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A32767 Ecclesia enucleata: The temple opened: Or, A clear demonstration of the true gospel-church in its nature and consitution, according to the true doctrine and practice of Christ and his apostles. By I.C. Chauncy, Isaac, 1632-1712. 1684 (1684) Wing C3750; ESTC R215133 47,294 178

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This Communion in the Holy Ghost runs through the whole Catholick Church in all Ages and Countries for where the common Bond of Union is this Communion must be 3. To make Communion in the Body compleat there must not only be this Participation in a common good by all the Members but a Communication of all good to each other mutually as they are capable and fellow-feeling with each other in all Sufferings The Spirit of Christ thus influencing all the Members appears and manifests it self in Graces and Gifts variously working towards this mutual fellowship of Parts both in good and evil of each other which are called the Operations of the Spirit as for Graces the Principal wherein the Catholick Communion doth consist are Faith and Love and by these they Communicate with Christ the Head receiving from him and making return to him as it were in a reciprocation as also a mutual communication to and with each other for Faith is the leading Grace of Communion for our present state by it we receive of the fulness of Christ for Justification and Sanctification John 1. and by Faith the Saints have communion one with another for as it is the foundation of the love of God in the heart so it is of our love to our Brethren believing them to be Justified in Christ Jesus and Members of his Body for Love founded on the Faith of the good estate of another is properly Charity the credibility of anothers Profession gives ground of Faith that he is what he professeth and this joyned with Love makes Charity wherefore the Apostle takes it in this sence when he saith Philemon 5. Hearing of thy Love and Faith which thou hast toward our Lord Jesus Christ and all Saints Moreover by Faith the Saints visible have a kind of Communion with those that went before and who are to come after it being the substance of things or persons in futurition hoped for and the evidence or demonstration of the Truth of things not seen i. e. removed from sence by timen parterition or place in absence so thereby we see the Saints and those Truths attested by them in Ages past 4. As for Love it 's not only the most eminent Grace of actual communion between Christ and his Members and of them with each other in the state that we are in here but it 's almost the only remaining when we go hence 1 Cor. 13.13 John treats much of the transcendent excellency of this Grace throughout his Epistle c. 1 John 4.11 If God so loved us we ought to love one another 12. If we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is made perfect in us by this Grace we have communion with all Saints Militant and Triumphant 1 John 5.1 Every one that loveth him that is begot loveth him that is begotten of him 5. Now by Communion in these two Graces the Church grows up to its full perfection the Apostle saying Ephes 4.12 That the Ministry and Ministration is for the Building up of the Body of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 agreement in all points of Faith and Profession of it and to the knowledge of the Son of God the Head to the perfect man to the measure of the Stature of the fullness of Christ Mystical filling up his Body and receiving influentially of his Fulness by Faith and v. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do grow more and more sincere in Love this Love shews it self in its fellow-feeling also that it works in us whereby we communicate in each others Sufferings and supply each others wants for the good of the whole this part of Communion is fully discoursed by the Apostle 1 Cor. 12.13 14 c. yea in the most part of the Chapter 6. Thus far Communion belongs to the Church under its Catholick consideration in its Mystical State there must be some external actions and things that are visible whereby the Communion of these Graces must be manifest in Ministry Offices Gifts Ordinances but all for and from the Spirit and these eminent Graces of Faith and Love 7. Communion then of particular Congregations must be by Christ's Ordination visible in those sacred Means and Ordinances appointed by Christ for its growth confirmation and building up in Grace and Truth God having made his Church in its visible state the Nursery of Grace and the Knowledge of the Truth Eph. 4.12 For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying the Body of Christ i. e. in the militanting visible part 13. till we all come in the Vnity of the Faith and the Knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Verse 14. That we should be henceforth no more Children 8. The Edification of the Church being appointed by Christ in a way of Communion we are to consider 1. wherein this visible communion doth consist 2. what is the ground and end of it 3. where and between whom it is 1. Wherein doth it consist It doth consist first in participation of some common