Selected quad for the lemma: power_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	bishop_n	great_a	presbyter_n	2,619	5	10.2721	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38579	A prospect of the primitive Christianity, as it was left by Christ to his Apostles, by the Apostles to their disciples Saint Polycarp and Holy Ignatius, both contemporaries with and disciples to the Holy Evangelist and Apostle Saint John whose lives follow in this short treatise, together with their famous epistles written to several churches / translated according to the best copies out of the original Greek into English, by Thomas Elborowe ...	Elborow, Thomas.; Polycarp, Saint, Bishop of Smyrna. Epistola ad Philippenses. English.; Ignatius, Saint, Bishop of Antioch, d. ca. 110. Epistolae. English.	1668 (1668)	Wing E323; ESTC R15095	56,995	138

life which is set before you Why are we not all wise having received the knowledge of God that is Jesus Christ Why are we foolishly destroyed being ignorant of that Grace which the Lord hath truly sent amongst us My spirit is the Off-scouring of the Cross which is a scandal to unbelievers but to us Salvation and Life eternal Where is the wise where is the disputer where is the boasting of wise men so called For our God Jesus Christ was conceived by Mary according to the Oeconomie of God of the seed of David by the holy Ghost who was born and baptized that he might through sufferings cleanse the water And the Virginity of Mary the Child born of her and the Death of the Lord were hid from the prince of this world being three crying Mysteries yet wrought up by God in silence How came he then to be manifested to ages A Star in Heaven appeared which out-shined all the other stars and the light of it was ineffable and the Noveltie of it did contain a strangeness in it All the other stars together with the Sun and Moon were a Chorus to this Star which did carry in it a brightness and splendour above them all The world was troubled about it to find out how this New-Star should appear amongst the other stars so unlike unto them hereupon all Magick was dissolved and every bond of wickedness dis-appeared ignorance was taken away the old kingdom was destroyed when God appeared as man for the renewing of Life eternal But that which was perfect with God took a beginning and thereupon all things worked together to bring about the destruction of death If Jesus Christ through your Prayers shall make me worthy and it be his will in a second little Book which I am about to write unto you I will lay open unto you how I began my Oeconomie in the New man Jesus Christ both in his Faith Love Passion and Resurrection and I shall the rather do this if the Lord shall reveal it unto me Because all of you man by man through the grace of his Name concur together in Jesus Christ of the stock of David according to the flesh the son of man and the Son of God and ye are all obedient to the Bishop and to the Presbyterie with an undivided mind breaking one bread which is the Medicine of Immortalitie an Antidote against death preserving to Life eternal in Jesus Christ I could give my life for you and for him whom ye have sent to Smyrna for the honour of God whence also I write unto you giving thanks unto the Lord loving both Polycarp and you Remember me as Jesus Christ also remembers you Pray for the Church which is in Syria whence I am led away a Prisoner unto Rome being the last of the faithful there if I may be accounted worthy to be found to the honour of God Farewel in God the Father and in Jesus Christ our common hope To the Ephesians To the Magnesians Ignatius who is also Theophorus to the Church blessed in the Grace of God the Father through Jesus Christ our Saviour which is at Magnesia neer to Maeander which I salute in him and wish it very much joy in God the Father and in Jesus Christ. KNowing your most excellent Order of Love which is according to God I joyfully made it my choice to speak unto you in the faith of Jesus Christ For being accounted worthly of the Name most becoming God in these bonds wherein I carry it about I celebrate the Churches praying that they may be united in the flesh and spirit of Jesus Christ who is our endless life by Faith and Love before which nothing is preferred but chiefly of Jesus and the Father through whom having patiently endured every injury from the prince of this world and escaping them we shall enjoy God For I was accounted worthy to see you by Damas your Divine Bishop and the worthy Presbyters Bassus and Apollonius and Sotion the Deacon my Fellow-servant whom I would enjoy because he is subject to the Bishop as to the Grace of God and to the Presbyterie as to the Law of Jesus Christ And it becomes you not to make any use to your selves of the age of the Bishop but to give him all Reverence according to the power of God the Father as I have known holy Presbyters not presuming upon that juvenile order which appears but as wise men in God concurring with him yet not with him but with the Father of Jesus Christ the Bishop of all Therefore for his honour