Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	church_n	separate_v	separation_n	2,045	5	10.3917	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67825	A sermon exhorting to union in religion preach'd at Bow-Church, May 20th, and published at the desire of the auditory / by E. Young.	Young, Edward, 1641 or 2-1705.	1688 (1688)	Wing Y64; ESTC R39192	14,385	34

being fond of some Opinions which they had no other foundation to build upon have made them Canonical by their Dreams And thus Fondness has past into Conscience And have we not heard of others who have been as it were devoted to an Aversion from their Youth warn'd to avoid a particular Communion at the peril of their Souls told that it was Antichristian Popish Socinian Pelagian and made to believe it monstrous without ever understanding it And thus Prejudice has past into Conscience If then both mens Appetites and Passions Follies and Prejudices Fondnesses and Aversions Wishes and Dreams may pass into their Consciences and prescribe and govern there as we see by these undeniable experiences they may I need say no more to prove that even when Men separate under that venerable pretext of Conscience they may yet separate for those things which Christ will never own to be his Let such therefore bring their Conscience to its proper Light For as it is necessary for all to be guided by their Conscience so it is as necessary that Conscience it self be guided by the Word of God. Now we readily acknowledge that the Scripture does in some cases authorize us to separate Come out of her my people says the Holy Spirit Rev. 18. 4. Come out from among them and be ye separate says the same Spirit 2 Cor. 6. 17. But let it be consider'd that in both those places the Cause alledged to justifie the Separation is an Idolatrous Worship and nothing less Let those that separate from us therefore instance where is that defiling Pitch where is that dangerous Contagion to be found in our Church How hath our Church faln from the Faith how hath she corrupted the Doctrines of Christianity Till they can do so their Separation cannot appear to have any Authority from Scripture and therefore it must be a Separation of that kind which the Scripture every where condemns for a sin But here comes in the Second Plea with a mien of greater Sobriety I mean the Plea of those who cry Your Communion is Lawful but it edifies not and therefore since we have the liberty of Separate Assemblies Religious Prudence obliges us to go there where we can edifie My Friends however we suppose all humane Laws for Unity of Worship are Dispensable at Pleasure yet I hope it will never be an Opinion among us that the Laws of God requiring the same Thing are so Dispensable I have urged our Union from the obligations of Scripture and Inferences of Moral Reason and I hope these are things that would stand undissolved among us tho' all human Laws were repealed But let us come to examine the Plea it self Men cry they edifie not in our Communion but how comes this to be possible Is it possible that a People particularly in this City should not be able to edifie under their establisht Clergy whose Pious Labours all the World both applaud and profit by Was there ever any Church in the World that has furnisht the Piety of its Congregations with so many excellent Treatises both of Practical and Devotional and Controversial Divinity as this hath done and yet is it possible that men should not be able to edifie under such a Ministry as this I must confess it is possible but the reason of the possibility is Scandalous For it is Prejudice that hinders our Edification Prejudice that would hinder a man from improving under the labours of an Angel. None deny but that our Saviour was a most Edifying Preacher and yet it is as evident that a great many of those that heard him were never the better for all that he said They were such who for their particular reasons spread about ill Characters of him and entertained a mean opinion of him and with this Prejudice they hardned themselves against all the influence of his Preaching Prejudice is a thing whereby Christ has always suffer'd and doubtless he does so now in a high measure among us Could but the wooings of God once prevail upon us to lay this aside could we but once come to the Congregation prepar'd with Meekness and Patience and Love then every word would sound both more Instructive to us and more moving Then besides all other possible improvements we should be sure to reap this viz. the mortifying of an uncharitable Appetite which at present is the occasion both of publick Scandal and Calamity and I am sure this would be a better measure of Edification then it is possible for us to arrive at in any separate Assembly But I am aware that the greatest Prejudice is still behind 't is that which lies against our Publick Prayers For it cannot pass the observation of any man nor the grieving of any good man to see how when a Congregation is met to worship God and are joyned in an Order of Prayers so agreeable to his Worship there shall be some notwithstanding who seem studiously concern'd to shew a disrespect to the service Which is a behaviour so offensive that tho' it may consist with an unthinking zeal yet 't is impossible that it can sit easie upon the Conscience of any man that shall once come to be reflexive as well as Religious Let us enter a little into the Merits of the Cause What man can say but that in the whole course of our Prayers the Conceptions are both awful and pious and the expressions both proper and affectionate What man can say but that the Praises there are suitable to the Majesty of God and the Confessions proper for the humiliation of Sinners and the Intercessions expressive of all the duties of Charity and the Supplications extended to all the ordinary exigencies of Mankind I know no sober man can say to the contrary But then here lies the offence they are common and known beforehand and prescrib'd and always the same and this is nauseating and this causes that they do not edifie I confess I cannot think of any Argument to keep this Plea in countenance but one and that is this viz. That it is ordinarily in the power of sudden and arbitrary Prayer to beget attention more than that which we were acquainted with before But let me likewise observe that Piety has no share in the producing that Attention for attention to any thing that is New to us is the necessary product of simple Curiosity And this is the Reason that chains our Ears to an extemporary Speaker our Imaginations are held busie in apprehending his Matter in weighing his Words in estimating his Talent and in watching after somewhat that may possibly be peculiar and surprizing Whereas when this is done and the Prayer ended our very dislike of having the same Form again is a plain proof that our Curiosity affects us more than our Devotion For if the Form we have heard were in it self good and properly expressive of all our concerns with God a sincere Piety would never nauseate the eternal repetition of it Methinks it were but