Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	catholic_a	church_n	faith_n	6,104	5	5.7683	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10650	An explication of the hundreth and tenth Psalme wherein the severall heads of Christian religion therein contained; touching the exaltation of Christ, the scepter of his kingdome, the character of his subjects, his priesthood, victories, sufferings, and resurrection, are largely explained and applied. Being the substance of severall sermons preached at Lincolns Inne; by Edward Reynoldes sometimes fellow of Merton Colledge in Oxford, late preacher to the foresaid honorable society, and rector of the church of Braunston in Northhampton-shire.	Reynolds, Edward, 1599-1676.	1632 (1632)	STC 20927; ESTC S115794	405,543	546

the same spirituall truth and power towards the Church therefore all the faithfull who are any where by these multitudes of Preachers taught what the truth is in Iesus doe all by the secret sway and conduct of the same Spirit of Grace whose peculiar office it is to guide his Church in all necessary and saving truth with an admirable consent of heart and unitie of judgement incline to the same end and walke in the same way acknowledging no monarch over their consciences but CHRIST nor any other ministeriall application of his regall power in the Catholike Church but onely by severall Bishops and Pastours who in their severall particular compasses are endowed with as plenary and ample ministeriall power as the Pope and his Consistorie within the See of Rome Secondly that Peter was Prince and Monarch Rocke and Head in this Vniversall Church and that hee alone was custos clavium and all this in the vertue of Christs promise and commission granted unto him Thou art Peter and upon this Rocke will I build my Church feed my sheep feed my Lambs unto thee will I give the Keyes of the kingdome of heaven In which respect Baronius calleth him Lapidem primarium the chiefe stone and againe though Christ saith hee bee the Author and moderator of his Church yet the Princedome and Monarchie hee hath confer'd upon Peter and therefore as no man can lay any other foundation than that which is layd namely Christ so no man can lay any other than that which Christ hath layd namely Peter And it is wonderfull to consider what twigs and rushes they catch at to hold up this their monarchy Because Peter did preach first therfore he is Monarch of the Church By which reasō his monarchie is long since expir'd for his pretended successors scarce preach at all And yet if that may bee drawen to any argument it proves onely that hee was Lapis primus the first in order and in forwardnesse to preach Christ as it became him who had three times denied him but not Lapis primarius the chiefe in dignity and jurisdiction over the rest● and why should it not bee as good an argument to say that Iames had the dignity of precedence before Peter because Paul first names Iames and then Cephas and that in a place where hee particularly singles them out as pillars and principall men in the Church as to say that Peter hath jurisdiction over Iames and the rest because in their Synods and assemblies hee was the chiefe speaker Because Peter cured the lame man that sate at the gate of the Temple therfore hee is universall monarch By which reason likewise Paul who in the selfe same manner cured a creeple at Lystra should fall into competitiō with Peter for his share in the monarchie But the people there were not so acute disputants as these of Rome for though they saw what Paul had done yet they concluded the dignity and precedence for Barnabas they called him Iupiter and Paul Mercury Againe because Peter pronounced sentence upon Ananias therfore hee is monarch of the universall Church and why Paul should not here likewise come in for his share I know not for hee also passed judgment upon Elimas the sorcerer and we no where finde that hee derived his authority or had any commission from Peter to doe so And surely if by the same Apostolicall and infallible Spirit of Christ which they both immediatly received from Christ himselfe S. Paul did adjudge Elimas to blindnesse by the which S. Peter adjudged Ananias to death I see not how any logick from a parity of actions can conclude a disparity of persons except they will say that it is more monarchicall to adjudge one to death than another to blindnesse Againe because Peter healed the sick by his shaddow therefore Peter is monarch of the universall Church and even in this point Paul likewise may hold on his competition for why is not the argument as good that Paul is Monarch of the Church because the handkerchiefs and aprons which came from his body did cure diseases and cast out Divels as that Peter is therefore monarch because by the overshaddowing of his body the sick were healed But the truth is there is no more substance in this argument for Peters principality than there is for their supposed miraculous vertue of images and relicks of Saints because the shaddow which was the image of Peter did heale the sick for that also is the Cardinals great argument Againe because Peter was sent to Samaria to confirme them in the faith and to lay hands on them that they might receive the holy Ghost and to confound Simon Magus the sorcerer therfore hee is primate of the