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	pastor_n	universal_a	1,330	5	9.1769	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34877	A supplement to Knowledge and practice wherein the main things necessary to be known and believed in order to salvation are more fully explained, and several new directions given for the promoting of real holiness both of heart and life : to which is added a serious disswasive from some of the reigning and customary sins of the times, viz. swearing, lying, pride, gluttony, drunkenness, uncleanness, discontent, covetousness and earthly-mindedness, anger and malice, idleness / by Samuel Cradock ... useful for the instruction of private families.	Cradock, Samuel, 1621?-1706.	1679 (1679)	Wing C6756; ESTC R15332	329,893	408

Church is a company professing the Faith in some particular place Thus we read of the seven Churches of Asia Rev. 1.7 that is Churches that were in seven Cities in Asia as appears verse 11. Yea we read of Churches in particular houses as in the house of Aquila and Priscilla Rom. 16.5 and in the h●use of Nymphas Col. 4.15 The universal Church is the whole company of Believers that profess Faith in Christ throughout the world All Christians as Christians who profess and hold the essentials of Christianity are the Catholick or universal Church And all Congregations consisting of lawful Pastors and Christian people associated for personal communion in the worship of God and holy living are particular true Churches though they may also much differ in degrees of purity This is the universal Church as upon earth Otherwise as I said before the universal Church comprehends both the Saints on Earth and the Saints in Heaven The Church of Rome most absurdly affects to be called the Catholick Church yea Roman Catholick Cathotholick imports the universal Church and Roman but a particular The Church of Rome was once indeed an eminent part yet but a part of the Catholick or Vniversal Church But now she is so degenerate and corrupt that she is termed Babylon Rev. 1.7 And the people of God are commanded to come out of her Rev. 18.4 And I heard another voice from Heaven saying come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues Did the Church of Rome in the Apostles dayes worship Images Did it pray to Saints Did it pray for the Dead Did it perform its Divine Worship in an unknown tongue Did it withhold the Cup from the Laity Was this the Primitive practice of the Church of Rome I suppose the Romanists themselves will not assert it We can make it appear that we hold the same Faith that was of old delivered to the Saints and that we have not departed farther from the Church of Rome than they have departed from this Faith and the truth of Christianity Yet the Papists notwithstanding use to ask us where was your Religion before Luther To which we answer wherever there were any true and real Christians before Luther among them was our Church This is the Church we profess our selves of And surely there were many more more Christians at that time in the world then those that were in the Cummunion of the Church of Rome 'T is true Christianity that makes any to be Christians and members of the Catholick Church it is not every inferiour truth that doth so neither doth every error cast a man out of it That Church then which comprehended all the true Christians in the World is the Church we were of before Luther We do not confine the Catholick Church to any Sect or Party Protestants we hold are the soundest part of this Church but not the whole Church All within the Communion of the Church of Rome that are true Christians we allow to be of this Church And the same we say of the Greeks Armenians Ethiopians Abyssines or any other professing Christianity And though the Papists talk much of Antiquity if they will try whether their Doctrine or ours be the sounder we are willing to appeal to Antiquity Let the eldest way of Religion carry it We are of a Religion that is not less then sixteen hundred years old For we hold the Doctrine delivered by Christ and his Apostles which they have shamefully departed from But the Papists farther ask us If their Church be not the true Church what is become of our Fore-fathers who died in the Communion of their Church We answer They might live and die in the Communion of that Church and yet be free from many of the gross errors in it And God might graciously pass by their ignorance and weakness who had not so great a light as we have to shew them the error of the Romish Church We do therefore in Charity think that some of our Ancestors formerly and some of the Papists at this day who hold and believe the main Articles of the Christian Faith and do live good lives according to their knowledge may be saved but not by their Popery but by their Christianity And thus much of the distinctions of the Church 4. I come now in the last place to speak of the notes of the Church which are these three 1. True and sound Doctrine preached 2. Right administration of the Sacraments For as those are more or less purely administred so the Church is more or less pure 3. Obedience to Christ and his Doctrine Discipline indeed is necessary