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	receive_v	2,532	5	5.3979	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66381	The case of indifferent things used in the worship of God proposed and stated, by considering these questions : Qu. I. Whether things indifferent used in divine worship (or, whether there be any things indifferent in the worship of God?) : Qu. II. Whether a restraint of our liberty in the use of such indifferent things be a violation of it?	Williams, John, 1636?-1709.; Bagshaw, Edward, 1629-1671.	1683 (1683)	Wing W2689; ESTC R260	33,991	53

prevailing Custom and was as a thing decent introduced into the Christian Church Thus it is also as to Edification which doth in like manner often depend upon circumstances and according to those circumstances the Edification of the Church in its Peace Union and Comfort may be promoted or hindered and that may be for Edification in one Age or Church which is not so in another Thus the being covered in Divine Worship was for Edification in the Jewish Church being used in token of Fear and Reverence Distance and Subjection in allusion to which the Seraphims are represented appearng before God after that manner Isai. 6. 2. and in mitation of whom the Apostle pleads that Women should be vailed in Religious Assemblies in token of Subjection and Shamefacedness 1 Cor 11. 10. But on the contrary He doth Judge and Determin that for the Reasons above given it was better and more for Edification that Men should be therein Uncovered So the Love-feasts and Holy-kiss of Charity were at the first thought good for Edification and were accordingly used in Apostolical times being an Excellent and Useful Admirable and Friendly Custom as thereby was signified the Universal Love and Charity that Christians ought to maintain and which they should at all times but especially in Divine Worship be forward to express and renew But when Disorder and Licentiousness arose from them they were generally laid aside and Abolished by Authority So it was thought to be for Edification in the Primitive Church to Administer Baptism by immersion or dipping and the Apostle doth make use of it as an excellent argument to newness of life Rom. 6. 3 4. and yet notwithstanding the signification of it and the practice of the Church for a long time a Charitable reason hath over-ruled it and brought in Sprinkling instead of it Thus sitting at the Lords Supper is accounted decent by some and for Edification as it 's a table posture and is a sign of our being feasted by God and yet in a general Synod of the Reformed Churches in Poland c. it was declared that forasmuch as sitting was introduced first by the Arrians beside the Custom used in all the Evangelical Churches throughout Europe we reject it as peculiar to them that as they do irreverently treat Christ so also his Sacred appointments and as a Ceremony less Comely and Devout and to many very offensive So that Order Decency and Edification being generally mutable things and varying as circumstances vary there could in the nature of the thing be only general rules prescribed and so the particulars must be left to discretion and to be determined by those that are best able and have Authority to judge of the circumstances and to pick out of them those which are Indifferent what may best serve the ends of Religion and the honour of its institutions 2. I shall prove that things Indifferent in themselves though not prescribed may be Lawfully used in Divine Worship from the practice of our Saviour and his Apostles Under the Law the Constitution was very exact the Rites and Orders of it very particular and the Observation of them punctually required But as it was not so precise but that many things respecting the outward order were added so some things were altered upon prudential considerations and by the addition or alteration of which the Authority of that Law was not conceived to be infringed nor violated as it 's evident from the respect which our Saviour shewed to them and his compliance with them An instance of this is the Synagogual Worship It 's a controversy whether there was any provision made under the Law for the places themselves the intimations of that are if any very obscure but there are not so much as any intimations of the manner and order or parts of the Worship therein to be observed and yet we find such there was Acts 15. 21. Moses being read and preached there every Sabbath day and that our Saviour frequently resorted to it and bore a part in it John 18. 20 c. The like temper we find him of when he used the Cup of Charity after the manner of the Jews in the Passover though there was no institution for it and that it was as many other things taken up and used amongst them by way of signification and as a Testimony of entire Friendship and Charity Luke 22. 17. But I conceive alteration of circumstances in the institution is much more exceptionable than the addition of such to it and yet this was both done by them and observed by our Saviour when there was nothing else to oblige him but only a condescension to them in such usages and rites as were inoffensive in themselves and what were then generally used in the Church That the posture first required and used in the Passover was standing the circumstances being to be eat with Staves in their Hands and Shoes on their Feet c. do prove and is affirmed by the Jews and it is as manifest that the Jews in the time of our Saviour and for a long time before did recede from it and did eat it in the posture of discumbency whether it was as they looked upon themselves as settled in the possession of Canaan which they were at the first institution Travelling towards or as it 's said by the later Jews because it was a sign of Liberty and after the manner of Kings and Great men is not so material as it is that our Saviour did follow this Custom and complied with this practice of theirs without hesitation And thus did the Apostles when they observ'd the hours of Prayer Acts 3. 1. which were of humane institution as well as the Pray●rs themselves for without doubt they were publick Prayers which were used in the Temple but though the place was yet that service was of no more Authority than what was used in the Synagogues Now if the Jews did thus institute and alter things relating to external Order and Administration according as the case might require and it was lawful for them so to do as it 's plain from the compliance of our Saviour and the Apostles with them in it then much more may it be supposed lawful for the Christian Church to exercise that liberty when they have no other than such general rules for their direction as they had then without such particulars as they had And that this is no other than a certain Truth will appear from the same liberty taken in Apostolical times in Religious Assemblies when the Christian Church not only complied with the Jews in such Rites as they were under no Obligation but that of Charity to use and which they did use because they were not forbidden and so lawful as when St. Paul took upon him a Vow Acts. 21. 26. but also had some Observances of its own that were of a ritual nature and as they were taken up so might be laid down upon

