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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
end_n	day_n	time_n	week_n	2,896	5	9.3672	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A92760	A sermon preached before the Religious Societies in the city of Dublin, on the 29th of Septemb. 1695 Together with the method to be observed by them at their meetings, and the laws of their Society, with the 39 Articles of the Church of Ireland, By B. Scroggs, D.D.	Scroggs, Benedict, 1657 or 8-1696.	1695 (1695)	Wing S2120; ESTC R229819	14,205	73

A SERMON Preached before The Religious Societies In the City of Dublin On the 29th of Septemb. 1695. Together with the method to be observed by them at their Meetings and the Laws of their Society with the 39 Articles of the Church of Ireland By B. Scroggs D. D. Dublin Printed for Jacob Milner and are to be Sold at his Shop over against the End of Essex-Bridge in Essex-street 1695 To the several Religious Societies in the Kingdom of Ireland Brethren I Have Publish'd this short Discourse according to your Request and if you are profited by it and encouraged to prosecute the Good Work you are engaged in I am not much concern'd what Censure the world may pass upon it I have also added the Laws and Method to be observ'd by all your Societies thro the whole Kingdom and have made a few alterations and such additions as you desired in the devotion used at your Meetings and if in any thing else I can serve you I shall neither spare my pains nor my prayers for you nor any charges as far as my abilities extend And now I must beg leave to put you in mind of a Duty which I have so Frequently and Earnestly urged and repeated heretofore that above all things you avoid all dissentions and divisions the fatal Rock upon which the noblest designs do so often split and miscarry and which has almost ruin'd Christianity it self against which no persecution nor malice of the Enemy cou'd ever prevail And therefore beware lest you receive any into your Societies that come for this end to disturb and distract you not out of ill-will to Religion in general but to the Establish't Church which by your examples is likely to be encreas'd as well as edified Avoid all disputes and then you cannot fall into any violence of passion and if you shou'd be angry you must stifle it in the beginning and never suffer it to proceed to a division or separation or a settled grudge or animosity between parties And to this end let every single man resolve to reconcile his Brethren when they are at difference and let all in general agree to put strictly in Execution that Law which you have for this purpose And may the Favorer and Protector of all good designs continue and encrease the success of your Endeavours and give you courage and prudence and perseverance and all the Graces that are necessary to carry on this great and blessed Undertaking This shall always be the Prayer of Your most Affectionate Brother and Humble Servant B. Scroggs Acts of the Apost 2 Chap. 42 Verse And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in Breaking of Bread and in Prayers THo I mention only this Verse for my Text yet my design is to take for my Subject all the manners and customs of the first best of all Christians described in this and the following Chapters by the Evangelist St. Luke and because my discourse is intended only for those societies of young men that have lately assembled themselves with design to imitate that primitive Zeal and Piety I shall take leave to speak only what 's proper to them and that also in a more plain and familiar way than is usal in this place All good men must be Transported with joy to see any thing in this wicked age like that Fervour and Life of Religion that ran thro the whole body of the Primitive Church It shou'd be as pleasant and surprizing as to find Life returning into the eyes and limbs of a dead friend and certainly if ever Christianity be recover'd it must be by such means as are now beginning to be used it must be by religious societies and combinations against the Enemy of our souls by which we warm and excite and encourage and direct one another and to think to do this by the zeal or prudence or the labours of single men is as great a folly as to expect the conquest of our temporal enemies by sending one man at a time to wage war with their whole armies I might insist long upon this subject in shewing the use and necessity of societies for the reducing of piety to its primitive vigour but at present t will be sufficient to justifie and recommend to all good men these particular societies from the practise of those Christians mention'd in my Text for tho they cannot equal 'em in that extraordinary degree of Piety nor imitate 'em in the miraculous power of the spirit yet it is plain that they resemble 'em in most other respects as I shall now prove by several instances 1st The Christians mention'd in my Text did often meet and converse together to improve one another in Piety and onflame each others Zeal and this I take to be the meaning of the word Fellowship in my Text not only the fellowship of the Apostles tho this must also be understood but fellowship with one another in their houses and in the absence of the Apostles For the number of the new Converts being then so great that at one Sermon no fewer than threethousand were converted it was impossible that the Apostles shou'd every day be present at every Congregation or Assembly in their houses And besides we have examples of such Meetings in the Scriptures where the people in the absence of the Clergy have met together in a private way for devotion and other holy ends as we find in the 12th Chapt. of the Acts where upon the disporsion and flight of the Apostles Peter came to the house of Mary and found there many Disciples gathered together for Prayer Now tho these Assemblles of Christians were in this unlike our Societies that the people in them were of all ages and sexes and conditions but here only men under certain qualifications are admitted yet their example will warrant and justise our practise and if one be lawful the other is at least as warrantable since the design and consequence of their meeting is the same as I shall shew it to be hereafter In the mean while we shall suppose 'em thus far to be like in their meeting together in houses for private Religious exercises And 2dly They are also like in respect of the time of their meeting which was chiefly upon the lord's-Lord's-Day This day was Consecrated at first by the Apostles and Primitive Christians assembling upon it for several religious ends and tho these Assemblies met daily and kept holy every day of the week and every day of their lives yet the day they kept most holy was the Lord's-Day as we read in the 20th of the Acts and the 7th verse Upon the first day of the week when the Disciples came together to break bread that is to receive the Sacrament In which place we may observe that the whole day was kept holy and spent in Religious exercises for St. Paul continued his preaching till it was midnight and tho this was more than ordinary because the Apostle was to

