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
A30890	John Barclay his vindication of the intercession of saints, the veneration of relicks and miracles, against the sectaries of the times Book II. Chap. VII. Englished by a person of quality. With allowance.; Parænesis ad sectarios. Book 2, Chapter 7. English.	Barclay, John, 1582-1621.	1688 (1688)	Wing B716; ESTC R215790	13,055	23

JOHN BARCLAY HIS VINDICATION Of the Intercession of SAINTS The Veneration of RELICKS AND MIRACLES AGAINST THE Sectaries of the Times BOOK II. CHAP. VII Englished by a Person of Quality With Allowance Printed by Mary Thompson at the Entrance into Old-Spring-Garden near Charing-Cross And Sold by Matthew Turner at the Holy-Lamb in Holbourn And John Lane at the Corner of Wild-street 1688. CONCERNING THE Intercession of SAINTS The Veneration of RELICKS AND MIRACLES BOOK II. CHAP. VII T IS one and the same Church of GOD which Triumphing in Heaven enjoys the Fruits of its Victory which Militant on Earth is expos'd to the Assaults of its Enemies and which freed from Danger tho' not yet from Punishment is cleansing by Purgatory Pains And this whole Church is in Charity because it is in GOD. Now 't is the Office of Charity that the Inferiors rejoyce at the Prosperity of their Superiors and that the Superiors as far as in them lies be assistant to their Inferiors We therefore give our Brethren who are now in Heaven what Honour we lawfully may and in return desire the Assistance of their Prayers of which we often find the Effects And as for those who being shut up in the Prison of Purgatory cannot help themselves we give them what succour we can by pouring forth our Prayers for them to the common Father of us all who is well pleas'd with this Brotherly Affection we mutually bear one another in him But these Bonds of Love the Sectaries would have broken asunder They say that the Saints mind only their own Happiness neither Hearing nor being any ways mov'd by our Prayers To which they farther add that whatever help we expect from their Suffrages we so much derogate from the Honour of CHRIST They moreover affirm that there are not contrary to what we with the most Antient Fathers believe any Punishments by which such of the Elect as are not yet perfectly clean are Purify'd after Death All these things are briefly to be asserted against them It has ever from the most Antient Times been the Custom of the Orthodox Church to request of the Blessed Spirits the Holy Martyrs and all others whom the Majesty of Miracles manifested to be in the Fruition of GOD and Heavenly Joyes that they would Pray for us to our Lord. What do ye O Sectaries dislike in this The Scriptures you say teach it not If I should answer That neither do the Scriptures forbid it what could you farther reply Why shall I not rather believe a thing to be lawful which not being prohibited by the Scriptures is practis'd by the Church than to be unlawful because it is not expresly commanded in Scripture But we seek not to shelter our selves under this Excuse For we rely on the Scriptures by which the Faithful are frequently commanded mutually to Pray for each other and in which we often find Holy Men requesting the Prayers of their Brethren 'T is so thou wilt say but these were living Men and desir'd the Prayers of the Living Shew me Sectary this difference in Scripture that 't is lawful to desire GODS Favour by the Prayers of Holy Men yet Living and unlawful so to do by the Prayers of the Deceased and I will yeild up the Cause Certainly Moses was Dead and so was Samuel when GOD declar'd That they were wont to Pray for the Jews Jer. 15. v. 1. Jeremiah also was dead when 't was reveal'd to Judas Maccabeus That he Pray'd for the People and the Temple 2 Maccab. 5. But thou wilt say There is one Mediator between GOD and Men which is CHRIST JESUS Why then do ye make so many Mediators so many Intercessors for us There can scarce be a more stupid Argument So that t is to be wondred you should so often press to have it heard There is indeed one CHRIST by whose Mediation Salvation is granted but Mediators of Intercession such as we affirm the Saints to be you your selves do not deny that there are as many as there are Believers For do not you desire the Prayers of one another And is not he whose Prayers are desir'd as much a Mediator for you as the Saints are for us Why therefore do you cry out that we injure CHRIST Why do you accuse us of esteeming his Merits insufficient The Controversy lyes in this Point whether we may desire the Prayers of that Person now triumphing in Heaven whose Intercession we might lawfully have requested when living here on Earth This is to wit the great Injury we do to CHRIST this is our Impiety this is our Forgetfulness of CHRIST's Passion But thou wilt reply The Saints neither see nor hear their Suppliants that 't is a very vain thing to Address our Discourse to these who are so far off Were it so O Sectary We Catholicks might indeed be accus'd of Folly in taking such unnecessary pains to offer up our Petitions to those who are though not unworthy yet wholly ignorant of the Addresses made to them yet this would not render us guilty of Impiety But we are by Scriptures Fathers and the practice of the Church assur'd the contrary If Moses says our Lord by the Prophet Jeremiah Chap. 15. v. 1. and Samuel shall stand before me my Soul is not towards this People Now how vain would this have been had not Moses and Samuel then often stood before him and been accustom'd according to the exigency of Affairs and Times to intercede for the Jews I omit its being most clearly said in the Maccabees Chap. 15. That Hieremias and Onias who were then departed out of this World Pray'd for all the People of the Jews And throughout the whole Apocalypse 't is said That the Angels and Saints do by the Power of God behold these Earthly things Moreover the Angel Raphael as we find it in Tobias Chap 12. when he was standing before Almighty GOD Offer'd up to our Lord the Prayers of Tobias 't is not therefore to be question'd but he heard them Finally dost thou believe that thou art wiser in this matter than the much to be Venerated Primitive Church Whose Custom and Doctrine in the time of St. Augustine and St. Ambrose I shall in their words set before thee The Angels says St. Ambrose in his Book De viduis are to be Supplicated who are given us for a Guard of whom we may seem to challenge some sort of Patronage from the Pledge of their Bodies They can Pray for our Sins who have with their own Blood wash'd away what Sins themselves have had For they are GOD 's Martyrs our Prelates the Beholders of our Lives and Actions Let us not be asham'd to use them as Intercessors for our Infirmities because they themselves well knew the Infirmity of the Body even when they overcame it St. Augustine in his Book De cura pro Mortuis Chap. 4. has these words When ever therefore the Mind reflects on the Place where the Body of a most dear Friend is Buried if