Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	church_n	communion_n	perform_v	3,059	5	9.9633	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67145	The rebellious city destroyed being an anniversary sermon in memory of the dreadful fire of London, on the second day of September, 1666, preached at St. Olave's Hart-Street, London, September the second, 1682 / by William Wray ...	Wray, William, 1650?-1692.	1682 (1682)	Wing W3673; ESTC R8957	15,751	42

them in Travel to be delivered there 's little hopes that our under-sized Immoralities will beget in us any remorse or Godly sorrow working Repentance If we can carry such a Load upon our Stomacks our Lesser sins will be easily digested and so we are but as we were neither humbled by the Judgment nor better'd by the solemnity of the Day I charge none of you with Schism or Rebellion but yet I exhort you to Repent of both For though you never worshipped upon Mount Gerizim though your Hands were never staind with Royal-Blood nor lifted up against the Lords Anointed yet if you do not resent these Sins with a very serious Abhorrence and be not deeply affected with the Guilt of the Nation your Hearts are tainted and you partake in the Sins with those that Acted them 'T is too much to be feared that these sins have scarce entr'd our penitential Thoughts or that they have passed through them Raw and unconcocted and like unsavory Pills or bitter Draughts have been turned off without Relishing For our Disobedience to the Government our unnecessary Seperations from the Church our Heat and Vehemency against both and our Factions and Divisions among our selves look so unlike any thing of Humiliation that they rather speak us Proud both of our Sins and Judgments And as if it were not time to say to the Destroyer it is Enough we are still stirring up the Old Coals and kindling the Fire against another Day And is this all that Visitation upon Visitation Plague upon Plague hath wrought upon us Have we been Stricken and do we revolt more and more as if our Backs Itch'd for the Rod under which they smarted so lately Is not the Fire still in our Bones and the Ruins of it yet visible in our unrepared Fortunes And do we Tempt God to smite us once more and pursue his Vengeance through the same Tracks wherein it formerly found us It might have been hoped e're this that our Fast would have been the better half of a Thanksgiving and the more seasonable Duty of the Day to bless and praise God for his Mercy in the Rebuilding of our City than to weep before him that our Sins have destroyed it But alas we have neither compleated our Repentance nor throughly recovered our Hurts Our Schisms are as many and wide our Hearts as ready for Rebellion as if we had hitherto sin'd with Impunity and our City had never been destroyed at all That we have no encouragement to rejoyce and keep Holy-day so long as those Sins Reign that have been so fatally unlucky to us and still look big and threaten us with another Storm Our Fasts have hitherto been so far from curing us of our Fears that they are Dangerous and a part of the Sins we wot of We Fast for Strife and Debate if not to smite with the Fist of wickedness And at that very Instant when the occasion summoneth us together to Repent of our Schisms and pray for a peaceable and happy Union we are then Schismatically divided and keep up the Sin while we pretend to Atone for it That our Prayer and Fasting and other external shews of Humiliation instead of being Acts of Repentance are become the Subjects of it and are as much to be lamented as our other Sins Thus like an ill Crasis we turn the very Remedy into Humour and Disease Saint Cyprian tells us that Schism is a Sin Cyp. de unit Eccles which Martyrdom will not expiate meaning I suppose the Martyrdom of such as Die out of the Communion of the Church much less then will Contrition and Tears avail if they be Schismatical For this is but to Repent and Sin in a Circle and when we have done the former we are as much to begin as ever That there 's no reason there should ever be an end of our Fasts and as little Hopes that ever we shall Fast to any Purpose until we return to the Communion of the Church and perform This and all other Acts of Religion with one Mind and with one Mouth For whatsoever Sin a Penitent discharges himself off by Duties of Repentance performed in any seperate Congregation by the very same Act he puts another upon the File viz. an actual Schism and so makes them up again both in Weight and Tale. Lastly we have not yet recovered the Judgment of this Day For though we dwell in our Gieled Houses yet the Houses of the Lord lie wast in many places The House of the Lord The Temple