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	part_n	universal_a	2,451	5	9.1017	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25801	The practical rule of Christian piety containing the summ of the whole duty of a true disciple of Christ. Written originally in Latin by Benedictus Aria Montanus, and translated into English by A. Lovel, M.A.	Arias Montano, Benito, 1527-1598.; Lovell, Archibald.	1685 (1685)	Wing A3679A; ESTC R214868	74,341	284

Authority reaching all men whether publick or private the Universal Church hath always owned and asserted and that they will take in good part whatsoever may be said by us which perhaps may tax the corrupt manners of our present times being perswaded that Christian Simplicity Virtue and Probity are always in force and beyond exception and reproach not only upon their own account but because of our purpose and design also who heartily love all holy and good Men tho unknown neither hate any who may have fallen from the truth or degenerated from the Virtues of the Gospel but wish that all may repent and be saved through Jesus Christ our Lord whom therefore we would have rightly admonished of their Duty As for the wiser who stand not in need of our Admonition we trust they will put a favourable construction on our care and endeavours for the common salvation of Mankind who tho we be simple and unable to contribute any thing to the information of the wise yet to those who are weaker in knowledg ought to perform what service and good offices lye in our power Now the sum of all our Admonition shall consist of plain Sentences from the Oracles both of the Old and New Testament the weight of which is such that neither humane wisdom can resist nor the craft and subtilty of our adversary evacuate the force of them and by this means we may be helpful both to those who admit of nothing in dispute but what is taken from holy Scripture and to those also who rightly think that truth wherever it be found ought to be embraced for to both these it is our design to do good not alledging all that might be said but only such things as we shall have reason to think may be profitable to all and hurtful to no body The whole Christian Discipline then may be comprehended under two general Heads which every true Disciple and follower of Christ ought to know and dutifully practise The first is to believe the Word and Promises of God the Authority whereof hath been confirmed by Signs Miracles and manifest Testimonies Now Signs and Miracles are neither at present necessary nor are they nor indeed ought to be required as being of old seen and approved reiterated likewise and confirmed and received and believed by the Universal Church of God for concerning these it is written Deut. 32. Remember the days of old consider the years of many Generations ask thy Father and he will shew thee thy Elders and they will tell thee Wherefore it is not now to be doubted what it is or how we ought to believe for that is reduced into certain Points which are called Articles and proposed by the Church to be learned under the name of the Apostles Creed briefly and plainly comprehending all the Points of our Faith which have been largely commented upon and explained in the many writings of holy and learned Men. Neither is our discourse directed to those that do not believe but to such as believe or at least profess they believe the Word and Promises of God to their own Salvation and confess that there is no necessity of Miracles nor any doubt of the Salvation sent into the World and wrought by Jesus Christ Heb. 2. Which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by those that heard him God also hearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and with divers Miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own Will The second Head and Branch of Doctrine is the knowledg and practice of Piety of which at present we are to treat Now for illustration sake we call Piety all that which every faithful Disciple and Follower of Christ and the Christian Doctrine believing the Promises ought to know hold fast and practise no Man being excepted who having the right use of his Reason can know and perform the same seeing the assistance of the divine Grace that is necessary to that knowledg and practice will not be wanting nor denied to those who as we said before diligently and seasonably beg the same but will rather be plentifully supplied by the Father of Light 1 Tim. 2. who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledg of the Truth even those who are strangers to the knowledg of the Truth and much more such as embrace the known Truth and study to hold fast and improve it Now we say that it behoveth a Disciple of Christ to know the chief Precepts and Institutions of the Doctrine of Piety which he professes for tho to know the least Points be neither the duty nor is it required of all yet those things which belong to all in general and every Disciple in particular are not to be unknown For how dare he profess and call himself a Disciple who knows not the Heads of that Discipline which he does and ought to follow And by what right can he expect to be acknowledged a Scholar by the Master who knows not the Precepts and Institutions of his Teacher And to that purpose is this which by a Disciple is written to his fellow Scholars 1 Cor. 14. If any Man think himself to be a Prophet or Spiritual let him acknowledg that the things that I write unto you are the Commandments of the Lord. But if any Man be ignorant let him be ignorant If any Man know not the Commands of God he shall not be known by our Lord and Master who will say Mat. 25. I know you not And again to every one that hath shall be given but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath In another place making a difference betwixt those who believe and know the Will of God and those who do not the Lord saith Luke 12. And that Servant which knew his Lords Will and prepared not himself neither did according to his Will shall be beaten with many stripes but he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes Wherefore leaving those who know not the Will of the Lord such as are they to whom the knowledg of the Gospel hath not as yet reached our discourse is to those who have known or at least have professed to know the Will of the Lord who ought to prepare themselves and do according to his Will to whom the Apostle saith 1 Thes 4. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus For this is the Will of God even your Sanctification to which Men ought to prepare themselves Now no Man can be so prepared if he be ignorant by what means and actions that Preparation is to be set about and accomplished for tho one may set about it with all imaginable care and study yet unless he square the same according to the rules and and directions of the Divine Will he will at length find it to be unprofitable And this God Almighty himself

