Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	advantage_n	zeal_n	zealous_a	38	3	9.1964	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91526	Jewish hypocrisie, a caveat to the present generation. Wherein is shewn both the false and the true way to a nations or persons compleat happiness, from the sickness and recovery of the Jewish state. Unto which is added a discourse upon Micah 6.8. belonging to the same matter. / By Symon Patrick B.D. minister of the word of God at Batersea in Surrey.	Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.	1660 (1660)	Wing P817; Thomason E1751_1; Thomason E1751_2; ESTC R203168	156,691	423

yielding to temptations to covetousness deceit and unlawfull gain or on the contrary very fearfull to fail in a ceremony but worshipping the flesh and living loosely An Hypocrite is much imployed in little things and busied about the shadow and bark of religion be it what it will If religion be pompously gloriously cloathed then he will strive to be most ceremonious costly and chargeable in his devotion so that we may say of him as the Philopher said of a finical but empty Lawyer homo in causis agendis bene vestitus a neat man in his Religion one that pleads with God in gorgeous apparrel But on the contrary if men take to a side that loves to be sordid and slovenly and as careless as they can in all outward decencies none shall more fiercely decry all ceremonies nor more prophane all that was before accounted holy And so in all other matters the most inconsiderable among them exercise their zeal and the weightiest exercise only their fancies and tongues 5. A Sixth thing to be noted in them is that they would be just in one thing that they might be unjust in another v. 23. They would pay their tithes to the Priests that this might cover all their acts of rapine and covetousness among the people And they did not only pay them but were very scrupulous to pay them exactly as if they would not wrong one of a Cummin seed or a Speer of mint or as we say of the hair of one head when as they neglected judgement if any causes came before them they shewed no mercy to the poor and kept no faith in their Covenants and promises It concerns a man to be very punctual with some persons and in his ordinary intercourse to keep to rules of justice else he would be hissed out of the world and he would have no opportunity to deceive a simple or unwary soul Much less would he be able when he stretches his conscience to do a base action to take himself still for a godly man if he did not at other times deal fairly And therefore he is fain also to imitate the Pharisee in a Seventh quality and that is to do some great act of Charity to excuse himself from a constant exercise of it It is like that these hypocrites which our Saviour speaks of paid the tythe which was due every third year for the use of them that were in need Deut. 14.28 as well as the yearly dues to the Ministers of God in the Temple And this great and expensive charity they thought perhaps so highly of that they never reproved themselves for their miserable and wretched covetousness at all other times As many men now whose fingers are very stiff may chance to draw their purse-strings at some solemn time or when they are much moved with a good Sermon of Alms-doing who at other seasons have hearts as hard as flints to the crying necessities of their Brethren Much of the Religion of men and their charity also knows its times and daies if they be observed God lends them they think the rest of their lives to dispose of as they please themselves 6. And lastly they would not stick to do more then they were commanded that they might neglect Gods express Commands For many think that the tythe of every herb which they paid Luke 11.42 was not due by the Law but they could be content to over-do in this case that they might do nothing in others to give these free-will offerings that they might have their own wills in greater matters so false is the heart of men that they think an excess in what pleases them will satisfie for all their defects in that which is most pleasing unto God As to keep whole daies of prayer is far more grateful to some then to keep a continual watch over themselves in all their dealings and converses with others and in all their own inward thoughts and desires They will leave no stone unturned to find out an Art or device to save themselves from the trouble of Mortification and self-denial They will wriggle every way rather then be strait and upright as God made them Any labour or pains they will take to shift off the great Commandments of loving God with all their hearts and souls and strength and loving their neighbours as themselves 7. The more need there is that men should be earnestly urged to search into their hearts and examine them well about these things lest there lie hid any of this leaven under many seeming actions of Godliness Take heed lest you wink at some evil affection which you bear a particular respect unto and let it scape untouched when you profess to cleanse your selves Beware lest you cast only a favourable look upon some duties of Religion and look asquint upon the rest or take no notice of them Labour to remove all obstructions that Zeal may have a free passage through the whole frame of your souls and that you may be equally spirited to every duty of Religion And I shall commend these two things as of singular use and advantage to keep our hearts from self deceit First Let men suspect themselves when they are moved with an extraordinary heat and feel a great zeal agitating of them in some one thing which they undertake upon the account of Religion Let them presently begin to ask themselves how they stand affected to all the rest and to feell how their pulse beats in all things especially in the most spiritual actions Or else it is a thousand to one that this zeal will betray them into hypocrisie and they will place all their religion in it And therefore search well if there be not some externall inducement which thou dost not observe some corrupt end at the bottom some willingness to spare a foul and nasty desire which makes thee so zealous in that particular thing which may be as a covering for thy coldness in other matters Be not cheated by thy self into a belief that thou art religious when thou bearest not a love to all Gods Commandments but labour impartially and conscienciously to carry thy self to every duty alike and then thou maist be well perswaded of thy sincerity in Religion 8. And Secondly Let every man observe what it is that he is most in danger to neglect when his Spirit is forwardly carried towards one thing There is alwaies some one duty more then others that a partial zeal is apt to devour Be sure therefore to take heed and beware of covetousness while you cry out against profaneness Be as carefull to maintain love in your heart to your Brethren as you are to observe them reprove them or to make them of your mind Be as humble lowly and poor in spirit as you are ready to distribute to relieve the poor or despise the world Labour to be in as great charity with your enemies to love them pray for them and bless them as you are willing and perhaps forward

