Selected quad for the lemma: honour_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A34547
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A peaceable moderator, or, Some plain considerations to give satisfaction to such as stand dis-affected to our Book of common prayer established by authority clearing it from the aspersion of popery, and giving the reasons of all the things therein contained and prescribed / made by Alan Carr ...
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Carr, Alan, d. 1668.
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1665
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Wing C627; ESTC R18228
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69,591
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90
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will that we may please God We worship God aright without Heresie Blasphemy or Idolatry Not denying but there may be some small faults Errours and Corruptions in the matter of our Religion or in the manner of our Worship because we do not profess Perfection but none such as may or do overthrow the Ground and Foundation of Faith David his Princes and Priests erred in carrying the Ark. 2 Sam. 6. contrary to the Law Num. 7. 9. yet was the true Church of God they sacrificed in the high places 2 Reg. 14. which should have been done at Jerusalem the Passover was neglected 2 Ki. 23. yet the Church of God The Church of Corinth was foulely tainted with errours in Doctrine and corruptions in manners as you find throughout the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians yet the Apostle calleth it the Church of God 1 Cor. 1. 2. And in administring and receiving the Sacrament of the Lords Supper no man can say truly that we commit Idolatry For we worship the true God maker of Heaven and Earth and his Son Jesus Christ whom we profess to be our Saviour and here we use this Ordinance to the right end in remembrance of his Death and Sufferings and we observe it according to his own institution for the manner of it And whereas we find no Gesture commanded or prescribed in Scripture to be used at the receiving of it though we count it as a thing indifferent in it self yet the Church for order Decency and Edification hath adjudged and prescribed this posture of kneeling at it to be most fitting to shew our true Humility and Reverence to God and to his holy Ordinance 3. For Superstition This is a word as many use it of so large an extent that I cannot tell how to fathome it or well what to make of it But I conceive it must be taken from â—nâ— of these three either from Super stes or from Super Satutum or from Super stare 1. From Superstes Thus we may count that to be Superstition which hath outlived his right use and overlived his right time so cometh to be abused and perverted from the first end for which it was first appointed and from the first use to which it was put Thus many things have been and still may be abused to Superstition which at their first setting up were good and lawfull or at least not faulty but indifferent in themselves Images and Pictures and Statues had at first a fair seeming Beginning When a father lost a Son dear unto him whom Death had suddenly taken away he caused his Statute to be made to remember him When a great man dyed and sometimes when they flattered a great man they caused his Image or Statute to be set up which in process of time was abused to Superstition They offered Sacrifices Ceremonies and Divine Honours to it making it a God so you find it written Wis 14. 13 14 15 16. Thus came up the greatest part of the Idolatry of the heathen most of their Idols were at first the Images and Statutes of Men whom Tyrants at last inforced the people to worship as Gods Thus the Brazen Serpent was abused to Superstition by Gods own people it was at first commanded to be made and set up by God himself Num. 21. for the benefit of the people and cure of them which were bitten by the fiery Serpents But in process of time the people offered incense to it Therfore Hezekiah brake it in pieces being Superstitiously abused called it Nehushtan 2 Reg. 18. 4. Thus fome are of opinion that Gideons ephod was set up at first only to be a monument of his great and miraculous victory over the Midianites but in process of time it was abused to Idolatry as it is said Judg. 8. 27. All Israel went a Whoring after it which was the destruction of Gideon and his house all these had out-lived their right use and over lived their right time were abused to Superstition and so might well be accounted and called Superstitious 2. From Super Statutum Above that which is commanded thus also we may call that Superstitious which is more then God commandeth when we add any thing to that which God hath commanded in his law putting holiness in it or laying a necessity upon it for you must remember that we confine Superstition to matters of Religion and those things which concern the service and worship of God the Rule which God giveth for his Service and worship is set down by Moses Deut. 4. 2. Ye shall put nothing to the word which I command you neither shall you take any thing therefrom that you may keep the Commandements of the Lord your God which I command you Thus the Jewes were noted to be very Superstitious They added to Gods commandments the Traditions of their Elders putting holiness in them laying a necessity upon them as our Saviour telleth them Mat. 15. 3. Transgressing the Commandments of God by their Traditions and teaching for Doctrines the precepts of men ver 9. Not only equaling their Traditions to the written word but breaking Gods Commandments by their Traditions Mark 7. 8. Laying apart the Commandment of God observing the Traditions of men preferring them before Gods Commandments So again Christ complaineth of them Mat. 23. 5. They made broad their Phylacteries and made long the Fringes of their Garments not but that these things were commanded as you find Numb 15. 38 39. but they would make them larger and longer then was required to have the praise of men They were much noted also for their strict keeping of the Sabbath they added that Sabbaculum as it was called That addition of time annexed to the Sabbath some beginning it sooner then others as the Jews dwelling at Tiberias Some continuing it longer then others as they that dwelt at Tsepphore Again some thought they were too precise in many things as in dressing no Meat upon the Sabbath extending that Exodus 16. 23. to all Ages which others thought was proper only to the time of Manna in kindling no fire upon the Sabbath grounding on Exodus 35. 3. which others restrained only to the fire for the furtherance of the work of the Tabernacle and abstaining from all manner of work without exception upon the Sabbath They would not so much as fight to preserve themselvs against their enemies assaulting them on the Sabbath day whereby as Josephus writeth they became a Prey unto their enemies first to Antiochus Joseph lib. 12. cap. 8. whereupon Matthias made a decree that it should be lawful on the Sabbath to resist their enemies which decree again they understanding strictly as if it did give only leave to Resist when they were actually assaulted and not by any labour that day to prevent the enemies raising Rams Setting of Engines Under minings c. they became a Prey the second time to Pompey They were so precise that they held it unlawful to roast an Apple gather
