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

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45182	Christ mysticall, or, The blessed union of Christ and his members also, An holy rapture, or, A patheticall meditation of the love of Christ : also, The Christian laid forth in his whole disposition and carriage / by J.H. D.D. B.N.	Hall, Joseph, 1574-1656.	1647 (1647)	Wing H374; ESTC R16159	67,177	294

have peace at the last ransack them thoroughly not contenting your selves with a perfunctory and fashionable over-sight which will one day leave you irremediably miserable but so search as those that resolve not to give over till you finde these gracious dispositions in your bosomes which I have here described to you so shall we be and make each other happy in the successe of our holy labours which the God of heaven blesse in both our hands to his own glory and our mutuall comfort in the day of the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen THE CHRISTIAN THE Christian is a man and more an earthly Saint an Angel cloathed in flesh the onely lawfull image of his Maker and Redeemer the abstract of Gods Church on earth a modell of heaven made up in clay the living Temple of the holy Ghost For his disposition it hath in it as much of heaven as his earth may make room for He were not a man if he were quite free from corrupt affections but these he masters and keeps in with a strait hand and if at any time they grow resty and headstrong he breaks them with a severe discipline and will rather punish himself then not tame them Hee checks his appetite with discreet but strong denials and forbears to pamper nature lest it grow wanton and impetuous He walks on earth but converses in heaven having his eyes fixed on the invisible and enjoying a sweet communion with his God and Saviour Whiles all the rest of the world sits in darknesse he lives in a perpetuall light the heaven of heavens is open to none but him thither his eye pierceth and beholds those beams of inaccessible glory which shine in no face but his The deep mysteries of godlinesse which to the great Clerks of the world are as a book clasped and sealed up lye open before him fair and legible and whiles those book-men know whom they have heard of hee knowes whom he hath beleeved He will not suffer his Saviour to be ever out of his eye and if through some worldly interceptions he lose the sight of that blessed object for a time he zealously retrives him not without an angry check of his own mis-carriage and is now so much the more fixed by his former slackning so as he will henceforth sooner part with his soul then his Redeemer The tearmes of entirenesse wherein he stands with the Lord of life are such as he can feel but cannot expresse though hee should borrow the language of Angels it is enough that they two are one spirit His reason is willingly captivated to his faith his will to his reason and his affections to both He fears nothing that he sees in comparison of that which he sees not and displeasure is more dreadfull to him then smart Good is the adequate object of his love which he duly proportions according to the degrees of its eminence affecting the chiefe good not without a certaine ravishment of spirit the lesser with a wise and holy moderation Whether he do more hate sin or the evil spirit that suggests it is a question Earthly contentments are too mean grounds whereon to raise his joy these as hee baulks not whē they meet him in his way so he doth not too eagerly pursue he may taste of them but so as he had rather fast then surset He is not insensible of those losses w ch casualty or enmity may inflict but that w ch lyes most heavily upon his heart is his sin This makes his sleep short troublesome his meals stomacklesse his recreations listlesse his every thing tedious till he finde his soul acquitted by his great Surety in heaven which done he feels more peace and pleasure in his calm then he found horrour in the tempest His heart is the store-house of most precious graces That faith whereby his soul is established triumphs over the world wvether it allure or threaten and bids defiance to all the powers of darknesse not fearing to be foiled by any opposition His hope cannot be discouraged with the greatest difficulties but bears up against naturall impossibilities and knows how to reconcile contradictions His charity is both extensive and fervent barring out no one that bears the face of a man but pouring out it self upon the houshold of faith that studies good constructions of men and actions and keeps it self free both from suspicion and censure Grace doth not more exalt him then his humility depresses him Were it not for that Christ who dwels in him he could think himself the meanest of all creatures now he knows he may not disparage the Deity of him by whom he is so gloriously inhabited in whose only right he can be as great in his own thoughts as he is despicable in the eyes of the world He is wise to God-ward however it be with him for the world and well knowing he cannot serve two masters he cleaves to the better making choice of that good part which can never be taken from him not so much regarding to get that which he cannot keep as to possesse himself of that good which he cannot lose He is just in all his dealings with men hating to thrive by injury and oppression and will rather leave behinde something of his own then silch from anothers heap Hee is not close-fisted where there is just occasion of his distribution willingly parting with those metals which he regards onely for use not caring for either their colour or substance earth is to him no other then it self in what hiew so ever it appeareth In every good cause hee is bold as a Lion and can neither fear faces nor shrink at dangers and is rather heartned with opposition pressing so much the more where he findes a large door open and many adversaries and when he must suffer doth as resolutely stoop as he did before valiantly resist He is holily temperate in the use of all Gods blessings as knowing by whom they are given and to what end neither dares either to mis-lay them or to mis-spend them lavishly as duly weighing upon what tearms he receives them and fore-expecting an account Such an hand doth he carry upon his pleasures and delights that they run not away with him he knows how to slacken the reins without a debauched kind of dissolutenesse and how to straiten them without a sullen rigour He lives as a man that hath borrowed his time and challenges not to be an owner of it caring to spend the day in a gracious and well-governed thrift His first mornings task after he hath lifted up his heart to that God who gives his beloved sleep shall be to put himself into a due posture wherein to entertain himself and the whole day which shall be done if he shall effectually work his thoughts to a right apprehension of his God of himself of all that may concern him The true posture of a Christian then is this He sees still heaven open to him and beholds