who wills it it is meet we perform obedience without hypocrisie For a man doth not deceive this Bishop whom we see but puts a fallacie upon him who is invisible This is not spoken in reference to the flesh but to God who knoweth secrets Therefore it is meet not onely to be called Christians but to be so For some indeed there are who own the Bishop in name but do all things without him Such men appear to me to be men of no good Conscience because they hold meetings not established by commandment All works have some end two are propounded Death and Life and every man shall go to his proper place As there are two sorts of Coyn one of God another of the world and each Coyn hath its proper stamp set upon it Infidels have the stamp of this world Believers in love have the stamp of God the Father by Jesus Christ whose life cannot be in us unless we can through him voluntarily die into his Passion But seeing I have in the persons prescribed taken a view of your whole multitude in Faith and Love I admonish you to do all things in the unanimity of God your Bishop being President over you in the place of God and the Presbyters in place of the Council of the Apostles and the Deacons most pleasant to me having the Diaconie of Jesus Christ committed to them who was with the Father before ages and in the end appeared Having therefore all received manners like unto God reverence one another and let no man defraud his neighbour according to the flesh but love one another always in Jesus Christ Let nothing be amongst you which may possibly divide you but be united to the Bishop and to those who are Presidents over you according to the Type and Doctrine of incorruption Therefore as the Lord being united to him did nothing without the Father neither by himself nor by the Apostles so neither do ye act any thing without the Bishop and the Presbyters Neither attempt any thing upon your own account however reasonable it may appear unto you When ye come together into one place let there be One Prayer One Supplication one mind one hope in Love and in immaculate joy There is one Jesus Christ than whom nothing is better Therefore all concur together as into the Temple of God as to one Altar to one Jesus Christ who came from one Father and being

that ye are so informed For I have received the Exemplar of your love and have it by me in your Bishop whose behaviour is a great Disciplination and his meekness power whom I think that very Atheists do reverence being satisfied that I spare not my self Formerly though I might have matter to write I thought not fit for this cause lest being a condemned person I might seem to command you as an Apostle I am wise in God as to many things yet do I measure my self that I may not be destroyed by boasting For now it behooves me to be very much affraid and not to give heed to those who would puff me up For when such speak unto me they scourge me Truly I love to suffer but know not whether I am worthy For my zeal appears not to many but I have the greater war within I have need therefore of meekness that by it the prince of this world may be defeated Cannot I write unto you of things celestial but I am affraid lest I should give you some offence being yet but babes Therefore pardon me for I would not perplexe you with those things which ye are not able to bear For it is not for a slightie matter that I am a Prisoner being acquainted with things celestial and the Angelical Orders and their governing Constitutions things visible and invisible and besides this I am now a Disciple For many things are wanting to you that we may not fall short of God Therefore I exhort you not I but the love of Jesus Christ to use only the Christian nutriment and to abstain from that strange herb which is heresie For the times are such that persons worthy of credit seemingly do fold in heresie with Jesus Christ like those who administer deadly poison and temper it with a drink made of honey and sowre wine which the ignorant receives with pleasure and so dies by an evil delectation Therefore preserve your selves from such and so it shall be if ye are not puffed up being inseparable from God Jesus Christ and the Bishop and the Orders of the Apostles He who is within the Altar is pure that is he who does any thing without the Bishop Presbyterie and Deacons is of an impure Conscience Not that I have known any such thing among you but foreseeing the subtilties of the devil I take care of you before hand being my beloved Do ye therefore re-assuming your mild disposition build up your selves anew in the faith which is the flesh of the Lord in love which is the bloud of Jesus Christ Let none among you have any quarrel against his Neighbour Give no offences to the Gentiles that the Multitude which is in God be not blasphemed by a few foolish men For Wo to him through whose foolishness my Name is blasphemed amongst some Therefore be deaf to him who speaks to you without Jesus Christ who was of the stock of David and of Mary who was truly born eat and drank was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate was