Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	earth_n	heaven_n	loose_v	6,038	5	10.6252	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91415	The Jewes synagogue: or, A treatise concerning the ancient orders and manner of worship used by the Jewes in their synagogue-assemblies. Gathered out of the sacred scriptures, the Jewish Rabines, and such modern authors, which have been most conversant in the study of Jewish customes. Wherein, by comparing the scriptures in the Old and New Testament together, many truths are fully opened, and sundry controversies about church-government truly and plainly stated. By William Pinchion of Springfeild [sic] in N. England.	Pynchon, William, 1590-1662.	1652 (1652)	Wing P4309; Thomason E802_4; ESTC R207368	80,705	99

begins his memento to them with an asseveration Amen I say unto you Whatsoever ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven that is to say Whatsoever person he or she be that lives in sin without change of mind ye shall by the preaching of the Gospel bind him or them over to eternal condemnation but whatsoever person he or she be that hath the truth of change of mind according to the rules of the Gospel you shall loose that person from his sins by preaching to him his pardon reconciliation and atonement by resting on Christ for his pardon and atonement And in this sense every faithful Preacher doth bind on earth and loose too though he never do excommunicate nor release any from their excommunication And if any man doubt whether this exposition of this phrase be to be understood of their power and authority to preach let them confer hereto another place in Iohn 20. 21. where our Saviour useth the like phrase to his Apostles and there he doth plainly expound it of their calling and power to preach the Gospel for in verse 21. Christ saith thus to his Apostles As my Father sent me so send I you namely to preach the Gospel and in verse 23. he saith Whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whosoever sins ye retain they are retained This manner of speaking implies that they must teach according to the rules of the Gospel Whosoever sins ye remit according to the rules of the Gospel they are remitted But the Gospel doth not pronounce pardon of sin to any but to the godly repenting therefore you must remit no mans sins but theirs only to such repentant sinners you must preach remission of sins for their sins are remitted in heaven But whosoever sins you retain according to the rules of the Gospel they are retained You must tell all unrepentant sinners that without good change of mind they shall all perish eternally These are the limits of that commission which Christ gives to all true preachers when he doth first give them power and authority to preach the Gospel and I think that no sound Divine dares deny this exposition And thus by comparing these Scriptures together the true interpretation of Matth. 18. 18. may be found out Thirdly This phrase Whatsoever ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven cannot be expounded of the Churches excommunication For no Church is so perfect in judgment as to know the spiritual estate of an excommunicate person many godly persons have been excommunicate for a particular sin and have died under their excommunication and yet their sin not bound in heaven when they dyed and some are unjustly excommunicate and some are released from their excommunication upon their verbal repentance only In this case the Church cannot say we know thy repentance is true and therefore we do loose thee from thy sins on earth and Christ doth also loose thee from thy sin in heaven No Church can say thus But when a godly Minister doth preach remission of sins to the truly repentant sinner or to a man thrt truly turns to the Lord and preach everlasting damnation to the unrepentent they do not personate men as they do when they excommunicate persons they only deliver the rules of the Gospel to persons in general If any of their hearers can find themselves so and so qualified then they preach remission of sins to such as do truly repent or turn to God Act. 26. 20 according to the rules of the Gospel and they preach damnation also to them that do not turn to God that is to the unrepentent But a particular Church had need an of infallible Judgment in mens personal conditions before she can conclude that all her personal censures are ratified in heaven Scholar Sir I must confess that your exposition of this verse 18. doth set me at a gaze what to think of other mens Interpretations but yet I am not fully satisfied Therefore I will yet try further in another circumstance of the Text It is said in verse 15. If he hear thee thou hast gained thy Brother These words imply that the only end and aime which the innocent brother had in telling his trespassing brother of his fault was to gain him from his sin by gaining him to repentance to change of mind therefore his end and aime was the same in verse 16. in taking with him one or two and therefore his end and aim was the same also in verse 17. in telling the Church Now if his end and aim was the same in all these proceedings namely to bring him to repentance