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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
glory_n	father_n	ghost_n	trinity_n	2,835	5	10.0204	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85088	Two treatises The first, concerning reproaching & censure: the second, an answer to Mr Serjeant's Sure-footing. To which are annexed three sermons preached upon several occasions, and very useful for these times. By the late learned and reverend William Falkner, D.D.	Falkner, William, d. 1682.; Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.; Sturt, John, 1658-1730, engraver.	1684 (1684)	Wing F335B; ESTC R230997	434,176	626

separating party can justifie it self it must be able to plead truly and manifest that the Church from which it departs is so corrupt in Doctrine or Worship that it cannot Communicate therewith without sin and that its differing from it is founded upon its casting off such things as are really sinful and evil still retaining and embracing all such things as are true and good even all the rules of Faith and Life and due Order which the Christian Religion doth direct and include 3. Beginning with the Quakers I might take notice of their want of ordinary civil and courteous behaviour and outward expressions of reverence to Governours when Christianity injoins kindness humility courteousness and the due expressions of them to all men and honourable respect to be given to Superiors I might also mention their condemning the use of an Oath even in judicial proceedings which if rightly undertaken is an act of Religion in a solemn acknowledging the Omniscience and righteousness of God and is the most effectual way for the discovery of truth the maintaining justice preserving rights and ending strife But waving very many blameable errors received amongst them I shall insist on four things which their Teachers have both in their Writings and Discourses vigorously asserted which are of such a nature that those who embrace these Principles and practise according to them may well be esteemed to be as far from true Christianity as any persons who pretend to the name of Christians Yet in so wild and Enthusiastick a Sect I do not undertake to give assurance that they in all things do all of them hold the same opinions but do hope some of them may be drawn off from some of these evil Doctrines and Positions Here I shall observe 4. First Their denial of and casting reproachful expressions upon the Holy and Glorious Trinity The acknowledging the Trinity is a great part of the Christian Faith our Creed directing us to believe in God the Father Almighty and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord and in the Holy Ghost And (d) Conc. Nicen Constantinopol the two first General Councils of the Christian Church were in a good part imployed in vindicating and asserting this Doctrine against the Arian and Macedonian Heresie And this Christian Faith is not only contained in and plainly deduced from the Holy Scriptures but is summarily expressed in that form of Christian Baptism which our Saviour established when he commanded his Apostles to Baptize in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost And this Baptismal form which the Holy Scriptures express is so considerable a testimony to the Doctrine of the Trinity that many of those Hereticks who denied the Trinity thought themselves concerned not to own this generally established form of Christian Baptism but boldly undertook to innovate and change that form our Lord had ordained and his Church from him (e) Just Mart. Apol. 2. Tert. de Bapt. c. 6. 13. had universally received Upon this account (f) Sozom. Hist l. 6. c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eunomius altered the Baptismal form not Baptizing in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost but into the death of Christ And amongst the Arians who owned not the Son to be co-eternal and of the same substance with the Father the form of Baptism was perverted and (g) Theod. Lect. Collect. l. 2. Theodorus Lector relates concerning an Arian Bishop who Baptized into the Name of the Father by the Son and in the Holy Ghost And before these when Paulus Samosatenus denied the Divinity of Christ his followers the Paulianists were injoined by the Council of (h) Conc. Nlc. c. 19. Nice to be re-baptized since the Baptismal form by them used (i) v. Justel in Cod. Ecel c. univ 19. was not into the Holy Trinity which he did not acknowledge And that one God in Trinity in whom the members of the Catholick Christian Church believed and into whose Name they were Baptized he is the object of the Christian Worship and Service and with one heart doth that Church give glory to the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost but they who disown the Trinity cannot be expected to perform this Worship and Service thereto 5. But besides what might be cited out of some of the Quakers Books against the Trinity I shall take the liberty to give a little account of what my self hath formerly been concerned in Almost three and twenty years since some of the chief Quakers being busie in these parts two of their Principal Teachers sent to me Nine Questions or Positions rather challenging me to dispute with them the first of which was against the three Persons of the Deity and the other took in all those things I here discourse of against the Quakers with more also I then accepted this challenge and we went through all these nine in three days discourse In the first day they plainly declared themselves against the three Persons of the Trinity much as they had done about the same time in their Conference with (k) The Quaker disarm'd Mr. Smith at