Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	church_n	invisible_a	visible_a	3,670	5	9.2967	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68474	Appello Cæsarem A iust appeale from two vniust informers· / By Richard Mountagu.	Montagu, Richard, 1577-1641.	1625 (1625)	STC 18031; ESTC S112844	144,688	352

that point And these honest well-meaning Informers if they had imagined indeed that I did so acquit them rather should have challenged mee of contradiction than of Popery For it seemeth as much Popery to accuse the Fathers of Errors as to excuse them of Erring seeing those three IESUITES than whom scarce were ever three more eminent in the Society doe not excuse or acquit them but accuse them rather for going so farre in applauding of Free-will In this point it is plaine my meaning was that their Vnderstandings were not so darkened as their words at first apprehension may seeme to import to erre so grossely in the point as they seeme to doe nor did then and in that particular those worthie Lights of the Church of GOD faile in discerning of the Truth of GOD in that particular as to use the words of the forenamed learned Bishop they inclined contrary to Scripture unto Pelagianisme For things must bee taken and considered as they are spoken and upon what occasion and ground they are spoken If you were not so acute to conceive this indeed so honest to expresse it yet your dullest Readers would have observed it had there beene in you so much ingenuity as to have added that which ensueth in M. MOUNTAGU thus That they being to deale against fatall Necessity urged by many PATNIMS Philosophers in those dayes as also against the execrable impiety of the MANICHEES they extended the power of FREE-WILL unto the uttermost and set it upon the Tenters especially having then no cause to fear anyenemy at home unto the contrary ante mota certamina PELAGIANA There being yet no PELAGIANS sprung up in the world enemies to Grace advancers of Nature and Naturall powers beyond degree of Power and of Possibility In effect M. MOUNTAGU as touching freewill heer in this case hath said the same and no more but the same that before him Bishop MORTON did in his Appeale pag. CCII. THE occasion of this difference we learne to have beene a whirlwind of contrary Heresies wherewith in those dayes the Church of GOD was miserably afflicted Then the MANICHEES and before them the STOICALL CHRISTIANS had taught an absolute fatall Necessity of every mans Actions thereby taking from man the guilt of sinne For the overthrow of which pestilent Heresie as is confessed concerning S. CHRYSOSTOME some FATHERS did contrarily yeeld too much unto the power of will This was the occasion of their by-sliding who notwithstanding did often recover their footing and in their more intimate meditations gave direct acknowledgement of our Orthodoxall Defence Iust to an haire up and downe the same Popery that M. MOUNTAGU hath Delivered That Bishop and my poor self say one and the same thing and yet will even the Informers I dare say acquit Him of Popery why not Me as well in the selfe same case with him CHAP. IV. Private and publick doctrine differenced In what sense the Church is said to be alwaies visible The Author acquitted from Popery againe by others learned Divines Of the Church of Rome INFORMERS HE calleth the doctrine of the INVISIBILITY of the Church a private opinion no doctrinall decision nor to bee imputed unto the resolved doctrine of the Protestants Nusquam est saith hee quod nun quam videtur CHAP. V. pag. XLVIII And againe pag. L. Moderate men on both sides doe confesse that this controversie may cease MOUNTAGU MY words were onely these It may be some private opinions have run upon Invisibility of the Church But since you put me to it if there bee any such doctrine as you speak of it is a private opinion and I will now say expressely I hold that doctrine a PRIVATE opinion yet then and there I did not ponere that any had so said in terminis or runne that way but onely with restriction by a May-be of concession that some men singular from the doctrine of the Church in their owne private opinions had fallen upon and supported an Invisibilitie Now every man but your selves knowes that the doctrine of a Church Publick and Authorized is one thing and your doctrine or my doctrine and private opinion is another thing For such doctrine as you talk of I know none I acknowledge none but that of Libertines and Brownists with whom if you have any commerce intercourse or confarreation look unto it the Church of England as it detesteth them so is it for and of another straine ARTIC XIX touching the Church thus we read The VISIBLE CHURCH of CHRIST is a congregation of faithfull men in the which the pure word of GOD is preached and the Sacraments be duely ministred c. Where Church and Visible are convertible tearmes That doctrine then to which you should and would seeme to have subscribed talketh of no invisible but a visible Church tendreth no Invisibility And it is a Position drawne out from thence and published that there is a Church of CHRIST not onely invisible but also visible Though for invisible it is more than that Article specifieth yet is it most true that there is a Church also invisible which was never denied or thought upon to be denied Secondly it is also concluded thence that the visible Church is a Catholick Church So the Church is visible and the Church is invisible both which I beleeve and professe distinctly taken and as it ought to bee understood For these though seeming are not contradictory Propositions The Church is invisible in her more noble parts the Saints both regnant in heaven and militant in earth such as be secreti and occultè intus such as bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the secret hidden the reserved Ones of GOD Psal LXXXIII IV. as Iewels of price of value of account I doe also beleeve and professe a visibility of the Church on earth necessarily toto sui though not totâ se in some part or other at all times though in all parts of the world or it selfe intire at no one time Nothing visible in the amplest maner that can be is so visible that there is nothing in it or of it but is visible It never was it never shall be it is wholly impossible to bee that at some time or other there could not be found in any one part or corner of the world not any part visible of that Church Catholick The Divell never did nor ever shall so farre and fully prevaile against GOD and GOD'S Kingdome as to effect or procure such an absolute desolation And so is it true for of this onely restrainedly I spake Non est quod nusquam videtur not generally true I grant and without limitation There ever was and will bee ever upon earth a visible Church some where or other with visible cognisances marks and signes to be discerned by such as be assigned by the XIX Article to which men may repaire to heare GOD'S Word where Sacraments are ministred and may be received unto salvation where Priesthood and Ordination is and may be had according to CHRIST'S

