Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	bishop_n	rome_n	succession_n	9,910	5	9.8153	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60148	St. Peter's sin and true repentance amplified and improved in a discourse occasion'd by the publick profession of repentance made by T.W., who after eleven years slavery in Turkey renounc'd his baptism and Christianity there ... / by John Shower.	Shower, John, 1657-1715.	1692 (1692)	Wing S3684; ESTC R10197	15,206	39

Thou knowest that I love thee And being asked a third time he answers Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Professing his Love three several times as he had been guilty of a Triple Denial Whereupon our Lord minds him of what he had formerly said That when he was converted he should strengthen his Brethren and therefore puts him upon this Evidence of his sincere Repentance and Love to Christ Feed my Lambs Feed my Sheep Though thou hast denied and disowned the Shepherd of thy Soul yet feed my Sheep Let this be the first Testimony of thy Love which afterwards thou must confirm with the loss of thy Life and seal with thy Bloud And by the History of the Acts of the Apostles we find his extraordinary Diligence to spread the Gospel For the Travels of this Apostle in his Ministerial work are computed to be above Nine Hundred and Fifty Miles 'T is an Instance of the Wisdom of Divine Providence that this Apostle should be sent principally to Preach the Gospel to the Jews and be the Minister of the Circumcision who had thus joined with the Jews in disowning Christ that he should endeavour to perswade them to join with him in Repentance as he had joined with them in Sin Dr. Jackson And the Parallel may be carried further As the Nation of the Jews had known the Lord above all other People had seen his Wonders and been favoured by peculiar Instances of his Kindness stood in special Relation to Him and made the highest Profession of Love and Obedience and expected the coming of the Son of God Yet when he came amongst them they disowned his Authority and protested against him We have no King but Caesar c. So the Apostle Peter though he had seen our Saviour and lived in his Family and been Witness to his Miracles was nearly related to him and professed more than ordinary Affection and Obedience Yet he basely disowned him when it came to the Trial. His Sin was in some respect like Theirs and therefore he is the fittest Person to Preach the Gospel to them His Diligence therein is another Argument of the Sincerity of his Repentance The Application follows For Instruction and Practice 1. From the very Relation of this Passage of the Scandalous Fall of one of the Apostles and the particular Description of it by the Apostles themselves We may learn one Argument to confirm the Truth of the Gospel History Had it been a Forgery or Humane Contrivance these things would have been concealed But the Spirit of God has left this upon Record to warn us against the like Sins and to encourage the Repentance of those that have fallen in an Hour of Temptation We may observe farther From the Sin and Fall of this Apostle What little Reason the Church of Rome has to boast of the pretended Succession of their Popes to the Apostle Peter They are his Successors in denying Christ the Glory due to him as Mediator but in vain do they pretend to be the universal Bishops of the universal Church as his Successors We read of no such Superiority that Peter had over the rest of the Apostles Not till Christs Ascension to be sure for then there would have been two heads of the Church Nor afterward For he was only the Apostle of the Circumcision And St. Paul the Doctor of the Gentiles withstood him to the Face and ordained Pastors without him Gal. 2. and 2 Cor. 11.5 and tells us he was not inferiour to the chiefest Apostles And Peter was sent as a Messenger from the rest of the Apostles Acts 8.14 And when he was accused he pleads his own Cause before the other Disciples and submits to the Judgment of the Council Acts 11. Moreover when there were Divisions in the Church of Corinth that some were for Paul and some for Apollos and some for Cephas or Peter We do not find the Apostle Paul directs them to Center all in Peter He owns no such Authority and Supremacy in him above others as the Church of Rome have invested him and his Successors in The Bishops of Rome have imitated Peter too much in the Denial of Christ but in little else that we know of Again From the Sin and Fall of Peter We may observe the Subtlety of the Devil to suit his Temptations to the particular Tempers of Men and so to season and time his Temptations as to have the greatest probability of Success He takes confident Peter in a fit of Fear at the Apprehension and Arraignment of his Master who at another time would have replied to the Devil as Christ did to him when he acted the Devils Part Get thee behind me Satan Our great Adversary the Devil knows how to assault us with suitable Temptations and in what Circumstances we are most likely to yeild we had therefore need to watch and stand upon our guard We may also observe the Justice of God in permitting the strongest Confidence to be shamed and baffled Let us therefore remember that none are so likely to enter into Temptation and be overcome as those who are least afraid of it None are more likely to fall than those who are most confident of their own standing None more ready to yeild to Temptation than such as presume they shall never yeild Moreover In that after Peter's first Denyal he heard the Cock crow and did not take warning we may learn That whoever sins against the Light of his own Mind and Conscience may be so far hardened and stupified by it as that the plainest warnings for a time at least shall be disregarged and have no influence One would wonder after what Christ had told him concerning his Denial before the Crowing of the Cock that he did not recollect it when he first heard the Cock to Crow We may further learn That there is a Mixture of Flesh and Spirit of Corruption and Grace in the best Saints I doubt not but Peter's Resolution to dye with Christ rather than deny him proceeded from a Principle of Grace and true Affection to his Lord. I question not but he verily thought he should do as he said but his Confidence of himself whereby he presumed on his own strength had a sinful mixture with it which occasioned his Fall It therefore concerns all even the best men that they watch and pray lest they enter into Temptation But considering That though the Sin of Peter was great yet his Repentance was not long delayed We may compare it with some other Instances in Scripture and observe That Sins by the surprizal of a sudden Temptation are much sooner repented of than where the Sin is presumptuous deliberate and contrived Let us take the Instance of David in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah and compare it with this Example of Peter Peter knew so well that he should not deny his Lord that he was confident he never should He honoured his Master in his Heart and came to