for the preservation of the Church in purity of Doctrine and Manners yet it belongs not to the very being but to the well being of it But here a question may arise How is the Church said not to erre Answ 1. The whole doth not erre though some particular Church may 2. The Church doth not erre universally though in some points of Doctrine it may which are not essential or fundamental to Salvation Let us now consider what improvement we are to make of this Article 1. This shews us the admirable priviledge of every truly regenerate sanctified person who is most certainly a member of the true Catholick Church All true Christians are Catholicks in a better sense than the Romanists use that word But whosoever is wicked and prophane let them talk they are for the Church c. 't is manifest they are not members of Christs Holy Catholick Church 2. All that are true members of the Catholick Church should keep close to the Catholick Rule of Faith and Life which is the will of God revealed in the holy Scriptures 3. They should labour for a Catholick Spirit and Catholick affections which may incline them 1. To love all Christians as Christians for Christs sake though they may differ from them in some particulars A true Catholick Spirit is for union among all the People of God 2. To compassionate all real Christians in their sufferings and afflictions Rom. 12.15 16. 3. To pray earnestly for the prosperity of the Catholick Church and to be solicitous and much concerned touching the welfare thereof And all true members of the Catholick Chhurch may comfort themselves with this consideration that they have a share in the paayers of this Catholick or Vniversal Church now Militant upon the Earth SECT III. Of the Communion of Saints the Communion of Saints COncerning this Article we shall inquire 1. Who may truly be called Saints and wherein the true nature of Saintship doth consist and how the Saints are distinguished from others 2. Who are those persons with whom these Saints have Communion For the first 1. By the tenure of the Gospel we shall find that those are truly and properly Saints who being called with an holy calling have not been disobedient to it but are indued with a holy faith uniting them to

unto Holiness 2 Tim. 2.19 Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity The end of Christs gathering them out of the World to be his people is that they may be holy and a peculiar people to himself zealous of good works Thus Moses speaking of the Congregation of Israel Deut. 7.6 Thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God That is they were so by destination and engagement though many of them were not really so● 2. The Church may be called holy because it trains up people in the wayes of holiness and godliness 3. It may be called holy in respect though not of the greater yet of the better part of it whom God hath sanctified by the graces of his holy Spirit The other Attribute of the Church is Catholick Catholick as it is not in the Scriptures so was it not anciently in the Creed but inserted by the Fathers of the Constantinopolitan Council It signifies General or Vniversal Now the Church is called Catholick 1. In respect of place It being not now shut up in the narrow bounds of Judea but diffused through the World 2. In respect of persons All sorts of persons being promiscuously called to Faith in Christ Neither Jew nor Gentile neither bond nor free being excluded Gal. 3.28 3. In respect of times It comprehending all the Faithful that have been in all times and ages ever since the giving of the first promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the Serpents head And to our Saviours dayes and since then to the age in which we live and is to contitinue from hence by a continual accession to the end of the world Nay it doth not only include that part of the Church is now militant on earth but that also which is triumphant in Heaven Both they with us and we with them make one body mystical whereof Christ is the Head And all together together with the antient Patriarches and other holy men of God which lived under the Law do make up that one glorious Church which is called in the Scriptures the general Assembly the Church of the first born whose names are written in the Heavens Heb. 12.23 Catholick then the Church may be called in regard of extent whether we consider time place or persons 4. In respect of Doctrine because it maintains the Catholick Doctrine quae semper quae ubique quae abomnibus credita est Adversus Haereses c. 3 as Lirinensis d sayes which hath allwayes and in all places by all sorts of real Christians been received as Orthodox Catholick in this sence is the same with Orthodox and a Catholick Christian the same with a true professor A private Christian may be called Catholick in this sense And thus the Fathers of the purest times made use of this word Catholick to distinguish themselves from Hereticks according to that famous saying of Pacianus Christianus mihi nomen est Catholicus cognomen Christian saith he is my name and Catholick my sir-name By the one I am known from Infidels by the other from Hereticks And so long as the main body of Christians