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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	prophecy_n	word_n	write_v	3,353	5	6.1475	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66579	The vanity of humane inventions held forth in a brief exercitation upon the controverted ceremonies, managed in certain queries : first drawn up for the satisfaction of some private friends, and now made publick for the good of others.	Wilson, Joseph, d. 1678.; Willson, John, d. ca. 1672.	1666 (1666)	Wing W2928; ESTC R2749	85,695	142

from infinite Goodness that he neglects her and provides not for her matters of Decency and Order as he should do Whether doth she not as much as say 1 Tim. 5.8 that though the very Infidel provides conveniencies for his family yet God provides not for his And if this be not an high affronting of him what is Mat. 15.3 If the Scribes and Pharisees did so far offend in those darker times by urging of that innocent and decent Rite the washing of hands before meat for so it was in it self how do those offend that in these Sunshine dayes of the Gospel do urge things of a far worse nature to the great hindrance of Religion and disturbance of the Peace of the Faithful Qu. 7. Whether since the Church may not institute Ceremonies without Warrant from God is it not very dangerous aswel as presumptuous for her to do it The Scripture is plain that it is God doth therein not only forbid us to do less than he hath required but more Deut. 4.2 As he forbids us to diminish from the Word that he commands us so he forbids us to add to it As he forbids us to fall short in our righteousness by doing less than he hath commanded so he forbids us to exceed in it by doing more than he hath commanded And he doth not only forbid us to do it but by severe and dreadful denunciations labours to deter us from it Ecc. 7.16 Be not righteous overmuch saith he neither make they self over-wise why shouldest thou destroy thy self And Paul anathematizeth that Man or Angel that shall preach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above what he had preached Though we saith he or an Angel from Heaven Gal. 1.8 9 preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed As we said before so say I now again if any man preach any other Gospel unto you than that ye have received let him be accursed And John closeth up the Bible with a passage of the like nature Rev. 22.18 I testisie saith he unto every man that heareth the words of the Prophecy of this Book if any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this Book As we count that which is above or besides a man's will to be contrary to it so God counts every thing that men teach observe and do in his Church that is above or beside his Word to be no other than contrary to it Hen. 2d the Emperour was wont to say Ne quid nimis over-doing is under-doing and indeed so God esteems of it and reputes it He takes himself to be as much disobeyed and dishonoured when he seeth men do more than he hath commanded as when they do lesse Nay we do not find that the flames of his wrath have broken forth with greater fury upon any than Innovators or those that have brought into his House and Worship such things as he did not appoint How memorably was his hand upon Nadab and Abihu The relation saith they took either of them his Censer and put fire therein Lev. 10.1 2. and Incense thereon and offered strange fire before the Lord which he commanded them not and there went out fire from before the Lord and devoured them and they dyed before the Lord. Here we have two things considerable their sin and their punishment Their sin consisted in this that in their sacrificing they used such fire as God had not commanded God left not the choice of fire any more than other things to them but appointed it himself and they should have kept to his appointment but they declined from it left it and so sinned In Religious matters and especially in the Worship of God it 's not only sinfull to go contra Statutum but to go supra Statutum Vid Am's Bell. Ener t. 1. p. 9. Or to speak home in the case in Resigious matters acting supra Statutum is all one with acting contra Statutum Therein God 's not requiring is equivalent to forbidding and doing more than he commandeth to do doing contrary to it Then as we have their sin so we have their punishment and that is very remarkable there went out a fire from the Lord and devoured them and they dyed before the Lord. Though they were the sons of Aaron and men of renown yet God was so provoked with this offence that he slew them before him and that both suddenly and dreadfully Suddenly for he gave them not so much as the least time of repentance but destroyed them immediatly even as they stood before the Astar Dreadfully for he did it by fire the most furious and terrible of all the elements Formerly it came in mercy now in judgment Formerly it devoured the Sacrifices now the Sacrificers We see then when men bring their own Inventions into the Worship of God they are so far from having the Sacrifices they offer accepted that they do no less than expose themselves to the danger of becoming a Sacrifice to Justice A further instance we have in the Temple at Jerusalem in the dayes of the New Testament When our Saviour had by his Death abolished the Ceremonial Law and appointed it to be laid aside and the Jews would notwithstanding keep it up God was so incensed against them that he takes that stately Temple sets it on a flame and burns it to ashes thereby accomplishing his own Sons Prophecy Luk. 21.6 As for these things which ye behold the dayes will come in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down For men either to set up Inventions of their own or to keep up any Ordinances of God longer than the time for which they were designed Vit. Fab. p. 179. graecol is provoking and dangerous Plutarch tells of Manlius Torquatus that though his Son fought valiantly yet because he exceeded his Commission he struck off his head In like manner those who in the Worship and Service of God exceed his Commands may upon good grounds fear the breaking forth of his wrath upon them as the just recompense of their presumption God hath appointed his Word for the Rule of our service and he will not have us turn either to the right hand or to the left either to do more or to do less than it commands but to keep to it without any deflection whatsoever Qu. 8. Whether is it likely that God would utterly abolish and remove such Ceremonies as were of his own Institution to make way for such as are of men Comment in Joh. 4.23 This Bucer urges against the Papists If God saith he approve not of those Ceremonies which the Patriarchs long ago being taught by his Spirit observed in their Temples on Mount Garizim or else-where nor of those which afterwards he delivered by Moses how much less will he approve of those which men have since invented without

