Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	church_n	doctrine_n	homily_n	2,004	5	11.8804	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65537	Collyrium a sermon of destructive ignorance and saving knowledge, preached in Christ-Church, Dublin, August 4, 1672, and published at the importunity of divers, who thought it might tend to disabuse many well-meaning people / by Edw. Wetenhall.	Wettenhall, Edward, 1636-1713.	1672 (1672)	Wing W1493; ESTC R28387	16,353	40

popular to the end they might have power to overturn what they did not like These have screwed themselves into a good esteem among common people by crying out against the evils of the Times the crimes of Great ones and Governours things which people are always greedy to hear of and by an ostentation of those parts which they had in an odd way from other men have gained the repute of wise and able and holy which advantage when they were sensible they had got they then lead the people whither they pleased as they saw themselves able And having brought a multitude to this pass that they would hear none but them the poor people knew little more than what they would let them know and those were mostly such curiosities and whimsies as spoken of which did confound not edifie unto salvation A fifth original of this lack of sober knowledge is a barbarous constancy to mens own Opinions though too rashly by them taken up The most men cannot endure to have been mistaken and when they see their error confess it not to be such but endeavour to make it probable till they have even cheated themselves and believe their own delusion And then besides that these opinions and the defence of them take up the time and thought which sober knowledge ought to do Errors hanging as in a string and one part drawing on the other they cannot believe at least not maintain one but they must admit more And so in fine the sober knowledge becomes partly adulterated partly neglected and oppress'd and men perish through destructive ignorance The last of these banefull mischiefs which I shall present is the holding the truth in unrighteousness Men sometimes are not ignorant and yet become so They do know Truth and their Duty but they have no mind such things should be Truths because then such and such points must be Duty They study therefore what uncertainty they can find in those ungrateful Truths and after-long search sometimes think they have found a knot in the Bulrush They then doubt what before they saw evidence to believe after proceed to impugn and in the end totally dis-believe By this means come multitudes to perish for want of such a knowledge which acquiesces in the due evidence of Truths But what redress can be found for this destructive wanr of sober Divine knowledge The remedies are either publick or private I begin with the private which I commend to every mans Conscience in the fear of God as by a strict scrutiny thereof he finds himself more or less to seek either in understanding the notions or seeking the evidence of Divine Truths The first will be to resolve upon a spirit of meekness and submission to the Church and those which are by her sent as able to instruct them in the Lord. It is beyond all controversie and confess'd by our Adversaries that all those things which are necessary to our salvation are certainly determined by our Church As to those things which are more uncertain and indifferent and so apt to ingenerate scruples no man of modesty or good manners but must say they are likely to be best determined by Superiors And it is undoubted that our Lord appointed Governors and Pastors in his Church and that when he promised to be with them unto the end of the world he assur'd us too they should continue to the end of the world And when that command and the like was given Obey them that have the rule over you in the Lord and submit your selves it was intended to oblige unto the end of the world wherefore I see not how men can doubt but that they are indispensible bound by the Law of God to what I advise And one would think what I advise is so reasonable that it should easily take For what is it in effect but to desire common people to have the charity and civility to their Kings and Parliaments and those Reverend Convocation which have laboured in the modelling the Doctrine and Orders of our Church according to Primitive patterns to believe them neither to have been Knaves nor Fools to have understood better than a company of pragmatical Novellists many of whom scarce ever read over three good Books in their lives besides the Bible what was Christian and Primitive and necessary and then not to have gone about to abuse their power and trust by proceeding contrary to their knowledge to ruine their own souls and other mens Truly I cannot see how any common private person can adhere to his own Judgment against this the publick Judgment of his Governors but he must think the one of these of them at least that they are such comparatively in respect of himself Wherefore in short let us be content to learn Christianity as to its necessary part from our Church which in the Catechism prayer-Prayer-Book and Homilies all even the darkest places have opportunities to do and in most places God be blessed other plentiful advantages besides And as to us who are Ministers let us carefully teach according to this form of Doctrine lest we come to have charged upon us not only Error and Schism but also Apostacy if not Perjury This will be one more private remedy of the want of necessary knowledge A second will be that people would endeavour when conversant in the publick worship of God to hear with understanding I mean would not only attend unto the words and forms of speech which they hear but to the things and endeavour to carry them with them treasured up in faithful minds It 's possible every plain man understands not every word or if he did could not remember the hundredth part yet the drift scope and common subject of all represented in so various forms few attentive persons can miss As for instance suppose me to have heard a discourse of Repentance possible all the preparatives to it and particular rules in its practice I may not so distinctly conceive or retain but thus much that without Repentance no forgiveness of sin is to be had and that every sorrow for sin is not Repentance but it must be a durable Reformation which only will pass with God this I may easily retain And so much as this should a person definent in sober knowledge learn by each Sermon truly he would not be long in danger of perishing by any destructive ignorance Thirdly Let each person conscientiously cleave unto and practice what he understands and hath sufficient evidence to perswade him is his concernment What we have above said of Errors is no less certain of all Christian Truths and Duties they have a most necessary connexion and one will draw in another He that adheres to one Truth will by force and consequence of that be lead into more He that practiseth righteousness in his common dealings with man will at length see he must give Caesar the things that are Caesars as well as pay John and Thomas the money he owes them that is be a