Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	church_n	ground_n	pillar_n	2,625	5	10.3132	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07951	The Christians comfort In a sermon appointed for the crosse, but preached in S. Pauls Church on Candlemas day, 1623. By Thomas Myriell, rector of S. Steuens in Walbrooke London.	Myriell, Thomas, d. 1629.	1623 (1623)	STC 18321; ESTC S103112	27,424	72

Now for the finding this blessed God which will make an end of all our seeking sundry things are necessary to know which if they be not vnderstood may occasion vs to lose all our labour For three waies saith Bernard l Beruard in Cant. ser 75. men may be frustrated in seeking Cùm non in tempore quaerunt aut nen sicut oportet vel non vbi oportet Either if men seeke not in due time or secondly in a right manner or thirdly in a fit place For the first We must seeke him in due time Isa 55.6 Seeke the Lord while he may be found call vpon him while he is nigh Signifiying that Erit proculdubio cùm inueniri non poterit m Bernard vt supra There will bee a time when hee cannot bee found that is when this life is ended Now is the acceptable time now is the day of saluation 2. Cor. 6.1 Thou maist put it off if thou wilt Et expectato salutem in medio Gehennae quae facta est in medio terrae Bern. ibid. and waite for saluation in the midst of hell which was wrought for thee in the midst of the earth When this life hath an end then our seeking hath an end and if we finde not here wee shall be sure to misse hereafter It is neither Hell nor Purgatory nor the Graue that can put vs in any hope of finding God Here if wee misse we misse for euer O poore seduced Romanists why should you thinke to finde God in Purgatorie when yet the wisest men of the Church could neuer find that there is any Purgatory When Chrisostome n Chrys con 2. de Lazar. tels you So long as wee are here wee haue excellent hope but being once gone non est postea situm in nobis poenitere neque commissa dilüere It is not in our power afterwards to gaine repentance or to wash away sinne No Purgatorie can then purge vs Cypryan ad Deme●r When Cyprian tels you Hîc vita aut amittitur aut tenetur Here life and happinesse is either got or lost When Epiphanius o Epipha cont haeres lib. 2. To. 1. hares 59. tels you After this life is ended Impletum est tempus certamen perfectum euacua tum est stadium et coronae datae sunt The time is fulfilled the combate ended the race is runne and the crownes giuen When Augustine p Aug. ad Mac. Epist 54. tels you Of amendment of manners there is no place but in this life For this life being ended Quisque id habebit quod in hâc sibi conquisiuit Euery man shall haue that which hee hath gained in this life Seeke not expect not hope not for God when thou art dead if thou caredst not to finde him when thou wert aliue And as we must seeke him onely in this life so must we seeke him early in this life Isa 21.12 The morning comes and also the night if you will seeke seeke If euer you meane to be doing begin betimes Imitate the holy women Mar. 16.1 who sought Christ earely betimes in the morning Bee stirring in the prime of thy youth giue God the may den head of thy life there is no reason Satan should haue the flowr of our daies God the bran that were to offer the halt blind and lame on his altar if we begin not to seeke him till we haue giuen ouer seeking all things else yea it is iust that he in his age should neuer finde him who in his youth would neuer seeke him Thus then learne first to seeke him in due time Secondly remember also to seeke him in the right place And where is that saith Greg. q Greg. Moral lib. 18. cap. 15. but In sinu matris Ecclesiae in the bosome of our mother the Church Mary Magdalen sought him in his graue but S. August r August de temp ser 133. reproues her Quid quaeris in tumulo quā adorare debes in coelo why seekest thou him in the graue below whom thou shouldest adore in the heauens aboue Ioseph and Mary sought him in the crowde and among their kindred but S. Bernard demaunds Quomodo ô bone Iesu inter cognatos meos te inueniam qui inter tuos minimè es inuentus How O sweet Iesus shall I finde thee among my secular acquaintance when thou wert not found among thine owne naturall kinsmen The Papists seeke him in their Images Crucifixes But the Scripture teacheth them Christ which is the Author of verity cānot be found in an Image which is a teacher of lyes Haba 2.18 And who can thinke the worke of man can conteine therein the Maker of man or that that which is not quickned with life in it selfe can hold Life it selfe that quickneth all things If any man say Lo here is Christ or lo hee is there beleeue him not Math 24.23 Come therefore to the Scriptures preached in the Church there shall you finde him and the Church too For in a sweet and harmonious manner wee finde the Scriptures in the Church and the Church in the Scriptures we finde the Scriptures in the Church for to her are committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3.2 And for this she is the ground pillar of truth 1. Tim. 3.15 And in the Scriptures wee finde the Church with the Church Christ Else would not Augustine f August ad Bonif. Epist 50. haue said In sanctis Libris vbi manifestatur dominus Iesus ibi et eius Ecclesia declaratur In the holy Bookes where our Lord Christ is manifest there is also declared his holy Church Come then to the Church if you desire to finde Christ When Ioseph Mary had lost him after three dayes labour at last they found him in the Temple Luke 2.46 There is his Seate and there he is still in medio Dictorum in the middest of his Ministers to aide them in preaching yea and in medio Discipulorum in the middest of his Disciples to heare them in praying It is well noted by Rabanus Amat medium Mediator Dei et hominum The Mediatour of God and man loues the middle part alwaies When he was borne he was in medio iumentorum in the midst of the beasts when he was twelue yeeres old hee was in medio Doctorum in the middest of the Doctors vvhen he taught he stood in medio Discipulorum in the midst of his Disciples when he dyed he was in medio Latronum in the midst of the Theeues Now hee is in heauen hee is in medio Angelorum in the midst of his Angels and yet also in medio Christianorum in the midst of vs Christians according to that Math. 18.20 Wheresoeuer two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the middest of them To this house then let vs come For where should we sind one but in his owne house And therefore Cant. 1.7 when the Church demanded of Christ Vbi pascis vbi

