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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
end_n	day_n	hour_n	minute_n	1,570	5	11.3251	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25212	Melius inquirendum, or, A sober inquirie into the reasonings of the Serious inquirie wherein the inquirers cavils against the principles, his calumnies against the preachings and practises of the non-conformists are examined, and refelled, and St. Augustine, the synod of Dort and the Articles of the Church of England in the Quinquarticular points, vindicated.	Alsop, Vincent, 1629 or 30-1703.; G. W.	1678 (1678)	Wing A2914; ESTC R10483	348,872	332

men can with any Colourable pretext affirm of their Dictates Canons Decretals or Constitutions And that amongst many other Reasons because they were not indited in heat or passion were not Contrived to advance one party or to depress and crush another but were the Result of infinite wisdom impartially respecting Truth fuithfully acquaniting us with the mind and will ofGod without Adhering to any faction § 2. That there can be no concern of any Church or Officer in the Church or member of theChurch but the Scripture speaks fully to it As 1. If a Church will approve her self to be the pillar of Truth and expose to all her Members the Doctrine of the Gospel the Scripture is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 profitable for Instruction or 2. has she occasion to Convince the Cavilling world and stop the Months of gainsayers The Scripture is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It Lays down the Truth and thereby discovers errour heresy false doctrine all Corruption in worship and manner It gives us what is straight and thereby enables us to judge what is Crooked or 3. Are there any Tares sprung up in the field of the Church sowen by the Enemy whilst Men Slept and men will sleep it is profitable also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Correction rectifying and redintegration of whatever is warped and declined from its Original It supplies and fills up the wide chasmes of defectives and pares of all excrescences and prunes of superfluities or 4. Must Christians be trained up under Gospel discipline and order that they may grow up in knowledge in every grace in mutual Love it 's useful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No paedagogy no Constitution no discipline to be compared with it § 3. That it is a Rule which must direct All the builders in Gods house in whatsoever Quality under whatsoever character they appear It 's profitable for the Man of God And indeed it only becomes The Man of sin he that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Lawless person who has a curbe for every mans Conscience but will not endure a snaffle upon his own to despise this Rule and cry up another § 4. The Absolute profection and compleatness of this Rule is also Asserted It 's able to make the Man of God perfect throwly furnish to all good works Notwithstanding this Perfection of the Scripture as a Rule it is always supposed that every one in his private or more publick capacity be Able to use and Apply the Rule As the square or Rule of the Architect however exact in it self yet presupposes him to have eyes to see and brains to Apply it to his work so the Scripture as a Law teaches Duty and whatever of well-pleasing obedience we can perform to God yet supposes us at least to be RationalCreatures that can apply that Law to our own particular Actions Whence these two things must necessarily follow 1. That it was not only Needless but Impossible that the Scripture should enumerate or determine upon the particular Natural Circumstances of general time place person when where who should worship God every day hour and minute to the End of the world for so the whole world would not have afforded sufficient stowage for Rubricks nor have been able to contain the volumns that must have been written for as the End and use of a Rule is not to each the Artificer when he shall begin to work but how he may do it like a Workman whenever he begins so neither was the Scripture design'd for a clock to tell us at what hour of the day we should commence the publick service of God but that when ever we begin or end we manage all according to this Rule 2. That when the Scripture has prescribed us all the parts of worship instituted the Administrators of worship given ●…les how to separate them to that Office and laid down general rules for the Regulating those Natural circumstances which could not particularly be determin'd as that they be done to Edification decently and in order And has withal commanded us to attend to this Rule and no other it has then Discharged the Office of a Rule and as a Rule is Compleat and perfect 2 Besides our Retrospect to our Rule we must also look forward to the End and Design of all Riligion and when that is once well fixt we shall have Another great Advantage to judge what worship is Better and what is worse Now the great End of all Religion and specially of Religious worship is the glorifying of God the pleasing of God And therefore whatever shall pretend to that Glorious Title and Dignity of being an Act of Religion