Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	day_n	lord_n	week_n	9,333	5	9.8928	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61448	The spirit of the church-faction detected, in its nature and operations more particularly in the mystery of the convocation-book lately published and exposed to the view and censure of the world by the late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, and the progress of the faction, and the mischiefs thereof, the late civil war, and our present disappointments.	Stephens, Edward, d. 1706.	1691 (1691)	Wing S5443; ESTC R24618	38,051	52

Vertues and Faculties And one he hath lately given in the Case of Mr. David Jones and that so notable an one as may fully satisfie all men who consider it well which I will therefore briefly relate Mr. Jones had twice preached here in London for a Minister who was absent and at the second time being to make some stay in Town he was desired by some persons of other Parishes who had either heard him or heard of him to preach at their Churches and particularly at St. Andrews and Christ-church both the same day 2 Nov. Thereupon considering the quality of those Auditories he made choice of a Sermon which he had formerly made at Oxford upon 1 Tim. 6.17 Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded And discoursing upon the parts of his Text in order as is usual before he came to discourse of the Rich which he principally intended from the first word he touched upon the Ministerial Charge and the Neglect thereof by many Pluralists Chaplains and other Non-Residents and others deserting then former Charges for temporal Advantage And this passed well enough in the Morning at S. Andrewes where there were none present who were much concerned in it But in the Afternoon at Christ-Church Dr. H 〈…〉 being there who hath a Cure in the Countrey two Lectures in the City is the Kings Chaplain and a Noble-mans Chaplain besides all this seem'd designed directly against him especially being preached by one of his own Colledge And thereupon as Mr. Jones was going from the Pulpit to the Vestry the Dr. came to him and after some hard words took him by the shoulder and bid him be gone out of the Church adding That he would take care he should come no more there to tell them of their Faults This strange carriage of the Dr. occasioned much Discourse and that and the Effervescence of his own Passion made him not only break out into foul and false Aspersions of Mr. Jones in all Companies the Week following but into indecent Reflections upon him even from the Pulpit the next Lords day This moved a Friend of Mr. Jones who was then at Church to go to the Dr. afteward into the Vestry to expostulate the matter calmly with him But the Dr. could not contain himself but presently fell into passion and threatned he would desire those Gentlemen who stood there by to serve him as he had served Mr. Jones the Sunday before To which the other replyed If he were of that temper he should not need to trouble himself for he had no more to say to him and so left him but the next day wrote him the following Letter Reverend Dr. I Am very sorry that such a Difference should fall out between two Persons so qualified to do good service in the Church as may prove some Impediment to both It becomes men of your Profession to be mutual Assistants to one another in the promotion of the Work and Service of your common Master And therefore that the Evil of the Difference may be prevented and stopped and if possible turned to good I beg your patience to peruse and seriously consider these few things which I shall as briefly as I can and with all candor and impartiality offer to your consideration I am of opinion that as it usually falls out in most differences so in this there may be some fault on both sides Mr. Jones I take to be in the right in the Substance of what he delivered but may have erred a little in Circumstance in the Season of his delivering it But yet in Charity that ought to be imputed to the height of his Zeal for the Reformation of things notoriously amiss and of great Importance to be reformed And as his unblamable and strict Life obligeth us to make this construction of it so the great and notorious Remisness of the Governours of our Church makes his Reproof whether in season or out of season excusable at least if not commendable And if you or any other of the Clergy offer to give him any Disturbance for it I dare assure you you will but so much the more expose your selves and a foul Cause It will be more agreeable to Christianity and the places you hold in the Church to humble your selves before God and set speedily about such a Reformation as may make such Preaching needless And for Mr. Jones I hope I shall be able to prevail with him to consider better of the Season for those things but not to remit any thing of his warmth against them in due season untill I see more Zeal for the Reformation of them in others But your Fault pardon my plain dealing which proceeds not from ill will but to do you good is in the Substance of what is amiss You have undertaken as I am informed the greatest Charge in the World the Cure of Souls and neglect it leave it to a Hireling who if he be as good a man as your self deserves as much that is all the Profits if he be not you do not discharge your Duty there And you not only neglect so great a Charge but neglect it for the World for the Profit of a Lecture nay two Lectures and in a place where there is no need of your Help where there are Labourers who want Work and some who want Subsistence besides So that the sin of your Neglect is aggravated with great Scandal tempting People both to Worldly-mindedness and to suspect that you an eminent Dr. either believe not the Doctrine you profess and so also to Atheism or that you believe not the strict Observation thereof to be necessary and so at least to Licentiousness and aggravated not only with Scandal but with Vncharitableness too and that even to men of your own Kind through such Vnsatiableness or * * V. Isa 6.11 Canine Appetite which not only preys upon the Flock but devours the very Shepherds Nor is this all yet for you plainly encourage and lead into sin the People you preach to If to covet another mans Servant be a Sin contrary to the express Command of God then certainly to inveigle another mans Servant from him is a greater Sin And if this be so what is it then to inveigle the Minister of a whole Parish from the service of their Souls And no less a sin than this are all they guilty of who contribute to either of your Lectures The due consideration of this and what it is to be partakers in other mens sins as they are in all yours before mentioned is fit to be recommended to your Auditors And a due sense of these things had you bin in nothing else concerned in that discourse would have allayed and checked the intemperance of your Passion against a just Reproof which I am certain was not designed by any man for your person more than for any other but ordered it seems by the Providence of God to fall upon you for your Correction and your Good

