Selected quad for the lemma: order_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
order_n	church_n	people_n	power_n	2,379	5	4.8524	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53095	Ultimum vale, or, The last farewell of a minister of the Gospel to a beloved people by Matthevv Nevvcomen ...	Newcomen, Matthew, 1610?-1669.	1663 (1663)	Wing N914; ESTC R8564	50,710	82

Master Necdum effusum erat venenum in Ecclesiam But the Apostles of Christ walked in the steps of their Lord and Master being meek and lowly of heart Matth. 11.29 and thereby approving themselves to be the true Ministers of Christ Whereas Pride and disdain of others is a property and badge not of the Servants of Christ but of Antichrist It is a notable Story that which Beda tels in the second Book of his Ecclesiastical History and the second chapter that when Austin the Monke whom some are ambitious to make the Apostle of England When he was sent by Pope Gregory the great to preach to the Angles or Saxons that dwelt in this Land he found a considerable company of the Britans the ancient and native Inhabitants of this Country professing the Faith of the Lord Jesus Christ and living religiously and devoutly only differing from the then Church of Rome in some Circumstances as in point of the keeping of Easter and some Ceremonies used in Baptism the like whereupon he called a Council or a Synod and invites the Britans thither and accordingly divers of the most Learned and Religious among them applied themselves to the journey but in the way they judged it convenient to take the advice of one that was of great Eminency for Prudence and Holiness of life et Anachoreticam ducebat vitam and to enquire of him whether they should be perswaded by Austin to leave their ancient Customs and follow his or no. His answer to them was Si Homo Dei sit sequimini eum If he be a man of God follow him But say they How shall we be sure of that Why saith he again Our Lord saith Take my Yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart If therefore saith he this Austin be meek and lowly of heart it is a sign that he hath taken the Yoke of Chrict upon him and offers no other yoke to you but if he be superbus immitis if he be haughty and proud Constat eum non esse de Deo it is manifest that he is not of God neither are ye to regard what he saith But say they again How shall we know this how shall we know whether he be proud or lowly Why saith he order it so that He and his Party may come first to the place of meeting and if when you come in he riseth up to you know that he is the Servant of Christ and hear him obediently But if he despise you and will not so much as rise off his seat to you do you despise him Fecerunt ut dixerat They did as he directed them and Austin not rising up to them at their coming in they concluded him a proud man and set themselves the more to oppose him But if we enlarge the Persons and take in not only the Elders but the rest of the Church supposing them present upon the place as I have shewed before we have probable cause to do than the term Brethren may afford unto us this Observation Obs That there is a near relation even the relation of Brethren between Preachers and People founded upon the account of Religion and Grace This near relation is sometimes expressed under the notion of Father and Children I speak unto you as unto my Children 2 Cor. 6.13 My little Children with whom I travel in birth Gal. 4.19 I have no greater joy than to hear that my Children walk in Truth 3 John 14. Sometimes this near relation is expressed under the notion of a Nurse and Children so 1 Thess 2.7 But we were gentle among you even as a Nurse cherisheth her Children But most ordinarily and frequently it is expressed by this notion of Brother or Brethren this is the Compellation wherewith the Apostle and other Ministers of the Gospel do ordinarily salute their People both in their Preaching and in their Writings to them as is obvious to all that reade the Acts of the Apostles and their Epistles Ministers and People they are Brethren and that upon the account of Religion and Grace They have the same Father even God who is pleased to own the one and the other for his Children For we are all the Children of God by Faith in Jesus Christ Gal. 3.26 They have all one Mother not Rome nor Antioch nor any other Church upon Earth but the Jerusalem which is above the Mother of us all Gal. 4.26 They have all sucked the same breasts Isa 66.11 That you may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her Consolation They all feed at the same Table they eat the same Spiritual Bread and drink the same Spiritual Drink 1 Cor. 10. They all are Heirs of the same Promises and wait for the same Inheritance I say Ministers and People that are true Believers in all these respects therefore are Brethren Only look as it is in a Family where there are many Children many Brothers and Sisters one of these is the first-born and he though a Brother yet he is an Elder-Brother and he hath some Priviledges above the rest So it is here In the first Ages of the World the Priviledges of the first-born consisted in these three things 1. That the Publick and Solemn Worship of God was administred in the Family and for the Family by the First-born he was Priest and Prophet of the Family 2. That next unto the Father himself the First-born was the Prince and Governour of the Family 3. That a double Portion of the Estate went to the First-born as his Inheritance And all these Priviledges were founded upon that claim which God made unto the first-born as his right upon which they were consecrated and set apart to God Exod. 13. Afterwards all these Priviledges in the Church of the Old Testament were devolved upon the Levites whom God took instead of all the first-born of Israel Numb 3.12 And now in the Church of the New-Testament this Honour and these Priviledges are conferred upon the Ministers of the Gospel whom God hath set in the place of the Levites under the Law Isa 66.21 I will take of them for Priests and Levites saith the Lord. So that now the Ministers of the Gospel they are as it were the first-born Brethren Now the Use of this may be First To inform us that the Authority and Power of Ruling which Ministers have in the Church of God which is the House of God it is not Despotical or Lordly or Magisterial such as Superiours have over those that are absolutely and every way their Inferiours but it is rather Social such as one Brother hath over another importing rather a Priority of Order than an Imparity of Degree The Apostle disclaims all such Power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 1.24 We are not Lords over your Faith but Helpers of your Joy Secondly That Ministers and People Preachers and Hearers are all Brethren this shews what endeared affections Ministers and People ought to bear each to other How