Selected quad for the lemma: saint_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
saint_n	call_v	church_n	corinth_n	2,165	5	11.4080	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65667	Energiea planēs, or, A brief discourse concerning man's natural proneness to, and tenaciousness of errour whereunto is added some arguments to prove, that that covenant entred with Abraham, Gen. 17.7 is the covenant of grace / J. Whiston ...	Whiston, Joseph, d. 1690.	1682 (1682)	Wing W1689; ESTC R39755	91,886	168

ΕΝΕ'ΡΓΕΙΑ ΠΛΑ'ΝΗΣ Or a brief DISCOURSE Concerning Man's natural proneness to and tenaciousness of Errour Whereunto is added Some Arguments to prove that that Covenant entred with Abraham Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace By J. Whiston Minister of the Gospel I have laid the Foundation and another buildeth thereon but let every Man take heed how he buildeth thereupon 1 Cor. 3.10 Nemo sibi tantum errat sed alieni Erroris Causa Autor est Sen. de vit beat Nimis perversè seipsum amat qui alios vult errare ut Error suus lateat Aug. LONDON Printed by J.D. for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden-Lyon in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1682. THE PREFACE TO THE READER THat there is a Time coming viz. When the Fulness of the Gentiles shall be come in and the Deliverer come out of Sion and hath turned Ungodliness from Jacob when all the Diversities of Doctrines shall cease and the Doctrine of the Gospel be taught in its Perfection Purity and Simplicity thereupon through the more plentiful pourings forth of the Spirit a perfect Vnty of Mind Judgment and Practice in especial in the Worship of God among Saints and that no small part of the Glory and Happiness of the Church shall consist therein these Scriptures with divers others of a like import do fully declare Hic Fluvius est uberrima Doctrina Christi Bright in loco Rev. 22.1 Zeph. 3.9 Zech. 14.9 Vnto which State when the Church is arrived she shall receive that Approbatory and Commendatory Eulogium from Christ's own Mouth Cant. 6.8 My Dove my Undefiled is but One she is the only One of her Mother she is the chief of her that bear her Then the Daughters shall see her and bless her the Queens and Concubines shall behold her and praise her Then shall she be Ephziba the King shall greatly delight in her Beauty Then shall she be called Beulah as visibly appearing in her Marriage-Vnion with Christ But alas how far doth the Church at present fall short of this Glory and Happiness What Diversity of Doctrines what Variety of Opinions and Practices arising therefrom are there Surely for the Divisions of Rouben of Zion there are and cannot but be great Thoughts and those sorrowful ones too of Heart in all that are true and legitimate Children Neither in these present Diversities of Doctrine Judgments and Practices found in the Church some of which must necessarily be erronious if not heretical less matter of Sorrow and Grief then her future Vnity is matter of Joy and Rejoycing And therefore let all that wish well unto Zion say For Zion 's sake will I not hold my Peace for Jerusalem 's sake will I not rest till the Righteousness thereof go forth a Brightness and the Salvation thereof as a burning Lamp that there may be one Lord and his Name one throughout all the Earth 'T is indeed no wonder that Errours and Heresies do abound among those who only have the Form but want the Power of Godliness especially those whom God as an effect of his Wrath and Displeasure hath sent strong Delusions and consequently while there are such in the Churches of Christ and mingled with his Saints that there are Errors and Heresies in and among them There must be Heresies saith the Apostle speaking to the Church at Corinth among you that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those that are allowed and approved viz. by Christ may be manifest 1 Cor. 11.19 But that there should be such an abounding of Errors and these some of them bordering upon and coming very nigh unto Heresies not only among but in and tenaciously held by those who have the same Faith in and Love to our Lord Christ and for whom he hath made such Provision for their Knowledg of and Guidance into Truth as he hath done is a like matter of Admiration as of Lamentation whence this should come to pass is worthy of our most serious Inquiry Some Satisfaction whereunto may be received from the former of the ensuing Discourses but yet a further Inquiry may arise with an especial respect unto those we now speak of at least some of them viz. such who not only have the old Man crucified and thereby the Body of Sin destroyed in common with all other Saints but do walk in a peculiar exactness of Obedience to the whole Will of Christ so far as known by them and consequently who cannot be supposed to be left of God nor given up to the Power of Satan to be seduced and influenced by him to the imbracement or tenacious holding of Errour especially such who have competent Parts and Abilities rendring them capable of discerning between Truth and Error Now the Enquiry is Whence it should come to pass that such as these should yet take up and