Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	letter_n	scripture_n	word_n	5,932	5	5.0912	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47430	An admonition to the dissenting inhabitants of the diocess of Derry concerning a book lately published by Mr. J. Boyse, entituled, Remarks on a late discourse of William, Lord Bishop of Derry, concerning the inventions of men in the worship of God / from William, Lord Bishop of the said diocess.	King, William, 1650-1729.	1694 (1694)	Wing K521; ESTC R2391	38,117	65

and your Worship is confessedly indefensible without it I may expect that you will think your selves obliged to stand by it and that you will not judge of your own Worship by one Rule and of ours by another But further since the determination of these things according to Mr. Boyse is left to Human Prudence it is most reasonable that great caution and care should be used in determining these Modes left undetermined by the Scripture and that it should not be trusted with every private Man but be referred to the wisdom of the Church and Kingdom and therefore what the Clergy by their Representatives in Convocation and the Laity by their Representatives in Parliament have determined as prudent concerning these Modes methinks should stand against all private Judgments which in matters of meer Prudence ought to submit to the general Wisdom Especially when what has been so determined has been confirmed by long Custom and the universal Consent of the Churches of God for many Ages Therefore you must not hereafter on this principle ask any proof from Scripture for any thing in our Worship but you must prove it expresly forbidden there or else you must conform to it as being determined by Human Prudence Which in this case by Mr. Boyse's Rule is sufficient I hope by this time you see that it was not interest or design to serve a Party that made me omit this Rule since I might have made so much use of it But to deal ingeniously with you I could not approve of it in the Latitude Mr. Boyse proposes it and I thought my self obliged not to propose any thing to you that I did not approve my self For I can by no means allow that God has left the determination of Time Place Order Circumstances Postures and Utensils in all Cases to Human Prudence He has not only given us general Rules to praise him pray to him hear his Word to Worship him with our Bodies and to receive his Supper but he has likewise given us many particular Rules and Examples concerning each of these to which if we diligently attend and mind the consequences of them and apply them to like Cases we may have sufficient Directions from Scripture to order our Worship without having recourse to Human Prudence which is a very uncertain and infallible Rule in the Worship of God I have collected many of these particular directions and examples in my Book and shewed our Worship to be Justifiable by the strict letter of them and sure 't is a great presumption to lay aside these particular directions and examples and to substitute others in their stead because our own Prudence judges them more for Edification It is not easie for us to agree in the determinations of Human Prudence but we may easily agree in a plain particular direction of Scripture Thus God has determined a 7th Day for our Ordinary Worship and you see we have no dispute about it He has likewise given us Precedents in Scripture to perpetuate the memory of signal Mercies by yearly Solemnities or Festivals but because these are not so particularly determined by Scripture as the other you may observe how difficult 't is for us by Human Prudence to agree in them We ought therefore to be very Thankful to God for his particular directions afforded us in Scripture and to stick to them as close as we can As for Example God has not given us any Precedent of Verse Psalm or Hymn in the New Testament either Originally there or by Translation out of the Old Testament in those portions of the Old Testament Psalms that are Quoted therein but he has given us in the New Testament positive Precedents of Prose Psalms and Hymns both Original and Translated and this ought to teach us what sort of Translation is most proper to be offer'd to God in his Praises God has given us examples of solemn Adorations in his Worship of Kneeling Bowing and Standing before him and this alone is sufficient to bring you and us to uniformity in this point And the like may be said of all those Instances I have given you in my Book where I have laid down the particular Rules and Directions God has given us for performing the several parts of his Worship In all which the letter of the Scripture is clearly on our side and Mr. Boyse has not opposed Scripture to Scripture but has declined the literal sense in many Cases without reason and has preferred the determinations of Human Prudence in others as being more for Edification than the Scripture Examples as is manifest in your manner of Singing Psalms and many other particulars But I remember the Apostles Rule 1 Cor. 1.25 The foolishness of God is wiser than Men the meanest example or precedent in Scripture is to me more conclusive in the Worship of God than the most wise Determination of Human Prudence And therefore I conclude that we cannot have a more clear or certain Rule or more likely to unite us in God's Service than what I have laid down in my Book and I intreat you again to compare your Worship with it and to reform those things that are not contained in Scripture or warranted by Example of Holy Men in it or may not be deduced by clear consequence or parity of reason from them This Rule is plain enough to any capacity and to go about to explain it will only as Mr. Boyse has done make it obscure and uncertain II But 2 dly Mr. Boyse endeavours to perswade you That the greatest exception you have against joyning with us is not the matter of our publick Ordinary Worship Hence in his Preface he tells you that I have taken the greatest pains to maintain the best Fortified parts of our Churches constitution and left the Feeble unguarded and p. 169. he says That I take no notice of Human Inventions in the Discipline of the Church about which he alledges That I know the Contest between the established Church and Dissenters chiefly lyes and upon this he proceeds and makes many proposals or demands But I desire you to observe First That my Discourse was concerning the Inventions of Men in the Worship of God and it is a Subject large enough and to handle it well and in such a Method as may help the Reader to have a clear understanding of it is an useful work and sufficient for one Discourse and for Mr. Boyse to tax me for not writing another on the Inventions of Men in the Discipline of the Church is very unreasonable He is not pleased that I wrote this and yet he would have had me write another on a Subject more apt to give offence for I assure my self if ever I should write on that Subject you would be less pleased with my performance than in this since I must look on the general frame of your whole Constitution at least so far as its conformable to those Heads of Agreement that Mr Boyse owns to be a

