Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	church_n	faith_n	unity_n	2,197	5	9.0779	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59781	A sermon preached at a visitation, held at Warrington in Lancashire May 11. 1669. By Ric. Sherlock D.D. Rector of Winwick in Lancashire. Imprimatur, June 18, 1669. Tho. Tomkyns, reverendisimo in Christo patri ac Domino, Dom. Gilb. Arch. Cantuar. a Sacr. Dom	Sherlock, R. (Richard), 1612-1689.	1669 (1669)	Wing S3256; ESTC R214015	8,736	22

wherein they all differ There is but one body and one spirit Eph. 4.4 one mystical body of Christ which is his Church and one spirit of truth quickning this our body and its members and them onely And as it follows One Lord one faith one baptisme one God and father of all who is above all through all and in you all vers 5 6. In you all that are members of this one body and quickned with this one spirit and endeavour to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace which is the duty enforced from the premisses vers 3. Contrariwise then such that divide from this one body the Church into several Sects and Factions and which necessarily follows such as are not quickned with this one spirit but each with the foolish Prophets follow their own spirit Ezek. 13.3 which they mistake and mis-term the Spirit of God such as worship not this one Lord as we are all commanded with one mouth and with one minde Rom. 15.6 Such as hold not the Articles of this one faith with one joynt unanimous consent of truth Unto the unity of which faith till we all come we cannot be perfect men in Christ Jesue but are like children tossed to and fro and carryed about with every winde of doctrine Eph. 4.13 14. Such are all false Prophets treacherous Shepherds or in the Language of Saint Paul 2 Corin. 11.13 14. Such are all false Apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of Light I may call them according to the metaphor of the text The Bellweathers of the Flock the Ringleaders of those numerous Sects and daily increasing divisions amongst us And although each sect and division must necessarily be false and erroneous because there is but one Truth and one true way of Divine worship which is ever constant to it self yet hath each division its numerous followers of the divided Flock as silly sheep when a gap is opened follow one another to the breach to stray from their Pasture So flock the people if not restrained into the ways of division and error if any Sect-master but open a gap and lead them the By-ways of straying from the Sheepfold of Christ which is his Church For such alas is the sad condition of mans corrupted and depraved minde as naturally to be more affected with error then with the Truth more prone to believe lies and more zealous in the maintenance of falshood then to believe and maintain the Truth 'T was ever so When the Prophets prophesie falsly the people love to have it so Jer. 5. ult but a sad question follows What will ye do in the end thereof When the Prophets prophesie Lies or which is the same do make and foment divisions and the people withall are affected with their lying prophesies and side with them in their respective divisions 't is easie then to prophesie and foretell the end thereof to be ruine and confusion If a kingdom be divided against it self that kingdom cannot stand and if a house be divided against it self that house cannot stand Mar. 3.24 25. Not the house of God not the family of Christ in what Kingdom or Nation soever established All the Kingdoms and Nations in Christendom ancient and modern from the first to these last and worst of times have felt by sad experience the bitter effects of divisions and errors in Religion and none more then our own so lately bleeding even to the last gasp of death and almost buryed in her own confusions which took beginning from the prophesying of Lies and overspreading of mistakes and errors in Religion sowing the seeds of Schism Faction and Sedition in separate and divided meetings or Conventicles in private joyned with a sacrilegious vow-breaking performance of holy duties in Publick All which are now as much if not more practised then ever some of whose Factors and Followers do really intend all do certainly tend to involve this Church and Kingdom into the sad condition of intestine war blood and Confusion from whence by the great mercy of God we so lately escaped And now to you the Reverend persons who are come to visit us in our distempers and infirmities to you it belongs as much as in you lies to give stop to our overflowing Divisions To restrain our licentious exorbitancies both in doctrine and practice in Praying and Preaching and this whether in the house of God or in the houses of men Et fiat Justitia ruat coelum FINIS

people were weary of the Government of Samuel the Prophet and desired a King the Lord said unto Samuel They have not despised thee but they have despised me 1 Sam. 8.7 Whereupon St. Gregory Quam neverendi sunt Pastores optimi Sanctae Ecclesiae how reverendly to be esteemed are the Pastors of holy Church who whilst they faithfully serve the Lord in the Execution of their function they are so closely joyn'd unto him in the bond of love that the least slight disesteem or neglect that is cast upon them the Lord takes it as an injury to himself So said the Lord to his Apostles and in them to their Successors He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luc. 10.16 And this duty that the people should take heed to their Priests is commanded under a severe penalty Deut. 17.8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in Judgment thou shalt arise and come unto the Priests the Levites and that man that will do