Cambridge At that time in the Year 1659 I had the opportunity of charging George Whitehead in the presence of George Fox and as great a number of other Witnesses as the specious room in which we were could contain with as horrid and blasphemous words against the Trinity as I ever read or heard of which were contained in a Book written by him and three other Quakers against one Mr. Tounsend which was Intituled Ishmael and his Mother cast out I even tremble to write the words which the licentiousness of those times gave way to (l) Ishmael c. p. 10. The three Persons which thou wouldst divide out of one like a Conjurer are denied and thou shut up with them in perpetual darkness for the Lake and the Pit But he neither did nor could deny that this wicked assertion was written and published by him and his Companions and the same thing was urged against him out of the same Book at the Conference at Cambridge 6. Sometime after this as if they had a mind to shew themselves particularly zealous in the opposition of the Holy Trinity I received a paper (m) Directed to them that affirm that there are three distinct Persons in the Godhead and that the Father is the first and the Word the second and the Spirit the third and that the second was begotten as to his Godhead of Five Queries containing very many branches under them wholly levelled against the Doctrine of the Trinity and subscribed by George Whitehead and George Fox And after I had returned an Answer to these I received another large paper containing a long Harangue against the Holy Trinity with George Whitehead's name alone subscribed In this paper which I have by me it is declared That to call three distinct persons in the Trinity are Popish terms and names

despising the Blessings which he tenders by those Institutions Wherefore since Episcopal Ordination hath been of so general Practice from the Apostles in the Church of God and is regularly established and continued in this Kingdom no Man in this Church with respect to Order Unity and Apostolical Institution can reasonably expect that God will ever own him as his Officer in the Ministry of Reconciliation unless he be admitted thereto by such Ordination And private Christians both out of Duty to God and out of respect to their own Safety may not so esteem of any who oppose themselves against this Order because of the Danger under the New Testament of perishing in the gainsaying of Core And let every Person whosoever he be be wary how upon any pretence whatsoever he undertakes to execute any proper part of the Power of the Keys unless he be set apart thereunto by regular Ordination And now I shall conclude my Discourse with three Inferences First This gives us an account whence all that Opposition and Difficulty doth arise which the Ministration of the Gospel and the faithful Servants of God therein do meet with The Devil will use his utmost Power by all his Methods to hinder so good a Work as this Ministration is intended for Hence the Holy Jesus and most of his Apostles met with opposition even unto Death And as all the Persecutions of the Christian Church had an especial eye upon the Clergy so that violent one under Dioclesian Eus Hist l. 3. c. 12. for the first Year fingled them only out to be the Subjects of his Fury These are the ordinary Mark against whom all the Churches Enemies shoot their poysoned Arrows envenomed from the Malignity of the Old Serpent And when the Evil One cannot proceed by open Violence he oft makes use of Instruments to fix slanderous Censures and Calumnies upon the Officers of Christ to render their Ministration the less prosperous and successful in the World Insomuch that their Devoutness in Religion is by some upbraided with Ceremoniousness and their consciencious Observance of due Order and Averseness to Faction is branded with the odious Term of Popery and their embracing the necessary Reformation of the Church is by others stigmatized with the infamous Names of Heresy and Schism Thus our Saviour was called Beelzebub himself accused of Blasphemy and his Doctrine of Heresy Besides these things the vicious and scandalous Practices of too many who profess the Truth the various Schisms and other manifold Corruptions in the Doctrine and Practice of Religion and I wish I might not add the undue Proceedings of some Patrons in conferring Ecclesiastical Preferments are all of them dangerous Methods made use of by the Evil One to hinder the attaining the great Ends of this Ministration Secondly I now address my self to you my Reverend Brethren It is a weighty Charge a Business of great Importance that we are called unto and as we are Stewards of the Living God it is required of us that we be found faithful And for the putting us in mind of that serious Care and Diligence which we are to use in our Ministry I know not how to speak otherwise so well as by recommending the serious and frequent considering that useful Exhortation in the Book of Ordination And let us particularly look well to our own Paths for tho the Excellency of God's Ordinances doth not depend upon the Instruments yet if a Blemish appears in any of our Lives it becomes a great Prejudice to the Designs we should carry on among Men and will open the Mouths of our Enemies and if there be a Judas among the Apostles the Devil is ready to make a special use of him to his purposes But let us observe that Rule which but a few Verses after my Text the Apostle tells us was the Practice of himself and other Officers of the Christian Church Giving no Offence in any thing that the Ministry be not blamed but in all things approving our selves as the Ministers of God 2 Cor. 6.3 4. Thirdly Let every one in their places