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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	apostle_n	authority_n	power_n	9,153	5	4.8677	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93880	The teachings of Christ in the soule. Opened in a sermon before the Right Honble House of Peers, in Covent-garden-Church, upon the solemne day of their monthly fast, March 29. 1648. / By Peter Sterry, M.A. sometimes fellow of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge: and now preacher of the Gospel in London. Published by order of that House.	Sterry, Peter, 1613-1672.	1648 (1648)	Wing S5486; Thomason E433_30; ESTC R204205	36,001	61

are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2. 14. Can Sense which is the light of Beasts trace the workings and flights of Reason in her Contemplations or discerne the things of men Can we see a soule or an Angel by the light of a Candle Divine things must have a Divine light to discover them a Divine power and principle to comprehend them 2. Reason at first was no sure Judge It never was infallible It was deceived It may then be so alwayes If it were againe perfect it might againe be deceived Man being in honour continueth not but becomes like the beast that perisheth Psal 49. 12. The rectitude of Reason was the Image of God the Crowne and Glory of Man By this he grew up streight in the midst of the Creatures uniting them heightning them all by a Harmony into the same Image So he subdued them to himselfe himselfe with them ascended into and rested in the Divine Image Thus Man was the true Orpheus with his Divine Hymnes in the midst of Beasts Trees and Stones dancing to his Musick But vaine Man continues not in this Honour Reason proves a degenerating thing It is quickly tempted easily overcome so it sinks downward first into a brutish then a devilish state Reason was the glittering and circling Serpent in Paradise more subtle then all the beasts of the field or subtle above all the beasts of the field Gen. 3. 1. Yet this Serpent was the first seate and instrument of that deceit by which the Devill ruined our first Parents But if Reason were undeceived uncorrupt and should remaine so yet could it give us no assurance For it is a derived subordinate Principle Reason may indeed be considered in a two-fold state 1. State As Reason is supreame in God So it is no other then Jesus Christ For He is the Image the Harmony the Light the Truth the Wisdome the Word the Reason of God John 1. 1. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God Instead of Word you may reade Reason as properly according to the Greeke for it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reason or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Speech Christ is that Reason in which all things are knit together and appeare to God that Reason by and for which God made all things Reason in this sense is the Spirit For Christ and the Spirit are One not two Masters but One. 2. State as Reason is subordinate in Man Thus it is a distinct Master and Light from the Spirit In this sense we have hitherto spoken of it and doe so still Vpon this ground we say that Reason in Man if it were pure and could abide so could have no full assurance in it selfe could give us none because it is a derived subordinate Light It is subject to another and depends upon another above it So it cannot have any Certainty or perfect Cleernesse but in that other Light Neither can it establish us in any Certainty but as it holds forth that other Light in it selfe That was the true Light which lightneth every man that commeth into the world saith Saint John of Jesus Christ John 1. 9. Reason hath so much of a true light as it hath of Jesus Christ in it Reason in Man is an inferiour Light and therefore imperfect If we receive the Testimony of Man the Testimony of God is greater 1 Joh. 5. 9. As God is above Man so is the Prinple of Light by which God sees which is His Sonne and Spirit above that Principle of Light by which Man judgeth all things which is his Reason For this is the Testimony of Man his Reason this is the Testimony of God His Spirit So far then as the Light of Man falls short of the Light of God it must of necessity fall short of perfection have a negative though not a privative want be mixt with darknesse uncertainty doubt feare Though these in innocency were tempered with their contraries reduced to a harmony and so had not deformity or torment yet even then the morning of light and the evening of darknesse made the day of man's knowledge God is light and in him is there no darknesse 1 John 1. 