Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	church_n	scripture_n	true_a	13,977	5	5.9688	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32795	A memorial for magistrates a sermon preached at Christ-Church in the city of Bristoll on the twelfth day of October at the assizes or goal-delivery / by John Chetwynd.	Chetwynd, John, 1623-1692.	1682 (1682)	Wing C3797; ESTC R23993	23,802	38

Saviour himself prescribed concern all Christians in all Countries And therefore the circumstances of the Christian Divine Worship could not be prescribed in general but were of necessity to be left to the appointment of the Apostles and their Successors in all ages And this is agreeable to the Scriptures and the Doctrine of the Church of England Established by Law Concerning which were men rightly Principled there would not be so much Clamour against the innocent Ceremonies Established by authority and to be observed for Conscience sake in Obedience to the Magistrate who as he is Gods hand to weild his Sword so is he his mouth in such cases of indifferent circumstances to declare his mind But what St. Austin writes concerning Faustus is true of the generality of Dissenters from the Church of England Vel non intelligendo reprehendit vel reprehendendo non intelligit Sententiam Ecclesiae non intelligit sed amat suam non quia vera est sed quia sua est That is either not understanding he reprehends or reprehending doth not understand He doth not understand what the Sentiments of the Church are but loves his own not because they are true but because his own So hard is the lot of the Church of England that by the Romish Synagogue it is condemned for having so few and by Dissenters cryed out on for having so many VVhereas in the eyes of sober men it is valued according to its excellent temper not exceeding to a burdensome oppression nor defective in due comeliness by a slovenly rudeness And no wonder since a decent and necessary subordination of inferiours to superiours as in a well Disciplined Army keeps all in a due correspondency of subjection and Government and renders Our Church Glorious as an Army with Banners Not as the Congregations of Dissenters who are like Pliny his Acephali all body and no head Or As the Popish Parasites have rendered their Synagogue like the Toadstool all head and no body VVhilst they ridiculously affirm Papa virtualiter est Tota Ecclesia VVell then It is not some but all Gods Commandements thus made known Those which are necessary and moral by the Law Engraven in the heart and written in the Scriptures Those which are circumstantial and in themselves indifferent till determined by the mouth of God's Deputies All these the fear of God will direct and encline to and enable for Psal 119.6 Then shall I be upright when I have respect to all thy Commandements Natura facit unum ad unum But Grace makes us as a Delphick Sword prepared for every good work 2 Tim. 2 21. Nature will permit the complyance with Gods will and the doing and it may be suffering many things till it crosseth our own wills and so long we may seem to yield a ready obedience as Herod did who did many things and heard John gladly while VVind and Tyde go all one way we sayl readily in our begun voyage which standing contrary we think best to take harbour or return whence we came So when Gods Love and the VVorlds Lust appear in contrary quarters we shall soon see whom we shall follow VVhat we take up as a cloak in a storm for a shelter or a disguise as a Covert to hide in time of Danger will be laid aside when the storm is past and the danger over But that respect to Gods command which flowes from a true fear of him will continue and not be as an upper and loose Garment which we put on when we go abroad in the sight and company of others but hang upon a pin when we come into our own houses But as our shifts to lye down in yea as our skin never to put off Thus must we keep Gods Commands all of them and always and as and because they are Gods Commands out of a pure Conscience and not out of self respect Jehu slew Ahab and Baals Priests not out of respect to Gods command but out of design in so doing to establish his own Throne For he still kept up the Golden Calves and their Idolatrous worship to Gods dishonour and a clear evidence of his own hypocrisie Men are very apt to have more tender resentments of things as they check and clash with their proper interest than that they are ●ontrary to Gods command As that Father gravely told that Arrian Emperour who reproved him for shewing to his Son no more Reverence That he had more respect to his Sons honour then to the honour of the Son of God whom he suffered to be dishonoured by Hereticks Thus Demetrius left all the other Idols which to him were Gods Act. 19.24 25. to shift for themselves but Diana which brought great gain merited the engagement of all their powers in defence of her Not for her self but the gain they had by her So the Pope in his Taxa Camerae Apostolicae rates the absolution for falsifying his Apostolical Letters at Nineteen groats when incest with ones own Mother is taxed but at five groats only But the true Christian acted by Gods fear keeps Gods Commandements all of them and as his commands without any sinister aims or self respect They follow not Christ for the loaves but for himself They comply with all Gods Commands not because thereby they themselves shall be benefited but God honoured And this is that which is acceptable to God and profitable to man Which Solomon presseth in this Text by three powerfull arguments and motions 1. It is the conclusion of the whole matter Summa rei omnis auditae 2. It is the whole of man Totus homo Totum hominis His duty and dignity 3. God will call all to an account For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil 1. It 's the Conclusion of the whole matter We should fear God and keep his Commandements for it is the conclusion of the whole matter So our Translation La summe le fin de tout le propos La but a que tend ce que te enseigne en ce lesure So the French Translation In the Original the word rendered Conclusion End Scope Sum and But the word thus variously rendered and all agreing to the mind of the Holy Ghost I say the Hebrew word hath the first Letter in it bigger than the rest to stir up our greater attention to what follows And indeed it is worthy our chiefest regard as containing in it the sum of all Divinity as to our practise Whatsoever was written from the beginning of this book of Scripture yea of all the Holy Scriptures tends to this purpose All other books were written to mind the books of Conscience And so are as goads to stir up and nails to fasten us in the practise of this direction The sum of all Teachers the end of all Learning Solomon having through this whole book discoursed the vanity and vexation of the creatures enjoyments and from his own

