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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
end_n	bishop_n	century_n	flourish_v	3,569	5	14.0563	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64337	A treatise relating to the worship of God divided into six sections / by John Templer ...	Templer, John, d. 1693.	1694 (1694)	Wing T667; ESTC R14567	247,266	554

which the owner was vested in and a solemn appropriation to the service of our Blessed Lord. There is all the reason imaginable why there should be such conveniences for the Christians in those early times They were passionate in their desires to propagate their Religion Known places for their Assemblies were signally conducing to this end Every one might have recourse to them to gain instructions in the Faith The severity of the Age was not such as always to hinder them from building It was as great against the Jews At first The Disciples were persecuted under that name Act. 18.2 And yet they had their Synagogues in divers places From Julius to Constantine the Great are reckoned above Forty Emperours and Ten Persecutions In the intervals betwixt these violent storms there is no reason to believe but that the Christians might erect appropriate places for the Worship of Christ The Greeks at this day tho' they live under severities not unequal to those which the Primitive Christians were exercised with yet have their Churches allowed them The several steps which the Penitents were to take before they could be admitted to the Communion is an evident demonstration of that which we argue for First They must stand without the doors of the Oratory and there with the greatest importunity beg the Prayers of those who went in and came out of it These were named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After this part of their penance was finished they were admitted within the doors and stood in the place called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad Longinum not p. 12. and heard the Scriptures read and preached these were stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The next step was to that part of the Church which was behind the Ambo or Pulpit These did hear as the former and went out with the Catechumens and were termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The next step was their standing and remaining together with the Faithful and communicating in Prayers and Psalms but not in the Holy Sacrament These were known by the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All this can argue no less than That the Christians did not promiscuously meet in any place but had peculiar Edifices digested into parts suitable to these ends This way of discipline was earlier than the times of Gregory Bishop of Neo-Caesaria He speaks of it as a thing which the Church had been familiarly accustomed to and He flourished about the middle of the Third Century The Concession of Origen Minutius Foelix Arnobius Lactantius That the Christians had no Temples is no prejudice to what has been asserted These Authors lived within the Third Century In that age we have evident Testimonies for peculiar places dedicated to Christian Worship Therefore by the Temples which the Christians had not must be understood such as were in use amongst the Heathens namely Edifices in which some Daemon was enclosed and kept from wandring abroad by Magical incantations After the Three first Centuries were past we have a cloud of Witnesses Churches were then made more conspicuous by a greater magnificence in the structure of them Constantine made a Law to build the Oratories higher and to enlarge both in breadth and length the Churches of God Eusebius says Eus●de vita Con. l. 2. c. 44. Hist l. 10. c. 2. That Churches then were more splendid than those which had been demolished by the Impiety of Tyrants There was likewise a more solemn Consecration than the Imperial Laws did permit before Theod. Ecc. His l. 1. c. 31. When Constantine was setled in the Throne he sent his Commands on every side to the Bishops to Consecrate the Temples which were built by him The Historian says That when Dedications were made according to this Imperial Edict it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eus Eccl. H. l. 10. c. 3. to all Christians a desirable Spectacle This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a little time gained so high a reputation That it was thought to be an errour to meet in any Church which had not been first solemnly Dedicated Athan. Apol ad Const tom 1. p. 682. Seld de Syned l. 3. c. 15. p. 343. The Arrians accused Athanasius upon the account of his meeting in the great Church in Alexandria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before it was perfected by Consecration In after ages None doubt whether there were such places or no. All the question is Whether they may be used now by reason of those abuses which have been formerly practised in them the too much Sanctity which some continue to attribute to them To which I reply 1. Former abuses can be no just ground for our not frequenting of them The corruptions are removed by the Reformation as the Buyers and Sellers were whipt out of the Temple Superstition doth not like the Leprosie in Houses so cleave to the Walls as not to be separated without pulling them down The introduction of the True Worship of Christ doth as naturally remove it as Light expells Darkness If this principle of not using that which has been abused was throughly followed it would lead us into Vaults and Caverns and perswade us to make our perpetual abode there lest the light of the Sun which to this day is stained with the Idolatry of some Nations should be useful to us Bethaven is changed into a Bethel when God is worshipped there in a right manner The place which is stiled the Mount of Corruption when abuses were removed is called Mount Olivet The Censers of Korah and his Company were made into broad Plates for a covering of the Altar Num. 16. v. 38. Gideon offered a burnt Sacrifice unto the Lord with the wood of an Idolatrous Grove Constantine the Great converted Heathen Temples into Christian Churches The Command to demolish Idolatrous Altars in Canaan and break the Brazen Serpent is not applicable to the case in hand The First was enjoyned because the Law did allow but one Altar The Second Because the abuse was grown so high as to make the Serpent the Object of the Supreme Veneration and the use for which it was at first designed had a period put unto it As for the Sanctity which some attribute to Churches they alledge in justification of themselves the following Considerations They are Holy not upon the account of any inherent quality but a Relation This Relation is produced by a Solemn Dedication This Dedication is countenanced by that general Command Prov. 3.5 Honour the Lord with thy substance When Men expend their Estates in the erecting such Edifices and devote them to be places for the Celebration of Religious Worship They lay out their substance in that way which has a tendency to promote the Divine Honour The Jews did attribute this kind of Sanctity to their Synagogues and yet Jesus Christ and his Apostles Seld. de Syn. l. 3. c. 16. did not decline the use of them SECT VI. Concerning the Time of Divine Worship THE only excuse why we are