presumptuously and will not hearken unto the Priest that standeth to Minister even that man shall dye And under the Gospel also the same command is given Heb. 13.17 Obey them that have the Rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls But notwithstanding these and many more commands in the sacred sheets of either Testament yet is this Christian duty slighted and generally omitted and especially by such as pretend most to the sole Authority of the holy Scriptures without any Relation to the doctrine and Authority of the Church in the Interpretation thereof There being many amongst us in every Flock who presume to direct their Shepherds guide their Guides and teach their Teachers who if they teach not preach not pray not as they would have them and consonant to their humors and opinions they will censure their doctrines contemne their directions revile their persons scandalize their profession and even snatch the holy Oracles out of their mouths and separate themselves into Conventicles where they may heap to themselves Teachers after their lusts having itching ears and they turn away their ears from the truth and are turned unto fables believing and delighting in lies and vain empty prophesyings which profit not as was foretold of such 2 Tim. 4.3 4. And having mentioned Conventicles I cannot but add a word or two of the danger of them not in order to the disturbance of the peace of the Nation leaving that to the Secular Magistrate but in order to the seduction of unwary and unstable souls into falshood and errors in Religion Verily verily I say unto you he that entreth not in by the door into the sheepfold but climeth up some other way the same is a thief and a robber Joh. 10.1 'T is the practice of subtile thieves when they seize on the honest Traveller to drag him out of the high road-way into hedges and by-places the more securely and without interruption to robb and spoil him so the spiritual thieves false Prophets ringleaders of faction and sedition do more easily seduce and robb poor silly men and women of the in estimable treasures of truth and obedience by drawing them from the open and Publick Assemblies of Gods people in his houses of prayer into By-places and lone houses where they may more securely breath forth the spiritual Infections sow the seeds of Schism and Sedition and whisper their irreligious Treasons under the mask of Religion In such places they may to their advantage vent and put off their counterfeit ware their false glosses and mis-interpretations of holy Writ and make their Apocryphal Comments upon Canonical Scripture making the holy Word of God to speak not what the Spirit of God intends therein but what their factious spirits and wilde fancies would have it That there should be such false Prophets in desart places and private houses our Lord hath foretold commanding all his disciples not to believe or follow them Mat. 24.26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you behold he is in the desart go not forth behold he is in the secret chamber believe it not St. Augustine observes of the man that fell among thieves and was robbed and wounded Luc. 10.30 Si non descendisset If he had not been going down from Jerusalem the place of Gods Temple to Jericho a prophane and common place he had escaped that sad disaster To teach all people to beware how they leave the place which God hath chosen to put his name there the Temple and house of God to convene in any common or prophane By-places under pretence of Religion and the performance of holy duties in such places 'T was otherwise with the man after Gods own heart Psal 5.7 As for me I will come into thine house even upon the multitude of thy mercies and in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy Temple And with him resolves the whole body of Gods people Psal 132.7 We will go into his tabernacle and fall low on our knees before his footstool And not only this under the Law but under the Gospel Mark 11.17 My house not the houses of men shall be called the house of prayer of all Nations Not of the Jews as under the Law but of the Gentiles also under the Gospel and 't is there especially in Gods own house that he has promised to meet his people to be in the midst of them to hear their prayers and bless them To teach them his waies by his faithful and true Pastors and there in a word to dispence all the blessed means of grace and salvation to them Deuteron 12.5.6.11 12 13 14. 1 Kin. 8.29 30. Mat. 18.20 Luc. 19.46 1 Cor. 11.20 7. But the grand excuse of the wandring sheep and the cry of many Orthodox also is The division of the Shepheards who being divided amongst themselves do lead their flocks into several divided wayes of divine worship And the generality of the flock being not wise enough to know what way to take or whom most securely to follow they hereupon heap to themselves Teachers after their own Lusts and with the Schismatical Corinthians 1 ep 1 cap. 12. vers Every one saith I am of Paul I am of Apollos and I of Cephas and I of Christ one man or Sect of men liking this mans way of preaching and praying another anothers way and others none at all but independently rely upon the immediate teaching of Christ by his Spirit And thus Sects and Divisions are multiplied This complaint is too true and such sad effects thereof too evident and if not stopt will prove bitterness in the end But would you know who be these divided Pastors or Preachers or Sect-masters rather the corrupt springs from whom all our polluted streams of divisions flow They are such in a word as first divide from the Church of Christ in general wherein they all agree and then divide amongst themselves into particular Sects and Factions