Selected quad for the lemma: woman_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
woman_n	church_n	time_n	wilderness_n	1,494	5	9.8942	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80608	The bloudy tenent, washed, and made white in the bloud of the Lambe: being discussed and discharged of bloud-guiltinesse by just defence. Wherein the great questions of this present time are handled, viz. how farre liberty of conscience ought to be given to those that truly feare God? And how farre restrained to turbulent and pestilent persons, that not onely raze the foundation of godlinesse, but disturb the civill peace where they live? Also how farre the magistrate may proceed in the duties of the first table? And that all magistrates ought to study the word and will of God, that they may frame their government according to it. Discussed. As they are alledged from divers Scriptures, out of the Old and New Testament. Wherein also the practise of princes is debated, together with the judgement of ancient and late writers of most precious esteeme. Whereunto is added a reply to Mr. Williams answer, to Mr. Cottons letter. / By John Cotton Batchelor in Divinity, and teacher of the church of Christ at Boston in New England.	Cotton, John, 1584-1652.	1647 (1647)	Wing C6409; Thomason E387_7; ESTC R836	257,083	342

shall be put to death in Israel nor doe I say that he is to be put to death in any State of the world least of all doe I say that Pleading against a false Ministery is a capitall crime These are all but excursions and evaporations of the superfluity of wit But this I say and not I but Solomon He that withholdeth the Corne the people shall curse him Prov. 11.26 And cursing implyeth Separation He therefore that shall withdraw or separate the Corne from the people or the people from the Corne the people have just cause to separate either him from themselves or themselves from him And this proportion will hold as well in spirituall Corne as bodily the Argument still standeth unshaken What though we never read of Banishment in Israel we read of something proportionable what else meaneth that Decree Let Judgement be executed to death or to Banishment Ezra 7.27 And Ezra 10.8 Let all his substance be forfeited and himselfe separated from the Congregation of those that had been carried away And in Moses frequent mention is made of Cutting off from the people which though in Israel it may sometime signifie cutting off by Gods hand sometime by the sword of the Magistrate and sometime cutting off from the fellowship of Gods House yet in Abrahams Family The cutting off in Gen. 17.14 may very well reach cutting off from their civill Cohabitation as for a like offence Ishmael and his mother were cut off from cohabitation in the Tents of Abrahams people Gen. 21.9 to 14. Also he that had unawares slaine a man was banished though not out of all Israel yet from his own House and Towne and Tribe till the death of the High Priest and that was as much as Banishment out of any Society of Christs people now whether in Church or Civill Fellowship For though out of Israel there was no full Banishment legally enjoyned because there was then no other Church extant in the world and so to banish a man out of Israel was as much as to say Goe and serve other Gods 1 Sam. 26.19 yet now when Church-fellowship in the true Religion may be had in so many places to banish a man out of his Countrey is no more then it was then to banish an Israelite into a Citie of Refuge But though banishment be now a lawfull punishment in some case yet I goe not about to prove that every wilfull withholding of corne in every State is banishment much lesse death But he that shall withhold his own corne and goe about to perswade all others that have corne lying by them to shut up their sacks mouths and not to bring forth their corne for the nourishment of the people which is if we speake of spirituall corne the very case of the Examiner I doe not see but such an one may be justly accounted as Hostis Reipublicae a publick enemy of the Countrey and as such an one in due order to be cast out of it In due order I say for if such an one be detained from bringing forth his corne by some scruple of Conscience as suppose a man able to Preach Christ and so able to dispense spirituall corne yet doubting of the true way of the Ministery since the Apostasie of Antichrist dare not practise the Ministery Such an one should not be sodainly cast out of the Countrey till he be first convinced that the Apostasie of Antichrist did never so farre prevaile against the Church of Christ as to roote it out from off the face of the earth The woman which is the Church of Christ was still nourished in a Wildernesse even during all the Reigne of Antichrist Rev. 12.14 15 16. The Temple of God which is his Church together with the Altar and them that worship therein were still measured and that by John by Apostolick measure all the time when Antichrist trod downe the outward Court of the holy City Rev. 11.1 2. The Golden vessels of the Temple still continued in the middest of the Babylonish Captivitie And if spirituall Babylon have now so farre prevailed against the Church of Christ as that they have rooted it up from the face of the earth then what is become of the promise of Christ The gates of Hell shall never prevaile against it Mat. 16.18 