Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	church_n	head_n	visible_a	2,242	5	10.0238	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51839	XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing the description, rise, growth, and fall of Antichrist : with divers cautions and arguments to establish Christians against the apostacy of the Church of Rome : very necessary for these times / by that late reverend and learned divine, Thomas Manton ...	Manton, Thomas, 1620-1677.	1679 (1679)	Wing M522; ESTC R7577	216,743	470

Reign so many years the Pope is said to sit so long It 's his Sedes his Cathedral or Seat And again here he is said to sit as God that is as God Incarnate for Christ is the true and proper Lord of the Church None should Reign there but he And the name of this Man of sin is not Antitheos but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not one that directly invadeth the properties of the supreme God but of God Incarnate or Christ as Mediatour he sitteth negatively not as a Minister but positively as supreme Lord upon Earth whom all must adore and worship and Kings and Princes kiss his feet In short he usurpeth the Authority due to Christ. Now I shall prove that by a double argument 1. By usurping the Titles due to Christ. For he that will make bold with names will make bold with things as to be Sponsus Ecclesiae the Husband of the Church As Innocent called the Church Sponsam suam his Spouse Caput Ecclesiae the head of the Church which is proper to the Saviour of the body Supreme visible and universal head which only Christ is who hath promised to be with her to the end of the World and will be visible to those who do at length approach his Court in Heaven where his Seat is To be chief Pastor Christs own Title And when the chief Shepherd shall appear 1 Pet. 4.5 To be Pontifex Maximus The greatest High Priest Whereas Christ alone is called the High priest of our profession Heb. 3.1 and the great High Priest over the House of God Heb. 4.14 So his Vicar General upon Earth whereas the ancient Church attributed this to the Holy Ghost calling it Vicariam vim spiritus sancti he supplies his room and absence Now Titles including Power certainly they are not to be usurped without Warrant Therefore to call the Pope the chief and only Shepherd and the like It is to usurp His Authority to whom these things originally belong Secondly He doth usurp the thing implyed by the Titles the Authority over the Church which is only due to God Incarnate Supreme Authority may be considered either as to the claim right property and preheminence which belong to it or to the exercise 1. The claim and right pretended He sitteth as God in the Temple of God that is by vertue of his office there claimeth the same power that Christ had which is fourfold 1. An unlimited power over all things both in Heaven and Earth This was given to Christ Matth. 28.18 and the Pope as his Vicar challengeth it But where is the Plea and ground of the claim For one to set up himself as a Vice-God without Warrant is Rebellion against Christ. To set himself in his Throne without his leave surely none is fit to have this Authority that hath not his power to back and to administer and govern all things for the Churches good which power God would trust in the hands of no Creature 2. An Universal Headship and Supremacy over all the Churches of Christ. Now this supreme power over all Christians is the right of God Incarnate and whosoever challengeth it sits as God in the Temple of God and it is very derogatory to the comfort of the faithful that they should in all things depend upon one man as their supreme Pastor or else be excluded from the hope of Salvation Certainly this power as to matter of fact is impossible to be managed by any man considering the vast extent of the World and the variety of Governments and different Interests under which the people of God find shelter and protection and the multitude and diversity of those things which are comprized in such a Government And as to matter of right it i●●acrilegious For Christ never instituted a●● such Universal Vicar and Bishop It is a dignity too high for any Creature none is fit to be Universal Head of the Church but one that is God as well as Man 3. Absolute Authority so as to be above controul When a mortal man should pretend to be so absolute as to give no account of his actions that it shall not be lawful to be said to him what dost thou and all his Decrees must be received without Examination or Complaint this is such a Soveraignty as belongs to none but God Job 9.12 Behold he taketh away who will hinder him who can say unto him what dost thou Now this is in their Canon law that the Pope is to be judged by no man that though he should lead Millions of Souls into Hell none can say Domine cur ita facis 4. Infallibility and freedom from errour which is the property of God he neither is deceived nor can deceived Let God be true and every man a Lyar. Now that corrupt and fallible man should arrogate this to himself such an unerring in judgment is to usurp divine honour in matter of right and in matter of fact For the Pope to arrogate this is as great a contradiction to all sense and reason as if a man sick of the Plague or any other mortal Disease should say that he was immortal and in that part wherein the Disease was seated 2. As to the exercise there are two acts of supreme Authority 1. Legislation 2. Judgment 1. Legislation It is the peculiar and incommunicable property of Christ to be Lord and Lawgiver to the Church Isa. 33.22 The Lord is our Iudge The Lord is our Lawgiver the Lord is our King he will save us God alone hath such interest in his people as to prescribe supreme or universal Laws to them and we are his Subjects Jam. 4.12 There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy Now whosoever will make Laws that shall immediately bind the Conscience they invade Christs Soveraignty This is spiritual Tyranny and the worst sort of Tyranny to arrogate a power over the subjects of Christ and their Consciences as Lord of their faith He that taketh upon him to rescind and make void his Institutions and Ordinances and set his own in their place and give that reverence and honour to them which only belongeth to the Ordinances of Christ He is Antichrist whatever he be 2. As to Judgment It is an exercising an Authority no less than Divine So to take upon him to absolve man from his duty to God or the penalty which sin hath made his due The one is done by Dispensations the other by Indulgences And therefore whoever by Dispensations antiquates and dispenses with the Laws of God himself is thus guilty As dispensing with marrying the Brothers Wife Nay one of the Popes dispensed with one that took his own Sister to Wife I do not alledge this so much for the particula● facts but to shew the power which they challenged to be inherent in themselves Bellarmine saith Christ hath given Peter and his Successors a power faciendi peccatum non peccatum to make a sin to be no sin and again If the Pope should

