Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	church_n	invisible_a	visible_a	2,874	5	9.2871	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47164	The Presbyterian and independent visible churches in New-England and else-where brought to the test, and examined according to the doctrin of Holy Scriptures ... : more particulary directed to those in New-England, and more generally to those in old England, Scotland, Ireland, &c. : with a call and warning from the Lord to the people of Boston and New-England, to repent, &c. : and two letters to the preachers in Boston, and an answer to the gross abuses, lies and slanders of Increase Mather and Nath. Morton, &c. / by George Keith.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1691 (1691)	Wing K191; ESTC R21261	124,580	240

the World without them or from the natural and mortal part in them that we plead a freedom from for it is readily granted that such Temptations may and do follow the best Men and therefore they ought to watch against them and resist them the which if they do and that they no wise joyn and consent to Temptation it is not sin unto them according to that saying of an Ancient Non nocet sensus si desu Consensus i. e. the sense of the Temptation doth not hurt if the consent be not given unto it 5 thly The Seed or Principle of Evil tho' it remain in the mortal or natural part at times move to evil Thoughts and Desires c. yet not being in any wife joyned nor consented unto neither outwardly in Word or Deed nor inwardly in the least Thought or Desire or delight and love of the Heart yielded unto nor obeyed is not imputed to be Sin unto Men who do not joyn to it nor obey it even as the Seed and Principle of God's Grace of Truth Holiness and Righteousness that is in the Hearts of wicked Men and oft moveth in them to turn and convert them unto God from the evil of their ways yet not being consented or yielded unto nor obeyed by them it is not in that case their Righteousness nor doth it make them in any respect righteous unless they joyn and yield unto it in true Obedience 6thly It is not the same degree and stature of Perfection that God requireth of every one but according to that measure and degree of Grace and Light that God hath imparted to every one to some more to others less but to every one sufficient to the present time and state For he that was faithful in the improving his two Talents to make them four was accepted although he made them not ten as he that was faithful in his five and made them ten and they were both proportionally rewarded hence we read of good and holy Men who are said to be perfect in their Generation according to the Light and Grace that God gave them in their Day and Age. And the high Priest that had on his Breast the Vrim and Thummim that signifieth Lights and Perfections was a Type of Christ our great and only high Priest who hath the Vrim that is Lights and the Thummim that is Perfections and distributeth of these Lights and Perfections variously towards his Saints and Children but to all sufficiently And so the degree of Perfection and perfect Obedience ought to answer to the degree of Light and Grace that God giveth through Christ unto every one and he who is faithful in that degree though he hath not the same equal degree and measure that another hath is perfect in that respect and the Child in the Child's state is perfect being faithful to the Grace and Light that is given him and if he die in that state he is safe and cannot perish as well as he that is a Man in Christ and is come up to the spiritual stature and growth of a spiritual Man So that Faithfulness in the Work and Service of God is that which doth render a Man perfect in the sight of God according to the ability of Light and Grace received whether in the state of a Child Young-man or Elder in Christ And thus I have gone through all the twelve particulars which I charged on the four Teachers whether Presbyterian or Independent at Boston and have given them not only my Assertions but my Arguments against their false and pernicious Doctrins that do not feed but starve and kill the Souls of them that believe and receive them CHAP. IX Of the Constitution and Government of their visible Church who are called Presbyterians and Independents or gathered Churches 1. THe visible Church they define to be or to consist of all those throughout the World that profess the true Religion together with their Children see Confession Cap. 25. Sect. 2. where it doth plainly appear that they require no other qualification to constitute or make the Members of their visible Church but a Profession of the true Religion So that nothing of true Piety or Holiness nothing of the Spirit of God nothing of an inward Possession of Christ or his Life and Power or Grace or heavenly Presence and Appearance is requisit to constitute any Members of their visible Church and thus though all the Members of their visible Church were gross and notorious Hypocrites and meer empty Formalists having only a Form of Godliness without the Power of it they are sufficiently qualified to be their