Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	apostle_n	bishop_n	church_n	2,501	5	4.6398	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44410	A discourse concerning Lent in two parts : the first an historical account of its observation, the second an essay concern[ing] its original : this subdivided into two repartitions whereof the first is preparatory and shews that most of our Christian ordinances are deriv'd from the Jews, and the second conjectures that Lent is of the same original.	Hooper, George, 1640-1727.	1695 (1695)	Wing H2700; ESTC R29439	185,165	511

had before said the same thing (d) Iren. Lib. 3. Cap. 3. where he names the Succession of the Bishops of Rome down to Eleutherius of his own time the twelfth from the Apostles presupposing the same succession of such single Persons in all the Apostolick Churches and giving it as a Truth in matter of Fact on which he might found the Truth of the Catholick Doctrine and which the Hereticks themselves could not gainsay This plain Testimony of so Learn'd and Venerable a Person at no longer a distance from the Apostles seems unexceptionable but for the Church of Smyrna it is absolutely Unquestionable For there he speaks almost from his own personal Knowledge having himself been acquainted with Polycarp who was immediately ordain'd by the Apostles And as sure as this Polycarp was Bishop of Smyrna so plain it is there that Anicetus was of Rome in his time and from their very Conference together reported by this Irenaeus as we have seen (e) Part 1. Ch. 1. §. 4. it also evidently appears that such Bishops had been always there presiding of whom we know as many are mention'd in that place on occasion of the Paschal Dispute as reach'd up to the very beginning of the Second Century Neither need I dissemble that those Bishops are stil'd Presbyters in the place last mention'd since they are known to be Presbyters of the more eminent Degree and to be the same single Persons with the same superiour Character the same distinction still remaining between them and the inferiour Presbyters § II. I might well be content with the Evidence Tertullian and Irenaeus give for the Apostolical Distinction between the Bishop and the other Presbyters and may therefore presume that what I have further to say of the same nature from Ignatius will not fail to be credited For how unreasonable it is to suspect his Writings for the peculiar Dignity he attributes to Bishops and that is the greatest Argument of Suspicion they have has already appear'd from the little I have produc'd as the Reader may find both that and all the lesser Cavils at large and unanswerably refuted by our Bishop Pearson (a) Vind. Ignat. This Ignatius Bishop of Antioch being in his Journey through Asia the less to his Martyrdom at Rome about the year 116 at farthest (b) Dodw. Diss in Ir. 1. sect 17. wrote several Letters to the adjacent Cities thanking the Churches there for their Christian Courtesie to him which they had shew'd by their Messengers and express'd by other Tokens of Fraternal Love and taking at the same time occasion to make them some effectual return and confirm them in the Faith and Discipline of Christ These Letters as all others even the Apostolical would be much better understood by us if we distinctly knew the particular Circumstances of those Churches to which no doubt he speaks very properly tho' we now out of the same words can make but a general and sometimes a very ordinary sence But however something of the Circumstances of those Times and of his Intention in those Letters appears thro' them And as his Design seems to be to fortifie them against the Fears of the present Persecution and to warn them of the dangerous Heresies sprung from Simon Magus and then prevailing so he manifests a particular care against Schism and for the preserving the Government of the Church Before this time the Divisions of the Church of Corinth about their Governors had occasion'd a Letter from the Church of Rome by Clemens's Hand and now in Asia when St. John himself the surviving Apostle was dead and the supreme controuling Authority was extinct it is very likely that the Orders before establish'd were in some danger of being subverted by the Ambition and Unruliness of such whom the Spirit by St. Paul had expresly foretold to Timothy the Bishop of their capital City (c) 1 Tim. 4.1 Now that such Attempts were then made upon the Authority of Church-Officers and to the confusion of their Distinction may be gather'd from this Ignatius as it also appears from his manner of Expression that such a Distinction was no novel thing and of modern erection nor was it of slight concern In this view as we may suppose he tells the Ephesians That they ought to glorifie Jesus Christ who had glorified them to be of one mind and to say the same thing and to be subject to the Bishop and to the Presbytery that they may be wholly sanctified You ought says he to concur with your Bishop as you do for your Presbytery is as consonant to him as strings to an Instrument And let no Man be deceiv'd he that is not within the Altar falls short of the Bread of God and he that does not come to the Assembly is Proud and it is written God resisteth the Proud d Let us not then resist the Bishop that we may be subject to God And the more modest and condescending your Bishop is the more he is to be reverenc'd for he is to be look'd on as the Lord himself And lastly he speaks of their Concurrence with Christ that they may obey the Bishop and the Presbytery with an undistracted Mind breaking that one Bread which is the Medicine for Immortality the Antidote against Death This it seems was necessary to be said on this subject to the Ephesians amongst whom as amongst the other Asiatick Churches to whom he writes the Peace of the Church which St. John's presence had hitherto secur'd began to be disturb'd Whereas therefore in his letter to the Roman Church whose zeal in this case was so well known he makes no mention of their obedience to spiritual Governours in all his other letters to the Asiaticks he enlarges much on the same Topick and was it seems oblig'd to press that Duty even upon the Smyrneans where Polycarp himself was Bishop He does it after this manner Fly Divisions as the beginning or cause of Evils All of you follow the Bishop as Christ Jesus the Father and follow the Presbytery as the Apostles and reverence the Deacons as the Commandment or Mandatories e of God Let no one do any thing appertaining to the Church without the Bishop Let that be esteem'd a good Eucharist which is under the Administration of the Bishop or such as He shall appoint Where the Bishop appears there let the People be as where Jesus Christ is there is the Catholick Church It is not lawful without the Bishop neither to Baptize nor keep the Love-Feast but what He approves that is it which is acceptable to God So to the Philadelphians after Exhortation to Unity under the Bishop he adds Take care therefore to use one Eucharist For there is one Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ one Cup wherein his Blood is united one Altar as there is one Bishop with the Presbytery and my Fellow Servants the Deacons As also in that to the Magnesians he directs Endeavour to do all things in the Vnanimity of God