benefit and advantages which a particular Congregation are capable of and have frequent fellowship together in and these are Church-Gifts and Church-Ordinances Acts 2.42 They continued stedfast in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship in Breaking Bread and in Prayers and for this end hath Christ furnished his Church with Ministry and Ordinances Ephes 4. Ministry by erecting extraordinary and ordinary for the planting of his Church our Saviour thought meet to send them with extraordinary Commission and qualifications those that were such were especially Apostles Prophets Evangelists 1 Cor. 12.28 First Apostles secondarily Prophets Eph. 4.11 These were all to be Witnesses of the Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord Jesus and confirm their Doctrine by Miracles had their inspiration of the Holy Ghost special Presence of God and power in the Churches wherever they came especially the Apostles 9. The Apostles were XII which waited upon our Lord during his Ministry on earth before his Sufferings Judas then falling from his Ministry when our Lord Ascended he left eleven to which Matthias was added by Lot and Election of the Church Act. 1. to these two more were added afterwards by special command of the Holy Ghost to the Prophets in the Church at Antioch Act. 13.1 2 3. compared with chap. 14.14 Which when the Apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of and before that Ordination Barnabas was but a Prophet sent from the Church at Jerusalem to assist them that were there before as appears chap. 11.22 23. and chap. 13.1 10. The Prophets I apprehend to be such who were furnished with Gifts and Graces and extraordinary inspiration their Call and Commission being such for the calling of the Gentiles and gathering the Churches And I suppose them to be those Brethren of the 120 that waited together at Jerusalem till they were baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire being all equally with the
upon grounds more evident believed then any reasons brought to prove the contrary by that worthy person wherein he acknowledgeth himself almost singular in this undertaking and lays his first and greatest stress on that expression 1 Cor. 11.22 Here saith he I take the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Church to note not the Assembly but the place appointed for sacred duties and that from the opposition thereof to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their own houses these are places proper for common and ordinary repast and not the Church or hous● of God This is the only argument which he brings besides some obscure passages of some Fathers whose opinions will not sway here but as in other things so far as we see them consonant to the truth manifest in Scriptures compared together and it seems strange that the word should have a tropical meaning in this place and every where else a proper one and besides the reason from the opposition will not hold especially if we consider what Mr. Mede understands those Oratories or Churches of theirs to be It is not to be imagined that in the first three hundred years before Constantines time that they were such goodly and stately structures as the Church had after the Empire became Christian At the first some capable and convenient Room within the walls or dwelling of some pious Disciple dedicated by the religious bounty of the owner to the use of the Church and that usually an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upper room or Caenaculum It 's very probable that all the Disciples houses were at the service of the Churches but that any one house or room in a house was dedicated so to that religious use as to be separated for it from common uses when the Church met not is not probable at all for in times and places of Persecution if Churches meet in any certain house or place though in a private house they shall be sure to be interrupted and broken in upon by Persecuting Officers and Informers The only place met in for some time considerable that we read of was Pauls own hired house at Rome but we find not that it was consecrated or called a Church I am sure consecrated Barns Garrets Cellars or Dining Rooms would be esteemed by our devout Ecclesiasticks a great Abomination But how will the Opposition hold if the Room called the Church was in the same house they eat and drank ordinarily in He should have rather said Have ye not Kitchens or Parlours of common use to eat and drink in but you must despise or put a Prophanation on the Garret which is the Church of God Besides if that Addition had not been made to the Church I should much rather have enclined to Mr. M●des sence if he had said only despise ye the Church But I take it that it would be a very audacious and highly abusive Expression to say T●at a Meeting-house is a Church of God or a Church of Christ And why is not the Opposition as full thus Have you not houses to eat and drink in or Families for so the word is used But you must do it in the Church-Assemblies for they made their Love-feasts in their Assemblies It is evident enough that the Apostle takes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Assembling