then it follows by necessary consequence that the Churches dealing with him was either to bring him to change of mind or else to excommunicate him in case he shall still remain unrepentant Teacher I grant that the two first degrees of proceeding against the brother offending was only to gain him to the sight of his sin and so to godly repentance for it But the third degree of proceeding in telling the Church might well have another end namely to bring him to some publike shame for his unrepentancy or non-change of mind and to gain him to make some satisfaction for his injurious trespassing against him Scholar Do you make the word Trespass in this Text to mean such sins only as do trespass or hurt a mans brother Very learned Divines do take it to signifie all kinds of sin as well against God immediately as mediately against man Teacher I acknowledge that the Greek word used in this Text is often put as well for sin against God as for sin against man But most usually it is put for sin or trespass against man and me-thinks that the circumstances of this Text do carry it plainly of sin against a mans brother If thy brother sin against thee namely by hurting or injuring thy person goods or good name then thou shalt tell him his fault between him and thee alone 2. This kind of sin is such a sin as a brother may forgive and so Luke doth explain our Saviour to mean Chap. 17. 3. But a brother cannot forgive a sin against God and so Eli saith If a man sin against God who shall plead for him 1 Sam. 2. 25. therefore the sin here spoken of is not to be understood of sin against God immediatly but of such sins as a brother may forgive by passing by it and not revenging it in case his brother testifies his sorrow and repentance for it In this sense Iosephs brethren sinned against Ioseph as Reuben doth explain the nature of their sin Gen. 42. 22. with Gen. 37. 21 22. And therefore after Iacob was dead all Josephs Brethren came to him and confessed their sin many yeers after and they prayed Joseph to forgive their Trespass and their sin Gen. 50. 17. They did not pray him to forgive their sin as it was a sin against God for in that sense they knew that Ioseph could not forgive it but

Tyrants When Zachariah the son of Iehoiadah was stoned between the Temple and the Altar he said The Lord look upon it and require it This Anathema maranatha took effect For when Nabuzaradan came into the Temple he saw some bloud upon the pavement not washed off thereupon he asked what bloud that was It was answered That it was the bloud of a Prophet that foretold all these things that now are come upon us and we rose up and killed him Yea said Nebuzaradan and I will pay you for it The reupon he caused his Souldiers to fall upon the young Priests and they killed eight thousand of them This the Iews record in Tugueh fol-69 Col. 1. Scholar I cannot tell what to think of the use and practice of this great Excommunication whether it be any Church priviledge or no But I will leave it for the present and desire rather to search out the lesser Excommunication which is granted on all hands to be a special priviledge belonging to all Christian Churches And very learned Divines do affirm that Iesus Christ did first ordain it in Matth. 1. 18. 17. as a special Ordinance for the use of all Christian Churches to the worlds end Teacher I cannot believe yet that Iesus Christ did first ordain excommunication in Matth. 18. 17. as a new Ordinance Christ did not first ordain Excommunication in Mat. 18. 17. for the use of Christian Churches I have already shewed that Iesus Christ did institute many particular Churches or synagogues among the Jews and that they had the use of Excommunication among them of old time therefore I cannot as yet believe that Christ did now first ordain excommunication as a new Ordinance for the use of Christian Churches in Matth. 18. 17. Secondly It is evident that Christ did not now first ordain excommunication as a new Ordinance for the use of all Christian Churches in Matth. 18. 17. because Luke relates a part of this exhortation touching private brotherly dealing and makes no mention of proceeding on to excommunication which doubtles he would not have omitted if Christ had now first ordained it for the use of Christian Churches Scholar Very learned Divines do think that the circumstances of the Text Matth. 18. 17. do plainly demonstrate that Christ did now first ordain excommunication as a new Ordinance for the use of all Christian Churches to the Worlds end and that Christ exhorted his Apostles to put this new Ordinance in practise assoon as they should plant any new particular Christian Churches Teacher I desire that the circumstance of this Text may be alledged and weighed whether any of them do prove the ordination of excommunication at this time or no. Scholar The first considerable circumstance is this If he will not hear the Church let him be to thee as an Heathen and Publican Hence I gather That none could account his Brother of the same profession as an Heathen or Publican until the Church had excommunicated him Teacher Your collection is not sound for first If this sentence had implyed his excommunication by the