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	faith_n	true_a	2,829	5	4.8699	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35528	Of the unity of the church a discourse written a thousand four hundred and thirty years since, in the time of Decius the persecuting emperor / by Cyprian, bishop of Carthage and martyr ; most usefull for allaying the present heats, and reconciling the differences among us.	Cyprian, Saint, Bishop of Carthage.; Fell, John, 1625-1686.	1681 (1681)	Wing C7714; ESTC R29694	19,253	46

their attemt The earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up Nor did the Anger of God thus stirr'd up punish only the authors of this rebellion but two hundred and fifty others complices in their seditious enterprise who joyning themselves to them in their insolence were with a speedy revenge consumed by fire from the Lord. From whence we learn and are taught that whatever wicked men do in opposition to Gods ordinance is don against him So King Uzziah taking a censer in his hand to burn incense contrary to the law of God violently invading the priesthood and refusing to obey and retire when Azariah the priest oppos'd his design was by divine vengeance put to shame being markt in the forehead with the stein of Leprosy The offended Lord set the mark of his anger on that conspicuous part of his body where they are sign'd who are reciev'd into his favor So likewise the sons of Aaron for offering up strange fire to the Lord which he commanded not were forthwith consumed before the Lord in his displesure and yet these are imitated and followed by all such who slighting what was delivered by God seek after and are in love with doctrines of human invention for which crime our Lord in his Gospel sharply rebukes and reprooves them Ye transgress and make the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition This is a more flagitious wickedness then that which the Lapsed commit who being reciev'd to Penance by acts of mortification recommend themselves to the mercy of God In this case the Church is sought to in the other she is oppos'd in this there might be some pretence of necessity in that the crime is purely voluntary here the lapsed person prejudiceth himself alone there who so proselytes others to schism or heresy decieves as many as he draws in here is the loss of one soul there the danger of many This is plain the lapsed understands he hath offended and mourns and bewails his condition but the sectary is puft up in his sin and pleaseth himself in his transgression he parts the mother and her children whom he draws off from her he enticeth the sheep to follow his voice and not the shepheards and in short disorders Gods sacraments And whereas the Lapsed person sin'd but once the persevering schismatic goes on in daily sinning To conclude the lapsed recovering his station may be honour'd now with the crown of Martyrdom and may hereafter were a Heavenly one while the schismatic slain out of the Church can never recieve those rewards which are peculiarly hers And here my beloved Brethren let it be no wonder to any of you that Confessors fall into schism and that some of that rank may be guilty of crimes so heinous as not to be mention'd For it is not the confessing of Christs name which privileges a man from the Devils snares or which defends and perpetually safeguards one while in this world for if it were so we should never meet with deceit uncleaness and adultery in Confessors and yet these are crimes which to our grief and sadness we see in some Whosoever that Confessor be he is not greater nor better nor dearer to God then Solomon who yet held that grace he once obtain'd of the Lord so long only as he walkt in his ways But after he forsook his way he lost his favor also as it is writen The Lord rais'd up an adversary against him And therefore it is said Hold fast that which thou hast that no man take thy crown Which threat had not bin menaced were it not that upon departing from righteousness the crown likewise was to be translated Confession is the first setting out towards glory but carries not the prize perfects not praise tho it initiate to honor as it is writen He who endureth to the end he shall be saved Whatsoever is before the end may be a step to ascend by to the height of salvation but it is not that last round which seats us in the utmost summity thereof By being a Confessor one becomes afterwards in greater danger because it gives greater provocation to the enemy Is any one a Confessor for this very reason he ought to keep close to the Gospel of our Lord having by the Gospel obtain'd glory from him For he has said To whom much is given of him much shall be required and the higher a person stands rais'd in dignity the more service shall be demanded of him Let no man perish by the example of a Confessor nor any one learn injustice pride faithlesness from a Confessors ill morals Is any one a Confessor let him be humble and quiet let him in his conversation be orderly and modest and as he is call'd the Confessor of Christ let him imitate that Christ whom he has confest For when he saith Every one that exalteth himself shall be abased and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted and was himself exalted by his father because being the word the power the wisdom of God the Father he humbled himself here upon earth how can it be that he should love a proud advancing of our selves who both himself requir'd humility in his law and reciev'd from his father a name above all names as a recompence of his humility A Confessor he is of Christs but upon this condition that he doth not afterward blaspheme Christs Majesty and Glory The tongue which hath once confess'd Christ ought not to rail or be turbulent should not be heard making a noise in reproches and wrangling nor having set forth the divine praises spit out serpentine venom against the Brethren and Priests of God But if the Confessor shall grow criminal and detestable afterwards if he shall overthrow his good confession by an ill conversation if with some filthy action he shall bring a foul blot upon his life if lastly forsaking that Church in which he became a Confessor and cutting asunder the band of Unity he shall exchange his first faith for infidelity at the last he is not to flatter himself as if his confession made him one of the Elect and to be rewarded with Glory when hereby he deserves the severer punishment Our Lord chose Judas to be an Apostle and yet this Judas betray'd afterwards his Lord. But albeit the traitor Judas fell off from the fellowship of the Apostles yet was not this an empeachment of their fidelity and duty and so here in the present affair it doth not lessen the dignity of Confessors because the faith of some hath faild The blessed Apostle speaks to this purpose For what if some have not believ'd or fallen away shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect let God be true and every man a lyar The better and greater part of Confessors stands firm in the faith and in the truth of the Lords law and discipline Nor do they depart from the Churches peace who keep in