lay to their helping-Hand to promote the Success of this Ministry upon themselves and others Wherefore let every Man who lives under the Dispensation of the Gospel reject all Wickedness of Life and exercise himself unto Godliness and so he will certainly advantage himself and probably others by his good Example And let all those who have the management of the Authority of the Church in their hands indifferently check the Neglect and Contempt of the Publick Service of God and all other Viciousness and Evil which comes within the Limits of their Authority and countenance and encourage all real Vertue Goodness Holiness and Religion And those Parish-Officers who stand charged upon their Oaths to give an account of Offences which is noted by our 26th Canon to be the chief Means whereby publick Offences may be reformed and punished and whose Miscarriage is there severely censured let not them sinfully neglect their Oath and their Duty the right Discharge of which may tend to the Glory of God the flourishing of the Church and Religion and the bringing Men into the Ways of Happiness And because the Apostle proposeth that humbling Question concerning the Ministerial Charge Who is sufficient for these Things Let us earnestly implore the Help and Grace of God to assist us and succeed our Ministrations to the great Good of Men. And let every devout Christian join his fervent and frequent Prayer to this end and purpose That he who hath committed to us this Ministration would bring all those who partake thereof unto true Holiness of Life here and eternal Happiness hereafter through the Merits of Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father and the holy-Holy-Ghost be all Glory for evermore Amen A SERMON Preached at NORWICH March 2. 1678. JOEL 2.12 Therefore also now saith the Lord Turn ye even to me with all your heart IN the foregoing part of this Prophecy there is a dismal appearance of things concerning Judah a heavy threatning of sad Calamities therein both by Famine and Sword in the first Chapter and former part of the second The dreadfulness hereof is represented according to an usual Prophetick Style as if God was making the whole Fabrick of his Creation to totter v. 10. The Earth shall quake before them and the Heavens shall tremble the Sun and Moon shall be dark and the Stars shall withdraw their shining And this great Calamity was like to be the more sad because of the terror of God's Vengeance going along with it v. 11. The Day of the Lord is great and very terrible and who can abide it In such a case as this these words which our Church directeth to be read at the beginning of Lent which is now near and which are of excellent use at all times are the beginning of the Prophetical Direction for their help and recovery from this sad Condition and such a Remedy as recovereth one gasping

without these Holy Exercises 2. Let the exercise of Religion be performed with hearty and serious Devotion even with Fasting and solemn Humiliation and Prayer these are Duties directed by the Prophet Joel in the latter part of this Verse of my Text to express our hearty turning unto God And the Church doth particularly at this time call upon us to mind these Holy Exercises they are Duties useful at all times and are excellent qualifications to dispose us aright for the obtaining the Pardon of our own Sins as they include the practice of Humility Piety Faith and Repentance Amongst the Jews the solemn day of Atonement and Remission was a day of devout Fasting and Afflicting their Souls And after S. Paul had been stricken down to the Ground as he went toward Damascus after he had Fasted three days and Prayed Ananias was then sent to him by our Saviour that he might arise and be Baptized and wash away his Sins Acts 9.9 11 17 18. ch 22.16 At this time the methods of God's Providence do eminently require our more than ordinary diligence in these Duties for the averting his Judgments and the preserving us and our Posterity from Ruine and Misery Let those who have been Vicious and Disobedient engage herein with Reformation and Amendment of Life And let the most Pious Men also undertake it with the greatest seriousness even in them it is an exercise of Repentance as indeed the whole practice of Christianity is for the Christian Life is a turning to God from whom sinful Man had estranged himself and the whole thereof is described by Repenting and turning to God and doing works meet for Repentance and the Repentance undertaken therein is not only in some short transitory acts but it taketh in the whole course of a Christian Progress These devout Performances of the best Men are of great use for obtaining publick Blessings from God And it cannot be supposed that the Religious Addresses of Moses or Josiah who were Men of great Piety should be less acceptable to God or less effectual for the good of Man than the Repentance of Ahab or Manasseh or of the Ninevites But let these things be done with true uprightness and sincerity of Heart and then our Blessed Saviour hath assured them who so fast and pray in secret that their Heavenly Father will reward them openly But withall that these Duties may be pleasing to God it is necessary that they be accompanied with those other things which I have before pressed Fasting and Prayer in the neglect of Peace and Unity and of Holiness and Piety is as the sacrificing an unclean thing far from being approved of God and this is the account the Prophet Isaiah gives why God would not accept these very performances of the Jews Behold saith he ye fast for Strife and Debate and to smite with the Fist of wickedness Wherefore now let us take the advice in the Text and resolve on the