Church-Members yea notoriously slanderous Persons notoriously Lyars Deceivers Drunkards Adulterers Thieves Murderers are qualified Members of their Church for all these and the worst of Men may profess the true Religion It is strange that Independents so called require no more but to profess the true Religion to make People Members of their Church Why did they formerly separate and set up Churches apart not only from the Popish and Episcopal but from the Presbyterian Churches so called if a Profession of the true Religion be enough to qualifie Persons to be Church-Members of their Church Do not those profess the true Religion as well as these called Independents Yea Do not the Presbyterians profess the same Religion in all parts with these called Independents and differ nothing from them but in some small Circumstances of Discipline Government and the like 2. We find no such Church in all the Scripture owned to be a Church of God or Christ that the outward Form or Profession of true Religion doth make a Church of God or Christ But on the contrary these who have the Form of Godliness but have not the Power of it and deny the Power the Scripture bids turn away from them For of this sort are they which creep into Houses c. see 2 Tim. 3.5 6. And consequently these can be no true Church of Christ And as for the distinction of the Church visible and invisible it may be owned in a sense but not in that sense given by them as if to profess the true Religion was sufficient to make a People to be a true visible Church of Christ For the invisible Church and the visible do not differ in Substance or Nature but in some circumstances of Time Places and outward Actions And it may be well allowed that a Company or Assembly of truly holy Men and Women meeting together at certain Times and Places that are known to People among whom they dwell and calling together upon the Name of the Lord and teaching and instructing and edifying one another every one using his spiritual Gift of Ministration whether in Praying or Prophecying to the Edification of the whole may be called a visible Church insomuch that they appear in external or outward and bodily Works and Actions that are visible But as the Body without Life or Spirit is dead and cannot properly be called a Man

the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 1.1 And it is built upon Christ that sure Foundation and Rock of Ages whom Peter confessed unto which Flesh and Blood hath not revealed unto him but the Father in Heaven And upon this Rock so confessed and so known and understood which Flesh and Blood hath not revealed but the Father in Heaven is the true Church built And this is more than a Profession of the true Religion For it is not every one that professeth the true Religion to whom the Father in Heaven hath revealed the Lord Jesus Christ as he did unto Peter and as he doth unto every true and faithful Believer and Confessor of Christ And the true Church that is built on this Rock and every Member thereof they are not only hearers and professors of the Words and Doctrin of Christ but they are doers of them But they who do not although they both hear and say they are foolish Builders and build upon the Sand and such are all these visible Churches who have no other thing to qualifie them but to profess the true Religion Now to profess the true Religion carrieth a two-fold sense one is that the Religion which People profess they call or profess it to be the true Religion and in this sense every one that professeth any Religion at all if he be in earnest professeth the true Religion that is he esteemeth or professeth his Religion to be such The other sense is that the Religion that is professed is indeed the true Religion and is not only so called or professed And according to this sense your visible Churches whether Presbyterian or Independent are no true Churches For the Religion ye profess is not the true Religion of Christ Jesus which he and the Prophets the Evangelists and Apostles did teach as I have already proved in many weighty particulars yea in Fundamentals and in the very Foundation it self which is Christ Jesus on which the true Church is built and every Member thereof But ye who say All inward divine Revelation of Christ is ceased ye build not on Christ but on a meer Hear-say and Historical report of him For how can ye build on him when ye have no belief that Christ is nearer unto you than in some remote place beyond the Skies Can the Walls of the House be built on a Foundation that is altogether remote from it Must not the House and the Foundation be immediately joyned together And must not this Foundation be seen and felt by every Member And is not this incomparably more than the best Profession of true Religion O ye blind Leaders of the Blind How doth my Soul pity you and the poor People more especially who are led by you and whom ye are still seeking to lead until both ye and they fall into the Ditch and ye ill deserve your Wages and the many Hundreds yea Thousands of Pounds that poor People pay Yearly unto you and work sore and hard to feed you and cloath