a part of Religion and yet has no real Tendency to the Advancement of his Glory which it can never have without a due regard to the Rule ought to be Expunged out of the Catalogue of Lawful Acts or parts of worship And is so much the more abominable both to God and Man To God because it offers him a Sacrifice not subservient to his Praise and to Man because it deludes him with a pretence of recommending his person and service to God and yet leaves and exposes both to Gods abhorrence From what hath been said I might plead my self Competently qualified to gratify the Importunity of the Enquirer and answer the Question whether A Better frame of things might not possibly have been found out If whatsoever Agrees with the Rule is good then what is discrepant from the Rule is Evil If what makes a nearer approach to the Rule is better then what departs further of is worse but I look upon these kind of Questions as a vapouring party sent out to draw the unwary within the Clutches of an Ambuscado Whatever Constitution shall impeach the only true Rule of shortness and deficiency is less good then that which implies no such shortness or deficiency But there are some Constitutions on the world which impeach the only true Rule of shortness and deficiency and Therefore they are less good then those which impeach not the Rule of such Deficiency whatever Constitutions are made supposed useful for decency which are not Comprehended under the Rule do impeach that Rule of Deficiency but there are some Constitutions made supposed useful for decency which are not comprehended under the Rule and therefore there are some Constitutions which impeach the Rule of De●…ncy Whatever is Comprehended under a Rule must at least be necessary by way of Disjunction but there are some Constitutions in the World which are not Necessary so much as by way of Disjunction therefore they are not Comprehended under the Rule There is not the smallest or most minute Circumstance which can cleave to any Religious Act or wherewith we can Lawfully cloath Gods Worship but it is by the Command of Christ made necessary at least disjunctively But there are some Constitutions which are not made necessary disjunctively and therefore they are such as wherewith we cannot Lawfully cloath Religion

unbred and half barbarous without it It inures men to hardship and danger and instructs them in subtlety and all the Arts of living and self-security It adds much to the Beauty Power and Strength of a Nation and to the Riches and Revenues of the Prince Dixi And yet all this notwithstanding Ay! there 's one evil in 't which we little dream of which out-weighs all those Conveniencies Inlargement of Trade hath usually been attended he must crave leave to say it with as much latitude of Conscience then some mens Consciences have above 70 degrees of South and North Latitude And the heat of that with as much coldness and indifferency in R●…gion It 's commonly observed to introduce great diversity of Opinions and consequently to abate of Mens Zeal for and Reverence of an uniformity in what was before established And therefore better the publick were undone Mens Parts and Wits made as dull as a Beetle forreign Discoveries left to the pragmatical Dutch all Commerce with other World 's interrupted and the Britains once again excommunicated from the rest of Mankind Better a thousand times Mens Fortunes and Hearts were broken the Glory of the Nation stained its s●…rength shattered the Exch●…quer exhausted than Uniformity in some little things endangered one Ceremony disparaged the Wills of some Clergie-men crossed which might shorten their days or one pair of Organs put out of Tune which would make them grumble like a pair of Scotch Bag-pipes And to speak the truth all the great ends of Trade might be secured by Ceremonies and an exact uniformity in them for it will wonderfully sharpen Mens wits and make them both as keen and blew as a Razer to find out every day some happy new conceit Pope Vitalian was the Man that Glories first to have taught Mankind the Art of Worshipping God with a Box of Whistles Society will be maintained by being all of a piece at home and instead of forreign discoveries an Inquisition will better search out the Terra Iucognita of Conscience and let this Enquirer be one of the Lords Inquisitors of that Holy House and the strength of the Nation would be better secured if the Train'd Bands were untaught all their old Postures to the right and the left and knew nothing but face about to the East The Beauty of the Nation will be so enhanced that we shall shine with a painted face of Religion And the old Controversie between Marc Liberum and Mar●… Cla●…um will be for ever determined and that on the right side which out of Zeal to the Honour of the incomparable Grotius every devout person is bound to pray for nor shall the Seas any more be prov'd of their Blood which have fought to assert their Right to that Rolling Empire It was then seasonably and well thought on to propound to us the Wisdom of the Lacedemonians who that the Laws and Government might not be disturbed with Novelty absolutely forbad Trade or Traffick or so much as Travelling into other Countries lest the Citizens