Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	church_n	communion_n	separate_v	1,901	5	9.2917	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30987	A treatise of fornication shewing what the sin is, how to flee it, motives and directions to shun it : upon 1 Cor. VI, XVIII : also, A penitentiary sermon upon John viii. II / by W.B., M.A.	W. B. (William Barlow), b. 1617 or 18.	1690 (1690)	Wing B848; ESTC R10545	68,090	89

ever do that which they so abhorred as that they would die any the cruellest Death in the World over and over rather than once do O far be it from us ever to do any such thing I may add here the Punishments that spiritual Fornicators are liable unto for it excludes them from Communion with the Church Militant and Triumphant and exposes them to temporal Destruction and eternal Condemnation 1. It shuts out from Communion with the Church Militant here on Earth If a Christian became guilty of it if he were an Idolater in the Apostles days Christians were to have no Communion with him not to keep company with him not so much as to eat with him but to avoid all Commerce and Converse not only sacred but civil with him 1 Cor. 5.11 Neither were Christians to joyn with Idolaters in their Worship but to come out from among them and to be separate the Temple of God having no agreement with the Temple of Idols 2 Cor. 16.17 Nor were Idolaters to joyn with Christians in their Worship whilst they continued Idolaters but were to be without not suffered to be in the holy City the new Jerusalem the Church to Christ on Earth as Members of it or Communicants in it So the state of that City or Church is described Rev. 22.15 For without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and idolaters and whoever loveth and maketh a lie This spiritual Fornication keeps from coming into the Church and turns out of it also such as are in are guilty of it and therefore there is great reason for our avoiding it But further it excludes from Communion with the Church Triumphant in Heaven Idolaters are of those sorts of Sinners that shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 Gal. 5.20 Eph. 5.5 No Inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God for spiritual Fornicators for Worshippers of Images and Idols And who would make himself a Slave to a piece of painted or graven Earth to lose thereby a solid Inheritance in Heaven 2. It exposes to temporal Destruction and eternal Condemnation First to temporal Destruction in this present World Thus Ahaz and all Israel was ruined by this sin 2 Chron. 28.2 They the false Gods the Idols of Damascus which that idolatrous King did serve and sacrifice unto they were the ruine of him and all Israel that is he and all Israel were ruined brought to destruction by and for that Idolatry of his and theirs Long before that whilst Israel was in the Wilderness three or four and twenty thousand lost their lives in one day about it 1 Cor. 10.7 Numb 25.9 and no marvel for before that at the very time of the giving of the Law there is a direct menace of utter Destruction to any one that should be guilty of this kind of Fornication He that sacrificeth unto any God save unto the Lord only he shall utterly be destroyed Exod. 22.20 But further it renders liable to Eternal Condemnation in the World to come It damns even to the Pit of Hell To prove this it were enough to say it shuts out of Heaven and if so then it must needs thrust down into Hell For after this Life duo sunt loca non est tertius ullis there are but two Receptacles for them Heaven and Hell and there is no third place for any at least in St. Augustine's Judgment And as in Mat. 25.31 c. the whole race of Mankind at the day of Judgment are cast but into two sorts Sheep and Goats that is Elect and Reprobates so no disposing of any but into two Sorts and Conditions Everlasting Life or Everlasting Death the one whereof is the state of those in Heaven the other of those in Hell So that what shuts out of Heaven shuts into Hell But in Rev. 22.8 it is expresly said that Idolaters with other like wicked Creatures shall have their portion in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the ssecond death Which what other can it mean but that they shall be cast into Hell into those regions of Darkness and Horrour where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth where their Worm dieth not and the Fire is not quenched In consideration therefore of these things let us abstain from all idolatrous Actions and flee from all Acts of this spiritual Fornication And as God is jealous of having any of his Honour given to any but himself so we must abstain from all appearance of every thing that may provoke him to jealousy Have we a care of hearkning to any that may seduce us or of obeying any that may go about to enforce us to Idolatry to be of that Religion which alloweth of it at least if it do not command and enjoyn the worshipping of Images Time may shew more need of such an Exhortation than at present some think there seems to be in the mean time if ever such occasion be remember I have warned you And this is all which by occasion of the Text I shall think good to speak of this first Notion in which Fornication is sometimes taken and spoken of namely Spiritual Fornication or Idolatry and the Worshipping of Idols and Images I now come to speak of Fornication in the second Notion of it and as it denotes that Sin which is also called Corporal Fornication Now in this Sense also it is taken sometimes more strictly and sometimes more largely In the strict Notion of it as it is called simple Fornication so it is defined to be concubitus soluti cum solutâ the lying together or the carnal Copulation of two single Persons out of the state of Matrimony In the large Notion of it so it is defined more generally to be humanus illicitus concubitus the unlawful Copulation of a man in any kind or respect Hence Adultery which is a distinct Sin from Fornication and so see Gal. 5.19 where the Apostle reckoning up the Works of the Flesh begins with Adultery Fornication c. yet is sometimes understood by the word Fornication Whence our Saviour saith Matth. 5.32 Whosoever shall put away his Wife saving for the cause of Fornication causeth her to commit Adultery where by Fornication in probability is to be understood Adultery and so in Matth. 19.9 Hence the word Fornication is sometimes put to signifie the Sin of Incest as in 1 Cor. 5.1 It is reported commonly that there is Fornication among you and such Fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles What is that why the incestuous Marriage of a Son with the Wife of his Father that one should have his Fathers Wife And so when the Apostle tells us 1 Thes 4.3 that it is the will of God that we should abstain from Fornication it is evident by the opposing Sanctification that thereby is meant all Uncleanness in general Suitably whereunto it is said v. 7. that God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness So that as by Sanctification in

