Selected quad for the lemma: doctrine_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
doctrine_n	church_n	heresy_n	schism_n	2,940	5	9.8144	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56796	A word in season being a sermon preach'd in the parish-church of St. James Clarkenwell, on Wednesday the 11th of December, 1695, being the fast-day / by D. Pead ...	Pead, Deuel, d. 1727.	1695 (1695)	Wing P966; ESTC R17740	14,716	42

neither the Ability of devising what is fit and proper nor yet of uttering what he so finds devised till he hath received it from God nor are such precious Talents entrusted with all Persons indifferently Eccles 2.26 God giveth to a Man that is good in his sight Wisdom and Knowledg We are taught James 1.17 that every good and perfect Gift cometh from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights who if he sees fit to suspend his Light the sharpest Wits the most acute Judgments grope but in the dark That God should be the Fountain of Wisdom and Knowledg is a Principle all have assented to for even the very Heathen in all their Distress did usually apply unto their Gods for Direction and Help Nor are we left without sufficient Precedents of this nature Judg. 18.5 five Persons of the Tribe of Dan Men of Valour were sent out as Spies they confided not in their own Policy or Strength but like wise Persons desirous to discharge their Trust effectually they ask Counsel of the Lord whether the way they had design'd to go should prosper it was their Belief that God only knew and it was their Resolution to follow his Direction Again Jugd 20.18 Israel being to engage with the Tribe of Benjamin relied not upon their Numbers for they had often seen that the Battel was not to the Strong but trusted in the Counsel they should receive from God and therefore before the Battel was begun went up to the House of God and asked Counsel of God Let others therefore look to their Achitophel Machiavel Anaxagoras Panaetius or Polybius or to the Conclave of Babylon yet let your Eyes look up unto the Lord and beg hard for the Wisdom which is pure and peaceable and then shall your Enemies by their sitting hatch but a Cockatrice Egg or spin a Spiders Web God will frustrate their Devices and make their craftiest Projects of none effect while your own Counsellors shall be guided in the ways of Peace and Happiness Pray to God for he hath assur'd you Prov. 8.14 that Counsel sound Wisdom Understanding and Strength are his vain and fruitless Devices the Devil may furnish his Instruments with but sound Counsel and Wisdom is only from the Lord. 3. Pray to God heartily that he would give the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding to the Honourable Houses of Parliament for God hath promised upon our praying to bestow this Blessing Hear how our Saviour reasons with the Jews Luke 11.11 they had been poison'd by entertaining some false Notions of God and were jealous of him in respect of his Love and Bounty to them our Saviour faith if you that are rash fiery and inconsiderate Creatures subject to sundry Passions and Humours have notwithstanding that Affection for your Children that you gratify them in what they ask provided it be useful and good to them why then should not your heavenly Father the God of Love and Mercy who is not subject to those Distractions and Changes which are incident to Flesh and Blood most freely give you the best things even the Spirit of Wisdom provided you ask as you ought if therefore we ask they shall receive For our farther Encouragement St. James from God hath told us James 1.17 that if any Man lacketh Wisdom he should ask it of God who giveth to all Men liberally and upbraideth not Fear no Reproach for asking your Petition shall not be thrown out provided it be delivered with Faith Humility and Fervency you shall not be brow-beaten for thus addressing but you may believe that he who hath told us he loveth a cheerful Giver is himself a liberal Benefactor Solomon being called to the Throne wisely considered the Weight of a Scepter and the Cares of a Crown and therefore in his first Petition that he made to God 1 Kings 3.9 he beg'd an understanding Heart Counsel and Direction from God to go in and out before so great a People that he might exert his Power to the right ends viz. God's Glory and his Subjects Good And if you read 1 Kings 4.29 30. God both heard and was well pleased with this Prayer he denied him not the Request of his Lips but gave him such a measure of Knowledg such a Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding that he thereby surpassed even to a wonder all his Contemporaries whether Friends or Foes Daniel and his three Companions made their Supplication before God for Wisdom they were in a difficult Post living in the midst of their Enemies and therefore needed Direction lest unhappily they gave occasion that the Name of God should be blasphemed their Prayer was answered Dan. 1.17 and notwithstanding they were but as Children for Years they became wiser than the Aged Thirdly To what ends we should thus Pray The great ends why we should pray for Counsel and Wisdom for these our Representatives we may find in the Prayer that the Church hath set out upon this particular occasion namely that by their Consultations Good may accrue to the Church of God Safety Honour and Welfare may be Established to the King and His Kingdoms and that all things may be so ordered and settled by their Endeavours upon the Best and Surest Foundations that Peace and Happiness Truth and Justice Religion and Piety may be Established among us for all Generations And what can any Man desire more than that the Church of God may flourish by means of true Religion and Piety that the King's Honour and Safety and His Kingdoms Welfare may be preserved by the upholding Truth and executing of Justice and these things thus happily Atchieved by God's Blessing upon their Counsels How Peaceful how Happy shall we and our Posterity be 1. One great end is for the good of the Church that by means of their Godly Wisdom Religion and Piety may flourish among us Religion and Piety that is Soundness of Doctrine and Holiness of Conversation As to the First that of Doctrine the un-erring Rule thereof is the Scriptures which if duly observed Heresies and Schisms would vanish from among us not but that either of these pretend Scripture in their Justification yet both are not sound in the Exposition of them and the distinction were easily made if Men would depart from their Pride and Conceitedness and with Modesty compare Scripture with Scripture and where after such comparison the Truth doth not so fully appear as might be wishd they would then ask Judgment of those Reverend Fathers of the Church whose Piety and Learning have passed without just contradiction for many Ages Chrysippus doating on his own Learning and Subtilty in Dispute boasted that he oftner wanted new Opinions than Arguments to defend them we have of late days heard of some of his Scholars It was the Opinion of some exemplary for Knowledge as well as Piety that Religion had but Three Grand Enemies Luke-warmness Prophaneness and Novelty with the first we have been a long time pester'd by the second never so much as of