what nicer subtilty then that when this enemy found himself discoverd and defeated by Christ's coming into the world after this light appeared to the Gentiles after he broke forth with healing rays for the curing and saving mankind making the deaf hear the words of spiritual grace the blind lift up their eies to2 God the weak recover to everlasting life the lame run into the bosome of the Church the dumb loudly and distinctly pray to God when he beheld the abandoning of his Idols and that his Temples and Houses of superstition were left desolate and emty by the very great numbers that went off from his worship and embrac'd the Faith then to set on foot a new artifice even under the very title and name of Christianity to entrap the unwary He invented Heresies and Schisms to undermine the Faith adulterate the Truth and divide Unity it self Those whom he cannot detain in the darkness of the old way he circumvents by leading them in new and erroneous paths Thus he siezes and takes men out of the Church and while they imagin with themselves that they have made nearer approches to light and left behind them the Night of the world he insensibly involves them anew in thick darkness that not conforming themselves to the Gospel of Christ and the observation of his righteous laws and yet calling themselves Christians and walking in darkness they should notwithstanding perswade themselves that they were illuminated The adversary flattering them in this opinion and so beguiling them who according to the Apostle transforms himself into an Angel of light and dresses up his ministers as if they were the servants of righteousness so that they miscalling night day ruine and destruction safety and salvation obtruding despair under the name of hope pretending infidelity to be faith setting up Antichrist for Christ suggesting false but seeming probabilities frustrate the truth by subtilty This comes to pass my well-beloved Brethren while we have not recourse to the source and original of truth while we seek not for the head and Fountain and are inobservant of our heavenly masters doctrin which if well weighed and examined would supersede long discourses and arguments Truth renders the proof of our faith easie and compendious Our Lord speaking to Peter useth these words And I also say unto thee thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it And I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven And he said unto the same person after his resurrection Feed my sheep And altho after his resurrection he invested all the Apostles with equal power and told them all As the Father hath sent me so send I you Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whosesoever sins ye do retain they are retained yet that he might make manifest the Churches Unity his Authority so order'd it that the origination thereof should be expres'd by the mention first of one single Person What Peter was that also were the rest of the Apostles they having a like participation of honor and power yet the narration begins with Unity to signifie that the Church can be but one This Unity of the Church the holy Spirit designes in the Canticles when in the person of our Lord he thus speaks My dove my undefiled is but one she is the only one of her mother she is the choice one of her that bare her Now can he who keeps not this Unity of the Church perswade himself that he holds fast the Faith can he who contends with the Church and opposeth her have the confidence to imagin himself a member of the Church when the blessed Apostle Paul declares and points clearly at the mystery of Unity saying There is one body and one spirit one hope of your calling one Lord one faith one baptism Which unity we Bishops especially who preside in the Church ought firmly to maintain and defend that we may evidence thereby the unity and individualness of Episcopacy it self Let none decieve the brethren with a ly or corrupt the truth of our faith with perfidious prevarication There is but one Episcopacy which tho shared among as many several persons as there are Bishops in the Christian world yet each possesseth the authority entire There is also but one Church however her fruitfulness and growth is such that she spreads and increaseth to a multitude of particular churches As the beams which issue from the Sun are many and yet the light it creates by them is one and the same or as the boughs growing out of a tree are many and yet is it but one stock fastned and fixt to it's place by one tenacious root So too when many rivulets flow from a fountain whereby it seems so encreased as to become many by the plenty of water which is such as to require several channels for it's conveyance yet 't is but one water still because it all rises at and runs from one spring head Intercept a sun-beam from the body of the sun the oness of light will not admit of division If you break a bough from a tree 't will never shoot forth or grow again Cut off a river from it's fountain 't will immediatly dry up In like manner the Church being enlightned by our Lord extends it's beams thro the whole world yet is it the same light that every where appears and is entirely one however scatter'd As a tree she spreads her branches luxuriant in growth and plenteous in fruit And as a river enlarges by her course her swelling streams yet is there but one head one source one stock of all this happy plenty We are all the fruit of the Churches womb nourisht with the milk of her breasts quickned by her spirit The spouse of Christ cannot be deflour'd but continues chast and incorrupt She is acquainted but with one house and by a modest shamefacedness secures the reputation of the marriage bed T is she who preserves us unto God and leads her children to a kingdom Whosoever departs from the Church joins himself to an harlot and forfeits the promises made unto her nor can he attain the rewards of Christ who abandons his Church such a one is an Alien is profane is an Enemy He cannot have God for his Father who disowns the Church for his Mother If any one escaped in the Flood who was out of Noah's ark he may likewise be saved who is out of the pale of the Church Our Lord informs us of this saying He that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not with me scattereth He who breaks the peace and agreement of the Church sets himself against Christ He who gathers and makes proselytes

