Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	see_v	spirit_n	worship_v	2,639	5	8.7926	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44196	The judgment of the late Lord Chief Justice Sir Matthew Hale, of the nature of true religion, the causes of its corruption, and the churches calamity by mens additions and violences with the desired cure : in three discourses / written by himself at several times ... ; humbly dedicated to the honourable judges and learned lawyers ... by the faithful publisher, Richard Baxter ; to which is annexed the judgment of Sir Francis Bacon ... and somewhat of Dr. Isaack Barrows on the same subject.	Hale, Matthew, Sir, 1609-1676.; Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626.; Barrow, Isaac, 1630-1677.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1684 (1684)	Wing H247; ESTC R11139	41,043	77

decent and inoffensive Forms in the External Worship of God appointed by the Civil Magistrate by the advice of those that are deservedly eminent in the Church for their Piety Learning and Prudence And there seems to be very good Reason for it 1. Because if every man should be left to himself there would Confusion ensue because no man knew anothers Mind or Rule of his external Deportment 2. All men have not that equal Prudence to Judge what were fit to be used the Magistrate is like to make choice of those persons that are fittest to advise and their Recommendations would be of greatest authority with others 3. It is most certain that Man being composed of Soul and Body cannot so regularly and well fix himself to his Duty without some justifiable help to his Devotion such are vocal Prayers Kneeling and other Gestures proper for the Matter of Worship which he intends And this may be one Reason why the Lord though he strictly forbad all Idolatry and Superstition and Heathenish Practice to the Jews yet did appoint Sacrifices Priests a glorious Tabernacle and the Ark which was not only a diversion from the Egyptian Idolatry which they had seen but also a help to their natural infirmity for the excitation of their Devotion And although our Lord Jesus came to abrogate even that Indulgence and foretold that those that worshipped the Father should worship him in Spirit and in Truth under the Gospel yet it is certain that the immediate Apostles of Christ did set certain orderly Observances in the Church for decencies sake and it was justly allowable As concerning the order of the exercise of their Supernatural Gifts Concerning Womens speaking in the Church concerning mens being covered in the Church and Women vailed concerning the manner and order of receiving the Sacrament and the like But as there be Reasons for it so there be Cautions to be used in it 1. That they be not too numerous for their Multitude will rather oppress than secure Religion 2. That in their Natures they be not Superstitious but keep as much distance from it as well may be otherwise they will be in Religion as the dead Fly in the Apothecaries Oyntment 3. That they be clean and decent not too full of Pomp or Ostentation Ceremonies should be used as we use a Glass rather to preserve the Oyl than to adorn it Too much Pomp causeth Jealousies even in good men of a degeneration either to Jewish Ceremonies or Popish Vanities 4. That though such are not to be rejected because they are Ancient so if they become Vnseasonable they are not to be held meerly because they are Ancient It is with Ceremonies as with some other things that are fit to be changed when they become unuseful or offensive as the Love-Feasts Extreme Vnction and some other things possibly practised and fit enough in the Primitive times Many Ceremonies were at first invented and practised to win over unconverted Heathens to incourage weak Christians especially the Jews who were not easily to be drawn from their Legal Ceremonies But when People become a Knowing People that see beyond those Ceremonies and understand when and why and how they came in then it were Prudence to dispense with or change them 5. That they be not urged with too much rigour or severity upon such as conscientiously refuse them Charity to a weak Brother in things indifferent in their own Nature is then to be exercised when my Brother is offended therewith or never And if it be said it is his duty to submit to the Church and not the Church to him I do think that answer will not serve in this case for surely though a Child owes a Duty to a Father yet his neglect thereof especially if it be upon a conscientious account will not excuse the neglect of a Fathers Duty to his Child The Apostle professed he would abstain from things lawful rather than offend his weak Brother 6. And especially that we be careful to remember that Religion is another thing from these Ceremonies These are of use i. e. for Ornament They are the Dressings and the Trimmings of Religion at the best but the Fear of God is of a higher extraction It is a pitiful thing to see men run upon this mistake especially in these latter times one placing all his Religion in holding the Pope to be Christs Vicar another placing Religion in this to hold no Papist can be saved One holding all Religion to consist in holding Episcopacy to be jure divino another by holding Presbytery to be jure divino another in crying up Congregational Government another in Anabaptise one in placing all Religion in the strict observation of all Ceremonies another in a strict refusal of all One holding a great part of Religion in putting off the Hat and bowing at the Name of Jesus another judging a man an Idolater for it and a third placing his Religion in putting off his Hat to none and so like a company of Boys that blow Bubbles out of a Wall-nut-shell every one runs after his bubble and calls it Religion and every one measures the Religion or irreligion of another by their agreeing or dissenting with them in these or the like matters and at best while we scramble and wrangle about the pieces of the Shell the Kernel is either lost or gotten by some that doth not prize any of their Contests Believe it Religion is quite another thing from all these Matters He that fears the Lord of Heaven and Earth walks humbly before him thankfully lays hold of the Message of Redemption by Christ Jesus strives to express his thankfulness by the Sincerity of his Obedienue is sorry with all his soul when he comes short of his Duty walks watchfully in the denial of himself and holds no confederacy with any Lust or known Sin if he falls in the least measure is restless till he hath made his Peace by true Repentance is true in his Promise just in his Actions Charitable to the Poor sincere in his Devotions that will not deliberately dishonour God though with the greatest security of impunity that hath his hope in Heaven and his Conversation in Heaven that dare not do an Unjust Act though never so much to his advantage and all this because he sees him that is invisible and fears him because he loves him fears him as well for his Goodness as his Greatness such a man whether he be an Episcopal or a Presbyterian or an Independant or an Anabaptist whether he wears a Surplice or wears none whether he hears Organs or hears none whether he Kneels at the Communion or for Conscience sake stands or sits he hath the Life of Religion in him and that life acts in him and will conform his soul to the Image of his Saviour and walk along with him to Eternity notwithstanding his Practise or Non-practise of these Indifferents On the other side if a man fears not the Eternal God dares commit any

