Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	holy_a	scripture_n	teach_v	4,464	5	6.2282	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93747	The necessity of keeping still unto the ordinances of religion, prayer, hearing the word, baptism, and the Lord's Supper set forth in a sermon preached in the countrey, on Acts VI.4. : wherein is also laid open, and manifested the errour of those people (commonly call'd Quakers) who do neglect the two latter.	Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.	1698 (1698)	Wing S5126; ESTC R202451	24,791	32

furtherance of the Salvation of Mankind and what God hath Joyned together set no Man put asunder for he hath commanded them both and they may be successively used one after another So on the other hand when froward and disobedient Man would notwithstanding put them asunder and neglect the one and hold to the other then comes in Satan and strangely befools and deceives people therein As the Apostle James argues For as the Body without the Spirit is dead so Faith without Works is dead also even so here it is If one should use a Course of Prayer every Evening Morning and Noon-day whether it be private Family or publick Worship without keeping the Commandments of God or having regard to them in all things and at all times This would be as Ridiculous Foolish and Nonsensical as if a Servant should as often come to thee for aid and assistance or for Tools and Instruments to do such a Work and yet never set about the doing of it So again it is a like Folly Ignorance and Deceivableness to be Hearers of the Word and not doers of it The Foolish shall not stand in thy sight Psal 5. 5. From which Scripture of undoubted Truth we are given to understand that they who are foolish in matters of Religion shall not stand in Gods sight That is they shall not go to Heaven And besides that just now here mentioned they come also among the Number of the Foolish who remember the Covenant in Baptism and yet they do not observe it or only with slight and transient Purposes and Resolutions at that present time when the words thereof are to Obediently keep Gods holy will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of our Life God heareth not sinners John 9. 31. And here in like manner it is alledged out of the Scriptures of Truth that God is not pleased with the Sacrifice of Fools neither will He accept thereof In the Scripture Notion and Apprehension Fools and Sinners are near the same for all Sinners are Fools and also all Fools of their own making as we commonly say who were not born Ideors of meer Natural Impotency are sinners In that they being in Honour and Vnderstanding they abide not They do not improve but rather lose that Knowledge and Reason in which God had Created them This is a sin and fault of their own in these Creatures when they do not Trade with their Talent but become unprofitable And so when they lose Good and Subject themselves to Evil as to the future State and Distribution of things this is properly folly yea and folly in the abstract and in this sence sin and folly are convertible terms All Sinners are Fools and all such Fools are Sinners So Ignorance in Worship or in the things pertaining to God this is folly For let not such an one think that he shall receive any thing from the Lord. Anothers abuse of a thing doth not take away my rightful use thereof Because another Person drinks and is drunken this is no Argument or Reason that I should not drink at all for I may drink Nevertheless to quench Thirst or refresh Nature Yea I must drink or I Perish So it is as to the Ordinances of Religion tho' some abuse them yet Nevertheless we may rightly use them yea they are as absolutely necessary to carry us through this barren and dry Wilderness of the Earth unto the Heavenly Canaan as drink is to the Body Because the Prayers of some People do become Sin Psal 109. 7. This is no Argument why we should not pray at all But rather we are thence taught not to regard Iniquity in our hearts to lift up Holy Hands to purity our hearts to sanctify our selves when we draw near to God and such like Because too many are hearers of the Word and not doers of it shall we therefore like the mixt and ungodly Multitude turn aside our foot from going to the place of hearing but rather let us hear and do it According to what our Forefathers Covenanted and Promised to God for themselves and us in Deut. 5. 27. And if we would inherit the promises we must of necessity be Children of the Covenant Because some do not know and mind much more therein then the sprinkling or dipping in Water or do it in General for customs sake or to make the child or Person a Christian as they say we may and ought nevertheless to fulfil all Righteousness and to comply with that Commandment of Jesus Christ Go and teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Retaining the thing but withal giving most heed to the thing signified thereby The like figure whereunto even Baptism doth now save us not the putting away the filth of the flesh but the Answer of a Good Conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 3. 21. If one is Baptized with outward water this hinders not but he may at the very same time and afterwards also be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with Fire by which last is denoted warmth servency and zeal in the Service of God For as Peter Answered Can any Man sorbid Water that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we and he commanded them to be baptized in the Name of the Lord. Acts 10. 47 48. This Text doth as plainly imply as two and three make Five even according to the common sence and understanding of the same Words without any forced meaning or even any Interpretation at all that the having received the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit is no sufficient reason and excuse why they should not at all use Water Baptism but it is rather a reason that they should use it For Peter and Paul and other Ministers and Servants of God of Old time who had the Spirit in more measure then any now adays Notwithstanding all Boasting and Pretensions did baptize with water I would to God this were throughly understood and considered of by those People commonly called Quakers But they also have that humour and disposition as to be stiff-necked and perverse and refuse to hear and hearken unto that part of the Word of God which make against their own Imaginations The Ordinances are a Part of the Commandments of God and they are to be used out of Obedience and Homage unto him God commands us to hear his Word to call on his Name Christ commanded his Disciples and Followers to baptize and to do this in remembrance of him These two last Baptism and the Lords Supper seem to come in the place of the two Jewish Ceremonies or Ordinances of Circumcission and the Passover both of which were of Gods immediate Command and Institution As to the first of which the Apostle Paul averreth Circumcision is nothing and Vncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the Commandments of God 1 Cor. 7. 19. Of which

