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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
saint_n	aaron_n	account_n	lord_n	11	3	3.0850	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30338	A discourse wherein is held forth the opposition of the doctrine, worship, and practices of the Roman church to the nature, designs and characters of the Christian faith by Gilbert Burnet.; Mystery of iniquity unveiled	Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1688 (1688)	Wing B5779; ESTC R7432	58,858	73

part of the Scriptures are the Writings of the Old Testament And yet these were communicated to all of that Dispensation who were commanded by Christ to search them and who did educate their Children in them continuing that Holy care to a high degree even to this Day Now except it be said that it is sitter all be kept under Darkness in the new Dispensation than was in the Old no account can be given for the Zeal is used in any Church to keep their Children in such ignorance and yet this is a part of the distinguishing Characters of the new Dispensation from the Old that Light hath appeared in it Now all may know how guilty those of Rome are in this What pains are taken to detract from the Authority of the Scriptures how they quarrel sometimes its Darkness sometimes its Ambiguousness sometimes the genuineness of its Originals and always complain of its being too much perused and therefore let as little of it be put in vulgar Tongues as can be read it publickly in an unknown Tongue and permit no private Person the use of it without allowance from his Confessor Of which tho in some places the Reformation hath made them more liberal yet where there is no hazard of that they betray their aversion for the Scriptures too palpably in all their Writings and Discourses But now to pursue my Design more closely I must call to mind the first Branch of the Christian Religion which teacheth how God is to be worshipped in a pure and spiritual Way and see how far this is contradicted And here I must consider the Idolatry of the Gentiles which was of two kinds The one was when the True God was worshipped in a false manner The other was when Divine Adoration was offered to those who were no Gods. Of the first I shall reckon two kinds the first was when an Image or Figure was erected for representing the Deity to the Senses and adoration offered to God through it In which case though perhaps the Herd did formally worship the Image yet their Philosophers declared they meant these only for exciting the Senses and Imagination and not for being worshipped much less that the Deity should be conceived like unto them as we find both in Celsus Julian and Maximus Tyrius Now this form of Adoration is contrary both to the Divine Essence and Command For God must either be conceived like such an Image or not If like to it then a great indignity is done the Divine Nature greater than if a Toad or Worm were set out as the Image of a King to have civil Reverence paid to it since he is of his own Essence Incomprehensible and Invisible and so hath no Shape or Figure In a word it abases our thoughts of God when we figure him to our selves But if we conceive God not like such an Image then why is it used except to be a Snare to the Vulgar who will be ready to think God like unto it And certain it is that whatever the more refined or abstracted Wits may conceive of these Images yet the Vulgar offer up their Adorations directly to them and conceive God to be like unto them This Worship is also contrary to the Divine Precept who made it one of the Ten Commandments which himself delivered to his People Exod. 20.4 That no graven Image nor Likeness should be made to be worshipped And the reason given shews the Law was perpetual for God is ever jealous of the Glory due to him Now what kindness those of Rome have to this Command may be guessed by their striking it out of their Catechisms as if it were only an Appendix of the first But if we read the whole Old Testament it will furnish us with large discoveries of God's Displeasure at this kind of Worship to which the Jews were so inclinable but God would not give his Praise to graven Images Isa 42.8 Now here it is to be remembred that the Jewish Dispensation was low and carnal when compared to that to which we are called If then this Worship was not allowed of to them it is much less to be allowed of among Christians Another part of the false Worship of the Heathens was that they believed the Deity and Divine Power was by mystical and magical ways affixed to some Bodies as the Sun or Stars are or to some Temples and to some Ancilia and Palladia which they believed came down from Heaven Acts 19.35 to which they held God to be present and adherent and therefore worshipped them And of kin to this was the Israelites their worshipping the Calf in the Wilderness Exod. 32. for it is clear they looked on it as their God who had brought them out of Egypt therefore could not possibly be adoring the Egyptian God that was an Ox but the Feast that was to Jehovah and the Psalm 106. vers 20. that says they changed their Glory into the similitude of an Ox do shew that they worshipped the True God though in a false manner Neither is it to be imagined that Aaron the Prophet and Saint of the Lord though very guilty in this Matter could for all that be so criminal as to make a false God But the most satisfying account of his Fault is that when he saw God in the Mount Exod. 24.10 God appeared in that Figure that was afterwards in the most Holy Place which was to be framed after the Pattern seen in the Mount. And if so then God appeared between the Cherubims now the Figure of a Cherub was the same with that of a Calf in its hinder parts Ezek. 1.7 And if we compare vers 10. of that Chap. with Ezek. 10.14 what in the first place is called the Face of an Ox is in the second called the Face of a Cherub which tells us clearly what was the Figure of the Cherub And therefore Aaron seeing the People desired a sensible Symbol of God's Presence among them he made choice of that he had seen in the Mount about the Divine Glory and yet all that did not excuse his Fault in the sight of God. In like manner after the Tabernacle and Temple were set up wherein were the Cherubims when Jeroboam revolted he set up Calves 1 King. 12.28 29. as is probable upon the same account but no doubt continued in all Points the Worship of the True God as it was at Jerusalem as might be proved from many Particulars but the Sin wherewith he made Israel to sin was the worshipping of the True God by a false Symbol The like account is to be given of the Idolatry of Gideon's Ephod Judg. 8.27 And of the worshipping the Brazen Serpent 2 King. 18.4 where certainly the True God was adored and yet the People went a whoring from him in that Worship And here the Title of Whoredom given to Idolatry so often in the Old Testament is to be considered the importance whereof is that God by covenanting with his People is married to them

