Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	order_n	power_n	presbyter_n	3,295	5	9.8702	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29388	Religio bibliopolæ in imitation of Dr. Browns Religio medici, with a supplement to it / by Benj. iBrgwater [sic], Gent.	Dunton, John, 1659-1733.; Bridgewater, Benjamin.; Browne, Thomas, Sir, 1605-1682. Religio medici.	1691 (1691)	Wing B4486; ESTC R19049	55,380	118

before his Sermon it hath the appearance of a Divine Rapture he raiseth and leadeth the Hearts of the Assembly in another manner than the most compos'd or best studied Form of words can ever do And the Pray-wees who serve up all the Sermon with the same garnishing would look like so many Statues or Men of Straw in the Pulpit compar'd with those who speak with such a powerful Zeal that men are tempted at the moment to believe Heaven it self hath directed their words to them On the other side I think not that to be the only Authentick Prayer which is attended with Sensual Raptures and melting Entertainments This is but the Smoke of Passion and soon vanishes a mere Vapour or Ebullition a pleasing warmth of good Natures and frequently the proper Result of a Sanguine Complexion Prayer is the Exaltation of the Soul the Flight of a Sublimated Spirit It makes Man an Angel pro Tempore while his abstracted Mind takes the Wing and soars aloft hovering on the Borders of Paradise He then breaths immortal Airs burns like a Seraphim and flames out with Holy and defaecate Fires like the most extasi'd Orders of the Coelestial Court For my own part I can Pray Kneeling Standing or Sitting either at my Business or at my Repast with or without Words and Ceremonies And this I take to be the only Method of complying with St. Paul's Counsel when he bids us Pray without ceasing A swift and Pious Ejaculation many Times does the Office of a multitude of Words tho' the most apposite and elegant ●n Humane Language since God understands the Dialect of the Heart as well as that of ●he Tongue being the Architect of both The Posture which Pythagoras enjoyn'd his Disciples when they appeared before the Gods was not without a Mystery He bid ●hem hold their Tongues revers'd intima●●ng thereby that they should observe a de●out Silence in such Tremendous Company ●nd utter no Words which were not dipt ●n the Heart And I could wish the Advice ●f Solomon instead of a Nosce Teipsum were engraven on the Frontispiece of our Churches My Son when thou enterest the House of God let thy words be few and be more ready to hear than to offer the Sacrifice of Fools In all this I aim at a Devotion that is Masculine and Solid Discreet and Humble Sincere and Modest full of Primitive Revorence and the Fervor of the first Ages In proper speaking our very silent Necessities are eloquent Prayers and the wants which are hardest to be uttered are such a prevailing Rhetorick with God as oft times bring down swifter Relief from Heaven than our loudest Letanies Even we our selves are more apt to dispose of our Alms to a dumb Person who by being disabled to make his Address any other ways than by mute Signs does by that Pathetick kind of Complaint challenge our Charity than to the common Beggars who make a Trade of Haranguing People out of their Money Indeed every Innocent Action of our Lives is a Prayer but the more extraordinary Performances of Heroick Vertue pierce the Clouds storm the Regions above and plunder Heaven it sel● if I may so speak of its choicest Blessings As to Publick Prayer I own there is a Necessity of using some Forms and Ceremonies and those are the best which have the greatest Efficacy to excite and regulate our Devotion Not too Pompous and Theatrical nor slovenly and mean but such as become the House of God and give it an external Beauty not a mere Pageantry of Holiness That Custom of the Greek and other Eastern Churches to separate the Men from the Women in the Publick Assembly seems to have something of Antiquity for its Plea tho' the disuse of it in these Western Parts may make us think it a Singularity I envy not that Sex the Liberty of Worshiping God and being present at the Publick Solemnities yet I grudge them a Priviledge which is so manifest an Impediment to our Devotion as is their prating over the Psalms Responses and other Portions of the Common-Prayer I cou'd stand beside the fairest of that Sex in the Church unmov'd as Marble their brightest Charms serving but as Foils to se● off the incomparable Eminency of that Majesty and Glory who is adored in that Place But when I hear them break the Bounds of Female Modesty whose greatest Ornament is Silence when I hear their Tongues running over the Prayers as loud if not louder than the Men either with a care●ess wantonness or affected Gravity their Eyes divided betwixt an amorous Glance and a devout Ogle This I must confess gives me Offence 't is an Obstacle to my Devotion and makes ●e think the Grecians are not without Reason in assigning a particular Place of the Church to the Women where they can neither be seen or heard And this will not seem uncourtly or austere if we remember that St. Paul himself has said I permit not a Woman to speak in the Church And in another Place Let Women have Power on their Heads that is be covered or veiled because of the Angels or as some interpret it because of the young men I wish for a purer Reformation in the Church than we have hitherto seen yet I am not for tearing up Christianity by the Roots I could be glad to see the House of God purged and cleans'd the Building Repair'd and Beautified without Removing it from the Foundations The Office of a Bishop and a Presbyter to me seems no other ways differenc'd than thus I look upon a Presbyter as a Parochial Bishop and a Bishop as a Diocesan Presbyter Their Dignity equal in Quality tho' not in Quantity The one has Power of administring the Sacraments as well as the other only for the sake of Order and good Government in the Church one is invested with a Jurisdiction and Superiority of which the other is as capable if duely Elected to it I envy not the Bishops or Ruling Presbyters their Temporal Honours and Riches neither wou'd I be a Leveller in the Church of God Yet it were a desirable thing if there were a more equal Distribution of Ecclesiastical Benefices that the poorest Preaching Presbyter might have an Income that should free Him from the Temptation of envying a Journey-man Carter and other inferior Trades who many times can boast of a larger Stipend than some of the Ministry Pluralities and Non-Residents were never heard of in the Primitive Ages and it is a shame there should be so many fat Parsonages and yet so many lean Parsons It is the Devil's Market where Church-Livings are bought and sold and such Spiritual Hucksters deserve to be whipt out of the Temple I refuse not to bow at the Name of Jesus yet can give no Reason why I should not as well bow at the Name of Joshua they being both one and the same in the Hebrew And that Scripture which is made to countenance this Ceremony seems to me to speak no more than that in