3. An Aggregation They are all intended but principally the last A Congregation Mat. 25.32 Before him shall be gathered all Nations And not only all Nations but all Persons 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all collectivè appear before the Iudgment-seat of Christ that every one distributivè may receive according to the things done in his body c. All that have lived from the beginning of the World unto that day shall without exception of any one single person from the least unto the greatest appear before the Tribunal of Christ no Age no Sex or Nation or Dignity or Greatness can excuse us In the World some are too high to be questioned others too low to be taken notice of but there all are brought forth to undergo their Tryal there is no shifting or avoiding this day of appearance Adam will there meet with all his Posterity at once Take all the distinctions of Mankind Infants and grown Persons I mean Infants who die before they are in an ordinary way capable of the Doctrine of Life the Scriptures are written for grown persons the Case of Infants is more obscure those of them who are born within the Church God is their God Gen. 17.7 I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy Seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy Seed after thee Good and bad is the next distinction both forts come to receive their Sentence only the one come to the Judgment of Condemnation the other to the Judgment of Absolution John 5.28 29. Those that have done good to the resurrection of life and those that have done evil to the resurrection of Condemnation Acts 24.15 There shall be a resurrection of the dead both of the just and unjust The next distinction is men of all Callings Apostles Ministers private Christians Apostles Paul expected to be judged 1 Cor. 4.4 I know nothing of my self yet am I not thereby justified but he that judgeth me is the Lord he speaketh with respect to the execution of the Apostolical Office Ordinary Ministers Heb. 13.17 They watch for your souls as those that must give an account If Souls miscarry through their negligence they are answerable to God for it Ordinary Christians Rom. 14.12 Every one must give an account of himself to God Men of all conditions poor or rich weak or powerful high and low Rev. 20.12 I saw the dead small and great stand before God I mean those that are so distinguished now these distinctions do not out-live time there all stand on the same level the rufling men of the World shall then be afraid and call upon the Mountains to cover them from the wrath of him that sitteth upon the Throne Rev. 6.16 The poor are not forgotten they are Gods Creatures and must undergo his Judgment Thus shall all people that live scattered up and down in the World how much soever they differ from one another in Rites Tongues Customs of living be brought together in one place 2. There is a Segregation Mat. 25.32 33. He shall separate the one from the other as a Shepherd divideth the Sheep from the Goats and he shall set the Sheep on his right hand and the Goats on his left There may be now a confusion and mixture of the godly and the wicked as Sheep and Goats feed in the same pasture and they may be all raised together according to the places where they lived and died but then a perfect separation good and bad are first gathered together but the good are drawn into a Company by themselves but no pure Company till the great Shepherd will judge between Cattle and Cattle Ezek. 34.17 He will gather his Saints together Psal. 50.5 Psal. 1.5 The ungodly shall not stand in the Iudgment nor Sinners in the Congregation of the righteous So Mat. 13.44 At the end of the World the Angels shall come and sever the wicked from among the just 3. An Aggregation Believers are gathered together to him for several ends 1. To make up the number of Christs Train and Attendants to wait on him Iude 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with his holy ten thousands Zech. 14.5 And the Lord my God shall come and all the Saints with him 1 Thes. 4.17 The dead in Christ shall rise first and we which are alive shall be caught up together in the Clouds with them to meet the Lord in the air 2. That after Judgment we may be solemnly presented to God by head and Poll we were given to Christ to be preserved unto the Glory we were designed for John 17.6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the World thine they were and thou gavest them me not by way of Alienation but Oppignoration recompence and charge Christ is to give an account John 6. 40. And this is the will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day The Form of Presentation is Heb. 2.13 Behold I and the Children which God hath given me 3. That in one Troop we may be brought into his Heavenly Kingdom John 14.3 And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am there ye may be also The whole Flock shall then follow the great Shepherd of the Sheep into the Everlasting Fold Vse 1. Believe this gathering together to him we are joined to the Church of Gods Elect now by Faith only Heb. 12.22 23. Ye are come to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in Heaven c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a meeting made up of many different Persons gathered together from several Countries into one body and one place as the meeting of all sorts of persons from all the Corners of Greece to see the Olympick Games was called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 People of all Countries came to behold their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the mystical state of the Church of the Gospel is a general Assembly because it is not consined to one Nation but extended to Believers of all Nations and Ages they are drawn into a Body or Heavenly Society into one Fold under one Shepherd but they never meet in an actual Assembly until the last day which is the great Congregation or Rendezvouz of the Saints so that now it is matter of Faith 2. See you be of the number when some are admitted others are thrust out Luke 13.28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and ye your selves thrust out The wicked shall not stand in this Congregation Oh it is a blessed and a comfortable thing when we are made Members of the mystical body of Christ and have hopes that we shall be in the number of