be gone that we may sell corn and the Sabbath that we may set forth wheat making the Ephah small and the Shekel great and falsifying the ballances by deceit That we may buy the poor for Silver and the needy for a pair of Shooes yea and sell the refuse of the wheat The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob surely I will never forget any of their works Shall not the Land tremble for this and every one mourn that dwelleth therein whosoever are the true disciples and followers of Christ will fear and stand in awe to offend God and to be liable to such threatnings whatever art or profession they follow they 'l manage the same with all faithfulness and care and behave themselves modestly and justly in the business they set about neither wronging their brethren in their work nor exacting too much for their labour nor overvaluing the goods they sell them but proposing to themselves charity and the good of others rather than covetousness and abominating all filthy and forbid gain they will be content with the lawful gettings of their callings and shun and despise the pride of life as a thing altogether inconsistent with the simplicity of their vocation But that we may now descend from the publick society and duties of Mankind to the particular relations of private persons and enter into the houses and families of Christians we are to take notice what the mutual duties of private persons in a family are and how they are to be performed by Christians as in the presence of God who is a Judge and witness of all their actions Christian Women and Wives who desire to order their lives according The duty of Women and Wives to this short but universal rule of Christian Piety must studiously avoid all Pride Arrogance Vain-glorious Boasting Envy Haughtiness Back-biting and evil speaking shewing nothing in their conversation of Voluptuousness Wantonness Lustfulness Idleness or Curiosity and giving no example of Anger Hatred Discord Grudge nor Malice Put on the contrary they are in all things to approve themselves Modest Peaceable lovers of Truth Charity and Simplicity and Dutiful and Obedient to their Husbands and Yokefellows in all things that are lawful and honest For these ornaments and certain proofs of true virtue are always conspicuous in those Christian Women who fear the Lord practise Repentance and live holily in Brotherly-love and Charity with all Men To which they are also enjoyned by the holy Precepts of the spirit of God with assurances of his favour if they perform and of his anger and indignation if they omit and neglect their duty Eph. 5. Wives submit your selves unto your own Husbands as unto the Lord. For the Husband is the head of the Wife even as Christ is the head of the Church and he is the Saviour of the body Therefore as the Church is subject to Christ so let the Wives be to their own Husbands in every thing Wives who sincerely and heartily study Piety will not mind gorgeous attire rich costly and gaudy apparel which by decking and setting off the body Eclipses the beauty gravity and modesty of the mind but such as being prepared by virtue is an argument of probity and chiefly designed to render them acceptable to God and beloved of their own Husbands For that attire and dress is most commendable and graceful in a Wife which adorns the mind and makes her lovely in the sight of God and her own Husband and venerable to all others that being the ornament which the Holy Ghost prescribes and commends as becoming a Christian Wife 1 Pet. 3. While they the Husbands behold your chast conversation coupled with fear Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold or of putting on of apparel but let it be the hidden Man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price For after this manner in the old time the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves being in subjection unto their own Husbands And tho God would not have such to be ignorant or negligent of their own duty yet he does not approve that they should be tatlers or disputers or that they should arrogate to themselves wisdom and knowledge nor would he have them to be greedy of many teachers or desirous of much learning but being satisfied with the knowledge of true Piety and Christian Candor and Simplicity that they should busie themselves in the exercise and practice thereof 1 Cor. 14. Let your Women keep silence in the Churches for it is not permitted to them to speak but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the Law And if they will learn any thing let them ask their Husbands at home for it is a shame for Women to speak in the Church And again in another place 1 Tim. 2. Let the Women learn in silence with all subjection But I suffer not a Woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the Man but to be in silence For Adam was first formed then Eve And Adam was not deceived but the Woman being deceived was in the transgression Notwithstanding she shall be saved in Child-bearing if they continue in Faith and Charity and Holiness with Sobriety The same Doctrine The duty of Husbands and Discipline of Christian Piety comprehended under the three aforemention'd Heads the fear of the Lord Repentance and Brotherly-love if it be rightly known and practised will also keep Men in their duty and to the performance of the chast Vows and Promises of Marriage for it enjoyns Husbands to love their Wives and to have the same care of them as of themselves but especially as the most important concern of Marriage to consult and provide for the eternal salvation of the Wife not only by frequent and reiterated admonitions but also by good and wholsom examples and if it be needful by undergoing all kinds of danger and running the risk of life and fortune for accomplishing that end The whole of this duty is by the Holy Ghost summ'd up in this Precept Eph. 5. Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinckle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish So ought Men to love their Wives as their own bodies he that loveth his Wife loveth himself For no Man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it even as the Lord the Church for we are Members of his body of his flesh and of his bones For this cause shall a Man leave Father and Mother and shall be joyned unto his Wife and they two shall be one flesh This is a great mystery but

