Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	cause_n	just_a	separation_n	3,235	5	9.9864	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32786	A sermon preached in Saint Pavles chvrch the tenth of October, 1641 by Mr. Thomas Chisheare ... ; vvherein are many memorable passages most worthy of serious observations in these times.	Cheshire, Thomas, b. 1600 or 1601.	1641 (1641)	Wing C3780; ESTC R18461	9,416	17

Praise God as wee ought it must by fulfilling his word What is that instrument of ten strings which our Prophet speaketh of but the devout heart of a Christian tuned and rightly set to the ten commandements This Musick sounds sweetest in the eares of Heaven so saith Saint Augustine more at large in that excellent worke of his de decem chordis Good works should say to orall confession as Ruth did to Naomi And Ruth said intreat me not to leave thee or to returne from following after thee for whither thou goest I will goe c. And where a godly conversation doth not concomitate orall confession that praise sounds harsh in the eares of God Ergo as the Father saith Noli 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We must have brace-lets as well as Earerings good deeds as well as courteous language or the ornament which our spirituall Isaack gives to his Rebechah and which he most esteemeth these are they which make him take pleasure in our beauty therefore let us take pleasure not onely to speake and heare but do the same for this is truely to praise the name of the Lord and as we must praise God in thought word and worke we must labour to keep an agreement between them all for if one onely string be out of tune although all the rest be rightly set yet this one will so jar that the lesson playd upon it to a skilfull eare will sound as bad as if all were out of tune If thou doest forsake drunkennesse Whoredome or such like and yet dost cleave to covetousnesse it comes all to on reckoning for he that offends in one point is guilty of all saith the Apostle looke therefore to thy bosome sin and never leave striving untill thou quite extirpate the same How many are there of us that will pray in necessity but will not praise in prosperity The husband-man so long as the corne is growing will hedge and fence the field with all care and dilligence but when it is reaped then he lets it lye open for Hogs and other Beasts to treade and trample in When we have what we looked for then welet the reine slip in a storme we would be glad to shelter our selves under the branches of that tree which afterward we are ready to cut downe and burne it After the same manner the ungratefull Athenians delt with Themistocles when there was any sedition or uproare in the City then who but Themistocles but when by his discreet wisedome and good Counsell all was quieted then who more vile who more contemptible then poore Themistocles I wish this might be applyed to too many of our times who are fitly compared to a Herd of Hoggs the keeper beates them downe acornes and they eate them up greedily but never look up to the tree onely when they find their store spent grunt a little for more like as when some wholesome potion is boyled in a brasse vessell yet the brasse gives it such a relish that it becomes good for nothing Prayers and praise in a good mans mouth is like sweet incense but in others it is like brasse and savours too strong of the Cask and therefore the wise man saith that praise is not seemly in the mouth of a Sinner The husband man when he is like to have a good harvest or the Merchant a good returne from Sea He will give praise to God but with such a relation to his gaine that a man may easily perceive it was not of free will neither indeed willingly did he give praise to Almighty God and indeed men doe behave themselves so as if they were bound no more to give God praise then he is to give them benefits The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away saith Iob blessed be the Name of the Lord Quando tibi benè est lauda misericordiam Dei quando male lauda iusticiam Dei And that lustily and with a good courage Our prophet David calling upon the creatures to praise the Lord he joyneth a reason For saith he Let them praise the Lord for he commanded and they were created But we have much more cause for besides we have the benefit common with them we have above all other creatures a great benefit of redemption by Iesus Christ in this God hath exalted men above Angels in giving unto them his onely begotten Sonne as his power was manifest in the creating of the world so the riches of his love was never so fully shewed as in sending his onely begotten Sonne to suffer for us I remember a story of one Saleucus who made a law that all adulterers should be punished with the losse of both their eyes on a time it came to passe his owne son was taken in the same fault his good old Father being perplexed much thereat at last resolved on this course that the executioner should pull out one of his owne eyes and another of his Sonnes that so both iustice might be satisfied and mercy shewed We likewise were in danger both of loosing this life and that which is to come as also of suffering a double Death temporall and eternall but God hath found out a meanes for our delivery Christ came in and suffered one Death himselfe to free us from the other Death Plato gave thankes unto the Gods First that he was a man and not a Beast Secondly that he was a Graetian and not a Barharian Thirdly that he was not one of the common rout but a Philosopher But besides we are men we are Christian men who live in peace and plenty with the free passage of the Gospell of Iesus Christ Therefore let us both Young Men and Maidens old Men and Babes praise the name of the Lord Gratiarum actio respicit gratiam dantis ubi igitur est gratia maior dantis ibi gratia maior accipientis Assure thy self of one thing as Saint Augustine hath Qui non vult laudare in hoc seculo obmutescet in futuro God at the last day will say to such an one as the King did to him that had not on the wedding garment I should be too tedious if I should stand to reckon up the manifold mercys that God hath be stowed on this our land beyond all the world besides our Peace and Plenty with the Gospell of Christ our many and great deliverances both from forreigne enemies and Domesticke Traytors so that we may rightly say Ignem aquam transivimus God hath delivered us from the Spanish invasion and the Gun-powder treason and hath placed us in a wealthy land Be ye therefore filled with the Spirit saith our Prophet David speaking to your selves in Psalmes and Hymnes and spirituall songs and here I might speak of the godly care of our Church which hath ordeined singing of Psalmes both before and after Sermon and indeed are very fitting to be sung in order for the better stirring up of our affections And here I have a iust cause to taske them of

