Selected quad for the lemma: rest_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
rest_n call_v day_n sabbath_n 12,878 5 10.6052 5 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A58583 Act ratifying the confession of faith and settling Presbyterian church-government Edinburgh, the seventh day of June, 1690. Scotland. 1690 (1690) Wing S1157; ESTC R34034 26,464 30

There are 2 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

alone is Lord of the Conscience and hath left it free from the Doctrines and Commandments of men which are in any thing contrary to his Word or beside it in matters of Faith or Worship So that to believe such Doctrines or to obey such Commands out of Conscience is to betray true liberty of Conscience and the requiring of an implicite saith and an absolute and blind obedience is to destroy liberty of Conscience and Reason also III. They who upon pretence of Christian Liberty do practise any sin or cherish any lust do thereby destroy the end of Christian Liberty which is that being dilivered out of the hands of our Enemies we might serve the Lord without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of out life IV. And because the Powers which God hath ordained and the Liberty which Christ hath purchased are not intended by God to destroy but mutually to uphold and preserve one another they who upon pretence of Christian Liberty shall oppose any lawful Power or the lawful exercise of it whether it be Civil or Ecclesiastical resist the Ordinance of God And for their publishing of such Opinions or maintaining of such Practices as are contrary to the light of Nature or to the known Principles of Christianity whether concerning Faith Worship or Conversation to the Power of Godliness or such erroneous Opinions or Practices as either in their own nature or in the manner of publishing or maintaining them are destructive to the external Peace and Order which Christ hath established in the Church they may lawfully be called to account and proceeded against by the Censures of the Church and by the power of the Civil Magistrat CHAP. XXI Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath-day THe light of Nature sheweth that there is a GOD who hath Lordship and Soveraignty over all is good and doth good unto all and is therefore to be feared loved praised called upon trusted in and served with all the heart and with all the soul and with all the might But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself and so limited by his own revealed Will that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men or the suggestions of Satan under any visible representation or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture II. Religious Worship is to be given to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and to him alone not to Angels Saints or any other creature and since the Fall not without a Mediator nor in the mediation of any other but of Christ alone III. Prayer with Thanksgiving being one special part of Religious worship is by God required of all men and that it may be accepted it is to be made in the Name of the Son by the help of his Spirit according to his Will with understanding reverence humility fervency faith love and perseverence and if vocal in a known tongue IV. Prayer is to be made for things lawful and for all sorts of men living or that shall live hereafter but not for the dead nor for those of whom it may be known that they have sinned the sin unto death V. The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear the sound preaching and conscionable hearing of the Word in obedience unto God with Understanding Faith and Reverence singing of Psalms with grace in the heart as also the due administration and worthy receiving of the Sacraments instituted by Christ are all parts of the ordinary Religious Worship of God Beside Religious Oaths Vows Solemn Fastings and Thanksgiving upon special occasions which are in their several times and seasons to be used in an holy and religious manner VI. Neither Prayer nor any other part of Religious Worship is now under the Gospel either tyed unto or made more acceptable by any place in which it is performed or towards which it is directed but God is to be worshipped every where in Spirit and in Truth as in private families daily and in secret each one by himself so more solemnly in the publick Assemblies which are not carelessly or wilfully to be neglected or forsaken when God by his Word or Providence calleth thereunto VII As it is of the Law of Nature that in general a due proportion of time be set a-part for the Worship of God so in his Word by a positive Moral and perpetual Commandment binding all men in all ages he hath particularly appointed One day in Seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy unto him which from the beginning of the World to the Resurrection of Christ was the last day of the Week and from the Resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the Week which in Scripture is called the LORD'S Day and is to be continued to the end of the World as the Christian Sabbath VIII This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord when men after a due preparation of their hearts and ordering of their common affairs before-hand do not only observe a holy Rest all the day from their own works words and thoughts about their wordly imployments and recreations but also are taken up the whole time in the publick and private Exerses of his Worship and in the duties of necessity and mercy CHAP. XXII Of Lawful Oaths and Vows A Lawful Oath is a part of Religious Worship wherein upon just ocasion the person swearing solemnly calleth God to Witness what he asserteth or promiseth and to judge him according to the truth or falshood of what he sweareth II. The Name of God only is that by which men ought to swear and therein it is to be used with all holy fear and reverence Therefore to swear vainly or rashly by that glorious and dreadful Name or to swear at all by any other thing is sinful and to be abhorred Yet as in matters of weight and moment an Oath is warranted by the Word of God under the New Testament as well as under the Old so a lawful Oath being imposed by lawful Authority in such matters ought to be taken III. Whosoever taketh an Oath ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act and therein to avouch nothing but what he is fully perswaded is the truth Neither may any man bind himself by Oath to any thing but what is good and just and what he believeth so to be and what he is able and resolved to perform Yet it is a sin to refuse an Oath touching any thing that is good and just being imposed by lawful Authority IV. An Oath is to be taken in the plain and Common sense of the words without Equivocation or Mental Reservation it cannot oblige to sin but in any thing not sinful being taken it binds to performance although to a mans own hurt nor is it to be violated although made to Heriticks or Infidels V. A Vow is of the like nature with a Promissory Oath and ought to be made with the like religious care to
