Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	believe_v	faith_n	word_n	11,191	5	4.5836	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14239	A sermon preached before the Commos-House [sic] of Parliament, in Saint Margarets Church at Westminster, the 18. of February. 1620. By Iames Vssher. Professor of Diuinitie in the Vniuersitie of Dublin, in Ireland; Substance of that which was delivered in a sermon before the Commons House of Parliament, in St. Margarets Church at Westminster, the 18. of February, 1620	Ussher, James, 1581-1656.	1624 (1624)	STC 24554; ESTC S119955	33,194	56

the Spirit of Christ the soule as it were of all the rest and that whereby the iust doth liue is Faith For we through the Spirit waite for the hope of righteousnesse by faith saith S. Paul to the Galatians And againe I liue yet not I but Christ liueth in me and the life which I now liue in the flesh I liue by the faith of the Sonne of God who loued me and gaue himselfe for me By faith it is that wee doe receiue Christ and so likewise Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith Faith therefore is that spirituall mouth in vs whereby wee eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his blood that is as the Apostle expresseth it without the trope are made partakers of Christ he being by this meanes as truly and euery wayes as effectually made ours as the meate and drinke which we receiue into our naturall bodies But you will say If this be all the matter what doe we get by comming to the Sacrament seeing we haue faith and the quickening Spirit of Christ before wee come thither To this I answere that the Spirit is receiued in diuers measures and faith bestowed vpon vs in different degrees by reason whereof our coniunction with Christ may euery day bee made straiter and the hold which we take of him firmer To receiue the Spirit not by measure is the priuiledge of our Head we that receiue out of his fulnesse haue not our portion of grace deliuered vnto vs all at once but must daily looke for supply of the Spirit of Iesus Christ. So also while we are in this world the righteousnesse of God is reuealed vnto vs from faith to faith that is from one degree and measure of it to another and consequently we must still labour to perfect that which is lacking in our faith and euermore pray with the Apostles Lord increase our faith As wee haue therefore receiued Christ Iesus the Lord so must wee walke in him rooted and built vp in him and stablished in the faith that wee may grow vp into him in all things which is the Head And to this end God hath ordained publike officers in his Church for the perfecting of the Saints for the worke of the ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the vnity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Sonne of God vnto a perfect man vnto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ and hath accordingly made them able Ministers of the Spirit that quickeneth and Ministers by whom we should beleeue euen as the Lord shall giue to euery man When wee haue therefore receiued the Spirit and Faith and so spirituall life by their ministery we are not there to rest but as new borne babes we must desire the sincere milke of the Word that we may grow thereby and as growne men too wee must desire to be fed at the Lords Table that by the strength of that spirituall repast we may be inabled to doe the Lords worke and may continually be nourished vp thereby in the life of grace vnto the life of glory Neither must we heere with a fleshly eye looke vpon the meanenesse of the outward elements and haue this faithlesse thought in our hearts that there is no likelihood a bit of bread and a draught of wine should be able to produce such heauenly effects as these For so we should prooue our selues to be no wiser than Naaman the Syrian was who hauing receiued direction from the man of God that he should wash in Iordan seuen times to be cleansed of his Leprosie replied with indignation Are not Abana and Pharpar riuers of Damascus better then all the waters of Israel May I not wash in them and be cleane But as his seruāts did soberly aduise him then If the Prophet had bid thee doe some great thing wouldest thou not haue done it How much rather then when hee saith to thee Wash and be cleane So giue mee leaue to say vnto you now If the Lord had commanded vs to doe some great thing for the attaining of so high a good should not we willingly haue done it How much rather then when hee biddeth vs to eate the bread and drinke the wine that he hath prouided for vs at his owne Table that by his blessing thereupon wee may grow in grace and be preserued both in body and soule vnto euerlasting life True it is indeed these outward creatures haue no naturall power in them to effect so great a worke as this is no more then the water of Iordan had to recouer the Leper but the worke wrought by these meanes is supernaturall and God hath been pleased in the dispensation both of the Word and of the Sacraments so to ordaine