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	faith_n	unity_n	2,037	5	9.1432	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47647	The duty and benefit of frequent Communion, in a sermon preached at St. Peter's Church in Lincoln, upon Passion Sunday, 1688 by Walter Leightonhouse ; published at the request of many that heard it preached.	Leightonhouse, Walter, 1656-1701.	1689 (1689)	Wing L1032; ESTC R15852	16,500	36

confirms our Faith in Christ whereas indeed saies he the receiving of it is a sign of Faith confirmed and men come to it to testifie that they do believe not to procure that they may believe But by the favour of that Learned Person we acknowledge with him that it is a sign of Belief and that no man ought to approach that Sacred Ordinance * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Liturg S. Chrys S. Jacob. vid. Chrys Homil. 24. in 1. ad Cor. without Faith in Christ's Merits But yet we insist likewise that there are degrees of that Faith. For that all habits are encreas'd by being exercised a slender Philosopher will inform you and that this Ordinance requires great Exercises of the Grace of Faith a Novice in Divinity will inform you likewise For we have in this action the most lively Emblem and Representation of God's love to Mankind we see God in the most severe instance of Tryal even that of sacrificing his own Son faithfully accomplishing his Word and therefore what ground of distrust can we have that he will not in concerns of an inferiour nature approve himself to be a God that cannot lye nor deny himself How can we in any case distrust his Mercy or suspect his Bounty when in the highest instance we have experienced his Fidelity If therefore our dependance on the Almighty Goodness begin to faint or our Faith begin to stagger if the greatness of our Sins deter us from the hopes of his Mercy let us in the Blessed Sacrament view him shedding the Blood of his own Son to advance our Interest and to redeem us from the Curse Gal. 3.13 and then certainly we cannot chuse but argue thus with the * Rom. 8. v. 32. Apostle If God spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us how shall be not also with him freely give us all things 2ly Our Hope is by this strengthned There is nothing which doth more deject a considering man than the Thoughts of his faln Condition For what can such Meditations suggest less unto him than the frowns of an angry God together with the fatal loss of happiness in this World and eternal Felicity in the next And such dreadful Apprehensions as these must needs ruffle and discompose our Spirits and cause a Regret and Dispondency through the whole man. Now when our Souls are put upon the rack by such tormenting Fears when the heinousness of our Sins reminds us of the sadness of our Condition When our Hope is well nigh lost and Desperation hath almost swallowed us up will not the sight of Christ crucified recruit our dying Hopes and summon together our scatter'd Spirits May we not entertain comfortable hopes of Mercy when even before our Eyes we see the Lamb of God groaning bleeding dying for our Sins Will it not highly encourage us to consider that those Agonies by which our Sins were expiated were sufficient to content the most rigorous Severity Must it not needs abate the Wounds of our Conscience and diminish out Fears whilst we are Eye-witnesses of his Crucifixion and do in the blessed Sacrament even Behold the Lamb of God that took away the Sins of the World John 1.19 'T would certainly be a disparagement to the Efficacy of our Lord's Passion should we after all this * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Strom. 5. despair of Mercy be utterly disconsolate and thereby be mov'd away from the hope of the Gospel Col. 1.23 But 3ly Our Charity is by this enlarg'd and that 1st To the whole Church 2ly To each particular Member First Our Love and Charity is by this enlarg'd to the whole Church 'T is observ'd by * Glanvil on the Sacrament p. 2. one That the neglect of the Sacrament hath occasioned not only the Debauchery but the Division of the times and that the frequent observance of it would reduce us not only to Sobriety but to Union likewise And in the * Concil Apostol 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. Apost 9. Infancy of Christianity well as † Concil Antioch Concil Agath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syn. Antioch Can. 2. some Ages since those Persons were look'd upon as Disturbers of the Peace and Tranquility of the Church who refus'd these sacred Mysteries And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Greek Fathers do so frequently use for the Blessed Sacrament seems to intimate no less than a gathering together of Christians in Love and Amity to return thanks for a common Benefit And that this Interpretation is genuine we may reasonably guess from that Practice of the Primitive Christians of sending some part of the Analects or Remains to absent Friends tho' of other Parishes as Pledges and Tokens of Love and Agreement in the Unity of the same Faith as * Hist Eccl. lib. 5 c. 26. Eusebius tells us in Irenaeus his Epistle to Pope Victor which Constitution continued in force till it was interdicted by the † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 14. Council of Laodicea which was after the middle of the fourth Century And altho' that Canon was for some reasons abrogated yet all along those who refus'd to join in such sacred Assemblies did in the opinion of all good men tacitly accuse themselves to be Enemies to the Church and * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ignat in Epist ad Ephes Renegado's to Christianity And this was the very reason why as † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apol. 2. p. 97. Justin Martyr tells us the absent in his time communicated as well as the present each absent Parishioner having the consecrated Elements carried home to him to testifie that altho some important Affairs or bodily Indisposition intervened yet they were of the same Mind and of the same Heart Acts 4.32 Nay so absolute a necessity they thought there was for the reception of the Holy Sacrament that in one of the Canons of Timotheus sometimes Patriarch of Alexandria you may see these words * Vid. Mede's Works p. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any of the faithful be a Demoniack i.e. a Lunatick or Madman he ought in his lucida intervalla to partake of the holy Mysteries For this is the great * Qui in natali Domini Paschate Pentecoste non communicant Catholici non credantur nec inter Catholicos habeantur Concil Agathen Can. 18. Test of our Religion and the only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that can give any Evidence that we are none of those that cause Divisions amongst us Rom. 16.17 But besides all this methinks when we see the Spouse of the Church sacrificing himself for the Peace and Unity of it when we see himself bequeath this as a Legacy with his dying breath * John. 14.27 My Peace I leave with you my Peace I give unto you When we hear him enjoining it to his † Mar. 9.50 Rom. 12.18 Heb. 12 14. Church and see him bleeding to accomplish it we cannot for