Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	church_n	england_n	reform_a	4,212	5	9.5265	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51403	The clergyman's office, and the clergyman's due a sermon preach'd at the Triennial Visitation of the Right Reverend Father in God Edward, Lord Bishop of Gloucester at Campden, Octob. 7, 1698 / by Robert Morse ...	Morse, Robert, 1660 or 61-1703.	1699 (1699)	Wing M2815; ESTC R4155	14,141	25

THE Clergyman's Office AND THE Clergyman's Due A SERMON Preach'd at the Triennial Visitation of the Right Reverend Father in GOD EDWARD Lord Bishop of GLOVCESTER AT CAMPDEN Octob. 7. 1698. By ROBERT MORSE A. M. Rector of Willersy in the County of Gloucester and Master of the Free-School in Campden Fortis est falsam infamiam contemnere Sunt qui quod sentiunt etiamsi optimum sit tamen invidiae metu non audent dicere Tul. Of. l. 1. p. 37. LONDON Printed for Tho. Bennet at the Half Moon in St. Paul's Church-Yard and Henry Clements Bookseller in Oxford 1699. To the Right Reverend Father in God Edward by Divine Providence Lord Bishop of Gloucester My Lord HAving receiv'd your Lordship's Letter to Preach the Visitation-Sermon at Campden I was not long in resolving what Points of Doctrine to insist upon The Duty of Prayer took up my Thoughts in the first place one of the principal Duties of sinful Men though now accounted if we may guess by their general Practice the least of Christian Obligations I am much afraid that they who are negligent in coming to the Publick Divine Service are not more forward in the performance of this indispensible part of Religion elsewhere Though Common Prayer is now become a scandalous thing in the Opinion of some wo unto them by whom the offence cometh yet I am persuaded the more frequent use good and wise Men make of it the higher esteem they must have for it Discoursing once about the Excellency of our Service-Book as some Men call it by way of contempt as if Book-Prayer was altogether Antichristian with a Minister of the Presbyterian Communion upon his Accusations of it in General I desir'd him to instance in some Particular After some pause he at last pitch'd upon these Words Give Peace in our Time O Lord because there is none other c. God be praised by the Courage and Conduct of His Present Majesty King William we have the Blessing pray'd for but as the Learned Bishop Stillingfleet says to Mr. Baxter in his excellent Book of the Unreasonableness of Separation on a like occasion at this rate some Men may want Causes to defend but they can never want Arguments That I take occasion in the second place to Discourse upon the Duty of Thanksgiving Gratitude at this time more particularly obliges me and all of us of the Reform'd Persuasion For I take it to be past all doubt that we of the Church of England and Protestant Religion were not long since in imminent danger of losing the publick Exercise of it In my third and fourth Particulars I aim at the Honour due to the Clergy upon the account of their Office and shew that they ought to preserve themselves from Contempt by a Demeanour suitable to their Sacred Office That this of ours is a despicable Deanery of Clergy-Men we dare challenge our greatest Adversaries to prove Bishop Nicholson us'd to call it his Beloved Deanery and I hope we shall all deport our selves so as to find the like Approbation in your Lordship our Diocesan That Sober Religious and Learned Ministers should be any where despis'd must proceed from a gross and barbarous rudeness of Men mixt with an Atheistical Genius Wherever Men have been truly well Bred sincerely Virtuous and Pious they have paid their due respects to God's Ministers That your Lordship may long enjoy that Happiness where-ever you are concern'd as you justly merit it by your Love to the Church of England which among sundry other Instances you have signally demonstrated in your late Encouragement of the Minister of Cirencester is the very hearty wish of My Lord Your Lordships most Dutiful And Humble Servant ROBERT MORSE 1 Thessal Chap. V. 17 18 19 and 20 Verses Pray without ceasing In every thing give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you Quench not the Spirit Despise not Prophecyings THE Occasion of St. Paul's Writing this Excellent Epistle to the Thessalonians was the ill usage those among them who had embraced the Christian Faith received together with their Apostle who had Preach'd it into their Ears and by those Instruments of Conveyance God Blessing the Seed sown by the best of Demonstrations and most Infallible Arguments rooted it in their Hearts The hard Treatment they underwent was from the Unbelieving Jews or their Adherents who liv'd in