Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	amen_n	jesus_n	lord_n	2,796	5	3.4805	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38823	The Gospel treasury opened, or, The holiest of all unvailing discovering yet more the riches of grace and glory to the vessels of mercy unto whom onely it is given to know the mysteries of that kingdom and the excellency of spirit, power, truth above letter, forms, shadows / in several sermons preached at Kensington & elswhere by John Everard ; whereunto is added the mystical divinity of Dionysius the Areopagite spoken of Acts 17:34 with collections out of other divine authors translated by Dr. Everard, never before printed in English.	Everard, John, 1575?-1650?; Brooks, Thomas, 1608-1680.; Barker, Matthew, 1619-1698.	1657 (1657)	Wing E3531; ESTC R29421	513,595	936

other have split their vessels in these days But the Author so clearly distinguishes that he misseth both Rocks and carries on the truth Amain with Top-sail against all battery and opposition Here ye shall finde the vail rent and the last shadows vanishing and some Rayes of the glory of the holiest of all appearing being hid from ages and generations but in these last times upon the bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles and for the calling of the Iews more brightly breaking forth revealing the mystery of the Scriptures or the marrow of the true word of God which endureth forever wherein the Life and Spirit of the Holy Word is clearly distinguished from the outward and killing letter comparing spiritual things with spiritual that all those errors differences revilings and bitter censurings so much broken forth of late occasioned by resting in the letter may now vanish and make haste before the presence of the Lord and the glory of his coming whose fan is in his hand and he will throughly purge his floor and gather the wheat into his garner but will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire And will baptize his own people with his own Spirit with the Holy Ghost and with fire Howbeit we speak wisdom onely among them that are perfect yet not the wisdom of this world nor of the Princes of this world which comes to nought But we speak the wisdom of God in a MYSTERY even the hidden wisdom which God hath ordained before the world unto our glory which none of the princes of this world knew 1 Cor. 2. It is written Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for those that love him having revealed them unto us by his spirit And if in this life onely we had hope in Christ we were of all men most miserable 1 Cor. 15. 19. We are fools for Christs sake but ye are wise we are weak but ye are strong ye are honourable but we are despised 1 Cor. 4. 10. Let no man deceive himself if any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world or to himself let him become a fool that he may be wise 1 Cor. 1. 18. For the preaching of the CROSSE is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it is the power of God verse 18. But the foolishness of God is wiser then men and the weakness of God is stronger then men verse 25. He that is spiritual judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of no man verse 15. The Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2. 10. And the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you all things and is truth and is no lye and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him 1 John 2. 27. If any man have an ear to hear let him hear Verse 10. Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy Jude 24. and to do exceeding abundantly for you above all that we can ask or think according to the mighty power which worketh in you unto him be glory and majesty dominion and power in the Church by Iesus Christ thoughout all ages world without end Eph. 3. 20. The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all Amen Rapha Harford An Approbation THe publisher of this Book is desirous that it might pass with some testimonial into the world but it needs not testimony from man for I find it imprest with such a Divine Image and bearing such clear lineaments of Heaven-born truths as testifie it to be of God and therefore strongly bespeaks us to receive it as into our houses so chiefly into our hea●ts I dare assure thee Reader if thou hast received a spiritual relish thou shalt taste much sweetnes in it And if thou canst rejoyce to be laid low and made nothing that God may be exalted and made all in all then shalt thou find here that which will help thy joy and let me intreat thee That as thou readest the Book to read also thine own heart and by this thou mayest come to find thine heart in the Book and the Book in thine heart and will make thee fall upon thy face with that Ideot and worship God and report God is in this word of a truth 1 Cor. 14. 25. Some are casting off the letter of the Scripture others resting in it some are despising Ordinances others overvaluing them I find the Author walking warily betwixt both giving due honour to the letter and the form while he is exalting the Power and the Spirit incomparably above both And thou shalt find him laying the Ax of truth and the Edge of his Spirit to that cursed Root of Self-Approbation in man which is daily bringing forth such bitter fruits in his heart in his life and in the world and yet remains unseen and untouched in the hearts of many that would be thought to be arrived at the brink of perfection while they scarce understand wherein the great imperfection of the natural man doth lie Some expressions in thy reading may seem harsh or obscure to thee as they did to me but if thou comparest one place with another thou wilt clearly see what the Author means and shalt find his whole discourse to have a Sacred tendency to lay man low and so to put him into a Rich capacity of coming in to the near●st fellowship with God so that while some seek to build up themselves upon the deceitful foundation of corrupted nature and struggle though in vain in the light and power of it to advance towards perfection He is planting his spiritual Artillery against it to throw it into the dust that man may come to be surely bottomed upon the Righteousness Power and Wisdom of Iesus Christ which is the onely foundation that God hath laid and the Gospel revealed And in some things you must give him a latitude to his judgement as thou desirest to thine own in other If thou findest some truths delivered and inforced with reiterated expressions consider they were delivered for the most part in several Congregations so that in some particulars the same things may be re-inforced but yet with more lustr● to make Truth more clear And that thou hast them as they were Preached and Pressed in Sermons to the Capacity and Conscience of his Auditors and taken from his mouth by a Notary yet afterward owned and approved by himself and compared with his own notes Read Consider and Try and hold fast that which is good March 26. 1653. Tho. Brooks M. Barker Imprimatur Ioseph Caril Decemb. 6. 1652. In remembrance of the Author and upon view of his Essigies and SERMONS HIS ICON curiously