serving however to let us know in gross That the Solemnity was not then held an inconsiderable Matter but all along much debated and studied and determined with great Exactness Upon the whole Matter therefore we have seen that as we had some reason to presume the Apostolical Observation of a Yearly from the Weekly day of the Resurrection so this Presumptive Probability is besides actually confirmed to us by sufficient Authority And from these Premises I hope I may have leave to conclude if not That this Paschal Observation was delivered by the Apostles to all the Churches with the Weekly Lord's Day yet That it was a Tradition received by many Churches in the Apostolick Days And this I presume to take for a Truth in so high a degree of Evidence that it will not be questioned by such as shall consider impartially c Plin. Ep. l. 10. Ep. 97. Soliti stato die ante lucem convenire d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 g Euseb Hist Eccles l. 5. c. 23. In that time a great Controversie was raised the Bishops of Asia strictly so called judging by their Ancient Tradition That the Paschal Solemnity was to be kept on the 14th day of the Moon then when the Jews sacrificed the Lamb and that their Fasting ought to break off on that day whatever day of the Week it happened to be and the other Bishops of the rest of the World observing from Apostolical Tradition a different Custom and which now obtains That it was not fit to break up the Fast on any other day but the Day of the Resurrection Upon this there were several Synods and Consultations held by the Last and they all unanimously by their Letters declar'd this to the World for an Ecclesiastical Rule That the Solemnity of our Saviour's Resurrection from the Dead was to be kept on no other day but a Sunday and that on that Day only the Paschal Fasting was to cease There is yet to be seen the Writing of those of Palestine over whom Theophilus Bishop of Cesarea presided and Narcissus Bishop of Jerusalem There is another too from those of Rome concerning the same Question speaking Victor to be Bishop Another of the Dioceses of France where Irenaeus was Bishop Another of those of Osroene and the Cities thereabouts One particularly from Bacchyllus Bishop of Corinth And several others all concurring in the same Opinion and giving the same D●termination i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here commonly translated Kinsman but I have ventured to guess it may signifie a Countryman one of the same City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Bishop of the same See making the Succession to have been in a Family and the Kindred Spiritual This is certain the Number of Seven Predecessors agree well with the Distance between Him and St. John n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this Epistle of Irenaeus it seems very evident That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be understood not absolutely but in construction with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well in this place as others according to the common rendering notwithstanding a contrary Suspicion elsewhere suggested and to which a Defect in this place of some Particle to be understood gave the Occasion That Defect Valesius supplies by reading from Conjecture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have rather supposed then or something of that Sense to be understood CHAP II. Concerning FASTING § I. The several Kinds of Fasts § II. Several Occasions of Fasting particularly Penitence and Baptism § I. SO far we have view'd the Evidence for the Antiquity of the Paschal Solemnity in general with a more particular respect to the Festival of the Resurrection we now come expresly to consider the preceding Fast and its various Observation But first for the better understanding of what is to follow it will be fit to premise some Account of Fasts and their Variety and what were the more solemn times for that Duty There are Three Sorts of Fasting which Tertullian reckons up to us (a) De Je. jun. c. 2. consisting either in the Lessening or Deferring or Refusing of our Food The first sort is Abstinence not from all Food but from some kinds of it a Fast in part as Tertullian calls it (b) Tert. de Jejun c. 9. Portional Jejunium Abstinence from Flesh especially and Wine Or not only from Flesh and Wine but from any thing of Broth or any Juicy Vinous Fruit. Such a Dry Diet as Tertullian speaks of appropriated by him to his Fellow-Sectaries the Montanists (c) De Jejun c. 1. but used by Christians before and by Daniel (d) Dan. 10.2 3. when he mourned three full Weeks and eat no pleasant bread neither came flesh nor wine in his mouth neither did he anoint himself at all The second sort was when they did not Dine but deferred their Eating to some time of the Afternoon till after Three as the Catholicks did in Tertullian's Age who on certain days continued their Assemblies to that hour (e) De Jej. and both that their Assembling and that Fasting was call'd a Station from the Military Word says Tertullian (f) De Orat c. 14. but immediately from the Jewish Phrase and the Custom of those devout Men who either out of their own Devotion or as Representatives of the People Assisted at the Oblations of the Temple not departing thence till the Service was over g Such Stations are term'd Half-Fasts (h) De Jejun 13. Stat. semijejunia by Tertullian and were held later by the Appointment of Montanus But before their time we know from Hermes an Author very ancient and in the beginning of the Second Century that the Stations of the first Christians were sometimes kept as severely and that when they came at last to Eat nothing was to be tasted but Bread and Water that day i Such a kind of Fast as this ending in a moderate Refreshment towards Night is generally to be understood when any great number of Days is said to be fasted together This Fast is too supposed to have begun from the Evening before when the Stars appear'd For then the Day began with the Jews as well as with the Athenians k But under this kind which allows some time for Food in the 24 hours the Periodical Day we may too reckon that manner of Fasting which forbids to eat or to drink while the Sun is up the Vulgar Day but either gives liberty all the Night the Fast of the Mahometans during their Month Ramazan (l) Ricau●● l. 2. c. 22. or else gives leave to refresh themselves provided it be done before their first sleep as is the manner of the Jews in all their ordinary Fasts (m) Maim de Jejun c. 1. §. 8. The third sort is when they Eat not at all the whole day from Sun-set or the Appearance of the Stars till the same season again as the Jews now do in their strictest Fasts as on the Ninth of their Month Ab or on