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	rome_n	transubstantiation_n	3,421	5	11.4318	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44537	The nature of true Christian righteousness in a sermon preached before the King and Queen at Whitehall, the 17th of November, 1689 / by Anthony Horneck ...	Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.	1689 (1689)	Wing H2846; ESTC R17538	13,747	37

Adulterers Luc. xviii 11. They were very ready to resolve Cases of Conscience Matth. xxiii 16. They taught the Doctrine and maintained the Law of Moses Matth. xxiii 2 3. They Garnish'd Adorned and Beautified the Sepulchres of the Prophets of old Matth. xxiii 29. They had a great Veneration for the Traditions of their Church Marc. vii 2 3 4. They were very punctual in paying Tithes or the tenth part of the Fruits of the Earth that fell to their share Matth. xxiii 23. They carried their Phylacteries about with them where-ever they went which were certain pieces of Parchment wherein were written some Sentences or Sections of the Law particularly of Exod xii and xiii and Deut. vi and xi and these they tied to their Wrists and Foreheads and made them very broad Matth. xxiii 5. They were often Purifying and Washing themselves not only their Hands and Wrists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Theophylact speaks up to the Elbow but their whole Bodies too especially when they came from the Market-place being fearful lest some filthiness contracted by converse should stick to them Mark vii 3. They took great pains to make Proselytes and Converts to their Religion for they compassed Sea and Land to do it Matth. xxiii 15. They were so strict or so nice rather that they were afraid of touching a Person who was counted an open and scandalous Sinner would not only not Eat with him but not so much as Touch him which was the reason why the Pharisee in whose House Christ Dined found fault with our Saviour for suffering himself to be touch'd by a Woman who had been a notorious Sinner Luc. vii 39. And this is the account the Scripture gives of them St. Epiphanius adds that many of them would Vow very strict Chastity and Abstinence from the Partners of their Beds some for Four years some for Eight and some for Ten. They were very watchful against all Nocturnal Accidents and partly to prevent them and partly to awake the sooner to Prayer they would Sleep upon Boards not above nine Inches broad that falling or rolling off from those Boards on the Ground they might go to their Devotion some would stuff their Pillows with Stones and Pebles and some would venture even upon Thorns for that purpose Besides their Tythes they separated their First-Fruits and the Thirtieth and Fiftieth part of their Incomes to Pious Uses and as to all Vows and Sacrifices no Persons were more punctual to pay or discharge them than they This was the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees All this looks well and hath a very good Gloss. And one would wonder at first sight how Christ could find fault with these Performances One would think that in stead of blaming he should have commended them for so doing How many Thousands are there in the World that do not do half so much in matters of Religion and some would look upon themselves as extraordinary Saints if they came up to what the Scribes and Pharisees did so far are they from dreaming of going beyond them But have not You seen some counterfeit Pearls so Artificiously contrived that the ignorant Spectator hath taken them for truly Oriental Have not you seen some curious Limner draw Infects and Butterflies with that Life that one would take them for Living Animals The same may be said of the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees As specious as glorious as it look'd it was perfectly of the Nature of the Glow-Worm and shined bright in that dark Night of Ignorance but view'd by Day-light was nothing but a squallid Worm a mere Skeleton of Devotion which leads me 2. To shew You the Defects of their Righousness and they will appear from the following Particulars 1. They laid the Stress of their Devotion upon the Opus Operatum the bare Outward Task and Performance without any regard to the Inward Frame very indifferent whether their Minds at the same time were season'd with a due sense of Gods Greatness and their own Imperfections Just as the People of the Church of Rome at this Day will say so many Credo's so many Pater Noster's so many Ave Maria's and fancy they have done admirably well when they have absolved their Task though their Minds or Thoughts all the while like the Evil Spirit in Job have been wandring to and fro in the Earth And I wish too many who profess themselves Members of the best Church in the World. I mean the Church of England did not split their Vessel against this Rock I am sure the Scribes and Pharisees did They made no account of the inward Frame but rested in the Shell and thought God would be pleased with the staying of a Bullock or Lamb or He-Goat and they measured the Goodness of their Prayers by their Length and Number more than by the great Sense they had of the Shekinah or Divine Presence whereas an humble and devout Mind in the Religious Service was the thing God required at their Hands Matth. xv 8. 2. They were very Zealous for the Ceremonial part of Religion but very reguardless of the Moral and more Substantial part of it hot as Fire for the one cold as Ice with respect to the other The neglect of a Ceremony anger'd them more than the omission of a sober and pious Conversation much as the Greeks at this day look upon breaking a Fast of the Church as a more heinous Crime then Killing or Murthering a Man and to this purpose Christ tells the Pharisees Matth. xxiii 22 23. Wo to you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites who strain at a Gnat and swallow a Camel Ye pay Tithe of Mint and Cummin and Anise and have omitted the weightier matters of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith. 3. They were abominably selfish in all their Religious Undertakings for all their Works they do to be seen of Men saith our Saviour Matth. xxiii 5. This was the Worm that corrupted their Alms their Prayers their Fasts their Self-Denials their Mortifications and all they did even a design to advance and promote their profit interest and credit and to gain the Applauses and Admirations of Men and though they made long Prayers yet it seems it was to devour Widows Houses Matth. xxiii 14. Their very Doctrines were suited to their Profit and Interest as Transubstantiation Purgatory Private Masses Indulgences Auricular Confession c. in the Church of Rome are invented to aggrandize the Honour and Profit of the Priest so the Tenents they held were accommodated to their gain and Lucre for they taught the People that there was greater Holiness in the Gold of the Temple than in the Temple and greater Sanctity in the Gift upon the Altar than in the Altar it self thereby to oblige the People to bring Gold and Gifts into the Temple whereby the Priests who were of the Order of the Pharisees suckt no small advantage Matth. xxiii 16 17. 4. They took care to purifie the outward Man but took none to cleanse