it that these heauenly treasures should bee presented vnto vs in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power might be of God As therefore in the preaching of the Gospell the Minister doth not dare verba and beate the aire with a fruitlesse found but the words that hee speaketh vnto vs are Spirit and life God being pleased by the foolishnesse of preaching to saue them that beleeue so likewise in the administration of the Lords Supper he doth not feed vs with bare bread and wine but if we haue the life of faith in vs for still we must remember that this Table is prouided not for the dead but for the liuing and come worthily the Cup of blessing which he blesseth will be vnto vs the communion of the blood of Christ and the bread which hee breaketh the communion of the body of Christ of which precious body and blood wee being really made partakers that is in truth and indeed and not in imagination onely although in a spirituall and not a corporall manner the Lord doth grant vs according to the riches of his glory to bee strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man that we may bee filled with all the fulnesse of God For the Sacraments as well as the Word be a part of that ministration of the Spirit which is committed to the Ministers of the New Testament for as much as by one Spirit as before we haue heard from the Apostle wee haue been all baptized into one body and haue been all made to drinke into one Spirit And thus haue I finished the first part of my taske my Congregatio homogeneorum as I call it the knitting together of those that appertaine to the same body both with their fellovv-members and vvith their Head vvhich is the thing laid dovvne in the expresse vvords of my Text. It remaineth novv that I proceed to the Apostles application hereof vnto the argument hee hath in hand vvhich is Segregatio heterogeneorum a disseuering of those that bee not of the same communion that the faithfull may not partake

A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE COMMOS-HOVSE Of Parliament in Saint Margarets Church at Westminster the 18. of February 1620. By IAMES VSSHER Professor of Diuinitie in the Vniuersitie of Dublin in Ireland LONDON Printed by I. D. for Iohn Bartlett and are to be sould at the golden Cup in the Goldsmiths Rowe in Cheapside 1624. TO THE HONOVRABLE ASSEMBLY of the Commons House of Parliament IT pleased this Honourable Assembly to require my seruice in preaching at that late religious meeting of yours for the receiuing of the holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper I was afterward also sent vnto by the like authority to publish that which according to my poore ability I then deliuered And although in respect of my selfe and of my want of time to prosecute such a subiect I could wish I had beene spared from such a taske yet rather then the expectation and expresse signification of the desire of the representatiue body of the whole Comminalty of the Kingdome should rest vnsatisfied I haue yeelded to commit this vnto the disposing and direction of them for whose sakes it was at first vndertaken Opprimi enim me onere officij malui quàm id quod mihi cum fide semel impositum fuit propter infirmitatem animi deponere The very words which then I vttered I am not able to present vnto you the substance of the matter I haue truly laid downe though in some places as it fell out somewhat contracted in others a little more inlarged Whatsoeuer it is I wholly submit it vnto your graue censures and so beseeching the Lord to giue you prosperous successe in all your worthy indeuours for the seruice of God his Maiesty and your Countrey I rest Yours in all Christian duty to be commanded IAMES VSSHER 1. Cor. 10. Vers. 17. Wee being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one bread OTher entrance I need not make vnto my speech at this time then that which the Apostle himselfe presenteth vnto mee in the verse next but one going before my Text I speake to wise men The more vnwise might I deeme my selfe to be who being so conscious vnto my selfe of my great weakenesse durst aduenture to discouer the same before so graue and iudicious an Auditory but that this consideration doth somewhat support me that no great blame can light herein vpon mee but some aspersion thereof must reflect vpon your selues who happened to make so euill a choyce the more facile I expect you to bee in a cause wherein you your selues are some wayes interested The speciall cause of your assembling at this time is first that you who professe the same truth may ioyne in one body and partake together of the same blessed Communion and then that such as adhere vnto false worship may bee discouered and auoyded You in your wisedome discerning this holy Sacrament to bee as it were ignis probationis which would both congregare homogenea and segregare heterogenea as in Philosophie wee vse to speake both conioyne those that be of the same and dis-ioyne such as bee of a differing kinde and disposition And to this