Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A41505
|
A discourse about ceremonies, church-government and liturgy humbly offered to the consideration of the convocation / by J.G.G.
|
Gailhard, J. (Jean)
|
1696
(1696)
|
Wing G120; ESTC R25091
|
108,929
|
160
|
Sacrament in effect as Papists do Confirmation by Baptism they bring the Infant into the Church and by Confirmation make it a Souldier of the Church so we do the same with Baptism and the Cross yet a high Place is given it in the Ordinances as the daily use of it the Canon for the use of it Can. 30. and the Testimony of some Writers do witness the Canon calls it an honourable Badg this gives it a Place of Honour De polit lib. 5. cap. 65. fol. 160. and Hooker calls it a sacred or holy Sign attributing great Vertue to it and affirming no means to be more powerful to preserve a Man from deserved Shame and to stir up Devotion than by this signing of the Forehead with the Sign of the Cross thus Mountebanks use to commend their Drugs as infallible and present Remedies for all manner of Diseases but the very Words in Baptism are very emphatical and give it the Vertue of a Sacrament thus they once having received it think themselves engaged to maintain and right or wrong to defend it and from Papists whom they had it from to borrow Arguments to do it Shall not at last such things arise up in Judgment against those who sin against so great Lights and also be Witnesses as well as Stones which are Witnesses and hear the Word of God Joshua said unto all the People Behold this Stone shall be a Witness unto us Josh 24.27 for it hath heard all the Words of the Lord which he spake unto us God hath given a sufficient Warning against such things Perkins hath a large Discourse upon this and Dr. Fulk shews how the Devil did sow the Seed of Idolatry by the Cross of Valentinus after him Montanus nursed it and got it Credit in religious and civil Uses which he collected from Irenaeus and Epiphanius but both Valentinus and Montanus were Hereticks As for England it had no Cross at all till Austin the Monk brought it in So have we not cause to think that there is the accursed thing amongst us as long as we retain such things as have been and are daily abused to Idolatry Wherefore let us put it away and give Glory to God or else we are in great danger of falling before our Enemies whether Temporal or Spiritual Psal 106.39 for whoring with other Mens or our own Inventions and if any one talketh of Peace and Happiness then Jehu's Answer to Joram is at hand What Peace so long as the whoredoms of thy Mother Jesabel and her Witchcrafts be so many 2 Kings 9.22 As long as we uphold the Spiritual Filthiness of Jesabel and Romish Babylon whom we brag to be allied unto Gen. 35.2 3. If like Jacob we have a mind to go to Bethel to build an Altar for God's Worship then as he did we must remove all Idols out of our House Josh 24.14 and as Joshua commanded the People to do put away the strange Gods and Ashtarod their beloved Idols 1 Sam. 7.3 4. from among you which they did accordingly Here was a People over Head and Ears in Calamity highly oppressed by the Philistines for the which in them was Humiliation but they wanted Reformation the Prophet Samuel bids them with Humiliation to joyn Reformation and they should have what they desired and the Event answered the Promise thus all Popish Idols and Superstition by a thorough Reformation ought utterly to be removed if we have a mind to please God and to be received under his Protection Something more I must say to this before I leave it The Cross amongst Christians is what the Brazen Serpent was amongst the Jews 't was good at first of Divine Institution and when it had ceased to produce those Miraculous Effects for the which it was erected was indifferent but when it came to be abused it became evil then a good King brake it in pieces so once amongst Christians the Cross was good Christ to save Mankind was appointed to suffer on it yet herein inferior to the Serpent that the Wood of the Cross never wrought any Miracle after the Passion it was indifferent I mean the very same upon the which our Lord was crucified to have it or not but the Multiplication or making others in Imitation was unnecessary but after Idolatrous Worship was rendered to it it became abominable and so must be destroyed as being an occasion of Idolatry They say this is an ancient Custom of the Church well let it be yet that doth not take away the Abuse nor make it a jot the better is the Devil the better for being a Liar and a Murtherer from the beginning though at first he was a most excellent Creature but to the Point of Baptism of old there hath been some gross Abuses as first the delaying of it which though it doth intimate they did not absolutely believe it necessary to Salvation yet it argues in them a Contempt or else a Neglect of that holy Sacrament we read in the Book of the Acts how assoon as Men were converted they were baptized as in the case of those that heard Peter's Sermon of the Eunuch and of the Centurion and his Houshould and Friends But some of the primitive Christians Acts 2.38 41. chap. 8.36 37 38. Chap. 10 47 48. I mean 300 Years after our Saviour delayed it as Constantine the great who was not baptized till he was 65 Years old which was the 31 of his Empire in Nicomedia by Eusebius his Son Constantius was baptized only at the point of his Death so Theodosius the great and the other Theodosius did put it off for a long time and Valentinian delayed it being willing to have been baptized by Ambrose but was prevented by Death Jerome and Ambrose were not baptized till they were 30 Years of age Austin was a Manichean till 31 and then and not before baptized by Ambrose so amongst the Greeks Chrysostom Gregory Nazianzenus and Nectarius Bishop of Constantinople entered into Orders before he was baptized This was an ancient Custom even amongst great Men yet I hope now none will commend them for it for certainly they might much sooner have made a Confession and given an account of their Faith as no doubt they were able to do We know some but I think none of those I named had a strange Reason for so long putting off their being baptized namely that they might be the more at liberty to indulge themselves in their Vices for they used to excuse their Failings with this that they were not yet baptized for they thought they were punctually to perform their baptismal Vow to be dead to evil Works and raised in Newness of Life one tells us Cyprian they had this false Notion that there was no Pardon for those who after Baptism relapsed into Sin which was the Error of Novatian In those Times there was a worse thing practised about Baptism On 1 Cor. chap. 15. for Chrysostome in one
