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	true_a	visible_a	8,046	5	9.4741	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60693	The unworthy non-communicant a treatise shewing the danger of neglecting the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper, and rectifying the mistakes of many in this age concerning it : the first part / by William Smythies ...	Smythies, William, d. 1715.	1683 (1683)	Wing S4380; ESTC R2617	44,747	144

Gospel And if they are in any sence such Believers as are entituled to Salvation they are such Believers as have a right to Baptism If the Estate belongs to a Child in the Cradle the Indentures and Seals of that Estate belong to him likewise The Child of a Believer may as well be called a Believer as the Child of a Proselite was called a Proselite If God gives Children but the Denomination of Believers it is sufficient to entitle them to Baptism 5. Those that consider the Case of the Anabaptists must needs be of another Opinion This in conjunction with the former Arguments must needs be of great force to those that are serious and considerate and not conceited and resolute in a case which they have espoused As the condition of the Jews is a living Argument of the Truth of Christianity and the badness of their case So I may say that the Condition of the Anabaptists and their Unsuccessfulness in all their attempts to establish their Opinions doth shew that God doth not nor ever did shew any such Favour to them as might give any sober person cause to think that they were Gods Church and People however they plead his Word to be their Rule but that Infant-Baptism is an Ordinance which God allows of and hath countenanced ever since there was any opposition made to it There is a Writer yet alive who gives a large and strange account of the mischievous Practices of the Anabaptists in Germany and other places what Disturbers and not Promoters of Religion they have been wheresoever they have come But I wave all that can be said against them either in this Nation or beyond the Seas and will only say That if I had the highest Opinion of them for their Morals that I have for any sort of men in the World yet I could never believe That all the Primitive Christians who owned and practised Infant-Baptism and the Martyrs in all Ages were not Members rightly admitted into the Church of Christ That not only the Papists but all the Reformed Churches in the World are mistaken in this point and that the Anabaptists are the only True and Rightful Members of Christs Body He must be very weak and notorously partial who considers these things and doth not conclude that they are a Sect that Separate from the True Church which God hath owned in all Ages and not the True Visible Church of Christ This I thought fit to mention in Conjunction with other Arguments by which many wavering minds have been established in the Truth and God grant there may be the like success to those in the like case who shall read them V. Those Excuses which men generally make for their not Receiving are so far from Justifying their Neglect that they do not so much as extenuate it Nay they exceedingly aggravate the Guilt of most Non-Communicants The Truth is no Excuses must be made in such a weighty matter as the Sacrament is There may be Interruptions but there must be no Excuses An Interruption is when a man really intends to receive the Sacrament but somewhat happens by which he is prevented and it is a great trouble to his mind that he is so It is with Christians in this case as it was with those Israelites which we read of Num. 9.6 7. who being hindred from eating the Passover by the legal defilement of a Dead Corps were extremely troubled and came to Moses to know what they should do There were certain men who were defiled by the dead body of a man that they could not keep the Passover on that day and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day And those men said unto him we are defiled by the dead body of a man wherefore are we kept back that we may not offer an offering of the Lord in his appointed Season among the Children of Israel Observe how farr those men were from making Excuses for neglecting Gods Ordinance in that they were extreamly troubled at an interruption which probably they could not help for he that was in a Tent in which a man dyed or came into it was unclean chap. 19.14 and continued so Seven-days This being of great moment Moses said unto them stand still and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you And we read that God in that Case appointed that they should keep the Passover the next Month. God allowed of the Interruption for that time but there must be no Excuse We read Num. 9.13 that the man who was not thus hindered if he did not keep the Passover at the time appointed The same soul shall be cut off from his people because he brought not the Offering of the Lord on his appointed Season A place of Scripture very fit for Non-Communicants to consider who if they have no Impediments will make Excuses instead of them they will pretend somewhat to be the cause of their Neglect which is not really the cause but the little regard which they have for the Ordinances of their Religion is the cause of their Neglect I shall first consider what the General Excuses are and then consider some more special Cases 1. Some pretend that the Solemninity of the Ordinance is the cause of their Neglect It is a very great Ordinance and they durst not adventure to make their approach to it I know that there are some very good Christians to whom this is not an excuse but is a real Cause of their absenting from the Sacrament They think that it is too great an Adventure for such as they are to come to their Lords Supper although they are such as love him and do sincerely desire and endeavour to keep his Commandments What I have already said may give satisfaction in this Case viz. That Humility and a Sense of Unworthyness is a good qualification for a Communicant and that as the Sacrament is a great and Solemn Ordinance so it is a very great Duty to partake of it and therefore Christians must take care that they do not complement our Saviour but that the examine themselves and reverently observe his Institution Great men do sometimes allow of such excuses when they make Invitations but the Great God commands when he invites and there can be no Neglect but it is a great sin as I have already shewed But this is not the Case I have now in hand My design is to speak of those who make this a Pretence for their Non-Communicating They say the Sacrament is a solemne Ordinance and therefore they dare not come to it But I would have such persons to consider whither they go when they turn away from this Solemn Ordinance If it be to their Lusts and a continuance in a sinful course of Life their condition is unspeakably miserable What an Affront is this to the Great God and our Blessed Saviour I may say to them as the Apostle to the Galatians Be not deceived God is not mocked The best that can be