Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	father_n	jesus_n	lord_n	17,123	5	3.7490	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28276	A sermon preach'd at the Chappel of Brentwood in Essex, October the 7th, 1693, at the visitation of the Right Reverend Father in God, Henry, Lord Bishop of London ... by Ofsp. Blackall ...	Blackall, Offspring, 1654-1716.	1694 (1694)	Wing B3051; ESTC R5712	20,756	34

Sin For what think you if the Twelve Apostles upon this leave given them by Christ had gone back with the Five thousand would they not by our Saviour himself at the great day have been judged Schismaticks or Apostates for their so deserting him And yet as Man he gave them leave to forsake him he left it to their choice whether they would stay with him or no he used no Force or Compulsion to keep them against their Wills so that here was truly Liberty of Conscience granted them They might be Christians if they would if not they might return back to the Synagogue or go whither else they pleased Here were no worldly Motives offered to them to induce them either to stay or to go but the whole matter was left to their own Conscience But notwithstanding this Toleration as it may be called it was most certainly their Duty still to adhere to that Profession of Christianity which they had taken upon themselves and if they had forsaken it they would have been guilty of a most inexcusable Sin before God And the Case is the same now Humane Lawgivers may give leave to their Subjects to be of any Religion or to be of no Religion but if they do they can't make it lawful in its self either to be Atheists or to profess a false Religion or to forsake the Communion of the True Church for to believe a God and to Worship him Publickly and to Worship him in the Assemblies of the Faithful are Duties that are laid upon us by a higher than any Humane Authority and therefore no Humane Authority can discharge us from them The Law can take away and discharge us from no Obligation but that which its self laid upon us so that all the meaning of the largest and most unlimited Toleration that the Law can grant is no more than this viz. a Declaration that men shall not be liable to any Temporal Mulcts or Penalties or be any ways punish'd by the Civil Power upon the account of any Differences in Religion or for being of no Religion at all but if antecedently to the Establishment of any Church by the Civil Power and if antecedently to the enacting of any Penal Laws to oblige Men to hold its Communion it was a Schism to separate without cause from that Christian Church whereof we were Members and such Schismatical Separation was a Sin before God then so it will be still notwithstanding any License or Toleration that can be granted by the Secular Power But now That before any Civil Laws were enacted in savour of the Church it was unlawful for any man to separate from that Church whereof he was a Member without cause and that such Separation rendred men guilty of the Sin of Schism and that Schism was a damnable Sin is clearly evident from Holy Scripture For in the Apostles days there was no Civil Establishment of any Church all the Civil Powers then in being were either Jewish or Heathen and Judaism or Paganism were the only established Religions and all Profession of the Christian Religion was strictly prohibited under the severest Penalties but for all that there was a Christian Church even in those days with which all Christians were obliged to hold Communion and from which it was a Sin to separate They continued stedfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship saith St. Luke declaring the Practice of the first Converted Christians Acts 2.42 Even then it was a Sin to forsake the assembling themselves together as you may see Heb. 10.25 Even then it was a Duty to mark them that caused Divisions and Offences contrary to the Doctrine which they had learned from Christ and his Apostles and to avoid them Rom. 16.17 Even then Strifes and Divisions were Acts of Carnality as we are told 1 Cor. 3.3 and Heresy was then one of those Works of the Flesh of which the Apostle says That they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God Gal. 5.20 In a word There was a Christian Church before there was any Christian State and long before there were any Acts of Vniformity made it was an Apostolical Canon Let all things be done decently and in order 1 Cor. 14.40 which obliged both the Bishops and Governors of the Church to ordain such Constitutions as were requisite for the decent and orderly Celebration of the Publick Worship and the People to submit thereunto From the very beginning of Christianity it was a Duty incumbent on all Christians to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Eph. 4.3 Rom. 15.6 and with one mind and one mouth to glorify God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ And it was always against the Nature and Constitution of the Christian Church that there should be Divisions in it or Separations from it Seeing therefore Church-Communion is a Duty laid upon us by God it plainly follows That no Human Authority can release us from our Obligation to it and consequently that these words Will ye go away Or you may go away if you will by what man soever they are pronounced cannot make it lawful for us to forsake the Assemblies of the Faithful and to leave the Communion of that Christian Church in which we were baptized and of which we are Members so long as the terms of her Communion are lawful And so much for the third thing I proceed now to the Fourth and Last thing observable in the Text viz. IV. The honest and discreet Answer that was made by Simon Peter in the Name of himself and the other Apostles when this Option was put to them Will ye also go away says our Saviour Lord says he to whom shall we go Thou hast the words of eternal life From whence we may briefly observe these three things 1. That 't is indispensibly necessary to be of some Church or other this is clearly intimated in the Apostles answer Lord to whom shall we go He takes it for granted as a matter of which there could be no reasonable doubt that in case they had left our Lord they must have betaken themselves to some other guide and that if they had forsaken his Communion they must have gone over to some other Communion he supposes it as a most evident and undeniable Truth as indeed it is That it is not enough for a man to have Faith to himself to adore God only in his heart or to Worship him only in his Closet but that it is also necessary to make a publick Profession of that Religion which he is of and to hold Communion with others of the same Faith and Profession in the Common Acts of Worship and Devotion And this is a Point very needful and well worthy to be considered by a great many that now-a-days do forsake our Churches not to go to any other Religious Assemblies but to spend their time in sleeping or dozing at home or in tipling at the Ale-house If we go