Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	holy_a	tradition_n	unwritten_a	2,627	5	12.0852	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41440	The leaven of pharisaism and sadducism purged out a sermon preached before the Court of Aldermen and city of London at their Guild-hall Chappel on Sunday Decemb. 16, 1688 / by J. Goodman.	Goodman, John, 1625 or 6-1690.	1689 (1689)	Wing G1110; ESTC R37399	15,173	36

of and that that whole affair is Matter of indifferency since God is pleased with variety or regards not what Principles Men are of so they be Devout and Honest in their respective persuasions This conceit wherever it is is nothing better than a piece of the Old Leaven of Sadducism Or if there be those that assert that the Religion of Christ Jesus is only to be of the Religion of the Prince and Country Or that whatsoever a Man believes in his Heart it is lawful for him to conceal and disguise it and to make profession of that which comports best with his Safety and Interest all this is Sadducism To give one instance more on this Head Whosoever they be that would persuade us we must needs understand those Famous words Hoc est Corpus meum in the gross literal sence against all the Reason of the world and the very Testimony of our Saviour this is neither better nor worse than a spice of old Sadducism And then on the other side for the Pharisees Wherever we observe Men building their Faith and Religion upon Oral and unwritten Tradition and equalling that to the Holy Scripture and written Word of God this is Pharisaism Or wherever we find Men imposing upon others a vast and voluminous Creed and enjoyning a World of Nice Observances under the Peril of Eternal Damnation if they be not complied with or the Yoke laid upon the Neck of the Disciples of our Lord no whit Inferious to that of Judaism in all this there is the Spirit of Pharisaism Wherever we see Men lay mighty stress upon disputable Opinions or to Save or Damn Men accordingly as they are of such or such a Party here is the plain Genius of Pharisaism To name no more Wherever we observe Men to be mighty pretenders to Devotion but careless of Justice and Charity or to strain at a Gnat and swallow a Camel all this is the Leaven of Pharisaism wherever it is found and to be avoided accordingly In the next place let us consider the Emphasis of these Words of our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take heed and beware it is an earnest expression that I do not remember to have observed above once more in the whole New Testament and to be sure imports no less than that great application of mind is required in this particular Religion is certainly a business that deserves to be well considered of and to be carefully examined and well understood as well as Devoutly prosecuted nor is there any thing in this World for the sake of which God gave us our Understanding more than to inquire into this weighty affair And the least that can be made of the charge here in the Text is that we by no means allow our selves Supinely to swallow whatsoever is either first Suggested or imperiously Dictated to us since such an Implicit Faith is the very first working of the Leaven of the Pharisaism and Sadducism and the vindicating our selves to our selves and the asserting the Freedom of our own Thoughts and Liberty of judging for our selves is the first Step to true and generous Christianity and the way to be everlastingly secured from the aforesaid Leaven For example If we freely consult our own Reason we shall never be able to think of God Almighty as of a partial Deity or an accepter of Persons that will Save or Damn Men in gross accordingly as they shall be of such a Sect or Party We shall never be able to imagine that a great and wise Majesty will have any great value for empty forms and meer Pageantry of Religion as if we had a Fancy like that of the Pantomime at Rome who having been admired by the Rabble would needs have the fondness to go also into the Capitol and play his Tricks over before the Gods as if God must needs be pleased with what the silly multitude admired It can never enter into a considering Mans thoughts that the Divine Majesty should be propitiated with Beads and Baubles that Mony should Purchase his Favour to the Wicked Man that he should be corrupted with Bribes or imposed upon and won with Complements In a word no Man that hath and makes use of the discretion of a reasonable Creature can think so unworthily of God as that he should be fatally offended with little mistakes in Opinion or that he will cast away a very sincere and Devout Man meerly upon the Account of a Ceremony under or over and he that allows himself but this kind of modest Freedom of mind hath made good Provision against the danger of the Leaven of Pharisaism and Sadducism Again in the Third place the most effectual security against the aforesaid Leaven is to keep to the Holy Scripture especially of the New Testament to study that and take all the Measures of our Religion thence If we trust to the Authority and dictates of Men or to the Customs and Fashions of the World they will betray us to those Leavens or if meerly upon unwritten Tradition that like a common Sewer brings down for the most part the Trash and Rubbish of former times very often letting the most weighty things sink and perish in the passage For proof of which we need no other evidence but the experience of the Jews amongst whom one cannot but admire what childish and ridiculous Stories this way of Tradition hath filled them with insomuch that this Oral part of their Religion hath almost quite disparaged that which was written and Divinely revealed meerly by the Vicinage and Conjunction with it Whereas if we attend to and study the Holy Scripture that will not only preserve us from such mean and unworthy Notions of God and Religion but will ingage us in such a method as shall both make us better Men and the World the better for us If we govern our selves by Tradition and the Fancies of Men then all our Care and Devotion will be laid out in Cultivating an Opinion in Ceremonious Addresses to the Deity in Pompous Oblations or in Scrupulous Observance but if we consult the Scripture that will teach us that God will have Mercy and not Sacrifice and that a pure Mind and an Holy Life are more acceptable to him than long Prayers frequent Fasts and the most costly Offerings There we shall find that the first and great Commandment of Gods Law is Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Mind and with all thy Strength and that whatever demonstrates sincere Love to him be it little or much is sure to procure his Favour These we shall learn expresly that the Lord our God is not pleased with the Fat of Lambs nor propitiated with Rivers of Oyl neither doth he require the fruit of our Bodies to expiate the Sin of our Souls but that we do justly and love Mercy and walk humbly with our God The due consideration of which passages of Scripture will effectually Antidote us against the Infection of any of the aforesaid Leavens To all which I add in the last place that if we do but mind the Nature and Notion of Christianity and consider the Genius and Spirit of that Religion we are safe particularly if we do but look upon it under the representation which those two Words or Phrases give of it whereby it is called a reasonable Service and a Spiritual Worship As for the former no Man can be so absurd as to think that a reasonable service which is built upon an implicit Faith and where a Man understands nothing of the Reason and Grounds of his Religion but in a Blind Obedience servilely and brutishly gives himself up to the Conduct of others or when he Worships God in a Language whereof he hath no knowledge or understanding And as for the other Phrase of a Spiritual Worship can any Man of common sense take that to be a Spiritual Religion which is made up of Bodily Drudgeries of meer Forms and Rites and Ceremonies But to be a Christian is to have worthy Notions of God in our minds and a flame of servent Piety and Devotion to him in our Hearts to Love him to Fear him to Trust in him to be Holy and Just and Sober in our Lives and to be peaceable in our Spirits such a Religion as this is worthy of God was fit for the Son of God to be the Author and Publisher of and the Consciencious Observance of it will fit us for and in due time bring us to the possession of the Heavenly Mansions above and the Eternal Society of glorious Saints and Angels in Heaven Which God grant to us all through the Merits and Mediation of the same Jesus Christ Our Lord To whom be Glory and Honour and Adoration for ever and ever Amen ADVERTISEMENT The Golden Rule Or The Royal Law of 〈◊〉 explained By J. Goodman D. D. And are to be Sold by Robert Olavel at the Peacock at the West-End of St. Pauls FINIS