Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	aaron_n	able_a	moses_n	32	3	6.2930	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13341	Of the markes of the children of God and of their comforts in afflictions. To the faithfull of the Low Countrie. By Iohn Taffin. Ouerseene againe and augmented by the author, and translated out of French by Anne Prowse.; Des marques des enfans de Dieu. English	Taffin, Jean, 1529-1602.; Prowse, Anne.	1590 (1590)	STC 23652; ESTC S118085	100,800	270

before taught and maintained For thereof the diuell gathereth two consequences no lesse daungerous than false either that our Church is not the true Church so that we are not the children of God or that there is no assurance of perseuerance in the faith consequently no certaintie of being the childrē of God which haue had borne in aparance the markes of adoption The other offence consisteth in the grieuous long afflictiōs which we indure for the prosperitie of the wicked deriding our miseries the apprehension of our own troubles giue occasion to doubt whether God care for vs or whither he loue vs or no. And this ordinarie condition to those that make profession of our religiō causeth many to condēne it haue it in detestatiō as the mother nurse of al calamities As touching the 1. point cōcerning those that reuolt Of the certaintie of the doctrine notwithstanding the reuolts it is a small stūbling block to trouble vs for this was foretold vs and it is a disease wherwith the church hath alwaies bin afflicted Many shall be called saith Iesus Christ but few chosen And the parable of the seed falling in diuers sorts of earth sheweth Matt. 20.16 that with much a doo the 4. part of those that shal heare professe the Gospel Matth. 13. shall cōtinue to the end S. Paule hath foretold expreslie 1. Tim. 4.1 that in the latter times many shal fall from the faith Act. 20.30 And he aduertiseth the Ephe. that euen frō among themselues there should rise vp mē that should teach peruerse things And the Cor. that there shall be in the church not only diuisiōs 1. Cor. 11.19 but also heresies 2. Pet. 2.1 Saint Peter speaketh yet more largelie As there hath been saith he false prophets among the people of Israel so shal there be false teachers amongst you which shall secretlie bring in damnable errours and manie shal follow their damnable waies by whom the way of trueth shall bee blasphemed Now we must thinke the accomplishing of such prophecies so much the lesse strange because such hath bin the condition of the church of God at all times Gen. 6. What reuolt was there in the house of God before the flood eight persons onlie being foūd saued in the Arke and yet amongst them one hypocrite who after was cast off and accursed Gen. 9.25 Now the church of God being inlarged in the posteritie of Sem againe there was seene such a reuolt Gen. 12. that the church of God was onlie found in the familie of Abraham himselfe being pulled out of idolatrie In the time of Elias the reuolt was so great in Israel 1. Reg. 19.10 that hee thought he had bin left alone At the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ the Apostacie was so generall that almost all the Church at the least the principal members of it lift vp themselues against the Sonne of GOD and crucified him When Iesus Christ had gathered manie Disciples he was forsaken of the most part of them yea Iohn 6.66 Iudas also the Apostle fellfrom him sold him and betraied him Mat. 26.14 Mat. 26.65 Mat. 26.69 2. Tim. 1.15 Iesus Christ being taken prisoner by his enemies all his A postles fled away and forsooke him Saint Peter himselfe denied him thrice Saint Paule complaineth that all they of Asia had reuolted 2. Tim. 4.16 And saieth in an other place that all had forsaken him He noteth Alexander the Copper Smith Hymenaeus and others 2. Tim 4.14 who hauing beenethe chiefe members of the Church were become heretikes and enemies of the truth Now it is the same Church and we must no more be astonished at such reuolts than at a man hauing rheums all his life whereby hee casteth out of his bodie aboundance of humours that shoulde continue in the same disease still euen in his olde age Herein rather we ought to acknowlege the holines of God wherewith also he would his Church should be adorned For he purgeth his Church not being able to indure that hipocrits should any l̄og time keepe the place and title of his childrē aproching to his Maiestie And hereunto we may aplie that which Moses saith Leuit. 10.3 whē he saw the fire had deuoured Nadab and Abihu the sonnes of Aaron for offering before the Lorde strange fire This is it which the Lorde hath spoken saying I will be sanctified in those that approch vnto me will bee glorified in the presence of all the people shewing therby that the nearer mē approch vnto him by honorable offices in his church and profession of his worde so much the lesse will hee suffer their corruptions but punisheth them more sharply to the end that as the nearer the peece of wax approcheth to the fire so much the more the heat of it appeareth in melting it In like maner the holines of God may better be knowne in the reuolt of hypocrites approching vnto him so he may be the more glo rified of the people in such iudgements This is also the cause why manie who before they had the knowledge of the gospell seemed in outward apparance very good people Asterward being ioined to the church become wicked and dissolute in their liues very persecutors It is the vengeāce of god that pursueth thē punishing their ingratitude their loue of the world and of the flesh which they brought nourished in the church and the contempt of the honor that God did them when he made thē aproch vnto him receiuing thē into his house speaking to them by the preaching of his word presenting vnto thē vpon his holy Table his own Sonne Iesus Christ for the foode of their soules So farre off is it then that we should be troubled for such reuolts that on the contrary seeing that they are the vengeances of GOD wee ought so much the more to feare and to continue the more constantly holily in the church of GOD. Psal 101. And indeede if wee did at this day see Dauid execute that protestation which hee did make of purging his house from vicious and wicked persons would we thinke you depart from it doubting of the holinesse of it Shall we not rather be confirmed to tarrie there stil desiring to liue holilie But more what damage receiueth the Church in such reuolts The glorie of it before God consisteth not properlie in the greatnesse of the number but in the holinesse of them The health of a man consistethnot in the abundance of humors which will cause some deadlie disease at the last for euen they that areladen with them take medicines to purge them that they might bee the more whole Esay 1.22 This is it which God hauing spoken of his Church of Israel that her siluer was turned into drosse her wine mingled with water added for a great benefit that he would take cleane away al her scomme and remoue al her lead from

