Selected quad for the lemma: faith_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
faith_n	catholic_n	church_n	unity_n	4,815	5	9.7580	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34877	A supplement to Knowledge and practice wherein the main things necessary to be known and believed in order to salvation are more fully explained, and several new directions given for the promoting of real holiness both of heart and life : to which is added a serious disswasive from some of the reigning and customary sins of the times, viz. swearing, lying, pride, gluttony, drunkenness, uncleanness, discontent, covetousness and earthly-mindedness, anger and malice, idleness / by Samuel Cradock ... useful for the instruction of private families.	Cradock, Samuel, 1621?-1706.	1679 (1679)	Wing C6756; ESTC R15332	329,893	408

of Gods people is represented to us after a figurative manner of Speech by the names of Sion and Jerusalem Psal 87.2 The Lord loveth the Gates of Zion more then all the dwellings of Jacob and Psal 112.6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper that love thee The name Church occurreth not till the time of the Gospel and then it was imposed by our Saviour For no sooner had Peter made this confession for himself and the rest of the Apostles Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Mat. 16.16 but presently our Saviour adds upon this Rock that is the rock of this confession or upon this Truth whereof thou hast made profession will I build my Church As if he should have said This profession or this Faith which thou hast professed shall be the foundation of Believers especially the object of this faith and confession viz. I my self who am the true Messias The Greek word for Church is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies coetum evocatum a chosen or selected company a company called forth of the world or chosen out of others to profess Faith in Christ and to worship the true God according to his will And hereby is to be understood the body collective of all Gods people professing Faith in Christ though made up of several particular Congregations which have been called by the grace and goodness of God to a participation of his Word and Sacraments and other outward means of eternal life The Church therefore in the language of the New Testament doth alwayes signifie a company of persons professing faith in Christ Single persons so professing are members of the particular Churches to which they appertain And all those particular Churches are members of the universal or Catholick Church which is one by unity of aggregation not only of many persons but also of many Congregations of believing and baptised persons The Church is therefore one though the members be many And there are several things wherein the members of the Catholick Church do agree and several things also wherein they differ The things wherein they differ are these 1. The members of the Church are not all of the same age or standing in Christ Some are Babes some Young men and some are Fathers 1 John 2.12 13 14. 2. They are not all of the same degree of strength Some are of small strength and have need to be fed with milk and not with strong meat Some are weak in Faith and apt to be offended whom the stronger must take heed of offending Some are of sounder understandings and others are tainted with errors and corrupt opinions 3. They have not all the same degree of gifts nor the same sort of gifts 4. They are not all of the same usefulness and serviceableness to the Church Some are as Pillars Gal. 2.9 Some are fit to be teachers of others some so live that the Church hath much benefit by their lives and great loss by their deaths And some are such troublers of it by their weaknesses and corrupt distempers that their death is some ease to the places where they did live 5. They are not all the same in regard of office Some are appointed to be Pastors Teachers Elders Overseers and Stewards of the mysteries of God and to feed the flock and to be their Rulers in spiritual things And some are the Flock commanded to learn of them and to have them in honour and high esteem for their works sake and to obey them As there are diversity of gifts so also of offices 6. They have not all the same imployment The Magistrates work is of one kind and the Ministers of another There is one sort of duties belongs to Parents and another to Children one to M●sters and another to Servants 7. All the members of the Church are not to be equally honoured and loved Even among the Elders there are some that are worthy of double honour Some are of high and excellent gifts and graces and as more of God doth shine forth in them so a greater love and honour is due to them 8. The members of the Church will not have all an equal degree of glory there being a great inequality in their graces and the services they have done for God in this World And so much of the things wherein the members of the Church do differ 2. Let us consider what are the things wherein they agree 1. The members of the Catholick Church strictly taken as comprehending only the true living members thereof have all one God the fountain of their being and happiness and are all related to him as Children to one Father Eph. 4.6 2. They have all one Head Redeemer Saviour and Mediator Jesus Christ to whom they are all united 3. They have all one Holy Ghost dwelling in them illuminating sanctifying and guiding of them and are all animated by this one Spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 4. They have all one principal ultimate end which is the glory of God and their own eternal Salvation which they all aim at hope for and expect Eph. 4.4 5. They have all one Gospel which teaches them the knowledge of Christ and the things appertaining to their Salvation 6. 