Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	catholic_n	communion_n	schism_n	6,320	5	10.0691	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35243	The life of Oliver Cromwel, Lord Protector of the Common-wealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland being an account of all the battles, sieges, and other military atchievements, wherein he was engaged, in these three nations : and likewise, of his civil administrations while he had the supream government, till his death.	R. B., 1632?-1725?	1680 (1680)	Wing C7343; ESTC T135016	57,584	144

my Soul that God would forgive all those that upon so slender and small Grounds adjudg'd me to dye taking Advantage of such simple Ignorance as I was in And I had at the very beginning of my pleading engaged their Honours no Advantage should be taken against me to my Prejudice that in as much as I understood nothing of the Law And having heard that a Man in the Nicety of the Law might be lost in the Severity thereof meerly for speaking a Word out of simple Ignorance I made it my Prayer to them that no Advantage might be taken against me to the Prejudice of my Person And there was to me a seeming Consent for the President told there should be no Advantage taken against me and upon these Considerations I am afraid there was too great Uncharitableness but I pray God forgive them from the very bottom of my Soul and I desire that even those that shed my Blood may have the Bowels of the God of Mercy shed for them And now having given you the Occasion of my coming hither it is fit I should give you somewhat as concerning my self as I am a Christian I thank God I was Baptized to the Holy Church so I was Baptized to be a Member of the Holy Catholick Church that is the Church of England which I dare say for Purity of Doctrine and orderly Discipline till a sad Reformation had spoiled the Face of the Church and made it a querry whether it were a Church or no I say it was more purely Divine and Apostolical than any other Doctrine or Church in the Christian World whether National or Classical or Congregational And I must tell you That as I am a Member of this Church so I am a Member of the Holy Catholick Church and shall give a most just Confession of my Faith both negatively and affirmatively negatively I am so a Member of the Holy Catholick Church that I abhor all Sects Schisms Sedition and Tyranny in Religion Affirmatively so that as I hold Communion with so I love and honour all Christians in the World that love the same Lord Jesus in Sincerity and call on his Name agreeing with those Truths that are absolutely necessary and clearly demonstrated in the Word of God both in the Old and New Testaments tho' in Charity dissenting from some others that are not necessary And I as I am thus a Christian I hope for Salvation through the Merits of Christ Jesus his Blood I rely on his Merits I trust to for the Salvation of my own Soul Though to this Faith good Works are necessary not meritorious in us but only made meritorious by Christ his Death by his all sufficiency by his satisfaction and his righteousness they become meritorious And truly as I am a Member of this Church so I am a Member of this Community and so pleaded for the Liberties and Priviledges thereof I must now answer something I am aspersed withal in the World They talk of something of a Plot and a Treasonable Design and that I had a great Interest in the Knowledge and Practice thereof and that for the saving my Life I would have discover'd and betray'd I cannot tell what I hope my Conversation hath not been such here in this City where I have been a long Time very well known as to make one imagine I should intermeddle in such an Action and go so contrary to the Practice of my Profession and I hope there are none so uncharitable towards me as to believe I had a Knowledge of that Design Here I must come to particulars for a Plot of having a Design upon the City of London for the Firing of it I so much trouble at the Thought of the Thing that should have been done as they say for the carrying on of such a Design if my Heart deceive me not had I known it I so much abhor the Thing I should have been the first discoverer of it Nor ever had I Correspondency or Meetings with such Persons as would have carried on such a Design It is said likewise I entertained the Earl the Marquess of Ormond to my Remembrance I never saw the Face of that Honourable Person in my Life It is said One Lords Day I did preach at Saint Gregory's and the next Lords Day I was at Brussels or Bruges and kist the Kings Hand and brought I cannot tell what Orders and Instructions from him this I shall say For these three Years last past together I have not been sixty Miles from this City of London and I think it is somewhat further to either of those Places then threescore Miles It is said that I kept Correspondence with one Barrow and Bishop they are Persons I have heard of their Names but never saw their Faces and to my Knowledge I do not know they knew me nor do I know them at all but only as I have heard of their Names And whosoever else hath suggested such things against me I know not His Highness was pleased to tell me I was like a flaming Torch in the midst of a Sheaf of Corn he meaning I being a publick Preacher was able to set the City on Fire by Sedition and Combustions and promoting D●signs Here truly I do say and have it from many of those that are Judges of the High Court that upon Examination of the Business they have not found me a Meddler at all in these Affairs And truly I must needs say therefore that it was a very uncharitable Act in them who ever they were that brought such Accusations against me and irritated his Highness against me I will not say it was Malice it might be Zeal but it was rash zeal which caused me to be sentenced to this Place the God of Mercy pardon and forgive them all and truly as I am a Member of the Church and as a Member of the Community whereon behalf I have been speaking I cannot but do as our Saviour himself did for his Disciples when he was to be taken from them he blessed them and ascended up to Heaven My Trust is in the Mercy of the most High I shall not miscarry and however my Days are shortned by this unexpected doom and shall be brought untimely to the Grave I cannot go without my Prayers for a Blessing upon all the People of this Land and cannot but bless them all in the Name of God and beseech God to bless them in all their Ways and his Blessing be upon them Let us Pray O Most glorious Lord God thou whose Dwelling is so far above the Highest Heavens that thou humblest thy self but to look upon the Things that are in Heaven and that are in Earth and thou doest whatsoever thou wilt both in Heaven in Earth in the Sea and in all deep Places in thy Hands are the Hearts of all Men and thou turnest them which way soever thou wilt O Lord look in Mercy and Compassion we beseech thee on this great and innumerous People of