Church then Christ would have said thus Let him be to it that is to say to the Church Or let him be to them that is to say to all the members of the Church as an Heathen and a Publican But Christ doth not say so but let him be to thee that is to say let him be to thee that art the wronged Brother as an heathen and a Publican if he refused to hear the Church though he never were excommunicate by them For it is a point of good Justice and of Christian Wisdom to account an obstinate sinner that will not hear the Church no better then an Heathen or Publican And thus godly David did when his brethren Israelites sought to betray his life into the hands of Saul he both esteemed them and called them Heathens for it his words run thus Lo they lay wait for my soul yet not for my trespass nor for my sin for I have done them no wrong at all Therefore thou O Jehovah God of hosts God of Israel awake to visit all the Heathens Psal 59. 4 5. and in verse 9. he saith thus Thou Jehovah wilt laugh at them thou wilt mock at the Heathens Thus David esteemed his brethren the Jews no better then heathens for their trecherous endeavours and yet I believe he knew they were not excommunicated by the Church In like sort he calls the Ziphims of the Tribe of Iudah Strangers that is to say Heathens for their trecherous endevours against his life Psal 54. 5. In like sort Ieremiah ranks the profane Jews with the uncircumcised Heathens Ier. 9. 26. and Iohn calls the persecuting Papists Gentiles Apoc. 11. 2. 18. and Heathens also in chap. 19. 15. and Isaiah calls the Kings and People of Judah Kings of Sodom and People of Gomorrha Es 1. 10. and yet I believe none of these were so esteemed and called because they were first excommunicated by the Church Therefore you cannot conclude that Matthew doth mean that the impenitent brother was first excommunicate by the Church because Christ bade the innocent party to esteem him as an Heathen and Publican Scholar There is another circumstance in verse 18. which doth imply Excommunication as all Interpreters say The words of the Text thus speak Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven c. Hence Interpreters conclude that the Church by the power of Excommunication do bind sinners in their sins on earth and when they repent then they loose them from their sins on earth by discharging them from the sentence of Excommunication and that Christ doth ratifie all their doings in heaven Teacher I do not look upon this 18. verse in the same sense that you take it I do not apprehend it to have any necessary dependance on the three former verses but I take this 18. verse to speak of another matter distinct from the former For it is evident that Christ doth use many miscellaneous exhortations in this Chapter which have no dependence on each other Secondly I say that this sentence in verse 18. doth not agree to the terms of the Churches Excommunication For then Christ would have said thus Whatsoever they bind on earth that is to say Whatsoever they the whole Church both Officers and Members do bind on earth c. But Christ doth not say so But whatsoever ye shall bind on earth namely ye that are my Apostles and Disciples Or else Christ would have said thus Whatsoever thou bindest on earth in relation to the phrase afore-going in verse 17. Let him be to thee This phrase Whatsoever ye bind on earth c. is a Talmudd phrase which phrase of speaking Christ had formerly used to his Apostles when he gave them authority to preach the Gospel in Matth. 16. 19. and now again he doth put them in remembrance of their calling and power to preach the Gospel by repeating the said Talmud phrase and he

phrase every one must not be taken vulgarly for every one of the common multitude of the Church The Apostle himself doth contradict that Exposition for he doth teach us to oppose the learned to the unlearned in ver 23. 24. therefore he doth exempt the unlearned as not fit to be accounted into the number of every one that hath a Psalm c. therefore these two phrases all and every one means all and every one of those only whom God had gifted with extraordinary gifts for the plantation of his Church these only the Apostle calls the whole Church by the figure Synecdoche because they were the chiefe guides and directions of the multitude 19. The word Church is of a large capacity it signifies an Assembly of any kind of men and therefore it may as well be applyed to an assembly of Magistrates in a Court of Justice as to any other Assembly First The whole Army of Sauls souldiers that lay incamped in the field against the Philistims are called Kahal a Church and in the Septuagint Ecclesia 1 Sam. 17. 47. Secondly Nebuchadnezzars Army against Israel is called Kahal a Church and in the seventy Ecclesia Ezek. 16. 40. Thirdly Nebuchadnezzars several companies of souldiers collected into several bands out of several Nations are called Churches in the plural number Ezek. 26. 7. and in the seventy Synagogues Fourthly The Persian Army is also called a Church Ier. 50. 9. and in the septuagint a Synagogue Fifthly Pharaohs army is also called Kahal a Church Ezek. 17. 17. Sixthly The Army of Gog is four times over called Kahal a Church and in the seventy a Synagogue Ezek 38. 