pray against Lightning is as good as to pray against Rain Snow and the like by thine Agony too much like an Oath The Word gracious meaned of King or Queen is not proper in a Prayer to God who knoweth whom we mean without such Titles in Prayer the Attribute most gracious which is a superlative Degree is not well applied to Princes we can say no more to God and as good to call most holy King there ought to be a Difference in Titles given to God and those given to Princes specially in Church at the Worship of God In God's Sight they are but Men and the Lord is jealous of his Honour and Glory which he declared he will not communicate to any one Let Men keep flattering Titles when they speak to Princes though I think none but due ones were better but in Prayers to God let Names of Blasphemy be avoided which we all condemn in the Pope of Rome Farther it were well to forbear the often unnecessary Repetitions of the same thing which in this Litany and other Parts of the Book are frequent and those broken Parts of Scripture which have no relation one to another all might be made up into one Prayer and not be divided into so many Then in one of the Prayers 't is said Turn from us all those Evils that we most righteously have deserved We think the Word justly is more proper the other being ambiguous Justice and Righteousness do differ Now for the Collects there are many for several Sundays in Advent and so many after Epiphany and Trinity an odd Way of reckoning the Lord's Days by in that on St. Stephen's Day God is prayed to grant us to learn by the Example of St. Stephen The Name of the Lord Jesus is a strong Argument and sufficient to prevail with God if any can so that of any Man is not necessary but there is a Day appointed to be kept for that Martyr and upon it something of him must be said but we take a great deal of Pains more than the Believers in his Time who appointed no Day for him Who gave the Name of Innocents to the Children killed by Herod's Order They confessed not with speaking but with dying and because they were put to Death to satisfie Herod's Policy and State Jealousie it doth not follow they died either Confessors or Martyrs they did not lay down their Lives for the Testimony of the Lord Jesus for they were not able to know and discern Why to observe the Day of Christ's Circumcision and not of his Baptism No Man as I observed before can say for certain the Day of any such Feasts they keep why to keep Epiphany or Twelft Day so much turned to Excess in Popery and amongst us too None of these produceth Decency nor Edification I think amongst Christians in our publick Devotion book as the Liturgy is The Words Lord's Day or Sabbath were more proper than Sunday Rev. 1.10 having as we have a Warrant out of Scripture This is the Way of reckoning after Popery I pray God we be not called to an Account for too much following after them As to observing Days for the Apostles I know of no Warrant we have to believe God is pleased with it on the contrary nor of the Purification of the blessed Virgin which is but a Continuation of a Jewish Ceremony all which are or ought to be abolished under the Gospel As to the Collect wherein it is said thine only begotten Son was this Day presented in the Temple it containeth either a Lie which no Man can disapprove or at least an uncertain and doubtful thing there being no Certainty of the Day If by Michael the Archangel or Prince of Angels be meaned our Lord and Saviour for the Name Michael signifying who is like unto thee O strong God is appliable to him then he hath his Day called the Lord's Day if Michael be an Angel then he is a Creature so not to be joined with the Creator and no Days to be kept for Angels there being no Warrant for it in Scripture Honour the Angel would receive none Rev. 19.10 and Chap. 22 9. Psal 16.4 As for all Saints Days 't is a Shame a Day for all Popish Saints with David we should say I will not take up their Names into my Lips As for the Apostles whilst alive they never thought nor desired to have Days kept for them after their Death St. Paul the zealous Asserter of Mercy and sworn Enemy to any thing of Merit in Man would never have approved that a Day should be kept for his Conversion he sufficiently declares against observerving of Days Months and Times and Years which makes him say Gal. 4.10 11. 1 Cor. 1.12 and Chap. 3.5 2 Cor. 4.7 Rom. 9.21 I am afraid of you least I have bestowed upon you Labour in vain he would have said Who is Paul Who is Apollo Who is Cephas But Ministers or Servants Earthen Vessels And a Lump of Clay in the Potter's Hand whilest alive when Instruments in God's Hand but much less are they after their Death he would have said what are they that Days should be kept for them and for himself Which once was a Persecutor a Blasphemer and the chief of Sinners After this followeth the Order for the Administration of the Communion there in the Beginning of the Rubrick we read of the Curate and in other Places of Vicars and such inferior Limbs of Hierarchy whereof not the least Step in Scripture If Prayers be appointed to be read in the Chancel for Conveniency of Reader and Hearers it 's well but if upon any Opinion of Holiness or other Privilege of the Place then 't is ill for that Place is no better than any other in the Church but why the Minister should stand on the North Side of the Table except for Conveniency I see no Cause for the Temple of Jerusalem stood on the North Side of the City but now we ought not to stand upon such Points of the Compass The People saying after every Precept Lord have mercy upon us c. is superfluous specially with a loud Voice once after the last as we humbly conceive might be enough Matth. 6.7 Christ forbiddeth to use vain and unnecessary Repetitions for Men are not heard for their much speaking It may be observed that the two Prayers for the King are improper upon that Occasion it supposeth a Communion without a Sermon before instead of which an Homily to be read which is better than nothing but there ought to be a Preparatory Sermon except in Case of Accident or else the Ministers are encouraged to Laziness and Neglect and used to read rather than to preach After Sermon or Homily the Minister or Curate is to declare unto the People Popish Custom still whether there be any Holy-Days the Week following and if there be what To shut their Shops and give over working for the Day By a Moral Commandment of God the