embrace Errors yea and that some that are very plain and palpably so and having once taken up and embraced them should be so tenacious of them as sometimes they are found to be Can it be supposed that that corrupt Principle or Inclination unto Error connatural unto Men as fallen should retain and keep up its vigor and strength so as to have any considerable Influence upon such Men's Embracement of Error or can they be supposed to be so far under the power of Self-Love as by that to be rendered so tenacious of it when embraced by them Can these particular Lusts retain their Force and Vigor when all other Lusts are in a good measure mortified and subdued For Satisfaction hereunto I shall not at present insist on the low degree of Mortification that the Generality of sincere Christians do attain unto and consequently the Strength that inherent Lust tho greatly enervated and weakened by renewing Grace yet retains in them nor the variety of Biasses that good Men may lye under to particular Errours nor yet the Soveraign Pleasure of God in concealing particular Truths from some of his choicest Serevants There are three things that have no little Interest in such Men's embracing and tenacious holding of Error We may call them the deficient Causes of those Evils 1. Either some Error or Mistake about God as dwelling in Jesus Christ or the want of preserving in their Hearts a continual due sense of what is known of him The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first Error making way for all others oftentimes respects God himself even those who do truly know and are known of God yet may and do greatly err and mistake about him and in especial as to our present purpose about his Holiness and Jealousy proceeding therefrom respective to his own People or suppose they are right in their Notions yet they do not preserve an abiding due sense of what they know of him upon their Hearts Had but Christians those awakening words of Joshua Josh 24.19 Ye cannot serve the Lord for he is an holy God he is a jealous God he will not forgive your Transgressions nor your Sins Not only he will not forgive your

at Corinth or any other new-testament-New-Testament-Church may be so called and this I say is evident these three ways First 'T is evident from the Relation constituted between God and it as a collective Body as for Instance 1. He was a Father to it and it his Child Sometimes it is called his Son so Jer. 31.9 Hos 11.1 Sometimes his Daughter so in Psal 45.10 2. God was a Husband to that Church and it as collectively considered his Spouse Jer. 31.32 Hence the Entrance or Renovation of the Covenant between God and that Church is called her Espousals Now can it be supposed that God would take a mere Carnal Church that is a Company of ungodly and unholy Persons into such nigh Relation to himself 2dly What we affirm is evident from the special Love that God bare unto that Church She is called his Beloved Isa 5.1 Jer. 11.15 The dearly Beloved of his Soul Jer. 12.7 So how many Titles doth our Lord Christ give his Church in the Book of Canticles from which that Church cannot be excluded importing the specialty yea the strength of his Love to it 't is needless to mention them Now would an infinitely holy God bear such a Love to an unholy and ungodly Association of Men 3dly To add no more It is evident from the constant Design of all the Prophets to bring up that Church to the Power of Godliness in case of their Degeneracy therefrom But not to enlarge at present I shall only add that it seems to me to argue very low and carnal Conceptions of God and Jesus Christ to talk of his Church as being for many Generations a meer carnal Church As a Close of this we may remark how greatly Mr. C. is mistaken in his Historical Account of God's federal Transactions with Abraham In brief the History lies plainly thus When Abraham was in Vr of the Chaldees serving other Gods as Joshua speaks God of his own free Grace in a pursuance of his eternal Purposes concerning him appears to him and calls him out of his own Country to go into a Land that he would shew him and for his Encouragement so to do makes those Promises Gen. 12.2 3. whereby he prepares the Way to but doth not then enter his Covenant with him Hereupon Terah Abraham's Father takes Abraham and Lot his Grandchild by Haran and they with Abraham's Wife go into Canaan in order to their passing on unto that Land God had called Abraham unto Here they stay for some considerable Time how long we cannot determine But there Terah Abraham's Father dies after which Abraham and Lot whether upon a new Call or no is not certain come into Canaan and immediately upon their coming into that Land the Lord appears to Abraham and tells him expresly that was the Land he had promised to shew him Thus in Gen. 12.6 About nine or ten Years after this the Lord appears to him again and settles this Land upon his Posterity by Covenant yet not to be possessed by them till the fourth Generation so in Gen. 15. latter end Whether this Covenant was the same with that after established as some think I shall not determine But about fifteen Years after this when Abraham was ninety