leave 'em next morning yet the Primitive Writers do all speak as if the day were wholly and entirely dedicated to Religious uses And this I mention because there are some that pretend to observe the Lord's Day and yet spend the greatest part of it in any indifferent employment or recreation no way serviceable to the ends of Religion Now this being one of the principal ends of your meeting together this must needs be a great encouragment to you that in this you resemble the blessed Saints of the pure and primitive Church 3dly We find in my Text that they continned stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine They were all of one Faith and one Church and had no controversies nor difference of opinion for their business was not to dispute about notions and empty speculations but those few fundamental truths which the Apostles taught 'em they all unanimously agree'd in and proceeded upon this foundation to build the superstructure of a holy and devout Life And this being one of your Laws and the chief foundation of your Societies that your members shall all be of one Church and one Religion and shall continue stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine in the Doctrine of the Apostolical Church Establish't in this Kingdom and that they shall not meddle with disputes and controversies but wholly apply themselves to works of Piety I need not insist longer upon your agreement with them in this particular but only exhort and entreat you to keep up to this principle and as you tender the preservation of your Societies never to admit of controversies in Religion nor of such men as are addicted to 'em but to exclude all that are not peaceably inclined And tho you are to love your enemies yet you must deny 'em this kindness of making 'em members of your Societies before they are members of your Church For if they tear the Church asunder when they have so many commands in the Scripture for the contrary how can you expect they shou'd preserve an inviolable union with you but if you do in a kind and amicable way refuse to joyn with 'em you will both secure your selves and in time gain Proselytes to the Church 4thly They continued also in breaking of bread that in receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper But whether this was daily or weekly it does not certainly appear in the Scriptures For by the 46th verse of this Chapter it seems to have been daily And they continued daily in the Temple and breaking of bread from house to house as if he had said that they went every day to the Temple to pray as the custom was among the devout Jews and from thence they went to their houses and broke bread or received the Communion together from the Apostles hands which at that time they were forced to do privately in their houses But in the 20th Chapter we find that the first day of the week was particularly set apart for Celebrating this Solemnity and by that time t is likely they found it inconvenient to receive every day and therefore appointed one day in the week to be for ever kept holy on this account chiefly and to serve instead of the Jewish Sabbath This practice of theirs you do in some measure imitate by your monthly Communion to which you oblige all your members unless in cases of necessity and exraordinary casualties and I don't question but in time you may come up to the perfection of Communitating weekly and by your examples incite so many others that all the Clergy may be encouraged to administer the Sacrament every week in their Churches for this was done by the whole Primitive Church for many hundred years and this our Liturgy supposes to be done by us where a Communion is implied as often as the Communion-Service is ●read and this wou'd be truly and properly observing the Lord's-Day which was first appointed for this purpose and consecrated chiefly by this Selemnity 5thly You find in my Text that they continued also in prayers and so in the 12th Chapter that they used to meet together for prayer tho the Apostles were not with 'em Not only each family had its own family devotion as we read of Cornelius in the 10th Chapt. but several people met at one house to 〈◊〉 up and increase each othe● Devotion For tho among●● 〈◊〉 Deuotion is most cool in publick 〈…〉 Society does 〈…〉 it as fuel added 〈…〉 and indeed all 〈…〉 thrive and 〈…〉 example and in 〈…〉 Now the word 〈…〉 be taken in a large sense as 〈…〉 very often in the Scriptures not only for petitions and addresses immediately directed to God but for reading the Scriptures and for pious Discourses and any holy Exercise proper for such Societies And in this particular you also agree with these Primitive converts Tho as to Prayer strictly so taken you are forced to be brief in that respect at your Meetings and those few Collects you use to take 'em chiefly out of the Churches Liturgy lest you shou'd be thought to despise the Churches Service as too many do in these licentious times 6thly Another Vertue which abounded in the first Christians was that of Charity or Alms-giving For we are told in the verses following my Text that they had all things in common and sold their possessions goods and parted them to all men as every man had need And so in the 4th Chapter and 32th Verse That none of them said that ought of the things he possess'd was his own but they had all things common But this extraordinary degree or rather this way of Charity by selling and dividing their possessions was proper to that time and that particular number of Christians and not afterwards imitated even by the Primitive Church For then there was no danger nor possibility of wanting tho they sold their possessions because the Divine Providence had an extraordinary and particular care over those men as appears by that passage in the 11th Chap. of the Acts where Agabus prophesied of a Famine that was approaching and gave warning to make provision for the Saints that dwelt at Jerusalem which were the people mention'd in my Text. And besides this Society of men being a sort of Nursery to the Catholick Church of the whole World and the members of it continually chosen out to be sent abroad they had reason to fell their Lands and do many other things which are not so necessary in a settled condition of the Church The right imitation therefore of these Christians consists in this in being extraordinary charitable to the utmost of our abilities and if we have but little in giving gladly of that little and yet if we have nothing out charity may be like theirs as we find in the next Chapter where St. Peter and St. John the chief of all the Church had neither Gold nor Silver and cou'd give no Alms to the poor Beggar And thus you imitate the first Christians at your meetings by giving Alms