Selected quad for the lemma: doctrine_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
doctrine_n	church_n	faith_n	protestant_a	2,183	5	9.3322	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25886	Englands Eben-ezer, or, Stone of help set up in thankfull acknowledgment of the Lords having helped us hitherto : more especially for a memoriall of that help which the Parliaments forces lately received at Shrewsbury, Weymouth, and elsewhere : in a sermon preached to both the honourable Houses of Parliament, the lord mayor and aldermen of the citie of London being present, at Christ-Church, London, upon the late solemne day of thanksgiving, March 12 / by John Arrowsmith ...	Arrowsmith, John, 1602-1659.	1645 (1645)	Wing A3775; ESTC R200016	25,663	39

from God in his own way Be intreated right Honorable to consider the nature of the work you have in hand and to remember that the grapes of Reformation can never bee kindly and throughly ripened but by beames of the Sun of righteousnesse the moon-shine of created abilities is too weak for such a production Seek we therefore to God for help and see we doe it in that way which Israel in this Chapter took and whereby they obtained the help in the Text which I shall not wander from so long as I fetch all my directions out of the bowels of this Story Doe it 1 In away of reall amendment Samuel here vers. 3. exhorts them to that as they hoped for deliverance they accordingly put it in practise ver. 4. Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth and served the Lord onely By Baalim Sanctius understands their He-Gods by Ashtaroth their She-Deities Be they hees or be they shee s Gods or Goddesses which had formerly beene worshiped all are now put away Israel gives them a bill of divorce saith Get ye hence what have I to doe any more with Idols We also have had our Baalim and Ashtaroth our prelaticall innovations popish corruptions Arminian subtleties Socinian blasphemies It concerns us so to put them away as to serve the Lord onely for time to come which how any Nation can doe that gives an universall liberty to all kinds of worship is not easie to conceive though one of late have made his addresse to both Houses of Parliament in behalfe of such a liberty I must professe for my own part that this proposition laid down by him viz. It is the will and command of God that since the comming of his Son the Lord Jesus a permission of the most Paganish Jewish Turkish or Antichristian consciences and worships be granted to all men in all Nations and Countreys was to me one of the greatest scandals I ever yet met with in print O bloody Tenent O speedy way of embroyling states of massacring Churches of erecting a Pantheon in every City That of Omnium Deorum among the Romans of Omnium Sanctorum among the Papists offended me lesse than this of Omnium Sectarum from the pen of a Protestant Sure I am One God one mediator one faith was Catholike Doctrine in Pauls time and that Religion is so dainty as not to admit of such mixtures Be you also well assured Beloved Christians that in this case every variation from unity is a step to nullity that if ever England which God forbid came from one Religion to all shee will quickly run from all to none 2. Of solemne humiliation Such was theirs Vers 6. They drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted that day and said there wee have sinned against the Lord These actions of drawing and pouring out water are by some thought to be hieroglyphicall Emptie a vessell of any other kind of liquor it leaves some rellish or colour or smell behinde it as when honey wine or oile is poured out Not so upon the effusion of water which is therefore fit to signifie the pouring out of mens hearts in such a manner as to leave none of their sinnes unconfest unrepented of To make it more solemne fasting is added to their humiliation as that which helps devotion to wings Chrysostome saith that Prayer without fasting is a souldier without a sword able to do but little service And yet of the two fasting may be the better spared I shall not be affraid to assert that fasting ing without prayer is a sword without a souldier able to do no service at all With Israel here we should confess as well as fast A Nation or person become speechlesse is neer unto death If we desire to have the Lord cover our sins by his pardoning grace wee must discover them in humble acknowledgments 3 Of earnest supplication I will pray for you unto the Lord saith Samuel to the people ver. 5. and they to him ver. 8. Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistims {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is the phrase that is used concerning Elias Jam 5. 17. He prayed in his prayer we translate it hee prayed earnestly as if that which is not earnest were no prayer They in Jonah 3. 8. are directed to cry mightily unto God A whispering devotion is seldome answered with a loud echoe from heaven Ask saith Christ and it shall be given seek and ye shall finde knock and it shall be opened unto you Ask seek knock there will be need of all three Doe you want ablessing aske it of God have you asked yet still continue to want ● seeke it out have you sought yet cannot finde knock and the treasury where it lies shall be opened to you Was there evermore need hath not peace taken her leave doth not truth look towards the threshold It would be most strange and ominous if the Church should not be found upon her knees now when Rome and hellare conspiring against her if when three Kingdoms are beleagur'd by Popish confederates they should not be garrison'd with praying Saints 4 Of lively faith in Christ without which all the former are invalid Samuel here vers. 9. took a sucking lamb offered it for a burnt-offering wholly unto the Lord thereby turning both his own and the peoples eys upon the Lambe of God which was to come and to take away the sin of the world Whensoever you approach the throne of grace let it be your principall care to exercise faith in the Lord Jesus out of whom all our learning is but duncery all our duties but drudgery all our devotion but formality yea idolatry if Luther may be believed Incense of old was a type of his intercession bloud a type of his satisfaction one of these was to cover the mercie seat the other to be sprinkled upon it Levit. 16. 13 14. He shall put the incense upon the fire before the Lord that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercie-seat And hee shall take of the bloud of the bullock and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercie-seat c. to intimate that from God no mercie is to be expected but through the satisfaction and intercession of Jesus Christ no help to be sought at any time without eying of these The second observation which I am now to undertake runs thus The Churches duty is to commemorate help received See it both required and practised 1 Required Exod. 17. 13 14. Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword and the Lord said unto Moses write this for a memoriall in a book Psal. 102. 16 18. When the Lord shall build up Zion he shall appear in his glory This shall be written for the generation to come and the people which shall