5. Reason at first at best is but a Twi-light This is Reason in Man an inferiour imperfect dependent Principle unsuitable at best to Divine things unsure at first apt to be deceived deceived now depraved in all men This is that which at first betrayed us and cast us out of Paradise shall we trust it now when it is corrupt can it now bring us into Paradise againe We have examined the first Master and found him unfit for the Schoole of Christ Let us now try the second 2. Master The Authority of the Church What doe you take a Church to be A Combination of men If you cannot trust your owne Reason or that of another man because Reason hath a worme at its root is adulterate in its Principle O then doe not trust your foules your immortality to a Councel of all mankind if it were met together in one For all men are acted by the same Principle of Reason In vaine you worship me teaching for Doctrines the Traditions of men saith Jesus Christ Obj. But you will say A Church is a Communion of Spirituall men in the Spirit of Jesus Christ It is the Vnity of the Spirit that binds men up into a Church Keepe the unity of the Spirit in the band of peace Ephes 4. 3. It is the presence and power of Christ who is the Image and glory of God that gives to any the Authority of a Church I am with you to the end of the world saith our Saviour Mat. 1. 1. Paul saith 1 Cor. 5. 4. In the name of our Lord Jesus when ye are gathered together and my Spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Thus he describes a Church-meeting by the Name which is the Discovery and the Power of Christ upon them Answ If it be the Unity of the Spirit and the Presence of Christ that make a Church then is it the Appearance of Christ and his Spirit through any sort of men that must discover the true Church to me and distinguish them from every false and pretended one I will know saith Saint Paul not the speech but the power of such 1 Cor. 4. 19. For the Kingdome of God that is the Church is not in word but in power that is in the power of Christ working with them ver 20. The woman is the Glory of the man saith Saint Paul Christ is my Master The Church shall be my Mistris so far as she is the Spouse of Christ his Image his Glory I then submit my selfe to the authority of the Church when I submit my selfe to the Appearances of Christ and the manifestations of his Spirit in any society of men See how S. Paul as an Apostle in whom the authority of the whole Church lay commends and justifies

himself 2 Cor. 3. 1. Need we Epistles of Commendations to you or from you ver 2. Ye are our Epistles written in our hearts ver 3. Ye are manifestly declared the Epistle of Christ ministred by us written not with Inke but with the Spirit of the living God not on tables of stone but on hearts of flesh These are the Commendatory Letters which a true Apostle the true Church carry about with them these are the Commission by vertue of which they challenge their authority The Epistle that is the Gospell that is the Discovery of Christ shining thorow them into the hearts of men by the Spirit These are the onely life power authority discovery of the true Church the Manifestation of Christ and the Ministery of the Spirit to the hearts of men We reade Gal. 4. 25 26. of two Hierusalems one above the other below that now is subject to temporary appearances in this world or that now is whose time is now whose being and glory is of this world These are the Two Churches one in the outward forme the other in the Spirit To be subject to the Hierusalem below to the Church in the outward forme for the outward forme's sake is a bondage For that Church is in bondage with her children This Church is but our Mother-in-law The Hierusalem which is above the Church in the unity of the Spirit is the true Mother of us all That Church is our right Mistresse which is our true Mother This is the Mount Sion that cannot be toucht that is not obvious to sense or subject to a carnall discerning Here is the great Congregation of the first-borne the meeting of all good Spirits in this one Spirit Heb. 12. 18 22 23. To be subject to the authority of this Church is to be truly free For this Church is seene onely in the Spirit and in that Spirit justifies her selfe This Spirit is the seale of the living God upon her Thus the Authority of the Church is none or t is that of Christ and his Spirit in her 3. Master Miracles Divines distinguish between Mirandum and Miraculum a thing to be admired and a Miracle That is to be admired which is unusuall or unknowne which proceeds from some unwonted or undiscovered cause in nature That onely is a Miracle which is above Nature which transcends the course and power of Nature which hath the Divine Nature putting forth it selfe in the vigour of its abstracted Being You have Miracles described Mark 16. 