should barter away their own Laws and Customs for those of other Cities But then I doubt 〈◊〉 Laws were about the great things that concerned the Nations being They did not make Laws That every Mans Hair should be of a length and then swear the people to observe them and forbi●… Trade lest they should bring in the Geneva Cut and destroy Periwigs And besides all this they prohibited Travel as well as Trade as good leave all the doors of a house open as one and stop never a leak as not all for one will sink the Vessel Now how to restrain Travel deserves more consideration and therefore let it be remembred that Trade and Travel are no otherwise evil than in their mischievous consequence and could we separate the gra●…d inconveniences from them they would not be Mortal seeing then we Trade more into Holland and Travel more into Italy simple Travel cannot be so destructive as compounded Trade These Arguments Cook'd up in good Language may perswade all Men to step out of the way and throw themselves over the Bridge in convenient season for what can be impossible to these Arts But he had told us p. 35. That there are oftentimes Reasons that make one form necessary in one place and people and not in another And therefore his Reasonings from Sparta will hardly go current in England Some say Sparta was a free State and therefore it may not hold in a Monarchy and others say these were the fundimental Laws of their Magna Charta which they would secu●…e by abridging Trade and Travel and not some odd Artic●…i Cl●…ri what Garments their Priests should wear upon Holy-days But never was Man in such a distraction between his remaining pity to the distressed Merchants and his yearning Bowels to the precious Ceremonies so has the Merchant himself been distracted in an Aphoretick Debate between his Lading and his Life till at last dear Life overcame the stickle of combating Objections and over board went all his Merchandise Thus this Compassionate Person would not have Trade die but yet he must have Impositions live and where are those grave Head-pieces that can reconcile these differing Interests Why yet he hopes that the English Reformation is such that it may rather gain than lose Proselytes by being confronted with any other Institutions And there is no question but under its present Advantages it would do so did not the severity of Impositions and rigorous exacting of things which at best are but indifferent at most doubtful and to many sinful against which standing Caveats have been entred from the beginning of the Reformation a little marre the sweet air of her truly beautious face and thereby render her not altogether so surprizing But as the Case stands from whence should we hope for this numerous Offspring of Proselytes From amongst the Papists Alas they have conceived greater hopes of us That their Tyber shall swallow up our Thames before our London shall Proselyte their Babylon And they are encouraged in their hopes because 〈◊〉 say our Ceremonies are a Bridge over the Narrow Seas not to let all the Women of Europe into England as we fancy but to admit Rome amongst us with all its Retinue of Pompous Nothings From the Reformed Churches then Alas they are satisfied in their Primitive simplicity they content themselves that their Churches are True Churches their Ministers Gospel Ministers and though they may perhaps make a Journey now and then to learn English Preaching they think it not worth the while to fetch Fire The Expedients propounded to reconcile Trade and Uniformity are as follow 1. That there may be such Laws provided and such care taken that the one I suppose he means Trade be not discouraged nor the other Discipline no doubt corrupted I have been studying what further Acts of Uniformity this Gentleman would have enacted whether with the Grave Recorder he would introduce the Spanish Inquisition or revive the Act ●…r

he so rested from his Labours that he made no other Creatures then he made before He made no other Creatures afterwards but whatsoever he made he makes them every year to the end of all time He createth men in their Souls and Bodies living Creatures and Beasts without Souls The Soul of Man is given by God and he renews his Creatures as Christ saith in the Gospel My Father worketh hitherto and I work Christ suffered for us in the sixth Age of the World and on the sixth day and reformed lost Man by his Sufferings and the Miracles which he wrought He rested in the Sepulchre on the Sabbath-day and Sanctified the Lords-day by his Resurrection for the Lords-day is the first day of the New World and the day of the Resurrection of Christ and therefore it is Holy and we ought to be his spiritually keeping a Sabbath-day Sabbatum Sabbatizantes Leg. Presbyt Northumbr Mereaturam in Die solis exercere Curias allicubi celebrare prohibemus opus etiam quodlibet omnimodam vectionem sive in plaustris sive in equis sive in aliis oneribus ferendis Qui contra hoc deliquerit solvat We forbid any to Trade or keep open Courts on the Sunday and also all other work whatsoever and all manner of Carriages whether with Carts or Horses or in bearing any other Burdens he that transgresses this Decree shall pay nisi sit viator necessitate