Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	david_n	psalm_n	sing_v	985	5	9.2598	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27068	Whether parish congregations be true Christian churches and the capable consenting incumbents, be truly their pastors, or bishops over their flocks ... : written by Richard Baxter as an explication of some passages in his former writings, especially his Treatise of episcopacy, misunderstood and misapplied by some, and answering the strongest objections of some of them, especially a book called, Mr. Baxters judgment and reasons against communicating with the parish assemblies, as by law required, and another called, A theological dialogue, or, Catholick communion once more defended, upon mens necessitating importunity / by Richard Baxter.	Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1684 (1684)	Wing B1452; ESTC R16512	73,103	142

against all malignity that would charge these errors on the innocent for a cloak of hatred and cruelty and oppression that I know not one meer Nonconformist that holdeth any of these errors and I verily believe that the Independents that I am acquainted with are true servants of Christ and many called Anabaptists sober godly Christians and that some called Separatists retain Christian charity and meerly for fear of sinning flye too far from others And as for all the rest it is not mens calling them all Dissenters nor their suffering together that can make the innocent responsible for the faulty who perhaps do more against their mistakes than ever such Accusers did to cure them And I must tell the Abaddons that the opposition that hath been raised against them among those that I was acquainted with before 1641 and 1642 was caused chiefly by the badness of those that made it their trade to preach against strict and serious obedience to God as Puritanism and Hypocrisie and made it the Ladder of their aspiring Ambition to make such odious and to hunt with jealous severity those that used for mutual help in the ways of Salvation to pray together especially if they fasted or consulted how to obey Gods Law Justacting over the part of the Bps that Martin separated from described by Sulpitius Severus rendering all suspected of Priscillianism that were more than others in reading the Scripture Fasting and Praying and clapping on the back with encouragement the Drunkards and prophane ignorant rabble who in every Town were the haters of the godly Conformists and Nonconformists and making these the instruments of their malice and praising them and the multitude of ignorant reading Priests as more worthy Subjects than men fearing God Ri. Hooker in his Preface describeth these and he that readeth his Europae Speculum may know that it was no better Conformists that his most beloved Pup●l Sir Edwin Sandys was against while he was one of the zealous Parliamentarians It 's true that many were very hot against Bishop Laud and the Arminians and against Dr. Heylin and Dr. Pockington for proving Sunday no Sabbath and calling the Table an Altar and the Ministers Priests and the Sacrament a Sacrifice Blame not men that had read of their principles and practice how Rome is a Leech that must live on blood and cannot stand without it if they were afraid of coming thither again or drawing too near it Upon my knowledg the debauchery and malignity of many that hunted them and would not let them stay at home in peace and the terror of two hundred thousand murdered in Ireland was it that drove most that ever I knew into the Parliaments Army And fear doth often drive men to seek for self-defence to that which seemeth next at hand Had those whom they feared been such as their functions obliged them to be men of Holiness Love and Peace they would have been less prejudiced against the rest they bore easily with Dr. Chappel Mr. May●en and some other godly charitable men that were reputed Arminians I here adjoin it to my confessions 1. That I thought worse of that called Arminianism than I should have done and have proved in my Catholick Theology not yet writ against by any that I know of that the difference is not in any great and intolerable error on either side 2. That the practice of them that prophaned the Lords day and the malignity of their abettors made me too much offended at the books that called the Lords day no Sabbath and the Ministers Priests and the Table an Altar and the Sacrament a Sacrifice For I now know that these allegorical Names were usual with the best of the ancient Churches without contradiction And that the Lords Day is indeed never called the Sabbath in the New Testament and that the word Sabbath in the Bible signifieth a day of ceremonial Rest which was a Jewish Ceremony and that all such are by Paul said to be put down and that the Lords Day is a day of holy Assemblies and rejoicing in spiritual Evangelical Worship Ignorance and prejudice in these controversies prevailed not from argument but from the experience of the quality of too many that opposed them They thought it a most improbable thing that God should illuminate vicious worldly haters of Godliness and desert those that most desired to please him And of late times what abundance have been driven from the publick Churches by those that rail at them when they come there and would get the Birds into their Net by throwing stones and bawling at them and would get the fish to take the bait by beating the Waters The Bishop of Worcesters silencing me and preaching as he did and the imprisonment of many of the people after affected my old hearers with so much distast of that sort of men that all the Writings and perswasions I could use would not reconcile them nor scarce keep them from falling out with me for my perswasions And now they have a Worthy Pious preaching Bishop a Man of Love and Peace and a good Minister they all crowd the Church and are like to fall in love with such Bishops And I must testifie that with the generality of the Nonconforming Laity I never found but it was good preaching and good living that won their Love And they will honour and follow such men whether Bishops Conformists or Nonconformists XV. Since the writing of this I understand that some timerous persons have been afraid to communicate in publick or joyn with the Liturgy by hearing that some that have done it have been so troubled in Conscience that they have fallen into despair and a doleful state of trouble To this I answer 1. You shall never prove that I have perswaded any Minister to give Christs body and blood as a Drench to the unwilling or to make the Sacrament of Love the Instrument of Malice or Cruelty or a snare to strangle Souls It must be that Offence must come but wo to them by whom it cometh The old Church made men beg for Church-Communion if any withdraw from it and excommunicate themselves they did not send them to Goal for their Conversion to force them to say that they repent and to force them to Communion 2. But I must say that these Ministers or people that have so ill taught these troubled Souls by Doctrine or Example as to tempt them to take their Duty or a lawful thing for so deadly a sin are far from being guiltless of their Trouble Distraction or Destruction If any should make them believe that it were such a dangerous thing to pray by a Book to sing Davids Psalms to Communicatie with Presbyterians not to be rebaptized not to keep the Saturday Sabbath c. And then when he hath affrighted one to make away himself in melancholy despair should use this instance as an argument to affright away others also from their duty I should think that he were too blame This were

