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	doctrine_n	scripture_n	3,000	5	5.6215	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61182	A sermon preach'd to the natives of the county of Dorset, residing in and about the cities of London and Westminster, at St. Mary Le Bowe, on Dec. 8, 1692, being the day of their anniversary feast by the Lord Bishop of Rochester.	Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713.	1693 (1693)	Wing S5062; ESTC R13442	15,232	42

of Assistance of Interest of Benefit and Reward How they farther engage us by many most weighty Arguments drawn from the very Substance and End of our pure and undefiled Religion By the Unity of our Baptism into one Faith of our Hope which is one happy Eternal Life of our Head which is one Lord Christ of his Body which is one Church the Mother of us all and of that common Sense and mutual Participation of Helps Affections and Comforts that ought for ever to be maintain'd between all the Children of such a Mother all the Members of such a Body You see how we are all provok'd to Love and bound in our several Stations to labour for a Spiritual Unity by all these and other such unanswerable Grounds of Persuasion But that which especially sets it home to us is this That we see the Duty is practicable we see it lively set forth in that Blessed Model which is given us in this fourth and in the second Chapter of this Book It gives us the most perfect Example of Unanimity that ever was shewn to the World And that we may follow it as we ought it behoves us to consider which way the first Christians came into this state that we may take the same as far as we can in our Circumstances We see then how when all the Apostles of Christ and all our Lords own Disciples attended the fulfilling of his own great Promise of sending the Holy Ghost to Comfort them and to Teach them all things to Teach them and as a Comforter to Teach them to joyn with the Precepts and Counsels of a Teacher the Gentleness and Favours of a Comforter then the chief account we have of them in preparation to all this is That they were all with one accord in one place When that Promise was accomplish'd when the Holy Ghost was sent the next account we have of them is that They were all of one Heart and one Soul Observe I beseech you in that first General Meeting of the whole Church than which never any since was more Venerable nor will be till the last Day of General Judgment when the Blessed Spirit of GOD did not only hover above over all their Heads as he did over the Waters at the Creation from whence all the Order and Beauty of all the Creatures proceeded but sate upon each of their Heads and over-spread their Minds and enlarg'd their Hearts and loosen'd their Tongues to the Amazement of all Beholders who thereby soon became Converts There was then no one Circumstance that more advantageously contributed to their Universal Receiving of that Divine Revelation than that they were all united with one accord in one place There was no one Consequence of that Revelation which the same Holy Ghost thought fitter and more instructive to be everlastingly recorded in Scripture than that afterwards they all remain'd united in Doctrine in Devotions in Charity There are no other Principles or Practises here mention'd upon which they united but such as were truly Evangelical and tend directly to the uniting of the Mystical Body of Christ to the end of the World They continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine in Fellowship in Breaking of Bread and in Prayers They continued daily with one accord in the Temple and Breaking Bread from House to House or in the House that is in part of the Temple also or in the several Houses at Jerusalem where the Apostles had their Congregations There they did eat their Meat that is their Spiritual Food in the Holy Communion and also their Natural but Sanctifi'd Meat in their Feasts of Charity and did all this with Gladness and singleness of Heart praising GOD who had called them to that Excellent Way of Life and graciously accepted them in it and gave them a publick Testimony of all this in the Favour of all the People What could be done more towards uniting their Hearts and Souls After they had repented and were Baptized and were filled with Grace and Power from on high First they continued in the Apostles Doctrine in that and no other They receiv'd the Word with all readiness of Mind and search'd the Scriptures whether those things were so Having found the Truth they stedfastly adher'd to it without wavering and uncertainty whatsoever Inquiry they made into it it was without any needless Curiosity or over-subtil Inventions about it Secondly They continued in Fellowship that is either in a strict Communion of all the Offices of Christianity in general or as the Learned Dr. Hammond understands the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a Charitable Communication of their good things to those that wanted Thirdly They continued together in Breaking of Bread that is in the frequent Participation of the Blessed Mystery of the Lord's Supper One part the Breaking of Bread being here as Drinking is elsewhere 1 Cor. 12. 13. put to signifie that whole Sacrament though never in Scripture was any one kind of it commanded to be Administred in stead of the whole as in the Church of Rome is most Sacrilegiously practised But in the due and constant receiving that Holy Sacrament in both kinds no doubt they all continued That most Sacred Ordinance which is or should be so much the great Instrument of Unity among Christians that it is most properly termed the Communion Fourthly After they had thus broken that Heavenly Bread and Eaten their Meat their Bodily Meat probably in their Charitable Feasts what follow'd but Gladness and Singleness of Heart Gladness the sure Companion at least in the end of a single innocent Heart endued with true Christian Simplicity as Darkness and Discomfort is the never-failing Attendant one time or other first or last of a double deceitful Mind and Hypocritical Spirit Lastly They continued daily with one accord in the Temple praising GOD. Though the Lord from on High had visited them with the most gracious Dispensation that ever was revealed from Heaven yet notwithstanding that extraordinary effusion of the Holy Ghost upon them they never intermitted but exactly observ'd the ordinary Course of their Religious Duties And for this they resorted daily to the Temple Which though they consider'd now as having lost all its Typical Sanctity by the renting of the Veil at the Death of Christ yet as Christ himself taught them immediately before his Death they look'd upon it as being still GOD's House by Consecration and as being a House of Prayer for all Nations Thus even at that very time when they had receiv'd the Blessed Spirit in so abundant a Measure yet from that so bright an Inspiration they took not any Opportunity nor framed any pretence to condemn or despise the common Offices of the Church or to think themselves above all the prescribed Ordinances of their wonted Worship but therefore the rather they frequented the Service of GOD according to their accustomed Manner They continued daily to shew the unwearied Fervor and stated Regularity of their Piety They continued daily with