pious practice thereof especially in these particulars I have insisted on For the further enforcing of which I shall in concluding observe three things First That it was God's own direction in these words of Joel This was indeed immediately given to the Jews but the Apostle tells us Rom. 15.4 Whatsoever things were written afore-time were written for our Learning that we through Patience and Comfort of the Scripture might have hope That which God thinks fit to advise us it is our Wisdom to practise For when the Policy of Wise Men may be outwitted and all sinful contrivances will encrease danger the Counsel of God that will stand and as Wisdom speaks Prov. 1.33 Whoso hearkneth to me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from the fear of Evil. Secondly Reflect again on the case in which this was directed Besides the terribleness of the Armies which were to come against them in the former Verses of this second Chapter of Joel God lets them know that he himself was like to be on their Enemies side against them v. 11. The Lord shall utter his Voice before his Army The Prophet Joel was sent to make Proclamation of God's Controversy with them but though this was declared by a Message from God it was not so absolutely determined but that there was still an Help and Remedy reserved if they would make use thereof by turning to God with all their heart In like manner when Jonas was sent to Nineveh to declare that within forty days it should be destroyed upon its Repentance it was spared And the Prophet Jeremy assures us that at what instant God shall speak concerning a Nation or concerning a Kingdom to pluck up to pull down and to destroy if that Nation turn from their Evil he will repent of the Evil that he thought to do unto them No case is so bad but if this course be made use of it will appear hopeful Thirdly Consider the greatness of the effect I observed before that in this Prophecy from this Text forward are contained Promises of Deliverance The effect was also answerable to these Promises Indeed the precise time of Joel's Prophecy is not certain It is thought both by the Jewish writers and by Ancient Fathers that his time was contemporary with that of Hosea and this Prophecy in all probability must be dated before the latter part if not before the beginning of Hezekiah's Reign and accordingly Grotius seems very reasonably to understand the beginning of this Chapter to refer to Sennacherib's Army which invaded Judah this Army here mentioned was indeed called the Northern Army Joel 2.20 but this expression might well enough agree to the Assyrian Army as may appear from Zeph. 2.3 He will stretch out his hand against the North and destroy Assyria Now at this time the Sins of Judah were great and many especially under Ahaz their Condition was low and despised and their Enemy was potent proud and insolent yet upon the Pious Reformation of Judah under Hezekiah and their earnest Religious Addresses to God their Enemies proud Designs were wholly blasted and themselves ruined and the blessing of God came down upon Judah and Jerusalem And God grant that we may take that course that we may enjoy the Blessing of God and have it ever continued to these Churches and Realms even until the coming again of our Blessed Saviour to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory and Praise now and evermore Amen A SERMON Preached on S. Mat. 5.20 For I say unto you That except your Righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven RELIGION and Righteousness is so suitable to and perfective of the Nature of Man that it hath been thereupon recommended by the wisest Men and greatest Philosophers It is of such concernment for humane Society that all Lawgivers and Governours have thought it necessary to prohibit and restrain the Violation thereof And it carrieth so much of the Image

as a false Prophet For their Talmud declares that a false Prophet was not to be put to death in any other City but in Jerusalem and there he must die (i) Tr. Sanhedr c. 10. at the time of their solemn Feasts that all Israel may hear and fear 8. And after all these things suffered by our Lord among the Jews it might be easie to shew that the Gentiles besides their persecutions and verbal slanders against Christianity used various real expressions of great disrespect and dishonour towards the Author of our holy Religion and our Religion which was established by him Thus in the time of the Emperour Adrian the Temple of Adonis the Image of Jupiter and the Statue of Venus were erected in the places of our Lords birth his passion and resurrection as (k) An. Eccl. An. 137. n. 5 6 7. An. 326. n. 28. Baronius hath observed from S. Hierome and Paulinus But these and such other things are much less to be wondred at among the Ethnicks and Pagans and therefore I shall wave any further prosecution of them and return to the consideration of the Jews behaviour toward the holy Jesus 9. and with various insulting words of fury Besides such actions of the Jews as I above mentioned there were some verbal expressions whereby they reviled him which spake their mere fury Such was their opprobrious insulting over him in his bitter sufferings In yielding themselves to the rage of their passions they came to that high degree of expressing their enmity against him and contempt of him that they were not satisfied with his suffering a cruel death but beyond all that bloody hands could act against him they endeavour that their keen tongues might pierce him to the heart Hence they reviled this great Prophet requiring him when they smote him to prophesie who it was that smote him They derided the King of Kings when they arrayed him in a