Catholike Church and hath monarchicall jurisdiction And yet the Pope is by this time something more monarchicall than Peter for he would thinke skorne to bee sent as an Ambassador of the Churches from Rome to the Indians amongst whom his Gospell hath been in these latter ages preached and doubtlesse they would bee something more confirmed than they are by the soveraigne vertue of his prayers and presence But alas what argument is it of monarchie to be sent by others in a message and that too not without an associate who joyned with him in the confirmation of that Church and if the confuting or cursing of Simon Magus were an argument of primacy why should not S. Pauls cursing of Elimas and Hymeneus and Alexander and S. Iohns of Cerinthus be arguments of their primacie likewise Againe because Paul went up to Ierusalem to see Peter therefore Peter was monarch of the Catholick Church And why should not by this argument Elizabeth bee concluded a greater woman than the virgin Marie and indeed the lady of all woman because the blessed Virgin went up into the hill countrie of Iudea and entred into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth but wee finde no argument but of equality in the Text for hee went to see him as a brother but not to doe homage to him or receive authority from him as a monarch else why went he not up immediately to Ierusalem but staied three years and preached the Gospell by the commission hee had received from Christ alone and how came S. Paul to bee so free or S. Peter to bee so much more humble than any of his pretended successors as the one to give with boldnesse the other with silence and meeknesse to receive so sore a reproofe in the face of all the brethren as many yeares after that did passe betweene them Certainly S. Paul in so long time could not but learne to know his distance and in what manner to speake to his monarch and primate By these particulars wee see upon what sandy foundation this vast and formidable Babel of Papall usurpation and power over the Catholike Church is erected which yet upon the matter is the sole principle of Romish religion upon which all their faith worship and obedience dependeth But wee say that as Peter was a foundation so were all the other Apostles likewise Eph. 2.20 Revel 21.14 and that upon the same reason For the Apostles were not foundations of the Church by

statutes and Ahab confirme idolatrous counsels by his owne practices the Prophet shewes how forward the people are to walke in them Mich. 6.16 Therefore it is that our Saviour saith of the best sort of wicked men Those who with gladnesse and that is ever a symptome of love received the Gospell that yet in time of persecution they were offended and fell away Matth. 13.21 To note unto us that when Christ is forsaken because of persecution the imaginary love which was bestowed upon him before was certainly supported by no other ground than that was is contrary to persecution namely the countenance and protection of publike power Secondly a great part of men professe faith and love to Christ meerely upon the rules of their Education The maine reason into which their religion is resolv'd is not any evidence of excellencie in it selfe but onely the customes and traditions of their fore-fathers which is to build a divine faith upon an humane authoritie and to set man in the place of God certaine it is that contrary religions can never be originally grounded upon the same reason that which is a true and adequate principle of faith or love to Christ can never be sutable to the conclusions of Mahumetisme or idolatry now then when a professed Christian can give no other account of his love to Christ than a Turke of his love to Mahumet when that which moveth an Idolater to hate Christ is all that one of us hath to say why he beleeveth in him certainly that love and faith is but an empty presumption which dishonoureth the Spirit of Christ and deludeth our own soules There is a naturall instinct in the minde of man to reverence and vindicate the traditions of their progenitours and at first view to detest any novell opinions which seeme to thwart the received doctrine wherein they had beene bred and this affection is ever so much the stronger by how much the tradition received is about the nobler and more necessary things And therefore it discovereth it selfe with most violence and impatiency in matters of Religion wherin the eternall welfare of the soule is made the issue of the contention We finde with what hea●e of zeale the Iewes contended for the Temple at Ierusalem and with how equall and confident emulation the Samaritans ventured their lives for the precedencie of their Temple on mount Gerazim and took an oath to produce proofs for the authority therof and yet all the ground of this will-worship was the tradition of their Fathers For our Savior assures us that they worshipped they knew not what and onely tooke things upon trust from their predecessors The Satyrist hath made himselfe merry with describing the combate of two neighbor townes amongst the Egyptians in the opposite defence of those ridiculous idoles the severall worship of which they had been differently bred up unto And surely if a prophane Christian and a zealous Mahumetan should joyne in the like contention notwithstanding the