Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	church_n	day_n	sabbath_n	2,930	5	9.5290	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66108	The peril of the times displayed. Or the danger of mens taking up with a form of godliness, but denying the power of it Being the substance of several sermons preached: by Samuel Willard, teacher of a church in Boston, N.E·	Willard, Samuel, 1640-1707.	1700 (1700)	Wing W2289; ESTC R224076	64,870	172

21. begin the Famine is said to be for Sauls slaying the Gibeonites 6. Hence without observation men cannot do their duty in this regard Unless we know what is the provocation we shall not understand what is the instant duty that God requires of us the sins must be found out before they can be particularly provided against and be suitably repented of and turned from and so the proper means be used for the putting of them away and how shall this be but upon observation and search and that by taking notice what are the commands of God and the Rules of his word and viewing the frame and practice of men generally compa●ing them herewithal and hereupon want of consideration is a thing which God looks upon as a great aggravation of their sins and chargeth them with stupidity on the account of it Isa 1. 3. my people doth not consider Jer. 8. 6. no man repented of his wickedness saying what have I done and when God hath a controversy with them he invites them to consideration Hag. 1. 5. now therefore thus saith the Lord consider your ways 7. Formality attended with denying the power of Godliness is the first bad Symptom in a professing people we have observed that Apostasy from a fair profession is not wont to be all at once but it hath its gradual steps and may have many removes before it comes to the height But all Apostasy beginneth with the defect of the power and vigour of Grace in men So that whatsoever will be an argument to discover mens declining from what they sometimes maintained will also give evidence to their denying of the power it being of it self a practical contradiction of that pi●ty which men would have the world to believe that they do sincerely profess Here then let us take a brief prospect of the frame and genius of this people on this account and for our help in this necessary duty let me offer at the following remarks 1. That there is a Form of Godliness a mong us is manifest Let us take the notion of a form in either of the senses before observed in the explication of the Doctrine and it will appear to be so If we look upon it as intending an outward species shew or pretence whether the thing it self be sincere or only in pretence it is certain that the generality of this people do give it out that they are the people of God that they acknowledge him to be their Soveraign that they are engaged in his Service and that they do stand up for the Gospel Ordinances and Order Or if we take it for the Rule that men declare themselves to be under the obligation of we have a sound confession of the Faith which we declare that we adh●re unto and are not a little zealous for the upholding of those Ordinances which Christ hath Instituted in his Gospel these things are evident and possibly there may be more of this among us than in most other places 2. But the great enquiry is whether there be not too much of a general denying of the power of it God forbid that any discouragement should be offered to those who are serious and wa●ch●ul Christians whose hearts are truly set for the Glory of God and the promoting of his interest and let it be the encouragement of all such that if there be but a few names in a degenerate Sardis God doth not overlook them nor will he forget them See how comfortably he speaks to such Rev. 3. 4. thou hast a few names even in Sardis that have not defiled their garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy But if the other frame be grown too general and prevailing the Symptoms are bad and let us remember that there are many discoveries which may be made of such a spirit which though they are not all found in every one yet if they are found distributively and spread generally it will amount to the thing that we are enquiring after When God chargeth a people in this regard he doth not always say you are all thus so but such are found in thee see Ezek. 22. 7 c. and is it not too much thus with us Whence else is it that there are such things as these that follow to be observed 1. That there is such a prevalency of so many immoralities among Professors I confess that it must be granted that in the best times and in places where the power of Godliness is most flourishing there have been and will be those that have not the fear of God before their eyes there were so in the times of the greatest Reformation that we read of in the Book of God In this world we must expect that Wicked men will be mixed with the Godly and such as will dare to shew their wickedness in their Lives and not be afraid to Transgress in a Land of Uprightness But when such are not countenanced but due testimony is born against them when they are contemned in the places where they live and a note of infamy and scandal is put upon them this will not be charged on such a people for Apostasy But when such sins grow frequent and those that have taken on themselves a name of being Religious begin to indulge themselves herein and men that allow themselves in such things are not Reproached for it but are in as good Credit as the best it then becomes a bad symptom and saith that the times are declining and perilous Much more when such as these will undertake to justify and patronize such things and are there not sad complaints made on this account I shall here instance only in some that are more notorious Are not Gods Sabbaths wofully neglected How little care is there used in making of due preparation for them How wofully can such as would be esteemed Godly encroach upon holy time and be engaged either in secular business or in vain Company and possibly in publick houses when they should be at home in their Closets or with their Families Sanctifying of Gods day and shewing of the Honourable esteem they have for it And I am well satisfyed that where the strict Observation of Gods Sabbath is lost there the Power of Godliness is gone How much complaint is there made of woful Dishonesty in their dealings practised by such as can talk high of their Religion How many fallacious tricks they can use in their Commerce How deceitful in their Labour How false to their words and promises as if dissembling and lying were no reproach to the name of Christians How many Intemperate Church Members are there reported to be who spend their precious time in frequenting Publick Houses and keeping of loose and lewd Company who can come to the Lords Table on the Sabbath and wrong themselves by excessive Drinking on the week days How much Animosity Contention and implacable bitterness of Spirit breaking forth in indecent words and carriages between