of the Church together as vers 18. where its used when you meet together in Assembly i. e. when you are Congregated together I hear that there have been Divisions or Schisms among you and those he means had the Divisions who were the Church for the Gospel ascribes culpable Schismes no where but to Body Politicks or Assemblies not to Houses But if we grant Mr. Mede all that he so industriously labours to squeeze out of the Text only to favour the Relative Holiness of such places it s not to be supposed that he intended that they were real and proper Churches but only Metonymical Churches by a Trope and improperly so named no otherwise allowable names putting the Continens pro contento to distinguish places allotted to convenient assembling in Religious Worship from Town-halls and other houses of meeting together for publick concerns or more private Society and Conversation And so we lose nothing by it if such a place be called improperly a Church it s not the Church of Christ intended in the Gospel which Christ purchased with his blood nor built of living stones nor such as Christ is the Head of nor such as Paul wrote his Epistles too nor the Church of Corinth which he exhorts rebukes and commends in the Epistles that he wrote And therefore we may with the greatest assurance conclude that no place where Religious Assemblies frequently use to be is a Church of Christ or may properly be so called They that plead the Expression in the Ephesian Town-Clerks Speech Act. 19.37 Ye have brought hither these which are neither Robbers of Churches Shew their little skill in the Original Text the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Robbers of Temples such as were dedicated to the Heathen Gods and Godesses to which they ascribed not only Relative but inherent Holiness and therefore adapted that name to them CHAP. III. Of a National and Provincial CHURCH CHrist never instituted any such Church under the Gospel Administration as a National and Provincial or Diocesan there is as much for one as for the other there 's no seeming pretence can be made for any of them from any Gospel Expression when I say this I mean not a Church in a Nation Province or Diocess nor all the particular Churches in such place collectively and co-ordinately considered But I mean in the usual acceptation of such Churches in our day as of France of Spain of Denmark c. and in the sence that a National Church was taken in under the Old Testament viz. an Organized National Provincial or Diocesan Church that have Officers or Members suited to their respective Natures and Constitution as Pastors and other Officers Exercising National Provincial or Diocesan Jurisdiction in Ecclesiastical Courts or elsewhere and Members quatenus Natives of such places being therefore said to be born within the Pale of the Church or by vertue of such Nativity have immediate right to baptism and made so I say that that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no where signifies such a Church in the New Testament except when there is mention made of the Church of the Jews and the word is but once used in Application to them Act. 7.38 This was he who was in the Church in the Wilderness this we own was a National Church but elsewhere in the New Testament I know not of one place where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can with any fair pretence be understood of a National Church Besides it may be argued from undeniable reasons that Christ instituted or intended not such a Church for the days of the Gospel If it be duely weighed that Christ by his Death put a full Period to the whole Jewish
reason of his remove And that this is so de facto see Can. 28. entituled Strangers not to be admitted to the Communion Church-wardens c. shall observe Whether any Strangers come often and commonly from other Parishes to their Church and shall shew their Ministers of them least perhaps they be admitted to the Lords Tahle amongst others which they shall forbid and remit such home to their own Parish-Churches and Ministers there to receive the Communion with their rest of their Neighbours Just as one Neighbour doth with the others Dogs when they run into each other houses a munching Home you Cur you c Here 's no admission of Members of another Parish therefore our conclusion holds good That by this bond of Communion Christians are cut off from the free Election of their Minister and Society in holy things whereas he is not enthralled so in worldly matters he can go out of the Parish to choose his Physician Chirurgion Wife Nurse Apprentice Taylor Trade and deal for any Commodities where he will excepting Spiritual and in those he must take no better will he nill he then his own Parish-shop affords Is not this so far from a Gospel constitution of a Church that it 's a miserable wretched and damnable device of the Devil to destroy the very nature of Gospel-Churches and ruine poor Souls to all intents and purposes I know what will be still pleaded for a Parish Church without respect some will it may be say to the bond of Cohabitation and that is this That where-ever the Word and Sacraments are Administred that is a true