which we withdrew from her are additions to our faith for in this we mainly differ from that Church that whatever we acknowled they acknowledg likewise but with a great many additions We believe the Scriptures are a rule for Christians and they believe the same but they add Traditions and the authority of the Church to the Scriptures We believe that God is to be worshipped spiritually they believe the same but add that he may be worshipped by images and sensible Figures We believe Christ to be the Mediator betwixt God and Man they believe the same but add to this the intercession of Saints We hold that God and Christ are to be worshipped they hold the same but add Saints and Angels to their worship We believe Heaven and Hell to be the several States of the future life they believe the same but add Purgatory betwixt them to the day of Judgment We believe Baptism and the Lords Supper to be the Sacraments of the new Covenant they believe the same but add five more We believe Christ is spiritually and really present in the Lords Supper this they believe but add the unconceivable Tenent of his corporal presence In a word it might be instanced in many other particulars how they have driven us from their Communion by their additions to the truth and sincerity of the Gospel which they have adulterated by their Inventions and not only have they imposed all these things but thundered out Anathema's on all that question them and have so wreathed all their fopperies with that main and fundamental article of their belief of the infallibility of their Church that it is impossible to hope for their recovery till they renounce that Principle which is so dear to them For if their Church be infallible then in no matter of faith or practice can she decree amiss and therefore the lawfulness and sanctity of all her Decrees must be maintained with an equal vigor and zeal for if in one of them she step aside her infallibility is for ever gone And by this we may see to how little purpose it is to treat of accomodating matters with that Church since there is no possibility of our Union with them without we turn over entirely to them For they cannot part with one of their errors without they first renounce that which is the dearest of them all to wit the unerring authority of their Church How cruel then is that Church which addeth the severe sanction of an Anathema to all her decrees even about the most trifling matters and about things that are by their Confession of their own natures indifferent And a consectary to this is that cruel opinion they hold that none can be saved out of their Communion pretending there is no Salvation without the true Church which they restrict to those who are under the obedience of the Roman Bishop and this is what they usually frighten all with But it is to be considered what the true notion of the Church is that so we may see through this frightful Vizar The Church then is a Society of Christians united in the same faith for worshipping of God jointly And another definition of a Church cannot be proved from Scripture for the Church being called the Body of Christ its union with him as its Head is held forth by the Apostle in these words Col. 2.19 The head Christ from whom the whole body by joints and bonds having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God. From which words we see what constitutes a man a member of the true Church which is first his union to Christ as his head together with a dependance on him for growth and nutriture and next his being knit to all others who are thus united to Christ which is first the inward union of divine charity by which he loves all who cleave to Christ as their Head and next his associating himself with them in outward visible acts of worship which every Christian is bound to do with all that worship God in Spirit and Truth But if a Society of Christians do visibly swerve from Christ in many great and signal contradictions to the honour due to his Person and to the obedience due to his Laws and do grosly adulterate the worship so that communion cannot be had with that Church without departing from the Head Christ then it can be no departing from the Church to adhere to Christ and his true worship and to separate from the corruptions which are brought in upon the Christian Religion If then it appear that the Church of Rome hath departed from the truth and simplicity of the Gospel in so many great and main points those who attempted the reforming her to her first Purity and finding that not to be hoped for did unite among themselves for serving and worshipping God aright cannot be charged with separation from the true Church But by that cruel Tenent of theirs they breed up all their Children in the greatest uncharitableness imaginable condemning all who cannot believe their strange Doctrines or concur in their unhallowed worsh p. Thus they are the Schismaticks who have departed from the true Church and who force from their Communion all who adhere to it but this cruelty rests not in uncharitable censures but hath extended it self to as much bloody and barbarous rage as ever sprung from Hell for all the cruelty of the heathen Persecutors cannot match the practises of that Whore that hath been so often drunk with the blood of the Saints and of the Martyrs of Jesus What enraged cruelty appeared against the poor Waldenses for the separating from their Corruptions How many of all Sexes and Ages were cruelly butchered down by the procurement of the Rulers of that Church and because the Albigenses lived under the protection of Princes that favoured them how did the Popes depose their Princes and instigate other ambitious invaders to seize on their dominions Which to effectuate a Croissade was proclaimed that had been formerly practised against the Enemies of the Christian Faith and Heaven was promised to such as went against these poor innocents whereupon they were killed by thousands without all mercy Never was there any who had the zeal or honesty in these dark ages to witness against the apostacy of the Church but the Pope and Clergy used all means to get his zeal rewarded with a Faggot And when the time of Reformation came with what rage and spite did the Pope by his Letters and Legates instigate all the Princes of Europe to cruelty against them But as these things were not done in corners so they are still so fresh in our remembrance by the copious accounts we have of them that I need not tell what Arts the Popes and other Ecclesiasticks used to set all Germany on fire upon this account Nor need I tell the cruelty was exercised in the Netherlands in Charles the Fifth his time in which more than an hundred thousand are