Nation into his Church as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her Wings And Rom. 11. Only their own unbelief broke them off from being a National Church including Infants And it is part of the Saints triumph that the Kingdoms of the World are become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ If you will read Mr. Beverlys Book called The whole duty of Nations it will give you full proof of this Where hath the Gospel extensively much prospered where Princes and Rulers were not Christians The Turks give liberty of Religion And yet the sometime famous Greek Churches Corinth Philippi Coloss Ephesus Laodicea Philadelphia and more than all the West are Apostatized or withered to a few ignorant vicious scandalous Christians Obj. IV. 8. If such a confederation in lawful Circumstantials as well as Integrals will make a Church I know not why we may not have a Catholick Visible Church organized if this be a due acception of a Church Ans This is as much as to say If the name Church may be used equivocally as all words must of several sorts then all those sorts may be the same I deny it If you dislike the use of the name you have your liberty as a Grammarian to forbear it But sure the Name and the Thing are not all one nor the Controversies about them 2. But we have a Catholick Visible Church Organized as I have oft proved against the Papists viz. under one Christ the Head and his Ministers as his subordinate Officers Obj. V. Page 3. If you touch a mans finger you touch the man we have communion with an integrum perpartes and with a Genus by the Species and with both by individuals Nay as every part of the Scripture one verse or sentence of it makes up sence so every part of the Liturgy as in form and manner therein contrived is Liturgy and worship thereafter is according to the Liturgy tho it be but part of the w●rship Page 20. As for the falseness in Integrals it gives the denomination to the whole for an Integral part is an essential part of the whole Much more there is to the same purpose making him guilty of all that useth a part Ans 1. You have the freedom of using words at your pleasure but not imposing them on mankind when necessity hath taught the World to distinguish essential and integral parts you have no authority to confound their Language by the quibble of calling Integrals essential causes of the whole A totum per aggregationem as a heap of Sand or a field of Grass is not constituted of a proper essentiating form and so homogeneous matter aggregate is all the being it hath And if you make contiguity an essential cause or how else you will you have liberty of speech But we will not be cheated by it to believe that it causeth any more than Totality or Integrality and the absence of it is a privation of no more And all mens Graces Obedience and Worship are defective in point of Integrality and degree and I hope you will not say that they need no favour or pardon or amendment 2. All human actions have their faults must we therefore do nothing or converse with no men England is one Kingdom If there be one or many faults in its Laws or officers may we therefore obey none that are faultless The Laws are the Rule of National Justice may a Judg Justice Officer or subject use none of them because some are faulty Doth that make him guilty of all Bonum est ex causis integris The fault of a part may indeed denominate the whole faulty so far But the whole Law or Liturgy may be called faulty for a part and yet he that useth either not be guilty of any of the bad part for using the good The Law and Liturgy are one thing and the use is another Its faults are no further his than he owneth them your Bread or Meat may be called bad if part only be bad and yet if you eat none but the good part it will not hurt you 2. But if it must be otherwise no man may hear you or joyn with your Churches And do you think as aforesaid that Mr. Faldo and all his Church at Barnet lived not in a sinful communion very many years that omitted at least an integral part of publick worship the singing of Gods praise Christ with his Disciples sung a Hymn after the Sacrament The Jews Church made it the chief part of their Worship James prescribeth it us in all our Holy Mirth such as the Lords Day is appointed for 1 Cor. 14.26 Every one had a Psalm and with them no one had a Psalm tho his Judgment was for it the question was Whether he should forsake them for refusing it I thought not because it was better that they had something that was good than nothing But your argument would not only unchurch them but make all sinners that communicated with them for omissions of great duties are faults and greater faults than tolerable failings in performance He that prayeth not at all doth worse than he that prayeth by a Book and he that preacheth or teacheth not at all doth worse than he that readeth a Sermon so that their total stated omission and opposition to singing by your false rule denominated them no worshippers of God if the whole must be denominated from a part How many private Meetings in London never sing a Psalm for fear of being discovered Yea how many seldom read a Chapter but only preach and pray and sometime administer the Sacrament Must we needs say therefore that they omit all Worship VI. On such occasions I argued That if we must not communicate with any Parish Church because of the faults of the Liturgy it will follow that we must not communicate with any Church on Earth that hath as great faults and that by this we must renounce Communion with all Christs Body on Earth All the Armenians Nestorians Eutychians Copties Abassines Georgians Greeks Russians Papists yea Lutherans have a more faulty Liturgie or manner of worship than the English Yea the Churches called Calvinists have their Liturgies and faults And I instanced in Switzerland because as God hath of late most preserved their peace so they are taken to be the honestest sort of Protestants that in poverty serve God with soundest doctrine and least scandal of Life but yet have no proper discipline but the Magistrates Is it a sin to have confederacy or Communion with their Churches To this he plainly saith Page 11. It is That is all that confederate with them as Churches are guilty of their error called Erastian For subjection t● such discipline is the condition of their Communion Ans Subjection is an equivocal word If it were by profession or subscription of consent it were indeed to be guilty of that error tho not by a fau●t of the Part denominating the whole to make their worship unlawful or their Churches none but