Selected quad for the lemma: saint_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
saint_n body_n church_n mystical_a 1,460 5 10.3110 5 false
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A38583 The reasonableness of our Christian service (as it is contained in the Book of Common-Prayer) evidenced and made clear from the authority of Scriptures and practice of the primitive Christians, or, A short rationale upon our morning and evening service as it is now established in the Church of England wherein every sentence therein contained is manifestly proved out of the Holy Bible, or plainly demonstrated to be consonant thereto / composed and written by Thomas Elborow, vicar of Cheswick ; and since his death made publick by the care and industry of Jo. Francklyn ... Elborow, Thomas. 1678 (1678) Wing E324; ESTC R31410 96,665 240

There are 2 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

Confession Contrition works of Mercy and all kind of Reformation of our lives to labour for Absolution and in all these humbly to beg of God his special grace that it may go along with all these outward ordinances and diligently to watch observe and receive it in the use of them and to lay it up in honest hearts that we may bring forth fruits with patience neither resisting nor repelling nor grieving nor quenching this Holy Spirit of God whereby we are sealed if we do not betray our selves unto the day of complete Redemption Ephes 4.30 The holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints As the first part of the Creed was chiefly concerning God so the latter part of it is principally relating to the Church of God as we begin with God in our Confession of Faith so we end with the Church for unless we are of the Church we shall lose our interest in God Now by Church in this place we are to understand a society of Believers ruled and continued according to all the ordinances before-mentioned of the Holy Ghost's settling and establishing which Church is described by these three properties Holy Catholick a Communion of Saints 1. The Church is remarkably said to be Holy in respect of the holy Powers and Offices which are settled in it and upon it in respect of the Holy Ghost the author and founder of them in respect of Christ the Head of it who is most holy in respect of the Faith of the Church which is in it self holy and makes us holy in respect of that sanctity and holiness of life which ought to be in all the Members of it in respect of the great design in the first constitution of it which was to beget and to increase holiness 2. The Church is remarkably said to be Catholick which word signifies 1. Orthodoxal as having Truth in it and so it is distinguished from the Societies of Hereticks and Schismaticks wherein is errour and falshood 2. Universal dispersed and extended all the world over and so it is distinguished from the Church of the Jews which was an inclosure divided from all the world beside It is Universal also in respect of the same Faith which it teaches to all men in all places and at all times and in respect of the same Laws and Constitutions according to which all Reformations ought to be made otherwise they will appear to be rather Innovations then Reformations an introducing of new things rather then a restoring of the old Lastly the Church is remarkably said to be a Communion of Saints in respect of the Communion of Faith and Laws in respect of the Communion of Sanctity and Holiness which ought to be in all the Members of it and in respect of the communications of Charity First Corporal charity to all the Fellow-members of Christ that are in need Secondly Spiritual charity expressed to mens souls by advice counsel reprehension spiritual conference and in any kind of effusion of Grace from God to us in praying with and for one another in praising God with and for one another which last is a duty continued mutually betwixt us and the glorified Saints in Heaven so far as is most commodious to the condition of each As the Saints in rest and joy and advanced towards the Throne of Glory in Heaven pray for their younger brethren on Earth so the Saints who are yet in the Camp and Militant on Earth praise God for those revelations of his Grace and Glory which he hath bestowed upon their elder brethren in Heaven As the Saints and Members of the Church hold communion with Christ the Head have interest in all his benefits go sharers in the common Salvation so do they hold communion one with another As in the body natural so in Christ's mystical body the Church there is a perpetual sympathy between the parts if one Member suffer all suffer with it if one be had in honour all rejoyce with it 1 Cor. 12.26 Neither doth death it self dissolve this communion for the knot of fellowship holds between the Saints departed this world and those who still remain in it The departed Saints pray to God for our good in general and we praise God for their good in particular we praise God for giving them such eminent graces on Earth and such unspeakable glories in Heaven in affections and hearts we converse with them we love their memories use all innocent means to have their exemplary lives propounded to us for our imitation we desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ and them and we judge it the greatest honour that we can do them to imitate their pious and holy lives and that we may do this in our annual day of commemoration for all-All-Saints we pray That as God hath knit together his Elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of his Son Christ our Lord so he would grant us grace so to follow his blessed Saints in all vertuous and godly living that we may come to those unspeakable joys which he hath prepared for them who unfeignedly love him through Jesus Christ our Lord. The forgiveness of sins That is I believe that by the death and sufferings of Christ there is pardon and remission to be had in the Church for all true penitent sinners which pardon all true penitens upon exact examination of themselves may be able to pronounce unto themselves but the Minister whose office it is upon a clear view of conscience so far as is fairly possible may pronounce it more authoritatively yet neither of them can do it infallibly so that as to their pronouncing Remission of sins is not properly a matter of Faith neither can it well be But the matter of Faith which is contained in this Article is this To believe that the forfeiting of our perfect unsinning innocence in Paradise shall not be able to exclude us from Gods favour and grace here nor from Heaven hereafter if we sincerely turn from sin and return to God for God is pleased to accept of Christ's sufferings as a meet and meritorious satisfaction for all true penitent sinners We are born in sin and we grow from sin to sin from bad to worse naturally and it is by the grace of God that our sins are remitted which remission is conveyed to us whilst we are in the Church and continue Church-Members by Prayer the Word and the Sacraments This Remission is not to be imputed to our merit but to Gods mercy who beholds all true penitent Christians in Christ and upon their unfeigned repentance and amendment reputes their sins as no sins But that we may have our sins pardoned and forgiven it concerns us to set our selves sincerely and industriously to the performance of those conditions upon which remission of sins is to be had to repent of them to reform from them to amend our lives to fly sin and to follow sanctity to continue in a full assurance of hope towards God that