subject it selfe on the one side defended were a sacred and pretious truth yet I doubt not but the selfe same reasons might be the sole motive of the Christian to vindicate the honor of Christ and of the other to maintaine the worship of Mahomet I meane a blinde and pertinacions adhering to that Religion in which they had been bred a naturall inclination to favor domesticall opinions a high estimation of the persons of men from whom by succession they have thus been instructed without any Spirituall conviction of the truth or experience of the good which the true members of Christ resolve their love unto him into And this we finde was ever the reasons of the Iewes obstinacy against the Prophets they answered all their arguments with the practice and traditions they had received from their Fathers Ier. 9.14.11.10.44.17 Act. 7.51 Thirdly the heart may be misperswaded of its love to Christ by judging that an affection unto him which is indeed nothing but a selfe love and a desire o● advancing private ends The rule whereby Christ at the last day will measure the love or hatred of men unto him is their love or hatred of his brethren and members here Mat. 25.40 45 for in all their afflictions Christ himselfe is afflicted Peter lovest thou me feed my sheepe make proofe of thy love to me by thy service and compassion to my people And how many are there every-where to be found whose love unto themselves hath devoured all brotherly love who take no pitty either upon the soules or temporall necessities of those with whom they yet pretend a fellowship in Christs owne body who spend more upon their owne pride and luxury upon their backs and bellies their pleasures and excesses yea bury more of their substance in the mawes of hawkes and dogs than they can ever perswade themselves to put into the bowels of the poore Saints surely at the day of judgment how-ever such men here professe to love Christ and would spit in the face of him who with Iustin Martyr should say they were not Christians it will appeare that such men did as formally and ●●properly denie Christ as if with Peter they had publikely sworne I know not the man The Apostle plainly intimates thus much when he sheweth that the experiment of the Corinthians ministration to the necessity of the Saints was an inducement unto the Churches to praise God for their professed subjection to the Gospell of Christ 2 Cor. 9.13 Againe as Christ is present with us in his poore members so likewise in the power of his ordinances and in the light and evidence of his Spirit shining forth in the lives of holy men If then we are as impatient of the edge of his word when it divides betweene the bone and the marrow when it discerneth and discovereth our secret thoughts our bosome sinnes our ambitions uncleane and hypocriticall intents if the lives and Communion of the Saints be in like manner an eye-sore unto us in shaming and reproving our formall and fruitlesse profession of the same truth as Christs was unto the Iewes certainly the same affections of hatred reproach and disestimation which we shew unto them we would with so much the more bitternesse have expressed unto Christ himselfe if we had lived in his dayes by how much that Spirit of grace against which the Spirit which is in us envieth was above measure more abundantly in him than in the holiest of his members If you were of the world saith our Savior the world would love their owne but now I have called you out of the world I have given to you a Spirit which is contrary to the Spirit of the World therefore the world hateth you And this is evident when men hate another meerly for that distinction which differenceth him from them they much more hate him from whom the difference it selfe originally proceedeth We see then that they who openly professe Christ may yet inwardly hate him because the ground

the Law The Law was a glorious ministery as appeares by the thunderings and lightnings the shining of Moses his face and trembling at Gods presence the service of the Angels and sound of the trumpet the ascending of the smoke and the quaking of the mountaine but yet still the glory of the Gospell was farre more excellent a better Covenant a more excellent ministery The Law had weaknesse and unprofitablenesse in it both termes of diminution from the the glory thereof and therefore it could make nothing perfect But that which the Law could not doe in as much as it was weake through the flesh the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus which is a periphrasis of the Gospell as appeareth 2 Cor. 3.6 did doe for us namely make us free from the law of sin and death So then the Law was glorious but the Gospell in many respects did excell in glory 2 Cor. 3.10 To take a more particular view of the spirituall glory of the Gospell of Christ in those excellent ends and purposes for which it serveth First It is full of light to informe to comfort to guide those who sate in darknesse and the shadow of death into the way of peace Light was the first of all the creatures which were made and the Apostle magnifieth it for a glorious thing in those other luminaries which were after created 1 Cor. 15.41 How much more glorious was the light of the Gospell The Apostle calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A marvellous light and