Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	day_n	great_a	sabbath_n	1,394	5	9.4960	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61578	Of the nature of superstition a sermon preached at St Dunstans West, March 31, MDCLXXXII / by Edward Stillingfleet ...	Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.	1682 (1682)	Wing S5614; ESTC R18667	23,089	50

besides all the Judaizing Christians were not followers of Cerinthus there being different Sects among them as appears by Irenaeus Epiphanius and others and Baronius himself grants that the Pharisaical Jews of that and following Ages did Worship Angels as the Host of Heaven And the Essens had their Angels of Prayer and made their prayers to the rising Sun whom they looked on as on the rest of the Stars as animated and intelligent Beings And why the Judaizing Christians should not retain their former Superstitions as well as their other Traditions and Observations I do not understand Especially since Theodoret so expresly affirms that those who then pleaded for the keeping of the Law brought in the Worship of Angels which custom he saith continued a long time in Phrygia and Pisidia and at last the Council of Laodicea made a Canon against praying to Angels Those of the Church of Rome are so sensible of the force of this Testimony of Theodoret against their practice that they are driven to desperate shifts to avoid it Bellarmine saith that he speaks against the Gnosticks whereas Theodoret mentions only those who were for keeping the Law Baronius saith in plain terms Theodoret was mistaken and that there were no such Hereticks then but this is so gross that Bellarmin and others contradict him in it Others therefore say that the Worship of Angels here spoken against is the Worshipping of them as Makers of the World But that is more than St. Paul saith for he speaks againstthat Worship which arises from Humility and nothing so proper for that as the Worshipping them as Mediators between God and us Some think it is when Angels are preferred before Christ which is likewise more than the Apostle saith and they who chuse other Mediators by whom God is more accessible by us do prefer them in Use though not in Dignity Others as the Jansenists in their New Testament say it is When Angels are set up as Mediators in opposition to Christ but that cannot be the Apostles meaning for then his great business would have been to have proved Christ to be the true Mediator and not Angels and if any Religious Worship of Angels had been agreeable with the Christian Doctrine the Apostle would never have thus in general condemned it but with such restrictions and limitations as made it to be evil Therefore to avoid these difficulties some conclude that by the Worship of Angels is understood such a Worship as was introduced by a pretended Revelation of Angels but against this we have the concurrent testimony of St. Chrysostome St. Hierome St. Ambrose Oecumenius Theophylact who all agree that it is to be understood of the Worship given to Angels So impossible it is for those who either give themselves or justifie and allow the giving by others any Religious Worship to Angels to escape falling under the Apostles censure of being Seducers and corrupting the Gospel of Christ. 2. About stricter Abstinence and greater Severity of Life For these Seducers gave out that the Christian Churches were yet very defective in this matter And that there were several Societies of Men both among the Jews and Heathens which went very far beyond them as the Essens the Pythagoreans the Gymnosophists and others who far outstript the Christians in Watchings and Fastings in the hard usage of their Bodies and a total abstinence from Wine and Flesh and other lawful Pleasures of Life On which account these false Teachers represented the Christianity as yet received in these Churches as too soft and gentle an Institution and not answering the Character that was given of it but if they had a mind to set it off with advantage it would be necessary for them to take in some of the strictest Precepts of those Societies especially relating to Meats and Marriage Touch not taste not handle not which they magnified as the greatest Instances of true Religion Self-denyal Humility Mortification without which they despised the Christian Institution as a mean and ordinary thing requiring only the belief of some great things done and suffered by Jesus Christ in Judea and the adhering thereto till Death and doing those Offices of Humanity and Kindness to each other and those Duties of Religion to God which all Mankind thought fit and reasonable to be done But these pretended refiners of Christianity were not contented with such common things they must set up for something singular and extraordinary so Epiphanius observes of the Gnosticks in the beginning that they condemned Marriage and abstained from Flesh that under these pretences they might draw others into their snares And likewise of the Ebionites one of the Sects of Judaizing Christians that they carefully abstained from all Flesh and were every day Baptised and celebrated the Eucharist only in Water for fear of being defiled with the taste of Wine wherein they were followed by the Encratitae Aquarij and several others who affected something out of the way as a badge of more than ordinary Sanctity And there are scarce any of those who are mentioned as the Authors of great Mischief to the Church but were remarkable for something of this Nature as appears by Marcion Montanus Manichaeus Severus and others And which is observable this sort of singularity prevailed no where more than in these parts of Phrygia where the Encratitae very much encreased and continued so to do in the days of Epiphanius So very little effect had this wise and timely caution given by the Apostle in this place upon those who were willing to be deceived in that or following Generations Cajetan confesses himself to seek what sort of Men those were the Apostle discourses against but it seems most probable to me that they were a sort of Judaizing Christians who endeavoured to introduce the Customs of the Jewish Essens into the Christian Church For when St. Paul speaks of the Jewish Customs he mentions no other but such as were in esteem among them he takes no notice of Sacrifices which were disesteemed among them But let no man judge you in Meat which among them was only Bread and Salt or in Drink which was only Water or in respect of a Holyday or New Moon or the Sabbath Days which as Philo relates they were great observers of And when he speaks of the Customs they would bring among the Christians they were no other than such as were strictly observed among them viz. great abstinence hard usage of their Bodies and some Religious Rites with respect to Angels Concerning which the Apostle delivers his Judgment two ways 1. He grants that these things have a shew of Wisdom in them i. e. that they make so good an appearance to men as is apt to raise an esteem of those persons in whom it is First Because they seem to flow from a forwardness in Religion so I render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we call Will-worship but that being a thing of an ill

