Selected quad for the lemma: state_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	catholic_n	church_n	communion_n	1,794	5	10.0028	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51515	The mount of spirits that glorious and honorable state to which believers are called by the Gospel explained in some meditations upon the 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 verses of the 12th chapter to the Hebrews : with some previous reflections upon that whole Epistle and the people of the Jews.	Wolseley, Charles, Sir, 1630?-1714.	1691 (1691)	Wing M2970; ESTC R32126	106,065	208

to accuse calumniate and misrepresent before God so these blessed Angels are constant Spectators and publick Notaries of all the Proceedings of the Church and all the Actings and Sufferings of every Member thereof in order to bear a faithful Witness before God and be a punctual Record thereof at the Day of Judgment And in this sense we are come unto them they are not only present in publick Assemblies but conversant in the Closet of every Saint and take an exact view of all their devout and fervent Addresses unto God upon this account it is that St. Paul tells us that the Apostles by their Preaching and Suffering were a Spectacle to Angels the holy Angels beheld their Spiritual Courage and Conquest with wonderful satisfaction and upon this account it is that St. Paul chargeth Timothy before the Elect Angels to look well to the discharge of his Work and Office because they are Witnesses appointed of God to take punctual notice of his Behaviour therein and the Presence of the Angels is made an Argument by the Holy Ghost for the well-ordering our selves and all our Actions in Church-Assemblies 5thly The Angels as they are God's Officers employed for the guard and security of the Church so they are also for the revenging of his Wrath upon their Enemies so it often was under the Old Testament and so it is under the New and will continue till the end that wretched prophane Herod who added to all his former wickedness to shut up John in Prison and after added to that addition to cut off his Head to please a Dalilah and at last came to make himself his own Idol by taking to himself that glory that should have been ascribed to God at last an Angel smote him and dispatch'd him to his own place by a woful and miserable Catastrophey the Angels stood all ready when our blessed Saviour was led to the Cross to have rescued him upon the least Command this our Saviour himself told the Jews when he was encompass'd with a Roman Guard he could upon request to his Father have more then twelve legions of angels to rescue and assist him which exceeded the number of Men the Romans then had in their whole Army for their Army at that time did not consist of twelve Legions and in the Revelations we find the Angels constantly employed by God as the great Executioners of his Wrath upon the Churches Enemies to the end of the World 6thly We are come to this innumerable company of Angels as to our truest Friends and most faithful Companions for they never leave us till they have brought us home 1st To the rest of our Souls in Heaven for they wait upon every dying Believer to comfort and chear his spirit so soon as ever it hath left the Body and safely to convey it into that Blessed fellowship above and into that glorious place and state of rest called Abraham's Bosom And 2dly They will be assisting and instrumental though it be effected by the mighty Power of God to call and raise the Bodies of the Saints out of their Graves at last when Christ comes to effect the first Resurrection he will be attended with all his Glorious Angels and by their Ministry the Dead in Christ shall rise first the Trumpet that will sound to summon them out of their ashes will be an Angelical sound probably the Voice of the Arch-Angel and when they arise out of the Earth they will together with all the Saints then living be caught up by the Angels and conveyed by them to meet the Lord in the Air the last office the Angels will have to perform and so will ever abide with him Whose heart would not burn within him upon the contemplation of these things that God should be such a lover of Men that the Eternal Son should by his death redeem them his own spirit by his influences come down and dwell in them and all the Angels in Heaven made their Guardians and their whole Ministry and Service employed on their behalf How blessed a condition does the Gospel instate us in above the Law in reference to this particular When Man first fell by sin the Angels became his most avowed Enemies and Executioners of Wrath that went out against him for the Cherubims stood with a flaming Sword to keep the Tree of Life and to shut Man out of Paradise he made his Angels Spirits and at that time his ministers a flame of fire When the Law was given upon Mount Sinai and Man considered only in his natural state the Angels were most dreadful and terrible in their appearance but now under the Gospel Angels and Men by the Blood of the Cross are embodyed into