Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	bind_v	heaven_n	retain_v	2,439	5	10.0735	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52184	The liturgical-discourse of the holy sacrifice of the masse by omission of controversial questions; abridged and accommodated to the pious use of devout Christians in hearing masse, by A.F. the authour of the same at the instance of some devout friends.	Angelus à Sancto Francisco, 1601-1678.	1675 (1675)	Wing M938; ESTC R217659	145,436	447

Symbole of Charity for as Charity covers a multitude of sins and contains all the Commandements of the Law So this Chasule covers all the other Vestments and hanging in Two parts before and behind may fitly represent the Two Tables of the Law or the Two Laws the part behind the old Law and the part before the new Law The Two sides open signifie Christian liberty or the open execution of the Law St. German and others commonly do say that this Chasule represents unto us the Purple Garment which the Souldiers did put on Christ the Priest therefore in Imitation of Christ puts on this Garment which for the most part on the back hath a Cross and before the form of a Pillar as if the Priest were between the Pillar and the Cross for the Pillar before represents the Pillar whereto Christ was bound and Scourged and the Cross behind represents our Saviour carrying the Cross and that very properly that the People beholding it may have the Cross and Passion before their eyes and continue in the contemplation thereof I will conclude with the Animadversion which Bishop Ivo gives saying These Vestments are not vertues but marks or signs of vertues whereby the users or beholders are admonished as by written Books what they ought to desire and what to shun and to whom they ought to direct their Actions Pope Innocent will give another Let the Priest attend diligently that he bears not the sign without what is signified and that he carry not the Vestment without vertue lest he be like to a Sepulcher outwardly whitened and inwardly full of uncleaness 3. Of Priest's Function Q. What do you mean by Priests A. I will not stand about the word Priest which comes from the word Presbyter But his office according to the custome of the Church is principally to offer Sacrifice as all Ages and Laws do declare for as in the Law of Nature and in the written Law their duty was to offer Sacrifice for themselves and others So in the new Law Priests had charge to offer the Sacrifice of the Masse for as the Altar and Sacrifice are correlatives so Sacrifice and Priest who in his Ordination is Consecrated by this form Receive power of offering Sacrifice in the Church for the Living and Dead St. Clement in his Constitutions puts this form O Almighty God give unto him by Christ the participation of the Holy Ghost that he may have power to remit sins according to thy command and loose all bonds according to the power which thou hast given to the Apostles and of pleasing thee in meekness and purity of heart by alwayes offering to thee without spot or stain the pure and unbloody Sacrifice which by Christ thou hast established as the Mystery of the New Testament The Canons of the Apostles suppose it to be the office of Priests as also the First General Council of Nice Can. 18. So most of the Councels and Fathers Q. Are Priests to be Honoured A. For many reasons they are but principally for Four to wit their Dignity Vtility Mediation and Power First for their Dignity for they are God's Vicars on Earth to feed cure and keep his People whence St. Augustine saith There is no greater under Heaven than God's Priests Consecrated to deliver the Heavenly Sacraments and humble St. Francis tells us that we ought to honour and reverence God's Priests who are higher and worthyer than all Men and he would sooner give reverence to a Priest than to an Angel St. Athanasius relates That the great Abbot Anthony as often as he met with a Priest would fall on his knees and would not rise from the ground until he had kissed his hand and obtained his Benediction Secondly For Vtility for by Priests the faithful are received into the Church and by their Function many spiritual graces are communicated unto them besides the benefits they receive by the Priests Preaching Instruction and Ministration of the Sacraments the Holy Scripture bids us to honour the Physitian for our necessity for the Highest hath created him how much more ought we to honour Priests who are Spiritual Physitians of our Souls for as they by their Office do make us Members of the Church so they cure us of all the Diseases of our Souls and preserve our spiritual lives and bring us to Eternal Life Thirdly For their Mediation for they are Mediatours between us and God for it is his charge to pray for the People and he obtains blessings for them Num. 6. Our Lord speaking to Moises and Aaron of Priests said They shall invocate my Name upon the Children of Israel and I the Lord will bless them The wise Man therefore advises us saying In all thy Soul fear our Lord and Sanctifie his Priests with all thy strength love him that made thee and forsake not his Ministers honour God with all thy Soul and honour the Priests and purge thy self with the arms of Grace to wit the grace that God communicates unto us by the Ministery of the Priest Lastly In consideration of the power which God hath given to them especially in Remission of sins and Consecrating of the Holy Eucharist for brevity sake I will cite One or Two of the Holy Fathers and so conclude for the first Let us hear the words of St. Chrysostome To those who live on Earth and are Conversant therein it is committed to dispose of those things which are in Heaven To them it is given to have that power which our Lord would not give to Angels nor Arch-Angels for it was not said to them whatsoever thou shalt bind upon Earth it shall be bound in Heaven Indeed the Princes on Earth have also power of binding but the bodies only but the bonds which I speak of in Priests concerns the Soul and reaches even to the Heavens in so much that what the Priest doth beneath the self-same God ratifies and our Lord confirms the sentence of his Servants what therefore other thing can you say but that all power of Celestial things is granted to them by God for he sayes whose sins ye retain are retained what power can be greater than this The Father gave all power to the Son and I see this power given to Priests by God the Son For the other let us hear what St. Augustine sayes At this so honourable a priviledge Heaven is amazed the Earth admires Man is terrified Hell dreads the Devils tremble and the Angels worship St. Bernard admires it saying O excellent and honourable power of Priests to which nothing in Heaven nothing on Earth can be compared in fine St. Francis gives us an Admonition saying We Catholicks ought to Worship and Reverence Priests for their Office and Administration of the most Holy Body and Blood of Christ which they Consecrate and receive and Administer to others The end of the First Part. The Second Part Containing a Brief Explication of the Masse SECT I. Of the First Part of the Masse from the beginning to

