Selected quad for the lemma: church_n
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A25467
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A Continuation of morning-exercise questions and cases of conscience practicaly resolved by sundry ministers in October, 1682.
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Annesley, Samuel, 1620?-1696.
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1683
(1683)
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Wing A3228; ESTC R25885
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850,952
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1,060
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walk in Strife Envy Debates Emulation Contention they will not hereby be only hindred in their Communion with one another but with God also 7. And Lastly Let the People of God walk in Fellowship with one another Let them be all united to some particular visible Church where they may enjoy all those Ordinances of Divine Worship which God hath instituted for Communion with himself Besides the Catholick Church whereof Christ is the Supream Head and Pastor there are particular Churches under the praesidency and care of particular Pastours to some of which all professed Christians ought to belong in order to their Communion with God and one another But upon this third General I shall speak somewhat further in the Application IV. I shall now come to the Fourth and last General I proposed to General IV speak to and that is the Consequences or Consectaries that arise from this whole Discourse 1. It follows hence that Communion with God is a very comprehensive Consect 1 duty It comprehends much in it It consists not in one single Grace or one single Act of the Soul or one single Duty of Religion but it comprehends the Exercise of many Graces reacheth to manifold Duties of Religion and consisteth of manifold Acts and Operations of the Soul 2. It is also a constant Duty which we are to maintain in a constant Consect 2 course and not only now and then at some solemn times or at some solemn Ordinance Not as if we ought to do nothing else but worship God which is the Communion reserved for Heaven but it is to be our dayly practise and to set some time apart for it every day and as much as we can to carry this Communion with God through the several Affairs Conditions and Actions of our Life Acquaint thy self with God said Elihu to Job chap. 22. v. 21. The Heb. is Accustome thy self with God which importeth some frequent course of approaching to God and converse with him And when it is said of Noah and Enoch that they walked with God It implies a constant course of Religion and Communion with God And when the Apostle saith Phil. 3.20 our Conversation is in Heaven it implies more than the performance now and then some Religious Worship but some constant converse with God and the things of Heaven as Citizens of the same civil Body or Society have among themselves in their civil Commerce and Conversation with one another as the Greek word there used doth import 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. No Creatures are capable of Communion with God but Angels Consect 3 and Men. The Beasts were not made for it nor are capable of it not being rational and intelligent Beings This Communion with God requires the exercise of Reason and Understanding and that in the highest improvements of them If we consider it either in the Active or Passive part of it the Beasts are not capable of it Though God hath Communicated something of himself to all his Creatures and as the Poet expresseth it Jovis omnia plena all things are full of God and his Infinite Being is in all Finite Beings yet no Creatures have Communion with him but Angels and Men Other Creatures have a Natural instinct or sagacity to preserve and propagate their respective Natures or Beings but have no sense of their Creator no impression of a Deity upon their Nature nor no rational faculties whereby they might be capable of Communion with God The Angels have Communion with God in Heaven they alwaies behold the face of God as our Saviour speaks So the Spirits of just men departed are with Christ and in nearer Communion with God than when they dwelt in their Tabernacles of Flesh And the Saints upon Earth also are not without it though in a lower degree whereby the Church Militant hath Communion with the Church Triumphant in this Communion that both have with God Heb. 12. whieh shews the excellency of rational Creatures above all others that they alone are capable of this high Employment and Priviledge Consect 4 4. The Supreme felicity of Angels and Men lies in Communion with God As they alone are capable of it so their felicity consisteth in it God hath provided a good suitable to the Natures of all his Creatures in the enjoying of which is their chief happiness but the happiness of rational and intelligent Creatures lies in himself And therefore in their first Creation they were made happy in their Communion with him And herein consisteth the chief misery of fall'n Angels and fall'n Man that they both fell from their Communion with God The Angels so fell as never to be restored to it again And man so fell also as not to be able of himself to return to it But God hath provided a way for man by Christ to be brought back again to him which if he neglects or refuseth he will then be cast into the same hopeless Condition with the Devil and his Angels Consect 5 5. The highest improvement of the faculties of the Soul are to Employ them in Communion with God They are then in their highest Operation upon the highest Object Though they are Employed about things of this lower World and ought so to be in their proper bounds yet these are not their highest Operations which they are capable of As the highest use that could be made of Beasts under the Law was to make them Sacrifices to God and when the Israelites brought Gold Silver Purple Scarlet and precious Stones for the use and service of the Sanctuary they devoted them to the highest service they were capable of So when the faculties of the Soul are made a Sanctuary to God and employed in Communion with him they receive their highest improvement Lastly Communion with God is the Life of Religion It is but a dead thing without it All Religion hath respect to a Deity either to confer Honour upon it or to have Communion with it especially the true Religion without the former it finds no acceptance with God without the latter it is unprofitable to our selves yea we may grow worse under all our profession What the Body is without the Soul and what the matter without the form that is Religion where men find no Influence from Heaven upon their Hearts and have no Communion with God I next proceed to the Application I. Take notice with an holy admiration of the condescending goodness Vse I of God to admit any of the Sons of Men into fellowship with himself That there should be fellowship where there is such infinite inequality such infinite distance yea with such as had provok't him and disobliged him by their wilful departure from him To assume our Nature into Union and Communion with God was great condescent and so it is to receive any of our persons Will God indeed dwell on Earth said Solomon when he had built God an House for him to dwell in amongst his people For God to approach in wayes of such