live And With those men which Live ●pon the shadow and content themselves with Shels and Husks There is no peace to be had with them except ye make the Substance Vail to their Shadowes And the True God to stoop to their Idol Baal Otherwise They are like Saul Before He was converted Acts 9. 1. Exceedingly Mad against them like Inraged Mad Bulls and Breathing out Threatning and Slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord And are still seeking to the High Priests and the powers of the Earth to assist them with Commissions To make Havock of the Church But Oh! that the Lord would graciously Shine Round about them And smite them to the earth Causing them to hear That voice Why Why persecutest Thou Me It is Hard for thee to Kick against the Pricks But St. Paul ●e was now come to those things of which he knew and found Christ His bod was but A shadow He now possest the 〈◊〉 let the shadow go And if men wo●ld never sleigh the Shadow or the Letter or the Shell Till the did it on the same ground the Apos●le did 〈◊〉 instead of blaming them I should Highly commend them But this is that which is too common in these dayes they throw away the shadow and the shell too soon they throw away the Letter and Ordinances upon a meer supposition 〈◊〉 they are in S. Pauls condition and this is th● very ground of the Error of Many in these dayes and therefore I caution hence 〈◊〉 much and charge you Not to throw away the Letter no● sleight the body of Christ in the least ex●ep● inrelation to the Spirit the Life and the Substance Onely comparatively And you as come Really 〈◊〉 enjoy these things not to cast them quite 〈◊〉 as I said before but not to rest in them 〈…〉 the Handmaid before the Mistress or the 〈◊〉 before the Marrow or the Casket before th● IEWEL or the ●ield before the PEARL Le no man saith the Apostle Iudge you in Meats 〈◊〉 Drinks or in respect of an Holy day New 〈…〉 of The Sabbath dayes which are shadows of Thing To come But the Body is Christ. For beloved Christs body was Symbolical 〈◊〉 well as his actions they all held 〈…〉 that we might not rest in them b●t this is 〈…〉 flesh in us is ready to abuse to our own 〈◊〉 and condemnation The cunning politick Devil in us when he cannot hold us in prophaneness by the Chains of ignorance then he labours to do it by the Chains of knowledge Sayes he in us if the letter be a shadow and nothing then we will neglect it we will throw it away there is nothing now to be done we will live as we list we Owe No duties to God or man we will please our selves and deny our selves nothing for we are gotten above Word Ordinances Sacraments Worships and all Oh Beloved these are the Devils strongest Chains of all These Chains of Knowledge to abuse the highest liberty and glory of a Christian to the Idleness and Luxuriousness of the flesh He that is taken in These Chains a thousand to one if he ever get out as the Apostle saith Heb. 10. There is after this no more Sacrifice for sins such will hardly ever recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil and as he expresseth it in Heb. 6. It is impossible for those who were once inlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come if they shall fall away it is impossible to renew them again to repentance and he so goes on and explains it by a similitude For the earth which drinketh in the rain which cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them for whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God else it beareth thorns and bryars and is rejected and is ●igh unto cursing and in the end to be burned This caution I thought good to mind you of that in taking you off from Resting on these things that you do not quite slight them nor think your selves come to the Spirit when ye have scarce Attained The letter and Outside But as I was saying Christs body and his actions were symbolical for though he healed the lame and cured the deaf and raised the dead and the like yet this was not the Substance nor the End of his coming for he by them shadowed out to us what he doth internally in our souls For Iesus Christ is yesterday and to day and th● same for ever He did then Those actions of curing the blind cleansing the lepers casting out devils and the rest So he doth the same still as David saith Psal. 103. Praise the Lord O my soul which cureth all thy diseases and healeth al thy infirmities which redeemeth our lives from destruction and crowneth us daily with loving kindnesses and tender mercies These are the diseases Christ cures daily and so cures that they never mortally fall sick again Those he cured then they might fall to the same diseases again or worse it may be and besides that curing them saved them not from death as this curing doth The young man that was raised from death dyed again and Lazarus dyed again but those he cures in soul they are cured for ever them he quickens for ever them he so raises from death that they dy no more As old Simeon said of him Luke 2. 34. That he was for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and he was for a sign which shall be spoken against He is for a sign in the flesh and in his Humane nature of what he did from the begining and of what he is still in doing He himself in the body in his humanity and All his actions were typical These things I often represent to you because we are Backward to re●eive them we are loth to turn our eyes inward in hearing and reading the Scriptures To see all those things fulfilled in our selves Nay we do not yet feel and believe That we are those that Christ came to cure that we are the dumb and the deaf the halt and the blind Little do we think that Devils are to be cast out of us but those whom Christ hath cured they are able to see really that they are The men that Christ then by them represented They see when they read of the Iews crucifying of the Lord of life of their cruel whipping mocking c. crowning him with thorn● and the like they can say to themselves as Nathan said to David when by a parable he had represented his sin sayes he and so can this man say to himself Thou art the man And so likewise in all his other actions Far be it from any one to think that to heal those External diseases was the End of his coming But thus think Did he arise from death to life he doth the same