compulsus vel ob cibi inopiam aut ex caus●… evitandi mimicos Except he be a Traveller compelled by necessity either by the want of Food or to avoid the Enemies Reader whether this be Judaism or no I shall leave to thy more sedate judgement but it is a mighty strong temptation rather to be one of those old Iews then one of the new Christians Leg. Eccles Canut An. Christi 1032. Die quidem Dominico mercata concelebrari Populive conventus Agi nisi stagitante necessitate planissimè vetamus Ipso Die sacrosancto praetereà à venationibus opere terreno prorsus omni Quisque abstineto We do absolutely forbid all Markets and Assemblies of the People to be kept on the Lords-day except in case of urgent necessity and moreover Let every one refrain from Hunting and from all other earthly business upon that sacred day A little now for diversion let us step over the Seas and look into the temper of the times under the Reign of Charles the Great Statuimus secundum quod Dominus in lege praecepit ut Opera Servilia diebus Dominicis non Agantur sicut bonae memoriae Genitor meus Pipinus in suis Synodallbus edictis mandavit i. e. Quod nec viri Ruralia opera exerceant nec in vineâ colendà nec in campo Arando vel foenum secando vel sepem ponendo vel in sylvis stirpare vel arbore caedere vel in Petris laborare nec comus construere nec hortum laborent nec ad placita conveniant nec venationem exerceant We ordain as also the Lord hath commanded in the Law that no servile works be done on the Lords-day As also our Father of happy memory in his Synodal Edicts hath commanded that is to say That Men neither exercise the labours of their Farms neither in dressing Vineyards nor in Plowing nor in Mowing Grass or in laying a Hedge or to grub up or cut down Trees or to labour in Quarries or to build a House or to order a Garden or to hold pleas or to practice Hunting Item foeminae opera Textilia non exerceant nec Capillent vestitús non consuant vel Acupictile faciant nec lanam Carpere nec linum battere nec publicè vestimenta lavare nec verveces tondere habeant licitum ut omnimodis Honor Requres diei Dominicae servetur Let not Women practice Weaving let them not take pains about their Hair nor mend their Cloaths nor work Needle-work or Point nor Card Wool nor Heckle Flax nor wash Cloaths openly nor Shear Sheep That the Honour and Rest of the Lords-day may by all means be secured Const. Carol. M. fol. 32 It will be time now to draw to a conclusion when I have noted § 1. It looks like a piece of great disingenuity to Bait Dissenters like Jews for the indifferent use of the word Sabbath because not found in the New Testament and at the same time to worry them with Barking words and Biting penalties for not practising upon that very day Humane Ceremonies which name and thing are perfectly strangers to the New Testament § 2. It seems so far from a next cause of Non-conformity Religiously to observe The Lords-day that it were rather an Allurement to Conformity when we observe the Church so strictly commands her Children in the Rubrick After every Commandment Kneeling to ask God mercy for their transgression of the same And if the Dissenters were of this Enquirers principles they must be obliged to be Non-conformists till the Liturgy in that particular should be Reformed § 3. It s highly disingenuous to upbraid them with the less strictness of some of the Reformed Churches abroad in this one point when they are not allow'd to vouch their principles and practices in twenty others § 4. It deserves a most serious Enquiry whether any Church did long maintain any splendour of Practical Religion that grew remiss and loose in the Consciencious Observation of the Lords-day § 5. Whether the strict and Religious attendance to the Worship of God on that Day be a cause of Non-conformity or no is uncertain but this is certain that the loose and formal observation of it has been a direct and immediate cause of that Atheism and Prophaneness and perhaps of those Iudgements which have broken in upon us § 6. It ought to be matter of serious Humiliation and Repentance both to the Conformists and Non-conformists that between them both they have suffered Piety to decline in their hands by a visible degeneracy from the strictness of former time in Sanctifying Gods name on his Holy-day § 7. It ought to be considered That they who of late times have written against the Divine Right of that day have yet spoken so honourably of and pleaded for the Holy use of the day as will justifie greater Reverence to the day then I fear the Non-conformists are guilty of The Learned Brerewood Tract 1. p. 47. I confess It is meet that Christians should on the Lords-day abandon all wordly affairs and dedicate it wholly to the Hunour of God The B. of Ely p. 255. Devout Christians who are so piously affected as that on the lords-Lords-days and other Holy-days they do resolve to retire and sequester themselves from secular business and ordinary pleasures and delights to the end they may more freely attend the Service of Christ and Apply their Minds to Spiritual and Heavenly Meditations are to be commended and encouraged for the doing thereof is a work of Grace and Godliness and acceptable to God § 8. It would be