Selected quad for the lemma: diversity_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
diversity_n	church_n	gift_n	operation_n	494	5	9.1844	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52054	A sermon preached to the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, and Court of Aldermen of the city of London, at their anniversary meeting on Easter Monday April 1652, at the Spittle wherein the unity of the saints with Christ, the head, and especially with the church, the body, with the duties thence arising, are endeavoured to be cleared : tending to heale our rents and divisions / by Stephen Marshal ...	Marshall, Stephen, 1594?-1655.	1653 (1653)	Wing M782; ESTC R206697	37,461	44

Lesson viz. The whole Church or the collection or aggregation of all the Saints are one body in Christ of which body Christ is the head and all the Saints are members Which I will indeavour briefly to explain and then come to that branch which I have chosen to insist upon this day Know then that our Lord Jesus Christ in the Scripture is said to have a twofold body the one a natural body that body which was conceived in the wombe of the Virgin which was borne into the world wherein Christ lived which dyed rose againe and is now ascended up into heaven this natural body of Christ is not the body meant in my Text But secondly Christ hath another body very often mentioned in the Scripture which is called his mysticall body or a body in a mystery but because that may be looked upon but as a blinde which every man may interpret according to his own fancy therefore the Spirit of God hath taught us that the collection or aggregation or the thus gathering together of all the Saints in one which the Scripture cals the body of Christ though it be not his naturall body yet it is to him as his naturall body and this I pray you to marke and give me leave to prove because it is the onely foundation of all the Discourse that I am this day to make to you I say The Church when the Scripture cals it the body of Christ is to him as his naturall body that is they stand to Christ in the same relation that the naturall body doth stand to the naturall head and Christ stands to them in the same relation that a natural head doth to the naturall body and all the members that is all beleevers or Saints ' stand in the same relation one to another as the members of a naturall body doe stand one to another this I say is the foundation of all and out of the many Texts which might bee alledged to prove it I shall onely to this which I have in hand which saith expresly that wee are all one body in Christ and every one members one of another mention two more which are so plaine that he that runs may read this truth in them one is in the 1 Cor. 12. Indeed almost the whole Chapter is a proofe and an improvement of this one truth the Apostle tels them in the beginning of the Chapter that there are given to the Church diversities of gifts diversities of administrations diversities of operations and all these come from the same Spirit and this Spirit that gives these gifts and administrations and operations hee gives them all to this end that there may be a profiting of the whole and presently that you may understand his meaning tels us that look as it is in the naturall body there is abundance of members joyned and every one have their severall office for the good of all so is Christ saith he by Christ there he doth not mean Jesus Christ in his humane nature onely but Christ mysticall Christ and all his members gathered into one and then goes on in the thirteenth verse and tels us That by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body whether Jewes or Gentiles bond or free and are all made to drink into one Spirit and so throughout to the end of the Chapter prosecutes the same comparison of Christs being as a naturall head to his Church and all the Saints as naturall members to Christ and one to another and the duties which follow thereupon The other place is Ephes. 4 from 12. to 17. in the beginning of the Chapter he exhorted them earnestly to live in love and keepe the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace to provoke them the better to it he shews them verse 4. 5 and 6. in how many things they are one of which you shal hear more afterward Then vers 7. he addes that each of them had received gifts which were the fruits of Christs ascention all which were given for the converting edifying and perfecting of the body of Christ untill it attaine unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ that they all might grow up in all things unto him that is the head even Christ Now that it might appear what kinde of head and body is meant he presently fals upon this similitude of a naturall body verse 16. From whom the whole body fitly joyned and compacted together by that which every joynt supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the whole body to the edifying of it selfe in love And almost parallel to this is Col. 2. 19. where the Apostle tels us that from Christ the head all the body by joynts and bands is knit together receives nourishment administred and so increaseth with the increase of God Nothing can be plainer that look as it is in the naturall body the Lord hath so cast it and what the Head doth for its part the Liver for its part the Heart for its part the Brain for its part and every Joynt and Sinew for its part the whole body growes up to a full stature and all grows up together so hath the Lord ordained and cast it to be in the Church of Christ Now this foundation being laid that though the Church be not Christs naturall body it is yet as his naturall body The great Question is Wherein doth this comparison or resemblance stand To that I answer first it is easie for a man to name many particulars wherein the comparison will not hold betwixt the Church and a naturall body and it is as easie for a man to name many things wherein they are very like one to another but we must not be wise beyond the Scripture nor stretch it any further then the Lord intends it I humbly conceive that the comparison lies properly in these two things First That as in the naturall body the members and every member hath a reall union with the head for its owne part having the same spirit animating it that is in the head and thereby hath a communion with and dependance upon the head in all the offices that the head can do for it so every particular Christian or member of the Church hath a reall indissoluble spiritual union and conjunction with the Lord Jesus Christ having his Spirit communicated unto them which is the foundation of all their communion the very root and principle of their spirituall life and which inables them every one for their part to live unto Christ that is one Secondly Which is the thing I intend that as in the natural body all the members doe not onely meet in the head as all the lines do meet in a Center and are one there though they do not touch one another anywhere else but they are all by the wonderfull power and wisdome of God so contrived and compacted and joyned

