Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A45585
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An humble essay toward the settlement of peace and truth in the church, as a certain foundation of lasting union by Sir Edward Harley.
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Harley, Edward, Sir, 1624-1700.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing H777; ESTC R11056
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25,032
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42
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Isralites for Blaspheming God upon the Hills that is in the high Places where God was Worshiped in a manner not commanded by God Therefore it remains a blemish upon the good Kings of Judah See this fully evinced by Mr Mede in his Com. upon Apoc c. 13. P. 624 625. who abolished the false gods notwithstanding permitted superstitious Worship in the high Places to the true God The Lord Jesus also tells the Woman of Samaria that the Samaritans Worshipped they knew not what 2 King 15.4.35 2 Cron. 33.17 Not because they worshipped a false God that was not their Crime but because they adored God by a Worship invented by Man and not appointed by God Joh. 4.22 't was therefore meer Superstition which could not bring to Salvation the blessed of End of true Religion Superstition is fitly called a colloguing with God Joh. 15.14 consequently the acceptance must be as diverse from that of Religion as flattery is from friendship For they only are the friends of Christ that keep his Commandments Religion is the rule of true Wisdom to bring Mankind to Eternal Happiness Religion by directing all his affections and actions to their proper Object according to the will and command of God God Isaiah 45.18 Acts 17.26 27. who made the World of nothing created it not in vain He formed it to be inhabited and made of one Blood all Nations of Men for to dwell on all the Face of the Earth that they should seek the Lord. Not as though he needed any thing seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things Neither is he worshipped with Mens hands nor dwells in Temples made with hands It is equally impossible for Man to be happy without Religious dependance upon his Creator And for the Worship or Service of any Created Being to be necessary unto God The whole world was made an Harmonious Scheme every Being from the least and lowest to the greatest and highest chiming into the Consort whereof Man was the chief Musitian Eccles 7.29 Man was made upright in a likeness of conformity to his Creator His mind will and affections replenished with Divine knowledg Righteousness and Holiness by which he was capacitated to exercise the Dominion bestowed upon him by God over all the Living Inhabitants of the Air Earth and Water Man therefore is justly defined to be a Rational Religious Creature therein consisting the formal ultimate difference from a Brute and the highest character of his Nature The Excellency of true Religion to be such as before represented will appear in all the due acceptations thereof by which also will be manifested the vanity and mischief of all false Religions Rectum est index sui obliqui for Truth presents the Rule and Indication both of it self and of what is false God who subjected all Creatures to Man bound Man to himself by the Law of Religion This was the Covenant of Life God vouchsafed to man as soon as Created which our Lord Jesus rehearsed to the Scribe in the Gospel Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy Soul and Mind and Heart and strength and thy Neighbour as thy self do this and thou shalt live Luke 10.28 This is the perfect Rule of true Wisdom the way to real Happiness when the Soul and Mind the understanding and Judgment know God as the only Infinite All-sufficient Good the Almighty Creator Ruler and Preserver of all Beings thence concludes there can be no happiness but in conformity to the will and enjoyment of the favour of God accordingly the whole Heart Will and Affections Fear Trust Hope Delight in God and the strength of all the Powers both intellectual and animal Serve Obey and Prays His Sovereign Lord in whom he lives moves and hath his Being This is vita frui To live indeed As the Eternal Power of the invinsible Godhead is clearly seen by the Creation of the World so all the Creatures we see have such evident Signatures of the Divine Wisdom Power and Goodness as exact a behaviour converse and enjoyment according to the Law of intire Love for love is the fulfilling and Lust is the transgression of the Law Rom. 13.9 10. Therefore he loves not God who loves not Himself and his Neighbour in conformity to the Image of God in which Man was made Holy and Upright How Pleasant and Safe and Happy would Life be if every one did to another only what he would receive from another if every one were sincerely loved by every one This is Natural Religion for he only that doeth Righteousness is Righteous as God is Righteous 1 John 3.7 This was the felicity of innocent Man before his Heart was venomed with Lust and Vanity And even now the work of this Divine Law is Written in all Mens Hearts to which their Conscience bear Witness The Conclusion or summ of the whole matter of Religion is Eccles 12.13 Fear God and keep his Commandments This is the whole Duty of Man Therefore the second part of Religion called Instituted is therein necessarily comprised and from thence derives Evidence of Authority and Obligation being given before the fall to establish and direct natural Religion and since the fall to supply its defects This part of Religion is fitly called supernatural or Revealed and is known not by Reason but by Faith For though it be the highest Reason to believe the Word of God which is the only ground of Faith yet Faith is above Reason representing things not seen by Reason and evidencing Divine Objects more certainly then any Method of Reason can demonstrate viz. by the infallible word of God Instituted Religion is the Rule of Divine Worship both Moral and Ceremonial prescribed by God Instituted Religion Prayer by which the Heart powers out it self to God by which the Soul ascends to God Psal 62 8. is only such when animated with the Priviledge and Authority of Gods Word For only God can teach how he pleaseth to be prayed unto and worshipped Solus Deus docere potest ut se velet orari It is the Word of God that teaches we shall not be heard for our much speaking Tertul. de Orat c. 9. that we must not use vain Repetion as if prayers like Egyptian Bricks were to be delivered by Tale Mat. 6.7 or there were Efficacy and Interest in a Phraseologie of Devotion All Flesh is guilty and silent before God Psal 65.23 until the word of promise opens the lips Rom. 8.26 and teaches the Heart how to pray And this Tertul. p. 6.60 sine Monitore quia depectore Oramus saith Tertullian was the Practice of Primitive Christianity It is the Scripture that assures whoever calls on the Name of the Lord Rom. 10.13 14. shall be saved But it also saith How shall they call on him whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not