Quest. Answ. Christ is conceived in our hearts when we rest upon him onely 1 Tim. 3. Christs conception birth and life like ours In every thing in Christ something extraordinary Christ conceived borne lived and dyed eswe To shew sorth Christ in all our actions Vnion with Christ the cause of all grace Ier. 2.3 Emanuel a name of nature and office Christ Emanuell in regard of our nature Without the blood of Christ noe remission Meaner workes acted by the manhood greater by the Godhead Ephes 5. God our father Christ Emanuell to make God and us friends By satisfaction By the Spirit fitting us for communion with God Gods love and mercy to man to be wondred at Man above Angels by Christs incarnation What we cannot believe by vnderstanding let us labour to understand by believing Our nature in heaven * Church No counsell against God shall stand Christ with us in poverty and bond Christ God in us and for us How to know Emanuel to bee ours Christs cause to be maintained Christ with us in his Word and Sacraments Communion with Christ is sweet Doctrine Grace refused is turned into wrath What God saith man cannot disanull Men of God of ould had recourse to the promises of the Messiah How to reason with our selves in a sanctified manner All promises founded in Christ. Is. 9 6. Christs conception and incarnation marvellous and rare Christ is with us here by faith Man out of weaknes wonders at poore things Isaacks birth a type of Christs Why Christ must be without sin No blemish or defect of purity in the conception of Christ. Faith to be grounded on Christ God man Christ our surety Christ without sinne His humane nature had alwaies subsistence in the divine In manner of propagation Christ became man for our sakes Christ by divers signes shewed himselfe before exhibited in the flesh First things considerable 2 Consideration 3 Considerations to defile our natures that God hath dignified 4 Consideration 5 Consideration Obiection answered Question Answer What is done to by Christ is done by God Reason Quest. 1. Reason 2. Reason 3. Reason Job 9 3.2 Use. Use. Improved Vse of improving our priviledges by Emanuell Use. In the behalfe of the Church Isa. 8.8 Gods Church shal 〈◊〉 the end of the world At Christ comeing the Iews Church wasted 1 Evidence of comfort in Christ. Question Answer Revel 22.20 2 Evidence of comfort 〈◊〉 of comfort As the humane 〈…〉 Psal. 2 9 10 Conclus to consider what w●e are The Devill and the world our enemies

signes from things to come as 37. Isaiah The next yeare thou shalt eate that which groweth of it selfe c. because where faith is it maketh things to come all one as if they were present And so wee should make this use of the Grand promises of Christ to comfort us against all petty matters and wants whatsoever And to reason with the holy Apostle God spared not his only begotten sonne but gave him to death He hath given Christ and will he not give all things needfull Hath he given the greater and will he stand with thee for the lesse This is a blessed kinde of reasoning And so to reason from other Grand things promised God shall raise my body out of the dust and the grave and cannot he raise my body out of sicknesse and my state out of trouble cannot hee raise the Church out of misery So saith Saint Paul 2 Cor. 1. God that raised Christ restored me againe that had received the sentence of death when we receive sentence of death in our persons looke to him that raised Christ from the dead and to the grand promises to come They before Christ comforted themselves in times of all distresse by the grand promise of Christ to come But now the Messias is come And which may much more strengthen our faith he hath suffered and given his body to death for us and therefore why doubt we of Gods good will in any petty matters whatsoever To come to the words more particularly Behold a Virgin shall conceive and beare a Sonne c. You have divers articles of our faith in these few words As Christs conception by the holy Ghost his being borne of the virgin Mary c. you have here the humane nature of Christ. A virgin shall conceive and bare a sonne And the divine nature of Christ his name shall bee called Emanuell which signifieth also his office God with us by nature and God with us by office to set God and us at one So you have diverse points of divinity couched in the words which I will onely open sutable to the occasion Behold This is the usuall Becon set up the usuall Harbinger to require our attendance in all matters concerning Christ. And it hath a threefold force here Behold as being a thing presented to the eye of faith He mounteth over all the interim betweene the promise and the accomplishment for faith knoweth no difference of times And then it is to raise attention behold it is a matter of great concernement And not onely attention but likewise admiration behold a strange and admirable thing For what stranger thing is there then that a virgin should conceive that a virgin should be a mother and that God should become man We had need of strong grace to apprehend these strange things And therefore God hath provided a grace suitable above reason and