It is to this ende as Iesus Christ him selfe teacheth his Apostles Ihon 16.1 that we shold not be troubled or offended when we see the faithful to be spoiled chased away imprisoned mocked murthered that then we should remember that it was told vs before And that it commeth not to passe by fortune or chaunce nor by the absolute will of mē that we are afflicted But by the appointment of God the father and that this is the entertainment which he hath ordained for his seruants and children But our flesh doth Iudaize too much in this behalfe For as the Ievves in olde time looking for a Messias triumphing in the world were offended at his humilitie base estate so at the crosse of Iesus Christ and therefore reiected both him and his doctrine euen so our flesh at this day doth still imagine a gospel of veluet agreeable to their desires and a kingdome of Christ that were of this world See now why it is troubled and offended deriding a Christ crowned with thornes bearing his crosse vppon his shoulders and laying it vpon all those that will be the children of God with him But if the Iewes had wel weied that which Esai foretold of the Messias Esai 53. That he should grow vp as a roote out of a drie groūd That he shuld haue in him neither fashion nor beautie to be desired That he should be despised and reiected of men a man so afflicted and accustomed to sorowes that men shuld hide their faces frō him so much should he be contemned That hee should bee oppressed with iniurie afflicted led to the slaughter as a Lambe To bee short that he shuld be numbred among the transgressors Also that which Zacharie saith Behold thy king commeth to thee humble Zach. 9.9 riding vpon an Asse And that which Daniel saieth That the Christ should be cut off Dan. 9.26 and should not be If I say the Iewes had well weighed these Prophecies and manie other like these touching the abasement and afflictions of Christ so far off is it that they would haue reiected him that on the contrarie they would haue knowen by the accomplishment of those thinges that were foretolde of him that he was in deede the Messias promised In like manner if we would carefully meditate on that which the holie Ghost hath fore spoken of our condition and that wee must be conformable vnto the image of Christ Rom. 8.17 suffer and die with him the tribulations which accompanie the profession of the Gospell shoulde bee vnto vs signes and testimonies that wee are Christians and the Children of God Luk 2 When the Angell shewed vnto the Shepards the natiuitie of Iesus Christ saying I shewe vnto you greatioy that this day is borne to you a Sauiour in the Citie of Dauid which is Christ the Lord Hee addetth you shall haue these signes yee shall finde the childe wrapped in swaddeling cloathes and laid in a maunger Now if these shepheards beeing come to Bethlehem had found the holie Virgine in an honourable pallaice and the Childe in a magnificall and royall cradle had they not had iust occasion to doubt of the tidings of the Angell this estate not agreeing with the signe that hee had giuen But hauing found the Childe in poore estate in a maunger as the Angell had foretolde they were confirmed to beleeue that it was the Messias Euen so GOD hauing reuealed vnto vs by his Woord that hee hath chosen vs to be his Children hauing sealed it in vs by the testimonie and effects of the vnction of the holie Ghost and hauing also giuen vs the markes in this that he hath made vs the members of his Church hee hath foretolde and hath also giuen one signe more of our adoption that we shall be reproached persecuted If then the world did make much of vs loued and honoured vs we might after some sort dout of the word of God and of our election and adoption But seeing the accomplishment of that that was foretolde vs we ought to bee so much the more confirmed in this assurance that we are not of the world but appertaine to our God And this is it that Iesus Christ tolde his Apostles saying Ioh. 15.19 If yee were of the world the world would loue his owne but nowe because I haue chosen you out of the world the world hateth you If we aske the way to goe to anie place that one tell vs for a signe of the right way that it is at the beginning durty afterward full of hils we wil leaue the other waies which seeme straight drie faire and easie and finding in that way which wee take durte and hills foretold and giuen vs for a signe wee will bee so much the more confirmed that wee are in the right way So the holie Ghost hauing foretolde Act. 14. ●● that thorough manie tribulations wee must enter into the Kingdome of heauen Matt. 7.13 and that the waye leading to eternall life is narrow and difficult If wee finde the way of the Gospell narrow full of troubles let vs acknowledge that we are in the right way to the kingdom of heauen that we ought therfore to bee so much the more confirmed in assuraunce that wee are the Children of God That the Children of God haue alwaies been afflicted and yet still beloued of God CHAP. 8. THis that the Holie Ghost hath fore spoken that the condition of the Children of GOD is to bee afflicted hath by experience been found to bee true in all ages whether we consider the people and Church of GOD in the whole bodie or speake of it particularly in the members of it Examples of the afflictions of the Church during the time of the olde testament How long and greeuously was the people of Israel afflicted in Aegipt Moses reciteth that their life was vexed bitterly thorough grieuous seruitude and that all the seruice wherein they serued was tyrannous Pharaoh intending to destroy them Exo. 1.14 and to roote them out by trauaile and excessiue labour And not so being able to come to his purpose neither yet by the commaundement made to the midwiues Exo. 1.18 to slay secretly all the male children which should be borne at the last he appointed certeine of the Aegiptians his subiects to bee their hangmen openly Exo. 1.22 Whereby also when Moses was borne his parents hauing hid him some time with great feare they were at the last constrained for the auoiding of the furie of these hangmen to put him out into the brinke of the riuer as abandoning him vnto death Could there be anie more barbarous crueltie vsed to anie people And yet did they still continue to bee grieuouslie afflicted foure score yeares after the birth of Moses So that it is not without a cause that the Lord called Aegipt the house of bondage Exo. 20.2 Deut. 4.20 and an iron fornace The which also he confirmeth