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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	law_n	time_n	write_v	3,058	5	5.6338	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67020	A call to humiliation for the grievous sin of persecution in two sermons, preached at the publick fasts in Lemster, in the county of Hereford, Wednesday May 21 and June 18, 1690 / by William Woodward ...	Woodward, William, Minister of the Gospel.	1690 (1690)	Wing W3522; ESTC R23484	25,666	38

King of Jerusalem and Hiram King of Tirus but that it seems was forgotten and the Tyrians became Treacherous and Cruel for which the Lord did wonderfully chastise them by Nebuchadnezzar who after a fourteen years Siege made Tyrus Desolate Tyrus was a famous City built upon a Rock in an Island in the midst of the Sea her Merchants were Princes her Houses were Pallaces but no strength of any Place or People by Nature or Art or both can secure against those sharp Arrows which God hath ordained for those that inhumanely Persecute their Brethren 5. Those that have Bowels of compassion should mourn upon the prospect they have of the miseries which will follow a National Oppression and Persecution of the Truth Our Lord wept and lamented over Jerusalem O Jerusalem Jerusalem that Killest the Prophets and Stonest them that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy Children together even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her Wings and ye would not behold your House is left to you desolate Mat. 23. 37 38. Luk. 19. 41. It eminently appears that our Lords Love was great to Jerusalem in that after he arose from the Dead when he charged the Apostles to Preach Repentance and Remission of sins to all Nations he gave them particular Direction to begin at Jerusalem Luk. 24. 47. that that very place that had drawn upon it self the guilt of his precious Blood might have the first offer of Salvation by its Merits The Prophet Isaiah tells us that his Bowels should sound like a Harp for Moab and his inward part for Kirharesh chap. 16. 11. this Kirharesh was Heliopolis the City of the Sun where the Sun was the Idol of Worship but Moab is not blamed barely for her Superstition and Idolatry there is Persecution laid to her charge v. 4. Moab reproached the People of God in their Captive state as Outcasts and would give them no Protection quite forgetting that the Jews were a-kin to Moab thence the Prophet foreseeing that the Golden Vial of Wrath would be poured forth upon Moab within three or four years v. 14. crys out that his Bowels should sound like a Harp for Moab i. e. their Miseries would be such as should touch the Bowels of all that ever heard of it Use 1. Exam. The Church of England professes at this day before God Angels and Men to bewail her Sins to take shame and turn to the Lord our God that he may have mercy upon us and Heal our Land Now if we must Mourn for Englands Sins 't is fit that we should know them sometimes the Sin of a Nation is so Open notorious and visible that it may be found without secret search as the Prophet speaks Jer. 2. 34. but it is not always thus for we read there was once Herem Anathema an Accursed Thing hidden inter Supellectilia among the Stuff Joshua 7. 11. Joshua that famous Servant of the Lord was owned by miracles and crowned with Success and Victory till he came before the City of Ai where Israel fled before their Enemies whereupon the Hearts of all the people melted and became as Water ver 5. and Joshua rent his cloaths and fell to the earth upon his face before the Ark of the Lord until the Even-Tide he and the Elders of Israel and put dust upon their heads and Joshua said Alas O Lord God wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Iordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us Would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side Iordan O Lord what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies ver 7 8. And the Lord said Israel hath sinned and they have also transgressed my Covenant which I commanded them for they have even taken of the Accursed thing and have also stolen and dissembled also they have put it even among their own Stuff ver 10 11. It cannot be thought but that the Tribes of Israel were stained with those Pollutions which commonly accompany so great an Host such as Lying Swearing Intemperance Vncleanness and the like and yet the wrath of the Lord kindled among them at this time for a hidden wickedness which few or none took notice of the Accursed Thing which provoked the anger of the Lord was hidden among the Stuff The Sins of England are many and great at this day the Lord be merciful unto us and to our whole Land Pride Drunkenness Whoredom Swearing and Prophaneness of every kind reign every where Conformist and Nonconformist have great reason to lye in the Dust together because of these Abominations But besides all these Sins 't is possible there may be some Achan some Accursed thing amongst us which hath not been taken notice of The children are come to the Birth and there is no strength to bring forth more mens hands are upon their Loins than upon their Swords we are filled with the Alarms of War and no one knows how long Let none take that ill which is done in Integrity I must search among the Stuff for the Accursed thing which is a work so hazardous and unacceptable that I could not subdue my self to the undertaking but by the sence of my duty to God and my Country The Stuff which I suspect and must search into concerns our Ecclesiastical Affairs and I will see by the help of God whether the Accursed thing be not hid under the covering of Decency and Order Penal Laws Laws for Vniformity Subscriptions Declarations Liturgies Articles Laws for Ceremonies and Forms of Prayer 'T is as clear as the Sun that for near thirty years now last past sixteen hundred Ministers of the Gospel of Christ if not more have suffered very hard things upon the account of Conscience by reason of great Fines long Imprisonments some of those who were wont to break the Spiritual Bread have died for want of their natural Bread both the Shepherds and the Flocks have been starv'd in their several kinds Many Thousands of the Families of the Protestant Dissenters have been sorely distressed by Penal Laws upon the account of Religion And if the sufferings of our Brethren were written at large as the sufferings of the Saints at other times have been Mr. Fox his book of Martyrs would be but an Enchiridion in comparison of it If any shall say that the Nonconformists and Protestant Dissenters have been buffeted for their faults in all this time and that the Church of England is Innocent that it was her duty and became her Wisdom though it was not so agreeable to the sweetness of her nature and meekness of her disposition yet it became her Wisdom as the chast and tender spouse of Christ to lay aside the Scepter and the Dove and to take into her hand the bloody Club of Cain to Martyr the Dissenters into conformity To this I reply Let 's have a fair hearing before we be Judged The Oppression and Persecution of the truth is a