above nature and that is faith Reason mocketh at this The devill knoweth it and envyeth it The Angels know and wonder at it The soule it selfe without a grace sutable to the admirablenesse of the thing can never apprehend it And therefore well may it be said Behold a virgin shall conceive and beare a sonne Behold a virgin shall conceive and beare and why a virgin When God is to be borne it is fit for a virgin to bee the mother Christ was not to come by the ordinary way of propagation he was to come from Adam but not by Adam for he was to be sanctified by the holy Ghost Because he was indeed to be a Saviour and a Sacrifice and hee must be without spot or sinne himselfe that was to offer himselfe for the sinnes of others Therefore the foundation and ground of his nature must bee pure and cleane and that is the foundation of all the purity of his life and conversation and therefore a virgin This was typified in Aarous rod which budded though it had no root No Iuice could come from a dry sticke yet by an Almighty power the rod did bud And so Moses bush It burnt and did not consume And that God that caused those things caused a virgin to be a mother He enters into the wombe of a virgin without any defilement at all considering the holy Ghost from the Father and the Son did purge and purifie and sanctifie that masse whereof the blessed body of our Saviour was made The virgin afforded the matter but the wise Framer was the holy Ghost She was passive the holy Ghost was the Agent Now when did the virgin conceive when upon the Angels comming to her and telling her That she was greatly beloved and that shee should conceive she assented be it so as the Lord hath spoken When shee assented to the word presently Christ was conceived her faith and her wombe conceived together When her heart did conceive the truth of the promise and yeelded assent thereunto her womb conceived at the same time also From hence learne something for our selves It had beene to little purpose though a virgin conceived Christ unlesse Christ had beene conceived likewise in her heart And there is no benefit by virtue of this conception to others but to such as conceive Christ in their hearts also To which end our hearts must bee in some measure made virgin hearts pure hearts hearts fit to receive Christ. We must assent to promises of pardon and of life everlasting bee it as the Lord saith A Christian is a Christian and Christ liveth in his heart at the time of the assenting to the promise So that if you aske when doth Christ first live in a Christians heart I answer then when the heart yeeldeth a firme assent to the gracious promises made in Christ for the pardoning of sinnes and acceptation to the favour of God and title and interest to life everlasting For faith is the birth of the heart Christ was conceived in the wombe of an humble and believing virgin So that heart that will conceive Christ aright must bee a humble and believing heart humble to deny himselfe in all things And believing to goe out of it selfe to the promises of God in Christ. When God by his spirit hath brought our hearts to be humble and believing to goe out of themselves and believe in him rest upon him and his promises then Christ is conceived in our hearts Behold a virgin shall conceive and beare a sonne Here is the birth of Christ as well as the conception Christ must not onely be conceived in the wombe but also brought forth because God must be manifested in the flesh As Saint Paul saith Great is the mystery of Godlinesse God manifested in the flesh If hee had onely beene conceived and not brought forth he had not beene manifested hee was to doe all things that befitted a Mediatour And therefore hee went along with us in all the passages of our lives Hee was conceived as we are remayned in the wombe so

raised above Angells Let swearers beastly persons and profane hypocrites either alter their courses or else say they beleeve not these truths Shall a man beleeve God hath taken his nature into unity of his person and hath raised it above all Angells and can he turne beast yea devill incarnate in opposition of CHRIST and his cause What a shame is this can this bee where these things are beleeved A Christian should have high thoughts of himselfe what shall I defile the nature that God hath taken into unity of his person And as hee hath dignified and raised and advanced our nature so highly so likewise hee hath infused and put all the riches of grace into our nature For all grace is in CHRIST that a finite nature can bee capable of For CHRIST is neerest the fountaine Now the humane nature being so neere the fountaine of all good that is God it must needs bee as rich as nature can possibly be capable of And is not this for our good are not all his Riches for our use And therefore seeing our nature is dignified by Emanuell and inriched exceedingly by his graces next to infinite For our humane nature is not turned to God as some are conceited It is not deified and so made infinite yet as much as the creature can bee capable of there is in Christ-man and so shall wee defile that nature And from hence that our nature