2 10. That at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow of things in heaven things in earth and things under the earth Nor that it can be by any strong and undeniable Argument drawn from them because they conceive that the Apostle doth not mean or intend those words of the outward knees of the Body seeing Angels and Devils have no bodily knees But his meaning is that all Creature in Heaven and Earth and under the Earth shall acknowledge him to be their Lord shall honour worship him obey him and give him the Glory that is due unto him yet we cannot think that any reasonable understanding man can judge it altogether unlawful either to uncover the head or bow the body at the naming of the Lord Jesus to shew the reverence that is due unto him so that the inward intention of the Mind and Devotion of the Heart be joyned and go along with the outward Gesture of the Body but the fear is that God may complain in this of many as he did of the Jews Es 29. 13. They come near me with their lips and honour me with their mouths but their hearts are far from me So many honour the Name of the Lord Jesus formally in a complemental outward way of Cap and Knee who regard him not in their hearts nor make any Conscience to live up unto him in their lives yet again we must consider that this is our fault the fault of men and their corruption not the fault of the Ceremony And we may also conceive that it was the Wisdom of the Church when it saw how dead dull and lumpish nay stupid common people are in Divine Service to appoint this Ceremony to stir up people shake off their sluggishness raise up their Devotion and quicken their attention to the hearing of the Word of God Read or Preached least they should be overcome of drowsinesse and so if rightly used it might be a good means to help us to amend that fault and to quicken our attention But you will say why should we give more honour to the Son then to the Father to the Name of the Lord Jesus then to the God who is the Father To this we may answer he that honoureth the Son honoureth the Father we do not thereby deny any honour that is due unto the Father or rob God the Father of his honour but we do honour God the Father in his Son acknowledging the great love and wonderful mercies of God the Father unto Mankind sealed up in the Lord Jesus his Son for the Redemption of the world according to that of our Saviour John 5. 23. all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father He that honoureth not the Son the same honoureth not the Father which hath sent him so that thereby we do not deprive God the Father of the honour due unto him but rather add to his honour including in the Lord Jesus all the mercies and graces of God the Father which are conveyed unto us by his Son and sealed up unto us in the Lord Jesus his Son But you will say We desire to know some Reason for it why we should give more honour to the Name of the Lord Jesus then to the Name of God the Father These Grounds and Reasons may not unfitly be given 1. There is no Nation in the world but doth acknowledge God Nulla Natio tam barbara Nulla Gens tam Efferata cui non infideat haec Opinio Deum esse could Tully an heathen man say that there is no Nation in the world so barbarous but doth acknowledge God and worship God or somewhat instead of God But we know there be a great many Nations in the world Jews Turks Pagans and all Infidels that do not acknowledge the Lord Jesus to be the Son of God and the Saviour of the world Therefore to convince and convert them and to make out our profession to the world we Christians may give somewhat the more reverence to the Name of the Lord Jesus 2 The work of our Redemption which was wrought by the Lord Jesus may in some respect be accounted a greater work of power and mercy then the work of Creation In the creating of other creatures God spake the word and it was done but when he came to make man the most noble creature we find that he entred into a consultation Gen. 1. 26. Let us make man after our own Image yet we do not read that God bestowed much pains or labour about his making it is said Gen 2. 7. The Lord God also made the man of the dust of the ground and breathed in his face the breath of life and the man was a living soul But for the great worâ— of our Redemption wrought by the Lord Jesus that was a work of greater difficulty we may say of that as the Poet speaks Multatulit fecitque Jesus sudavit alsit â—he did not only abase himself for us men and for our salvation in coming down from heaven but being God became man suffered all the miseries belonging to mankind Poverty Ignomy Stripes and Buffetings yea bore all our sins sweat drops of bloud besides that cruel cursed and shameful death of the Cross which he did suffer and undergo for our Redemption in so much that an ancient Father saith â—ajus erat opus reficere quam facere it was a greater work to Redeem us then at first to create us For in our Creation God made man but in our Redemption God himself became man was made man In this regard then you see we have cause to give then somewhat the more reverence to the Name of the Lord Jesus 3. The work of our Redemption is a more beneficial work to us then the work of our Creation It is true that at the first God made man a glorious creature after his own image in righteousness and true holiness indued him with many excellencies and gave him power over all creatures but yet made him mutable and so mortal subject to death if he broke the Covenant And man by his disobedience did break the Covenant with God so plunged himself and his Posterity into all kind of eternal miseries had not the Lord Jesus come to save us and redeem us Then in this regard also seeing the Lord Jesus did indure those bitter torments to redeem us and to save us from the curse and wrath of God and all those miseries wherein by the fall of Adam we were plunged and were brought into such an estate of misery as without the mercy and merites of the Lord Jesus in working our Redemption it had been happy for us never to have been born never to have been made we have cause for ever to reverence the Name of our Lord Jesus 4. The word Jesus signifieth a Saviour it is Christs proper name the name of his nature a name above every name a name given him by the Angel before he was born Nominatus priusquam natus he had