The Peril OF THE TIMES Displayed OR The Danger of Mens taking up with a Form of Godliness But Denying the Power of it Being The Substance of several SERMONS Preached By SAMVEL WILLARD Teacher of a Church in Boston N. E. Sumenda sunt amura Salubria Aug. Boston Printed by B. Green J. Allen. Sold by Benjamin Eliot 1700. TO THE Reader THERE are Pretenders unto Godliness whose Religion does chiefly consist in being of this or the other particular Party of men making a Profession of Christianity If that is all their Godliness supposing them to fall in with those that have most of Truth in their more peculiar Perswasions they have only the Form without the Power In our Nation which has the Name of Protestant and Reformed some are of the Episcopal others for the Presbyterian others for the Congregational others for the Antipaedobaptists Form These differ not in the Fundamental Articles of Faith and from thence it is that there are amongst them all some with whom Godliness in the Truth and Power is to be found and yet some under all these Denominations who have only the Form That the Churches in New England which in their Primitive Constitution consisted of the Good Old Puritan Nonconformists were famous for Religion in the Purity and Power of it cannot be denied Nevertheless in our first and best Times there were Tares and Chaff mixed with the Wheat That there is now a great Decay amongst Professors of Religion in this Land would to God it were not so amongst Professors of our way in the other England also must likewise be confessed There is in that Practical and Judicial Discourse emitted herewith a faithful Testimony against those Apostasies which do witness to our Faces that this Generation comes short of what their Predecessors sometimes were The Reverend Author observeth That As to many of the Rising Generation there is a fondness after New Things and that they are become Disputants for those Things which their Fathers left a Pleasant Land for the Avoidance of And that many stand off from Communion because they would not be under Discipline That there are some Intemperate Church Members who spend their precious Time in frequenting Publick Houses and keeping loose Company That Professors are ready to comply with the vain Customs of the Times These and many the like Passages the Reader will find in the following Sermons It is therefore sadly evident that Religion in the Power of it is decaying and dying Alas There are now crept into some of our Churches such Things as the Discipline in the first Reformed Churches in France has condemned as Censurable Evils and which the National Synod held at Dort in Holland declares to be Levity unbecoming Christians an Offence to the Godly and that those who persist therein after Admonitions shall be excluded from Commnion If these things be so is not that which was once a Noble Vine and wholly a Right Seed degenerating apace There are some Churches in the World that never had that Purity of Discipline amongst them which the Churches in New-England have been advantaged with who notwithstanding of late years are blessed with a Young Generation abounding in those Duties of Faith and Obedience in which Godliness in the Power of it does very much consist I remember that ten years ago that Excellent Person Dr. Walker then Minister at Aldermanbury in London assured me that in that Parish there were a considerable Number of Young persons who often met together to Pray and Conferr about the things wherein their Souls were concerned and that every month in order to their more prepared Coming to the Lord's Supper they spent a Day in Prayer together When the Doctor told me this I was surprised with astonishing joy at the Hearing of it But it is much more surprising that there is Printed the last year at London An Account of the Rise and Progress of the Religious Societies in that City and of the Endeavours of the Reformation of Manners Published by Mr. Josiah Woodward a worthy Conformist Minister who says that it is the practice of those Societies to partake of the Holy Supper of the Lord frequently thereby to devote themselves afresh to their Good Master and as a means of receiving Spiritual Strength from Him and that many of them have by the Grace of God attained to that Excellent Primitive Temper of frequent Communicating without growing formal Moreover he has these words which I could not but set a special Remark upon It is saith my Author in p 61. required of such as joyn themselves to them that they give the Society a solemn account of their sense of spiritual things with the real Motives which lead them to this Undertaking and what they seriously purpose as to their future Life This is many times done in Writing and I have perused some of their Papers and have found them penned in such an honest affectionate and undisguised style with such pious and sensible Expressions and in so modest and humble a manner that they would mightily affect any pious person to read them and move him to break forth into pathetick praises to God who has given such Grace to young men in so Degenerate an Age. Thus Mr. Woodward a Divine of the Church of England He further relates that there are many Hundreds of Young men freely and solemnly engaging themselves to Live strictly and as becomes our Holy Religion Some of the Articles or Orders which they consent unto and promise to walk accordingly are these following vid. p. 121. and 130. That the Members of this Society shall meet together one Evening in the week at a convenient place in order to encourage each other in Practical Holiness by discoursing on Spiritual Subjects and Reading Gods Holy Word and to Pray to Almighty God and to Praise His Name together That none shall be admitted into this Society without giving notice thereof to the Stewards who shall acquaint the whole Society there with and after due enquiring into their religious purposes and manner of Life the Stewards may Admit them to Subscribe their Names if the major part of the Society allow it and not otherwise and with the like joynt consent they may Exclude any Members proved guilty of any misbehaviour after due Admonition unless he giveth sufficient Testimony of his Repentance and Amendment before the whole Society It is recommended to every person concerned in this Society to consider the many Inconveniences and many times Sins which attend Ale-houses and Games and wholly decline them and to shun all unnecessary Resort to such Houses and Taverns and wholly to avoid leud Play-Houses The Respective Members of this Society shall heartily endeavour through Gods Grace to be just in all their dealings even to an Exemplary Strictness To Pray many times every day remembring our continual Dependance upon God both for Temporal and Spiritual Things To partake of the Lords Supper at least once a month if not prevented by