is ingrafted into the God-head it followeth that what was done in our nature was of wonderfull extention force and dignity because it was done when our nature was knit to the God head and therefore it maketh up all objections As. How could the death of one man satisfie for the deaths of many millions Secondly it was the death of Christ whose humane nature was ingrafted into the second person of the Trinity For because they were but one person whatsoever the humane nature did or suffered God did it If they had beene 2. Persons God had not dyed God had not suffered God had not redeemed his Church And therefore the Scripture runneth comfortably on this God hath redeemed the Church with his owne bloud hath GOD blood No but the nature that GOD tooke into unity of persons hath blood and so being one person with God God shed his blood It is God that purchased a Church with his blood it is God that dyed The Virgin Mary was Mother of GOD because shee is the Mother of that nature which was taken into unity with God Hereupon comes the dignity of whatsoever Christ did and suffered Though hee did it in our nature yet the God-head gave it its worth and not onely worth but God put some activity some vigour and force into all that Christ did It doth advance Christ Mediatour according to both natures And from hence ariseth Communication of properties as Divines call it which I will not now speake of It is sufficient to see that whatsoever was done by Christ was done by God hee being Emanuell and therefore had its worth and dignity to prevaile with God Hence commeth a forcible reason That God must satisfie Divine Justice because it was the action of a God-man His great sufferings were the sufferings of the second person in our nature And hereupon from satisfaction and merit comes reconciliation betweene Ged and us God being satisfied by Christ God and we are at tearmes of peace our peace is well founded if it bee founded in God the Father by God the Sonne taking our nature into unity of his person These things must have influence into our comforts and into our lives and conversations being the grand Articles of Faith And therefore wee ought to thinke often of them Wee must fetch principles of comfort and holines from hence as from the greatest arguments that can be therefore I desire to bee so punctuall in them God is Emanuell especially to make God and us one Christ is our Friend in taking our nature to make God and us friends againe But how doth friendshippe betweene God and us arise from hence that Christ is God in our nature I will give 2. or 3. Reasons of it First it is good reason that God should bee at peace with us because sinne the cause of division is taken away It is sinne the cause of division is taken away It is sinne that separateth betweene God and us and if sinne bee taken away God is mercy it selfe and mercy will have a current What stoppeth mercy but sinne Secondly take away sinne it runneth amaine Christ therefore became Emanuell God with us Because hee is the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the World Before Adam had sinned there was sweet agreement and communion betweene Adam and God but sinne that devided betweene God and the creature now Christ haveing made satisfaction for all our sins there can be nothing but mercy Againe Christ is a fit person to knit God and us together because our nature is pure in Christ and therefore in Christ God loveth us After satisfaction God lookes on our nature in Christ and seeth it pure in him Christ is the glory of our nature Now if our nature bee pure in our head which is the glory of our nature God is reconciled to us and loveth us in him that is pure out of whom GOD can not love us As Christ is pure and our nature in him so he will make us pure at length Thirdly Christ being our head of influence conveyeth the same spirit that is in him to all his members and by little and little by that spirit purgeth his Church and maketh her fit for Communion with himselfe for he maketh us partakers of the Divine nature he tooke our fraile humane nature that wee might partake of his Divine nature this is of his Divine qualities to be holy pure humble and obedient as hee was And thus Christ being a head not onely of eminence to rule and governe but of influence to flow by his spirit into all his members is fit to bee a reconciler to bring God and us together partly because our nature is in him and partly because hee doth communicate the same spirit to us that is in himselfe and by little and little maketh us holy like himselfe I hasten to the maine use of all Then God the father and wee are in good tearmes for the second person is God in our nature for this end to make God and us friends There is a notable place of Scripture which I note for the expressions sake hee speaking there of a Days man There is no Dayes-man betweene us that might lay his hand on us both that is a middle person to lay his hand on the one and the other Now CHRIST is the middle person as the second person in Trinity And then hee is God and man and therefore hee is fit to bee Mediatour to lay his hand on both sides on man as