words the meaning seems to be to this purpose and effect that is there is nothing or no great matter whither the foreskin of ones flesh is cut off or not There is no great Good or Evil in the thing abstractedly whither it be done or not done So it would have been if God had given no Commandment at all concerning it But God having Superadded and Annexed a Commandment concerning it The Soul that is not Circumcised shall be cut off from his People Here it ought to be observed and done by the Jews as long as that Dispensation did remain among them Not so much for the thing it self but to fulfill all Righteousness and therein to keep the Commandment of God which same Commandment is now done away and abolished in Christ And therefore it was become indifferent under the Gospel as appears by the foregoing verse and from the Practise of Paul who altho' he was not for bringing them back again to Bondage and to Jewish Observances yet to please the Jews as also to bring over more Jewish Converts who did retain a Tincture of and Zeal for the Mosaical Institutions did Circumcise Timothy but would not do so as to the Gentiles which should receive the Faith Now the reason is alike and eternally the same as to those two Ordinances of Christ Baptism and the Lords Supper As to sprinkling or dipping in water and in Eating and Drinking a little Bread and Wine there is nothing or no great matter in them taken abstractedly The Reason of Man is apt to despise them because it presently sees no Intrinsick Goodness in using them and no Evil in letting them alone And so far it would have been true if Christ had given no Commandment concerning them But Christ and his Apostles having given Commandment for the once observance of the one and the often observance of the other they ought accordingly to be so observed by his Disciples and Followers to fulfill all Gospel Righteousness and out of obedience unto and for keeping the Commandments of Christ Moses therefore gave unto you Circumcision not because it is of Moses but of the Fathers and ye on the Sabbath Day Circumcise a Man that the Law of Moses shall not be broken John 7. 22 23. This is plain and obvious enough and accordinly they have been retained all along down in the Christian yea and the Reformed Churches Tho' we cannot here presently assign how Baptism and the Lords Supper are means of Grace as Preaching the Word and Prayer manifestly and sensibly are For we know feelingly and experimentally that Preaching the Word and Prayer are as two Conduit Pipes through which Good and Perfect Gifts do come down from above from the Father of Lights into our Souls And we very well conceive how these help to make a People prepared for the Lord. But we cannot altogether give so clear an Account concerning Baptism and the Lords Supper how they do this altho' here we can somewhat apprehend as to the things signified by them which hath been afore-mentioned Nevertheless because Christ hath Commanded and Instituted them in his Gospel it is not only the safer way to use them but I will go on to add there can be no sasety in neglecting them or in the omission of them because of what himself saith Whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and teach Men so He shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 5. 19. Which there signifies the Dispensation of his Gospel For we are not sure that such will ever be admitted into his Kingdom above at the end of time Having afore-mentioned what Grounds we have for the same in the Scriptures of Truth and therefore these things keep still unto the Ordinances of Religion We teach and affirm constantly We read in Isa 58. 2. Of the Ordinances of Justice but in our present and intended Discourse we wave and let alone all that it being not altogether so pertinent to the matter in Hand which is the keeping constantly unto the Ordinances of Worship For it is a great Gospel Command Worship God Rev. 22. 9. And to allude unto Heb. 9. 1. This Second Covenant hath Ordinances of Divine Service and a Spiritual or Heavenly Sanctuary Which may be performed in a true and right manner So that it is meet requisite and necessary That the Children of thy Servants should continue therein Psal 102. 28. Or otherwise they are no longer Servants of God For his Servants shall serve him Rev. 22. 3. And as anothers abuse of a thing should not take away my Good and Right use thereof So here again it is the Controversies and Questions which are among the Servants of God concerning the manner or Circumstantials of his Worship or of those positive Ordinances as whither Baptism should be observed in Infancy or Riper Years with dipping or sprinkling with the sign of the Cross or without it and of the Lords Supper whither it should be received sitting standing or kneeling or whither in the Morning or Afternoon altho' these are somewhat apt to perplex and trouble the Minds of Christians and are the occasion of different and distinct Congregations Yet we should in no wise so far stumble as to surcease the use of them at all God forbid By the way tho' we ought to assert the Truth and Confute Errour yet it is no Christianity to Reproach or Malign any Sect or Party For the Servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all Men in Meekness Instructing those that oppose themselves if Peradventure God will give them Repentance to the acknowledgment of the Truth The much greater Part of those Churches which are reformed from the Idolatry and Superstition of Rome both in these and also in Forreign Countries do all unanimously agree that these Ordinances ought by all means to be retained and that the neglect or omission of them is Sin Certain it is that the best and wisest way for every one is To keep unto and observe them as near according to the Rule and Direction of Scripture as ever they can and abstracted from all will Worship and Institution or Precept of Man I am now going to speak after my Judgment and by Permission and not of Commandment And therefore ye may weigh in your Minds but not rely on this Affirmation or rather Opinion Viz. That as the Early Dew which goeth away is better then no Dew at all So the observance of the ordinances any of the ways afore-mentioned seems according to my sentiment of things to be better and safer then the not observance of them at all Because there is a Commandment of God and of Christ for the actual observance of them Tho' here I charge ye all in the Name of God and of Christ and here ye are to take notice of it that I speak again by Commandment seeing that these positive ordinances serve also unto the example and shadow of Heavenly things see well to it