Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	bear_v	life_n	sin_n	5,504	5	4.4990	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37502	The way of true peace and unity in the true church of Christ in all humility and bowels of love presented to them / by William Dell.	Dell, William, d. 1664.	1651 (1651)	Wing D940; ESTC R208819	91,709	110

not if he will be wise to salvation to take up things on trust in a matter that concerns either his eternal life or eternal death 2. As the Church is to judge of the Doctrine of its Officers so also of its Councels For the Church judges of them and their doctrine also by the word and doth not take all that they determine for truth to be certain and unquestionable Yea in the first Councel of the Apostles Act. 15. Other Churches and Christians had both liberty and power to try both the doctrine and Spirit of the very Apostles in that matter and were not to swallow it down whole as they say because the Apostles had determined it and they were holy men but the faithful were to judge whether or no they had judged according to the word and if not they might have resisted them as Paul did Peter And Paul gives this liberty to Christians yea we have it from Christ himself whether Paul had allowed it or no to try the very Apostles themselves and the very Angels of Heaven whether they bring the right word or no for Christ commanded the Apostles to teach the Nations to observe and do whatsoever he had commanded them and nothing else and saith Paul If I or an Angel from heaven bring you any other doctrine let him be accursed So that the Church hath power to examine try and judge the doctrine of the Apostles and Angels much more of other men who have not received such an anoynting neither do live in so clear a light of God And thus I have declared the things which seemed to me both convenient and necessary for the true Church to know for the preserving of that peace among themselves which they have in Christ. Now as the judgement of the Church is to be rectified in these things so the practice of it is to be rectified in other things for the preserving it in peace The things wherein the practice of the Church is to be rectified in the Way of Peace are either 1. More absolute and general Or 2. More special and occasional in case of difference among the faithful Among the things that are more absolute and general which are to be done to procure and preserve the peace of the Church these nine things that follow have not the least place 1. Practical Rule for Peace 1. The true Church is to preserve it self distinct from the world and is neither to mingle it self with the world nor to suffer the world to mingle it self with it For if the Church and the world be mingled together in one Society the same common Laws will no more agree to them who are of such differrent natures principles and ends then the same common Laws will agree to light and darkness life and death sin and righteousness flesh and spirit For the true Church are a spiritual people being born of God and so they worship God in the Spirit according to the law of the Spirit of life that was in Christ and is in them but the carnal Church is of the world and only savours the world and so will have a worldly Religion Forms Orders Government and all worldly as it self is Now whilst these two are mingled together what peace can there be for what fellowship hath righteousnesness with unrighteousness and light with darkness and Christ with the Devil And so what agreement have Believers with unbelievers or the true Church with the world Wherefore it is not the way of Peace to mingle the Church and the world but to separate them and to keep them distinct that those that are of one nature and spirit may be of one communion among themselves and this way of Peace God himself teacheth us by Paul 2 Cor. 6.17 saying Come out from among them my people and be ye separate for to separate the Church from the world in its communion of Saints is the only way to preserve peace in both seeing the Church will best agree with it self and the world with it self The second Rule 2. The Church being thus distinct from the world is to be contended with its own power for its own affairs and is not to introduce or entertain any power in it that is not of it Wherefore the true Church being such a Kingdom as is not of this world stands in need of no worldly power and being a spiritual and heavenly Kingdom is only to have and exercise a spiritual and heavenly power seeing this power alone and by it self is able to accomplish the whole good pleasure of God in the Church and to work all the works in it that God hath to do And so it is strongly to be suspected that those men that dare not commit the success of their business to Christs power alone but will call in secular power over and above to help them I say it is more then probable that they have underneath some secular end seeing Christs power alone is fully sufficient to do all things that are necessary and profitable for his Kingdom Besides this worldly power never works peace but always disturbances in the Church putting all things out of Gods way and method into mans and working mans will rather then Gods yea mans will against Gods and it is wholly contrary to the very nature of the Church and how then can it agree with it in any thing If any shall reply that worldly power doth well in the Church because it keeps down many profane persons that would not be kept down by the word I answer That so far as such profane ones are governed by worldly power they are of the world and not of the Church and worldly power had better govern them in the world it s own proper sphear then in the Church which is beyond their line especially seeing the Church hath power enough in it self to govern those that are of it and they that will not be governed willingly in the Church as Christians let them be governed against their wils in the Commonwealth as men For the Government of the Church is over men as Christians as spiritual but the government of the state is over men as men as natural and carnal The first of these governments belongs to Christ and the latter to the Magistrate And if the Magistrate be faithful in his Office and headship there is no doubt to be made of Christs faithfulness in his But now if the Magistrate will not content himself with his own Kingdom and power but will needs intrude on Christs also and not reckoning it enough to govern men as men by his worldly power will also by the same power be tampering with the very Church this both renders him troublesome to the faithful and the faithful troublesome to him Him troublesome to the faithful in that he uses a power over them that is neither sutable to them nor their affairs and them troublesome to him because in Gods Kingdom as they hear not the