Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	militant_a	saint_n	triumphant_a	2,884	5	10.8885	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A74686	The nonsuch professor in his Meridian splendor, or the singular actions of sanctified Christians. Laid open in seaven sermons at Allhallows church in the wall, London. / By William Secker preacher of the gospel.	Secker, William, d. 1681?	1660 (1660)	Wing S2253; Thomason E1750_1; ESTC R209664	179,725	448

foul one God likes no such bargains Lord I am willing to serve thee but unwilling to suffer for thee I will go to sea but on condition I shall meet with no storms I will enter the war but on condition I shall have no blows They would fain be wafted to the point of felicity in such vessels as might not be tossed on the waters of calamity Such think much to borrow a thorn though it be taken from their Saviours Crown Some there are that will sacrifice a stout heart to a stubborn will And will rather dye as Martyrs for errors then bow as servants to truth How shall they ever stand for Christ who did never stand in Christ But beleevers study more how to adorn the cross then how to avoid the cross as deeming it better to be saved in rough waters then drowned in a calm ocean Temporary Professors are like Hedge-hogs that have two holes one to the North the other to the South when the South wind suns them they open to the North and when the North wind chills them they go to the South They will lose their activity to finde their security It was the saying of the King of Navar to Beza That he would in the cause of Christ sail no further then he might retreat safe to the shore Man is a life-loving creature he is afaid to follow truth too near at the heels lest it should lift up his foot and dash out his brains Weak grace will do for God but it must be strong grace that will dye for God A true Christians will lay down his lusts at the command of Christ and he will lay down his life for the cause of Christ The trees of righteousness the more they are shaken by the wind the faster they are rooted in the ground What art thou a member of Christ and yet afraid to be a Martyr for Christ Si beati sunt qui moriuntur in Domino quam beati sunt illi qui moriuntur pro Domino If they be blessed that die in the Lord how blessed are they that die for the Lord What though the flesh do return to dust so the spirit do return to rest what is the body of Adam for a soul to live in to the bosom of Abraham for a Saint to lye in Righteous Abel the first Soldier in the Church Militant was the first Saint in the Church Triumphant He offered up a Sacrifice when the Altar was sprinkled with his own blood But as his body was the first that ever took possession of earth so his soul was the first that ever had a translation to heaven Should such a man as I flie saith Nehemiah A man that hath been so much honoured and a man that hath been so much used It is better to dye a Conqueror then to live a Coward They who will be no less then combatants they shall be more then conquerors None are so couragious as those who are religious A Christian if he lives he knows by whose might he stands and if he dies he knows for whose sake he falls Where there is no confidence in God there will be no continuance with God When the wind ceases to fill the sails the ship ceases to plough the seas The taints of Ishmael shall never make an Isaac out of love with his inheritance If a righteous cause brings you into sufferings a righteous God will bring you out of sufferings Christ is beholden to his enemies as well as to his friends Their malicious opposition wrought out his glorious exaltation The worst that men can do against Beleevers is the best that men can do for Beleivers The worst that they can act against them is to send them out of earth and the best they can do for them is to send them up to heaven It was the expression of one of the Martyrs to his Persecutors You take a life from me that I cannot keep and bestow a life upon me that I cannot lose which is as if you should rob a man of counters and furnish him with gold He that is assured of a life that hath no end cares not how soon this life is at an end All this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant Our heart is not turned back neither have our steps declined from thy way Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadow of death Psal 44. 17 18 19. Beleevers are like the moon that wades out of her shadows by keeping her motion and leaves not her shining for the barking of dogs Shall we cease to be Professors because others will not cease to be Persecutors by the seed of the serpent the heel of the woman may be bruised but by the seed of the woman the Serpents head shall be broken Christians see you good times prepare for bad times there is no spring without its fall no Summer but hath its Winter he never reaped comfort in the night of adversity that did not sow it in the day of prosperity Many waters cannot queneh love neither can the floods drown it Cant. 8. 6. The fire of affection is not quenched by the water of affliction But if the trade of piety cannot be peaceably driven Formalists will shut up their shop-windows They will rather tarry out of the land of Canaan then swim to it through the red sea But a beleever never falls asleep for Jesus till he falls asleep in Jesus If it be thou bid me come to thee on the water Matth. 14. 18. Love can walk on the water without drowning and lie in the fire without burning It s said of the Serpent that he cares not to what danger he exposes his body so he secures his head Thus it is with a Christian he cares not to what hazard he exposes his substance so he may but enjoy his Saviour None of these things move me neither count I my life dear to my self so I may finish my course with joy Act. 20. 24. A Saint is inwardly pious when he is not outwardly prosperous The sharper such Physick is in its taking the sounder the Patient is for its working The higher the floods swell on earth the nearer the Ark mounts up to heaven God can strike strait strokes with crooked sticks and make the Devils dross to fetch off the rust that cleaves to his gold Christians are crucified by the world that they might be crucified to the world God makes it to be an enemy to you that he might make you an enmy to it Remember Christians that Religion is that Phoenix that hath always flourished in her own ashes Magistrates they defend the truth with their swords but Martyrs they defend the truth with their bloods And the losing of their heads makes way for the receiving of their crowns How should we land at the haven of rest if we vvere not tossed upon the seas of trouble If Joseph had not