Exchequer and stick at no pains no expence Isa 43 4. Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee therefore will I give men for that and people for thy life God loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob and the dwellings of Jacob more than all the Tents and Palaces of wickedness and more than all the Thrones of iniquity that frame mischief by a Law for these shall have no fellowship with him He loves one Saint more than he doth ten thousand ungodly wretches with whom he is angry every day and his poor Church more than all the world Christ preferres his little flock before the hugeherds and droves which the Devil will have fall to his share And since this God who is so much your Friend gouerns the world sit down and think how much you may expect from him nay what good is there which you may not expect 4. God hath especially charged himself with his Church and People as a good King looks upon it as his duty to study and promote the weal and comfort of all his Dominions and all his Subjects but in a more particular manner the happiness of his Consort and Children and favourites There is as I have shewn you a general Providence of God which extends it self to the whole world and for which all things fare the better but besides that there is a special Providence exercised about the Saints of whom he is as tender as the apple of his eye Next to his own interest that of his People lyes closest to his heart and doth most engage his thoughts Others are under his eye which runs to and fro through the Earth but these are under his wing Doth God take care of Oxen yes that he doth and of Asses too and of young Lyons and Wolves and Bears and Tygers and all the Beasts of prey but he takes another manner of care for his Lambs and his Dove in the clefts of the Rock and in the secret places of the stairs You read and rejoyce when you read 1 Tim. 4 10. That he is the Saviour of all men but especially of those that believe They are his peculiar people and so the objects of his peculiar care whatsoever God doth he minds them and whoever are neglected and left to shift for themselves to be sure they shall not What! Noah drowned in the waters of deluge or Lot burnt with Sodom and Gomorrha and the Cities of the plain No no it could not possibly be Noah must be secured in the Ark before the windows of Heaven were opened and the Fountains of the great deep were broken up And Lot must be arrived at Zoar the City of his refuge before the storm of Fire and Brimstone could fall Zion is engraven upon the palmes of Gods hand and her Walls are continually before him 5. God hath already done great and marvellous things for his Church and People not only being at charge upon them in the ordinary way of his common Providence but likewise putting forth extraordinary and magnificent acts whensoever their case did call for them Miracles have been nothing to him at such a time he hath not only wrought one or two but multiplied them there hath been a series of them as if he counted them cheap His arm hath awakened and put on strength and also put forth strength No less than ten wonderful plagues did he send upon that proud King Pharaoh Israels cruel oppressor and rather than he should not have let them go I question not but he would have sent a thousand more And if after they were gone Pharaoh would pursue them God would make for Israel a way through the Sea and for Pharaoh and his host a grave in it The course of nature was for a while stopt and the Sun made to stand still upon Gibeon and the Moon in the Valley of Ajalon that his People might avenge themselves upon their enemies Clouds have showred down Manna upon them and flinty Rocks as hard and dry as they are have powred out water And though such kind of works have not been performed in the latter days yet God in them hath not left himself without witness neither is his arm shortned nor hath he lost his old wont Miracles are as easie to him now as they were formerly and if need were he would do them But besides them consider these three things which God hath done all along 1. He hath in all times preserved and kept up a Church in the world though Christ hath but a little flock and that is encompassed with ravenous Wolves yet he hath always had a flock When all flesh had corrupted their way there was a Church in Noahs Family When Israel had generally perverted their way and turned aside to abominable idolatry there were still reserved seven thousand faithful worshippers that had not bowed the knee to Baal In the thickest darkness and most furious rage of Popery there were those that owned and pleaded and suffered for the truths of the Gospel The four mighty Monarchies of the world have been shaken down and broken into shivers but the Kingdom of the Lord is an everlasting Kingdom and his Dominion is from generation to generation The Church indeed hath not been always alike conspicuous nor hath it always been in the same state of purity peace and prosperity but it hath always had a being Christ was never without some militant Subjects nor his truth without some faithful witnesses two at least 2. God hath employed Angels for his Churches comfort and advantage who knowing it to be the will and pleasure of their great Creator do most readily comply and cheerfully obey As the gates of Hell set themselves against it so doth the Host of Heaven engage for it Heb. 1 14. They are all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation When the Prophet Elisha was in some danger from environing enemies the Mountain was immediately garrisoned with Horses and fiery Chariots that came in to be his guard They have it given them in express charge to bear the Saints up in their hands and to encamp round about them and may not this be a singular comfort to believers what though they be the objects of Hells envy and Earths malice yet they are Gods darlings and Angels charge And whatsoever work Angels have to do for them they not only dispatch it faithfully but delight to do so 3. God hath turned all things to the Churches advantage so that it hath not been a loser in the upshot from what corner soever the wind hath blown it hath done Christs garden a real and sensible kindness both the North and the South wind have made spices to flow forth You know what Paul saith Rom. 8 28. All things work together for good to them who love God that are called according to his purpose Comforts and crosses too mercies and judgments too Sunshine