this Land look upon them O Lord withan Eye of Pity not with ●n Eye of Fury and Indignation O look not upon all those great and grievous Sins that have provoked thee most justly to Wrath and Displeasure against us Gracious God who can stand in thy Sight when thou art angry When thou with rebuke dost correct Man for Sin thou makest his Beauty to consume away like as it were a Moth fretting a Garment O Lord thy Indignation and Wrath lies heavy upon us and thou hast vexed us with thy Scourges thou hast made us a Reproach and a by Word amongst our Neighbours and the very Heathens laugh us to scorn O that thou wouldst turn us again O Lord God of Hosts that thou wouldst shew us the Light of thy Countenance that we may behold it that thou wouldst humble us for all those Sins and grievous Transgressions that are amongst us for those Atheisms for those Infidelities horrid Blasphemies and Prophaneness for those Sacriledges for those Heresies for those Schisms Errors and all those Blindnesses of Heart Pride vain Glory and Hypocrisie for that Envy Hatred and Malice and all Uncharitableness that hath set us one against another that we are so dashed one against another even to destroy each other Ephraim against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim and both against Judah O Lord we are like those Moabites and Ammonites c. This thou hast done to us O Lord because we have rebelled against thee O how greatly and grievously have we sinned against thee yet for all this thou hast not requited us according to our ill deservings for thou mightest have brought us to Desolation and Destruction Fire might have come down from Heaven and destroyed us our Foreign Enemies and the Enemies of thee and thy Christ our Saviour might have swallowed us up What have we not deserved yet O the long Suffering and Patience and Goodness of our God! O Lord our God we pray thee that thy Patience and long Suffering might lead to Repentance that thou wouldst be pleased thou who delightest not in the Death of a Sinner but rather that he should turn from his Sins and live that thou wouldst turn us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned draw us and we shall run after thee draw us with the Cords of Love and by the Bands of loving kindness by the powerful working of thy Holy Spirit in our Souls working Contrition in our Hearts and a Godly Sorrow for all our Sins even a Sorrow to Repentance and a Repentance to Salvation never to be repented of Lord break those stnoy Hearts of ours by the Hammer of thy Word mollify them by the Oil of thy Grace smite these rocky Hearts of ours by the Rod of thy most gracious Power that we may shed forth Rivers of Tears for all the Sins we have committed O that thou wouldst make us grieve because we cannot grieve and to weep because we cannot weep enough that thou wouldst humble us more and more in the true Sight and Sense of all our Provocation against thee and that thou wouldst be pleased in the Blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse us from all our Sins Lord let his Blood that speaks better Things than that of Abel cry louder in thine Ears for Mercy then all those Mischiefs and Wickednesses that have been done amongst us for Vengeance O besprinkle our polluted but Penitent Souls in the Blood of Jesus Christ that we may be clean in thy Sight and that the Light of thy Countenance may shine upon us Lord be pleased to Seal unto our Souls the free Pardon and Forgiveness of all our Sins say to each of our Souls and say that we may hear it that thou art well pleased with us and appeased towards us Lord do thou by the Spirit assure our Spirits that we are thy Children and that thou art reconciled to us in the Blood of Jesus Christ To this end O Lord create in us new Hearts and renew right Spirits within us Cast us not away from thy Presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from us but give us the Comfort of thy Help and establish us with thy free Spirit Help us to live as thy redeemed ones and Lord let us not any longer by our wicked Lives deny that most Holy Faith whereof our Lips have for so long Time made Profession but let us that call on the Name of the Lord Jesus depart from Iniquity and hate every evil Way Help us to cast away all our Transgressions whereby we have transgressed and make us new Hearts Carry us along through the Pilgrimage of this World supplying us with all Things needful for us thy Grace alone is sufficient for us Lord let thy Grace be assistant to us to strengthen us against all the Temptations of Satan especially against those Sins whereunto we are most prone either by Custom or Constitution or most easily provoked O Lord with what Affliction soever thou shalt punish us do not punish us with spiritual Judgments and Desertions Give us not over to our own Hearts Lusts to our vile lewd and corrupt Affections give us not over to Hardness and Impenitency of Heart but make us sensible of the least Sin and give us thy Grace to think no Sin little committed against thee our God but that we may be humbled for it and repent of it and reform it in our Dives and Conversations and Lord keep us from Presumptuous Sins O let not them get the Dominion over us but keep us Innocent from the great Offence O Lord our Strength and our Redeemer And Lord sanctify unto us all thy Methods and Proceedings with us fitting us for all further Tribulations and Tryals whatsoever thou in thy divine Pleasure shalt be pleased to impose upon us Lord give us Patience Constancy Resolution and Fortitude to undergo them that though we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death we may fear none ill knowing that thou O Lord art mercifully with us and that with thy Rod as well as with thy Staff thou wilt support and comfort us and that nothing shall be able to seperate us from thy Love which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. And gracious God we beseech thee be thou pleased to look mercifully and compassionately on thy Holy Catholick Church and grant that all they that do confess thy Holy Name may agree together in the Truth of thy Holy Word and live in Unity and godly Love Thou hast promised O Lord the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against thy Church perform we beseech thee thy most gracious promises both to thy whole Church and to that Part of it which thou hast planted and now afflicted in these sinful Lands and Nations wherein we live arise O Lord and have Mercy upon our Sion for it is time that thou have Mercy upon her yea the Time is come for thy Servants think upon her Stones and it pittieth them to see her in the Dust Lord maintain thine