of the Living God in S● Pauls comparison whereof all the rest are but Tabernacles and Synagogues is yet but an Ezra Embryo and the Adversaries of Judah and Benjamin the Babylonians abroad and the Samaritans on this side the River wish it never may be otherwise And what hinders the Progress of so Magnificent and Pious an Undertaking but that the Hands of the People verse 4. of Judah are weakened by our Factions and Divisions On one hand it is suggested that 't is like to be but a nest of Idolaters and indeed our Schisms if any thing are like to make it so Others that compare the Sins of the former with those of the present Age fear least it should rather be a Den of Thieves again or a Prey to the devouring Flames But thus the Work on all Hands is discouraged A Work that David would have been Proud to have done and it was not the least of Solomon's Glories that he did it A Work which the Devout Jews equally affected with their Liberty if not more Laying the Foundation as Men Overjoy'd with Trumpets sounding the People shouting and the Levites Ezra 3. 10. singing one of the Songs of Sion The like Pious Zeal was eminent in the Ancient Church for no sooner were the Primitive Christians got loose from their Slavery and ●useb Ecl. Hist l. 8. Persecution and bless'd with a calm and peaceable Interval but they endeavour'd to acknowledge the Mercy in Erecting and Consecrating Places of Religious Worship to the Honour of their Great Benefactor And certainly We cannot more aptly express our Sence of the Divine Favour in restoring our Houses to themselves and Vs to our Houses than by Preparing a Dwelling for Him among us A Dwelling some way Proportionable to the Mercy in Rebuilding Ours so soon and so much beyond Themselves and suitable in Magnificence and Splendour to his Essential Grandeur and Majesty For from Hence Solomon took his Measures for the Building of the Temple 2 Chron. 2. 5. The House which I Build is Great for Great is our God above all Gods This would be a good Argument of our Repentance and some small Restitution for our late Sequestration Sacriledge the Effects of Schism Rebellion This would Invite Confirm the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Glory of Gods Presence among us This might be a means to compose our Divisions and reduce sober men to the Communion of the Church by the Decency and Order of her Service daily perform'd therein And among other Blessings why should we not hope that the Peace and Security of the Government against the wicked Endeavours of the Seditious and Rebellious might be one While the Priests of the Lord embody to lift up Holy and Loyal Hands and to offer Dayly Sacrifices Ezra 6. 1 of sweet Savor and Pray for the Life of the King and of his Sons or Successours But Alas our sins yet stand between Vs and so Great a Mercy and I doubt the Samaritans are no Friends to the Design Do they not perswade their Bigoted Saints that God is more Purely Spiritually Worship'd in their Vnhallowed Synagogues Do they not Greedily Spunge a Monopoly of all Publick Charity to the Clan Do they not by stirring up Feuds and Commotions put the State into such dubious Vncertainties that Pious Well-minded Men whose Zeal is run down by their Fears are Jealous of doing Good least their Charity should be subject to a * 17138 l. toward the Repairing Pauls taken out of the Chamber of London to carry on the Rebellion and the Materials Sold to pay off the Arrears of Jephson's Regiment Heylin in the Life of Laud. late Abuse and turn to the Publick Detriment But I hope the Government will shortly Answer that Objection And that we shall again see such Happy Times when Piety will be no Scandal when there will be no Danger in Doing Good But how much more Happy would they be if we would every Man as it is our Duty concur with the Government to make them so If we would Repent of our Schism Sedition and Rebellion If we would Repent and leave them and let God his Church the King his Government never hear more of them Then should soon we see the Temple in its Glory Sion in her pefect Beauty Jerusalem in Peace Then should we see the Church and State and City deliverd of their Grievances and Fears and Establish'd in the Way of a lasting Happiness In Order whereunto let us endeavour to Live Peaceable and Quiet Lives in all Godliness and Honesty Let us put away all Bitterness and Wrath and Clamour and Evil-speaking and all Malice Let us Study to be Quiet to be of One Mind and to Live in Peace and the God of Peace shall be with us Yea the Lord shall so Bless us out of Sion that we shall see Jerusalem in Prosperity all our Lives long Peace be within her Walls and Prosperity within her Palaces Amen FINIS