Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	according_a	true_a	truth_n	2,749	5	5.2105	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60620	A briefe answer unto a book intituled Shetinah, or, A demonstration of the divine presence in places of religious worship published by Iohn Stillingfleet, who stiles himself M.A. rector of Beckingham in Lincoln-shire, and late fellow of St. Iohns Colledge in Cambridge. In which book he hath declared many perverse things against the people of God (called Quakers,) and for so much as is considerable, wherein that people are any way concerned, it is in the power of God here answered, by one who is set for the defence of the Gospel, William Smith.	Smith, William, d. 1673.	1664 (1664)	Wing S4290; ESTC R220735	21,376	28

actual worship unto God Answ The mixture is in the fall but who are regenerated and born again they live in the spirit and knows both time and place to render actual worship unto God in the order of his spirit and yet are not determined to time or place by limittation Thou saist if the God of this world would have all Professours enjoy a total immunity from the Law of God and all manner of licentiousnesse allowed without check of conscience let him then make an every day Sabbath Answ Christ is Lord of the Sabbath and Christians enjoyes an every day Sabbath in Christ of whom the Jewes Sabbath was a figure and they are in his righteousnesse and doth not allow any licentiousnesse for their rest is holy and they lie down in it without check of conscience Thou saist publick worship speaks a joint concurrence of several worshippers for the performance of the same action of religious worship so that the very light of nature saist thou gives it clear suffrage for the necessity of convenient places of meeting for the performance of the publick worship and service of God Answ Christians do jointly concur in the spirit in which they have unity and that in the same action of religious worship but Apostates cannot do so and though they meet together in one place yet not having unity in the spirit they cannot jointly concurre in the woiship of God and so the place and worship which thou calls publick being set up in the apostasie and not after Christ the Christians cannot own them for light and darknesse hath no communion together Thou saist is not this to cry up inward light and yet plainly to live in darknesse Answ This is to cry up inward light and to live in it and therefore it is that we deny all false worships which is set up and practised in the darknesse Thou saist I have neither faith to believe nor any reason to see that there is any Separated I adde and Consecrated places for divine worship any such legal or ceremonial kind of holinesse which renders duties performed there more acceptable unto God then if performed by the same persons and in the like manner in any other places Answ Thou hast all this while been pleading for that separated place to be the Church and hast been holding forth a special presence of God in that worship which is there performed and now thou saith that duties performed there are no more acceptable unto God then if performed in any other places and if thou have neither faith to believe it nor reason to see it as thou saist then thou might have spared thy pains in writing thy Book for thy chief aim is to bring people to conform to the worship there observed as the worship of God in his Church which if duties be no more acceptable unto God which is there performed then if performed in any other place then such as withdrawes from it may perform duties as acceptable unto God in other places according to thy own faith and reason so it is not a true Church nor a true worship for the worship and duties performed in the true Church which is in God are only accepted of God and in no other place or places whatsoever and here thou hast pulled down thy own building with thy own hands Thou saist here then arises that ample provision that Christ hath made for his special presence in the places of religious worship viz. from the Communion of Saints meeting in convenient separated places for publick worship and from the promise annexed thereto and not from any peculiar holinesse in those places where they thus meet to worship God Answ The Communion of Saints is in the light of Christ and so saith John If we walk in the light as he is in the light then have we fellowship one with another and this is not the state of Adam in the fall neither can his Sonnes and Daughters perform a religious worship unto God and so no Church either by Communion of Saints or the place it self and therefore such worshippers have not the promise annexed In the fifth Chapter thou seems to hold forth the special presence of God in publick worship by his Train or Retinue of Angels to which I answer generally Answ That God is present in his publick worship which is performed in his spirit was never yet denied by us but thou hast not proved thy worship to be the worship of God and therefore we say that Gods presence is not in it to the comfort of the worshipper and this may answer all thy Jumblings about the Angels for thou art not come to the Angelical Ministration In the sixth Chapter thou seems to hold forth the practical inferences drawn from the presence of angels in the places of publick worship Answ When he bringeth forth his only-begotten Son into the world he saith and let all the angels of God worship him and this is a full answer to this whole Chapter In the seventh Chapter thou seems to hold forth Gods presence in publick worship by his word with some other particulars relating to that matter which I might mention and answer if I did intend largenesse but finding the whole matter of thy Book to lye chiefly as to Church worship ministry and practice as they generally now stand I shall not make needlesse repetitions by answering the same thing over and over yet this I say unto this Chapter that Gods presence by his word is in his worship and all that worship him aright he teaches them by his word but that thy preaching is the word of God or that the word of God is in thy preaching or his presence by his word in that publick worship through they preaching that thou hast not any where proved and therefore it falls of it self In the eighth Chapter thou seems to hold forth practical inferences that teachers of the word must not corrupt the word of God and that it must be owned as Gods word and received and mingled with faith and practised in obedience Answ I answer generally that they who are born of the word which is immortal they do not corrupt it but are true and faithfull ministers of it and many have received it as it is indeed the word of God and they mingle it with faith and practises it in obedience and such are doers of the word and are blessed but thy tongue must learn silence and thou must know a new birth and a new tongue before thou can truly minister the word of God In the ninth Chapter thou seems to hold forth the presence of God in his worship by his ministers and that the truths of God must be heard though from ungodly preachers and that ministers are Gods Embassadours and stewards of the mysteries of God and that God and man works together in the conversion of souls and production of saving faith Ans Thou said even now that teachers of the word must not corrupt the

