Selected quad for the lemma: father_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
father_n	daughter_n	sister_n	wife_n	35,652	5	9.4720	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20744	Tvvo sermons the one commending the ministerie in generall: the other defending the office of bishops in particular: both preached, and since enlarged by George Dovvname Doctor of Diuinitie.	Downame, George, d. 1634.	1608 (1608)	STC 7125; ESTC S121022	394,392	234

he mortify the deeds of the body In a word to this end hath the grace of God appeared vnto all men and instructed vs that we denying all vngodlinesse and worldly lusts might liue soberly iustly godly in this presēt world By all which it is cleare that all our corrupt lusts affections must be denied if we will be disciples in the schoole of Grace yet is it further to be observed that whē the Apost saith we must deny all worldly lusts he meaneth fleshly lusts as they haue reference vnto the world to the profits pleasures of this present life So that in comparison of Christ when they let and hinder vs from comming after him whatsoeuer in the world is most deare pretious vnto vs must be despised and trod●n vnder foot We must with the holy Apostles be content to forsake all and to follow him If wee loue father or mother or sonne or daughter more then him we are vnworthy of him Nay if any come vnto him and hate not his father and mother and wife and Children and brethren and sisters yea his owne life also or as some thinke it may not vnfitly be translated his owne soule he cannot be my Disciple Wherefore as Hierom saith if Father or Mother shall lye in the way to hinder thee from comming after Christ bee not afraid to tread vpon the gray beard of thy Father and to trample vpon the belly of her that bare thee rather then to be barred from cōming vnto him As therefore to conclude this point a young man in the iudgement of Aristotle is an vnfit auditor of Morall Philosophy even so the meere Animall man by the verdict of Iesus Christ is vtterly vnmeet to be scholler in Christian Philosophy If hee will make himselfe meet for Christs schoole hee must of necessity deny himselfe which is the first Counsell The second is let him take vp his crosse daily The Crosse properly is a tree or engine of wood framed into such a forme where vpon malefactors were wont to bee executed and put to death The manner was either with cords to bind them or which was more vsuall with nailes to fasten them hand and foot vnto it and there to suffer them to languish and pine away vnto death in regard whereof they were wont aunciently to call it vltimum supplicium the extremest and greatest punishment because the basest sort of people only and such as were servants or slaues were in this manner executed therefore was it also termed servile supplicium a servile punishment This cruell and slavish death did our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ suffer to free vs from eternall death and to procure vnto vs everlasting life Wherevpon those pressures tribulations afflictions persecutions that doe befall a man not for his wickednesse but for righteousnesse sake for the profession of the Gospell of Christ are in the language of Canaan called the Crosse because they are the remainders of the afflictions of Christ which he in his body that is the Church doth yet still suffer And this is the Crosse which is here meant But it is further said His crosse Not that Crosse which a man frameth vnto his owne selfe or rashly pulleth vpon himselfe as sundry Martyrs in the primitiue Church seemed to doe whom yet I dare not censure because I know not with what spirit they did it For we may not like Coecias draw stormes and clouds vpon our owne heads and our Saviour himselfe advizeth vs when they persecute vs in one Citty to fly into another Then only are we bound to beare the crosse when without denying the truth we cannot avoid it Our Crosse then is that which is imposed vpon vs by God whether it be poverty or ignominy or imprisonment or banishment or whipping or racking or torment or death of what kind soeuer For God layeth not the same crosse on all but one Crosse on one and another on another as hee in his wisdome thinketh best But whatsoever the crosse is which God appointeth vnto a man that is his crosse And this crosse saith Christ must be taken vp It was the manner that he that was cruciarius to bee crucified was to beare his crosse or some part thereof vnto the place of execution So did Christ vntill meeting with Simon of Cyrene they compelled him to beare his crosse But malefactors beare it against their wills our Saviour willingly which was the very forme of his suffering and he requireth all those that will come after him to doe so too For to take vp the crosse imports not only a patient bearing of it when it is laid vpon vs but also a ready and voluntary vndergoing of it And this also saith our Saviour must bee done daily that is at all times and continually Not but that the Church hath sometimes her lucida intervalla her good daies for the rod of the wicked resteth not alwaies vpon the lot of the righteous and after stormes and tempests God sendeth calme Halcionian times How then Thus. Whensoever God sendeth the crosse vnto any he must actually take it vp in the time of peace and when there is no crosse though actually he cannot yet must he take it vp in the preparation and disposition of the mind And this is the substance of the second Counsell Let him take vp his crosse daily The Necessity of it if wee will come after Christ is easie to be demonstrated What more manifest in the Scripture then this that the Crosse is an vnseparable companion of the Church The Church is Lilium inter spinas a lilie among thornes Christ without his crosse is but a Chimoera so is the Church also without afflictions Many are the troubles of the righteous saith David In the world yee shall haue tribulations saith our Saviour Christ. Through much tribulation must we enter into the kingdome of God saith Saint Paul and againe All that will liue Godly in Iesus Christ shall suffer persecution Search the records of all times from the beginning of the world downe to this present and you shall find that Persecution hath ever attended vpon the Church Not to speake of particular persons the bondage of Egypt the captivity of Babylon the tyranny of Antiochus the ten bloudy persecutions of heathen Emperours the barbarous cruelties of Antichrist finally the fire the sword the massacres of this last age wherein our Fathers lived and we our selues yet liue doe make it more then manifest And indeed as long as Satan continueth to be malitious against vs how can it be otherwise Knowing himselfe to be eternally reiected and without redemption he beareth an eternall hatred against God And because he cannot wreake his teene vpon him being out of his reach he turneth his malice against mankind and among them those principally who by Christ are conquered out of his hands For as the Panther raging vpon the picture of a man bewrayes the