scarlet robe putting a crown of thorns on his head and a reed in his right hand bowing the knee in mockery and saying Hail King of the Jews And they despised the Saviour of the World and the great high Priest when in derision towards him upon the Cross they cryed out Save thy self and us Here we may stand amazed to observe how when great uncharitableness hath possessed the heart and is let loose in the reproaches of the tongue it becomes cruel and fierce and contrary to God and goodness and is apt to be carried on to acts even of savageness and inhumanity But because these things may seem to be done in a time when they were in a paroxysm of fury when they vented an unusual inordinate heat of rage I shall consider what accusations their reproachful tongues laid to the charge of our Saviour for the most part when they were in somewhat a cooler temper and concerning which they offered some things as a popular proof or at least a specious pretence plausibly to insinuate into the vulgar that there was somewhat of truth in what they said 10. First He was accused Our Lord and the best men have been accused 1. Of want of piety and Religion of not having any true piety towards God He came into the world to do the will of his Father and was a perfect example of all holy obedience He sought not his own glory but the glory of him that sent him and God himself owned him to be his well beloved Son in whom he was well pleased And yet so maliciously unreasonable was their censoriousness that the Jews charged him with being so much an enemy to God as to debase his honour undermine his authority and speak unworthily of his Majesty To this purpose that they might render him particularly hateful to the Jewish Nation they decipher him as an enemy to the divine law The Jews had deservedly an high honour for Moses and the law which was delivered by him and had a mighty zeal to preserve the reputation of them They honoured Moses as the most excellent person who was in an eminent manner (l) Phil. de Vit. Mosis l. 3. a King a Law-giver a Priest and a Prophet and most excellently discharged all those Offices And they had so great a reverence and veneration for their law that Philo the Jew as his words are produced by (m) Eus praep Ev. l. 8. c. 6. Eusebius out of a Book of his which he Entituled his Hypotheticks declares that the Jews would rather chuse to die a thousand times than to admit of any thing contrary to the law and the same (n) Phil. de legat ad Caium p. 1022. Author speaks to the same purpose elsewhere But the holy Jesus who gave the highest honour to the law by fulfilling it and to Moses by accomplishing his Prophecies was accused as an opposer of Moses and the law and to this purpose was at several times charged with breaking the Sabbath and the Pharisees declared that he was not of God because he kept not the Sabbath day Joh. 9.16 And he who had that great regard to the Worship of God and honour for his Temple that the zeal of Gods house did eat him up was reported to be so averse from the worship of God and Religion that he was for destroying the place of Gods Worship and Service even before he had put an end to the legal Sacrifices by his perfect oblation 11. And he was oft times accused of that impious crime of Blasphemy even by those very men who were themselves guilty of Blasphemy against God and the Holy Ghost This is esteemed an execrable offence among all men who have any veneration for the Divine Majesty of God And among the Jews it was accounted so abominable that the blasphemer must die and be stoned by all the people and the (o) Tr. Sanh c. 7. §. 5. judge who gave Sentence against him was to rend his cloaths and the same was to be done also by the witness who heard the words of blasphemy as a testimony of indignation And this the High Priest did at the words of the blessed Jesus Mat. 26.65 he rent his cloaths saying he hath spoken blasphemy Yea even among the Gentiles a blasphemer of the Deity was thought worthy of death and at Ephesus according to the observation of (p) An. Eccles an 254. n. 24 25. Baronius out of Philostratus was to be stoned But the imputing such a thing as this to the holy Jesus whose Life and Doctrine was wholly ordered to promote his Fathers honour is as if a Prince's best and most faithful Subjects should be so misrepresented as to be accounted the most disloyal villanous and treacherous rebels and the people thereupon should be stirred up to set themselves against them who are their strength and upholders 12. Non-compliance with rigid mistaken notions doth sometimes occasion the charge of impiety And though the purity of his life did infinitely outdo any of theirs and was without any stain

divers of the Romish Communion (g) Cassand Consult de mer. interces Sanctorum They pretend that they only desire their prayers But 1. It is unknown to us that they know our desires advocationis Christi officio obscurato Sanctos atque imprimis Virginem Mariam in illius locum substituerunt that the Office of Christs Advocateship being obscured by them they substituted the Saints and principally the Virgin Mary in his place 4. But the most considerable men who write in defence of this practice declare that they only invocate the Saints to obtain the assistance of their prayers but First If this was true and no more was either intended by the Church of Rome or practised by its members yet there is no assurance that particular Saints departed know our particular wants and supplications and desires and much more may they be unacquainted with that inward devoutness and pious temper of soul which doth qualifie men for the obtaining the favour of God and his heavenly blessings And a wise