Church To which I answer these things 1. There is no politick Society but hath a bond of Union and if that be proved null void and of no effect as we have done the whole Society or Corporation falls to the ground 2. That which is Sawce for a Goose is for a Gander also if the Preaching the Word and Administring the Sacraments make a Church without any more why do the Assertors of Parish-Churches deny Separate Congregations where the Word and Sacraments are Administred to be such 3. There may be a Church in a Parish where the VVord is Preached and Sacraments Administred but it follows not thence the Parish is the Church It 's possible there may be a Church of Christ in Algiers but then it follows not that the City of Algiers is a Church 4. The 19th Can. of the Church of England saith There should be a Congregation of faithful men and a due Administration and the Word of God Purely Preached Implying that where the Majority at least which carries the denomination of the whole in all body politicks are not visibly faithful men but otherwise there 's not a Church of Christ likewise where the word of God is corruptly Preached and the Sacraments unduely administred 5. A Ministers Preaching by a meer Parish-relation makes him no more a Pastor then cohabitation makes the Parishioners Members for a Ministers Parish-relation is only a humane institution and indeed a matter of Civil Right which may be well improved in Reformed Christian Nations in order to Spiritual Advantage for the interest of Christ and his true constituted Churches by the countenance of good Magistrates but that it is a Church-relation setled on Gospel-grounds it would be absurdly insolent to pretend That the establishment of a Ruling Preaching Officer in the Church of Christ should be 1. by the Presentation of a Forreigner or a Tyrannical Gentleman or Landlord in the Parish it may be the most profest Enemy to Christ and his Church and if of the first sort by one that knows not the temper and disposition of the people nor the Abilities Parts and Honesty of him he Presents never regarding so much those qualifications whereby he might edify the people but only some carnal ends and advantages or particular regard to the Person of the Parish-Rector to prefer him or provide a competency for his Subsistance This man being presented is instituted and inducted takes to the profits for his life unless he forfeit them by some Puritan or Phanatick faults performs Parish-duties as the Law of some people requires this is his Parish-relation but not in the least grounded upon the Gospel 6. A Minister may Preach a great while in any place to any sort of people before there is a Church as for Conversion or for tryal of his Gifts and Parts but none can be so absurd as to affirm that that constant Preaching renders the Parish a Church for we know by woful experience that the word may be powerfully Preached in Parishes for a great while and great part most or it may be all be scarcely civilized but remain in Professed Atheism or manifest Prophaneness it may be open Persecuting Enmity to Godliness And if any say it must be constant Preaching that must denominate the Parish a Church I would know how long And what time is required If it be said till some are brought home to Christ and by a visible Profession to submit to his Gospel-Rules and Government then the limits of the Church is no further then the effects of the Gospel and it comprehends not those Inhabitants that still remain Professed Rebels against Christ So that if the Preaching the Gospel in a Parish renders it a Church of Christ as such one Sermon will do it as well as a hundred I say if all the Parishioners as such are to be the Church-members without exception upon the Gospel Preached 7. A Minister is often sent by Christian Magistrates for Conversion of People shall they presently be a Church whether they receive or own his Doctrine or no And it may be none of them or at least most of the Parishioners capable of judging of him or his Doctrine or a Minister sometimes is imposed by a Patron or Bishops c. upon a capable people shall they presently fall into a Church-Relation whether they approve him and choose him or no Such things carry the greatest absurdities with them 8. As Preaching may be in a Parish and no Constituted Church of Christ there so there may be the Administration of Sacraments and no Church of Christ there and if there be in the Parish it makes not the Parish a Church Suppose a pretended Minister imposed on a people that evidently enough declares himself by his life and Doctrine never to have been sent of Christ and challengeth the Parish by vertue of Humane Laws to be his Church as they call it which in general own no other Church-Relation but by Cohabitation this man goes on to Preach the Sentiments of his own Brain abuse Scripture Reproach Godliness rail at Persecute and devour the Sheep of Christ if there be any joyn in with the wicked ignorant lewd and debaucht part of the Parish and do all he can to infect the rest with the Scab or Rot This man Baptizeth and Administers the Lords Supper to his Infected Flock calls the soundest Schismaticks and Separatists Doth