thereof And accordingly when omitted in private Baptism by Order of the Church 't is declared that in that case all is well done and according to due Order concerning Baptising the Child I conclude therefore directly contrary to what Mr. Boyse alledges That besides Divine Institution every thing is wanting to make the Sign of the Cross a Sacrament that is proper to Baptism or any other Sacrament And I must profess that I find as little strength in this Argument again the Cross as in any that Mr. Boyse has produced on the other Heads and the whole force of it seems to me to proceed from two Mistakes concerning the Nature of Sacraments First As if they were Signs from us to God and not wholly from God to us And Secondly As if we were to learn the Nature of Sacraments from the Schools and the partial Definitions of interested Disputants and not from the Holy Scriptures only Hence he has not given us one place of Scripture to prove his imperfect Account of a Sacrament p. 464. But instead thereof tells us of the Cross being set up to represent Christ Crucified Our being brought under solemn Obligations to confess the Faith of Christ and of Moral Casuality ascribed to this Ceremony All which have little to do with the Nature of a Sacrament I would have you better consider for what a Sacrament is intended then that you should be led to use these as the only Design of it If we keep to the Holy Scriptures and to the Words thereof as I have laid them down we shall have a much better understanding of its Nature III. But to proceed in the Third place I say that the use of the Cross in Baptism is Warranted by Scripture And here I must desire leave to be something large and particular that I may explain this Point to ordinary Capacities And in order to enable you to judge of it I desire you to consider 1. That we are obliged to express the inward Reverence and Sense of our Minds concerning God by some outward means whereby we may preserve and increase that Sense in our selves and may make appear to others what we think of God and Holy Things Thus we are obliged to express our Sense of God's Excellencies by Praises our Sense of our Dependance on him by Confession of his Power and Prayers our Sense of having Offended him by Confession of our Sins and our Resolution of Amendment by Promises and Vows 2. The Scriptures command us to express these inward Thoughts and Sense of our Minds by Actions as well as by Words Thus we express the Submission of our Minds by Adoration our Humility before God by Kneeling or Prostration c. Which Actions the Scriptures have as much Warranted in our Addresses to God as they have Words and generally speaking they are rather more Effectual and Sincere Expressions of the Sense of our Minds then Words 3. The Scriptures teach us to Express our Thoughts and Sense of our Minds in such Words and Actions as on other serious Occasions serve to express the like Sense and Dispositions of Mind So that we are not to invent new Words or Actions to signifie our Submission or Thankfulness c. to God but we are to use such as the general Custom of our Country have made significant in the like Cases for by using them our Neighbours will best understand us and we our selves will be most likely to be stirred up by them That it is our Duty to use these Actions in the Worship of God will appear from the whole Tenour of the Scriptures Thus because bowing the Body in all places of the World argues Respect therefore the Scriptures warrant our bowing when we come into God's Presence Thus because by the general Custom of the World Kneeling is a token of humbly Supplicating those to whom we Kneel therefore in our Confessions and humblest Addresses to God the Scriptures prescribe to us to Kneel Thus because Servants stand when they attend their Masters therefore in our Praises and in some other Services we pay to God the Scriptures Warrant us to stand Thus because in the Eastern Countries those that came into the Courts of Princes put off their Shoes out of neatness or respect therefore God sometime required his Worshippers to approach his presence in the like manner Thus because it was the Custom for Masters to give their Servants a new Name at their admission into their Families therefore God gave Abraham a new Name at his admitting him to his peculiar Service and hence came the Custom of giving a Name at Circumcision Thus it was the Custom of the World to express a Sense of deep Sorrow by Fasting lying on the Ground covering themselves with Sackcloath Renting their Garments and Beating their Bodies and hence we find Holy Men using all these to express their Sorrow for their Sins Thus they expressed their Religious as well as Civil Joy by Singing Feasting Dancing sending Portions to their Friends by White Garments and more then Ordinary Neatness in their Dress And of this Nature there are many other Instances which fully shew us That the Scriptures warrant us to make use of such fit Actions to express our Thoughts and Sense of Religious Things as the Custom of each Country has made proper and significant to express the Passions of our Minds on other Occasions and do no more bind us to the particular Actions of Holy Men mentioned therein if they have lost their Significancy then they bind us to their Words which we do not understand This appears from many Instances of Scripture Actions now disus'd by us and of others brought into use Particularly that of Uncovering the Head an Action never used in Scripture as a Sign of Reverence yet lawfully used by us from the forementioned implyed Rule of Scripture because Custom has given it a general Signification of Respect 4. Glorying in the Sufferings of Christ and professing our selves ready to follow him even to the most ignominious Death on the Cross is a Duty incumbent on us by the Scripture Gal. 6.14 God forbid I should Glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ therefore we ought to express this Duty and Glory in it by such outward Means as are most proper and do most effectually and generally Signifie it And since by universal Custom there are Actions as well as Words that signifie this our Glorying in the Cross of Christ Scripture-Precedents warrant and oblige us to use both 5. Making the Sign of the Cross is an Action which Universal Custom in all Ages and Churches since the Apostles Time till the Reformation have applyed to Signifie your Glorying in the Sufferings of Christ and 't is understood by all those that have heard of Christianity tho' Enemies to it to have this Signification Therefore the Scriptures warrant the use of it to this purpose as much as standing uncovered in token of Reverence at our Prayers and the Scriptures themselves