one Fellowship and Society united in and under one head engaged in the same Worship and Service and enjoy a sweet and most endeared communion each with other all which is fully insinuated and intimated by the Apostle in telling the Believing Jews they were come to this innumerable company of angels 4thly The Apostle tells them they are come to the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in Heaven This is an expression of that part of the Catholick Church here upon Earth to which by the Gospel all Believers come and with which they are incorporated and imbodyed two things are intended hereby to shew the preference of the gospel-Gospel-state before that of the Legal 1st That instead of the Assembly of all the Males three times a Year at Jerusalem which is called in Scripture the great congregation they are come now to the great Assembly of all the Members of the true Catholick Church amongst Mankind to all the true servants of God both of Jews and Gentiles that any where call upon God in Spirit and Truth and that God would have such a general Assembly and such an universal Church of the first-born throughout all Nations without any farther respect to the Jews or their Church was a secret undiscovered till the Gospel Revelation came 2dly That this assembly consists only of real and true Saints such as have the right of the first born the great inheritance that men are born capable of in this World is the possession of Heaven at last those that obtain that are the eldest sons of this lower World and the first-born amongst Mankind in the Scripture sense and none obtain this inheritance but such as are eternally elected in Christ to it and therefore the Apostle when he names the Church of the first-born adds as explanatory of it whose names are inrolled in Heaven that is in the Lamb's Book of Life in the Roll of God's eternal purposes and councels there they are Registred and not in an Earthly Register as the Jews were this Church of the first-born is called in Scripture the first fruits of the whole Creation unto God and the Lamb they are said to be Heirs to God and Joynt-heirs with Christ they are made Kings and Priests unto God and so have

of Jesus cleanseth us from all sin Several things result from this Supreme Priviledge of the Gospel That we are come to God the Judge of all as reconciled to him and having his righteous judgment on our side First That he will certainly revenge the Churches Cause upon all their implacable Enemies who alone is the Judge of all Causes and Complaints and whatever Controversie hath been at any time in any Age between Satan and the Church and between the wicked prophane persecuting part of the World and the Church God the Judge of all will determine it on the Churches side will vindicate their innocency and their faithful adherence to him his own interest and theirs being the same And how great a comfort ought this to be to every sincere Christian however persecuted and oppressed by Men to consider that yet the righteous God is of his side and that the Supreme Judge who cannot do unrighteously whose Judgment is the very perfection of Justice and whose Judgment is final and irreversible will be sure to give judgment for him at last and reward his Enemies with shame and confusion 2dly He will certainly recompence all his Servants for every faithful service they shall perform for him the reward of all their Works will be sure to follow them into the next World this is the great stay and support to all true Christians under their present pressures that their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord this St. Paul encouraged himself in the prospect of in the midst of all the Heroclitons and Hurricanes of Persecution he met with There is says he laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give unto me 3dly All the dreadful fears and apprehensions of God that ever since the fall have inhabited the minds of Men are by this access unto God discharged and dismiss'd this is that which hath kept the whole World in bondage all their days the fear of God as their Judge standing at the door ready to execute Wrath upon all Disobedience this is the inward invisible Wound Mankind carry about them this is the inward heart-afflicting Fear and Terror of every sinner nor can he any way discharge or disburden himself of it for 't is engraven in his being and is part of himself every Man 's own Conscience which is the ability he has to judge of himself with reference to the Judgment of God is God's Vice-Roy and whether he will or no will give in evidence for God against him and justifie truth against carnal and corrupt interest What sad and doleful reflections has the sense of God's judgment occasioned in Men Men think of God and are troubled and say with Job Destruction from God was a terrour to me and by reason of his highness I could not endure How uneasie are Men in all Humane Comforts and Enjoyments where the sense of this abides A Man that has God for his Enemy at last and nothing but this present World for his