Thessalonica or were Inhabitants of some part or other of Macedonia They were none of them at that distance but their Malice and Revenge would bring them quickly together to Consult and effect if possible the Extirpation of the Christian Religion The Good Apostle had dealt very fairly with these Believing Thessalonians and the other Macedonian Christians he had told them plainly what they must trust to if they were Christians in reality 'T was not a Life of Ease or Luxury they were to lead but such as his own a Life of Labour and hard Travel yet withal alleviated by a chearful Spirit and a thankful Commemoration of the Disciple being like unto his Master and the Servant as his Lord Mat. 10.25 With an Assurance That Sufferings for Christs sake would not last for ever but the recompence of the reward would which God the Father through the Merits of his Son Christ Jesus would bestow upon them The Persecutors of the Church St. Paul knew would flourish like a Green Bay Tree for a while but their end he foresaw without timely Repentance which he most earnestly desired would be Infernal Flames and that it would not be long e'er the Christians as 't was reveal'd to him from Heaven should have a glorious Deliverance and after the Storms and Tempests of Persecution quiet Halcyon Days as they had The danger was least in the interim upon a timorous prospect of the Trouble that should intervene they should be drawn away from the Profession of the Faith turning aside like a deceitful bow Psal 78.57 As to this Affair St. Paul was very sollicitous lest his labour in the Gospel should prove in vain upon their accounts tho not his own as appears from the Third Chap. of this Epistle ver 5. Wherefore he saw it necessary frequently to put in mind what they were and what to do To this end may be read what is antecedent and consequent in this Epistle to the Chapter where my Text is Pray without ceasing In every thing give thanks c. Quench not the Spirit Despise not Prophecyings Which Words are several short and pithy Sentences of Exhortation to Believers how to behave themselves in this World in order to their being happy in another not limited wholly to the Thessalonians particular circumstances but very extensive and reaching all Christians of all times and places whatsoever In the Words we have these Particulars First We are positively enjoyn'd the great Duty of Prayer and the Constancy of it Pray withont ceasing Secondly The Duty of Thanksgiving in the like positive manner and how universally to

to instruct you in all the necessary Points of Salvation rightly dividing the word of God and not rending it asunder as the manner of some is such as Pray for you without ceasing at home and in the Church such as instruct your Children in the Fundamentals of Christianity the Excellent Church Catechism and your selves as well as them in the Exposition of it such as visit you in all your Distresses and Trials councel comfort succour you For these Blessings we ought all to give Thanks and for the enjoyments of the Gospel without the cruelties of an Inquisition or the barbarities of an Oliverian sequestration For if the Thessalonians were in every thing to give thanks and rejoyce in the Lord always tho' surrounded with Persecutions much more we who have no disturbance in our Religion as the poor Afflicted Protestants now in France and Savoy and other places have whom God of his All-sufficient Grace support God of his Infinite Goodness in his due time deliver 3. I proceed now after these two foregoing positive precepts to one that is negative which is this Quench not the Spirit including as I intimated this affirmative viz. That we reverence the real Gifts of Good and Faithful Ministers Sound and Orthodox Divines The Spirit of God does not now adays Operate in an extraordinary manner as in the Primitive Times so as to ennable Men otherwise Illiterate as most of the Apostles were to speak divers Languages not taught them the common way The Apostles were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inspired by the Holy Ghost and in a more peculiar manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Taught Immediately by God The holy Ghost descended visibly in Cloven Tongues like as of Fire as appears from Acts Second and Third from whence this passage of not Quenching the Spirit seems to be deriv'd And to Give them their due tho' many Enthusiasts boast of Inspiration Extraordinary Call and Apostolical Endowments to qualify them for the Work of the Ministery they pretend not to the Gift of Tongues here they will grant that the Spirit is stinted to them and that they are not absolutely so good Linguists as the Apostles were They have had