many c. Or if we render it with others Did not be who is one make it i. e. the covenant of marriage and he hath abundance of spirit still to breath into our seed And wherefore did that one make that order that a man should cleave to his wife but that he might have a godly seed and therefore take heed what you do in putting away your wives and taking others for hereby you offend him that breaths the spirit of life into us Or if we take it as others interpret it their wickedness is still argued to be the greater because they boasted that they were the children of Abraham Now Did that one i. e. the first of your family do so of whose spirit we are the residue and what did that one he sought a godly seed he put not away Sarah though she was barren which to you would seem a just cause nor matched with an Idolater that he might have issue Or if we receive that rendring of the words which the learned De Dieu prefers above all the rest it argues them of great inhumanity and that they had not common good nature in them which makes the sin still greater No one would do thus that had but any reliques of the spirit of God in him and therefore much less they that seek a godly seed as you pretend to do You see that he might well call this covering violence with his garment ver 16. because it was such a wrong to those that by the Laws of God and nature deserved better at their hands To spread ones garment or ones skirts over a woman is a phrase in holy writ for to marry her Ruth 3.9 Ezek. 16.8 By taking therefore of a strange woman into their society which was engaged before to another they did as it were marry to violence and contract a relation with injustice Or as the forenamed author thinks it should be translated Violence covered their garments i. e. when as they ought still to have cast their garments of love and protection over their wives violence and wrong did cover those garments their marriage was an act of injustice and their skirts which they spread over strangers were all over stained with cruelty hard-heartedness and oppression 5. And Zachary tells us by way of prophesie what should be in after times toward the end of this Nation and what manner of Rulers should be over the people He compares their Shepherds i. e. Governours as I have shewn before unto young Lyons who do not use to protect but to devour the sheep Zach. 11.3 And he calls the people the flock of slaughter ver 4. whom he is bid to instruct either because they were to be destroyed by the armies of their enemies or because they were a prey unto their Governours According as it follows ver 5. Their possessors slay them and they hold themselves not guilty Yea to such a confidence were they arrived in these sins that they Bless God for the riches which they had got in this sort They had some devotion you see left though no honesty nor goodness God is intituled to all wicked possessions and acquisitions that he may make them good and defend them against all the clamors of men and the suits of their own conscience And it seems the people were very bad also for ver 6. he threatens them that he would have no more pitty on them then their Rulers had but let them destroy one another by seditions and at last deliver them all into the hands of the King that oppressed them who should be so far from taking any pastoral care of them that he should only slay and devour them as you may read v. ●6 6. And some understand by that King the Roman Caesar to whom they made themselves a prey by such sins as those I have been treating of That long Captivity which indures to this day had its way prepared by their avarice and cruelty as those acquaint us upon whom the spirit of prophecy was again poured forth For our Lord coming and reproving the chief of that generation when he lived for devouring widdows houses for extortion rapine and blood for covetousness and oppression for being without natural affection and the like sins while they made long prayers and pretended a great deal of sanctity and religion He declaring also that faith judgement mercy and the love of God were more to be regarded then their strict observation of dayes and the multitude of sacrifices They out of a great zeal for their religion which they thought he did not speak honourably enough concerning most shamefully put him to death I believe they took themselves to be very religious persons and were zealous in what they did only their zeal was not equally dispensed nor conveyed alike through the whole body of duties that God commanded Their heat was like the flushing in mens faces or the burning in their hands which we do not take to be an argument of a good temper but rather a sign that there are obstructions as the ordinary language calls them in the body so that there is not a free motion of the vital blood in all the parts I mean they spent so much zeal in a few things that they left no warmth of affection for other most necessary duties In those things their heat was staid and stopt which made them of an extraordinary high colour and to have the repute in the world of very great Saints and most vertuous persons Yea they themselves gazed so much upon this flame that they took no notice how cold they were in matters of common honesty but they committed all iniquity in a comfortable belief that they were good men and most beloved of God Their great zeal for the Sabbath and such like matters made them take themselves for pious and devout persons but the partiality and particularity of it whereby it remained there confined made them really to be such as our Saviour calls Hypocrites which appellation they took in such disdain that they conspired his death who would not let such as they pass for godly men 7. And are Christians to this day more reformed who have inherited their promises I wish I could say that we are as free from covetousness rapine and unmercifulness as the Pharises were from Sabbath-breaking and Idolatry R. D. Kimchi upon Hos 2.19 20. hath confessed a great deal of that truth which I have endeavoured to illustrate but I can only wish that the latter part of his gloss were found as true as the former part hath proved He saith those words cannot have a compleat sense till the time of the Messiah and that God uses the word betroth three times because of the 3. captivities after which God doth as it were marry them to himself but in the dayes of the Messiah after a more excellent manner then in former times For when they came out of Aegypt he did not betroth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for