art pleading for stipends and tithes thy doctrine demonstrates thy principle and thy practice doth manifest that Christ never sent thee for none of his Ministers ever took stipends or tithes for their labour in the Gospel and therefore thou art found out of their way and practice for which cause thy ministry is denied Thou also hast directed a Preface to the Reader wherein thou sayest the main scope and design of thy present undertaking is to vindicate the publick worship of God and his sacred ordinances from that undervaluing contempt which hath been thrown upon them by Quakers c. Answ Thy scope and design and undertaking is for desolution and as for the Quakers they n●ither undervalue nor contemn the publick worship of God nor his sacred ordinances for they have not so learned Christ but thy undertaking is to vindicate those things which God hath not appointed nor ordained and such things we do deny but we worship God in the Spirit which is the publick worship for it is without limitation and it is thy worship which is private who creeps into a house made with hands and wouldst limit the holy One unto it to be worshipped and thus thou ravines about in thy own way and calls evil good and undertakes to vindicate it Thou sayest Hereticks are the greater foxes and the lesser foxes and hunting and taking of such are not only a noble recreation adaequate indeed for the vast ability of the most generously spirited Christians but also a very charitable undertaking for the Church of God in those that can but any way help forward so serviceable a design Answ Thou thirsts to have thy design promoted and so presents it to others as a noble recreation and a charitable undertaking for Christians but true Christians did never recreate themselves after that manner nor never were found in such an undertaking for Paul saith after some admonitions a Heretick is to be rejected if he refuse to hear but he doth not say hunt them and take them and destroy them and Paul was a good Christian but thou art promoting thy design against the innocent and under the name of foxes would have them hunted and taken by which it is seen what is in thy heart if thy hands had power for it is to be understood that a lamb never hunted a fox but it is the nature of a fox to hunt the lambs and if he can come to his prey he devours and destroyes them and a fox hath his hole for the day and ravines in the night mark that and that is the hunter and devourer which is thy secret design but thou art chained and the lambs preserved Thou saist where could we find the proverb more fully verefied then in the subtil deluding Schismaticks of our age and for bloudy cruelty can we find a parallel of these where they get power and is it not high time saist thou to endeavour the reclaiming and reformation of those whose main intendment is to ruine the Church of God and deny the precious Truths and Ordinances of the Gospel Answ These ●hings are certainly thy own and it is high time for thee to reclaim and reform thy unruly spirit which is found in the highest degree of enmity and cruelty which the Quakers were never guilty of for their principle leads them in love and peace and good will to all men and that line doth not parallel with bloud-thirsty men who are destroying one another about their worships and Religion and it is high time that such were reclaimed and reformed from their iniquity of which the Quakers were never guilty Thou faist the Wolves were destroyed out of the Land by a victorious Prince oh saist thou that we could see the like deliverance from the Foxes Answ Here the bottome of the pit is come up and a murderer is seen which would destroy the innocent as Foxes and would have the help of a Prince to do it by which thou shewest the nature of a Wolf and the Land is spread over with too many such as thou art that the Lambs can hardly find an outward place to lie down quietly amongst you Thou saist for Iustice that puts thee upon looking well about thee at home since in that little spot of ground divine providence and goodnesse hath called thee to be resident upon in the work and calling of a Minister of the Gospel thou hast found many even too many saist thou of these little Foxes to have their fixed abode being sadly perverted by the grosse and strong delusions of the Quakers Answ Thou hast already manifested thy Justice and it is seen to be in the enmity and thy residence in that place as a Gospel Minister was never so ordered by Gods providence and goodnesse but a great Living called thee and in it man hath placed thee and it is for thy gain that thou looks so well about thee and if such as thou calls Foxes could put into thy mouth willingly as thou takes it from them unlawfully then it is like thou wouldst blot out the name of Foxes and give them the name of Christians and in this stands thy Justice to feed upon the fat and to live at ease in thy residence and for such whose fixed abode is there whom thou calls Foxes they was converted to the faith of Christ before thou came to be resident amongst them and it is the truth of God which they have received by which they are turned from errour and delusions and their fixed abode is their natural right and they are a people whom I very well know and I know that they live peaceably soberly and are of an honest conversation and thou hast nothing against them justly saving this one thing that they worship the God of their Fathers after the manner which thou calls heresie Thou saist they are hurried to a high degree of contempt of publick prayers preaching sacraments c. and these by right saist thou are part of my charge though they have withdrawn themselves from being any part of my flock Answ They are established in the truth and publick prayer and preaching in the spirit of God they never denied and they are not by right any part of thy charge for since thy coming among them they have denied thy practice and therefore they are not withdrawn from thee for they never belonged unto thee and if it should be granted that some of them were part of thy charge and of thy flock then hast not thou been a carelesse shepherd to let thy flock goe astray and be lost how canst thou say if it be so that thou hast kept all thy flock together which is the care of a good shepherd Thou saist to attempt the best means and to use the most likely wayes and method for their recovery seems not onely truly charitable but highly just and equitable Answ Thy attempts and means are far unlikely to recover them if they was in errour for thou attempts to be delivered from