Surely the Promise is given to a particular Congregationall Church that it shall never faile but shall alwayes be extant in some Countrey or other for he speaks of such a Church to whom the keyes of the Kingdome are committed ver 19. It will be vaine to look for new Apostles to replant Churches out of the ruines of the Antichristian Apostasie For the new Testament acknowledgeth Paul and Barnabas to be the last Apostles 1 Cor. 4.9 If any Apostles rise up after them then Paul and Barnabas will not be the last And when the New Hierusalem comes downe from Heaven yet shee shall not be builded by any new Apostles but built upon that foundation which the Lambes twelve Apostles have already laid Rev. 21.14 As for those many excellent and worthy Gentlemen Lawyers Physicians and others whom the Examiner commendeth to be as well gifted in the knowledge of the Scripture and furnished with gifts of tongues and utterance as most that professe the Ministery and yet are not perswaded to sell spirituall Corne as questioning their true calling and Commission In such a case I would first seeke by the helpe of Christ to remove the scruples upon which they question their calling and Commission Secondly I would thinke it meet to put a difference between such as never received a lawfull calling and commission to the Ministery and them that have received it But if any of them have received a lawfull calling into the Ministery and yet will neither Preach themselves nor suffer them that would I suppose that both Church and Common-wealth may justly account them unworthy of any Christian society and as such unprofitable servants refuse to minister themselves or to suffer others to minister spirituall things so others should refuse to minister to them carnall things But saith he the selling or withholding of spirituall Corne are both of a spirituall nature and therefore must necessarily in a true Paralell beare Relation to a spirituall Curse Answ If they that minister spirituall good things may duely reape carnall good things 1 Cor. 9.11 then they that hinder the ministring of spirituall good things may justly reape the hinderance of enjoyment of carnall good things What if spirituall and carnall good things be not paralell Are there no Arguments but a Pari Is it not lawfull reasoning a majori ad minus If men hinder the enjoyment of spirituall good things may they not be hindred from the enjoyment of that which is lesse carnall good things It would weary a sober minde to pursue such windy fancies though I hope the Lord will helpe me not to count it wearisome either to satisfie a tender Conscience or to convince a Gainsayer TO CHAP.

Philistims and yet not disanull their Church-estate And by like proportion so may a Church of Christ take up some orders as the carting of some part of their worship upon a Book after the manner of Antichrist and yet not forthwith evacuate their Church-estate But this let me further adde that a godly person may have some kinde of communion so farre as hearing the word from a Minister well gifted by Christ to whose calling some corruption may cleave both in his Church-estate and in his Ordination And yet neverthelesse no Antichristian Pollution at all may cleave or redound to the hearer by his hearing of him And this being the Principall Exception which the Examiner taketh against some of the members of our churches against all the churches for their sakes we shall further God willing cleare when the Examiner putteth it upon us in the sequele Meane while we professe as we doe beleeve that such an action is not any Church-cōmunion with Antichrist nor doth so enthrall the People of God unto Antichrist as to separate them from Christ no not as he is Head of the visible Church The Answer which upon occasio of this Point the Examiner giveth to the Papists Question Where was your Church before Luther though it seeme to him well and good yet it gratifieth the Papists and straitneth the holy Counsell of God in Scripture The Question saith he is thus well answered to wit That since the Apostasie of Antichrist Truth and the holy Citie according to the Prophecy Rev. 11. 13. have been troden under-foot and the whole Earth hath wandered after the Beast yet God hath stirred up witnesses to Prophecy in sackcloth against the Beast during his 42 moneths Reigne Neverthelesse these witnesses have in their times more or lesse submitted to Antichrist and his Church Worship Ministery c. And so consequently have been ignorant of the true Church that is Christ taken for the Church in the true Profession of that holy way of worship which he himselfe at first appointed This Answer giveth away the cause to the Papists They demand Where was your Church before Luther This Answer giveth it for granted that since the Apostasie there was no particular church extant in the world This fully satisfieth their desire and expectation for if there were no Church of Christ in the world for so many Centuries of yeares till Luther then they readily conclude That their Church of Rome was before Luther the onely Church in the world For they urge it and I know not how we can fairely deny it that the Church of Christ even that Church to which the keys of the kingdome are committed which is the visible Church is that against which the Gates of Hell shall not be able to prevaile and so not all the Power of