20. They went forth and preached the Lord working with them and confirming the Word by signes following That onely is a Miracle or a signe from heaven for confirmation of the truth which hath the Lord Jesus working and appearing in it joyntly with some creature There is no way of confirming the Appearances of Christ but onely by the multiplying of those Appearances How then shall I know which is a Miracle I must have a Spirit large as the sand of the Sea that can put a Girdle about the whole Compasse of Nature in her widest extent I must fathom her in the utmost of her Power before I can say of any thing This is supernaturall this is a Miracle Or else he that saith He sees a Miracle must say he sees God as he is above all creatures comming downe in his owne likenesse into some particular Creature and making a change of it by that Discovery of himselfe in it The waters saw thee O God and were driven backward saith the Psalmist of the Miracles wrought in the passage of the Children of Israel out of Aegypt No man can discerne a Miracle 'till he discover God which can never be done but by the Eye of God in the Soul of man Jesus Christ is the Head-miracle For in him first the Face of God is seen in union with the Creature as in a glasse Each Miracle is the same Appearance over again in severall shapes as the same Soul which shines out in the Head shewing it self in the various Members and parts of the body Therefore is the Working of Miracles a Gift of the Spirit and the working of a Miracle is by the faith of Christ 1 Cor. 12. 9 10. Mat. 17. 20. But let us passe from Miracles to the Letter of the Scriptures 4. Master Letter of the Scriptures Nothing is to be said of these but reverendly They are to be set below the Spirit alone It is in comparison with this Spirit that themselves undervalue themselves and testifie of themselves these things 1. The Scriptures in the Letter are Dead But now we are delivered from the Law that being dead wherein we were held that we might serve him in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter Rom. 7. 6. The Law and the Letter are every where made of equall dignity power and extent Both as they are alone are old and dead The Scriptures thus taken signifie nothing except you bring some living Power or Principle to them to quicken them Lay them before a dead man and they are as dead as he 2. The Scriptures in the Letter are Killing 2 Cor. 3. 6. The Letter Killeth but the Spirit quickneth The Letter of the Scripture Kils two waies by confounding and condemning us It hath so much darknesse upon it so much difficulty in it it is subject to so many disputes to such variety of interpretations that it troubles and distracts our Vnderstanding making it able to see nothing to settle no where This indeed is the proper end and best effect of the Letter to put out quite all our Light that we may wait for a higher Light from Heaven which may restore the Letter without us and Reason within us as by a Regeneration Saint Paul saith I by the Law am dead to the Law Galat. 2. 19. Happy is he who can say in like manner I by the Letter am blind and dead to the Letter that the Spirit may shine thorow the Letter upon me and fulfill the law of the Letter in mee 3. The Letter of the Scripture is an Outward thing Rom. 2. 1. Saint Paul teacheth us that he is not a Jew who is one outwardly in the Letter but he that is one inwardly in the Spirit The Letter and the Spirit are opposed as inward and outward The Spirit is called a Sword Ephes 6. 17. The Scriptures are the Scabbard in which that Sword is laid up and out of which it is drawn The Spirit in the same place is called the Word of God This is the inward Word the Scriptures are the outward The Spirit is a Person the Scriptures are a Garment fitted to that Person and receiving their warmth from him before they can give any to us Yet every Principle and Power of falshood as well as truth can cloth it self with this Garment He is not a Jew that is one outwardly in the Letter Each Principle and Spirit makes the Scriptures appear to it selfe in its owne Likenesse Spirituall wickednesses

THE TEACHINGS OF CHRIST IN THE SOULE OPENED In a SERMON before the Right Hon ble House of PEERS in Covent-garden-Church upon the Solemne Day of their Monthly Fast March 29. 1648. By PETER STERRY M. A. Sometimes Fellow of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge AND Now Preacher of the Gospel in LONDON Published by Order of that House LONDON Printed for R. Dawlman and are to be sold at the Signe of the Crowne and Bible at Dowgate neer Canning-street 1648. Die Lunae 3 0 Aprilis 1648. ORdered by the Lords in Parliament assembled That M r Sterrey one of the Assembly of Divines is hereby thanked for his great paines taken in his Sermon Preached the last Fast before their Lo ps in the Covent-Garden Church And he is hereby desired to cause his said Sermon to be printed and published which is to be done onely by Authority under his owne hand IO BROWNE Cleric Parliamentorum To the Right Hon ble the House of PEERS Assembled in Parliament Right Hon ble I Have principally endeavoured in this Sermon to search What that is to Which we may Trust our Soules and What Foundation we are to Lay in our Religion If we were once Established in this maine Point concerning the Next World we should Enjoy our selves with much more Setledness and Security in This World For how quietly should we repose our Selves for this Outward Short Life in the Body on that Power to Which we commit the Care of our more Excellent and Immortall Part What Difficulty would there be in Trusting to Him for our Preservation from Death to whom we trust our Selves in Death for Eternity Our Lord Jesus seems to this End to be Shaking Heaven and Earth Church and State all Outward Powers and Inward Principles in Both that the True Foundation of Heaven and Earth may be Discovered Saint Paul saith Other Foundation can no Man lay than that which is laid Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3. 