'T is one kind of Faith that by the holy Doctrine is wrought in their Souls though the degrees be various and in the main essentials of Christianity they usually agree though in lesser things there is sometimes much difference among them Eph. 4.5 7. There is one new disposition or holy nature wrought by the spirit of God in them all And the affections predominant in them have one and the same object Sin is the chiefest thing that all of them hate the displeasing of God is the chief thing they all fear and God in Christ is the prime object of all their loves 8. They have all one rule or law to live by The moral Law is to them all a rule of life 9. They are all entred into one and the same Covenant to renounce the World the Flesh and the Devil and to give themselves up sincerely to the service of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost 10. They agree in a special love to the whole Church and desire of its welfare And though there may be some differences through mistake between some particular members yet they desire and pray for the safety of the whole 11. They agree in their love to all the Ordinances and institututed means of Grace and make use of them in order to their improvement in holiness And thus much of the things wherein the members of the Catholick Church do agree 2. We come to consider the nature of this Church There are two things by which the nature of this Church may be discerned from such other publick Assemblies which may seem to lay claim to this title 1. Holiness 2. Catholicism or Vniversality Now this Church may be called Holy 1. In respect of its vocation All the members hereof are called unto and engaged

unto Holiness 2 Tim. 2.19 Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity The end of Christs gathering them out of the World to be his people is that they may be holy and a peculiar people to himself zealous of good works Thus Moses speaking of the Congregation of Israel Deut. 7.6 Thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God That is they were so by destination and engagement though many of them were not really so● 2. The Church may be called holy because it trains up people in the wayes of holiness and godliness 3. It may be called holy in respect though not of the greater yet of the better part of it whom God hath sanctified by the graces of his holy Spirit The other Attribute of the Church is Catholick Catholick as it is not in the Scriptures so was it not anciently in the Creed but inserted by the Fathers of the Constantinopolitan Council It signifies General or Vniversal Now the Church is called Catholick 1. In respect of place It being not now shut up in the narrow bounds of Judea but diffused through the World 2. In respect of persons All sorts of persons being promiscuously called to Faith in Christ Neither Jew nor Gentile neither bond nor free being excluded Gal. 3.28 3. In respect of times It comprehending all the Faithful that have been in all times and ages ever since the giving of the first promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the Serpents head And to our Saviours dayes and since then to the age in which we live and is to contitinue from hence by a continual accession to the end of the world Nay it doth not only include that part of the Church is now militant on earth but that also which is triumphant in Heaven Both they with us and we with them make one body mystical whereof Christ is the Head And all together together with the antient Patriarches and other holy men of God which lived under the Law do make up that one glorious Church which is called in the Scriptures the general Assembly the Church of the first born whose names are written in the Heavens Heb. 12.23 Catholick then the Church may be called in regard of extent whether we consider time place or persons 4. In respect of Doctrine because it maintains the Catholick Doctrine quae semper quae ubique quae abomnibus credita est Adversus Haereses c. 3 as Lirinensis d sayes which hath allwayes and in all places by all sorts of real Christians been received as Orthodox Catholick in this sence is the same with Orthodox and a Catholick Christian the same with a true professor A private Christian may be called Catholick in this sense And thus the Fathers of the purest times made use of this word Catholick to distinguish themselves from Hereticks according to that famous saying of Pacianus Christianus mihi nomen est Catholicus cognomen Christian saith he is my name and Catholick my sir-name By the one I am known from Infidels