Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	catholic_n	church_n	roman_a	2,613	5	8.9971	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62640	Six sermons I. Stedfastness in religion. II. Family-religion. III. IV. V. Education of children. VI. The advantages of an early piety : preached in the church of St. Lawrence Jury in London / by ... John Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.; Sermons. Selections	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1694 (1694)	Wing T1268A; ESTC R218939	82,517	218

single Argument as any one thing in all his Epistles These things are plain and undeniable and being so are a full justification not only of the Church of England in the Reformation which She thought fit to make within her self from the gross Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome but likewise of particular Persons who have at any time for the same Reasons withdrawn themselves from Her Communion in any of the Popish Countries Yea though that single Person should happen to be in those Circumstances that he could not have the Opportunity of holding Communion with any other Church that was free from those Errors and Corruptions and which did not impose them as necessary Conditions of Communion For if any Church fall off to Idolatry every good Christian not only may but ought to forsake Her Communion and ought rather to stand single and alone in the Profess●on of the pure and true Religion than to continue in the Communion of a corrupt and Idolatrous Church I know that some Men are so fond of the Name of a Church that they can very hardly believe that any thing which ●ears that glorious Title can miscarry or do any thing so much amiss as to give just occasion to any of her Members to break off from H●r Communion What the Church err That is such an Absurdity as is by many thought sufficient to put any Objection out of countenance That the whole Church that is that all the Christians in the World should at any time fall off to Idolatry and into Errors and Practices directly contrary to the Christian Doctrine revealed in the H. Scriptures is on all hands I think denied But that any Particular Church may fall into such Errors and Practices is I think as universally granted Only in this Case they demand to have the Roman Catholick Church excepted And why I pray Because though the Roman Church is a Particular Church it is also the Universal Church If this can be and good sense can be made of a Particular-Universal Church then the Roman Church may demand this high Privilege of being exempted from the Fate of all other Churches but if the Roman-Catholick that is a Particular-Universal Church be a gross and palpable Contradiction then it is plain that the Church of Rome hath no more pretence to this Privilege than any other Particular Church whatsoever And which is yet more some men talk of these matters at that rate as if a man who thought himself obliged to quit the Communion of the Church of Rome should happen to be in those Circumstances that he had no Opportunity of joining himself to any other Communion he ought in that Case to give over all thoughts of Religion and not be so conceited and presumptuous as to think of going to Heaven alone by himself It is without doubt a very great Sin to despise the Communion of the Church or to break off from it so long as we can continue in it without Sin But if things should once come to that Pass that we must either disobey God for company or stand alone in our obedience to Him we ought most certainly to obey God whatever comes of it and to profess his Truth whether any body else will join with us in that Profession or not And they who speak otherwise condemn the whole Reformation and do in effect say that Martin Luther had done a very ill thing in breaking off from the Church of Rome if no body else would have joined with him in that honest Design And yet if it had been so I hope God would have given him the Grace and Courage to have stood alone in so good and glorious a Cause and to have laid down his Life for it And for any man to be of another Opinion is just as if a man upon great deliberation should chuse rather to be drowned than to be saved either by a Plank or a small Boat or to be carried into the Harbour any other way than in a Great Ship of so many hundred Tuns In short a good man must resolve to obey God and to profess his Truth though all the World should happen to do otherwise Christ hath promised to preserve his Church to the end of the World that is he hath engaged his Word that he will take care that there shall always be in some part of the World or other some persons that shall make a sincere Profession of his true Religion But He hath no where promised to preserve any one Part of his Church from such Errors and Corruptions as may oblige all good men to quit the Communion of that Part yea though when they have done so they may not know whither to resort for actual Communion with any other sound Part of the Christian Church As it happened to some particular Persons during the Reign and Rage of Popery in these Western Parts of the Christian Church The Result from all this Discourse is to confirm and establish us all in this Hour of Temptation and of the Powers of Darkness in the well-grounded Belief of the necessity and justice of our Reformation from the Errors and Corruptions of the Roman Church And to engage us to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering And not only to profess and promise as Peter did to our Lord though all men forsake thee yet will not I But if there should be Occasion to perform and make good this Promise with the hazard of all that is dear to us and even of Life it self And whatever Trials God may permit any of us to fall into to take up the pious Resolution of Joshua here in the Text that whatever others do WE will serve the Lord. I will conclude my Discourse upon this First Particular in the Text with the Exhortation of St. Paul to the Philippians chap. 1. v. 27. Only let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ Stand fast in one Spirit be of one Mind striving together for the Faith of the Gospel In nothing terrified by your Adversaries which to them is an evident token of Perdition but to you of Salvation and that of God And thus much may suffice to have spoken to the First thing in the Text namely the pious Resolution of Joshua that if there were Occasion and things were brought to that extremity he would stand alone in the Profession and Practice of God's true Religion Chuse you this Day whom ye will serve but as for ME I will serve the Lord. I should now have proceeded to the Second thing and which indeed I chiefly intended to speak to from this Text namely the pious C●re of a good Father and M●ster of a F●mily to train up those under his Charge in the R●ligion and Worship of the true God As for Me and MY HOUSE we will serve the Lord. But this I shall not now enter upon but defer it to some other Opportunity Consider what ye have heard and the Lord give