4. 7. 13. 15. Seventhly all the multitude of Israel that came out of Aegypt are called Kahal a Church before ever they entred into that Church Covenant which God made with them in Horeb. Exod. 16. 3. Therefore it is no absurdity to call a Court of Elders a Church 20. A confused multitude of people may be called a Church therefore much more an orderly Assembly of Elders in a Court of Justice In Acts 19. 32. It is said that the Church was confused that rose up against Paul and Alexander and in verse 41. The Town-Clark dismissed the Church that is to say the disorderly multitude and Syracides puts the word Church for a disorderly multitude of evil doers Ecclus 26. 5. 21. A company of wicked and corrupt Elders may be called a Church as in Psal 26. 5. I hated the Church of evil doers that is to say the Church or Synedrion of Sauls flattering Counsellors And Iacob also in his last will speaking of the bloudy action of Simeon and Levi saith O my soul come not thou into their secret and unto their Church mine honour be not thou united Gen. 49. 6. Hence it follows that the conclave of Cardinals in Rome may be truly and properly called a Church and the general Councels of Cardinals Bishops and other Popish Doctors may truly and properly be called a Church though also they ought to be called a malignant Church or a Synagogue of Satan Therefore I wonder why any man of learning and wisdom should account it such a strange matter to interpret the word Church in Matth. 18. 17. to mean the Elders of the Synedrion-Court especially considering they were the Churches chosen Elders appointed to sit in Moses Chair to expound Moses laws and to punish all the Transgressors thereof with sutable punishments and though they were grown now more degenerate then in former times yet they had some godly Elders among them as Gamaliel and Nichodemus and Ioseph of Arimathea with many others doubtles here and there dispersed among their several Sanhedrins I will conclude these one and twenty Collections with this Summe First Their opinion that Tell the Church requireth a new Court would breed new speech in the New Testament But our Lord spake it as is evident of the Church of Elders of the Politie known and practised of old in Israel Bro. in Manuscript Secondly In the Iews Reipublike the same Ecclesia that judged Dammages or Death judged of excommunication and still the chief Rulers being of Faith should have their stroke They will and should study to excel in Divinity to be true Bishops and Elders to eat up the book of the Gospel and to see all miscarriages sagely restrained The Apostle did excommunicate the Corinthian as an Elder or Bishop Bro. in Manus and Apoc. 155. Thirdly The Reformed Churches as Zurick take the wisest order that destroy all the Popes marks The Consul is present at all Scholars dealings and most straitly look to Scholars carriage twice in the Yeer and all punishments are referred to the Consul and Synedrion such was the Apostles Doctrine and Synagogues of old Bro. Apoc. 230. and on the Lords Prayer pag. 10. 11. alibi Scholar Truly I must needs confess that I cannot justly except against your exposition of the word Church in Matth. 18. 17. and yet I desire a little further satisfaction Whether it be lawful to call all the visible professors of the Faith dispersed over the world A Church of Christ or no Teacher I have already shewed you that the word Church is of such a large capacity that it may well comprehend them all and therefore I do fully accord with those Divines that describe the Church of Christ to be outwardly visible farre and wide over the face of the earth Scholar Very learned men do think that there can be no such universal visible Church of Christ 1. Because all those visible Professors cannot meet together in any one place to perform that publick worship which Christ hath ordained And secondly they cannot have any general Officers over them because they cannot meet together to chuse them Teacher I do desire that no man will be offended suddenly at the term Church attributed to all visible Professors of the Faith For though they cannot now personally meet together in any one place as perhaps they did in the dayes of Adam and Noah yet they do dayly meet together in the unitie of the Faith and they do all make the same publick Profession of salvation by All the outward Professors of the Faith through the world do make an universal visible Church of Christ Christ alone But for the better performance of the same publick Faith and Worship they are fitly divided and distributed into particular visible Churches And my reasons for calling all visible Professors an universal visible Church of Christ are these 1. What other Temple of God can that be wherein Antichrist doth sit as God but the universal visible Church of Christ dispersed over the world Antichrist cannot be said to sit as a God in any one particular Congregational Church but he sits in the Temple of God even as Christ sat formerly in the Temple between the Cherubims whither the twelve Tribes resorted three times a year And these twelve Tribes are called a Church of Nations Genesis 28. 3. Because they