by the other from Hereticks And so long as the main body of Christians retained the form of wholsom words and kept the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace it served fitly for a distinctive mark to know an Orthodox Professor from an Heretical But when the main body of the Church was once torn in pieces and every leading faction would be thought the true Church of Christ they took to themselves the name of Catholicks also And thus our great Masters in the Church of Rome have appropriated to themselves the name of catholicks accounting all men Hereticks that differ from them and do not hold communion with them in their errors And then they defend themselves by the name of Catholicks from having dealt unjustly with their fellow Christians men every way more Orthodox than themselves But let them talk what they will the Church which is truly Catholick containeth within it all those Congregations which are truly the Churches of Christ And all persons whatsoever who are true Christians belong to it So that whosoever is not of the Catholick Church cannot be of the true Church out of which ordinarily there is no Salvation 3. I come now to the distinctions of the Church 1. The Church of Christ may be considered either as Militant or Triumphant The Church Militant is that company of Christians here on earth who are in warfare warring against Satan the World and the Flesh 2. The Church Triumphant are those Saints who having vanquished and overcome those adversaries do now reign and triumph in Heaven This distinction is founded upon Ephes 3.14 15. Where the Apostle sayes I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in heaven and earth is named The Family in Heaven is the Church Triumphant The Family on Earth the Church Militant of which the Apostle himself was one when he said 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the Faith The Triumphant we may read of Rev. 7.9 After this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number of all Nations and Kindreds and People and Tongues stood before the Throne and before the Lamb cloathed with white Robes and Palms in their hands Having thus premised this distinction of the Church Militant and Triumphant I come now to speak particularly of the Church Militant 1. Then we must know that the Churcrh Militant here on earth consists partly of such as are truly of it partly of such as only in respect of their outward profession belong to it As the Holy Ghost speaks Rev. 2.9 of some who professed themselves Jews I know the Blasphemy of them that say they are Jews and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan so we may say of some who profess themselves Christians that they are very far from being such in truth and reality For prophane persons and hypocrites are rather in the Church than of it The Militant Church is either visible or invisible The visible Church is a visible company of people professing the Gospel whether they do it in truth and sincerity or no. It doth consist of good and bad It is compared to a net cast into the Sea which gathered of every kind c. Matth. 13.47 And to a field wherein were both wheat and tares Matth. 13.24 And to a great house wherein are vessels of several sorts some to honour some to dishonour 2 Tim. 2.20 The invisible Church consists of such as truly are what they profess themselves to be It is called invisible because it is not visible to the eyes of men They can see the profession but whether it proceed from the heart or no they cannot see The Invisible Church therefore is hid in the visible and there is no more difference between them than between the whole and a part 3. The Church Militant is distinguished into Particular and Vniversal A particular

Church is a company professing the Faith in some particular place Thus we read of the seven Churches of Asia Rev. 1.7 that is Churches that were in seven Cities in Asia as appears verse 11. Yea we read of Churches in particular houses as in the house of Aquila and Priscilla Rom. 16.5 and in the h●use of Nymphas Col. 4.15 The universal Church is the whole company of Believers that profess Faith in Christ throughout the world All Christians as Christians who profess and hold the essentials of Christianity are the Catholick or universal Church And all Congregations consisting of lawful Pastors and Christian people associated for personal communion in the worship of God and holy living are particular true Churches though they may also much differ in degrees of purity This is the universal Church as upon earth Otherwise as I said before the universal Church comprehends both the Saints on Earth and the Saints in Heaven The Church of Rome most absurdly affects to be called the Catholick Church yea Roman Catholick Cathotholick imports the universal Church and Roman but a particular The Church of Rome was once indeed an eminent part yet but a part of the Catholick or Vniversal Church But now she is so degenerate and corrupt that she is termed Babylon Rev. 1.7 And the people of God are commanded to come out of her Rev. 18.4 And I heard another voice from Heaven saying come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues Did