of others and for their own Traditions more then Gods commands 2. They loved acts of Piety better then acts of Mercy and Justice and those acts of Piety that were outward more then the inward 3. That which agreed with their humour better then that which was against it 4. More scrupulous of a little sin then a great 5. Just in one case that they might be unjust in many and sometimes charitable that they might be constant extortioners 6. They would do more then was commanded in one thing rather then what was commanded in all things 7. Great need therefore we should examine our selves Observe well what moves you when extraordinary zealous for one thing 8. Observe what your zeal in one case is apt to make you neglect in others 1. AND this will lead me to the great mark of the Pharasaick spirit which comprehends all the rest and that is a fierce zeal for some things with a plain neglect of all the rest As it is easier to talk then to do so some things are easier to be done then others And if you read the Gospel you will see that they pickt out those things that were of easie digestion and would nourish their diseases but rejected every thing that might make them sick and vomit up all their filthiness To make this more apparent I will instance in some particulars which clearly discover their partial and unequall zeal in performance of their duty And First you may observe that they loved their own Traditions better then they did Gods express commands There are many learned men and St. Hierom among the rest that think God did not command them to make Phylacteries but only carefully to remember the Law Deut. 6.8 9. And yet they were more carefull to have these scripts of parchment about them then to have the Law of God written on their hearts which was contained in them But though that be not certain yet it is most indubitable that God commanded them to honour their Father and Mother but no where bids them offer and consecrate all their estates to him And yet notwithstanding they took themselves to be excused from all obligations to relieve their poor Parents So Theophylact interprets it if they could but say that they had devoted all that as a gift to God whereby they might do them any good Mat. 15.5 which was a most lensless thing and as if what was given to the poor especially to our parents were not given to Gods uses And yet now at this day men are wont to swagger more in a new fashion and late invention in Religion of their own contriving then to contend earnestly for the manifest precepts of our Lord Iesus They are all on a fire for a doubtfull opinion for a mode of Government which relies on no clear Scripture but have scarce any sensible heat for that love and charity which Christ hath undeniably commended over and over again to his disciples 2. A Second thing which you may observe in the Pharisees is this that they loved actions of Devotion to God better then actions of Mercy and Equity to men That you may see by their long prayers Mat. 23.14 and their Corbans or gifts they offered to God just now mentioned There was more of Pomp and fame but less of Self-denyall in the one then in the other and they would alwayes chuse that which was most easie especially if it conduced to their credit and glory And therefore thirdly you may observe that of all actions of Piety they chose those that were most outward and done with least trouble As to praying they were much addicted but with meditation inward admirations of God adorations of his excellencies we may be sure they were little acquainted And just so now it is men think that actions of piety merit more of God then others do and that he is so pleased with them that he can be content if they overlook others while they are so very kind to him and therefore Mercy and Kindness to others are meer strangers to them And you may observe that men had rather pray with others then alone by themselves and they account it a greater attainment to be a speaker in a congregation then to be humble and lowly-hearted They are strangers to inward and deep thoughts of God for if they were acquainted with his holiness and goodness they would mind nothing more then to purge themselves from all their filthy passions and affections and to do good to all as he doth 3. And indeed fourthly it was generally true of them that they loved that which was outward more then that which was inward Mat. 23.25 28. And they loved that which agreed with their own humour better then that which was against it v. 15. They scoured the out-side that it might shine and glister and dazzle all mens eyes with its brightness but they cared not how black or cankered they were within and how vile they appeared in Gods eyes so that all their neighbours would suspect no foulness And they endeavoured the conversion of others to their Religion which did but feed their own vain humor and popular desire of being accounted great and glorious Saints while they took no care to turn their own hearts to God and true righteousness from which they had so monstrously degenerated Of this sort are all they who are highly zealous against all carnal sins but live in those that are spiritual They hate all riot and drunkenness as we all ought to do but are drunken themselves with rage anger and pride They reprove others sharply but cannot indure a fair reproof from others They cry out perhaps against injustice but think it no robbery to take away a mans good name They detest unclean embraces but yet have an unchaste complacency in themselves and their own Opinions They would have no wicked men govern us but they think themselves fit for their places and are desirous of preheminence 4. A fifth token of their hypocrisie was that they were more scrupulous in committing of a little sin then of a great They would take false witness against Christ though they would not enter in the Governours hall for fear of being defiled Which was as if one should strain his liquor if there were a gnat in it but make nothing of swallowing a Camel Mat. 23.24 The heat and sap of their souls spent themselves in such broad leavs and fruitless suckers as you see in a Vine undressed and he that should but pluck off one leaf strike off one ceremony or uncommanded duty that they imposed was a greater enemy to God in their account then he that broke most of Gods Laws He that knows the world cannot but see that this leaven is not yet cast out of mens hearts We have many that are Christians just as Domitian was a Souldier that are enemies to flies and flies to their enemies Very braving and daring they are against that which is called Superstition but easily