they may find written Prov. 1. from the 24th ver to the end of the Chapter 2. A retaining in their heads minds and memories to know and understand them To hear without understanding is but lost labour and therefore God hath set up Masters of Assemblies whose work it is and whose care it ought to be to do as those we read of in Ezra 8.7 That caused the people to understand the Law And we our selves ought to pray as David Ezra 8.7.9 Psal 119.27 Make me to understand the way of thy Precepts 3. A keeping in our hearts to affect us and operate upon us and to change us into its own likeness as the graft doth the nature of the stock as the loave doth the meal to leave in it a rellish of it self This David tells us Psal 119.11 that he had hid Gods word in his heart that he might not sin against God And this Saint Paul adviseth us to let the word of Christ dwell in us Col. 3.16 not as a guest or stranger pass through but as a dweller making its abode with us 4. A frequent having them in our mouths to speak of them and declare them and Communicate the knowledge of them to others and this is not only the duty of Gods Ministers who are to d clare the whole Counsel of God But likewise of private ●hristians who are so admonish one another Col. 3.16 Deut. 4.10 6.7 to teach their Children and to talk of them But especially to keep them 5. In our deeds and works to practise them and this indeed is the perfection of all the rest For all the rest may be done and we never the better If you know these things then happy are ye if ye do them Other things are necessary but yet without this of no avail yea mischievous and dangerous heightning our sin to a presumptuous contempt and so encreasing our stripes He that knows his Masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with more stripes Only they know profitably that practise Conscionably and shall be blessed in their doing The Psalmist tells us Psal 15.5 He that doth these things shall never be moved It s not he that knoweth them or speaketh of them but he that doth them For as we judge of the corporal health of the Heart not by the words of the Mouth or colour of the Countenance but Pulse of the Arm. So judgment is to be made of the Spiritual soundness and uprightness of the Soul not so much by words or looks as by the fruits of the hand Mat 7.21 Joh. 13.17.15.8 9. Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven And if ye know these things then happy are ye if ye do them And herein are ye my Disciples if ye bring forth much fruit So that if a man had as great skill in Divinity as Varro is reported to have in Philosophy who read so much that it was admired that he could write any thing and yet wrote so much that another could hardly read though he should speak with the tongue of Men and Angels 1 Cor. 13.1 yet if without Charity which is the fulfilling of the Law all would be worth nothing 2. The Object His Commandements Now Gods Commands are made known unto us by 1. Ro. 2.14 The Law of Nature Engraven in mens hearts 2. The Scriptures written and so Gods Commandements revealed in them are either 1. Moral The Ten Commandements comprehended in these two things 1. Love to God 2. Love to our Neighbour 2. Evangelical Such as are 1. Repentance 2. Faith 3. Self-denyal 4. Taking up the Cross 5. Imitations of Christ All which Commands both Moral and Evangelical cease with time except the first but that runs Parallel with Eternity God will be our God for ever all the other will cease For in the World to come their will be no humane Policy or Government or External Worship 3. Gods Deputies Gods will and commands are made known to us by those Rulers and Magistrates Rom. 13. which he hath ordained to rule over us whose determination of things indifferent left in their power to dispose and order is and ought to be esteemed as Gods will made known by their Mouth and obeyed for Conscience The Particular Rules of Government and Methods in judicial proceedings are Gods will made known by them when they are not contrary to Gods express will and are to be obeyed for Conscience sake which calls for a Ready Compliance in an Actual Performance and knows no such contradictory chimaera as a Passive Obedience It was a Rule of St. Bernard's and is a most true one and of excellent use Eum quem pro Deo habemus in terris debemus audire in iis quae non sunt contra Deum That is him whom we have for a God on earth we ought to obey in all things not contrary to Gods will Our Saviour Christ into who hands all power is committed and who is made the head of all things Mat. 28.18 Eph. 1.21 22. Did not himself institute either 1. The particular modes of Judicials as to the Government and Regulation of matters in the Civil State but only the general Rules of Justice and Equity which particulars he left to the disposal of Kings and Governours which Rule by him under him and for him Neither did he tye them up to the Judicials of Moses but left them at liberty as to the circumstances of Policy to their own Prudence and Wisdom Or 2. The particular ceremonies and circumstances of Divine Worship but left them to the prudence and power of the Apostles to set in order as St. Paul said he would in the several Churches which they should plant and so to all succeeding Governours in all Ages in their several Churches to appoint according to expediency in their several Precincts And this appears by 1. The different Ceremonies of the several Churches which were not uniform but various as the Observation of Easter in the Greek and Latin Churches c. 2. By St. Ambrose's direction to conform to those external rites which they found in the several Churches they had occasion to have Communion with And there are very good reasons rendred by some why Christ who took care for all the Substantials of his Worship did not himself institute the Circumstantials As 1. To grace and gain authority unto the Apostles in the Churches which they planted 2. Because Moses his Dispensation did not nor was not to cease till our Blessed Saviour was ascended 3. That the circumstance of Christian Worship that should be after our Redemption wrought by him might not be Vmbra futurorum the Shadow of things to come but Memoria praeteritorum The Memorials of things past 4. The different fashions of divers Countries as to the external modes of expressing their Reverence Whereas the Laws which our Blessed