purpose haue I made choyce of this present Text wherein the Apostle maketh our partaking of the Lords Table to bee a testimony not onely of the vnion and communion which wee haue betwixt our selues and with our Head which he doth in the expresse words which I haue read but also of our dis-vnion and separation from all idolatrous worship as appeareth by the application hereof vnto his maine drift and intendment laid downe in the 14. and 21. verses The effect therfore of that which Saint Paul in expresse termes heere deliuereth is the Communion of Saints which consisteth of two parts the fellowship which they haue with the Body laid downe in the beginning and the fellowship which they haue with the Head laid downe in the end of the verse both which are thus explained by Saint Iohn That which wee haue seene and heard declare we vnto you that ye also may haue fellowship with vs and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Sonne Iesus Christ 1. Ioh. 1.3 Let them therefore that walke in darknesse brag as much as they list of their good-fellowship this blessed Apostle assureth vs that such onely as doe walke in the light haue fellowship one with another euen as they haue fellowship with God and Iesus Christ his Sonne whose blood shall cleanse them from all sinne And to what better company can a man come than to the generall Assembly and Church of the first-borne which are inrolled in heauen and to God the Iudge of all and to the spirits of iust men made perfect and to Iesus the Mediator of the new Couenant and to the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things then that of Abel No fellowship doubtlesse is comparable to this Communion of Saints To begin therefore with the first part thereof as the Apostle in the third to the Galatians maketh our being baptized into Christ to bee a testimony that wee are all one in Christ so doth hee heere make our partaking of that one bread to be an euidence that we also are all one bread and one body in him And to the same purpose in the twelfth Chapter following he propoundeth both our Baptisme and our drinking of the Lords Cup as seales of the spirituall coniunction of vs all into one mysticall body For as the body is one saith he and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body whether wee bee Iewes or Gentiles whether we be bond or free and haue been all made to drinke into one Spirit Afterwards hee addeth that wee are the body of Christ and members in particular and in another place also that We being many are one body in Christ and euery one members one of another Now the vse which hee teacheth vs to make of this wonderfull coniunction whereby wee are made members of Christ and members one of another is two-fold 1. That there should be no schisme in the body 2. That the members should haue the same care one for another 1. Cor. 12.25 For preuenting of Schisme hee exhorteth vs in the fourth to the Ephesians to keepe the vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and to make this bond the firmer hee putteth vs in minde of one Body one Spirit one Hope one Lord one Faith one Baptisme one God and Father of all who is aboue all and through all and in vs all by this multiplication of vnities declaring vnto vs that the knots whereby wee are tyed together are both in number more and of farre greater moment then that matters of smaller consequence should disseuer vs and therefore that wee should stand fast in one spirit with one minde striuing together for the faith of the Gospell and

committed by Iew Pagan or Christian so if such as professe the Name of Christ shall practise that which the Word of God condemneth in Iewes and Pagans for Idolatry their profession is so farre from diminishing that it augmenteth rather the hainousnesse of the crime The Idols of the Heathen are siluer and gold the worke of mens hands saith the Psalmist and so the Idols of Christians in all likelihood mentioned in the Reuelation are said to bee of gold and siluer and brasse and stone and of wood which neither can see nor heare nor walke The description of these Idols wee see agreeth in all poynts with Popish Images where is any difference The Heathen say they held the Images themselues to be gods which is far from our thought Admit some of the simpler sort of the Heathen did so what shall we say of the Iewish Idolaters of whom the Apostle here speaketh who erected the golden Calfe in the Wildernesse Can wee thinke the they were all so senselesse as to imagine that the Calfe which they knew was not at all in rerum naturâ and had no being at that time when they came out of Egypt should yet be that God which brought them vp out of the land of Egypt And for the Heathen did the Romans and Grecians when they dedicated in seuerall places an hundred Images for example to the honour of Iupiter the king of all their gods think that thereby they had made an hundred Iupiters or when their blocks were so old that they had need to haue new placed in their stead did they think by this change of their Images that they made change also of their gods without question they must so haue thought if they did take the very Images themselues to be their gods and yet the Prophet bids vs consider diligently and wee shall finde that the Heathen nations did not change their gods Ierem. 