and nine Years old the Lord appears to him again and both constitutes him the Father of the Faithful and thereupon changes his Name from Abram to Abraham and now as the Father of the Faithful as well as of a natural Seed establisheth the Covenant of Grace with him and his Seed in their Generations and ordains an outward Token which he and his Seed were to keep in their Generations And then lastly about six and twenty Years after this the Lord appears to Abraham again and as before he had confirmed this Covenant in Christ more implicitely so now more expresly In thy Seed meaning principally Jesus Christ shall all the Families of the Earth be blessed Gen. 22.18 And this was the last time that we read of that God dealt with Abraham in a way of federal Transactions This being noted I return and come to the third Propsition Prop. 3. That under that Term Seed in the Promise Abraham's natural Seed namely those proceeding immediately from his own Loins were included and primarily intended This I need not insist upon having sufficiently proved it formerly See Infant Baptism from Heaven Book 1. pag. 19. to 32. Neither doth Mr. C. absolutely deny it in his 120 pag. saith he We exclude not the immediate Seed meaning of Abraham only he dissents from me in this which also some Paedo-Baptists do he thinks only Isaac was intended but that Ishmael and Abraham's other Children by Keturah were excluded Answ But be it so I see not how either the Cause of Anti paedo Baptism is much advantaged nor the Cause of Paedo-Baptism prejudiced thereby unless it could be proved therefrom that this Covenant was the old Covenant and not the Covenant of Grace which I shall not so much as suppose that Mr. C. designs Certainly to any considering Man it rather proves the quite contrary But saith Mr. C. We make a Believer's Interest in this Covenant of larger Extent than ever Abraham 's was seeing as he supposes only Isaac was a joint Confederate with Abraham but we make all the Seed of Believers Confederate with their Parents Thus p. 131. To which I answer Supposing it should be granted which yet I am far from doing that only Isaac was included with Abraham in this Covenant that would not at all weaken the claim we ground upon the Extent of this Covenant to the Covenant-Interest of all the Seed of Believers and the Reason is obvious viz. Because the Promise runs in indefinite Terms which are equivolent to universal I will be a God to thee and thy Seed in their Generations Now supposing we are to understand that Phrase in their Generations as extending the Covenant to and taking in the natural Seed of Abraham's Seed viz. Believers as I have elsewhere proved that we are to do and of which more immediately Hence tho God who knew his own Eternal Decrees should have for some special Reasons by express Revelation excluded all Abraham's immediate Children excepting Isaac from an Interest in the Promises and done the like also in respect of Isaac's Children yet after when no such exclusion was made by any immediate Revelation from God the Promise was and is to be understood in the full Latitude in which it is exprest and answerably it so was understood in all succeeding Generations God may exclude whom he will from his Promises by immediate Revelation but when no such Revelation is made we are to interpret the Promise and Practice thereupon according to the true and proper Sence of the Terms it is expressed in But. 2. I absolutely deny that God did then exclude either Ishmael or any other of Abraham's immediate Children and affirm on the other hand that they were all one as well as another included and intended in that

the Consequent is undeniable Arg. 2. If it were the failing in or non-performance of the Covenant of Grace that did forfeit or disanul their Membership in the Jewish Church who were actual Members of it then it was the Covenant of Grace that their being under or taking hold of which did give them Membership or Right or Membership in that Church But the former is true therefore the latter For the Consequent in the Major Proposition that carries its own Evidence along with it It must necessarily be the same Covenant that the failing in or the non-performance of the Conditions of which they did forfeit or disanul their Membership that their being under or taking hold of which that did give them a Membership or a Right of Membership in that Church their continuance to have performed the Conditions of that Covenant through their being under or taking hold of which they came to have a Membership in that Church would have continued their Membership therein and the failing or non-performance of the Conditions of any other Covenant could not have forfeited or disanulled that their Membership So that look what Covenant it was that the failing in or the non-performance of the Conditions of which did forfeit or disanul their Membership in that Church must undoubtedly be the Covenant that through their being under or taking hold of which they first came to have a Membership therein This istoo plain then to admit of a Denial Therefore 2. For the Minor Proposition viz. That it was their failing in or non-performance