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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	apostle_n	church_n	word_n	1,489	5	3.9514	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77773	Short and plain directions for the observation of the Lords day as they were delivered in a sermon in the church of Mallow, in the diocess of Cloyne : suited to the capacity of the common people / by John Bulkelly, M.A. and rector of Cloyne.	Bulkelly, John.	1697 (1697)	Wing B5402; ESTC R42873	10,718	19

the death of the Apostles their writings also were read in the publick Congregation as the Fathers of the Church do witness While the word is audibly and distinctly read you must listen attentively thereunto and with submission yield your selves to be governed and directed thereby But reading of the word is not all that is required of the Minister but if he will sanctify this day he must preach Under the Law Moses of old time had in every City them that preacht him being read in the Synagogue every Sabbath day Acts 15.21 For it was the manner of the Jews to read a piece of the Pentateuch every Sabbath and being distinctly read one of the elder Levites did interpret and expound it unto the People as you may read Neh 8.4.7 8. This Custom Philo Judaeus mentions who was contemporary with the Apostles when the Priest or one of the Elders had read some part of the Law saith he sigillatim exponit he expoundeth it particularly And what are the writings of the Prophets but the abridgments or summary heads of their Sermons Our blessed Saviour when he read his Text closed the Book and made application to the People he proved from his Text that he was to preach the Gospel to preach Deliverance to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. In the primitive Church after the writings of the Apostles and Prophets were read the President or Chief Minister made a Sermon wherein he instructed the People and exhorted them to the practice of those Dutys then taught and delivered When the Minister calls upon thee to hear Gods word and read his Text stand up Neh. 8.5 When Ehud pretended a secret errand from God unto the King Eglon rose out of his seat Judges 3. While the Preacher is expounding and applying the word of the Lord look upon him for it is a great help to stir up thine attention and to keep thee from wandring thoughts So the eyes of all that were in the Synagogue are said to have been fastned on Christ whilest he preached and all the people hanged upon him when they heard him chasing away all wandring thoughts omitting reading praying or being otherwise employed And lastly forbearing conference or drowsiness listen with all readiness and attention six in thy memory the coherence and connexion of the Text with what went before the division of it into its several parts and the main doctrines or points of Instruction the proofs that ratify the truth and certainty of the Doctrine the reasons that evince it and the uses or applycation thereof for the benefit of thine own Soul If thou canst not comprehend all these mark dilligently the Doctrine and uses let not these slip thy careful Observation When the Sermon is ended beware thou depart not like the nine Lepers till that for thine Instruction to saving health thou hast returned thanks and praises to God by an after prayer and singing of a Psalm St. Aug. accounteth it totum opus Sabbathi as if the Sabbath was made for nothing else but only for thanksgiving and prayers David desireth Deliverance Psal 35.18 and promiseth that being heard he will sing his praise in the Congregation Of singing Psalms in the Church the Apostle speaks 1. Cor. 14.26 For singing of Psalms to God we have both the precept and the example of our Lord and his Apostles and the Enemies of Christianity in the Infancy of the Gospel acknowledg that the Christians had their meeting before break of Day to sing unto Christ and unto God Lucian Philopater When the Blessing is pronounced stand up or kneel to receive thy part therein and hear it as if Christ himself whose Minister he is did pronounce the same unto thee and by no means depart without the Blessing The Prince was not to go forth out of the Temple till the whole Congregation went forth he had no privilidge to depart thence more then the meanest in the Congregation till the solemn service was ended When Solomon in the dedication of the Temple had made an end of praying all his prayer 1. King 8.54 they went not out but stayed for the Blessing In the primitive times he that should go out of the Church before Sermon were ended was liable to Ecclesiastical censure What good will the Service or Sermon do thee if thou want the Blessing When the Blessing is pronounced adore bowing thy Head or bending thy Knee with some short ejaculatory prayer and thanksgiving to God and so either depart with reverence or proceed to the celebration of the Lords Supper if it be that day administred Turn not thy back upon the Lords Ordinance refuse not to come when invited to his Table It is one thing not to receive often by reason it is not the custom of that Church wherein thou livest to administer often and another thing to refuse to come though invited and to turn thy back upon those dainties when prepared What preparation we must make to receive with comfort and what are the pleas which hinder us in this Duty I shall e're long declare unto you and then endeavour with the best skill I can to remove all those pleas and hinderances in the interim be admonished in the action of kneeling standing sitting and such indifferent ceremonies for the avoiding of scandal the