man would not think it reasonable to place any considerable dependance in a special case upon the care and assistance of such a friend who is at a distance from him and of whom he hath no sufficient ground of confidence that he knows any thing either of his need or of his special desire from him The ways assigned by the Romanists to declare how the Saints departed are acquainted with things here below especially so far as to discern the special motions of the minds of all particular persons are but expressions of great words without evidence and the speculum Trinitatis may as well serve to shew that the Angels in glory were from the beginning of their confirmation in happiness acquainted with all things future by seeing the face of our heavenly Father when yet our Lord declares they knew not the time of the day of Judgement as that the Saints in glory have such a clear understanding of things and persons in this world Now if they understand not our requests and desires supplications directed to them are not only imprudent but an abuse of Religious Worship by employing a considerable portion of it and of our devotion therein about that which at least signifies nothing but is wholly useless and to no purpose And to perform acts of Religion upon the uncertain supposition of this being true of which we can have no certain knowledge and there is much to be said against it is to shew our selves too forward to run the hazard of being guilty of this miscariage 5. And whereas God and his Gospel doth instruct men Our Religion gives no direction for such prayers in the parts and duties of Religion but hath given neither direction nor encouragement to the invocation of Angels or Saints departed or to perform any Religious Worship to them it is no duty incumbent on men to make such addresses to them and in this case concerning the object of Religious worship it is not their due to receive what is not our duty to perform And we may reasonably fear lest God should account our giving such honour to those glorified creatures in Heaven as to acknowledge them to know the desires of the hearts of men and addressing our selves to them thereupon to be a misplacing that honour which is only due to himself and our blessed Saviour and this might bring us under his displeasure And when I consider how frequently the Apostle desires the prayers of the Christian Churches on earth and directs them to pray for one another and to send to the Elders of the Church to obtain their prayers I cannot but think that he would have been as forward to have directed Christians to seek for the prayers of Saints departed of which he speaks nothing if he had accounted that to be lawful and useful and from hence it may seem highly probable if not certain that the Souls departed do not understand and are not particularly affected with the requests and desires of men here below Besides this though I conceive holy Angels may be frequently present in the Assemblies of the Christian Church I cannot think it allowable though I had special assurance of their presence at any particular time to direct the acts of publick worship in that case sometimes to God and Christ and sometimes to them in the same gesture of adoration and especially in the use of such words of address to the Angels however they be understood as may fitly be applied to Christ For this would give too much of that homage to the Servant which is due unto the Lord. 6. 〈◊〉 greatly honour the Saints departed But we who do not direct our prayers and Religious supplications to Saints departed have a high honour for them endeavouring to follow their good examples praising God for them and hoping to be hereafter with them in the mansions of glory And since their goodness and love is not diminished but increased by their departure and they are still members of the same body I esteem them to have affectionate desires of the good of men upon Earth and especially of pious men who are fellow-members with them And I account it one great priviledge that I enjoy from the Communion of Saints that by reason of membership with the same body I have an interest in the Religious supplications of all the truly Catholick part of the diffusive Church Militant upon Earth and in the holy Services of the triumphant part thereof in Heaven I can also willingly admit what (h) Cyp. de Mortalitate Magnus illic nos charorum numerus expectat parentum fratrum filiorum copiosa turba adhuc de nostra salute sollicita S. Cyprian sometimes expresseth that departed friends have a particular desire of the good of their surviving relations and what in another place he recommends (i) Epist 57. ad Cornel. The Papists do directly pray for blessings to the Saints that departing Christians continue their affectionate sense of and prayers for the distressed part of the Church on Earth But upon the foregoing considerations this will not warrant Religious addresses to be directed to these Saints 7. Secondly The petitions used in the Romish Church in their supplications to the Saints do plainly express more than their desiring them to pray for them I shall not insist on the high extravagances in divers Books of Devotions and in the Offices formerly used in some particular Churches as that in the Missale sec usum Sarum to the Virgin Mary (k) In Nativit B. Matiae Potes enim cuncta ut mundi Regina jura Cum nato omnia decernis in soecla Thou canst do all things as the Queen of the World and thou with thy Son determinest all rights for ever which with many expressions of as high a nature place a further confidence in the Saints and expectation from them than meerly to be helped by their prayers But I shall instance in two or three