the Seperation who will not admit of any set forme of prayer for that as they say is cursing of the Spirit but why then should we have a set forme of singing For my part it shall ever have my allowance I thinke that these their Ex tempore prayers sounds as harshly in the eares of heaven as divers Psalmes sung together in sevorall tunes would in ours I remember the Apostle Paul makes mention of three graces viz. Faith Hope Charity but the chiefest of these is Charity Charity love is the chiefest Propter durationem for in Heaven we shall enioy both that we did beleive and hoped for but love shall accompany us there also in imitation thereof I shall also name three prayer praise and Patience but the chiefest of these is Praise and that for the same reason because it shall outlast all other here we stand in need of things necessary both for the body and soule and therefore we have need of prayer here we are troubled and afflicted with divers kinds of adversities And therefore we had need of Patience but hereafter in heaven all teares shall be wiped away from our eyes we shall have no need then of Prayer or patience onely praise shall still remaine then it shall be as it now is the greatest ioy of the Angels to consort themselves with the Saints in singing glory and Honour and praise to him that sits upon the Throne to the Lamb for evermore And so I have done with the duty in generall And now give me leave a little to acquaint you with some observations and first for reproofe there is no impartiall Christian but it would grieve his heart to see the prophanation of Gods ordinances when Coblers Weavers and Taylours and Feltmakers Frange leves calamos scinde Thalia libellos And these to goe unpunished nay much made on and well countenanced many of our Pulpits now a dayes do ring of the Doctrine of Devils On did preach publikely that it was not fit for Parents to teach their children the Lords prayer Another did maintaine and approve of that bloody act of Eelton An other to use his owne wordes would maintaine that there was no more holinesse in the Church then in his Kitchin nor in our communion Table then his Dresserboard O horrid Blaspemy what will become of us if Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction may not curbe such as these are O that they might be permitted to punish these things with what fury would they dart out their thunderbolts and with their Coruscant beames beat these bats into their accursed holes the house of God prophaned the memory of the Saints razed the monuments of good Christians it is great pitty to see that those who have beene speciall benefactors to this City that their Monuments are defaced I would it might be taken into serious consideration neither Insignia Regalia can escape their censure For in one Church of this City it was openly preached that the Kings Crowne should be pulled downe because it had a crosse upon it I wish we could pull downe the old man of Sinne and leavell those mountains of Pride which are in our hearts Gods house is abused and the Ministers of God abused there cannot one of them goe along the streets but straight he is taken notice on who he is or the like contumelious reproaches look yonder goes a Iesuite and Abbilubber one of Baals Priests one of Canterburies whelpes There is one place I would have you look unto where it is said They mocked the messenger of God and despised his words and misused his Prophets until the wrath of the Lord was against his People till there was no remedy We read in the former verses that they had polluted the Temple and commited many and great sins bnt yet God did forbeare untill they came to misusing of his Prophets and then there was no remedy the word in the originall doth properly signifie that their sore was cancred The decent Munimenta which have stood time out of mind in divers Churches to keepe the Lords table from prophanaion is fetched away by those that have no authority I conceive the order of the honourable house of Parliament I do confesse that there were too many alterations of late but for those that have stood decently time out of mind that the rude and inconsiderate multitude should demolish them I would wish these to consider what the holy Prophet saith He that breaketh a Hedge a Serpent shall bite him I conceive that ye all know what I meane by the Hedge and I wish you may not too soon feele what is meant by the Serpent We have too many in these our days are so invective against Bishops as if they would pluck up both branch root in one day although there may be some faulty in the Church therefore shall the Church suffer Some Aldermen have been faulty and some Iudges have been Dilinquent but therefore shall there be no Iudges no Aldermen Let the parties that have done evill be punished and not their 〈◊〉 office So likewise for the booke of Common Prayer how is it condemned and reviled that I say what was made by the consent of many godly Ministers and sealed with their dearest blood it hath bin termed by the name of Pottage or Porridge you must give me leave to be a forewarner to tell you For what things the wrath of God doth hang over our heads but by my conseut those that will have none of the Porridge should have none of the meat Ex tempore Prayer Ex tempore Preaching as if their glorious Lord heavenly Father had deserved no more reverence at their hands then to serve for blockes and Posts that when they are ready to tumble out of their way by taken of theirin considerate hast taken hold of these names keep their tongues in play while their rash invention makes a farther passage you shall read what Method was observed in the building of Solomons Temple that it was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither so that there was neither hammor nor Axe nor any toole of Iron heard in the house while it was in building if this Method were observed in the building of the Temple we should not have such hacking and hamering as if Babell were now building rather then the house of God or if it were rather a pulling downe then a building up and therefore our late King Iames cals such Prayers Monstrous births and indeed how can they be otherwise when they are conceived and brought forth all in one houre Prayer is the most necessary duty to a Christian of all other and of all other most acceptable to Almighty God Oratio fidelis est coeli clavis But thou such as these must not thinke to open Heaven gate with the rusty picklock of ex tempore prayer The same author King Iames saith in his {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} If we