11. God Hath laid no other Foundation neither May we neither Can we On This alone hath God built the World His Church His Glory He hath made All Things by Jesus Christ Coloss 1. 16. On this alone must we build our Belief and Obedience in Divine Things our Wisdome and Power in the Things of Man For All Power is given to Him in Heaven and Earth Mat. 28. 18. Whoever raiseth any Outward or Inward Frame of Things upon any other Ground-worke he makes a Lie he works the Works of the Devill whose End is to be Dissolved to Vanish into Ayre or Perish in the Fire S. Paul Divides Man into Three Parts Spirit Soule and Body 1 Thess 5. 23. The Body is an Outward Image made of Dust Gen. 2. 7. God formed Man of the Dust of the Ground The Soule is a Breath of Life Inclosed in This Image Clothed with It and Giving Life to It He breathed into his Nosthrils the Breath of Life and Man became a Living Soul The Spirit is the Fountain of Life which flowes forth from God to Feed and Maintain the Breath of Life in the Body When the time of Death Comes This Spirit draws back to Their Head again Those streams of Life by Which It went forth into the Body Then the Outward Image falls to the Ground and moulders away Thus doth the Dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit returns to God that gave it Eccles 12. 7. Now of These Three the Higher lives In the Lower and Above It. The Lower lives by the Higher And the Highest of all Three the Spirit of Man hath a Higher than That by which It Self lives even the Spirit of the Lord Jesus who is the King and Father of Spirits Our Saviour reasons after this manner Is not the Life More than Meat and the Body than Rayment Mat. 6. 25. My Lords We are all well assured of This that Nothing can Give More than It Hath These Bodies of ours which have a more Noble Image and Life than any other part of this Outward World in which they are cannot receive Either or continue in Either by any Inferiour and Outward Thing but by a Soule which dwells in the Body as a Silk-worm in her Work which lives in the Body as a Fire in the Flame Food and Rayment may be the Fuell by which the Soule maintains the Flaming Appearance of this Bodily Image But the Vertue goes forth from the Soule Our Saviour again teacheth us that Nothing which comes from Without can make the Soule Miserable or Happy Clean or Unclean This is done by that which comes from a more Inward and Higher Principle from the Spirit of Man In like manner this Spirit it self derives Its Life from the Right or the Left Hand of Jesus Christ His Love or His Wrath. From Hence our Spirits convey Life into our Soules and thorow them into our Bodies Thus our Bodies live not by Bread alone but by that Vertue which comes forth from our Soules Our Soules live not by their Counsels and Courages alone but by every Stream of Life that descends from our Spirits upon them Our Spirits live not by their own Eminencies but by Every Word that comes forth from the Mouth of Jesus Christ S. Paul said The Head of the Woman is the Man The Head of the Man is Christ The Head of Christ is God 1 Cor. 11. 3. So the Head of the Body is the Soule the Head of the Soule is the Spirit the Head of the Spirit is Jesus Christ as He comes forth to us in the Ministery of Angels Therefore let us have a Covering over our Heads a Power over our Soules and Spirits holding them in Subjection for these Angels sakes Amongst Which and By Which Jesus Christ the Head of our Soules and Spirits doth now raigne over us Our Lord Jesus calls Himself the Sun of Righteousnesse O that men did once Know that there can be no Right Judgment made no true Distinction or Discovery of Things but by the Shining out of Jesus Christ in their Hearts Are there not Invisible Things as well as Visible Have not They also Their Sun The Sun the Brightest Body is the Foundation and Fountain of all Light Vertue Forme and Being in this Globe of Bodily Substances If the Sun be quite hid all Shapes are lost in an Utter Darkness The Lord Jesus among Spirits and Spirituall Things is the onely Foundation of Truth Life and Power All Truth and True Life is lost in Doubt Uncertainty and a Spirituall Death to those Spirits in which He withdraweth Himself Why is the Heaven of our Religion darkened with Clouds of Dispute with so much Diversity such Uncertainty of Opinions that he begins to seem the Wisest among us who is most of all a Sceptique that is a Scorner or an Atheist How comes our Reason to such a Losse that She cannot Find or Know Her self She can give no Cleer or Constant Account of Her self in any One Man or in any One Particular Thing Doe not These things