you and your Wives and Children to Luxury and Wantonness many of you while in the mean time under colour and pretence of feeding the Souls of the People ye famish and starve yea poyson and kill them with your false Doctrin as I have through God's assistance sufficiently made appear and I hope yet more to make appear as I have occasion given unto me 6. And Christ Jesus the living elect precious Corner-stone the sure Foundation is laid in Zion and that Zion is not only the heavenly Zion above but the Church and People of God on Earth and Christ Jesus is one both in Heaven without us and also within us even the Man Christ Jesus the same that took hold of the Seed of Abraham and is the Son of Abraham and David according unto that Seed and he is exalted in heavenly Glory in that same Seed and Nature in the whole and intire and perfect Nature of Man in Soul and Body having put off nothing that he had upon Earth but these Weaknesses and Infirmities which he did take on him for our sake even Jesus of Nazareth he who was crucified for our Sins and rose again for our Justification who was dead and is alive and lives for evermore and he who by true Faith is joyned to the Spirit of Christ by the same he is joyned both to Christ in him and also to Christ in Heaven and also to all the Saints in Heaven and the innumerable company of Angels and Spirits of just men made perfect and also unto the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and both God and Christ are not only in remote places and Heavens without us but also in us and in all his Saints as he hath said Jer. 23.23 24. Am I a God at Hand saith the Lord and not a God afar off Do not I fill Heaven and Earth Saith the Lord. 7. And as to the Government and Governors or Rulers of your visible Churches both Presbyterian and Independent it is of the same Nature with your visible Churches the only qualification of them being an outward profession of Christian Religion and an outward Call which ye are all at a loss where to begin it as I have already proved Cap. 4. accompanied with some natural or acquired Gifts and Abilities of Letter-learning reaching no further than the Letter of the Scripture at best and oft or for most part not that for ye preach not the Letter in the form of sound words of Scripture but have so mingled it with your Glosses and wrested Senses and Meanings and Words of men's wisdom and intentions that it is but little of the very Letter ye preach But if ye did preach the Letter and have not that infallible and unerring Spirit of Christ which was in the true Ministers of Christ in former Ages and is now in his true Ministers in this Age ye are but at best Ministers of the Letter and not Ministers of the Spirit and therefore not Ministers of the New-Testament And what is the use and end of your Government but to keep poor People in Bondage under you and your false Doctrin And if they do not believe it but witness against it then ye cast them out of your Synagogues and yet then will force Maintenance from them as many of you have done And when ye had Power with the Magistrates to instigate and stir them up to persecute honest Dissenters to Whip Stock Imprison spoil Goods cut off Ears and also to put to Death for testifying against your false Doctrins from your false and fallible Spirit I say both false and fallible For seeing ye do not profess to be taught led and guided by the infallible Spirit of Christ which was in the Prophets and Apostles and in all true Christians if ye have not this Spirit your Spirit is not only fallible but false to wit the Spirit of this World For there are but two Spirits that do teach lead and guide all men on Earth the

Rev. 2.2 Thou hast tryed them which say they are Apostles and are not and hast found them Liars Rev. 3.9 Behold I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews and are not but do lie behold I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee Rev. 18.4 5 6. And I heard another Voice from Heaven saying Come out of her my People that ye be not Partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her Plagues for her sins have reached unto Heaven and God hath remembred her Iniquities Reward her even as she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her Works in the Cup which she hath filled fill to her double THE Presbyterian and Independent VISIBLE CHURCHES IN New-England And else-where Brought to the Test and examined according to the Doctrin of the holy Scriptures in their Doctrin Ministry Worship Constitution Government Sacraments and Sabbath Day More particulary directed to those in New-England and more generally to those in Old-England Scotland Ireland c. WITH A Call and Warning from the Lord to the People of Boston and New-England to Repent c. And two Letters to the Preachers in Boston and an Answer to the gross Abuses Lies and Slanders of Increase Mather and Nath. Morton c. By GEORGE KEITH LONDON Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lombard-street 1691. A Friendly EPISTLE To these PEOPLE called Presbyterians and Independents FRIENDS IN true Love and good Will I have