hear the Instructions of the Apostles as a disposition to the light of the Gospel or as St. Justine Martyr sayes to the end that the Excellency of the Gospel may be better known Q. What is the Mystical signification thereof A. It signifies the written Law which went before that of Grace or the Preaching of St. John Baptist before the Preaching of our Saviour or the labours of the Apostles in Converting the Gentiles In this we may also consider our Vocation to the light of Faith and give thanks to God as the Apostle sayes for his inestimable gift in sending his Prophets Apostles and their Successours to teach us the way of Salvation that in the end we may with heart and affection say Deo gratias thanks be to God Which saying St. Augustine did so much esteem that he sayes what better thing can we bear in mind or utter from the mouth or express with Pen than Deo gratias nothing can be said more briefly nor heard more joyfully nothing understood that is greater or done more fruitfully than Deo gratias Thanks be to God who has enriched us with the true faith of Christ Jesus Q. Since the Epistle is for our Instruction why is it not in the vulgar Tongue A. Those who understand the Latin Tongue may piously attend to the Contents thereof Those who do not and can read may find them as also the Gospels in the latter end of the Rhemish Testament and do well to read them over night especially in the Eves of Sundayes and Holidayes or in the mornings before they come to Masse or if they please at Masse as I have seen some Catholicks to do There are also extant in our vulgar Language books containing expositions of the Epistles and Gospels of the whole year which read over night may much conduce to the encrease of Devotion and Piety Those who cannot read may learn of those who can instruct them and attend to Sermons which are commonly made for their explication however as I formerly have declared the understanding of either of them is not of necessity in order to the Sacrifice and therefore it suffices that they know the Mysteries thereof Where we may note the constancy of the Catholick Church in following the Primitive times when for the Cathecumens or the new Converts or for conversion of Infidels upon Solemn dayes some part of the Scripture was read and Psalms were used with expositions on them as is to be seen in the Homilies and Sermons made by the Holy Fathers for that end now there being no necessity of expositions in order to our faith and Devotion waxing cold the Church contents her self with the continuance of the substantial part remitting the expositions thereof to Sermons and Catechisms in more commodious time nevertheless in some places the Pastours or others for them in high Masses on Sundayes after the Gospel do make such under the name of Prones which our dangerous and fickle time will not permit Let it therefore suffice that we know by the Epistle the Vocation we have received from God to the true faith and fulfilling his Will and Commandements let us give thanks for that so great a benefit with purpose by Gods grace to persevere faithfully in Christ's Law making progress from vertue to vertue intimated by the Gradual which in the next shall be declared 12. Of what follows between the Epistle and the Gospel Q What follows the Epistle A. That which follows ordinarily is called Gradual which for the most part is One or Two verses of the Psalms agreeable to the Office of the day so called from the custome of the Church in Solemn Masses when some of the Quire do ascend to the steps of the Quire towards the Altar but is also properly called a Response or answer to the Epistle for generally speaking they have correspondence to the matter of the Epistle or to the Solemnity of the day if that be of joy the Response is so too if of sadness it is also of sadness Q. What doth the Gradual signifie A. As it is called Gradual it signifieth our ascent from vertue to vertue or our going up by degrees of Humility to higher perfection or rather the ascent we ought to make from the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles to the Doctrine of Christ Jesus It may also signifie the joy of the Church for the Conversion of Souls from Idolatry and Judaisme or to see the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles in the Conversion of Sinners to see the fruit of their Preaching whereof the Epistle is a Symbole and the Gradual of the fruit the Epistle is the Field sown with good Seed the Gradual the Harvest As a Response it puts us in mind that we ought in word and work to answer or correspond to those things which are propounded in the Epistle And signifies that after St. John Baptist's Preaching represented by the Epistle the Disciples did follow Christ in his Evangelical Doctrine or the Preaching of the Apostles after they were called by Christ in fine it serves as a Declaration of the fruit we receive from the Apostles Doctrine that is to follow Christ Q. What means Alleluja A. Our Devout St. Bernardine calls it Canticum honoris a Cantile of Honour which as it hath a hidden sence in the Hebrew so it was never Translated into any other Language for the Greek Latin Chaldean Syrian Arabian and all Nations of the Earth do retain it Whence St. Jerome and other Interpreters do very seldome Translate it but leave it as they find it in the Hebrew St. Augustine said that no Christian is ignorant that Alleluja is a voice of praise Indeed the word divided imports as much but as connexed together according to the use of the Hebrews it signifies not only praise but praise with joy and gladness beyond what can be expressed in voice in fine this Alleluja is a Sacred and Mystical word which the Church Militant useth in imitation of the Church Triumphant which is said to laud and praise God with Joy and Jubilation and sing Alleluja as we may read in Tobias Chap. 13. and in the Appocalips 19. Now the Church uses this Alleluja in the Masse as corresponding to the foresaid joy she hath in the conversion of the World or to manifest the joy that Christians take in the Solemn Mysteries which is redoubled in Easter time for joy of the Resurrection but from Septuagesima to Easter and some other times she omits it and for the most part has a Tract instead of it Q. What is that Tract A. It is certain verses of the Psalms appropriated to the times and is called a Tract because it is sung in Solemn Masse very leisurely with drawing the words and sillables Innocent 3. gives the reason thereof saying The Tract with the unpleasantness of the Tone and prolixity or drawing of the words does insinuate the miseries of our present time as others say it is a protracted voice of