it But before we come particularly vnto them we must needs premise a word or two touching the condition and enquire what it is to come after Christ. Among divers interpretations two there are which to me seeme most likely The first is if any will come after me that is if any will be my Disciple Thus S. Luke himselfe seemeth to expound it where speaking in a manner to the same purpose he saith whosoeuer beareth not his crosse and followeth mee cannot bee my Disciple Wherevnto reason also agreeth for Schollers vse not to goe before their Masters but to come after them whence vsually they are called Followers as the Followers of Plato the Followers of Aristotle In this sence then it is as if our Saviour should say If any will be my scholler But hee meanes a scholler not titularlie and in name only like Apothecaries boxes quorum tituli habent remedia pyxides venena which containe in them poisons hauing the titles of remedies but really and truely one that is so indeed and to speake plaine English a ●rue Christian. The second interpretation is if any will come after me that is if any will arriue at that end to the which I am aspiring before him namely eternall glory Neither is this vnlikely for Christ is the author and finisher of our Faith who for the ioy that was set before him endured the crosse despising shame and is set at the right hand of the throne of God Hee by his blood hath consecrated a new and liuing way for vs into the holy of holies whether he is ascended before vs there to prepare mansions for all such as will come after him And in this sense it is as if our Saviour should say if any will come to eternall life and glory after me Now whether of these two sences shall we take I suppose both for first the circumstances of the Text admit both secondly both agree with the analogie of faith thirdly the safest rule is not to straighten but to enlarge the meaning of the holy Ghost as much as may be and lastly what God hath ioyned together let no man put asunder Now no man can bee a Citizen of heauen vnlesse he be a Disciple of Christ here on earth The Schoole of Christ and the kingdome of heaven are contriued like Marcellus two Temples of Vertue and Honour For as none could enter into the Temple of Honour but he must first passe through the Temple of Vertue so neither can any man passe into the kingdome of glory but by the schoole of grace He that will be glorious there must first be gracious here There is no salvation but only by the Mediation of Christ his Mediation stands in his Priesthood Kingdome and Prophecie Hee is not a Priest to one a King to another and a Prophet to a third but he is all three vnto a man or he is none at all vnto him for Christ is not divided Whence it followeth that whosoeuer will be saued Christ must bee a Prophet vnto him and he must be a Disciple vnto Christ. The meaning then of this condition is as if our Saviour more fully and plainely had said If any will be my Disciple and by being my Disciple will come vnto the kingdome of heaven after me Now let vs descend in due order vnto the counsels and consider both the substance and necessity of them First of the first Let him deny himselfe What is that God saith the Apostle is faithfull he cannot deny himselfe that is he cannot say and vnsay for his promises are not Yea and nay but Yea and Amen neither can he say otherwise of himselfe then he is for he is truth it selfe cannot lye Must we thus deny our selues God forbid For then how can we resemble our heavenly Father and be perfect as hee is perfect for he neither doth nor can deny himselfe And seeing Christ is the expresse image of his Father and wee are to be conformed vnto the image of Christ it cannot be that he should advise vs to bee so vnlike either to his Father or himselfe as in this sense to deny our selues No this we leaue to cheating Priests and Iesuits who haue devised a new doctrine of Equivocation and Mentall Reservation If yee aske of a Priest art thou a Priest Hee will confidently and boldly deny himselfe and say I am no Priest reseruing in his minde of Baal or of Apollo which speech and reservation put together make vp they say one entire and true sentence I am no Priest of Baal or Apollo And this is the starting hole which these Foxes haue provided for themselues in the time of danger But O thou thrice blessed Lord and Saviour Christ and O yee blessed and holy Apostles and Martyrs of Christ how simple and ignorant were yee that yee knewe not this doctrine Had you knowne it how easily might you haue avoided those many troubles vexations and torments that yee endured Thou O Christ being demanded whether thou were the Christ mightst readily haue answered I am not with this reservation such as yee looke for yee Apostles and Martyrs of Christ being questioned whether yee were Christians might easily haue replyed we are not reseruing only in your mind such as yee slander vs to be devourers of young children incestuous and the like But the schoole of Machiavel and Loiola was not yet opened and Christians hitherto were trained vp only in the schoole of Christ all were of the minde of that Bishop who as Augustin saith was Firme both in name and deed who being demanded by persecutors for a Christian whom he had hidden answered roundly and without all Equivocation neither is it for a Christian to lie nor for a Bishop to betray a Christian and therefore I will not tell you I feare me when these Deniers of thēselues shall appeare before Christ at the last day mentall reseruation will hardly excuse them and because they would not be knowne to be the Priests of Christ for so they pretend neither will Christ knowe them to bee of his flocke But of this enough being but by the way To Deny then in this place is not litterally and properly to be vnderstood but thus to disclaime to renounce to reiect to despise to make no reckoning and to take no notice of When our Saviour threatneth that hee will deny them before his Father in heauen whosoeuer shall deny him before men what meaneth he but this Hee will renounce them and not owne them for his Even as it is said of Levi to his great honour He said vnto his Father and to his mother I haue not seene him neither did he acknowledge his brethren nor knewe his owne that is he regarded them not nor tooke any notice of them But what must wee thus Deny Our selues He saith not Father Mother Brother Sister Wife children Friends Honour Wealth Pleasure and yet these things must be denied too but hee