Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	apostle_n	church_n	paul_n	2,210	5	6.2789	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64562	The Bishop of Worcester his letter to the clergy of his diocess	Thomas, William, 1613-1689.	1689 (1689)	Wing T977; ESTC R219273	5,117	17

THE Bishop of Worcester HIS LETTER TO THE CLERGY OF HIS DIOCESS LONDON Printed for Sampson Evans Bookseller in Worcester 1689. THE Bishop of Worcester HIS LETTER c. Salutem in Domino My Reverend Brethren HAVING to my great dissatisfaction received advertisements that in most Parishes of the Diocese there is a notorious Omission of publick Catechising though strictly enjoined by Authority Civil and Ecclesiastical whereby a Sluce hath been opened to streams to torrents of novelties of Tenets to impieties enormities of Practices I apprehend it strictly incumbent on me as my Pastoral duty to excite to importune the speedy redress of this scandalous neglect to be like Origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the younger sort whose precious Souls you are accountable for within your several Precincts may not be like Clouds whiffled about with every gust of Errour and whilst undisciplin'd prostituted to the approaches the lures of all defilements exposed to the taint the contagion of every modish Vice but that they may by your sedulous conscientious Care be timely season'd with a tincture of Grace the more firmly to retain the impression of it that they may be Orthodoxly principled in point of Piety towards God Loyalty to the Sovereign Powers of Temperance to themselves of Justice and Charity towards others I presume you will alledg that the Pulpit hath herein abundantly supplied the defailance of the Desk of the Reading Pew that your Sermons have reiterated those Lectures though not in the formal Catechistical dress and method Whereas when humane laws are not repugnant to Divine the solemn Maxime Obedience is better than Sacrifice is a safe Rule not onely in pious but prudential considerations it being an influence of Judgment to suspect our own Judgment not to overween our Intellectuals but to allow that our Governours in their well weighed Constitutions and Canons may be as wise as upright as our selves I shall not set sacred Ordinances to clash with each other which ought to be Buttresses for mutual support I shall not discountenance nor depretiate the indispensably requisite Exercise of Preaching it being no panick terror of a dismal menace not appropriated to the Apostle himself onely but extended to the whole Priestly function For necessity is laid upon me yea woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9. 16. This Woe is a gloomy doom of utter darkness i ipsâ brevitate foecundan Tertullian's phrase fraught with fulness in conciseness yet this duty of Preaching is no supersedeas to the Catechism one can give no legal Bill of Divorce to the other but ought to be as a meet help in a conjugal link the umbrage the disparagement of the one as unsinewed ungarnish'd will add no force no lustre to the other Preaching without the auxiliary Catechistical preparation may prove like to sounding Brass like a tinkling Cymbal This condescension of instruction by way of Dialogue is more smoothly insinuating more effectually edifying whereby the principles of Religion are more easily imbibed less nauseated disrelish'd by Palates naturally corrupted whereby the first rudiments of Divinity are more readily chewed by Novices by Babes in Christ whose Flock consists of Lambs to be fed as well as Sheep Gerson the famous Sorbon Doctor Chancellour of Paris being aspersed as if being a Catechist to Children he had eclipsed his Splendour sullied his Reputation in a derogatory degenerating disguise of humility with a judicious candour he vindicated himself not retaliating any virulency or acrimony of Censure that he might otherwise teach Disciples pomposiùs more pompously instruct more floridly more eloquently in the continued harangue of a Sermon but not fructuosiùs more fruitfully as to the information of the Understanding as to the sanctification of the Heart in greener years though less plausibly acceptable to the itch of curiosity in the attention of the Ear wherein by an exemplary integrity he design'd to advance Gods Glory whilst he despis'd his own Amongst my Brethren you that are most eminently qualified for Arts and Languages Talents you are intrusted with that must be awfully reckon'd for at the Audit of the last day ought not to disdain to stoop to the Catechistical task solidly perspicuously laying the foundation of Christianity which requires a mature knowledg an indefatigable diligence a discreet regular Zeal Lewis the 9th of France did not apprehend it an indignity derogatory from his Royal grandeur to catechise a Scullion upon the account of the dignity of his Soul equally interested in the Excellency of Christs ransom with his own This Province however contemptible in the common estimate in later corrupted times it being with Seasons as with Vessels the dregs draw downwards yet it hath not been spurn'd at not waved by the most renowned Fathers of the Primitive Church Eastern and Western Not to insist on instances of a more transcendent Station of an Evangelist of St. Mark at Alexandria of an Apostle of St. Paul at Corinth where his Planting hath been antiently expounded Catechizing This hath been the prime ingredient for preserving and propagating the stability of Truth in Doctrine of the beauty of holiness in conversation in the best and purest Ages of the Church It is the signal observation of the most Accomplish'd modern Prelate Bishop Andrews When Catechizing was left off in the Church it soon became darkned and overspread with Ignorance the Papists therefore acknowledg that all the advantages the Protestants have gotten of them hath come by this exercise and it is to be feared that if ever they get ground of us it will be by their more exact and frequent catechizing 〈…〉 I may innocently though I presume not inoffensively with that the over-rise disuse of this Ordinance be not rather varnish'd than justified by the subterfuge of an Apology by the specious excuse of some of my Brethren in shifting the Scene of guilt entirely transferring it from their own remissness to the refractoriness of Parents in behalf of their Children not to be cajold by any invitations and overtures Whereas no paint of Pretence no artifice of palliation can deceive the Scrutiny can evade the Justice of the All seeing revenging God. I must mournfully acknowledg that many Parents are alienated from this Discipline being depraved by the fascination of erroneous Sentiments or deluded by prejudice of Education or diverted by profane supine inadvertences so that there may seem requisite the Constitution and practice of the Helvetian Reformed Churches establish'd also in a Gallican Synod that none be admitted to a Matrimonial State till first qualified by the Catechistical Discipline yet before any such expedient can be expected I question not but by the blessing of God on the Devout Addresses the active endeavours of my Brethren of the Clergy by the vicissitudes of publick and private lenitive persuasive Arguments experimentally found successful some Parents even of obdurate tempers may be softned to melting bowels for the spiritual concerns no less than the temporal of their nearest Relations