over us Manifold are the good turnes which these invisible helpers doe us though wee take notice but of few If Daniel be to be rescued from the hungry Lions an Angell stops all their mouthes Lot from the flames of fire and brimstone the Angels hale him out of Sodome If Elisha be in danger of being surprized by a great host of men a greater host of Angels appears in his defence Peter of having the work of his Ministery at a stand by his being kept in hold an Angell opens the prison doore and sets him at liberty If Iacob be in his way home wanting protection against Esau the Angels of God meet and guard him Elias in the Wildernesse wanting meat an Angell turns Sewer and serves it in Paul in a storme wanting comfort an Angell stands by and cheers him If Lazarus give up the ghost the Angels take his departing soul and carry it into Abrahams bosome Suppose the son and heire of a King returning from his travell in forreigne parts the Master of the Ceremonies meets him at the Port where he landeth conducts him to Court and leaves him in his fathers presence So it fares with a dying Saint he hath been travelling in this world as in a strange countrey is now returning back to God 't is a part of the good Angels helpfulnesse to meet him at the port of death so to convey him home from thence to the enjoyment of his Father and of full beatitude in him 3 By creatures of a mixt and middle nature Such are men visible in their bodies invisible in regard of their souls Now there is no sort of men that contributes not more or lesse to the help of the Church either freely or against their wils by an over-ruling providence turning that to the Saints advantage which was intended for their harme But two sorts are especially noted in Scripture for their helpfulnesse 1 Godly Magistrates When David was set up to be King his Inauguration is thus exprest Psal. 89. 19 20. I have laid help upon one that is mighty I have exalted one chosen out of the people I have found David my servant with my holy oile have I anointed him Before Moses his pious government Israel was as an helplesse child without a nurse hee is compared to a nursing Father carrying that people in his bosom as a sucking child Numb. 11. 12. Have I conceived all this people have I begotten them that thou shouldst say unto me Carry them in thy bosom as a nursing father beareth the sucking child unto the land which thouswarest unto their fathers No nursing father ever had a more froward child than Israel was yet Moses held out and might be held forth as a patterne to you Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament had you not made him so already I remember Austin in his Confessions prayseth God for furnishing his nurse with milk and for giving her an heart to impart it to him who had perished without it Well may this whole Assembly joyne with me upon this solemne day of thanks in blessing God for enabling you to do the work of nursing Fathers so well so long as also for inclining your hearts though you daily meet with frowardnesse more then enough to undergo with so much patience the manifold troubles of Church and State-nursery May it still be continued to us may fresh supplyes of the Spirit of Christ be vouchsafed to you when ever ye meet that gasping Ireland trembling Scotland bleeding England may all have help from the Honourable Houses 2 Godly Ministers The Prophets in Ezra 5. 2. were Fellow-helpers with Zerubbabel and Ieshua Theu rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Ieshua the son of Iozadak and began to build the house of God which is at Ierusalem and with them were the Prophets of God helping them Paul styles himselfe and his Fellow-labourers in the Ministery helpers of the Corinthians joy 2 Corinth 1. last The request put up to him in a Vision by the man of Macedonia was no other but this Come over and help us Acts 16. 9. When he goes about to draw as it were an Inventory of the Churches goods in 1 Corinth 3. end her wel-gifted pious Teachers are made the Inprimis of it All things are yours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas Time was when such were very highly esteemed in love for their works sake and had in honour for their helpfulnesse Insomuch as when Chrysostome was like to be silenced the people cryed out We had better want the shining of the Sun than the preaching of Chrysostome When Nazianzen was taking his leave of Constantinople where he had been Preacher an old man was observed to fall into passion and heard to cry saying Goe father if you dare and take away the Trinity with you as if God would not stay after he was gon Yea there was a time here in England some few years since when the whole religious party throughout the Kingdom reckond upon their able and conscientious Pastor's as a principall part of their treasure till some of late began to make it a piece of Religion to throw dirt in the face of our Ministers even of the most godly among them As when Sfetigrade in Epirus was besieged by the great Turk a Traitor within knowing how much the Garrison souldiers abhorred the tasting of whatsoever they deemed unclean threw a dead dog into the well which furnished the inhabitants with water upon the discovery whereof the souldiers chose rather to die then to drink and so the City was yielded up In like manner now when the Church is so straitly besieged on every side many otherwise well affected begin to refuse the water of life held out in the publike Ministry onely because of that noysome carrion of exceptions and aspersions which some have treacherously cast upon the persons the calling yea the Doctrine of most of our best and ablest Preachers The good Lord send some happy hand by which this dead and deadly dog may be removed and all lovers of truth and peace brought to drink as before that so the giving up of a goodly City into enemies hands may be timely prevented Having done with the proof I shall now in the application hereof present you with matter of Encouragement of Terror and of Advice 1 Of Encouragement to the people of God We have an Almighty helper on whom we may rely with confidence how many soever our extremities how strong so ever our adversaries be We may boldly say The Lord is my helper I will not fear what man can doe unto me Heb. 13. 6. The keyes of Rome will shew themselves more potent then the gates of hell if ever they finally prevail against the Church Take a City besieged by Land if the sea be open it may be relieved block it up both by sea and land yet so long as heaven is open it may receive help from thence