Portion is meanly and wofully circumstanced now by the Gospel all this is removed we come to the Judge of all as our best friend and are able to say with an holy boast and ex●ltation Who shall condemn 't is God the Judge of all that justifies who shall lay any thing to our charge since the Supreme Judge of all the World is for us what now can trouble us what is it can now engender sorrow in our breasts we are now impregnable against ever being made truly miserable he that has God of his side can never be made unhappy the false corrupt judgment of this wicked degenerate World will be of mean value with us and little concern us since the Judge of all is on our side and we are secure of being by his judgment made eternally happy for as the Apostle tells the suffering Saints God will reward tribulation to them that trouble them but to those that are troubled eternal rest and glory 6thly We are said to be come to the spirits of just men made perfect that is compleated in the full reward of their Christian course the Apostle mentions all the parts of the Gospel Catholick Church both in Heaven and in Earth to manifest to what a Noble and Honourable Society we are joyned and incorporated by the Faith of the Gospel and how desperate and irrecoverable an evil Apostasie from such a Communion were this Expression throws that foolish idle Fiction of Purgatory quite out of dores 't is by this Expression of the Apostle excommunicated and utterly cast out of the Catholick Church for ever for all the departed Saints are reckoned here to be in one only condition they are not some in one state and some in another but they are all perfect and compleat which utterly confutes all the fictitious doting Dreams of such a refining state as Purgatory every departed Saint's spirit is in a state of perfection with God they are all in his presence and therefore they are by the Apostle in this enumeration placed next unto him The best way of considering this Expression is to discover what prospect we can gain by it into the other World and what can be certainly collected from it of the state of the blessed in Heaven These three things are very plainly deductive from hence 1. That all the Saints departed are in a state of Perfection and enjoy a blessed Communion with God 2. That they also enjoy a Communion with the Church militant here And 3. That the Church here enjoy also a Communion with them both which last particulars are implied in our being said to be come unto them The Souls departed hence have this Communion with the Church below 1. They worship as they do him that sits on the Throne and the Lamb they adore the Merit of Christ's Blood and the Glory of free Grace for ever and wheresoever any Gospel-worship is offered up upon Earth they are present in spirit and concur in it the Service and Worship of Heaven is of the very same nature with that of the Saints upon Earth thô performed in the Royal Presence and in the heavenly Temple and in some respects differently circumstanc'd 2. They have a tender regard to all the labouring fighting striving Servants of Christ here below wishing a happy success to them well remembring that themselves were lately in that condition the state of the Church here that is at Sea and tossed with many storms no doubt is much in their minds thô they are safely arrived themselves in the Harbour of Eternal Rest and Happiness 3. They rejoyce greatly in all the Churches prosperity and particularly in its increase if the conversion of sinners on Earth cause great joy in Heaven no doubt but the Spirits made perfect are partakers of it as well as the Angels for they are altogether as one Society and they are equally capable of it as they are for they are like the Angels of God and they have much

every Man comes naturally to speak and understand this heavenly Language when he is born of the Spirit and brought up in the Nurture and Instruction of the Holy Ghost The prophane part of the World are ever deriding this and making it a constant part of their diversion Now what a profound solid part of Discretion do such Men act who have in contempt the Result and Effects of Infinite Wisdom The Papists have a Saying That never any Dog barked at a Crucifix but he run mad The Moral of that Fable is very good and may serve to instruct a prophane Protestant God himself gives a very solemn and withal dreadful Caution and Premonition to all prophane Scoffers by the Prophet Esaias Be not Mockers saith he lest your Bands be made strong that is lest I chuse your Delusion and give you irrecoverably up to your own prophane sence which will be found at last to be the worst sort of Madness I will not believe any will be so unnecessary critical and nice as to blame the Title of this small Tract in regard the Catholick Church under the Gospel is so very often in Scripture denominated by Mount Sion called the Mountain of the Lord's House which is to be set up upon the top of the Mountains And to this Mount Sion that is to the Gospel-Catholick Church are some way or other related all the blessed