Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	common_a	prayer_n	set_v	2,812	5	5.7163	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27065	The vain religion of the formal hypocrite, and the mischief of an unbridled tongue (as against religion, rulers, or dissenters) described, in several sermons, preached at the Abby in Westminster, before many members of the Honourable House of Commons, 1660 ; and The fools prosperity, the occasion of his destruction : a sermon preached at Covent-Garden / by Richard Baxter.	Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691. Fools prosperity.	1660 (1660)	Wing B1448; ESTC R13757	102,825	412

THE VAIN RELIGION OF THE Formal Hypocrite And the mischief of an unbridled Tongue as against Religion Rulers or Dissenters described in several Sermons Preached at the Abby in Westminster before many Members of the Honourable House of Commons 1660. AND The Fools Prosperity The occasion of his destruction A Sermon Preached at Coven-Garden Both published to heal the effects of some Hearers misunderstandings and misreports By Richard Baxter London Printed by R. ● for F. Ty●o● at the three daggers in Fleet-street and Novel S●m●n ●ookseller at Kedenmaster 1660. At ●●bo●nd TO THE READER THough God be not the Author of sin he knows why he permitteth tin the world He will be no loser and Satan shall be no gainer by it in the end The malice of the Devil wicked men is ordinarily the destruction of the cause which they most desire to promote and an advantage by accident to the cause and persons which they would root out from the earth Were there no more to prove this than the Instances of Josephs brethren of Pharaoh and the murderers of our Lord it were enough We usually lose more by the flatteries of Satan and the world than by their violence If these hasty course unpolished Sermons shall prove beneficial to the souls of any this also may come in among the lower rank of Instances If the Devil had let me alone they 〈◊〉 have been cast aside and no further molested him or his Kingdom for ought I know than they did upon the Preaching of them But seeing he will needs by malicious misreports and slanders kindle suspicion and raise offence against them and the Author let him take what he gets by it He hath never yet got much from me by violence or by his foulmouthed slanderous instruments No not when the impudence or multitude of their slanders have forced me to be silent lest I trouble the Reader or misspend my time The first of these Discourses being intended to undeceive the Formal Hypocrite and to call men from a Vain to a Saving serious Religion and to acquaint them that cry out against Hypocrisie where the Hypocrite is to be found it seems provoked the Ignorant or the Guilty in so much that the cry went that I Preacht down all Forms of Prayer and all Government and Order in the Church when there is not a Syllable that hath any such sense But it seems what I spoke against the Carkass was interpreted to be spoken against the Body of Religion The words of Mr. Bolton and other Divines which I have cited against the Reproachers of serious piety are added since the Preaching of the rest as being more fit to be presented here to the eye than in the Pulpit to the ear The petulancy of men on both extreams constrained me to add The Bridle for their tongues The second Discourse I understand offended some few of the Gallants that thought they were too roughly handled let them here peruse it and better concoct it if they please I only add this Observation to the Heirs of Heaven that are above this world and live by Faith Few rich men are truly Religious It is as hard for them to be saved as for a Camel to go through a needles eye Yet rich men will every where be the Rulers of the world and so as to outward protection or opposition the Judges in matters of Religion Judge therefore whether Dominion and earthly raign be the portion of the Saints as Jewishly some of late imagine and what usage we must ordinarily expect on earth and what condition the Church of Christ is like to be in to the end As his Kingdom so ours is not of this world A low despised suffering state is it that Behevers must ordinarily expect and prepare for and study to be serviceable in If better may I call it better come take it as a Feast and grudge not when the table is withdrawn and look not it should be our every dayes fare But yet value the more highly those few of the Rich and Great and Rulers that are above this world and devote their power and riches to the Lord and are Holy and Heavenly in the midst of so great temptations and impediments The Lord teach us to use this transitory world as not overusing it that we may never hear Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things Luke 16. 25. How shortly will they find themselves everlastingly undone that made not sure of a more enduring portion Reader that thou mayst savingly remember these common but necessary though much neglected truths is the end of these endeavours and shall be the matter of my hearts desire and prayers while the Lord continneth me His servant for the promoting the increase and edification of his Church Nov. 15. 1660 R. Baxter Postscript REaders meeting in his consideration of the Liturgy with these following words of Reverend D. Gauden I cannot but commend the Candor Justice and Integrity of M. Baxter who lately professed to me that he saw nothing in the Liturgy which might not well bear a good construction if men looked upon it as became Christians with eyes of Charity I was sensible of the great respects of this Learned and Reverend man but lest you misunderstand both him and me I think it best to tell you more fully what were my words Speaking for reformation of the Common prayer Book and an addition of other forms in Scripture phrase with liberty of choice c. I said That for the Doctrine of the Common prayer Book though I had read exceptions against divers passages I remembred not any thing that might not receive a good construction if it were read with the same candour and allowance as we read the writings of other men So that it was only the Truth of the Doctrine that I spoke of against which I hate to be peevishly quarrelsome when God hath blest this Church so wonderfully with a moderate and cautelous yet effectual Reformation in matter of Doctrine The more pitty is it that the very modes of Worship and Discipline should be the matter of such sharp and uncharitable discords which must one day prove the grief of those that are found to have been the causes of it and of the sufferings of the Church on that occasion The Contents THe Introduction Page 1. c. Dict There is a seeming Religiousness which is but self-deceiving and will prove in Vain Ten particulars that constitute the Hypocrites Vain Religion 11. to 20. Ten things that are yet wanting to the Hypocrite that prove his Religion Vain 20. to 34. By what means and method the Hypocrite makes shift to deceive himself by his Religion 34. to 49. What moveth the Hypocrite to this self-deceit and what are the reasons and uses of his Vain Religion 49. In what respects the Hypocrites religion is not Vain 80 In what respects his religion is Vain 92 Use 1. Why a seeming outside Hypocritical religion is so common in