that in the Primitive Times the Saints usually prayed with their Eyes fixed on the Mercy-seat or closed which utterly disables Persons for Reading Prayers 2. The Pastors of Churches in the Primitive Times were under the teaching of the Anointing and had the Spirit and Gift of Prayer The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Justin Martyr Apol. 2. is vindicated beyond all exceptions by which it's most manifest that they prayed not then in their Assemblies by Book or Form but from the Gift and Ability they had So likewise that of Tertullian Apol. 1. Sine monitore quia de pectore oramus shews clearly not only that the Primitive way of Prayer was not by prescribed Liturgies but that it was the Heathenish way of Prayer The Christians prayed by Heart the Heathens prayed by Book The Heathenish Greeks Persians Romans had their Monitors Priests and Sacred Persons who were wont to say Prayers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of a Book This is a matter well known from the Authority of Apuleius Pausanias Livy Cicero Lactantius 3. When the Christians were so numerous at Constantinople that it was thought convenient to Dispose of them in several Churches that zealous Emperour Constantine the Great writes to Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea for fifty Bibles for the use of the Churches but there is no mention of any one Common-Prayer-Book Euseb l. 4. c. 34 36. 4. When Forms of Prayer began to be used every Church made use of what Forms they pleased so Socrates Scholast lib. 5. And it appears by the Epistles of Pope Pius the Fifth and Gregory the Thirteenth prefixt to the Breviarium Romanum that the several Churches of the Roman Communion had their several Liturgies until that branch of the Churches Liberty was taken away by the Council of Trent Here in England before the Reformation we had several Modes of Common-Prayer-Books some after the use of Sarum others after the use of York Lincoln which afterward were reduced to one for publick use and imposed by Law 5. 'T was the Ignorance Carnality the Sloth and Laziness of the Clergy together with their Pride which first brought in and imposed service-Service-Books upon the Churches as for those Liturgies which bear the Great names of St. James Peter Mark Clemens Basil and Chrysostom they are known Forgeries When the Church began to be an Harlot when Bishops were not Silver Trumpets but Tinkling Cymbals Clouds without Water Bells without Clappers and Breasts without Milk when the Bishops in Councils as of Ephesus and Chalcedon profest they did Literas ignorare and could not write their own Names to confirm their Canons then came in our Liturgies 6. 'T is no part of our business to enquire whether in some cases it may not be lawful to use a Set Form of Prayer but I would satisfie you in this that our way of Worship without the Restraint of Set Forms is most agreeable to the way of Worship used by the Holy Apostles and by the Primitive times for many hundreds of years past before Set Forms were used and many hundreds more before they were imposed Now I must desire you to observe this one thing that there is great difference between Vsing a Set Form and Imposing it which I shall clear to you thus We find Levit. 5. 7. that there was provision made for such as were Poor in their Estates that if they were not able to bring for a Trespass-Offering or Sin-Offering a Lamb or Kid of the Goats he might bring Two Turtle-Doves or Two young Pigeons which the Lord would accept of but if a Rich man that had Flocks and Herds had brought Two young Pigeons the Lord would have abhorred it and much more if all the Rich men in Israel had agreed together from a principle of Covetousness in making a Law that it should be penal for any man be he Rich or Poor to bring any thing for a Sin-Offering besides Two young Pigeons Many persons in the Churches may be poor in Parts and in Gifts and may need the help of a Set Form of Prayer but to Impose by Law a Set Form upon all be their ability for Prayer never so great is to bind us up to the offering of Doves and Pigeons when we are able to bring before the Lord Lambs Kids and Bullocks this were a Law to be disliked Or thus whereas the condition of some that are Lame and Impotent requires the help of Crutches to go to Market and they are to be pitied under their Infirmities yet if a Law were made that every man that comes to Market without Crutches should lose one of his Ears you would all cry out that it was an unequal and unrighteous Law Some may need and use Set Forms but to Impose them upon all under severe and terrible Penalties is that which hath no warrant from Scripture nor the first and best Ages of the Church A Fourth Point we are to look into is that Branch of the Subscription required by the Act of Vniformity which concerns the Covenant it runs thus I do declare that I do hold there Lies no obligation upon me or any other person from the Oath commonly called the Solemn League or Covenant to endeavour any Change or Alteration of the Government either in Church or State and that the same in it self was an unlawful Oath and Imposed on the Subjects of the Realm against the known Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom We have Refused to Renounce this Covenant now consider what we say for our selves 1. There are many useful Preachers and Men of good Learning that never read a law-Law-book in their Lives they know nothing of Magna Charta Bracton Littleton Cook Common Law Statute Law Is it reasonable then to require them to Declare the Covenant is contrary to known Laws and Liberties which they are utterly unacquainted with 2. Though I am one of those that never took the Covenant yet when I consider That the King Lords and Commons of England and Scotland have taken it 't is a very strange thing if it should bind none of them not one of them A man had need spend some years in Casuistical Divinity and read all the Books which are Extant De Obligatione Juramenti before he absolve two or three Kingdoms and declare understandingly that no one man is bound by that Oath which almost every man took 3. By the Covenant all persons were bound in their places to endeavour a Reformation of the Church according to the Scriptures and the Examples of the Best Reformed Churches is this an unlawful Oath if a man should swear that in his Place and Calling he would endeavour with all his might to cast every Idol out of the World we see our King the Lords and Commons of Scotland have cast off Prelacy and Established Presbytery But I will speak no more to this Subject By what you have heard you may judge whether we have been straining at Gnats or other men have swallowed Camels The Fifth Point