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	hold_v	pillar_n	2,991	5	10.6628	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50242	A discussion of the lawfulness of a pastor's acting as an officer in other churches besides that which he is specially called to take the oversight of by the late Reverend Mr. Nathanael Mather.	Mather, Nathanael, 1631-1697.	1698 (1698)	Wing M1263; ESTC R37635	23,058	187

none by the Church and therefore none from Christ He hath none by the Church of Corinth for they can give him no power for any action in another Church He hath none by the Church of Cenchrea for they do not Call him to Office amongst them And therefore he hath none at all for these are the two only Churches from whom any thing can be pretended in this Case Arg. VII If he may Administer the Supper to and in the Church of Cenchrea he must also fulfil his Ministry towards that Church in all the other acts of his Ministry wherein the Church needs his help For right to administer the Supper supposeth Office but Office-relation inferreth Office-Bonds Office being not a Power or Licence only but carrying in it a Charge Command and Duty But it is evident the Pastor of the Church of Corinth is not bound to fulfil his Ministry towards the Church of Cenchrea he is not bound to Watch there Rule there Guide there Labour in the Word and Doctrine there The other Officers of the Church of Corinth are bound to fulfil their Offices in doing the respective work thereof to the Church of Cenchrea as much as the Pastor and both they and he are as well bound to the other Churches in Achaia as to that at Cenchrea Arg. VIII If this administring the Supper in the Church of Cenchrea by the Pastor of the Church of Corinth be Lawful and Warrantable I demand What is it that makes it so It is plain he doth a special act which none but Persons impower'd and priviledged thereto may do such special acts must have something for the ground of them indeed all acts must else they are unlawful But there is nothing that can impower the Pastor of the Church of Corinth for thus acting in the Church of Cenchrea It must be either his Gifts or his Grace or his Election or his Ordination But none of these can give him power to administer the Lord's Supper in Cenchrea Not his Gifts nor Grace For then a Non-Officer might do it Grace gives ability only to do a thing acceptably to God as to the inward frame of the heart with which it is done not any right to do lawfully any external act which otherwife might not be done Gifts only furnish with ability for doing such a thing whereto the Gifts are suited unto others Edification but confer not a Right or Authority whereby it may lawfully be done for then every one that hath equal Gifts must have equal Authority Neither Gifts nor Grace make a Man Christ's Substitute to bless and sanctifie Elements in his Name and make them Sacramental Signs of Christ and his Benefits Private Members yea Women have both Gifts and Grace yet are not Christ's Substitutes for such an Administration Not his Election The Church that chooseth him chooseth him only for themselves not for other Churches to be in Christ's stead amongst them not amongst others For Christ hath not given them power to confer such power on any Man with respect to any others than themselves But each Church is betrusted with it by the Lord Christ for it self The Church of Corinth cannot subject the Church of Cenchrea to their Pastor and therefore cannot give him either Office power or power for any Office act in the Church of Cenchrea they may as well make him an Universal Pastor over all the Churches in the whole World Not his Ordination For this presupposeth is grounded upon and relates wholly to his Election and thence gives not power of a larger extent than he was called to in his Election He is Ordained to no other than he was Chosen to and therefore if in his Election he be not Chosen to act as an Officer in other Churches his Ordination impowers him not at all thereunto He is not Chosen to one thing and Ordained to another Ordination be it a Solemn investiture of him with Office-power or be it a Solemn Separation of him with supposed due Rites and in due manner to his Work yet it so necessarily and wholly relates to his Election that he can receive no power thereby of larger extent than in his Election he was called unto In sum therefore If neither his Gifts nor Grace nor Election nor Ordination be a just and sufficient ground for the Pastor of the Church of Corinth his administring the Lord's Supper in the Church of Cenchrea there is no sufficient ground at all for it But in none of these is there a sufficient ground for it therefore there is none at all As to what may be pleaded by vertue of Communion of Churches it shall be considered in the next Point This shall serve for Arguments concluding the Question There are some Objections that may receive their Answer from the Premises and these come next to be considered Obj. 1. He is a Pastor every where and abides still vested with that Relation and the Authority of it even when he is in Cenchrea and not only when he is acting as a Pastor in Corinth 'T is not with a Church-Officer as with the Elements in the Sacraments which remain Sacred and Sacramental only while they are using in that Ordinance but afterwards and out of that use what is left of the Bread or Wine is common Ans True he doth abide clothed with the Office of a Pastor even while he is at Cenchrea even as the Lord Mayor of London abides Lord Mayor though he go into Westminster yet he can put forth none of his power as Mayor whilst he is there So is the Pastor of the Church of Corinth limited in the acts of his Office as to the object of it unto the particular Church of Corinth Elsewhere and unto others he is but as a Private Person as to any Office-Authority or Power As a Father abides a Father when he is in another Man's House yet hath no Paternal Authority over any Children but his own Yea I will grant further that the Pastor of the Church of Corinth is to be honoured with singular esteem by the Church of Cenchrea not only for his eminent excelling in spiritual Gifts and Grace but also because the Lord Jesus hath put honour upon him in calling him to such a place and vesting him with such an Office in one of his Churches Nay I will moreover yield the Pastor of the Church of Corinth to be an Ordinance of God for good to all the Members of the Church of Cenchrea So indeed he is in his feeding of the Church of Corinth with a Word of Wisdom to all the Inhabitants of that City being a Vessel that carries precious Treasure and holds forth unto all that hear his Preaching the Word of Life And so is the Church it self of Corinth it being the Pillar of Truth and an Ordinance provided and set up on purpose by the great God in the dark World for this very end to display his manifold Wisdom in the Gospel and direct the lost Sons of Men