writ the following Treatise unto you hoping it may find entertainment with some among you to give it the Reading and seriously to consider what you read and my earnest Exhortation and Advice is unto you that in all your reading whether in this or any other Book ye turn your minds to that Light of Christ within you wherewith he hath enlightned you and all Men as the holy Scriptures declare and that ye may believe in Christ the Light and Life in you who is the Wisdom and Power of God and who was in all the holy Prophets and Apostles and whose Spirit that was in them that gave forth the holy Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament and the same Spirit only doth and only can give to all Readers of the holy Scripture a true and right understanding of them and of all other Books that treat of Doctrins and Matters of Religion whether they have proceeded from a measure of the same holy Spirit And if ye believe in Christ the Light the Life the Wisdom and Power of God in you and joyn your Minds to his inward divine Illumination He will anoynt the Eyes of your Understanding with his Spiritual Eye-Salve and then your Eyes shall be opened to see and understand what ye read and through your faith in him he will also open and circumcise your inward Ears and cause you still more and more to be acquainted with his living Voice and Words in you all which are Spirit and Life and this will give you a spiritual savour and taste whereby ye shall be able to try and judge of things that differ whether Men or Books whether Spirits or Doctrins what are of God and what are not of him for although the Scriptures are the best outward Test or Touchstone or Rule whereby to try all Doctrins of Men or Books yet it is the holy Spirit of Christ and his Light inwardly shining and enlightning the dark Hearts and Vnderstandings of Men that gives them ability rightly to understand the Scriptures otherwise the Scriptures are as a sealed Book both to the learned and unlearned For though the Jews had the Scriptures of the Old Testament which prophecied of Christ and of the Time and Manner of his Coming and how he was to suffer Death for the sins of Men and to rise again and ascend into Glory yet none of them had that Understanding but such only as were turned to his divine Illumination in their Hearts and were acquainted with his holy Spirit Light and Life in them And the like grave and wholsom advice I recommend unto you which a certain Ancient Christian gave unto Justin Martyr before his Conversion to the Christian Faith to wit That he should diligently read and search the holy Scriptures which should give him more Content than all Heathen Authors but withal that he should mind the Gate the LIGHT by which only he could enter into the true Understanding and Knowledge of them The which Passage the said Justin relateth in his Works and John Fox hath it also in his Martyrology taken out of him And though in this Treatise I have affirmed and sufficiently demonstrated that your Visible Churches are no true Churches of Christ yet I do not say nor conclude that none of you belong to Christs true Church in any true regard But on the contrary I have that true Charity Faith and Hope concerning a Remnant among you who have in the least measure true Hungerings and Thirstings after Righteousness and a great inward longing and panting of Heart and Soul after the Lord Jesus Christ to know him and enjoy him more nearly than by all hear-say or report of him and whose Souls are sick of Love for him and feel your need and want of him as the sick that need the Physician that ye do indeed even all such of you belong to Christ and are the real Members of his Body which is his Church for where any living Desire is after Christ and where any true sense or feeling of the want and great need of him is raised in any Soul there is somewhat of the Life of Christ in that Soul and there is Christ himself present who hath begot it and that Soul is in some Measure a living Member of Christ and to such it will be glad Tidings to hear that Christ is so near unto it as really to be within it even really and livingly present and where the least true measure of Sincerity Tenderness Meekness Gentleness Humility Uprightness of Heart and Soul hath place in any there is Christ present in that Soul who hath already begun his good Work in the same and the beginning of his Work is to quicken and make alive the Soul unto him And every Soul that is thus quickned and made alive unto him as it doth hold fast this Beginning and doth continue still hungering and thirsting after Him to know and enjoy and receive of his Fulness more plentifully doth really belong to him and is in a state of Salvation e'en so far and as it here abideth it is impossible that it can perish But yet tho such belong to Christ and to his Church it doth not follow that the visible Church which they are outwardly and by some outward Form or Practice joyned unto is the true Church of Christ for they themselves distinguish of the Church Visible and Invisible and do affirm That Hypocrites are Members of their Visible Church