earth What is meant by beholding but dwelling by heauen earth but a righteous man saith Augustine y August in Psal 112. who is Heauen propter spiritus libertatem for the libertie of the spirit and earth propter corporis seruitutem for the seruitude of the body Now hee with whom God dwels is certainely with God and so wee are with him because he is with vs. More plainely two waies a man is said to be with God in intellectu affectu in the vnderstanding and iudgement and with the will affections In our vnderstanding when we know him in our affectinos when wee loue him But both these must goe together to be perfectly with God Non enim potes saith S. Bernard z Bernard aut amare quem non nouerit aut habere quē non amaueris Thou canst not either loue him whom thou doest not know or inioy him whom thou doest not loue First therefor we are with him if we know him and from him if we know him not Not that wee can perfectly know him and therefore cannot perfectly be with him That we cannot perfectly know him the sharpest wits haue confessed Trismegistus among other titles called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as Lactantius a Lo●● de ira Dei lib. 8. cap. 11. expounds it Tantus vt ab bomine not possit aut verbis enarrari aut sensibus astimari So great that he can neither be expressed in words nor conceiued in thought And as August b Aug. lib. de cog ver vit de verb. Dom. serm 38. sweetly The best part of our knowledge is rather to know what hee is not then what hee is For as a curious Statue or forme is composed brought into perfection by hewing and cutting something still from it not by adding any thing vnto it so this great Lord is knowne of vs by denying him such and such like things as are common to the creatures and by ●●●ing away humane conceits from him wher●●e goe about to conceiue what he is But though we know him not wholy as he is in himselfe yet we may must know him holily as he is in his Word For as the King is knowne what hee is by his Lawes so God is perceiued who he is by his Will neither is any man so farre from God as he which knowes not his Word and Commandement And thus two sorts of men are seuered from God the ignorant and the erroneous The ignorant for such are not with God they are they know not where God dwels in light but the ignorant man is in darkenesse and therefore he is said to grope Act. 17.27 In this case were all wee before Christ came and all Heathens thens now vnto whō Christ is not yet come They are not in this world with God but they are with the god of this world And the god of this world is the Diuell in the world to come who shall punish them for not knowing the true God that made them Ignorance whether ther it be a sin as in such as might know or a punishment of sinne as in such as could not know it is in both not iusta excusatio but c 〈◊〉 ad Sixt. Epist 105. iusta damnatio no iust excusall at the barre of Gods iudgement but a iust refusal from the ioyes of Heauen And as bad or vvorse is the erroneous man For he wilfully goes out of the way when the hand poynts him to the true path Hee is not vvith God for God is truth and he is run madding with the many-headed monster Errour How many by a peruersenesse of iudgement think they are with Christ when they be with Antichrist that suppose they bee with the Church of God when they are with the Synagogue of Satan that imagine they bee vvith Iesus when they are with the Iesuits that hope they are in the gates of heauen when they bee in the mouth of hell Sulpitius Seuerus d in vit S. Martin lib. 1. tels a story That neer the Citie where S. Martin sate there was a religious place much frequented on it an Altar built at it much deuotion vsed because as vvas thought certain Martyrs there had suffered for the name of Christ S. Martin being troubled that he knew not vvhat Martyrs they were after hee had abstained for a vvhile from the place at time conuenient hee repaired thither and fell a praying to God that he would declare vvho and vvhat Martyrs these were vvhose renowne had so famoused that frequent place At last there starts out a ghost of a gastly and grisly aspect and tels him his name and his condition Latronem se fuisse ob scelera percussum That he vvas no Saint but a sinner not of the company of Martyrs but murderers cùm illos gloria se poena retineret seeing they were in glory and happinesse he in paine and torment Thus this credulous people thought they vvere with God or some Saint vvhen they vvere vvith the Diuell and a Theefe May wee not iustly thinke our Romanish Samaritanes in the same danger vvho worship they know not what That thinke by their deuotion they do seruice to heauen vvhen it may be their Saint to whom they be deuoted is in hell And then as their Canus e Lib. 5. cap. 5. quae 5. con 3. tels them Nihil refert Diabolum colas an hominem condemnatum It is all one to vvorship the diuell a damned soule I vvil not lay this to their charge though some of their owne mistrust it nor vvill I say they vvorship some theef though Antichrist be the greatest theefe in the vvorld robbing God of his honour Christ of his office the Church of the Scripture Christs Saints of their liues but thus much I say they are not where they say they are for they are in error blindnesse vvhen they boast they be in light and verity And this is so much more in excusable by how much they shut their eyes against the light and like the Iewes put from them the vvords of eternall life Act. 13.46 For the learned though they cannot but see many of their errours yet as Pliny f Plin. lib. 5. cap. 1. said of some such like Ignor antiae pudore mentiri non piget being ashamed to be found ignorant they are not afraid to lie And for the vnlearned the Iesuiticall blinde obedience hath made them bold to refuse all light of most holy truth insomuch as they will neither be vvith God that made thē nor their Countrey that bred them nor the Church that begat them nor their friends that are neere them nor their Soueraigne that protects them But for our selues seeing God is vvith vs by preaching let vs be with him by practice no place of the vvorld where God shines so bright as in England no place of England like London no place of London like this this is Bethel the House of God here haue you the