them whatsoever himself pleaseth In his sight all things are open and manifest his Knowledge is infinite infallible and independent upon the Creature so as nothing is to him contingent or uncertain He is most holy in all his Counsels in all his Works and in all his Commands To him is due from Angels and men and every other Creature whatsoever Worship Service or Obedience he is pleased to require of them III. In the Unity of the God-head there be three Persons of one Substance Power and Eternity God the Father God the Son and God the holy Ghost The Father is of none neither begotten nor proceeding The Son is eternally begotten of the Father The Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son CHAP. III. Of God's Eternal Decree GOD from all eternity did by the most wise and Holy Counsel of his own will freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass yet so as thereby neither is God the Author of sin nor is violence offered to the will of the Creatures nor is the Liberty or contingency of second Causes taken away but rather established II. Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions yet hath he not decreed any thing because he foresaw it as future or as that which would come to pass upon such conditions III. By the Decree of God for the manifestation of his Glory some Men and Angels are predestinated unto everlasting life and others fore-ordained to everlasting death IV. These Angels and Men thus predestinated and fore-ordained are particularly and unchangeably designed and their number is so certain and definite that it cannot be either increased or diminished V. Those of Mankind that are predestinated unto Life God before the foundation of the World was laid according to his eternal and immutable purpose and the secret Counsel and good Pleasure of his Will hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting Glory out of his meer free grace and love without any foresight of Faith or good Works or perseverance in either of them or any other thing in the Creature as conditions or causes moving him thereunto and all to the praise of his glorious Grace VI. As God hath appointed the Elect unto glory so hath he by the eternal and most free purpose of his will fore-ordained all the means thereunto Wherefore they who are Elected being fallen in Adam are redeemed by Christ are effectually called unto faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due season are Justified Adopted Sanctified and kept by his power through faith unto salvation Neither are any other redeemed by Christ effectually Called Justified Adopted Sanctified and Saved but the Elect only VII The rest of mankind God was pleased according to the unsearchable counsel of his own Will whereby he extendeth or withholdeth mercy as he pleaseth for the glory of his Soveraign Power over his Creatures to pass by and to ordain them to dishonour and wrath for their sin to the praise of his glorious justice VIII The Doctrine of this high Mystery of Predestination is to be handled with special prudence and care that men attending the will of God revealed in his Word and yielding obedience thereunto may from the certainty of their effectual Vocation be assured of their eternal Election So shall this Doctrine afford matter of praise reverence and admiration of God and of humility diligence and abundant consolation to all that sincerely obey the Gospel CHAP. IV. Of Creation IT pleased God the Father Son and Holy Ghost for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal Power Wisdom and goodness in the beginning to create or make of nothing the World and all things therein whether visible or invisible in the space of six days and all very good II. After God had made all other Creatures he created Man Male and Female with reasonable and immortal souls endowed with knowledge righteousness and true holiness after his own Image having the Law of God written in their hearts and power to fulfill it and yet under a possibility of transgressing being left to the Liberty of their own will which was subject unto change Beside this Law written in their hearts they received a command not to eat of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil which whiles they kept they were happy in their Communion with God and had dominion over the Creatures CHAP. V. Of Providence GOD the great Creator of all things doth uphold direct dispose and govern all Creatures actions and things from the greatest even to the least by his most wise and holy Providence according to his infallible fore-knowledge and the free and immutable counsel of his own will to the praise of the glory of his Wisdom Power Justice Goodness and Mercy II. Although in relation to the fore-knowledge and decree of God the first cause all things come to pass immutably and infallibly yet by the same Providence he ordereth them to fall out according to the nature of second Causes either necessarily freely or contingently III. God in his ordinary Providence maketh use of means yet is free to work without above and against them at his pleasure IV. The Almighty power unsearchable wisdom and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in his Providence that it extendeth it self even to the first fall and all other sins of Angels and men and that not by a bare permission but such as hath joyned with it a most wise and powerful bounding and otherwise ordering and governing of them in a manifold dispensation to his own holy ends yet so as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the Creature and not from God who being most holy and righteous neither is nor can be the Author or Approver of sin V. The most wise righteous and gracious God doth oftentimes leave for a season his own children to manifold temptation and the corruption of their own hearts to chastise them for their former sins or to discover unto them the hidden strength of Corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts that they may be humbled and to raise them to a more closs and constant dependency for their support upon himself and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin and for sundry other just and holy ends VI. As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God as a righteous Judge for former sins doth blind and harden from them he not only withholdeth his grace whereby they might have been inlightned in their understandings and wrought upon in their hearts but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which they had and exposeth them to such objects as their corruption makes occasions of sin and withal gives them over to their own Lusts the temptations of the World and the power of Satan whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves even under these means which God useth for the softning of others VII As the providence of God doth in general reach to all Creatures so after a most