sitteth on the right hand of God Col. 3. 1. The same pen writes fair or blots as his skill or rudeness is that handles it The same strings make a pleasant musick or a jarring discord as they are set and fingured So our affections according to their objects about which they are conversant become either like fiery chariots to carry us to perfection or like Pharoahs chariots to hurry us to perdition There is no need of blotting out these Characters but of writing of them in fair papers nor of drying up of these waters but of diverting them into their proper channels nor of plucking up of these plants but of setting them in a right soil Solum dispicit qui coelum aspicit He that looks upon heaven with desire will look upon earth with disdain Our affections were made for the things that are above us and not for the things that are a out us What is your earthly Manors to your heavenly Mansions As carnal things seem small to a man that is spiritual so spiritual things seem small to a man that is carnal Ignoti nulla cupido there are no movings after things beyond the sphear of our knowledge Heaven is to them as a mine of gold covered with earth and rubbish or as a bed of pearl inclosed in a heap of sand If they had the eyes of an eagl to see it they would wish for the wings of an eagle to flie unto it How little would the great world seem to us if the great God was not little in us Either men have no thoughts of a future state or else they have low thoughts of a future state If we had souls without any bodies then there would be no need of earth to keep us if we had bodies without any souls then there would be no need of heaven to crown us But such as have no present holiness are for a present happiness There be many that say Who will shew us any good Psal 4. 6. any good will serve the turns of those that know not the chiefest good But Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us O how sordid is it to prefer the garlick and onyons of Egypt before the milk and honey of Canaan Visible things to them is better then invisible They mind the world that is come so much as if it would never have an ending and the world to come so little as if it would never have a beginning Why should you be so taken with your riches that shall be taken from your riches or dote upon a flower which a day may wither They that are travelling beyond the world they shoulst be trading above the world but such are not easily awakened that fall so fast asleep on the worlds pillow But now they desire a better Country that is a Tunc ut fama est primum gustantes vinum ex ●taliâ delatum sic illius admiratione amentes facti sunt omnes ut collectis armis c. quaesicrint eam terram in quá hujusmodi fructus oriratur Plut. in vit Camil. heavenly Heb. 11. 16. The Gauls when they had tasted the sweet wine of Italy asked where the grapes grew and would never be quiet till they came there O that I had the wings of a Dove that I might fly above and be at rest A beleiver is willing to lose the world for the reception of grace and he is willing to leave the world for the fruition of glory As the worst on this side hell compared with that is mercy so the best on this side heaven compared with that is misery There is no more comparison to be made between heaven and earth then there is between a peice of rusty iron and a peice of refined gold St. Austin saith Spes vitae immortalis est vita vitae mortalis The hope of life immortal is the life of our lives mortal It s the expectation of their future heritage which is the Saints Jacobs staff to walk through this dark pilgrimage If in this life only we have hope in Christ we were of all men the most miserable but because we have hope in Christ after this life we may be of all men the most comfortable for in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven 2 Cor. 5. 2. A beleever longs to be there most of all where he shall be best of all He is not only one that grows in what is gracious but he is one that groans for what is glorious Perfection is the boundary of expectation as it likes no other so it looks no further every thing in Eternity is wound up to its highest capciaty Behold I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God Act. 7. 56. A beleiver can sweetly see with an eye that is purified what he shall shortly see with an eye that is glorified Here it is that mercy is received unmixed and majesty is viewed unvailed What 's a Pebble that is worthless to a Pearl that is matchless Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord O what joy enters into the beleever when he enters into the joy of his Redeemer The vessels of mercy shall then swim in the ocean of glory Come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world Mat. 25. 34. That which makes hell so full of horror is that it s below all hopes That which makes heaven so full of splendor is that it s above all fears The one is a Ibi erit verè maximum Sabbatum non habens vesperem Aug. de civ deil 22. c. 30. night that shall never see any day appearing the other is a day that shall never have any night aproaching Who would not work for glory with the greatest diligence and wait for glory with the greatest patience seeing we advance the interest whilst we stay for the principal There are some deluded Professors that aspire after earthly scepters as if the place where Saints are to be crucified were the place where Sts. are to be glorified then certainly the Church here should rather be in a state triumphant then in a state militant In heaven the crown is made for them and in heaven the crown shall be worn by them St. Austin presents us with two parts of the Church Vna in tempore perigrinationis altera in aeternitate mansionis We are not speaking of that part which is established above temptations but of that part which is encompassed about with temptations and its hard finding of this ark without moving on a tumultuous deluge In my fathers house are many mansions I go to prepare a place for you Joh. 14. 2. Our Redeemer is our Forerunner he that takes possession of us on earth takes possession for us of heaven As they are not long here without him so he will not be long there without them Here all the earth is not enough