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	church_n	holy_a	4,187	5	5.0588	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41456	A sermon preached at Bishops-Stratford, August 29, MDCLXXVII, before the Right Reverend Father in God, Henry, Lord Bishop of London, &c at his Lordships primary visitation / by Jo. Goodman ...	Goodman, John, 1625 or 6-1690.; Goodman, Godfrey, 1583-1656.	1678 (1678)	Wing G1124; ESTC R48	18,196	42

Society that there be Head and Members but there must be some Ligaments to the end that there may be Union that is that all those Members of this Society which lie otherwise scattered through so many Ages and Countreys may both become united together to make up one Body and also joyned to their common Head Christ Jesus Now as in the natural Body the Nerves which perform this office proceed from the Head so it is here Christ Jesus hath delivered an Institution of Religion the open profession of which is the Sinew of this Society the Church namely all those that hold and maintain the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures and especially of the New Testament are united to the Church as Members and to Christ as their spiritual Head For this is the Charter of our Corporation and contains the Laws of our Society he that addes to this distracts and divides the Church and he that abates or diminishes it incroaches upon the Prerogative of Christ the Head The Church of Christ and the profession of the Religion of Christ are of equal extent and the Holy Scripture is the Standard of both But as a symbolical representation of this Union we are speaking of or rather as a standing federal Rite of this Society our Lord Christ hath also appointed the frequent participation of the holy Sacrament wherein we solemnly recognize him our Head and our Fellow-Christians as Members of the same Body which therefore is properly called the Synaxis or Communion To which purpose the Apostle allusively to the New Testament speaks of the Church of the Jews 1 Cor. 10. 2 c. they were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the Sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink c. But more clearly and expresly of the Christian Church vers 17. For we being many are one Body for we are all partakers of that one bread The sence of which place and the summe of what I have been saying is this That as by holding and professing the Religion of Christ Jesus contained in the Holy Scripture we are united to him and Members of his Church materially so it is our duty that this be solemnly and formally executed by those holy Rites of his institution 4. But in the fourth and last place it is not sufficient that there be an Union of the Head and Members but there must be Order also amongst the Members themselves otherwise it would be a Multitude but not a Church Wherefore in this Society though as we have said all that profess and acknowledge the Doctrine of the Scriptures are Members yet some of those are of an higher quality and more publick use and influence than others namely such as bear Office in this Society So saith the Apostle Eph. 4. 11. He gave some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. for the orderly knitting of the Saints together into a Body and for the edifying that Body of Christ These and their Successors are the Governours and Officers of the Church as a Church or as it is such a peculiar distinct and spiritual Society To these the Head of this Society hath promised his presence to the end of the world to these he hath given the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven saying Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven c. and He that receiveth you receiveth me and he that refuseth you refuseth him that sent me These as I said are the Governours of the Church as a Church But because as it was well observed by Optatus Milevitanus Respublica non est in Ecclesia sed Ecclesia in Republica and it was not the design of our Saviour in constituting this Society of a Church to revoke or abrogate the Powers and Authority of the Civil State therefore Kings and Princes though as such they are not properly Officers of the Church in its peculiar consideration yet have and retain their ancient right of Legislation and prescribing to the external management of this Society In which respect it was said by the great and famous Constantine that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a Civil Bishop or as we commonly speak supreme Governour or Moderator of the Church And now having shewed what our Saviour meant when he said he would build him a Church it will neither be difficult nor unusefull to shew the Reasons of this Institution i. e. Why our Saviour would not leave every single Believer upon his own score but would have them associated and incorporated as aforesaid The great usefulness of this Institution might easily be made appear in very many Instances but I will mention but these three 1. It pleased our Saviour Christ to require such a conjunction and combination of Christians to the intent that by that means they might be the better able to hold up his Truth and Religion in the world For if this had been left to the care of particular Christians singly and separately such is the diversity of their Capacities and apprehensions so different have been their Educations are their Interests and would be their Expressions and so great would be the difficulty of holding intelligence and correspondence with each other that it is not imaginable how the mind of Christ should have been uniformly and intirely represented to all those that would have been concerned in it therefore in regard this summe was too great to be laid out upon private security it pleased him to deliver this great Depositum to the Society of the Church This is that which I take to be meant in that famous passage of the Apostle 1 Tim. 3. 15. where the Church is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pillar and ground of Truth I know well what perverse use they of the Church of Rome make of this Text and what pitifull shifts some on the other side make to avoid that danger and therefore I thought it worth my labour in a former Discourse of this nature and at a like Solemnity to vindicate the Text from the hands of those that abuse it and the world by it But at present it is sufficient to intimate that though it be evidently true that the truth of Christianity neither depends upon the Authority nor needs the Warranty of men yet was the Society of the Church a wise Expedient of our Saviour for the holding forth and holding up his Religion in the world Nor let any one suspect that this will give any countenance to the unwritten Traditions of the Church of Rome or evacuate the just Dignity and Authority of the Holy Scriptures for it is and must be acknowledged that the written Word is the immediate Conservatory of the Truth of the Gospel yet the Society of the Church doth the same thing remotely and generally which the other doth particularly and immediately that is to say this holds up the Holy Scripture preserves and