truly crucified dead things in heaven on earth and under the earth beholding him And was truly raised again from the dead his Father raising him up according to his likeness as his Father will raise up us also if we believe in him through Jesus Christ without whom we have no true life But if as some Atheists that is Infidels s●y He suffered only in appearance as they themselves are only in appearance why am I in bonds and why do I pray that I may fight with beasts therefore do I not die without reward and am I not a lyar against the Lord Fly therefore evil plants which bring forth deadly fruit which if a man taste of he dies presently For these are not the Plantation of the Father if they were they would appear branches of the Cross and their fruit would be incorruptible Through which Cross by his Passion he Advocates for you being his Members The Head therefore cannot be born without the Members God having promised the Vnion of them who is himself I salute you from Smyrna together with the Churches of God which are present with me who have every way refreshed me both in flesh and spirit My bonds which I carry about for Jesus Christ do admonish you that I desire to enjoy God Continue in your Vnanimitie and in Prayer one for another For it becomes you all one by one exceedingly and the Presbyters to comfort up the Bishop for the honour of the Father of Jesus Christ and of the Apostles I beseech you in love to hear me that writing unto you I may not be a witness within you Pray also for me out of that Charitie which is in you for I need the mercy of God that I may be accounted worthy of the Lot which I labour to enjoy and may not be found Reprobate The love of the Smyrneans and Ephesians saluteth you Remember in your prayers the Church which is in Syria whence I am not worthy to be called being the last of them Farewel in Jesus Christ being subject to the Bishop as to the Commandement and likewise to the Presbyterie And love one another man by man with an undivided heart My Spirit shall be an expiation for you not onely now but when I shall enjoy God For as yet I am in danger but the Father who is faithful will fulfil my Petition and yours in Jesus Christ in whom may ye be found unblameable To the Trallians To the Romans Ignatius who is also Theophorus to the Church which hath obtained Mercy through the Magnificence of the most high Father and Jesus Christ his onely begotten Son sanctified and enlightned by him who willeth all things which are according to the love of Jesus Christ our God which is President over the Churches about in the Region of the Romans as over a Quire being divine comely most blessed worthy of praise in a becoming order eminently chaste and set up for a President of Charitie having the Law of Christ and bearing the Name of the Father which I also salute in the Name of Jesus Christ the Son of the Father according to the flesh and spirit united in every command of his filled with all the Grace of God without any difference and purged from every strange tincture wishing very much joy in our Lord Jesus Christ our God immaculately HAving beseeched God I happened to see your divine faces as I much desired to receive you And being in bonds for Jesus Christ I hope to salute you if it be his will that I may be accounted worthy to continue to the end For the beginning is well ordered if thereby I may obtain Grace so as to obtain my Lot unto the end without impediment For I fear your charitie lest it prove injurious to me For to you it is easie to do what ye will but to me it is a difficult thing to enjoy God unless ye are the more sparing to me I would not have you to please men

to God will perfect me that I may obtain that Lot to which I was chosen flying to the Gospel as to the flesh of Jesus and to the Apostles as to the Presbyterie of the Church We love also the Prophets because they preached the Gospel and did hope in him and expect him in whom also believing they were saved in the Unitie of Jesus Christ being holy men worthy to be beloved and most worthy of admiration born witness of by Jesus Christ being his Martyrs and numbred up together in the Gospel of the common hope But if any man preach Judaism to you hear him not For it is better to hear Christianism from one circumcised than Judaism from one uncircumcised But if both of them speak not of Jesus Christ they are to me as Pillars and Monuments of dead men whereon the names of men onely are written Flie therefore evil arts and the frauds of the prince of this world lest being troubled with his opinion ye be weakned in charitie Be all of you made up into one with an undivided heart I thank my God that I have a good Conscience as concerning you and that no man hath wherof to glory either privately or publikely that I have been burdensom to any either in little or much And I beseech all to whom I have spoken that they possess not this as a Testimonie And although some would seduce me according to the flesh yet my spirit which is from God is not seduced He knows whence it comes and whither it goes and is a reproover of secrets