continuance of charity and in testimony of thine obedience to conform thy self to the manner of the Church wherein thou livest When I come to Rome saith St. Ambrose I fast on the Sabbath when I am here I do not fast so do thou unto whatsoever Church thou chance to come observe the Rites and Customs thereof if thou wouldst neither give nor take offence Also remember always to be present at the Baptism of Infants 1st That thou mayest omit no part of Publick Worship of God but pray with the Church and Congregation 2dly That thou mayest outwardly grace God's Ordinance and countenance it as it were with thy presence and not disgrace or seem to scorn it by turning thy back unto it 3dly That God's publick Ordinance may be publickly and not privately performed and that thou mayest assist the Church in praising God for grafting another Member into his Mystical Body 4thly That thou mayest shew thy self to be a Freeman of Christs Corporation having a voyce or consent in the admission of others into that holy Society 5thly That thou mayest repay thy debts in praying for that Infant which is to be Baptiz'd as other Christians did in the like case for thee that God would give him the new effects of Baptism by his Blood and Spirit 6thly That also thou mayest hereby call to mind thy Covenant with God in Baptism and Gods Covenant made with thee and examine what fruit thereof appears within thee that thou mayest bless God if thou find the same effectual and be humbled to labour unto it if thou find it to be small Lastly Remember to cast thy mite into the poor mans Box Deut. 16.16 There is a charge to Aaron that whensoever they came to appear before the Lord none of them should appear empty handed Lev. 8.31 There is mention made of a Basket of sanctification in which were reserved those things that afterward they would consecrate to the Lord. The very same order was taken by the Apostles 1. Cor. 16.12 On the Lords day there should be Collection for the Poor this was adjudged the proper day for Alms and Charitable Distributions When thou art returned home ponder a while that which thou hast heard read or preached Hide the Seeds of Gods Word in the ●urrows of thy Heart that Satan steal it not away use sobriety of Meat and Drink and careful temperance this day above all other times that the Body may be strengthned and better disposed to do the duties of Godliness When thou art entred upon any discourse with thy Neighbour let it be concerning what was delivered that day or discourse about some other points of wholesome Doctrine tending to Edification In the afternoon return to Church and there behave thy self at the Evening service as is already prescribed After this is ended and thou art come home confer with thy Family and see how they profit read some part of the holy Scripture joyn in prayers and praise to Almighty God for the benefit of that days favour and when thou art wearied with prayer and reading and preaching is ceased spend the remainder of the day in meditation this is to continue the whole day and still findeth matter to work upon Meditate on the Judgments of God how many Families who formerly wallowed in ease and plenty are now reduccd to Beggary and Want Meditate on the mercies of God how we have been as Firebrands snatched and rescued out of the Fire delivered from the burthen of Tyranny and Popery by the over ruling hand of Providence Let us I say meditate on these Judgments and Mercies whether they extend to our own Persons or come on our Fathers House or the place wherein we live or the Church round about us There are none of these but afford us a subject of meditation Meditate also on the Creatures of God from the Less to the Greater You may be supplyed with fit objects of your meditation Solomon in all his Glory was never arrayed like some of them and they never were ungrateful to their maker and if they be thankful how much more are we bound to him If any Neighbour be sick or in any heaviness go to visit him If any be fallen at variance help to reconcile them Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall be called the Children of God When the time of rest approacheth desire God to forgive thy defects in his service and to grant thee a quiet repose and comfortable refreshment this night that being raised to the comfort of the next morning thou mayest return refreshed and strengthned to thy wonted Labour and dedicate both it and the remainder of thy days to Gods service and honour Laus Deo Amen FINIS

a Hymn for after times And what are David's Psalms but set forms of Prayer Petitions thanksgivings for Benefits and deprecations against Evil. Our Saviour in the New Testament prescribed a Form of Prayer to his Apostles as St. John the Baptist his immediate fore-runner had formerly done to his Disciples St. Paul often used the same set form of Prayer without variation Our Saviour had a better gift in praying than any man in the world and could have varied his words better than any other yet when he had the same suit to make to his Father he used the same words diverse times saying once again and yet a third time Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me In the Primitive times I doubt not but they did pray and preach too as the Spirit gave them utterance but when that immediate assistance of the Spirit ceased they saw the inconvenience of extemporary Prayers and were enforced to compile publick Forms or Liturgies for as St. Aug. speaks Quidam in precibus loquti sunt contrà Regulam Fidei Some in their prayers speak dissonant to the Rule of Faith Some prayed Heresy some Schisme and some Blasphemy In