is the strait gate and narrow way that few men find Here he must be excused God is no God for him upon these terms And he cannot and will not be his God on any other terms Christ is no Christ for him unless he will excuse him from this trouble and bear with him in his carnal course that is unless he will be indeed no Christ to him Heaven is no heaven for him unless he may pass to it through prosperity and sin and unless he may have it without the trouble of a holy life that is unless God will be unjust or false and heaven cease to be heaven and God cease to be God But yet these men are convinced that God is their rightful Governour and that indeed they should love him and serve him with all their heart and might and that without true Religion and godliness there is no salvation To be irreligious and prophane they know is a state that can afford no comfort or shelter from the wrath of God and therefore some Religion they must have They are not able to endure the thoughts of lying under the curse of God To conclude themselves to be utterly graceless and the children of the Devil and in a state of condemnation is so terrible that they are not able to endure it Then every Sermon they hear would torment them and every Chapter they read would torment them and their pleasures would all be imbittered to them and nothing that they enjoy in all the world would quiet and content them No nor shall do long And therefore they must needs take up some Religion to quiet them for a little while and to make them hope that for all their sins they are not so bad nor in so dangerous a case as Preachers tell them some Religion they must needs have for fear of being damned A sound and serious Religion they will not have because they love the world and sin which it would deprive them of And therefore they patch up a Vain Religion composed of so much truth and duty as will stand with their prosperity and beloved pleasures which will not save them but sufficeth to deceive them Two parts make up this self deceiving frame as consistent with their sins The one is the formal outward easie cheap part of duty to God and man in their practise leaving out the spiritual inward difficult dear self-denying part The other is the strictest parts of Religion in bare opinion and notion while they shut it out of their hearts and lives For both these may stand with a sensual worldly selfish life He may read or say his prayers and be a worldling still He may come to Church and with the greatest ceremony and seeming reverence receive the Sacrament and bow before the Lord his Maker and yet be sensual or a worldling still And he may be of the strictest party or opinion and notionally condemn all sin and justifie the most holy life and yet be sensual and worldly still And therefore this much he may be perswaded to take up to save himself from the lashes of his conscience And so the use of the Hypocrites Religion is to be a skreen betwixt him and the flames of wrath that would scorch him too soon if he were of no Religion and to be to him as a tent or pentise to keep off the storms that would fall upon him while he is trading for the world and working for the flesh His Religion is but the sheath of his guilty conscience to keep it from wounding him and cutting his fingers while they are busie in the brutish service of his lusts It is but as a glove to save his skin when he hath to do with the nettles and thorns of the threatenings of God and the thoughts of vengeance that else would rack his guilty soul It is but as his upper garment to save him from a storm and then to be laid by as an unnecessary burden when he is at home The Hypocrites Religion is but as his shooe he can tread it in the dirt so it will but save his foot from galling As a man that hath an unquiet scolding wife is fain to speak her fair by flatteries lest he should have no rest at home or as a thief is fain to cast a crust to the dog that barketh at him to stop his mouth so is an ungodly sensual person fain to flatter his conscience with some kind of Religiousness and to stop its mouth with some kind of devotion and seeming righteousness that may deceive him into a belief that he is the child of God Religion is the Soveraign in a gracious soul and the Master in an upright conscience and ruleth above all worldly interests But with the unregenerate it is but an underling and servant that must do no more then the flesh and the world will give consent to and is regarded no further then for meer necessity and when it hath done the work which the Hypocrite appointed it it is dismissed and turned out of doors God is acknowledged and loved by the Hypocrite but not as God Christ is believed in and accepted but not as Christ but as an underling to the world and a journy-man to do some job of work for a distressed wrangling conscience or as an unwelcome Physician to give them a Vomit when they have taken some extraordinary surfeit of sensual delights When they have faln into great affliction or into any foul disgraceful sin then perhaps they take up their prayer books or call upon Christ and seem devout and very penitent But their piety is blown over with the storm The effect ceaseth with the cause It was not the Love of God or of his holy wayes and service that set them upon their devotions but some tempest of adversity or shipwrack of their estates or friends or consciences and when the winds are laid and the waves are still their devotion ceaseth with their danger 3. Add hereunto to shew you the reason of the Hypocrites self-deceit that he is one that never practically saw the amiableness of holiness in it self and never had a heart that was touched with the love of it by the Spirit of holiness and therefore he taketh it but for meer necessity and therefore he taketh up no more then he thinks is of necessity to save him from damnation when he can live in the pleasures of the world no longer God never had his heart He had rather be about his sports or worldly business if he durst and thought he could be so excused He loveth a pair of Cards or Dice or a Harlot or his ambitious designs and honours better then he loveth the holy Scriptures and the heavenly discourse or contemplation of the life to come And therefore he will have no more Religion then needs he must because he taketh it not for love but need The matters of the world and the flesh are his dyet and his extraordinary successes and prosperity are his feast