most ordinarily much more Severity and Persecution and Implacableness and Irreconcileableness more endeavours to undermine and supplant and disgrace Dissenters more scorns and vilifying and reproach and insolence one towards another in their vicissitudes of advantage than there is between Professors of Christianity and men of the most loose and profane lives between Orthodox and Heretiques nay between Christians and Turks or Infidels many times 5. And from this there ariseth a most fruitful and a most inevitable increase of Atheism and contempt of Religion in many of the Spectators of this Game among Professors of the Christian Religion and that upon these two Accounts Principally because when they hear each Party declare as they must if they declare truth in their Sermons and Writings that the Doctrine of Christianity injoynes Mutual Love Condescention Charity Gentleness Meekness and yet so little practised by Dissenting Parties men are apt to conclude that either these persons do not believe what they pretend to preach and publish or that the Doctrine of Christianity was a Notion and Speculation and never intended as a necessary Rule of Practice since the greatest Pretenders to the Religion of Christ practise so little of it 2. Because when men see that those little Superstructions and Additions are by the one side prosecuted and on the other side decryed with as much animosity fervour and severities as the most weighty and important Truths and Precepts of Evangelical Faith and Obedience Spectators and By-standers think that they are all of the same value and when they see that these things which every sober considerate man must needs conclude little and of no momont are rated at so great a value by the contesting Parties of each side Truths then are doubted of in relation to these It makes men call in question great matters when they see such small things pursued or declined with no less Fervour and Anunosity than if they were of the greatest And considering these unhappy Consequences of these fervours of minds touching these small Appendixes and Superstructions even more than about or concerning the very weighty things of the Gospel I have endeavoured to search out the Reason how this strong Distemper comes to pass and there seems to be these Causes thereof 1. Ordinarily a man is more fond of and concerned for something that is his own than for that which is of God as we are transported with a Love to our selves so we are transported with a love and admiration of what is our own and hence it is that the weightier and more important Duties injoined by Christ partake less of our zeal or courage or intension of mind than our own little Fantasies and Inventions 2. Pride Credit and Reputation are commonly ingaged in either Party in the things contested when they are once contested and these are violent and pressing Interests and Motions 3. The Plainest Truth and Purity of Religion is a thing that seldom pleaseth and suteth to the Curiosity and Appetite of Men they are always fond of something Annexed or Appendicated to Religion to make it pleasing to their Appetite A certain Sawce that may entertain their Fancy after which it may run and wherein it may please it self And these Sawcesto Religion are various and variously pleasing according to the Various Inclinations of Men Most ordinarily the Fancies of men affect some things Splendid and Sensible to be Superadded to Religion the Israelites would needs have gods that might go before them and in complyance with this Humour most of the Strange Modes and Gesticulations among the Heathens and most of the Superstitions Ceremonies and Rites among the Papists were invented Again sometimes the Humour of the People runs in the other Extreme either they will have nothing of Form or Order or all such Forms or Orders as are extremely opposite to what others use and place their delight and complacency therein And by this means oftentimes it comes to pass that men are carried with greater earnestness and vehemence after those Placentia the entertainments of their fancies than to the true Substance of Religion it self 4. Oftentimes it comes to pass that there are two very jealous Concerns and impatient of any Corrival that are ingaged each against other in these different and dissenting Practices relating to Collaterals in Religion On the one side Power and Authority is very tender of its own Interest and jealous of a Competitor or Rival On the other side Conscience and Perswasion either of the Necessity or Vnlawfulness of any thing is very jealous or fearful and suspicious of any thing that might injure it And whether the Conscience be mistaken or not yet so long as its Perswasion that is entertained sub ratione conscientioe prevails this jealousie will still prevail in the mind and it many times falls out that Authority on the one hand is impatient or at least jealous of Opposition and Conscience on the other hand restless and unquiet 5. And the difficulty is so much the greater because each seems to derive their obliging Authority from God the Magistrate recognizing God Almighty as the Fountain Root and Foundation of his Power and the Conscience supposed to be the Vicegerent of God in the Soul 6. But that which admirably keeps up these differences is that men on each side deal not one with another calmly mildly or upon the Reasons of the things or upon a true way of Reasoning Debating and Arguing of things or prudent Considerations that might invite yielding on the one side or accommodations of the other but each Party takes in all those Contributions Assistances and Advantages that commonly accompany the worst of Contentions For instance 1. Extremity of Passion and Indignation 2. Violence and Bitterness of Writings and Speeches 3. Each Party rendring the other as odious and ridiculous as is possible 4. Scoffing jearing and personal reflections 5. Artifices and Designs each to catch and undermine the other 6. An industrious and willing mis-interpretation of each others Words Writings and Actions and raising them to odious Inferences and Consequences beyond what they were meant or really and truly bear 7. Disingenuous Quotations out of each other without those ordinary Remedies that might be allowed by comparing of other parts of their Writings These and the like Auxiliaries are on each part taken into these Velitations between Christians and in relation to things contended for or against in these Differences whereas the whole tenour of the Doctrine of Christianity as it was delivered by Christ and his Apostles decries nothing more than Anger Wrath Malice Railing Evil-speaking Back biting Slanders Reproches Names and Epithets of Scorns Craft and Subtilty yet all these black Legions are called used and imployed in the management of that Cause which each Party pretends to be the Cause of Christ as if Fiends and Furies and Legions of Devils were thought fit Auxiliaries on each Party wherein both pretend the interest of Christ Jesus And that this is so let any