between the nature of man in the fall and the nature of Christ that never fell for we own the light which is manifest from the nature of Christ to be the true light which enlightens every one that comes into the world but they that rebell against it can never come to the place of blis● and happinesse by it but we are in love with it and knows the work which God hath designed for it which is to destroy the work of the Devil and to be salvation unto the ends of the earth unto all that in it believe and its narive strength lustre and rad●ancie is an infallible guide if faithfully followed to bring to the place of bliss and happinesse and ●hough thou be in the unbelief yet this is our report concerning the true light and we know it is neither prophanenesse ignorance imaginations nor notions Thou satst this inward light which the wise mans stiles the candle of the Lord and at the best saist thou burnes but in the socket of a corrupt mind with very ●●ch dimnesse should ever discover the right and ready way to the new Jerusalem is the product only of mens foolish fancies their pride and ignoran●● Answ The inward light which the wise man stiles the candle of the Lord is broken forth of the socket of a corrupt mind in many and now shines upon the house top and what would thou have to discover the right and ready way to new Jerusalem if not the candle of the Lord which is his light within but this is not thy guide and so thou remains in Jerusalem below where Hagars seed ruleth but we have found the right and ready way to Jerusalem above the City of the great King and are set down under his Government in peace Thou now comes to speaek of divine Revelation and saith that God is every where present filling all places and spaces both real and imaginarie by his immensity Answ Then stand thou in his fear for he is near thee as a sw●ft witnesse against thee and however God is present with other things in their kind yet he doth not reveal himself unto man by any other way or by any other thing then the light of Christ and we know how God manifests himself in every particular place according to mans present state and condition and what his hot displeasure is revealed against and what his loving kindnesse and mercy is revealed unto Thou saist but though God be every where present and so with every creature equally in regard of his infinite essence and of his emmensity yet as to the special and peculiar efficacie of his presence he is not with all either things or places or persons after the same manner present Answ If God be equally present with every Creature in regard of his infinite Essence then all things have the same proportion of it but all things have not the same proportion of Gods infinite Essence therefore not with every creature equally for an equal proportion is the same to all and doth not admit of any thing special but his infinitenesse is in himself and he measures forth so much as his pleasure is to give and it is an equal proportion unto all according to his pleasure yet some have more and some lesse but all some and that measure so manifested in man hath a peculiar efficacie as to its operation through the obedience unto it and this is equal in it self and special by it self and yet in the infinitenesse of Essence without any distinction Thou sayst that God is present with all his creatures as the preserver guider and governour of them Answ Whosoever sinneth are not preserved guided nor governed by God but some do sin therefore God is not so present with all but they that come to the effectual working of his power they know an immortal birth quickned and raised with which the preserving guiding and governing power of God is present Thou saist thy design mainly intended is against those who because they are wise in their own conceit do neglect publick Sermons and Sacraments Answ Thy main intendment and design is against those that God hath redeemed from the earth and from all false ways and worships and gathered them into the publick worship of his spirit where they hear Christs voice and follows him and cannot own thy Church or Sermons or Sacraments In the second Chapter thou seems to hold forih a general presence of God with all thing and more especially with some things but hath not shewed what those things are though thou intend it to the worship now generally practifed but hast never come close to the matter thou aimes at but hast multiplied thy own words and thoughts about the Saints worship in times past which according to the Scripture we own in t●eir dispensations but thou hast not proved that the place which thou calls a Church or the worship that is there observed is either of them true or warrantable according to any Scripture precept or president or the mind of God at this day so that thy whole Book may silence it self as to the matter thou aims at for where a thing is not rightly stated and truly proved it is a sufficient proof against it self yet I shall briefly answer a few things more Thou sayest had there not been a peculiar people a royal seed even the Church of God to be raised out of the ruines of fallen man by the interposing of Christ first proffered and propounded for the worlds reparation in that fundamental promise the seed of the woman shall break the serpents head Answ Thou hast confessed that the Church of God is the royal seed then it is such as are born of the seed that are Gods peculiar people and true members of his Church therefore mark thy own words for if the royal seed be the Church as thou hast confessed and in it self is true then neither wood nor stone nor people in the fall can be the Church and the seed is known in which the Church flourisheth in this day of her restitution out of the wildernesse and the promise is unto us fulfilled who are born of God Thou sayest but among all the manifestations of Gods presence and favours there are none more remarkably signal for constant reviving and comforting the hearts of his people then those that have been truly experienced in his ordinances enjoyed by his servants in those places which either by divine appointment or at least by divine approbation have been separated and set apart for religious worship and the service of God Answ This is a place in which thou hast come as near the matter thou aims at as any place in thy book therefore I shall speak more fully to it thou hast so stated the matter in general terms as that it may lye which way any will bend it and is it reasonable to state things in general terms as to what hath been and not to discover the things that are which is