Ghost In them for all Scripture was given by inspiration 2 Tim. 3. 16. after they were once set apart by God to write the holy Scriptures they all spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost as Dan. 12. 4. God commands Daniel Shut up the words and seal the Book even till the time of the end These holy men being once set apart for this use they prophesie Beyond themselves and out of course and latter and after-times shall make known that which they themselves which wrote them knew not for they spake as inspired by God but Christs words are alwayes absolute and perfect truth he knew and saw very well what he said there is nothing useless in his words there is no Tautologies as we call them no vain repetitions when Christ speaks they are words of weight words of power they carry vertue with them as for instance if ever the winds blow and the storms arise in thy soul Then thou shalt find experimentally and feelingly that One word from Christs mouth will do thee more good then all the words and all the power of men To Still those winds and storms those who have experience here of know it full well as we see when the ship was like to be Overcome by the winds and storms and Christ was asleep you may see there how One word from him Ceased them No more but Peace and be still and t is the same in the soul and Psal. 107. 29. He maketh the storm a calm so that the waves thereof are still These words we have now read All power is given to me in heaven and earth They signifie that Christ is God equal with the Father but there seems to be a great difficulty in the words in that Christ never said before he was ready to leave the earth All power is given unto me in he●ven and earth The question is What power had Christ now committed to him that he had not before what new power received he that when he was to leave the earth and had given his Disciples a Commission and it was to be sealed at the day of Pentecost that he should say now and never before All power is given me in heaven and earth what addition of power had he now which he had not before if he be God equal with his Father and he saith many times The Father hath committed all judgement to the Son and again Before Abraham was I am and many such like words which shews he is God and of Equal power and Authority with his Father and yet he saith in the 14 of Iohn The Father is greater then I Can God receive any new Access of power No certainly but these words are so hard and difficult to reconcile that in the daies of Arius it filled the Church full of Errors and Heresies the Church fell much at Odds for many from hence denied the Divinity of Christ because they could not reconcile these Scriptures And by the way if he be Lord of all power then he leaves none for man to claim to himself But that I may answer this doubt and make it clear I will lay down two grounds First Although God receive no new power in himself yet he doth receive power by being made further known unto man And Secondly By mans being made further known unto him First By his being made further known unto man the revealing and discovering of God unto man making himself more known the manifestation of this is said To Adde power to him but not That any thing can be added to him who is infinite if there could he were not infinite and He were not God But know this whatever attribute God hath ascribed to him it is in regard of his creatures not in regard of himself for there are no such things in God Neither in regard of his incommunicable or communicable Attributes as Eternity Infiniteness Omnipotency Immensness c. Or in regard of his communicable as Wisdome Iustice and Mercy and Patience c. as if these were several things in God for God is One and cannot be more for when he is said to be any of these Iust or Good or Severe or the like these are all One and the same thing in him they are but Attributed to him that we may conceive of him it is but spoken of him according to the several workings of God on the creatures As for instance the Sun makes the Ro●e to smel sweet and pleasant and it makes the Nettle to sting it makes the fields to grow and cast a Pleasant savour but it makes the Carrion and the Dunghil to stink and all this variety is by one and the self-same Sun the same light and heat doth divers things causes divers effects in the subjects Says the Rose it makes me fragrant and sweet and says the Dung-hill but it makes me stink and be unsavoury says the Wax it makes me soft and pliable but says the clay it makes me hard and obdurate yet the Sun doth not do one thing to one and another thing to another Even so Beloved it is with our God One man He finds God A comfort and a rejoycing to his heart another he finds God A Terror and an Amazement to him One he finds God A sweet guide and direction to him and thereby and therefore he draws nearer to God loveth and embraceth him Another apprehends God an enemy to him and this makes him run away from God Is God therefore thus various no no He is the self-same God to the One and to the Other and the self-same action in him is to the One and to the other He that is a Hammer to the Hard heart he is also mollifying and softning Oyl to the Penitent soul He that is A comfort to the fatherless and widow he is as an Enemy A Revenger and a consuming fire to the obstinate and rebellious And yet for all this Our God is always the same he is not nor cannot be changed in him is no shadow of change And therefore we cannot imagine that he can grow greater or less in regard of himself but as To us he doth that is if he manifest himself more to us more within us in our souls then he is said to be greater and if he lessen the knowledge of himself As to us then he is said to grow less And in this sense also he is said to come nearer to us and go further from us As also he is said so to do when he expresses as to us more or less some act of justice or mercy or any other artribute then I say he is onely said to be so in regard of us To grow greater or less to come nearer or depart further but He in himself is for ever blessed and perfect Unchangeable Immoveable always the same we can no way Touch him or Alter him but it is onely We the Creature is Altered and he is altered to us as to