leave to press the Consequences of this Doctrine upon your Practice suitably to the present occasion and I will conclude I will confine my self to these three Inferences First Since our Saviour took care to found a Church let us be of this Society and value the Priviledge of being of Christ's Church Secondly Since there is such a mighty Usefulness of this Foundation and Society let us especially that are Officers thereof endeavour to uphold it and do it all the Honour and Service we can Lastly Since our Saviour hath prophesied that all the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it let us all that love God's Church bear up our selves against all Discouragements and Despondencies on the truth and infallibility of his Prediction I. APPLIC Touching the first To be of the Christian Church is to be of the most honourable Society in the whole world It is to be of an Order whereof the Lord Christ is Founder and Protectour and whereof all the holy Angels are admirers to be incorporate into the Fellowship of Apostles Prophets Martyrs and all holy men to be of that mystical Body of which the Son of God is Head to be Citizens of the new Jerusalem Fellow-citizens with the Saints and of the Houshold of God Observe what glorious things the Apostle speaks Hebr. 12. 22 23 24. Ye are come to mount Sion to the City of the living God to the heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the First-born whose names are written in Heaven to God the Judge of all to Jesus the Mediatour of the new Covenant and to the spirits of just men made perfect And all this means nothing else but You Jews are translated from Moses to Christ from your old Synagogue to the Christian Church God's Church is his Family which he especially takes care of and provides for He that is of it is under the Shechinah the wing of the Divine Majesty and his special Providence His Church is his Vineyard and he not only sets a hedge about it but builds a watch-tower in it No Nation under heaven had such signal instances of God's presence and blessing as the people of the Jews whilst they continued to be his Church but when they ceased to be a Church they ceased to be a People were the most abject and contemptible rabble upon earth Above all to be of God's Church is to be under the means of Grace the Dew of Heaven the motions of the good Spirit and the hopes of Glory For to the Church hath he promised his presence and assistance there are dispensed the lively Oracles of God there hath he provided a constant succession of Dispensers of the bread of life to fit it to all needs and all Capacities Is it a small security to our minds or satisfaction to our Consciences that we are not left to the deceits and whispers of a private spirit to personal conjectures or secret insinuations but have the publick Doctrine of the Church Is it not a great encouragement of our Prayers when we are fortified against the just reflexions upon our own meanness and demerits by the concurrent Prayers of all God's people and mingle our devotions with theirs that so they may together come up a sweet odour before God Is it a small advantage to joyn in that holy Leaguer and besiege Heaven by conjoyned and ardent importunities Coïmus in coetum saith Tertullian ut ad Deum quasi manu factâ precationibus ambiamus orantes Can it chuse but be a great animation and incouragement to us to have before our eyes all the great Examples in God's Church Is it not a mighty matter to have our Faith strengthened and enlivened our Love inflamed our Comforts raised by the holy Communion Will not the flame of others kindle our Zeal and Affections And shall it not put us into an ecstasie of Devotion to see as it were Christ crucified before our eyes opening his Arms to us and pouring out his Blood for us Socrates is said to have given solemn thanks to God amongst other things that by his Providence he was a Philosopher and not a Barbarian and shall the twilight or dawnings of naturallight be more ravishing than the bright beams of the Sun of righteousness Shall Tully break out in a kind of ecstasie O philosophia unus dies ex praeceptis tuis actus peccanti immortalitati est anteponendus and shall not we much rather break out with the Psalmist A day in thy courts is better than a thousand and I had rather be a door-keeper in the House of God than dwell in the tents of wickedness The Chief Captain Acts 22. 28. gloried that he was a free Citizen of Rome and thought it worth the purchase of a great summe of money But saith S. Paul I was free-born and is it a small thing to us that we are born and brought up in the Church of God The Romans generally had such an opinion of the Augustness of their City that to be proscribed or banished was counted a capital punishment and a civil death thought equal to a natural The Pythagoreans when any one forsook their School were wont to carry out a Coffin for him attended with a funeral pomp And shall we esteem those alive that forsake the Church the School of Christ The Primitive Christians had such an esteem of the dignity and Priviledge of the Church that Coetu arceri to be Excommunicate was so dreadfull a doom as that those that pronounced the Sentence were wont to doe it with weeping and lamentation Ye ought to have mourned saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 5. 2. and 2 Cor. 12. 21. I shall bewail many And to be cast out of the Church and to be delivered up to Satan were accounted equivalent Nam judicatur magno cum pondere ut apud certos de Dei conspectu summúmque futuri Judicii praejudicium est si quis it à deliquerit ut à communione or ationis omnis sacri commercii relegetur saith Tertullian in his Apology for Christianity And who is there that hath been conversant in Church-Antiquity that hath not observed what repentance and tears what solicitations and intercessions what humble prostration of themselves were used by those that were fallen under the Censures of the Church to obtain restitution to Peace and Pardon And who that remembers this would ever have thought there should have come a time when it should be esteemed a matter of glory and a point of Saintship to cut off one's self voluntarily and become a Separatist from the Church The Church of Christ is the same it was and the blessings and advantages of it are still the same let us endeavour therefore to raise up its Glory to recover the ancient Zeal and to restore its Veneration And let us all say with those in the Psalm Come let us go up to the House of the Lord Our feet shall stand within thy Gates O