any other then one Spouse In the Institution of Marriage did he not make one yet had he the residue of the spirit and wherefore one that he might seek a godly seed That which he ordained for us shall not the holy God much more observe in his own heavenly match with his Church Here is then one Lord one Faith one Baptisme One Baptisme by which wee enter into the Church one Faith which we professe in the Church and one Lord whom wee serve and who is the head and husband of the Church How much therefore doth it concern us that we who are united in one common beleef should be much more united in affection that where there is one way there should bee much more one heart This is so justly supposed that the Prophet questions Can two walk together except they be agreed if we walk together in our judgements we cannot but accord in our wils This was the praise of the Primitive Christians and the pattern of their successours The multitude of them that beleeved were of one heart and of one soul Yea this is the Livery which our Lord and Saviour made choice of whereby his meniall servants should be known and distinguished By this shall all men know that ye be my Disciples if ye have love to one another In vain shall any man pretend to a Discipleship if he do not make it good by his love to all the family of Christ. The whole Church is the spirituall Temple of God every beleever is a living stone laid in those sacred wals what is our Christian love but the morter or cement whereby these stones are fast joyned together to make up this heavenly building without which that precious fabrick could not hold long together but would be subject to dis-joynting by those violent tempests of opposition wherewith it is commonly beaten upon There is no place for any loose stone in Gods edifice The whole Church is one entire body all the lims must be held together by the ligaments of Christian love if any one will be severed and affect to subsist of it self it hath lost his place in the body Thus the Apostle That we being sincere in love may grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ From whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplyeth according to the effectuall working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of it self in love But in case there happen to be differences in opinion concerning points not essentiall not necessary to salvation this diversity may not breed an alienation of affection That charity which can cover a multitude of sins may much more cover many small dissensions of judgement We cannot hope to be all and at all times equally enlightned at how many and great weaknesses of judgement did it please our mercifull Saviour to connive in his domestique ples They that had so long sate at the sacred feet of him that spake as never man spake were yet to seek of those Scriptures which had so clearely foretold his resurrection and after that were at a fault for the manner of his kingdome yet he that breaks not the bruised reed nor quenches the smoaking flaxe fals not harshly upon them for so foul an error and ignorance but entertains them with all loving respects not as followers onely but as friends And his great Apostle after hee had spent himself in his unweariable endeavours upon Gods Church and had sown the seeds of wholesom saving doctrine every where what ranke and noisome weeds of erroneous opinions rose up under his hand in the Churches of Corinth Galatia Ephesus Colosse Philippi and Thessalonica These he labours to root out with much zeal with no bitternesse so opposing the errors as not alienating his affection from the Churches These these must be our precedents pursuing that charge of the prime Apostle Finally be ye all of one minde having compassion one of another love as brethren be pitifull be courteous and that passionate and adjuring obtestation of the Apostle of the Gentiles If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels and mercies Fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one minde This is it that gives beauty strength glory to the Church of God upon earth and brings it nearest to the resemblance of that Triumphant part above where there is all perfection of love and concord in imitation whereof the Psalmist sweetly Behold how good and joyfull a thing it is brethren to dwel together in unity So much the more justly lamentable it is to see the manifold and grievous distractions of the Church of Christ both in judgement and affection Woe is me into how many thousand peeces is the seamlesse coat of our Saviour rent Yea into what numberlesse atomes is the precious body of Christ torn and minced There are more Religions then Nations upon earth in each Religion as many different conceits as men If Saint Paul when his Corinthians did but say I am of Paul I am of Apollo I am of Cephas could ask Is Christ divided when there was onely an emulatory magnifying of their own Teachers though agreeing and orthodoxe what think wee would he now say if he saw hundred of Sect-masters and Heresiarchs some of them opposite to other all to the Truth applauded by their credulous and divided followers all of them claiming Christ for theirs and denying him to their gain-sayers would hee not aske Is Christ multiplied Is Christ sub-divided Is Christ shred into infinities O God! what is become of Christianity How doe evill spirits men labour to destroy that Creed w ch we have always constantly professed For if we set up more Christs where is that one and if we give way to these infinite distractions where is the communion of Saints But he not too much dismaid my son notwithstanding all these cold disheartnings take courage to thy self He that is truth it self hath said The Gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church In spight of all Devils there shall be Saints and those are and shall be as the scales of the Leviathan whose strong peeces of shields are his pride shut up together as with a close seal one is so near to another that no ayr can come betwixt them They are joyned one to another they stick together that they cannot be sundred In all the main principles of Religion there is an universall and unanimous consent of all Christians and these are they that constitute a Church Those that agree in these Christ is pleased to admit for matter of doctrine as members of that body whereof he is the head and if they admit not of each other as such the fault is in the