those that shall meet together in the great Assembly and Congregation of the righteous that we are trained up in the Church of Christ which is the Seminary of Heaven that we are no more Strangers and Foreigners but Fellow Citizens with the Saints 3. Let us improve it many ways 1. To comfort us against the paucity of serious walkers and real Christians Alas now they are but like two or three Berryes upon the top of the uppermost bough here one and there another in some places thinner in others thicker as God hath service for them in appearance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A little Flock Luc. 12.32 But take all together they are a general Assembly that are redeemed out of every Kindred Tongue and Nation Rev. 5.9 Yea Rev. 7.9 A great multitude which none can number of all Kindreds Tongues People and Nations As few as we are and as despised as the interest of the godly is we shall not want Company in Heaven we see few going to Heaven but when we are gathered together we shall see that our everlasting Companions are many 2. To comfort us against the d●stance of Christian Friends we are often separated from the Society of good Christians whom we love dearly but we shall be gathered together in one Congregation The Saints are now scattered by Providence they live in divers Countries Towns Houses have little comfort of one another They live where they may be most useful as Stars do not shine in a Cluster but are dispersed throughout the Heaven and as they are the light of the Earth so they are the Salt of the Earth which is sprinkled here and there not laid in a heap sometimes by violence of men persecution and banishment sometimes by Death which parts Friends Perfectus est quem putas mortuum like people in a wrack got to shore before us Now what a comfort is it to be united to all Gods people which have been are or shall be to the end of the World and to meet in one Assembly Mat. 24.31 They shall gather together the elect from the four winds from one end of Heaven to another The Saints shall be gathered from all quarters of the Earth though they live in several places several times many we never saw in the flesh Christ will assemble them all bring them in unto one place 3. To comfort them under the degenerate and collapsed state of Christianity 1. The mixture of the wicked the good and bad are here mixed they live together in the same Kingdoms Cities Societies Visible Church Family Bed perhaps but then a perfect separation Zach. 14. Last There shall no more be the Canaanite in the House of the Lord of Hosts Rev. 21.27 Nothing that defileth shall enter there such a difference shall there be between the State of Gods Church in this World and the World to come here Tares are mingled with Wheat good Fish with bad in the Drag Net it is hard by Discipline to keep the sound from the infected 2. Discord the Saints are divided in Affection but then perfect Harmony they are all gathered together to Christ and have no signs and badges of distinction to herd apart 3. It 's Universal with all the Saints 4. Perpetual never to part more SERMON II. 2 Thess. 2.1 2. That ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand WE come now to the matter of the Apostles Caution which is in the second Verse That ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand In which words take notice 1. Of the error disproved that the day of Christ is at hand 2. The effect which this error might produce trouble and unsetledness of mind That ye be not soon shaken in mind or troubled 3. A removal of all the supposed Foundations of this error or the means which these Impostours used to intice them to embrace it Three are mentioned Spirit Word and Letter 1. Nor by Spirit that is pretence of spiritual Revelation be not soon shaken in mind by it 2. Nor by word some word of the Apostle which they pretended to have heard and that is another slight of deceivers some tradition or doctrine delivered by the Apostle by word of mouth 3. Nor by Letter as from us this may be understood 1. Either of some passage in the former Epistle for the Apostle saith there 1 Thess. 4.17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the air and because he joins himself with them they thought he should survive until that day or else those warnings which the Apostle gives them 1 Thess. 5.1 2 3. Of the times and season I need not write unto them for your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night c. Now these warnings they might abuse and this is one way by which men may be unsetled and unshaken i.e. by false glosses and interpretations of Scripture 2. Or rather the sence may be some spurious and counterfeit writings which was one means of deceit used in the Primitive Times supposititious or Apocryphal Legends wherein the Apostle might be said to write something as if Christ should come in that age wherein they lived Now to obviate this the Apostle is supposed to insert that passage Chap. 3.17 The Salutation of Paul with mine own hand which is the token in every Epistle so I write First From the Error disproved observe Doct. That the time of Christs coming to Judgment must be patiently expected not rashly defined or determined for this is the Error which the Apostle with such earnestness opposeth here But you will say is this such an error Do not the holy Apostles themselves say in effect the same as the Apostle Iames Chap. 5.8 The coming of the Lord draweth nigh and the Apostle Peter 1 Pet. 4.7 The end of all things is at hand Yea Paul himself 1 Cor. 10.11 These are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the World are come and Rom. 13.12 The night is far spent and the day is at hand where by night is meant the state of Ignorance Sin and Paganism before Conversion and by the day is meant the state of our full Regeneration and Illumination in eternal Glory when the corrupt World shall come to an end and all shadows shall fly away As if he had said the Mornings of the Resurrection is at hand the night is far spent not quite past and the day is at hand the night is not throughly gone nor the day wholly come yet he saith it is at hand What evil was in this Opinion that the Apostle should with such vehemency argue and reason against it Ans. There is some difference in the words