together that they have a reall union one with another So in this mystical and spiritual body all the Saints have not only each for his owne part a union and conjunction with Jesus Christ but also a reall union and conjunction one with another which is the foundation of many duties which every one of them are thereby bound to perform one to another and of many priviledges which thereby they injoy with and by one another as shall God willing be afterwards opened unto you Now this my Text speakes as plainly as any man could wish when it saith that we being many that is all we Christians all that truly beleeve in and professe the name of Christ being very many are all one body in Christ that is we all meet and are one in him and that is not all but we are also all of us members one of another Now the first of these the reall indissoluble and spirituall union that all the people of Christ have with Christ their head is a most divine excellent and necessary truth and indeed is the foundation and principle of all our Christian life and therefore most worthy to be understood by all Gods people But that not being the maine drift of the holy Ghost in this place I forbear to speak of at this time and shal treat only of the second and that is the union and conjunction that is and ought to be between all the people of Jesus Christ one with another they being members one of another and therein shall indeavour first to prove and clear it and then hasten to the application of it For the proof of it I shall not need any other Texts then those that I have mentioned already that 1 Cor. 12. how fully and clearly doth the Apostle teach that the eye the hand the foot and every member are for the good and use of the whole and none of them can say I have no need of thee or I have no need of thee God having so ordered it that every one of them needs one another and every one of them are and ought to be usefull one to another yea that even the most mean and feeble of all the members are not onely of the body as well as the rest but are necessary to the good of the whole and those members which we are prone to think lesse honourable and more uncomely God hath appointed in this mysticall body as well as in our naturall bodies to have the more honour put upon them And so in that other fore-mentioned place the fourth of the Ephesians where he saith That the whole body being joyned together by that that every joynt supplieth c. there is not the least joynt but it makes for the supply for the edification of the whole To these might be added all those places which speake of the Church as one corporation or body under other resemblances one vine one house one City c. whereof very many do occur in the holy Scriptures but all these things will be clearer in my subsequent Discourse wherein for the fuller clearing the doctrinal part I shall a little insist upon two maine questions and then endeavour to resolve a doubt or two which may seem to lye as objections against all the Saints making but one body First If the Saints bee one body c. it may bee demanded wherein this unity of the Saints stands or what are the things wherein all the members of Christ have union one with another Secondly If they be thus all one what are the bands and ligaments whereby this vast multitude are all of them tyed thus firmly together For the first If all the Church and people of Jesus Christ be all really one one with another and have thereby a communion one with another the Question is what are those things wherein they are thus one To which I answer the particulars are both many and excellent but because I would not burden your memories I desire you to turne to and consider with me but one onely Text which indeed doth comprehend the sum of all that can be said about it and that is Eph. 4. ver. 4 5 6. the Apostle exhorting all the Saints to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace the better to encourage them to it useth this motive For there is one body and one spirit and one hope of your calling one Lord one faith one baptism one God and Father of all who is above you all and through you all and in you all Now in these seven Unities are comprehended all the things wherein all the Saints of Christ are one therefore I shall endeavour briefly to open them First They are all of them one body that is all Gods people throughout all the world are but one incorporation and there is no one of them but hee hath as really a membership in the body of Christ as any other of them as in an Army though every one be not an Officer nor every Souldier equally valiant or skilfull yet every one is equally a member of the Army and as in a City or Corporation every Free-man though no Mayor Alderman or Master of a company c. yet is as really a member of the City as any other or look as in a building it may be some rooms may be larger beautifuller and usefuller yet there is not the least stud the least naile the least pin but it is as really a part of the building as the maine post that upholds it So take the Church of Christ which is made up of the collection and aggregation of all Gods people there is not one of them but hee may truly say I am a part of that house body or building of Jesus Christ as reall as any other Secondly and they are all one in this that there is but one Spirit which I thinke signifies these two things for other Scriptures teach me so to interpret it First they are all of them animated and led by the selfe-same Spirit that as the members of the body though they be it may be many hundreds yet there is one individual soule that animates them all so in the Church of Christ all the Saints every one of them have the selfe-same Spirit of Jesus Christ which is the principle of their life and animates every one of them but that is not all but by the same Spirit he secondly means the Spirit as it is the Administrator or distributor of all the gifts of Christ that whatsoever gifts graces operations administrations are to be found in the whole Church the self-same Spirit distributes his gifts variously as he pleaseth to some more and to some lesse yet gives them all to and for the good of the whole Church in generall and for every member in its particular so the Spirit of God himselfe interprets this in the first of the Corinthians and the twelfth from ver. 4. to 14. There are diversities of gifts but the