retained the form of wholsom words and kept the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace it served fitly for a distinctive mark to know an Orthodox Professor from an Heretical But when the main body of the Church was once torn in pieces and every leading faction would be thought the true Church of Christ they took to themselves the name of Catholicks also And thus our great Masters in the Church of Rome have appropriated to themselves the name of catholicks accounting all men Hereticks that differ from them and do not hold communion with them in their errors And then they defend themselves by the name of Catholicks from having dealt unjustly with their fellow Christians men every way more Orthodox than themselves But let them talk what they will the Church which is truly Catholick containeth within it all those Congregations which are truly the Churches of Christ And all persons whatsoever who are true Christians belong to it So that whosoever is not of the Catholick Church cannot be of the true Church out of which ordinarily there is no Salvation 3. I come now to the distinctions of the Church 1. The Church of Christ may be considered either as Militant or Triumphant The Church Militant is that company of Christians here on earth who are in warfare warring against Satan the World and the Flesh 2. The Church Triumphant are those Saints who having vanquished and overcome those adversaries do now reign and triumph in Heaven This distinction is founded upon Ephes 3.14 15. Where the Apostle sayes I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in heaven and earth is named The Family in Heaven is the Church Triumphant The Family on Earth the Church Militant of which the Apostle himself was one when he said 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the Faith The Triumphant we may read of Rev. 7.9 After this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number of all Nations and Kindreds and People and Tongues stood before the Throne and before the Lamb cloathed with white Robes and Palms in their hands Having thus premised this distinction of the Church Militant and Triumphant I come now to speak particularly of the Church Militant 1. Then we must know that the Churcrh Militant here on earth consists partly of such as are truly of it partly of such as only in respect of their outward profession belong to it As the Holy Ghost speaks Rev. 2.9 of some who professed themselves Jews I know the Blasphemy of them that say they are Jews and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan so we may say of some who profess themselves Christians that they are very far from being such in truth and reality For prophane persons and hypocrites are rather in the Church than of it The Militant Church is either visible or invisible The visible Church is a visible company of people professing the Gospel whether they do it in truth and sincerity or no. It doth consist of good and bad It is compared to a net cast into the Sea which gathered of every kind c. Matth. 13.47 And to a field wherein were both wheat and tares Matth. 13.24 And to a great house wherein are vessels of several sorts some to honour some to dishonour 2 Tim. 2.20 The invisible Church consists of such as truly are what they profess themselves to be It is called invisible because it is not visible to the eyes of men They can see the profession but whether it proceed from the heart or no they cannot see The Invisible Church therefore is hid in the visible and there is no more difference between them than between the whole and a part 3. The Church Militant is distinguished into Particular and Vniversal A particular

mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit and he that is abhorred of God shall fall therein that is he whom God is highly offended with for some former wickedness shall in a just way of punishment be delivered up to this ruining sin 3. God declares that he himself will judge those that commit this sin Heb. 13.4 Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge God will judge all other sinners but the Apostle seems to intimate that God will judge these in an especial manner 1. Because this sin being usually committed in secret man cannot so easily come to the knowledge of it nor can he prove it by sufficient witnesses 2. Many great and potent men are oftentimes guilty of this sin whom ordinary Magistrates either cannot or dare not or through remisness will not meddle with Therefore God will take the matter into his own hands and he himself will judge it And 't is a dreadful thing to fall into the hand of the living God Crimes among men are oftentimes extenuated by reason of the greatness of the Person that commits them But God will judge every man according to his works 4. 