and glorious Spirits that are extant the fallen Angels are only excluded for by coming to this Mount the Apostle tells us we are come to God the Judge of all to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant to an innumerable company of Angels and to the Spirits of Just Men made perfect A great part of a true Christian's Life and I am sure the best part of it is a Converse with Spirits the best and noblest part of Man is a Spirit and he must shortly for some time exist only in that part and when the Body is reunited to it that second Coalition and Constitution will be altogether Spiritual for a Soul and a Spiritual Body conjoyned will render a Man not less Spiritual than he was while he existed singly in his Soul but will make him perfectly like to an Angel so we are told by our Saviour That in the Resurrection the Saints shall be like to the Angels of God Upon this account God is training us up and gradually fitting and preparing of us for this state he is acquainting us as much as our present condition will allow with himself and other Spirits here that so we may joyfully resign up our earthly state to become of their number and at last abide in that condition that will be purely Spiritual without any sort of Terrene Allay and such who live without any Communion with Spirits here and have no sort of foretaste nor any preparative relish of that state must needs if they any way make use of the thinking faculty leave their Bodies with very great Amusements The Mount of Spirits Hebrews 12.18 For ye are not come unto the Mount that might be touched and that burned with fire nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest Verse 19. And the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more Ver. 20. For they could not endure that which was commanded and if so much as a beast touch the mountain it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart Ver. 21. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake Ver. 22. But we are come unto Mount Sion and unto the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels Ver. 23. To the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect Ver. 24. And to Jesus the Mediatour of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel THis Epistle is a Funeral Sermon preached at the Interment of the Law the material Body of Moses God himself buried long before and no man ever knew the place of his Sepulture and now his mystical Body his Doctrine growing old and ready to vanish away ripe for abolition or rather dissolution not so much by being repealed or rescinded but its use ceasing the end and substance of it appearing and its glory being naturally and of course swallowed up and dissolved into a greater glory that excels The Holy Ghost himself by this Epistle lays it honourably in the grave and so we have the Sepulchre of this mystical Body of Moses abiding with us at this day And happy had it been for the whole Nation of the Jews if this Sermon had had its due effect upon them God in his wise and gracious Providence gave them this Warning this Holy Instruction and Admonition to prevent their obstinate adhaesion to the Mosaical Rites and violent opposition of the Gospel thereby which ended in a very few years after the writing of this Epistle in the sad and utter Ruine of their Temple their City and themselves The Penman of this Epistle by such Probabilities as come very near to a Certainty appears to be St. Paul the great Doctor of the Gentiles and that Person whom it pleased God so eminently to make use of in the glorious Fulfilling of that early prophetick Prediction God shall perswade Japheth to dwell in the tents of Sem. The exact Time when this Epistle was written is very uncertain Antiquity affords us little or no Information about it what Knowledge we can have of it must be by consulting the Scripture and comparing it with it self It seems reasonable to suppose that St. Paul wrote it after his Release at Rome from two Years Imprisonment there with which the Story of the Acts of the Apostles ends wherein is contained an Ecclesiastical History of the Church for about 28 Years after our Saviour's Resurrection unto the 7th Year of Nere that he wrote it after his Release appears from hence that Chap. 13. v. 23. he intends and promiseth a Journey with Timothy which had he been a Prisoner and not in his own power is not reasonable to think he would have done 'T is likewise very probable to be written before the sharpest and most violent Persecutions fell upon the believing Jews before the slaughter Herod made at the instance of the Jews of St. James and those at Jerusalem because he tells them in this Epistle they had not yet resisted unto Blood and 't is very evident to be writ and to be well known to the Jews before St. Peter wrote his second Epistle for therein he seems very plainly to refer to this Epistle and if so then 't is plain also beyond denial the Author of it was St. Paul And Account says he that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation even as our beloved