Antichrist If then the visible Church of Christ shall never cease and yet during all that time of the Apostasie of Antichrist no Church was extant in the world but the Church of Rome then during all that time which is not yet expired the Church of Rome is and hath been the onely Church of Christ these many ages Besides as this Answerer gratifieth the Papist and maketh the promise of Christ Mat. 16.18 19 of none effect so it straitneth the Counsell of God in the very Texts of Scripture alledged by himself For in that Text Rev. 11. where the outward Court is given to the Gentiles that is Ecclesiasticall Courts given to Antichrist his Clergy v. 2. There also a rod or reed is given by the Angel unto John to measure the Temple of God and the Altar and them that worship therein v. 1. Which evidently holdeth forth that even then there was somewhere extant the Temple that is the visible Church of Christ which had communion with Christ as Head of the Church there called The Altar and the Temple was furnished with true worshippers and all measured according to the Patterne of Apostolicall Rule What if Ecclesiasticall Stories be deficient in telling us the times and places of their Church-Assemblies Is therefore the Word of God deficient or the Church deficient because humane Stories are deficient Great hath been the industry and vigilancy of Satan and Antichrist to blot out as much as in them lay all Monuments and Records of such holy Assemblies but yet sometimes their own Inquisitors confesse that the Churches of the Waldenses or men of that way have been extant a tempore Apostolorum Furthermore evident it is that when the Dragon persecuted the woman that is the Church the Church fled into the Wildernes and was there nourished for a time and times and halfe a time Rev. 12.14 which is all the time wherein the Beast reigned Rev. 13.5 And wherein the Gentiles having obtained Rule in the Court trod downe the holy Citie under-foote Rev. 11.2 Moreover evident also it is that all the Angels or Ministers of Gods wrath that poured out their Vialls upon the Antichristian State did all of them issue forth out of the Temple and out of the Temple as then opened Rev. 15.5 6 Which argueth that the Temple or Church was not onely then visible but openly visible not visible onely to the secret Assembly of the true worshippers but openly conspicuous to them that had not seene it before Now how all those seven Angels should come out of the Temple and it openly visible and all of them poure out their Vialls upon the Antichristian State by seven Degrees to the utter desolation of it and yet no Church extant either before Luther or since Luther till the utter extirpation of Antichrist passeth all my comprehension TO CHAP. XIII HIs 13th Chapter is taken up in Examining and Answering a second Answer which I gave to his Objection propounded above in Chap. 10. The Answer was this as he setteth it downe Secondly we deny that it is necessary to Church-fellowship that is so necessary that without it a Church cannot be That the members admitted thereunto should all of them see and expresly bewaile all the pollutions which they have been defiled with in their former Church-fellowship Ministery worship Government c. If they see and bewaile so much of their former pollutions as did enthrall them to Antichrist so as to separate them from Christ and withall be ready in preparation of heart as they shall see more light so to hate more and more every false way This we conceive to be as much as is necessarily required to separate them from Antichrist unto fellowship with Christ and his Churches c. For Answer hereunto the Examiner desireth three things to be observed 1. Mr. Cottons own Confession of that two-fold Church-estate worship c. The former false or else why to be so bewailed and forsaken The second true to be embraced and submitted to Reply This observation is more then is intended or can justly be gathered from my words For even a true Estate of a Church Worship Ministery c. may be bewailed

to be disturbed as wholely to breake up and to be dissolved No matter saith the Discusser though they doe wholly breake up into peices and dissolve into nothing For neverthelesse the Peace of the Citty is not thereby in the least measure impaired or disturbed because the Essence or being of the Citty is Essentially distinct from those particular Societyes c. The Citty was before them and standeth absolute and Entire when they are taken downe c. Reply If by Peace be meant as in Scripture Language it is all welfare It would argue a man that liveth in the world to be too much Ignorant of the state of the world to say that in the breaking up and dissolving of such perticular Societyes the Peace of the Citty or Countrey is not in the least measure impaired or disturbed For 1. Though such Societyes of Merchants and other Trades be not of the Essence of the Citty yet they be of the integrety of the Citty And if the defect of one Tribe in Israel was a great trouble to all the Common-wealth of Israel Judges 21.2 3. then sure the breaking up and dissolving of so many particular usefull Societyes cannot but much impaire and disturbe the Peace and wellfare of the Citty and Countrie 2. Though these Societyes of Trades be not of the Essence of the Citty yet they are amongst the conservant causes of the Citty as without which the