Name doth not so well answer to the shew of Wisdom for what shew of Wisdom is there in doing an ill thing This is therefore a readiness of Mind to do any thing in Religion which men think pleasing to God whether required by him or not So Hesychius expounds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And other Greek Words of a like composition do imply no more than a voluntary inclination as in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Plato useth for a service out of good Will and free Inclination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Xenophon And St. Augustine observes that in his time a Man that affected to be Rich was called Thelo-dives and he that desired to be thought Wise Thelo-sapiens so according to this Analogy a Man that would be thought very Religious would then have been called Thelo-Religiosus taking Religiosus in the sense of Massurius Sabinus and not of Nigidius Figulus i. e. in a good and not in a bad sense And so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a desire of appearing more Religious than ordinary which is not a thing evil in it self but depends on circumstances The next is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Humility a Vertue so graceful so becoming Mankind with a respect to God and to each other that whatever makes a Shew of that doth so of Wisdom too The third is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not sparing the Body but using it with hardship to keep it under 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which Words have such a hardness in their construction as hath caused great variety of interpretations which I shall not repeat That which seems most natural is that Honour implies a regard to the Body and so it only explains what was meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sense being not with any regard to the Flesh for its satisfaction which hath a farther appearance of Wisdom not barely in the subjection of the Body to the Mind but as it seems to argue a Mind so elevated above the Body that it hath little or no regard to the necessities of it 2. Notwithstanding all this fair shew of Wisdom the Apostle doth really condemn these things as not pleasing to God nor suitable to the Christian Religion For 1. He saith they have only a shew of Wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Chrysostome who certainly understood the force of the Words the Shew saith he not the Power therefore not the Truth of Wisdom Imaginem rationis humanaeque sapientiae saith St. Jerom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Theodoret so that notwithstanding the fair Shew they make they have no real Wisdom in them 2. This new way of Worship though it hath such a specious shew of Devotion and Humility yet it reflects on the Honour of Christ as Mediator and therefore the Apostle charges the introducers of it with not holding the Head If the Cerinthians did advance the Angels above Jesus Christ they were so much the more guilty but if these Judaizers did only look on them as nearer and more agreeable Mediators to us yet therein they brought a great disparagement upon him whose Office it was to be the sole Mediator between God and Men. Mankind was very excusable in comparison for finding out other Mediators before God had declared to the World that he had appointed his Son to be our only Advocate and Intercessor but for those who own his Mediatorship to make choice of others besides Him is to call in question the Wisdom of the Father or the Sufficiency Interest or Kindness of the Son For if God hath appointed him for this end and he be able to go through his work and willing to help all that address themselves to him what need to call in other Assistants yea what a Dishonour is it for him to stand by and Applications be made to them to do that Office which he was appointed alone to discharge 3. These new inventions though never so plausible are a disparagement to the Gospel as not containing sufficient or at least not the most sublime and perfect directions for Humility and Mortification For our Blessed Saviour was so far from being remarkable for these affected singularities that the freedom and easiness of his conversation was a great offence to those who understood little or nothing of Religion beyond these things The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say Behold a Man Gluttonous and a Wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and Sinners Not that he gave way to any thing like Luxury or Intemperance who was the most exact pattern of all true and real Vertues but because they saw nothing extraordinary as to the severity of his Life in these Matters they looked on him but as one of the common sort of men making no appearance of more than usual Sanctity as to eating and drinking And when Johns Disciples who were bred up with greater austerity were really offended that Christs Disciples did not fast as they did our Saviour puts them off with a Parabolical Answer Can the Children of the Bride-chamber fast as long as the Bridegroom is with them which answer might puzzle them more as not understanding why fasting should be inconsistent with his corporal Presence yet to let them see that he did not look on Fasting as a Duty unsutable to his Religion he tells them the Days would come when his Disciples should have their times of Fasting But the Days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them and then shall they fast So that it is not Occasional or Anniversary Days of Fasting which are condemned here by the Apostle as Will-worship or neglecting the Body but the imposing a new and severer course of Life upon Christians as a way of greater perfection of Mortification than what was required by Christ or his Apostles This is that which the Apostle calls being subject to Ordinances and living after the Commandments and Doctrines of Men. Theodoret observes that he doth not mean the Law by this but the unseasonable Doctrine of these Seducers and it is evident from the foregoing part of the 20. v. Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the World i. e. if ye are freed from the Yoke of the Law what reason is there ye should submit to another which depends only on the Authority and invention of Men But what then Doth S. Paul make it unlawful to submit to any Orders or Rites appointed by the Church in which we live By no means For neither doth the Apostle speak of those who had lawful Authority but of Seducers nor doth he speak of things appointed meerly for Order and Decency but of such things which are supposed by the Imposers to have more of true Perfection and Sanctity in them more Humility and Mortification and consequently to be