Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	heaven_n	pharisee_n	scribe_n	2,390	5	10.4944	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44790	The glory of the true church, discovered, as it was in its purity in the primitive time also, a manifestation how and when the apostacy came, and how long it hath continued in the Church of Rome, proved to be in it, because she differs in doctrin & practice from the Church of Christ in the Apostles dayes : published for this end, that people may be informed, and their understandings opened to discern of the times and seasons, and see the difference between the lambs wife and the mother of harlots / by one who desires that all may come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved, and walk in the light of the Lord, Francis Howgill.	Howgill, Francis, 1618-1669.	1661 (1661)	Wing H3162; ESTC R38990	108,097	179

is come and the Restorer and reformer is come and all is to hear him or else be cut off from having any share in him who is the promise it self yea all the promises of him are yea and Amen in whom not only the Children of Abraham after the flesh but all the Children of the promise are blessed and him who fufilled the Law in whom God fulfilled his Oath who is the everlasting high Priest after Melchizedecks order he hath put an end to all oaths and swearing and all the types and shadows He saith Mat. 5. 33 34. It hath been said of old time thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform to the Lord thy oaths But I say unto you my Disciples and followers who have believed in me the true and living way who makes all things a new swear not at all neither by heaven c. Their being and generation then as now who said to swear by the greater is nothing but he that swears by the lesser is guilty he calls them hypocrites saith whosoever shal swear by the eternal the lesser sweareth by him the greater that dwelleth therein and he that sweareth by Heaven the lesser sweareth by the Throne of God and him that sitteth thereon the greater and if Christ had only forbid vain swearing and oaths as most do Ignorantly imagine he had done no more then the law had done before but t is manifest he forbids all swearing yea even by Lord for if they that swear by heaven swears by God that sits upon the Throne as he himself saith then he prohibits this also and saith I say unto you swear not at all and Jam. 5. 12. Who will know Christs mind saith above all things my Brethren swear not neither by Heaven nor by Earth now we know heaven earth comprehends all created things and yet the Apostle goes further excludes all manner of swearing saying neither any other oath and this he commands above and before all things and that upon the penalty of condemnation But much by divers hands have been written about this particular So I desire not to be large seeing we have a Cloud of witnesses wch have good assurance in themselves by Gods Spirit sealing unto them rather then swear bring condemnation upon themselves have denied their estates and liberties which lies at stake upon it but happy will they be who hath no hand in it to provoke the upright tempt them aside out of Christs way for woe will come undoubtedly upon such And that others may see it is no new thing Take a few examples of the faithful in ages past who suffered as Martyrs and it were an easie thing to bring a Cloud of witnesses out of the Ecclesiastical Histories of them that denied all swearing in divers ages I shall instance only a few Policarpus who was as it is said Johns Disciple had been a Christian eighty nine years when he came to suffer martyrdom the Proconsul requiring him to swear by the Emperours good fortune and by Caesars prosperity which was the custome of the Romans at that time divers Heathen Emperours set up their own Images to be worshipped and their persons to be sworn by but Policarpus denied and said he was a Christian and would show forth the doctrine of Christiany if he desired the same if the Proconsul would appoint a day and hear it so at that time it seems Christians did not swear as afterwards they did in the Apostacy And Basillides a Souldier and afterwards a Martyr being required to swear affirmed plainly that it was not lawful for him to swear for that he was a Christian so it seems that it was the mark of a Christian not to swear And the Waldenses or Leonists whose names are so famous amongst the reformed Churches who are said immediatly to succeed the Apostles were the most antient and true Protestants professed it to be as way Lawfull for a Christian to swear In defence of whom in this very thing Bishop Usher late Bishop of Armagh Primate of Ireland pleaded their cause against the Papists and Jesuites who are the swearers and breakers of Oaths and yet pleads for swearing And the plow-man in his prayer which is so much Esteemed of commended in the Book of Martyrs saith Lord thou givest us a Commandment of truth it bidding us say yea yea and nay nay and swear for nothing thou givest us also a Commandment of meekness and another of poorness But Lord he that calls himself thy Vicar on Earth hath broken both these Commandments for he maketh a Law to compel men to swear Fol. 585. And it is one of John Wickliss Articles whose works was as much esteemed of by the Protestants in England and Bohemia as dispised by the Papists and their Clergy having his bones taken up and burned fourty one years after his decease his books and these articles condemned by the Council of Constance who also burned John Hus and Jerome of Prauge for holding John Wickliss opinions that ●aths which he made for any Contract or civil bargain betwixt man and man be unlawful And Walter Brute a Teacher among the people of God in that age by scorners called the Devils Servants called Lolards against whom the Pope and the King Richard the second and then the ungodly Bishops make so much a do to have the name of Truth extinguished and the professors there cut off This is Walters Testimony As concerning Oaths I believe and obey the Doctrine of Almighty God my master Christ Jesus which teacheth that Christian men in affirmation of a Truth should pass the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees of the old Testament or else he excludeth them from the Kingdom of Heaven For he saith except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and as concerning Oaths he saith it hath been said of old time thou shalt not for swear thy self but shalt perform those things unto the Lord thou knowest but I say unto you thou shalt not swear at al neither by Heaven nor by Earth c. But let your Communication be yea yea nay nay for whatsoever is more then this cometh of evil therefore as the perfection of ancient men of the old Testament was not to for swear themselves so the perfection of Christian men is not to swear at all because they are so commanded of Christ whose Commandment in no case must be broken although the City of Rome is contrary to this doctrine of Christ c. A good Testimony of a blessed Martyr Here it appeareth that the Swearing which Christ forbids is not only prophane swearing in the communication for that was forbidden in the law where it s said thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain c. But solemn swearing which was to be performed that was the perfection of law And Kings