2.10 11. Nay what doe we meet with more vsually in the writings of the Fathers then these answers of the Heathens for themselues Wee worship the gods by the Images Wee feare not them but those to whose image they are made and to whose names they are consecrated I doe not worship that stone nor that Image which is without sense I neither worship the Image nor a spirit in it but by the bodily pourtrature I doe behold the signe of that thing which I ought to worship But admit they did not account the Image it selfe to be God will the Papist further say yet were those images set vp to represent either things that had no being or diuels or false gods and in that respect were Idols wheras we erect Images onely to the honour of the true God and of his seruants the Saints and Angels To this I might oppose that answere of the Heathen to the Christians We doe not worship euill spirits such as you call Angels those doe we also worship the powers of the great God and the Ministers of the great God and put them in minde of S. Augustines reply I would you did worship them you should easily learne of them not to worship them But I will grant vnto them that many of the Idolatrous Iewes Heathens Images were such as they say they were yet I deny that all of them were such and confidently doe auouch that Idolatry is committed by yeelding adoration to an Image of the true God himselfe For proofe whereof omitting the Idoles of Micah and Ieroboam which were erected to the memory of Iehouah the God of Israel as also the Athenians superstitious worship of the Vnknowne God Act. 17.23 if as the common vse of Idolaters was they added an Image to their Altar I will content my selfe with these two places of Scripture the one whereof concerneth the Iewes the other the Heathen That which toucheth the Heathen is in the first Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans where the Apostle hauing said that God had shewed vnto thē that which might be knowne of him and that the inuisible things of him that is his eternall power and God-head was manifested vnto them by the creation of the world and the contemplation of the creatures hee addeth presently that God was sorely displeased with them and therefore gaue them vp vnto vile affections because they changed the glory of that vncorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible men and to birds and foure-footed beasts and creeping things Whereby it is euident that the Idolatry condemned in the wisest of the Heathen was the adoring of the inuisible God whom they acknowledged to be the Creator of all things in visible Images fashioned to the similitude of men and beasts The other place of Scripture is the 4. of Deuteronomy where Moses vseth this speech vnto the children of Israel The Lord spake vnto you out of the midst of the fire yee heard the voyce of the Words but saw no similitude onely yee heard a voyce verse 12. And what doth he inferre vpon this Take yee therefore good heed vnto your selues saith he in the 15. vers for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake vnto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire Left yee corrupt your selues and make you a grauen image the similitude of any figure the likenesse of male or female the likenes of any beast that is on the earth the likenes of any winged fowle that flieth in the aire the likenesse of any thing that creepeth on the ground the likenes of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth Where we may obserue first that God in the deliuery of the Law did purposely vse a voyce onely because that such a creature as that was not to be expressed by visible lineaments as if that voyce should haue said vnto the Painter as Eccho is fayned to doe in the Poet. Vane quid affectas faciem mihi ponere pictor Si mihi vis similem pingere pinge sonum Secondly that when he vttered the words of the second Commandement in mount Sinai and forbad the making of the likenes of any thing that is in Heauen aboue or in the Earth beneath or in the Waters vnder the Earth hee did at that time forbeare to shew himselfe in any visible shape either of man or woman either of beast in the earth foule in the aire or fish in the waters beneath the earth to the end it might be the better made knowne that it was his pleasure not to be adored at all in any such formes that the worshipping of Images not onely as they haue reference to the creatures whom they doe immediately represent or to false gods but also as they haue relation to himselfe the true God who was then speaking vnto them in the Mount did come within the compasse of the Idolatry which was condemned in that Commandement In vaine therefore doe the Romanists goe about to perswade vs that