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A65331 English Cretes and atheistical Christians describ'd and instanced with directions for the reformation of all, from St. Paul's Epistle to Titus, the first Bishop of Crete : wherein is intimated the sacred order, and supreme power of episcopacy in the church, with the inferior ministry : concluding all with supplemental instances, and a lamentation of the churches present miseries. T. W. 1695 (1695) Wing W117; ESTC R31986 11,495 34

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ENGLISH CRETES AND Atheistical CHRISTIANS DESCRIB'D and INSTANCED WITH Directions for the Reformation of all FROM St. PAUL'S Epistle to TITUS the first Bishop of CRETE Wherein is Intimated the Sacred Order and Supreme Power of Episcopacy in the CHURCH with the Inferior Ministry Concluding all With Supplemental Instances AND A Lamentation of the Churches present Miseries Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Heb. xii 14. LONDON Printed for Jos Hindmarsh at the Golden Ball over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1695. THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY OR A LETTER TO AN Honourable Member of PARLIAMENT TO THE Honourable Sir W. T. Bar. Ever honoured Sir MAY I presume to lay this at your feet with an humble congratulation of your late honourable unsought for Election at too such distant Places paying you that meritorious esteem and regard which the best of our Gentry and Regular Clergy unanimously bear you in that County whereto you are so great an Honor and ever will be in despight of Ignorance Malice Ill-Nature Self-Interest and Faction however shamefully dividing us c. Your Orthodox Piety admirable Parts and Learning your unbounded Charity Meekness Candour and unbiass'd Judgment and Integrity which has no Interest to serve but the Publick-Good c. We can't but declare as we love and value this was conspicuous to the Nation while you were formerly our truly honourable Representative with general applause and will be now again Therefore your utmost Service for our true Episcopal Church whose Zealous Learned Champion your renowned Father was likewise and Clergy we doubt not of May all honest tender Consciences be Tolerated and Sufferers duly reliev'd may Prophaness Atheism and all manner of Licentiousness so scandalous in and dangerous to a Christian State be severely suppress'd May Sacrilege be shun'd by all and according to the Pious and Learned Sir Henry Spellman in particular may the Church's Divine Rights be well consider'd or at least the Case of poor Vicarages be justly and charitably Redress'd and secur'd from the base encroachments and oppressions of Hypocrisie Pride and Avarice insatiable c. Or finally were these things in such worthy Hands as yours and would all Live and Act like you for the Glory of God and his Church then might be compleated the just Wishes of Your ever oblig'd humble Servant T.W. DEO TRIUNO Aeterno Incomprehensibili Omnipotenti Omniscienti Omnipresenti Infinito Justitiâ Miserecordiâ c. Super in omnibus Gloria COnversionem Mundo Pacem Ecclesiae Fidem Principibus regnis Tranquilitatem Angliae Salutem Benefactoribus Poenitentiam Inimicis Sincerè Vivet Optat Humillimus indignissimus Servus gaudens solummodo confidens in Jesu Christo ipsoque Crucifixo T. W. Psal lxxxii Out of Patrick's Metre THE Rulers of the world that bear God's name and represent him here Know that this Judge among you sits If you enact unrighteous Laws Or Countenance a wicked Cause Your guiltiness no plea admits You act like God when you defend The Poor and your assistance lend To helpless men that Justice crave Absolve the Innocent with speed Obnoxious only by their need And from th' Oppressors power save They cry too oft to you in vain who 'll know no other right but gain Whose Eyes are blind by Bribes you take Thus Justice cannot find its course But Laws neglected lose their force And all the Land's Foundations shake I said y' are Gods but you shall dye And fall tho sons of the most High As other men and King's have done Arise Great Judge of all and Reign Fal'n Justice then will rise again When God doth sit upon his Throne ENGLISH CRETES AND Atheistical Christians described c. TIT. i. 16. They profess that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate or void of judgment As it is in the Margin SAint Paul a Servant of God and an Apostle of Jesus Christ according to the Faith and Truth c. ver 1. having ordain'd Titus the first Bishop of the Church of the Cretians as he did Timothy of the Ephesians he begins here to shew him in a very solemn and blessed Stile for what end he thus left him in Crete ver 6. As particularly to Ordain and Settle the inferior Ministry the due qualifications whereof he next declares ver 6. and then proceeds to set forth the life of a good Bishop manifesting the necessity of their Faithfulness Ability and Zeal because of Deceivers and that the mouths of those evil corrupt Teachers who crept in Houses and swarm'd about the Church might be stopped to ver 12. Then he gives him some description of the people whom he was set over with admonitions concerning them c. Now these let us briefly consider with parallel Instances of the great Numbers of pretended false Christians among us and the directions here for their reformation concluding with an earnest recommendation of all the Duties laid down in this Epistle as now requir'd indispensibly both of Ministers and People First then The Apostle begins his description of these Cretians with an irrefragible testimony of one of their own Poets ver 12. one of themselves even a Prophet of their own said the Cretians are always Liars evil Beasts slow-bellies i. e. deceitful false sensual carnal and earthly-minded which is plain enough howsoever Poetical and as St. Paul affirms in the next verse this Witness is true whence necessarily follows his admonition wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the Faith not giving heed to Jewish Fables and Commandments of men that turn from the Truth This beastliness or impurity of their lives notwithstanding their Conversion to Christianity polluted and corrupted their Profession of the purest Religion which none but the pure can rightly understand and practice and so continu'd them sinful Brutes and guilty Infidels still For as it follows ver 15. Unto the Pure all things are Pure but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing Pure but even their Mind and Conscience is defiled well therefore might there be so many Hereticks Seducers and Hypocrites among such filthy Pretenders yea and Atheists too or worse for so are they who profess as St. Paul here concludes their Character That they know God but in Works they deny him being abominable disobedient c. These are call'd Practical Atheists and are thus far worse than the Speculative in that they act contrary to their declar'd Principles their Lives run contrary to their Creed O they do the greater dishonor to Almighty God Now every customary habitual Sinner particularly is such and such are the common Prophane Unjust Vitious and Uncharitable Wretches of this vilest Age who fill our Church and Nation These unreformed Sinners who make up the generality of our People of all Ranks and Degrees are the English Cretians and the Atheistical Christians whose Lives and Conversations prove