the Church of Rome in the Apostles dayes worship Images Did it pray to Saints Did it pray for the Dead Did it perform its Divine Worship in an unknown tongue Did it withhold the Cup from the Laity Was this the Primitive practice of the Church of Rome I suppose the Romanists themselves will not assert it We can make it appear that we hold the same Faith that was of old delivered to the Saints and that we have not departed farther from the Church of Rome than they have departed from this Faith and the truth of Christianity Yet the Papists notwithstanding use to ask us where was your Religion before Luther To which we answer wherever there were any true and real Christians before Luther among them was our Church This is the Church we profess our selves of And surely there were many more more Christians at that time in the world then those that were in the Cummunion of the Church of Rome 'T is true Christianity that makes any to be Christians and members of the Catholick Church it is not every inferiour truth that doth so neither doth every error cast a man out of it That Church then which comprehended all the true Christians in the World is the Church we were of before Luther We do not confine the Catholick Church to any Sect or Party Protestants we hold are the soundest part of this Church but not the whole Church All within the Communion of the Church of Rome that are true Christians we allow to be of this Church And the same we say of the Greeks Armenians Ethiopians Abyssines or any other professing Christianity And though the Papists talk much of Antiquity if they will try whether their Doctrine or ours be the sounder we are willing to appeal to Antiquity Let the eldest way of Religion carry it We are of a Religion that is not less then sixteen hundred years old For we hold the Doctrine delivered by Christ and his Apostles which they have shamefully departed from But the Papists farther ask us If their Church be not the true Church what is become of our Fore-fathers who died in the Communion of their Church We answer They might live and die in the Communion of that Church and yet be free from many of the gross errors in it And God might graciously pass by their ignorance and weakness who had not so great a light as we have to shew them the error of the Romish Church We do therefore in Charity think that some of our Ancestors formerly and some of the Papists at this day who hold and believe the main Articles of the Christian Faith and do live good lives according to their knowledge may be saved but not by their Popery but by their Christianity And thus much of the distinctions of the Church 4. I come now in the last place to speak of the notes of the Church which are these three 1. True and sound Doctrine preached 2. Right administration of the Sacraments For as those are more or less purely administred so the Church is more or less pure 3. Obedience to Christ and his Doctrine Discipline indeed is necessary for the preservation of the Church in purity of Doctrine and Manners yet it belongs not to the very being but to the well being of it But here a question may arise How is the Church said not to erre Answ 1. The whole doth not erre though some particular Church may 2. The Church doth not erre universally though in some points of Doctrine it may which are not essential or fundamental to Salvation Let us now consider what improvement we are to make of this Article 1. This shews us the admirable priviledge of every truly regenerate sanctified person who is most certainly a member of the true Catholick Church All true Christians are Catholicks in a better sense than the Romanists use that word But whosoever is wicked and prophane let them talk they are for the Church c. 't is manifest they are not members of Christs Holy Catholick Church 2. All that are true members of the Catholick Church should keep close to the Catholick Rule of Faith and Life which is the will of God revealed in the holy Scriptures 3. They should labour for a Catholick Spirit and Catholick affections which may incline them 1. To love all Christians as Christians for Christs sake though they may differ from them in some particulars A true Catholick Spirit is for union among all the People of God 2. To compassionate all real Christians in their sufferings and afflictions Rom. 12.15 16. 3. To pray earnestly for the prosperity of the Catholick Church and to be solicitous and much concerned touching the welfare thereof And all true members of the Catholick Chhurch may comfort themselves with this consideration that they have a share in the paayers of this Catholick or Vniversal Church now Militant upon the Earth SECT III. Of the Communion of Saints the Communion of Saints COncerning this Article we shall inquire 1. Who may truly be called Saints and wherein the true nature of Saintship doth consist and how the Saints are distinguished from others 2. Who are those persons with whom these Saints have Communion For the first 1. By the tenure of the Gospel we shall find that those are truly and properly Saints who being called with an holy calling have not been disobedient to it but are indued with a holy faith uniting them to