into the case we find no such thing done no such care taken no such particular directions as they had under the Law and therefore its certain that neither the sufficiency of Scripture nor Faithfulness of Christ stand upon that foundation And if we do not find the like particular prescriptions in Baptism as Circumcision nor in the Lord's Supper as in the Passover nor in Prayers as in Sacrifices its plain that the sufficiency of Scripture and Faithfulness of Christ do respect somewhat else and that they are not the less for the want of them Christ was Faithful as Moses To him that appointed him in performing what belonged to him as a Mediator in which respect Moses was a Type of him and discovering to Mankind in Scripture the method and means by which they might be Sav'd and the sufficiency of Scripture is in being a sufficient means to that end and putting Men into such State as will render them capable of attaining to it And as for modes and circumstances of things they are left to the prudence of those who by the Grace and the Word of God have been converted to the Truth and have received it in the Love of it I have been the larger in the consideration of this principle viz. that Nothing but what is prescribed may be lawfully used in Divine Worship that I might relieve the consciences of those that are Insnared by it and that cannot be so without subjecting themselves to great inconveniences For if nothing but what is of that Nature may be used or joyned with and that the second Commandment doth with as much Authority Forbid the use of any thing not Commanded as the Worshipping of Images If Nadab's and Abihu's Strange Fire and Vzza's touching of the Ark be examples Recorded for caution to us and that every thing Uncommanded is of the like Nature attended with the like Aggravations and alike do expose to God's Displeasure If the use of any thing not prescribed be such an addition to the Word of God as leaves us under the Penalty of that Text If any Man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the Plagues that are Written in this Book we cannot be too cautious in the Examination of what is or what is not prescribed But withall if this be our case it would be more intolerable than that of the Jews For amongst them every thing for the most part was plainly laid down and though the particular Rites and Circumstances prescribed in their Service were many yet they were sufficiently describ'd in their Law and it was but consulting that or Those whose Office and Employment it was to be well versed in it and they might be presently inform'd and as soon see it as the Book was laid open This they all agreed in But it is not so under the Gospel and there is no greater proof of it than the several schemes drawn up for Discipline and Order by those that have been of that Opinion and made some attempts to describe them And then when things are thus dark and obscure so hard to trace and discover that it has thus perplexed and baffled those that have made it their business to bring these things within Scripture Rules how perplexed must they be that are not skilled in it And as I have above shewed must all their Days live in the Communion its likely of no Church since though a Church should have nothing in it but what is prescribed yet it would take up a great deal of time to examine and more to be satisfied that all in it is prescribed 3. I shall consider How we may know what things are Indifferent in the Worship of God I may answer to this that we may know what is Indifferent in the Worship of God by the same Rule that we may know what is Indifferent out of Worship that is if the thing to be enquired after be neither required nor Forbidden For the Nature of Indifferency is always the same and what it is in one kind or instance it is in all and if the want of a Law to Require or Forbid doth make a thing Indifferent in Natural or Civil matters it doth also the same in Religious And in things Forbidden by Humane Authority the not being required in Scripture and in things required by Humane Authority the not being Forbidden in Scripture is a Rule we may safely determine the case and judge of the Lawfulness and Indifferency of things in Divine Worship by But I confess the Question requires a more particular Answer because things in their Nature Lawful and Indifferent may yet in their use and application become unlawful As it is in Civil cases and Secular matters to be Covered or Uncovered is a thing in it self Indifferent but to be Covered in the presence of such of our Betters as Custom and Law have made it our Duty to stand bare before would be unlawful and it would be no excuse for such an Omission and Contempt that the thing is in it self Indifferent And then much more will this hold where the case is of an higher Nature as it is in the Worship of God where things in themselves Indifferent may become Ridiculous Absurd and Profane and argue rather contempt of God than reverence for him in the Persons using them Again the things may though Grave and Pertinent yet be so numerous that they may obscure and oppress the Service and confound and distract the Mind that should attend to the Observation of them and so for one reason or another are not to be allowed in the Solemnities of Religion Therefore in Answer to the Question I shall add 1. That things Indifferent are so called from their general Nature and not as if in practice and use and all manner of cases they always were so and never unlawful for that they may be by Accident and Circumstance being lawful unlawful expedient or inexpedient as they are used and applied 2. I observe that there are several Laws which things Indifferent do respect and that may be Required or Forbidden by one Law which is not Forbidden or Required by another and that may be Indifferent in one State which is Unlawful in another and by passing out of one into the other may cease to be Indifferent and therefore when we say things are Indifferent we must understand of what Rank they are and what Law they do respect As for example Humane Conversation and Religious Worship are different Ranks to which things are referred and therefore what may be Indifferent in Conversation may be unlawful in Worship Thus to Enterchange Discourse about Common Affairs is a thing lawful in it self and useful in its place but when practised in the Church and in the midst of Religious Solemnities is Criminal This distinction of Ranks and States of things is useful and necessary to be observed and which if observed would have prevented the objection made by some that if a Church or Authority may