'T is a sin that is usually attended with hardness of heart and very often with final impenitence When once men have so far debauched their consciences that Adultery and Fornication seem small matters to them they are seldom recovered By frequent committing this sin they give their consciences such a dose of Opium that the lowdest threatnings of Gods word cannot awaken them The Prophet tells us Hos 4.11 that whoredom wine and new wine takes away the heart that is besot the understanding Terrible are those words Prov. 2.18.19 The house of the strange woman inclineth unto death and her paths unto the dead None that go unto her return again neither take they hold of the paths of life O the extreme hazard and danger that all Adulterers and Fornicators expose their precious souls unto for a short pleasure Travellers * Doctor Browns travels into Germany p. 111. tell us that at Presburg Metz and some other places in Germany they have a strange way of executing capital offenders which is this They have an Engine made in the form of and finely dressed up like a young maid or Lady with her hands before her The malefactor being brought to the place of execution salutes her first and then retires But at his second salute she opens her hands and cuts his heart asunder Methinks this is a notable emblem and representation of the horrible danger that adulterers expose themselves unto by their lascivious embraces * Cito praeterit quod delectat permanet sine fine quod cruciat Aug. Which if they did but duly consider before-hand they would as much tremble to venture on them as the poor condemned Malefactor does to make his second salute to the fatal Engine 5. Adultery * Adulterium quasi ad alterius thorum accessus is one of the greatest plagues imaginable to private families For thereby a spurious bastardly brood is brought in to inherit and share the estate instead of a legitimate issue Like as the Cuckow layes her filthy eggs in another birds nest making it to hatch and nourish them as if it were its own off-spring So that this sin usually breeds dismal confusion and fatal jars and strifes in those miserable Families where it is found 6. 'T is a great mischief to the Church For by Lawful Wedlock among Christians a seed foederally holy is brought forth but by this sin a spurious and unclean brood 7. 'T is a sin that defiles a Land and provokes God to send down most heavy judgments upon it We read that the Land of Canaan where Israel dwelt spewed out the Nations that were before them for their uncleanness Lev. 18.27 28. And therefore every honest person should have a great zeal for chastity and an utter abhorrence and indignation against uncleanness as that which is a ruiner of a Nation and a mischief to the community by drawing down Gods Judgments upon it 8. 'T is a sin that exceedingly blots the name * A Learned man writing of a great Prince who was also a great Captain sayes of him that he was egregius bellator sed non adversus carnem suam So that great men one would think should be afraid of this sin lest they should be recorded to Posterity under the Characters of fi●thy persons There are few fornicators or adulterers who do not by great and solemn repentance and amendment of life break off that sin but leave an infamous name and memory to posterity Prov. 10.7 The memory of the just is blessed but the name of the wicked shall rot Prov. 6.32 33. He that committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding He that doth it destroyeth his own soul A wound and dishonour shall he get and his reproach shall not be wiped away 9. It usually blasts the estate Prov. 6.26 By reason of a whorish woman a man is brought to a morsel of bread Job 13.10 'T is a fire that consumeth to destruction and will root out all their increase I appeal to every wise mans observation whether this be not usually the fruit of uncleanness 10. 'T is a sin that very frequently wasts and destroyes the body The Apostle 1 Cor. 6.28 Exhorts to flee fornication because among other reasons 't is a sin that so much hurts the body In other sins that men commit commonly they abuse something without the the body as the drunkard doth wine but this sin hurteth and abuseth the body it self in a more remarkable manner by an intemperate and excessive exhausting the vital spirits and consuming the natural heat and moisture which are the preservers of health strength and life And besides this sin is frequently attended with that loathsom disease which makes the committers of it to rot and stink above ground So that if there be any men so sottish as not to fear Hell or punishment in another life yet methinks they should resolve to live chastly for fear of rotting their bodies by uncleanness and so shortning this life wherein they expect all their happiness The Apostle indeed in that Chapter before-mentioned uses another argument of another nature to true believers why they should keep themselves from uncleanness Verse 15. Know you not sayes he that your bodies are the members of Christ and will you take the members of Christ and make them the members of an Harlot God forbid For as wedlock makes man and wife one body lawfully so fornication makes the fornicator and the harlot one body unlawfully Further he shews that the bodies of true believers are Temples of the Holy Ghost who is freely given of God to dwell in them and therefore their bodies ought to be kept pure and undefiled The Apostle therefore in this place uses these arguments to true believers and not impure Fornicators For their bodies are not members of Christ nor Temples of the