mind that it was in the Church where thro the mercy of God they obtain'd grace And in this respect their faith is more to be commended that they withdrew from a fellowship with them in schism with whom they had bin join'd in an unconquerable confession who withdrew from the contagion of guilt being irradiated with the true Gospel light shin'd upon by the pure and bright beams of the Lord as much to be renown'd for keeping Christs peace as they were for their conquest in their conflict with the Devil I wish my beloved Brethren and withal give my counsel and advice that if it be possible not one of the Brethren may perish and our joyful mother the Church may recieve into her bosom the whole body of agreeing people But if notwithstanding her wholesome counsel she cannot recall back some of the chief ringleaders of schism and authors of dissention obstinately resolv'd to persist in their blind madness into the way of salvation yet let the rest of you who have been caught by simplicity or led by mistake or beguil'd by the cunning craft and cozenage of others disentangle your selves from the deceitful snares retrieve your wandring feet out of the by-paths of error and take the straight way which leads to heaven It is the Apostles adjuration Now we command you Brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye withdraw your selves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition which he reciev'd of us And again he speaks to this sense Let no man decieve you with vain words For because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Therefore be not partakers with them We must therefore depart from such offenders as these nay rather we ought to fly from them for fear least if one join himself to such disorderly walkers and goes with them in their ways of sin wandring from the track where the true road lay he may at last be involv'd in an equal share of guilt with them There is one God and one Christ his Church one his faith one and his people by concord are firmly cemented together into one body Unity is not to be divided nor can the same body by the dissolution of its contexture be dissever'd from its self or subsist having its bowels torn out piece-meal Whatever infant is cut off from the womb cannot live and breath apart but looseth its safety and life It is the holy Spirits admonition What man is he that desireth life loveth many days that he may see good Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips that they speak no guile Depart from evil and do good seek peace and pursue it He who is a son of peace ought to seek and follow after it and he who is acquainted with and hath any affection for the bond of charity ought to refrain his tongue from evil dissention To the rest of the divine precepts of wholesome instruction which our Lord being about to suffer dispensed he added this Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you This legacy of peace he left us and hath promised us all the gifts all the rewards he hath to bestow on condition we preserve it If we are coheirs with Christ let us abide with Christ in peace If sons of God we should be peacemakers Blessed are the peacemakers saith he for they shall be call'd the children of God Gods children ought to be peaceful of a mild spirit innocent in their discourse in affection united inviolably fastned to each other by the links of unanimity This accord was in the Apostles time So the new nation of believers kept the commandments of the Lord and held fast their mutual charity for a testimony of which this Scripture may be alleg'd And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul And again These all i. e. the Apostles continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brethren And therefore they could pray effectually and be confidently assured of obtaining what they askt of Gods mercy But unanimity is decreas'd to that low degree among us that the bounty of charitable giving is contracted They sold houses and lands then and being mindful only of laying up tresures in heaven for themselves they layd down the several prices for which their goods were sold at the Apostles feet to be distributed by them among the poor according as their necessities required But alas now adays we give not the tithe of our estate and when the Lord calls to sell we are upon the buying and encreasing hand So much hath the vigour of Faith witherd and decay'd so much hath the healthy constitution of Believers languish'd And therefore the Lord with relation to our times saith in the Gospel When the Son of man cometh shall he find faith upon the earth We see that accomplish'd which he foretold In the fear of God in the Law of righteousness in all our actions we are most unfaithful No man bears in mind the terrors of the Lord his wrath and future judgement the vengeance he will take on unbelievers and the eternal torments to which they are consign'd Which are such as would terrify our consciences if we did believe them but therefore we disregard because of incredulity If we did believe them we should avoid and avoiding should escape them Let us rouse up our selves my dearest Brethren as much as it is possible and throwing off our old sloth and sleepiness let us be watchful to observe and perform the Lord's precepts Let us be such as he hath commanded us to be saying Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning and you your selves like men who wait for the Lord when he will return from the wedding that when he cometh and knocketh they may open to him immediatly Blessed are those servants whom when the Lord comes he shall find watching We ought to be ready least the day of our departure find us unprepar'd and engag'd Let our light so shine in our good works that it may lead us out of the dark night of this world to the light and brightness of eternal day Let us carefully and vigilantly expect the sudden coming of our Lord that when he shall knock our faith may be found waking to recieve the reward of her watchfulness If these duties are observ'd if these admonitions and precepts are obey'd we shall not be taken sleeping by the deceits of the Devil but as vigilant servants of Christ in his Kingdom shall reign with him AN ADVERTISMENT WHereas in the sixth page of this Treatise there is omitted the mention of Primacy being given to S. Peter and that there was to be one Chair the which is his as also that the Church was founded thereupon words seeming to justify the pretentions of the See of Rome all which