Affections for the present but insensibly deprave both Body and Mind and deprive them of many real and great Advantages which a prudent Discipline and well regulated Education would have furnished them with Certain it is that the admired things of the World do not satisfie but Dropsie-like increase the Thirst and so intangle Mens Minds more and more in worldly Affections which the design of Christianity is to divest us of The genuine Christianity is the most Divine and only compleat Philosophy that ever appeared among Men. And a true Church of Christ is a Society of Men selected out of the World not corporally but in their Souls and Affections and certain Institutions and Manners and particularly amongst others by Renunciation of the Pomps and Vanities of it Such a Church debauch'd by the Spirit of the World becomes a Whore in a spiritual sense according to the phrase of the S. Scriptures And when the lust of those things is excited by this Spirit of the World to the Rage of Persecution of the Members of Christ it becomes then a compleat Antichrist Thus the Great and Famous Church of Rome the Mistress of all the Western Churches being debauch'd became the Great Whore and the rest were only as Servants to her or Members of her And such was the Church of England till she deserted her Service at the Reformation and set up for her self Then indeed she began to reform many of the Corruptions of her Mistress but her State and Grandeur she thought she might retain without Detriment or Danger to her Integrity little suspecting that this was the Root and principal Occasion of all the Corruptions of that once famous and truly honourable Church and the more easily overlooking the Corruptions of which much of that State and Grandure doth consist though it be very plain and obvious if duly considered For it is plain beyond all contradiction that our Episcopacy as it stands modelled to this day however we magnifie our Church upon it even to the unchurching of almost all others is no genuine Institution but a Mungrel Constitution of Antichistian Original and of very pernicious Consequence both to Church and State It is a truth which at least after divers more gentle Admonitions I must speak out for I see no hopes of any good from it unless the Corruptions thereof be reformed A principal part of what is reputed peculiar to the Episcopal Office is taken from our Bishops and committed to Laymen viz. The Administration of Discipline This as a piece of State in imitation of the Grandees of the World was heretofore committed to the Chancellors as a matter below their Dignity to execute themselves so that to this day they remain deprived in effect of a considerable part of their Office of which Bishop Beadle had so just a resentment that he endeavoured the restititution thereof And as their Office in part is taken from them so they on the other side are not a little taken from their Office by Secular Business in Parliament besides other Secular Business in the Countrey Which to me seems a greater piece of Sacriledge than the alienation of part of their Revenues and application of it to secular uses Being thus in part deprived of their Office and in part abstracted from it it is but agreeable to the rest that they are partly also deprived of their Churches Where they have Seats indeed left them but the Cathedrals in all or most places if I mistake not are not in the Power of the Bishop but of the Dean and Chapter consisting of a number of Prebends who are obliged to be resident some certain but no long time as three weeks or a month in the Year and having Cures remote and commonly out of the Diocess are of little Use or Benefit to the Church or City if at all to any part of the Diocess Thus is the ancient venerable Body or Society of the Bishop and his Presbytery with us divided and distracted and rendred in a great measure useless and insignificant to the Ends of its Original Institution and the Damage thereof to the Church not only covered and concealed but augmented also by the Addition of secular Titles and Employments through the subtilty of that Wicked spirit A plain Mungrel Constitution instead of the ancient simple Christian Form That these things are not of Christian Institution is plain from the Sacred Scriptures and the Writings of the Christians of all former Ages before they were introduced And that they are of Antichristian Original is as plain from the Writings of those Ages when they were introduced but both may be made manifest to all Men by a much shorter and easier way And that is by considering the different Ends and Designs of the Spirit of Christ and of the Spirit of Antichrist and the Tendency and Subserviency of these things to the End and Designs of the one or the other The End and Design of Christ and of his Spirit which doth animate and guide all true Christians is to withdraw Men from the World to train and exercise them to an entire Subjection of the whole Man to God and to exalt and unite them who are dependant Beings to him who is their only Center of Repose and Happiness On the contrary the Aim and Design of the Wicked One the Spirit of Antichrist called also the God of this World is to withhold and withdraw the Minds of Men from God and in order thereunto to intangle their Affections with the false appearances of the things of this World and distract their thoughts with multiplicity of Superfluities and Impertinences thereof that being unhinged from their proper Centre they may center upon some false bottom and set up themselves for little Deities Gerentes se pro Centro mundi which being the very state of the Devils doth necessarily involve them in their Condition and engage them to their Party amongst whom they must unavoidably be subject to such as are more powerful than themselves Accordingly our Saviour when he was pleased to converse with Men in the habit of a mortal man was pleased to appear in a mean Condition without House or Lands without other Attendants than his Disciples and those chosen out of the meanest sort of people His Speeches and Discourses weighty and comprehensive but plain and without any affectation either of Oratory or exactness of Method his Institutions for Initiation and Confederation of his Disciples and Worship of God few and simple with little Ceremony though very significant His Doctrines few and plain that he was the Son of God the Messias or Christ anointed by his Spirit to be a Prince and a Saviour to all Nations and that of his Fulness of the Divine Spirit we all who believe in him and obey him should receive and so be partakers of the Divine Nature His Precepts likewise few but very extensive and easily intelligible to love God with all our Powers and Faculties and our Neighbour who is equally