Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	word_n	world_n	worst_a	105	3	8.1157	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31245	The truth and excellence of the Christian religion, with the corruptions and additions of the Romish Church a discourse, wherein the pre-eminence of Christianity is demonstrated above the religion of Jews or heathens, and the contradiction of popery to its main articles : and that religion prov'd in many instances to be a mixture of heathenish superstitions, and Jewish ceremonies : with a short vindication of Christian loyalty, and a brief historical account of Romish treasons and usurpations, since the Reformation / by a hearty professor of Reformed Catholick Christianity.	S. C.	1685 (1685)	Wing C126; ESTC R22983	60,383	154

exalt her into the Throne of her Son nor blasphemously ascribe Divine Prerogatives to her The Holy Saints departed we respectfully remember and desire to imitate them as they follow'd Christ but dare not pray unto them as if they were Omniscient nor give those Services to them which are appropriated to God and the Lord Jesus The Holy Sacrament we joyfully Celebrate as a Seal of our Saviours tender Affection But dare not Worship the Bread but eat it in remembrance of him We Worship God with the most comely outward Postures and especially with sincere and spiritual Affection but have no occasion for the foolish Charms of the Heathens or burdensome Rites of the Jews Our Lord Jesus we acknowledg as our only Universal King and Sovereign and whoever shall boldly alter his Laws or invade his Prerogative shall be rejected by us as an Usurper He is our only High Priest and Intercessor and let other men talk at what vain rates they will we are better acquainted with our own Infirmities than to plead any merit of our own Through his Blood alone we hope for Salvation and let others trust in the merits of Saints the Omnipotent vertue of Medals and Relicks and priviledg'd Altars and such like hallow'd Baubles We will depend on nothing but his meritorious Sacrifice lest when it is too late we meet with a shameful disappointment and pass out of this World not into a temporary Purgatory but an eternal Hell Christs Prophetical Office we own and resolve to adjust our lives according to the Laws of the Gospel We teach the People to Study the Scripture daily and to examine all our Doctrines by the Touchstone of the Word We acknowledg our selves to be fallible men and should very gladly return to the bosome of that Church that is really indued with a Spirit of Infallibility but desire better proofs than those vain and idle ones we have hitherto heard of The Holy Laws of the Gospel are our standing-Rule and tho others vainly distinguish away their Duty we will keep close to these commands Piety Justice and Charity in their fullest extent we own to be our unquestionable Duty without those corrupting Glosses and Restrictions which some have invented True uniform self-denial is acknowledg'd as absolutely necessary and we place it not in uncommanded Austerities but in mortifying our Lusts and subduing whatever opposes the Glory of God or our own Salvation True undissembled Loyalty we acknowledg'd as our Duty Religion and Loyalty go hand in hand in our Constitutions these are our Principles and oh that our Practices were universally like them If we did but universally live up to the excellent Principles we maintain our Examples would be convincing give such a lovely Description of our Religion as would attract the Eyes and convert the hearts of the Romanists and more succesfully serve the Protestant interest than all the Arguments in our Books This leads to 2. Let our lives be agreeable to the Rules of our Religion Let every one that pretends to Reformed Christianity live a reformed Life Let not Religion only mend our heads but our hearts too and not only rectifie the errors and mistakes of our Minds but also the miscarriages and offences of our Lives For a professed Protestant to lead a vicious life is much more unbecoming and dangerous than for those who hope to be saved at an easier rate and own a more loose Religion Tho we do know our Duty except we practice it we cannot be happy Let me intreat you therefore if you have any concern for your selves and your own interest if you would not be accounted perjur'd Persons take heed how you contradict your Baptismal Vows and many repeated Engagements to forsake the World and Flesh and Devil If you would not lye under the Imputation of the most dangerous hypocrisie or unbelief forbear those Sins which are displeasing to God and forbidden by your Religion Not to believe the Christian or which is the same the Protestant Religion after such full Confirmation is certainly very unreasonable but to beheve it to be