by the Informers and for Arminianisme or Popery or I knowe not what I shall as I can briefly and plainly without scholasticall obscurities set downe what I conceive of this Act of GOD setting by all execution of purpose or Decree of Predestination Take it as I conceive it and so shall professe it untill I am informed and ascertained that the Church of England whereof I am a member beleeveth and teacheth all otherwise than I conceive of it First whatsoever GOD willeth cometh to passe in Heaven and in Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is possible with him If it bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 once or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or shall bee in due time For accordingly as he willeth things should so doe they come to passe And as they do come to passe in due time so he would have them before all times so come to passe The one is Originall of the other and the one is Evidence of the other GOD'S Decrees are eternall from everlasting as all his purposes are as himselfe is like himselfe who is Tota simul perfecta possessio sui So as in Him considered there is nor prius nor posterius of his decrees but considered in effects and quoad Nos one thing may be said to be first second or third in nature time and being before or after another GOD being sibi solus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from everlasting alone himselfe and beside himselfe nothing the first thing he did or possibly and conceiveably could doe was to determine to communicate himself and did so accordingly primò primùm communicate himself out of his Alonenesse everlasting unto somewhat else For Communication is an Act of Goodnes the prime attribute of God respectively as even the Heathen man could say Deus est optimus maximus quidem prius optimus quàm maximus All communication is and needs must bee conceived to bee at least betwixt two being an effluxe emanation issuing from and motion betwixt tearms GOD alone could not communicaie se sua or de suis but by producing an Object communicable to whom or which hee might impart as and what he pleased Which when nothing was at all but himselfe must and doth put us upon another purpose and Act of his to Create which is framing of something out of meer nothing nor can possibly any other Act or resolution and counsell prevent this much lesse that of Predestination yet unheard of As is the Cause such is the Effect especially a Totall Sufficient Immediate Cause The Created was then and could not be but so like the Creator that is good and accordingly wee have that Elogium Creaturae ALL things were exceeding good But Good is and must be of a double alloy Changeably or else unchangeably good Thus good is onely GOD without beginning not to have end without change or shadow of change Man thus made by GOD good as otherwise than so he could not be was yet made by him changeably good in as much as that being created otherwise than so hee must not nor could bee Good he was but Bad he might be Righteous out of the hands of GOD but left unto himself in the hands of his owne counsell unrighteous That changing state of Being if haply he should change his alteration might be his owne Act imputable to himselfe not his Maker his endowments must be such as unlesse himselfe would none else could hurt or annoy him And such indeed they were so sufficient in themselves able to hold out against opposition and assault unlesse basely and cowardly hee would betray the Fort upon summons of a Foe Thus he did so he served himselfe Using his freedome of will not well as he ought he lost his freedome undid himselfe and his whole race then in his loins EVE took up sinne from the divell upon lone ADAM by Consent acknowledged the band usura crevit Posteritas For being the root and originall of all mankinde hee received what he had for himselfe and his and lost what he forfeited for them all Falling thus from GOD hee fell not alone his posterity were together with him plunged into one bottomlesse pit of perdition and masse of damnation through their owne fault Thither they fell not there were they put GOD made not man unto destruction much lesse did he make him to destroy him As GOD'S Acts are in Production so were they formerly in Intention But Creation was before Fall or Restoring therefore so was it also in GOD'S purpose Thus farre we have gone and not a word of Predestination for how could it bee in a Parity There must needs first be a disproportion before there can bee conceived Election or Dereliction unto which we are now comne in the masse of perdition as they call it Wherein all alike beeing plunged actually GOD passeth by looketh on considereth intuitively once at once singulos generum genera singulorum in that very wofull plight Hee had compassion on them so EZECH phraseth it XVI When he saw them in their bloud and out of his mercy in his love motu mero not otherwise stretched out to them deliverance in a Mediatour the Man IESUS CHRIST and drew them out that took hold of mercy leaving them there that would none of him There whither they had fallen of Themselves not whereinto Hee had throwne them headlong out of his meer irrespecting will because hee would through his absolute power because he could with the irresistable necessitie of an inevitable Decree creating them to perish everlastingly This is enough absolutely to free and to acquit GOD from being AuTHOR of SINNE which hee so detesteth or Author of death which hee made not to which he is an enemy as being Life and from being Author of destruction which is meerly of our selves he being Pater misericordiarum and wholly freely and desiredly giving occasioning procuring effecting our salvation day by day If this bee Arminianisme esto I must professe it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For unlesse it be so and that not according to unchangeable necessity there is not any thing in our power at all saith IUSTIN MARTYR in his Apol. Nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If it be absolutely determined that one should bee good another bad the one cannot be approved nor the other rejected For justitia non erit justa saith FULGENTIUS si puniendum reum non invenisse sed fecisse dicatur DEUS But praescivit peccaturos non praedestinavit ad peccatum The reason is irrefragable stante the Nature of our GOD Nunquam ad hoc hominem potuit praedestinare quod ipse disposuerat praecepto prohibere misericordiâ diluere justitiâ punire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But that inevitable necessity which wee have heard of is that they who make choice of the better part have allotted them their portions according to their deserts and semblably those that go on to do ill have proportioned