I have cried in the midst of you I have spoken it with a loftie voice Attend unto the Bishop and the Presbyterie and the Deacons And though some have suspected me to have spoken these things as foreknowing the Division of some yet he is my witness for whom I am a Prisoner that I have not been taught it by man but the Spirit preached it saying these things Do nothing without the Bishop Keep your flesh as the Temple of God Love Vnitie Flie divisions Be ye followers of Jesus Christ as he himself is of the Father Therefore I did what was proper for me as a man perfected unto Unitie But where there is division and wrath God dwelleth not Therefore the Lord pardons all Penitents if they shall return by Repentance to the Vnitie of God and the Council of the Bishop I believe the Grace of Jesus Christ who will loose every bond from you And I exhort you to do nothing with contention but according to the Discipline of Christ For I have heard some speaking in this wise That if I find it not amongst the Antients I do not believe the Gospel And when I replied to them That it is written They answered me It lies before us But Jesus Christ is to me Antiquitie and the Records not to be touched are his Cross and his Death and his Resurrection and the Faith which is by him in which things I would be justified through your Prayers Honourable are the Priests but more honourable the High-priest to whom are committed the Holies of Holies and with whom alone are deposited the hidden things of God He is the Door of the Father by whom Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the Prophets and Apostles and Church of God have entered All these things are for the Unitie of God But the Gospel hath something in it chiefly valueable and that is The Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ his Passion and Resurrection For the beloved Prophets preached of him but the Gospel is the Perfection of incorruption All things together are excellent if ye believe in Love But seeing that through your Prayers according to the bowels which ye have in Christ Jesus the Church which is at Antioch of Syria as is told to me is at peace it becomes you as the Church of God to ordain a Minister to go thither as an Embassadour upon the Embasie of God to joy together with them that they are made one and to glorifie his Name Blessed in Jesus Christ shall that man be who shall be accounted worthy of such a Ministery and ye your selves shall be glorified This is not impossible for the Name of God if ye have but a will to it as some neighbour Churches also have sent Bishops others Presbyters and Deacons As for Philo the Deacon of Cilicia he is a man that hath given a good Testimonie and now ministers to me in the Word of God together with Rheus Agathopus a choyce man who accompanies me from Syria having renounced this life these also bear testimonie to you and I give thanks to God for you because ye have received them as the Lord you But they who have dishonoured them may obtain Redemption by the Grace of Jesus Christ The Love of the Brethren who are at Troas saluteth you whence also I write unto you by Burrus who was sent along with me from the Ephesians and the Smyrneans for the Word of honour The Lord Jesus Christ will honour them in whom they hope in flesh soul faith love and unanimitie Farewel in Christ Jesus our common Hope Ignatius to the Philadelphians To the Trallians Ignatius who is also Theophorus to the holy Church beloved of God the Father of Jesus Christ which is in Trallis of Asia elect and divine having obtained peace in the flesh and bloud by the Passion of Jesus Christ our hope and the Resurrection grounded upon him which I salute in fulness in an Apostolical Style wishing much joy I Have known you to have a blameless understanding not to be severed in Patience and that not by use but by nature as Polybius your Bishop hath manifested to me who by the will of God and of Jesus Christ was at Smyrna and did so congratulate me a Prisoner for Jesus Christ that I did view over your whole multitude in him Therefore receiving from him that good disposition of mind which is according to God I gloried finding you as I had known you the followers of God For in regard ye are subject to the Bishop as to Jesus Christ ye appear to me not to live as men but to live according to Jesus Christ who died for us that believing in his death ye may escape death Therefore it is necessary as ye do to do nothing without the Bishop but that ye be subject to the Presbyterie as to the Apostles of Jesus Christ our Hope in whom we should be found having our conversation It behooves the Deacons also being the Mysterie of Jesus Christ to please all men every manner of way For they are not the Ministers of meats and drinks but Ministers of the Church of God Therefore it is necessary for them to avoid accusations as fire Let all in like manner reverence the Deacons as Jesus Christ and the Bishop being the Son of the Father and the Presbyters as the Council of God and companie of the Apostles Without these a Church is not called Of whom I am perswaded