of the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace that did forfeit or disanul their Membership in that Church who before were Members of it This is expresly affirmed by the Apostle Rom. 11.25 It was their Unbelief that did forfeit and disanul their Membership in that Church They were broken off because of their Vnbelief And that Unbelief is Man's failure in or non-performance of the great Condition of the Covenant of Grace in unquestionable Now I would willingly know what Mr. C. or any others who are like-minded with him as to the nature of the Covenant do judg the Jews through their Unbelief where broken off from I conceive they must either say it was Abraham or the visible Church seeing there is no breaking off from the invisible Church If they say it was Abraham as the Root of that Nation they were broken off from then the meaning must be that through their Unbelief their Relation unto Abraham as his Children was dissolved their natural Relation it could not be hence it will necessarily follow that hitherto respective to the Covenant they had only stood in that Relation of Children unto Abraham through Faith viz. that Faith required under that first Administration But that will utterly overthrow their own Supposition viz. That the Jews stood in their Relation to Abraham as his Children meerly by virtue of their Natural Descent from him and will fully prove what I have elsewhere affirmed of which more by and by If they say it was the visible Church which they were broken off from which is the thing that we affirm then they must either say that their Church was the only visible Church or it was part of the visible Church Let them say which they please it comes all to one seeing it was the same Covenant as under or by taking hold of which they were or came to be Members of that particular Church and Members of the Universal Visible Church Now it was the Covenant of Grace that by their being undere or taking hold of which they were of the Visible Church seeing it was by the failing in and non-performance of the Conditions of that Covenant that they were broken off and that was as before is proved the Covenant of Circumcision therefore that must needs be the Covenant of Grace Arg. 3. That Covenant as under or by virtue of which the Jews had the Oracles of God committed to them was the Covenant of Grace but it was the Covenant of Circumcision or that Covenant established Gen. 17.7 that as under or by virtue of which the Jews had the Oracles of God committed to them therefore that Covenant is the Covenant of Grace The Minor Proposition is expresly affirmed by Mr. C. himself and therefore is secure from any Opposition from him See Pag. 122. Sect. 7. As for the Majro Proposition as previous to the Proof of that let it be observed That by the Oracles of God we are to understand chiefly and primarily the Word of God whether only as written or preached 1 Pet. 4.10 Tho we exclude not any other Means whereby God communicates his Will unto Men Yet I say the Word of God is chiefly and primarily intended Now that the Jews had the Word of God committed unto and entrusted with them as under or by virtue of the Covenant of Grace is evident because the Vouchsafement of this Priviledg as necessarily implied and included in those Promises that do undeniably appertain and must be referred to the Covenant of Grace As for Instance that Promise in Deut. 30.6 where the Lord promiseth to circumcise their Hearts That that Promise is to be referred to the Covenant of Grace will not I suppose be denied Now in the Promise the outward Means which are eminently the Word of God whereby God doth in an ordinary Way effect the Good promised is included and implied See my Essay p. 85. Arg. 4. If the Jewish Church were a Spiritual and not a Carnal or a mere Typical Church then the Covenant it was built upon or the being under or taking hold of which gave a Membership or a Right of Membership in it was the Covenant opf Grace but the former is true therefore the latter The Consequent in the Major Proposition needs no Proof and for the Minor that the Jewish Church was a Spiritual and not a mere Carnal or Typical Church is evident these three ways Only I shall premise this that it is readily granted that that Church at least in most Ages was too carnal many of them were wholly Strangers to Regeneration and true Piety and the major part even of those that were truly Godly yet had but a lower measure of Grace they had Spiritual Life but it was in a lower degree and so in a sense may be said to have been a Carnal Church that is comparatively they were so Thus the Church at Corinth is said to be carnal 1 Cor. 3.3 4. So much shall be readily granted but that that Church by Divine Constitution was to be and answerably at the first Plantation of it was a truly Spiritual Church that is a Church consisting of such as were truly Godly according to the Measure of Grace then given See for this my Answer to Mr. Danver's p. 102 103. And after throughout all Ages there were so many among them true Saints as that that Church in general might be denominated a Spiritual Church in the same sense in which the Church