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	visible_a	4,689	5	9.3932	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30997	A sermon preached before the King at Newmarket April 24, 1670 by Miles Barne ...	Barne, Miles, d. 1709?	1670 (1670)	Wing B860; ESTC R12579	11,761	37

the serenity of his Being so will the Solifidian be found to be the truest Infidel who allowing Faith to be necessary to salvation most perfidiously strips it of all those enlivening Properties which might fit and adorn it for so great an attainment Our Faith must be Uniform and Undivided For there is one Lord one Faith one Baptism and one onely name under Heaven given unto men whereby we must be saved even the name of the Lord Jesus So long as the Christians continued together and were of the same mind so long as they maintained simplicity and liberality being solicitous for nothing but an Holy life when all the gain they studied was Godliness when all the strife and emulation they had was to out-vie each other in the Practise of Piety when there were no Divisions but of Goods and Possessions to be parted among the Needy Then did the Church flourish and a daily Addition was made of them that should be saved But when instead of these lovely Qualities there arose Sects and Schisms when once that unhappy Distinction was made of Paul and Apollo of Christ and Cephas when men began to be lovers of themselves more then of God when the old strife was renewed which of them should be the greatest when the loss of a Preferment was cruelly revenged upon the Church by the setting up of an Heresie when the wits began to deride the simplicity of the Gospel and the learned were divided about points of Faith Then did the Church truly suffer and sustained more damage by these intestine broyles then by the hottest persecutions of the Heathen Emperours Of the truth whereof we have too sad an instance in the fourth Century when the tares of Arianism had almost quite choaked the wheat when the gates of Hell were so near prevailing against the Church that the Catholick Faith seemed to have but one Confessour the Church of Christ to be no where visible but in Athanasius his Temple if that common saying be true The whole world against Athanasius and Athanasius against the whole world So much it concerns us to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace For as a Kingdom so a Church divided within it self cannot stand And since this cannot be effected by the sole Threats and Menaces of the Gospel though most severe against Schismaticks nor yet by the utmost power Christ hath committed to his Church the dreadful sentence of excommunication by Saint Paul defined to be the delivering up to Satan For what will they care for the Power of the Keys who account it their priviledge to be without the pale of the Church Therefore is it that God hath ordained Kings to be Nursing Fathers And from hence arises another way as ancient as Constantine the Great the first Christian Emperour of dealing with obstinate Dissenters the enacting and executing Penal Laws against them And may we not yet hope that they whom forbearance made dangerous and Toleration it self at length rendred intollerable may at last be reclaimed however the danger prevented by a late Renowned Act An Act worthy the Royal Fiat of him who justly weareth the glorious Title of Defender of the Faith and becoming the greatness of its establishers who could never have done God and their Country the Church and State better Service than by preventing and suppressing Schismatical and Seditious Conventicles 3. Our Faith must be stedfast and well grounded For if it be tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine it must of necessity at last suffer Shipwrack They that have itching ears open to every Novel Teacher are in danger of forfeiting the Ancient Catholick Faith Thus if instead of relying upon the Authority of Primitive Fathers and Councils we admit of every upstart Writer will not this at length invalidate the commands of the Apostles If we receive our Religion from the Tribunal of the Civil Magistrates may not this at last bring us under the condemnation of the Pharisees of rendring the Word of God of none effect through their Traditions And as it must be stedfast so it must be well grounded That is we must be well assured of the truth of it our selves and able to convince the gain-sayers For our own assurance 't is enough that we have the same Faith which was once delivered to the Saints That they had the honour to converse with the Authour of it that they were Persons of the greatest Integrity and therefore would not deceive others that they were Persons very inquisitive and circumspect and therefore would not be deceived themselves that it was confirmed by miracles attested and sealed by their Bloud that it prevailed in spite of all opposition and hath been kept entire in all Ages of the Church According to Christs own Promise That the Gates of Hell should never prevail against it And now I might very well challenge our Modern Infidels to produce half such convincing Arguments for the certainty of any thing which they believe as these which the Christian hath to assure him of the truth of his Faith But the prosecution of this Topick though very pleasing would carry me beyond the limits of a Sermon The best way to convince gain-sayers is to hold fast the faithful word as it hath been taught or as the Greek renders it which is according to Doctrine not according to Fancy private Interpretation or the Pretensions to an extraordinary Light For the constancy of the Christian in his Profession hath always been found one of the best Arguments to confute Hereticks Faith thus qualified that hath good works for its Life-Guard that is at unity with its self that is built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner stone shall stand like an impregnable Fortress against all the Batteries of the World The last thing to be considered 3. That Faith thus Qualified is the best and surest way of overcoming the World What is here meant by the World let Saint John determine The Lusts of the flesh the Lusts of the eye and the Pride of Life to which we may add evil Examples Persecutions and in a word whatsoever Bait the great Adversary of Mankind throws in our way to seduce us from our Religion and consequently as he dispossessed our First Parents of a Terrestrial so to prevent our arrival at a Celestial Paradise And are these the strongest Forces which the World can muster up and bring into the Field against us Impar congressus The Flesh against the Spirit The members against the mind impotent Earth against the Powers of Heaven all of them in open Rebellion And may they receive a Doom answerable to their Crime 1. Then Faith bids you consider the baseness and weakness of your Enemies Lusts and Pride Things which the common consent of Mankind hath branded with a note of Infamy He that makes his Belly his God hates to be counted a Glutton