those among them indeed who have made a vain Ostentation of this gift also but they have been Subtile Popish Priests in Masquerade who in Mechanical Dresses have endeavoured to make men believe that they never had any learned Education and yet that they did not want it as having no less a Person than the Holy Ghost himself for their Tutor who has taught them the Learned Tongues but these have been detected for Impostors by trying them in such Languages as they have not understood And so for the gift of Healing Curing the Deaf Blind Dumb Lunatick and Paralytick and Ejecting of Devils they do not lay claim to them and yet one thing observe by the way they assume to themselves which is the Gift of Unpremeditated Prayer and yet that is not mentioned amongst any of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost described at large in 1 Cor. 12. nor in any other place of Holy Scripture beside It may be asked then here What is the Quenching of the Spirit now adays Doth not the Spirit of God work still on the Children of Obedience as well as the Evil Spirit on the Children of Disobedience Eph. 2.2 I Answer Yes without doubt so as to assist all those that use honest Endeavours and proper Means to fit themselves for the Ministerial Function But how can we once think that God will work Miracles upon some to save them the Pains of Study and the Charges of Education and forsake others that by all possible care have made it their Business and been at great Expence both of Time and upon other accounts to qualifie themselves for the Embassadors of Christ Jesus 2 Cor. 5.20 For my part and I doubt not the concurrent Sentiments of all unprejudic'd and considerate Persons I give no credit to any that arrogate to themselves a Supernatural Call to the Ministry With great and profound Humility we Sons of the Church of England are ready to acknowledge That the best Men of us all are unable to act any good thing as of our selves alone but our Sufficiency is of God We owe all we can say or do well to the Aid of God's good and gracious Spirit Co-operating with our earnest tho' weak Endeavours But how unlikely is it and indeed absurd to imagine That God should deny us the Blessings of his Holy Spirit who are always praying for its Sanctifying Influences kind and benign Assistances and by incessant Studies striving to improve our Talents of Grace Learning and Knowledge for the Edification of our Brethren and bestow it in a Super-eminent degree upon Persons who never had any extraordinary Parts or common Ingenious Education so as to enable them to do more without any precious Pains than those who have always been diligent to supply themselves with necessary Sciences of all sorts in order to the great Work of the Ministry Certainly our Heavenly Father hath always been more propitious to the sedulous Endeavours of his Pious Servant joyning the help of his Spirit with ordinary means such as Learning Study Meditation comparing of Passages of Holy Scripture one with another Consulting Original Languages and the like This undoubtedly is the way to a true Gospel-Ministry to have such for the Guide of Souls as have had good Education have been such Studious Preparers of themselves for their Sacred Office that as it would be presumption in them in the highest degree to expect Miracles in these Days to make them Learned Rabbins extempore of Illiterate Men so God be praised it is no wise necessary for them to plead any such thing as being qualify'd for the Work in the usual Method as the Nature of our Establish'd Church requires viz. by being taught the Learned Tongues in their youthful Days Philosophical Insititutions in their fresher Academick Gowns which Philosophy is justly Stiled the Hand-maid to Divinity and afterward in the Maturity of their Judgments have searched into the great Truths of the Christian Religion Perused the Councils Fathers and Primitive Writers and the Defences and Apologies of our Church against all sorts of Opposers Which by the Grace of God will still be done against Atheists and Theists which I look upon to be as near in their Notions as they are in their Names if not many of them though dissembled altogether the same Against Socinians who deny the Lord that bought them and put him to an open shame who as far as in them lies make Him suffer in his Divinity as he did once in his Humanity Against Jesuited Romanists and Bigotted Separatists and Schismaticks of what Denomination whatsoever in the mean time shewing a Spirit of Moderation and of some having Compassion making a difference as St. Jude speaks ver 22. endeavouring to win them together with the Strength of Arguments by all the Sweetness of Temper imaginable