therefore the kingdome of the Gospell is exprest by light and glory together as termes of a promiscuous signification Esay 60.1 2 3. Of all other learning the knowledge of the Gospell doth infinitly excell in worth both in regard of the object thereof which is God manifested in the flesh and in regard of the end thereof which is flesh reconciled and brought unto God A knowledge which passeth knowledge a knowledge which bringeth fulnesse with it even all the fulnesse of God a knowledge so excellent that all other humane excellencies are but dung in comparison of it What Angell in heaven would trouble himselfe to busie his noble thoughts which have the glorious presence of God and the joyes of heaven to fill them with metaphysicall or mathematicall or philologicall contemplations which yet are the highest delicacies which humane reason doth fasten on to delight in And yet we finde the Angels in heaven with much greedinesse of speculation stoope downe and as it were turne away their eyes from that expressesse glory which is before them in heaven to gaze upon the wonderfull light and bottomlesse mysteries of the Gospell of Christ. In all other learning a Devill in hell the most cursed of all creatures doth wonderfully surpasse the greatest proficients amongst men but in the learning of the Gospell and in the spirituall revelations and evidences of the benefits of Christ to the soule from thence there is a knowledge which surpasseth the comprehension of any angell of darknesse for it is the Spirit of God onely which knoweth the things of God It was the devillish flout of Iulian the Apostate against Christian Religion that it was an illiterate rusticitie and a naked beliefe and that true polite learning did belong to him and his Ethnick faction and for that reason he interdicted Christians the use of Schooles and humane learning as things improper to their beleeving religion a persecution esteemed by the Ancients as cruel as the other bloudy massacres of his predecessors To which slander though the most learned Father might have justly returned the lye and given proofes both in the canonicall bookes of holy Scripture and in the professours of that religion of as profound learning as invincible argumentation and as forcible eloquence as in any Heathen Author for I dare challenge all the Pagan learning in the world to parallel the writings of Clemens of Alexandria Origen Iustin Tertullian Cyprian Minutius Augustine Theodoret Nazianzen and the other champions of Christian Religion against Gentilisme yet he rather chooseth thus to answer that that authoritie which the faith he so much derided was built upon came to the soule with more selfe-evidence and invincible demonstration than all the disputes of reason or learning of Philosophie could create Though therefore it were to the Iewes an offence as contrary to the honour of their Law and to the Greekes foolishnesse as contrary to the pride of their reason yet to those that were perfect it was an hidden and mysterious wisdome able to convince the gain-sayers to convert sinners to comfort mourners to give wisdome to the simple and to guide a man in all his wayes with spirituall prudence for what ever the prejudice of the world may be there is no man a wiser man nor more able to bring about those ends which his heart is justly set upon than hee who being acquainted with God in Christ by the Gospell hath the Father of wisedome the Treasurer of wisedome the Spirit of wisedome and the Law of wisedome to furnish him therewithall It is not for want of sufficiencie in the Gospell but for want of more intimate acquaintance and knowledge thereof in us that the children of this world are more wise in their generation than the children of light Secondly another glorious end and effect of the Gospell is to be a ministration of Righteousnesse a publication of a pardon to the world and that so generall that there is not one exception therein of any other sin than onely of the contempt of the pardon it selfe And in this respect likewise the Gospell exceeds in glory If the ministration of condemnation saith the Apostle bee glory much more doth the ministration of righteousnesse exceed in glory 2 Cor. 3.9 It is the glory of a man to passe by an offence and the Lord proclaimeth his glory to Moses in that he would forgive iniquitie transgression and sinne that is multitudes of sinnes and sinnes of all degrees Exod. 34.7 And thus the Lord magnifies his mercie and thoughts towards sinners above all the wayes and thoughts of men even as the heavens are higher than the earth because he can abundantly pardon or multiply forgivenesses upon those who forsake their wayes and turne to him Esay 55.7 8 9. and therefore justifying faith whereby we rely upon the power of God to forgive and subdue our sinnes is said to give glory to God Abraham staggered not at the Promise through unbeleefe but being strong in faith hee gave glory to God namely the glory of his power and fidelity Rom. 4.20 21. Ye shall not bring this congregation into the Land which I have given them saith the Lord to Moses and Aaron because yee beleeved me not to sanctifie mee in the eyes of the children of Israel that is to give me the glory of my power and truth for to sanctifie the Lord of hoasts signifieth to glorifie his power by fearing him