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	militant_a	4,766	5	11.7120	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20729	The Christians freedome wherein is fully expressed the doctrine of Christian libertie. By the rt. reuerend father in God, George Downeham, Doctor of Diuinity and Ld. Bp. of Derry.	Downame, George, d. 1634.	1635 (1635)	STC 7111; ESTC S102215	96,431	253

abide not only to the end of their daies in the Church militant which is the house of God vpon earth but also for euer in the Church triumphant which is Gods house in heauen 3. That the faithfull attaine to this freedome by adoption in Christ. For to so m any as receiue him by faith hee hath giuen this liberty or power to be the sonnes of God And if sonnes then also heires This a●●ertion is presupposed in this place as being the hypothesis wherupon this inference is grounded Those that be the sonnes of God abide in the house of God for euer therefore if the Sonne shall make you free c. presupposing that men attaine to the freedome of Gods sonnes by the benefit of Christ the onely begotten Sonne of God Wherupon as I said is inferred the fourth thing which is my text If the Sonne therefore shall make you free you shall be free indeed As if hee had said you haue no cause to cauil at the promise of libertie which I make to all them which truly beleeue in me For I tell you vpon my word which is Amen that is true and infallible that both you and all men by nature though the seed of Abraham as you are though liuing as you do in the visible Church of God are the very seruants of sinne that being seruants and not sonnes they must not looke to inherite with the sons of the promise or to abide in the house for euer but when the time of separation commeth they shall as chaffe be seuered from the wheate as tares from the corne as goates from the sheepe as Hagar and Ismael from Isaak the sonne of the promise Therefore though your pride will not suffer you to see and acknowledge thus much yet certainly great need haue you to bee made free that of the seruants of sinne you may become the sons of God But you who are as all men by nature are the children of wrath cannot possiblie bee the sons of God except you beleeue in me who am the only begotten Son of God that I may by the grace of adoption communicate that vnto you which I my selfe am by nature and eternall generation So shall you of the seruants of sinne sons of Satan and heires of Hell and damnation be made the sons of God heires of eternall life citizens and free denizens of the kingdome of heauen Whereas now therefore you are miserable seruants notwithstanding your corporall and carnall libertie whereof you vaunt which is not a true libertie but a voluntarie seruice of sin if you shall beleeue in me and approue your selues to be my true disciples by abiding in my words I who am the truth will make you free not with a counterfeit or imaginary freedome such as is your libertie but with a true and spirituall freedome which is the gracious and the glorious libertie of the sons of God Thus haue you heard the context or coherence of these words with the former whereunto wee are referred by this word of inference therefore wherein diuers things might profitablie bee obserued but that the text calleth me vnto it as containing matter of greatest importance For Christian libertie which is the argument of my text is as the Apostle ●aith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the verie good of Christians which Christ our Sauiour taking vpon him the forme of a seruant hath purchased with his owne most precious blood which is the benefit of the Messias whereunto wee are called Galath 5. 13. which hee hath promised as a reward to his true disciples vers 32. which as himselfe came to preach Luk. 4. 18. so doth he send vs his Embassadours to the same end viz. to preach the Gospell which is the law of libertie and the doctrine of redemption and freedome by him that by our Ministerie men may be brought out of spirituall bondage vnto the libertie of Gods children The consideration whereof as it bindeth me with all reuerent care and intention of mind to intreate of this argument so ought it to moue you to heare the same with great diligence and attention And the rather not only because among vs who professe the Gospell many do not know the Christian libertie and more do abuse it to their owne perdition but also because the Papists are both enemies of the liberty it self endeauouring by their Antichristian doctrine to bereaue vs of the chiefe parts thereof and also malicious standeres of the most Christian cōfortable doctrine of our Churches concerning the same But to come to the words of my text the summe and effect whereof is this that Christ the Sonne of God is the author of true libertie to all those that truly beleeue in him For the explication wherof wee are first to speake of this libertie in generall and afterwards to descend vnto the particulars In the generall doctrine wee are to consider these foure things 1. What it is and wherein generally it doth consist 2. Who is the author of this libertie which in the text is expressed to bee the onely begotten Sonne of God 3. The subiect or the parties on whom this libertie is conferred which is plainly gathered out of the context or in●erence of these words vpon the former to bee all the sonnes of God by adoption 4. The generall property of this liberty that it is not a counterfait or imagina●y but a true liberty Of all which points I will speake very briefly As touching the first for as much as Logicians teach that the definition of the speciall is to bee ●etched from the distribution of the generall for which cause the diuine Philosopher calleth a distribution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as being the ready and as it were the Kings way to a definition wee will therefore take a suruey of the diuers sorts of liberty For there is an outward or externall liberty and there is an inward or internall libe●ty The former is the liberty of the outward man from externall or bodily seruitude which may be called the corporall or ciuill liberty Of this our Sauiour speaketh not though the Iewes would seeme so to vnderstand him but of the internall which may well stand with the outward or ciuill bondage For as our Sauiour Christ noted them though outwardly free to bee in spirituall bondage so contrariwise those who in respect of the inner man are free may notwithstanding bee subiect to the external or ciuill seruitude which nothing impeacheth or impaireth the liberty of the soule and conscience before God In which regard the Apostle saith Hee that is called in the Lord being a seruant is the Lords freeman So that the liberty whereof we speake is a liberty of the soule or inner man Wicked therefore is the doctrine of the Anabaptists who therby exempt themselues from all subiection to the ciuill Magistrate vnder pretence of Christian liberty I call their doctrine