Waters shall have an end and the Dragon shall be laid hold on and Chained up and the Beast and false Prophet be cast into the Lake for ever Blessed are they who keeps in the Faith and patience till these things be fulfilled their hearts shall rejoyce and their tongue praise the Lord and magnifie him whose throne is established in the Heavens and his Kingdom is over all And although there was a defection from the Faith and practice of the Apostles in the first two hundred years after Christ yet doubtless there were many who lived and died in the Faith and suffered as Martyrs in the time of the great Persecutions by the heathen Emperors and many who could not nor did not sacrifice to their Idols suffered death and under-went cruel torments by the Heathen who were in the Dragons power for the Testimony of a good Conscience for confession of Christ Jesus and although divers of the Bishops of Rome and other places did bring in things which they instituted as matter of worship so people was darkned by them yet in the ten Persecutions by the Heathen Emperors many of them suffered Death and thousands of the Christians besides but deceit crept in by degrees and invented things were brought in by the Leaders of the People but these things that were invented were prest to be observed in their Diocesses and Parishes which they had made and sat down in but there was little compelling yet till the Dragon gave his power to the Beast and it was 650 years before ever the Bishops of Rome did climb up unto their heigth as to claim the title of the Universal Bishop or head of the Church or challenged Supremacy over all Christian Churches yet before this time abundance of Darkness was entred in and the power was much lost and divers innovations were brought in for Ordinances divers of the Jews Ceremonies and divers of their institutions which belonged to the first Priest-hood and these were prest upon the Churches by several leaders or Bishops as Apostolick Ordinances which had no concurrence with the Primitive Church in the firist hundred years after Christ as hereafter may be shewn in diverse things wherein they were Apostatized from the life and Power of God and from the practice of the Saints mentioned in the Scripture and of the Churches planted in the Apostles dayes CHAP. VIII Something concerning the ten Persecutions by the Heathen Emperors of Rome FOR the first three hundred years after Christ who was born in the reign of Augustus Cesar then Emperor of Rome and was rejected and crucified by the Jews in the seventeenth year of the Raign of Tiberius Cesar then Emperor of Rome who Raigned eight years after Christ was crucified when Pilate gave sentences against and delivered to the Jews the said Pilate was banished by the Emperor and afterwards he killed himself in which time Stephen the Martyr was stoned to death by the Jews and the same day Stephen was stoned Dorothees saith Nicanor one of the Deacons suffered with two thousand Christians more in his Raign about this time Paul was converred The next Emperor that succeeded Tiberius Cesar was Cesar Caligula who commanded his Image to be set up in the Temple at Jerusalem to be worshiped as God Herod who Mocked Christ with his souldiers and set him at nought was banished and died miserably he likewise put forth Caiaphas the High Priest and afterwards in the fourth year of his Raign Caligula was slain Claudius Nero succeeded him and Raigned thirteen years a grievous Tyrant and an hater of all good by him was James the Son of Zebedee Martryed and Symon and Pemenius the second of the seven Deacons Martyred and Thomas who Preached to the Medes and Persians was slain with a dart in his Raign about this time Simon Zelotes who Preached in Africa was crucified Andrew and Matthew the one crucified and the other slain with a spear Matthias and Philip the one was crucified and the other stoned to death About the 62. year after Christ James the Son of Alpheus called the Brother of Christ was stoned to death with many more and Mark slain at Alexandria Domitius Nero began his Raign about the sixty seventh year after Christ he Raigned fourteen years Emperour of Rome under him was the first of the ten Romane persecutions he caused the Christians of all ages sects and sorts to suffer he commanded Rome to be set on fire in tewlve places and to avoid the infamy thereof he accused the Christians with it and caused them to be persecuted and put to death and in the latter end of his raign Paul was put to death for the Testimony of the Faith of Christ. In the year sixty nine this Nero was afterwards proclaimed by the Senate of Rome an enemy to all Mankinde and condemned to be drawn through the City and to be whipt to death for fear of which he fled and afterwards slew himself and the Church had rest for a season from persecution after him In the ninety sixth year began Domitian the Emperor to raign who began the second persecution who was a blasphemer against God and an Idolater In his dayes was Simon Bishop of Jerusalem crucified and John the Evangelist Banished into the Isle of Patmos but after the death of Domitian he was released by Pertinax this Domitian the Emperor fearing the coming of Christ again commanded that all that could be found of the stock of David in Jury should be slain and many false accusations was brought against the Christians and the Inquisition was this Swear the truth whether thou art indeed a Christian and if they confessed they were condemned and put to death for that alone Clement succeeded Anaclatus the Bishop of Rome and after him Everistus who was Martyred under Trajanus in the 102. year after Christ. In the Raign of Trajanus the Emperor began the third persecution of the Christians Simon who was said to be Christs Kinsman was Bishop of Jerusalem and Ignatius Bishop of Antioch who suffered Martrydom in the raign of Trajanus in the year 111. with many other of the Christians who were destroyed in this Persecution the Church of Rome was not so highly exalted as afterwards she usurped Authority neither were the Officers thereof nor Bishops so corrupt as afterwards they came to be both in Doctrine and Practice Marcus Antonius Verus began the fourth Persecution in the year 162. in whose time a great number who professed Christ suffered cruel deaths in Asia and in France and other parts amongst whom was Policarpus the Bishop of Smyrna this Persecution continued thirteen years The Church had some rest under the raign of Lucius Antonius Comodus and then the Christians began to wrangle and jangle about the celebration of Easter and about observation of times and Feasts and run into things outward and contended about them and so weakned themselves and hurt one another Alexander Bishop of Rome succeeded Everistus and Telesphorus succeeded him likewise