may say it or sing it and were justly to be blamed in case we should refuse the doing so The 100 Psalm is joyned with it and the Minister may make his choice of either because both are Thanksgivings unto God enforced almost with the very same reasons and arguments RUBRICK Then shall be sung or said the Apostles Creed by the Minister and the people standing Except only such days as the Creed of St. Athanasius is appointed to be read I Believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and earth Mark 9.24 Heb. 1.2 John 14.1 Psal 124.8 And in Jesus Christ his onely Son our Lord John 1.18 John 14.1 Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary Mat. 1.20 23. Luk. 1.27 31. Suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried Mat. 27.2 1 Tim. 6.13 He descended into Hell the third day he rose again from the dead Act. 2.31 32. 1 Cor. 15.4 Ephes 4.9 1 Pet. 3.19 He ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty Act. 1.9 Ephes 4.9 10. Heb. 12.2 From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead Act. 1.11 Act. ●0 42 Act. 17.31 I believe in the Holy Ghost Mat. 28.19 Act. 19.2 1 John 5.7 The holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints Psal 87. Psal 110.3 Isa 54.2 3. 1 Cor. 10.16 Ephes 1.3 4. Ephes 4.15 16. Heb. 10.22 23 24 25. 1 John 1.7 The forgiveness of sins Luk. 24.47 Act. 2.38 Colos 2.13 The resurrection of the body 1 Cor. 15. And the life everlasting Rom. 6.23 Amen Mark 9.24 EXPLANATION This is called the Creed or Belief because all necessary points to be credited or believed in order to our Salvation are contained in it It is the Key of the Holy Scriptures an Abridgment of the Gospel Christ taught it the Apostles the Apostles taught it the Church and the Church us Though it be not Canonical Scripture as to the make yet as to the matter contained in it it is for it contains in it the very Scripture Word and Truth of God It is of greater Authority then any other Ecclesiastical Traditions of this nature whether they are Confessions of particular Churches or Writings of private men The Nicene and Athanasian Confessions mentioned and used in our Liturgy are not new Creeds but larger Explications of this It is called the Apostles Creed either because they themselves used it or because it contains the heads of that Doctrine which they taught the world and it is the Judgment of some very learned men that it is more Ancient then many writings of the New Testament At first perhaps it was no part of the Liturgy or publick Service only a prescribed Lesson for the Catechumens to be instructed in and whereof they were to make publick rehearsal in order to their admission unto Baptism There is mention made of it in the most Ancient writers of the Church and however some objections may be made against the Apostolicalness of it yet those objections certainly are not unanswerable But however most certain it is that it is so Apostolical as to the matter that it may without offence carry its denomination from the Apostles and be called their Creed because it is a most excellent Epitome and Abridgment of their Doctrine contrived in a very near resemblance to their Language and a great part of it undoubtedly digested by the Apostolical Church For if the Apostolical Churches had not this very Creed in express words yet they had a Creed very much resembling this as to the substance of the Articles though with some few syllabical variations If at any time the Articles concerning the Holy Ghost and the Church were omitted in the Creed yet they were supplied from the form of Catechizing then in use which form was in truth a Creed and with the rehearsal of which the Catechumens were Baptized Though not in Tertullian yet in Cyprian we find express mention of the Holy Church Remission of sins and everlasting life but then indeed as it is noted by Jerom all the mysteries of the Christian Faith were upon the matter terminated in the Resurrection of the flesh into which they were baptized 1 Cor. 15.19 and with it Tertullian concludes his rule of Faith yet was not the Article of Life everlasting any after-new addition only it was represented in a different order Let but the African parcels of Tertullian and Cyprian be united together and a Creed may be found as to the Essentials conformable to this of the Apostles and the like may be found in the Epistles of Ignatius who was disciple to one of them Neither was there any need for the Apostles or Fathers to commit this Creed to writing in regard it was the great depositum of the Church conveyed down from one Age to another in a Traditional way supposed by some to be the one Faith mentioned Ephes 4.5 and the form pattern or summary of sound words mentioned 2 Tim. 1.13 the body of Faith made up in all its proportions mentioned Rom. 12.6 and the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints mentioned Jude vers 3. This Creed and the other two the Nicene and the Athanasian which are but Explanations of this are ordered to be said after the Lessons to shew that Faith comes by Hearing and Hearing by the Word of God Rom. 10.17 we must first hear and then confess and they are ordered to be said standing because they are summaries of the Gospel which was ever rehearsed in that posture and because the Catechumens used to make rehearsal of their Faith in a standing posture which posture is also significant and notes that gallant resolution which ought to be in us to maintain and defend that Faith and Religion which we profess The Creed Explained I Believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and earth I for my self as every Christian ought to believe for himself do believe there is a God do believe God and do believe in God I confess him put all my trust and confidence in him acknowledge my self obliged to do his will and to obey his commands I own his title God his personality Father his power Almighty and admire and adore him for his operations and works for he is the Maker of heaven and earth He is able to do whatever is fit for God to do he can do what he will and more then he will whatever implies not a contradiction in it self or argues not imperfection in him He is so Almighty that he is liable to no imperfections and his Almightiness appears remarkably in the Creation of the World for he is the Maker of heaven and earth He made something of nothing and out of that something he made all things the glorious Heaven Angels and Spirits the Starry Heaven Sun Moon and lesser Lights with all the glorious Constellations the Airy Heaven winged Fowls Clouds and Vapours Hail and feather'd Snow Rain Lightning and terrible Thunder He made