true and yet to live as if it were false is the greatest Contradiction and Repugnancy imaginable Do not you profess to believe That without h liness no man shall see the Lord and yet will you venture to continue in a sinful course Do you believe that every wilful Sinner shall be doom'd to Hell and all the Prayers and Tears of the holiest men on Earth can never fetch them thence and yet will you continue in a state of resolved impenitence If you would not therefore that the Articles of your Faith should be so many Articles of Accusation against you at the great day let your knowledg be improv'd into a Religious practice and not only tend to aggravate your future misery Further if you have any concern for the Religion you profess and would not it should be scandaliz'd as an encouragement to wickedness Now break off your Sins by Repentance and Amendment of Life by our impure lives we take the most effectual course in the World to bring our Religion it self into disgrace and do more prejudice to the Protestant Interest than we can possibly advance it by our Arguments I could therefore almost wish That men would either disown their Sins or their Profession openly renounce their Religion or strictly comply with its commands and if they will not be so generous as to follow its Directions they would at least be so honest as to quit their claim rather than still to retain it only the more effectually to disgrace the Religion they profess Let those that know no better allow themselves in sin and wickedness but let us that disown their principles abhor their lives too Our God will not indulge us in wickedness nor can we expect any dispensation from Heaven for our debaucheries and prophaneness nay further if we would not provoke God to leave us and suffer our subtil enemies to establish their impure Doctrines let us not imitate them in sin For if we become followers of their example God may in just judgment make them Lords of our Faith also In a word to conclude with the expressions of an excellent person we have the best and holiest the wisest and most reasonable Religion in the World but then we are in the worst condition of all mankind if the best Religion in the World do not make us good 3. Let us not by our divisions let in our common enemy Our sends and animosities and intemperate heats among our selves are the ready way to bring in Popery into our Land By our Divisions we weaken our own Interest imploy our pains and abilities in quarrelling about trifles and disable our selves in a great measure from preventing the growth and increase of the Romish Religion By our Divisions we expose our selves to the United Power of our Common Adversaries and like the unhappy Jews of old we are squabling among our selves while the Romans are ready to enter

change a piece of Bread into God and by virtue of such a strong fancy to give it Divine Worship is an instance of such egregious folly as exposes Christianity to the scorn of infidels and hardens them in their unbelief a Doctrine that would make a Monster of our blessed Redeemer and give him 10000 bodies at once A Doctrine that subjects our Saviour to the will of every Priest and daily renews his humiliation A Doctrine that makes the Covenant of Grace much more severe than the Law of Innocence while it threatens damnation to all that will not disbelieve the agreeing sences of the whole world of Animals A Doctrine that destroys the very Foundations of human Converse and tends to the most unreasonable Scepticism imaginable For if our Senses are deceiv'd in so plain an instance how know we but that we may be all very Phantasms and a bundle of Accidents without any substance A Doctrine that hath a natural tendency to Infidelity and is the ready road to the most damnable unbelief For the miraculous Works of our Saviour were the great convincing Evidences of the truth of Christianity What we have seen and heard as one speaks was the Apostles Logick and an appeal to Miracles the surest Demonstraion of the Spirit So that if our Senses deceive us in this instance our Religion it self may be false The Resurrection of Christ and all his wonderful Works might for ought we know be Impostures and Deceits Thus we see how naturally the Papist lends his Assistance to the Atheist and Unbeliever A Doctrine that calls God himself a Deceiver for he plainly tells us by the most certain kind of Demonstration to our Senses That here is bread when if this be true there is really none at all In a word A Doctrine so full of unreasonable Contradictions that had not an infallible Council curs'd all deniers of it I am perswaded it would have long ago been renounc'd A Doctrine contradictory to Sense inconsistent with Reason and overthrown by express words of Scripture For St. Paul expresly calls it Bread after Consecration 1 Cor. 10. 