remedy whereof the Council of Laodicaea decreed that it should not be lawful for any to frame set forms of Prayer at their pleasure and recite them in their publick Assemblies But the accustomed prayers which had been approved should be used in every meeting And the Councel of Carthage decreed that what prayers soever a man framed for himself he should first acquaint those that were wise and learned with them before he presumed to use them and also decreed that Nullae aliae preces vel Orationes dicerentur in Ecclesia nisi quae à synodo erant approbatae that no other prayer or supplications be used in the Church but such as are approved by a Synod And the reason is given nè forte aliquid contra fidem vel per Ignorantiam vel per minus studium sit Compositum Least by sudden extemporary effusion of prayer without good advice and meditation some expressions might slip from him either through Ignorance or Carelesness which were not consonant to the Faith of Christ's Church no nor beseeming the awful Majesty of Almighty God And now I appeal to your Consciences whether the same necessity doth not lie on us to preserve the Publick Liturgie or Service Book from contempt and disusance seing so many different Sects and dangerous Heresies are crept in among us as Presbyterians Independants Anabaptists Seekers c. whose prayers if they be true to their own Positions cannot be consonant to the rule of Faith and consequently we cannot with a good Conscience say Amen thereunto I close up this with the speech of Polycarpus O Deus in quae tempora reservasti nos O God for what times hast thou reserved us wherein that service of thine which hath heretofore had the high approbation applause and commendation of many learned Divines and glorious Martyrs is now exposed to the careless neglect to the proud contempt and scorn of new fangled disaffected persons and villifyed as popish and superstitious whose particular exceptions against it or any passage in it have received full particular and abundant satisfaction by the Learned pens of Hooker Fisher Falkner and of Dr. King the now Bishop of Derry But I now come to the peoples Duty at the time of publick service when prayers are beginning lay aside thine own private meditations Let thy heart joyn with the Minister and the whole Church as being one Body of Christ and because God is the God of Order he will have all things to be done in the Church with one heart and one agreement The exercises of the Church are common and publick no body is excluded from it's harmony vis unita fortior It is an ignorant pride for a man to think his own private prayers more effectual than the publick prayers of the whole Church pray therefore when the Church prayeth sing when they sing and let thy heart and affection be intent upon and run along with the publick prayers let not thy heart be roving while thy tongue is at prayer 2dly Let thy behaviour at prayer be such as becometh Saints the ordinary postures at prayer were standing kneeling or lying along upon the ground but the usual posture was kneeling Eusebius witnesseth that the Christian Souldiers kneeled in their prayers Arnobius affirms that Christians when they ador'd God with their joynt prayers did use prostration The Church commandeth prayers to be made with all diligence and genuflection on the set or appointed days True it is that for joy of our Saviours Resurrection the ancient Church would not kneel in her prayers between Easter and Whitsuntide as we read in Tertull and Just Mart. and when that Ceremony was omitted in some places the 20th Can of the first Councel of Nice decreed that it should be observed in every place yet we find in Acts 21.5 that St. Paul prayed with bended knees on the shore of Tyre between the Feast of Pascha and Pentecost After the days of Unleavened Bread he sayled from Philippi and hastned to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost and passing thrô Tyre in this his journy towards Jerusalem he kneeled down on the shore and prayed Acts 20.6.16 Kneeling then is the most seemly gesture in prayer but if thou canst not thrô some bodily infirmity or for want of room why then stand But sitting is a most irreverent and unseemly gesture at prayer time When thou prayest thou askest a Blessing and dost it upon thy knees if to thy earthly Father how much more to thy heavenly But men have inverted the course now they drink their health upon their knees and pray for their health upon their tayles God shall answer such men according to their manners Lastly at the close of every prayer say Amen Neh. 8.6 1. Cor. 14.16 So did the primitive Christians ad similitudinem caelestis tonitru Amen reboabat saith St. Hierom. The whole Congregation resoundeth Amen like a crack of Thunder till the Church did ring again After prayer succeedeth the publick reading of the Word Deut. 4.10 where it appears that the end of our gathering is to hear the word that is sanctified for sanctification Moses was read among the Jews in their Synagogue upon that Sabbath day Acts 15.21 Among Christians also Moses and the Prophets were read at first Acts 13.15 Then the Gospels 2. Cor. 8.18 We have sent with Titus the Brother whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches whence we may not improbably gather that the Gospel of St. Luke was read in all the Churches in Sr. Paul's time St. Paul chargeth the Thessalonians that the Epistle sent unto them be read unto all the holy Brethren and he desires of the Collossians that they would read the Epistle written from Laodicaea and cause that which was sent unto them to be read to the Laodiceans After