Citty cannot long flourish no nor well subsist Common sense will acknowledge so much Now then if all these particular Societyes and severall Companyes of Trades they and their peace and wellfare doe much concerne the wellfare and peace of the Citty and Countrey and therefore it behooveth the Civill Government to provide for their peace and wellfare I demand whether the Church also which is a particular Society of Christians whether I say the Peace and wellfare of it doe not concerne the Peace and wellfare of the Citty or Countrey where they live If it be denyed it is Easily proved First David saith they shall prosper that love the Peace of Jerusalem and seeke the good of it Psalm 122.6 c. And Solomon saith where the Righteous rejoyce there is great Glory Pro. 28.12 And what is the Church but a Congregation of Righteous men If the Rejoycing of the Church be the glory of a Nation surely the disturbing and distracting and dissolving of the Church is the shame and Confusion of a Nation 2. Consider the Excellency and Preheminence of the Church above all other Societyes She is the fairest amongst women Cant. 1.8 and 6.1 She is the Citty and House of God Revel 21.2 Psal 48.1.1 Tim. 3.15 The world and all the Societyes of it are for the Church 1 Cor. 3.21 22. The world would not subsist but for the Church nor any Countrey in the world but for the service of the Church And can the Church then breake up into peices and dissolve into nothing and yet the Peace and wellfare of the Citty not in the least measure impaired or disturbed 3. It is a matter of just displeasure to God and sad greife of heart to the Church when Civill States looke at the estate of the Church as of little or no concernment to themselves Zach. 1.15 Lament 1.12 Object 1. Many glorious and flourishing Cittyes of the world maintaine their Civill Peace yea the very Americans and wildest Pagans keep the Peace of their Townes and Cittyes though neither in the one nor in the other can any man prove a true Church of God in these places Answ It is true where the Church is not Cittyes and Townes may enjoy some measure of Civill Peace yea and flourish in outward prosperity for a time through the Patience and Bounty and Long-sufferance of God The times of Jgnorance God winketh at Act. 17.30 But when the Church cometh to be Planted amongst them If then Civill States doe neglect them suffer the Churches to corrupt and annoy themselves by pollutions in Religion the the staffe of the Peace of the Common-wealth will soone be broken as the Purity of Religion is broken in the Churches The Common-wealth of Rome flourished five hundred yeares before the Kingdome of God in his Church came amongst them and the decayes of the Common-wealth occasioned by the persecutions of the Church were Repaired by the Publick establishment of the Churches peace in Christian Emperors But when the Churches begun to pollute themselves by the Idolatrous worship of Images and the Christian Emperors tooke no care to reforme this abuse in Churches the Lord sent in amongst other barberous nations the Turkes to punish not onely degenerate Churches but also the Civill State for this wickednesse And therefore the Holy Ghost upbraideth them for their continuance in Image worship though the Turke were let loose from the River Euphrates to scourge them for it Rev. 9.14.20 Goe now and say the estate of the Church whether true or false pure or corrupt doth not concerne the Civill Peace of the Sate Object 2. The Peace of the Church whether true or false is spirituall and so of an higher and farre different nature from the peace of the Countrey or People which is meerely and Essentially Civill and humane Ans 1. Though the inward peace of the Church be spirituall and heavenly yet there is an outward peace of the Church due to them even from Princes and Magistrates in a way of godlinesse and honesty 1. Tim. 2.1.2 But in a way of ungodlinesse and Idolatry it is an wholesome faithfulnesse to the Church if Princes trouble the outward peace of the Church that so the Church finding themselves wounded and pricked in the house of their friends they may repent and returne to their first Husband Zach. 13.6 Hosea 2.6.7 Ans 2. Though the peace of the Countrey or Common-wealth be Civill and humane yet it is distracted and cutt off by disturbing the spirituall purity and peace of the Church Jehu cutting short his Reformation God cutt short the coasts of the Civill State 2 King 10.31.32 Ans 3. Civill Peace to speake properly is not onely a peace in civill things for the Object but a peace of all the persons of the Citty for the Subject The Church is one Society in the Citty as well as is the Society of Merchants or Drapers Fishmongers and Haberdashers and if it be a part of Civill Justice out of regard to Civill Peace to protect all other Societyes in peace according to the wholesome Ordinances of their Company is it not so much more to protect the Church-Society in peace according to the wholesome Ordinances of the Word of Christ CHAP. 7. A Reply to his seventh Chapter Discussing what it is to hold forth a Doctrine or Practise in an Arrogant and impetuous way tending of it selfe to the disturbance of the Civill Peace HERE 2. Things he complaineth of 1. That I have not declared what this Arrogant and impetuous way is 2. That he cannot but expresse his sad and sorrowfull