Selected quad for the lemma: church_n
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A33245
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An answer to Richard Allen's essay, vindication and appendix wherein he endeavors to prove that singing of Psalms with conjoyn'd voices is a Christian duty / by R.C.
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Claridge, Richard, 1649-1723.
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1697
(1697)
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Wing C4431; ESTC R33307
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88,028
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139
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or Instituted by him âfore the Promulgation of the Decalogue and âver afterward declared to be Typical is a âoral Duty or else this Assertion may be justly âcepted against For all Uncommanded Worship â forbidden and therefore Unlawful Worship âeither can any thing be properly a Moral Duty â be performed in the Church of God as a Part â his Worship which hath not the Stamp of Diâne Authority upon it For the Agreeableness of Practice to that which is called Right Reaâân or the Light of Nature is no sufficient Ground â a Church Observation except it be also comânded by God I do not in the least Question but ââ the True Church of God in all Ages was guidââ by his Holy Spirit in the Worship they perâââmed and he accepted or else I know not how âây could be the True Church or perform acââptable Service to him For the True Church hath ââd Christ all along for it's Head of Government and Influence to suppose it at any Time to be witâ out him for it's Legislator and Guide were to maââ it cease it 's very Being For the Being of the Trââ Church consists in it's Union with and special Râlation to Christ as it's Head And for the Servicâ which it performs to God they must be of his Prâparing and not the Issues of our own Privaââ Studies and Contrivances Fââ * Reynold's on Hos 14.1 2. nothing can go to God i. â meet with Acceptance at hââ Hands but what first comâ from him From whence it doth apparently follow thâ whatsoever was practised in the True Church of Goâ and approved by him as a Part of his Worship eveâ before the Giving the Sinai Law had his Commanâ for it because it could not otherwise be acceptabââ Worship to him For he accepts of none but whaâ he has Appointed To this it may perhaps be Objected that befoââ the Giving of the Law at Mount Sinai there waâ no written Law and so no Command for thâ Churches Direction in Worship But Moral Dâties of Religion were written in Mens Hearts bâ Nature and by serious Attention thereunto the could discern what they were without any speciââ Revelation and so perform true and acceptabââ Worship to Almighty God Answ This Objection is in part answered alreadâ where I have shewn that Moral Duties of Religioâ are not written in Mens Hearts by Nature bââ by the God of Nature and that serious Attentioâ alone is Morally Impossible to make the great Diâcoveries which are attributed to it for Manâ Natural Condition in the Faââ being as the Holy Scriptures dâclare â Acts 26.18 Eph. 5.8 Col. 1.13 1 Thes 5.5 Darkness how is â possible for him to see his Mâral Duty to God and to perform it with Acceptance without special Revelation for he must needs fail who hath not this Unerring Guide to direct him And tho' there was no written Law before the giving of that at Sinai and so no written Precept for Direction in Church-Worship yet this Defect was supplied by Divine Revelation * Ushers's Body of Divinity p. 6. In the beginning of the World saith one God delivered his Word by Revelation And a little after â Ibid. p. 7. From the Creation until the time of Moses for the space of 2513. years God immediately by his Voice and Prophets sent from him taught the Church his Truth Heb. 1.1 â Taylor 's Ductor Dubit l. 2. c. 1. r. 1. n. 44. p. 180. Another hath this excellent Saying Christ is called by Peter and the Greek Fathers ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Word of the Father and the Law and it is remarkable this Word or Law of the Father was the Instrument of teaching Mankind in all Periods of the World And * See Baxter's More Reasons for the Christian Religion p. 94 95. a Third makes no doubt but the Eternal ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Word that had undertaken Mans Redemption and thereupon was our Lord Redeemer gave even to Socrates Plato Cicero Seneca Antonine Epictetus Plutarch c. what Light and Mercy they had tho' they understood not well from whom or upon what Grounds they had them Sect. 6. Many Learned Men do tell us of the Seven Precepts which pass'd from one to another by Oral Tradition Six whereof were first given to the Sons of Adam and the Seventh super-added to the Sons of Noah and altogether by the Rabbins stiled the Seven Precepts of the Sons of Noah which the Church of God had before the Sinaical Promulgation and the same in Substance with the Decalogue They are set down in this Order by a great â Hammond's Annot. on Act. 15. d. Critick 1. The First ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of Strange Worship or of renouncing the Idolatry of the Heathens the not Worshipping other Gods 2. The Second ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the Benediction that is the Worship of the Name that is the true God 3. The Third ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of Judgment or Administration of Justice 4. The Fourth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of disclosing Nakedness that is of Abstaining from all Vncleanness and interdicted Marriages within those Degrees which are set down Lev. 18. 5. The Fifth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of shedding of Blood or against Homicides 6. The Sixth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of Theft or Rapine and doing as they would be done to by others 7. The Seventh ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Member of any living Creature or that they should not cat the Flesh of any Creature with the Blood in it See also Synopsis Critic in Act. 15.20 Schindler in Pentaglot p. 1530. Curcell Rel. Christ Institut lib. 4. c. 11. Sect. 3. Tho' this Discourse may seem a Digression to those who conceive the Church of God was chiefly directed in Matters of Worship by meer Rational Principles before the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai yet to others who Believe Divine Revelation was her only Guide it will appear very necessary for the clearing of the Truth to all such as are imposed upon by the Asserters of Natural Worship as tho' that as such were Acceptable to God Unless therefore R. A. be understood according to the Explication before given I think there is sufficient Reason to except against his Consideration which he proceeds to prove thus That singing the Praises of God was thus practised viz. In the Church of God and approved by him before the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai and never afterward declared Typical is evident Exod. 15.1 Then sang Moses and the Children of Israel this Song to the Lord Essay p. 10. Sect. 7. Answ If this Text doth not prove Conjoint Singing with Plurality of External Voices which is the Point he contends for he hath then lost one main Proof of the Morality of it and that this Instance doth not prove it the following Considerations I hope will evince First It is altogether improbable that Moses and the Children of Israel all Sang Vocally