15 16. 11. 26 27. A Doctrine bottom'd only upon one Metaphorical Expression This is my Body Which how it can prove this prodigious Transmucation is not very easie to imagine for did not Christs natural Body speak this while sitting at the Table And could his Disciples apprehend they eat the same Body or that the substance of the bread was vanish'd and only the Accidents remaining Did they so hardly believe his Resurrection and would they without one question about it digest this miracle far more amazing Doth he not say Do this in remembrance of me And if the Popish Comment were true would it be sense to say Eat me in remembrance of me Are not the terms Metaphorical in one part of the Sacrament This Cup is the N●w Testament in my Blood And why should this rather than the other be taken according to the literal meaning Besides the same word is us'd concerning the Passover to which the Eucharist succeeds And the Jews had no term more proper to express signifie by than this word is It is the Lords passover Exod. 12. 11. i. e. a Memorial and Signification of the Lords passing over the houses of the Israelites when he destroy'd the first-born of Egypt and why should not the same Sense be given of this Sacrament of the new Covenant It is a Memorial of that Body of Christ which was once Offer'd for our Sins Thus we see how unreasonable the Roman Exposition of this Text is and yet they cannot pretend any clearer proof of this great absurdity but it is the great design of this Church to conquer those three mischievous Enemies Sense Reason and Scripture and when they have once done that they may impose what they will upon those reasonable Beasts their followers Sense they continually represent as subject to many Illusions and unfit to be trusted to in any weighty matters Reason they Tragically exclaim against as a dangerous Weapon and the mortifi'd Father Cressy somewhere tells us That it is the Wit and Judgment of Catholicks to renounce their own Judgment and depose their own Wit Scripture setting aside the Authority of their Church is of no more Validity with them than Aesops Fables or Mahomets Alchoran And tho they pretend the unanimous consent of the Fathers to their Doctrines yet because the Testimonies of Irenaeus Justin Martyr Theodoret Pope Galasius are so plain against them they pretend that the Fathers being obscure the present Church must be the Judg of their meaning but if we joyn issue here also and agree to be judg'd by the majority of Votes in the Christian World then they very charitably damn all the World but themselves and assume the proud title of Catholick and Universal so that the result of all is this If we will not upon their bare Affirmation swallow this heap of Contradictions we must infallibly fall under the Council of Lateran's Anathema and be ipso facto excommunicate But it is better to bear their curses here than by our sinful compliance with their grossest Idolatry to endanger our Salvation for ever For if there be no Transubstantiation of what tremendous Idolatry are they guilty who pay Divine Honour to a piece of Bread and give that Adoration to a Waser-cake which is due to God alone who outdo the grossest Idolatry of the Heathens and justifie the most ridiculous Superstitions of the Infidel world They only believ'd that some invisible Deity incorporated it self in the Creature they worshipp'd but never imagin'd that the whole substance was chang'd into God A Metamorphosis more strange than the most poetical Invention could ever contrive nor can they save themselves harmless by pretending they believe the Bread to be God and therefore if they err it is the fault of their Judgments not of their Wills For when men will maintain such an Error in spite of their own Sense and Reason and Scripture and the plain Doctrine of the Ancient Church they are certainly guilty of not only material but wilful formal Idolatry But supposing this Doctrine sometimes yet so many contingencies happens that it is impossible to know whether this particular Bread be Transubstantiated or not For if the Priest have not a right Intention and be not duly ordain'd the Miracle will not follow so that it is confessed by Bellarmine that no man can have any other than a conjectural certainty that he receives the Body of Christ because it depends upon the Priests intention which no man can know And now can it consist with our duty as Bishop Taylors speak certainly Disswas page 149. to give Divine Worship to that thing which we cannot certianly know to have a Divine Being But further if we should suppose by virtue of a strong faith such as is able to swallow Mountains that this miracle were always perform'd yet will not this justifie our Adoration For we are not bound