And so after he had patiently endured he obtained the Promise For Men verily swear by the greater and an Oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an Oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us which hope we have as an anchor of the Soul both sure and stedfast and which entereth into that within the Vail whither the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus made an High Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedec It remains then which is the design of this little Book that we handle the Parts and Offices that are incumbent on Believers and the Scholars of Christ but especially those which indifferently concern all ranks ages and conditions of Men and without which their learning will be in vain and the Doctine insignificant Let every one then whether King or Priest Prince or States-man private or publick rich or poor Bond or Free Father or Son Husband or Wife Young or Old Merchant or Artificer Soldier or Peasant Learned or Unlearned provided he profess himself to be a Disciple and Follower of Christ and Christian Doctrine provided he be Baptized into the Faith of the Catholick Church without which there is no Salvation let every one I say learn in what Station soever he be how he ought to keep his Post behave and carry himself in this World and that from the Precepts and Institutions of the Holy Ghost himself who ought to be his Guide and not from us who do but as Students in the same School deliver to our fellow Scholars the Precepts and Doctrine of our great Master who hath called us from Darkness to his marvellous Light and let him take it in good part if perchance we inculcate some things which way seem hard and uneasie to the Manners Customs and Opinions of this present Age not interpreting what we say as a reproof to any person in particular but judging it the duty of a faithful Minister and Servant to declare and manifest to his fellow servants the Will of the Lord in his own words whereby if any Man out of Conscience Ignorance or Fear shal think himself censured he must not be offended with the Doctrine and Precepts which are Just and Holy nor with his fellow Servant who delivers them but with himself his faults and vices who having professed this Doctrine hath not submitted himself to the Laws and Conditions thereof which are Constant Universal and Immutable and not made and published that according to the desire humour lust and counsels of every private man they may be altered and changed but which command Obedience by changing all those Desires Passions Lusts and Counsels that may be a hindrance to the punctual observation of the same our Lord himself having said Mat. 5. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfill That is to make those who believe in me pure holy and faithful in observing and fulfilling the same For verily I say unto you till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven but whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Now if the entry into the Kingdom of Heaven be denied to those whose righteousness and obedience to the Laws of God does not exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees not of the wicked and hypocrites but of the good Scribes and Pharisees who seemed most to excell in the study of observing the Law what will become of him who through hatred or favour of Man shall pervert change conceal dissemble or any other ways make void the rules of righteousness that he is to deliver to his fellow Christians and teach so He shall indeed be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven and deemed unworthy to be admitted into that Heavenly Communion and Society into which all that are received are called Kings and great Now to be a King and to be the least are inconsistent hence it follows that in the Kingdom of Heaven it is the same thing to be the least and to be none for no man that breaketh the Commandments of God and teacheth others so to do shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but they only shall enter whose righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and who being not only hearers but doers of the Law shall be justified before God Wherefore if in the Precepts Rules and Instructions of the Doctrine that hath been delivered unto us any thing may seem to any Man stricter than his own Will Opinion or predominant Affections can comply with or submit unto let him if he intends to enter into life be persuaded that neither the way which God hath once fenced in is to be changed or enlarged nor that strait and narrow Gate made wider for the sake of any particular Person and that he must become Humble Lowly and poor in Spirit striving to walk in the narrow way and to enter at the strait Gate which will not be difficult to those who truly love this Doctrine and earnestly implore the assistance of Divine Grace that will be denied to none who dutifully and carefully submit to the rules and dictates of this Discipline For Psal 145. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him he also will hear their cry and will save them And so he shall underderstand that the ways of the Lord are broad and pleasant to those who as Pilgrims and Strangers abstaining from and renouncing the carnal desires that war against the Soul and becoming poor in Spirit undertake that holy Journey and enter into the right way as the Royal Psalmist saith Psal 119. And I will walk at liberty for I seek thy Precepts I will speak of thy Testimonies also before Kings and will not be ashamed And I will delight my self in thy Commandments which I have loved My hands also will I lift up unto thy Commandments which I have loved and I will meditate in thy Statutes I know that good and holy Men will willingly listen to their fellow Christian and not so much mind the language and learning of him that writes as the sayings which proceed out of the mouth of the living God whose sacred and infallible