being overcome with the evidence and strength of Truth do herein joyn with them teaching the sufficiency of the Scripture to all religious purposes and uses whatsoever aswell as they And if they will but keep to the vulgar Latine Sess 3. Decret 2 which the Council of Trent appointed to be the rule and standard not only of all other versions but but of the Originals themselves they must needs do it For whereas David in the forementioned place saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our Translation renders thy Commandment is exceeding broad the Vulgar renders it Latum Mandatum tuum nimis thy Commandment is too broad intimating that the Word of God is so far from lying under any narrowness or straitness that it is rather full to a redundancy And indeed it is not likely that God who is perfect in all he doth Deut. 32.4 and would have his Servants to give him perfect obedience should be unperfect in his Word or deliver to them an imperfect Rule Yet when I say the Scripture is a perfect Rule for all matters in Religion I do not mean it is an express particular Rule for every individual case or circumstance belonging thereunto that is not to be imagined Should God have drawn us such a Rule John 21.25 the World it self would not have contain'd the Books that should have been written It is a particular Rule onely for Substantials and a general one for Circumstantials which are so numerous various and mutable that no other than a general one could be expected of them Now as we must take care that our Substantials be such as fall under the particular directions of it so we must take care that our Circumstantials how small soever they may seem be such as fall under the general directions of it Qu. 2. Whether can you find in this Perfect Rule either any thing for a ceremonious administration now in the days of the New Testament in general or for the Ceremonies the Bishops impose and we refuse in particular It speaks much against such things but not one syllable that I know of for them When our Saviour saw how many in his time were afflicted partly with the pressure of the Ceremonial Law and partly with the Traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees who bound heavy burdens and grievous to be born Mat. 23.4 and laid them upon mens shoulders being moved with compassion as he used to be in such cases he invites them from them and encourageth them to come to him who was about to put them under an easier administration and deal more gently with them Matt. 11.28 29 30 Come unto me saith he all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest for your souls for my yoke is easie and my burden is light By these that laboured and were heavy laden Harm Evangel c. 56. p. 742 he means not only as Lyserus shews such as were inwardly afflicted for sin but such as were outwardly afflicted with Ceremonies and Traditions So that his words imply as much as if he had said My Disciples and followers I see you are afflicted both inwardly and outwardly your minds are afflicted with the sense of sin and the apprehensions of the Wrath of God due unto you for it your bodies are afflicted with the Ceremonial Law and the Traditions of those hard Task-masters the Scribes and Pharisees but be of good chear I undertake to free you both from the one and the other And accordingly we find that when the Scribes Pharisees came to him and complained of his Disciples for refusing to comply with them in the tradition of washing of hands before meat Mat. 15.3 he was so far from accepting the complaint that he very sharply blames them for their vanity in that and such like things encouraging his Disciples to persist in maintaining their just Liberty Yet when I say that he invited the People from the Legal Ceremonies I do not mean that he did it with reference to the present for the time of actual freedom was not as yet come but with reference to the future intending thereby to comfort them under the bondage they were then in and prepare them for their approaching deliverance And when the fulness of time was come rather than he would fail to perform what he had obliged himself to do Gal 4.4 5. by suffering them to continue under that ceremonious burdensom administration he layes down his Life to redeem them from it Col. 2.14 blotteth out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against them which was contrary to them takes it out of the way and nails it to his Crosse And he is no sooner dead but the merit efficacy of his Death beginning to work the types and shadows begin to flee away According to that of the Church until the day break Cant. 2.17 and the shadows flee away turn my Beloved and be thou like a Roe or a young Hart upon the mountains of Bether In which words the Church of the old Testament begs the aid and assistance of Christ for her support and comfort till the day should break and the shadows flee away that is till the day of his Death at which time she foresaw that the old ceremonious administration consisting in types and shadows would give place to a new one of a more spiritual and simple nature And as she foresaw so it came to pass for as upon the rising of the natural Sun the day breaks and the shadows of the night flee away so upon the coming and death of Christ See Mr. Brightman in loc the mystical Sun the Sun of Righteousness the types and shadows began to flee away As when the Building is set up the Scaffold is taken down so when Christ was come and had offered himself to his Father and done the work he came about he took down that paedagogical subservient Administration of the Ceremonies giving order that they should be laid aside This the renting in twain of the Vail of the Temple from the top to the bottom held forth Mat 27 51. And behold saith the Evangelist the Vail of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom For the better understanding of this we are to note that there were two Vails belonging to the Temple the one hang'd betwixt the outward Court and the Holy-place where the Priests officiated the other betwixt the Holy-place and the Holy of Holies and it is that which the Evangelist here meaneth Now within this Vail there were certain things of a typical ceremonious nature and esteemed most sacred as the Ark the Golden Censer Aarons Rod the Pot of Manna with other things all which the Vail kept from the view of the people God therefore by his own immediate hand renting this Vail took away the distinction both