them unless it be to excuse one Sin with another which nothing mitigates the faust but rather greatens the guilt So that this must needs be acknowledged a very great Sin which is committed against so many so clear so known Declarations of the Will of God against it and Denunciations of the Wrath of God against the Commuters of it And yet neither is this all For Lastly The Considerations of the Punishments threatned and assuredly inflicted unless prevented by a timely repenting do as it were with a beam of the Sun point out unto declare and display the greatness of the Crime the blackness of the Sin Great Punishments are ordained for great Sins so that in the greatness of the Punishment denounced we may read the greatness of the Sin committed Now what is the Punishment denounced against this Sin Why first in general the Judgment of God That God will judge the Committers of it Heb. 13.4 Which how far that may extend God knows being that remporal and eternal Judgments all Curses and Plagues both in this lise and in the lise or rather death that is to come may lie infolded within the arms of its Comprehension Secondly Excommunication out of the Church Militant With a Foruicator Christians are not to eat not so much as the ordinary Food of the Body much less the Sacramental Food of our Souls no not so much as keep compamy with him 1 Cor. 5.10 I know not what some may think of this but sure in the Primitive Times it was accounted a heavy Punishment insomuch that they upon whom it fell were reckoned of as Persons delivered up unto Satan 1 Cor. 5.5 As indeed he must uceds be put under the Dominion of Satan who is expelled the Kingdom of Christ Thirdly Exclusion out of the Church Triumphant Neither Fornicators nor Adnlterers nor effeminate Persons nor Abusers of themselves with Mankind are admitted to an Inheritance in Heaven such 't is expersly said shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 5.9 10. And so again Epb. 5.5 No Whoremonger nor unclean ' Person nor covetous Man which Expression relates to matters of Uncleanness hath any inheritance in the Kigdom of God Fourthly Condemnation unto the Torments of Hell Whoremongers among the rest of these wicked ones are threatned to have their part in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone Rev. 21.8 All which laid together do shew the Punishment denounced against Fornicators to be a very grievous Punishment and that is Proof abundantly enough that the Sin that it threatned with that Punishment is a very grievous Sin a heinous Offence a Sin that is exceeding sinful And tho' we may flatter our selves with a hope of escaping for leffer Sins and so out of that hope venture the more boldly upon the commission of them yet for such grand Offences mortal Sins deadly Crimes as this we cannot but be hugely afraid of suffering the deserved Punishment And therefore this may be one weighty Consideration to press on by way of Motive to abstain from this Sin and to flee Fornication A second may be the shamefulness of it Things that are honest pure and lovely and of good report vertuous and praise-worthy those are thing for Christians to think of to have their Minds and Hearts upon Phil. 4.8 But things of dishonesty things that are shameful and of evil report these Christians should with the greatest care that can be avoid And indeed if we consider this Sin of Fornication in every Circumstance of it it is a very shameful Sin 1. The Actors of it are ashamed to be seen in it and therefore chuse darkness and secrecy to act it in In the twilight in the evening in the black and dark night as the Wise Man observed Prov. 7.9 Whence this and the like Sins are called the Works of darkness Eph. 5.11 done in secret in private and close Chambers whence Chambering and wantonness go well together Rom. 13.13 or other places of conveniency for privacy and secrecy as furthest removed from Observation and Discovery which why need it be if it were a thing of honesty if it were not a shameful thing 2. The Parts and Members of the Body wherewith the Sin is acted are things which were a Shame to see or name Whence the Greeks call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latins pudenda shameful things things which People that have any thing of Modesty in them are ashamed to look upon Shem and Japhet when the Father so lay that his nakedness appeared took a Garment and laid it upon both their Shoulders and went backward and covered it without seeing of it and for that Modesty of theirs got their Father's Blessing whenas Cham for his Immodesty looking upon it had his Father's Curse Gen. 9.22 c. The Fall of our first Parents into Sin was not so great as to take away from them all Shame But as soon as they perceived themselves naked they had so much remains of Modesty left them as to make themselves A prons tho' but of Fig-leaves to cover themselves withal Gen. 3.7 which God himself did after change into a better covering of Coats made of Skins v. 21. God would not have an Altar with steps made up to it lest that ascent should be an occasion of discovering of the nakedness of such as should sacrifice thereon Gen. 20.26 and gave special order that for prevention of the like discovery in the Priests they should have linnen Breeches made them reaching down from the loins to the thighs Exod. 28.42 Hence by was of allusion Raiment is counselled to be bought by the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans that the Sbame of his nakedness might not appear Rev. 3.18 and he is pronounced blessed that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his Shame Rev. 16.15 Throughout the whole Scripture those Parts are never found mentioned by name but by some other modest way of Expression Neither amongst the Heathens would the People of Modesty have any of those words in their Mouthe The more shame for those Christians whose delight it is upon every occasion to mouth them in most immodest sort Of these People may it be truly said what St. Paul spoke of some in his times That they glory in their shame Phil. 3.19 or as St. Jude expresseth it they foam out their own Shame v. 13. 3. Thé Act if self wherein this Sin is committed is so shameful as that it cannot be mentioned in greatest privacy without Shame and therefore the Apostle speaks of it as a thing not to be named among Saints Eph. 5.3 and saith it is a sham to speak of those things v. 12. And well he might as being a thing fitter for Bruits as Dogs and Bitches to delight in rather than for Men. Whence * Epist 50. ad Ocean St. Hierome calls the acts of Fornication Caninas Nuptias the nuptical Weddings or Marriages of Dogs And being a thing much delighted