Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A47442
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A second admonition to the dissenting inhabitants of the diocess of Derry concerning Mr. J. Boyse's Vindication of his Remarks on A discourse concerning the inventions of men in the worship of God : with an appendix containing an answer to Mr. B's objections against the sign of the cross / by William, Lord Bishop of Derry.
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King, William, 1650-1729.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing K534; ESTC R4453
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121,715
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288
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set up his Reasons against the Letter of it as I have observed him often to do To conclude That the Assemblies of Christians are places for secret Prayers of each apart when they do not interfere with any Publick Office as well as for Publick appears from the whole tenour of the Scripture and the constant practice of the Churches of God Antient and Reformed And that those secret Prayers ought to be offered with Adoration as well as the Publick is likewise manifest And therefore the Directory by forbidding Adoration at our first coming into Church has excluded it where it was most proper III. But Thirdly I take it for granted that when an Old Law or Rule is laid aside and a new substituted in the place of it all things contained in the Old repealed Law or Order are laid aside which are not contained and again injoyned in the New By which Rule the Directory doth plainly exclude all Bodily Worship For in the Preface to it we are told that They resolve to lay aside the former Liturgy with the many Rites and Ceremonies formerly used in the Worship of God and have agreed on this following Directory for all the parts of Publick Worship at Ordinary and Extraordinary Times Here then the Liturgy with all the Rites and Ceremonies used formerly in the Worship of God are laid aside not only our Praises Prayers c. are excluded but all the Rites and Ceremonies with which they were performed such as Kneeling Standing c. And instead of these we are oblig'd to no more than is ordered in the Directory Prayers Praises c. are there indeed Ordered and the way of performing them prescribed but not a word of Bodily Worship and therefore it is plainly excluded among the other Rites and Ceremonies that are laid aside IV. All that Mr. B. alledges to prove that this Bodily Adoration is required by the Directory is Rem p. 109. That it requires such as come into the Congregation after Publick Worship is begun Not to betake themselves to their private Devotions but Reverently to compose themselves to joyn with the Assembly in that Ordinance of God that is then in hand which can import no less than putting themselves into a bodily posture most suitable to that Ordinance But I answer This passage imports no such thing the Assembly has no where explained Reverence in this sence or given the least reason to believe that they thought one posture more suitable to one Ordinance than another except Sitting at the Lords Supper which posture they seem to approve thro' the whole Service for they require those that come in To take their Seats or Places which in common acceptation is to sit down and they never require them to rise It was therefore incumbent on Mr. B. to prove that by Joyning Reverently in Prayers or Thanksgiving for Example is meant Standing or Kneeling at them or else this is no Vindication of the Directory But Secondly We are not left to guess what is meant by Joyning Reverently in the Ordinance then in hand The Sentence immediately going before explains it where the Assembly tells how the people are to Joyn in Publick Worship even by forbearing to read any thing Abstaining from private Whisperings Conferences Salutations or doing Reverence to any Persons From all gazing sleeping and other indecent behaviour which may disturb the Minister or People This is the way they are to joyn in the Service of God But not one word of putting themselves into a Bodily Posture most suitable to the Ordinance that is in hand It is plain therefore as I said before that they excluded these when they laid aside the many Rites and Ceremonies used formerly in the Worship of God and never restored them V. Let me add further That Reverence and Worship are very different things We ought to behave our selves Reverently to all our Betters and at all times But Worship is peculiarly to our Superiours who have power over us And as the things are different so there are different outward Acts that express them and neither Your Directory Confession of Faith or Catechism or any other Authentick Rule that I know of amongst you require any one visible Act peculiar to Worship in Your Assemblies Nor do I see by what Authority your Ministers can exact it from their People where they pretend to Conform to the Directory nor can it be pretended that the Composers of it forgot this For it is manifest that they remembred it so far as to forbid all Adoration where it was most proper that is at our coming into the Assembly and never require nor allow it any where after VI. Thirdly What I have said concerning the sense of the Assembly that Composed your Directory is agreeable to the Notion Dr. Twiss their Chairman had of this Matter as appears from his Letter directed to Mr. Mede dated July 27. 1635. 'T is the 59 in the Collection In which he gives this censure of Bodily Worship The Lord requires the true Worshippers should Worship him in Spirit and Truth in distinction from Worshipping him either at Jerusalem or in the Mount the Woman spake of but as to the outward gestures I doubt I shall prove a Novice as long as I breath and we affect not to make Ostentation of our Devotion in the face of the World the rather because thereby we draw upon our selves the censure of Hypocrisy And sometimes if a Man lift up his eyes he is censured as a P. I confess there is no outward gesture of Devotion which may not be as handsomly performed by as carnal a heart as breaths And in his thirteenth Letter being the seventieth in the forementioned Collection he adds And as for outward Complements nothing more pleases a Natural Man in Religious Worship and he finds himself apt enough in it yea far more apt than he who knowing and considering that God is a Spirit and they that Worship him must Worship him in Spirit are most carefull for the performance thereof Whereupon while their Minds are intent they find themselves not so free for outward Complements the care whereof is apt to cause avocation and disturbance in that unum necessarium Hence in the same Letter he blames himself for being prevailed with to rise up at the solemn Glory given to the Father Son and Holy Ghost and commends one that could never be perswaded to it Thus you see how the Prolocutor of the Assembly ridicules Outward Worship under the Names of Outward Postures and Complements You find himself likewise alledging in opposition to it our Saviours Command of Worshipping in Spirit Jo. 4. 24 And the very same Arguments that I mentioned and Answered in my Discourse Chap. 4. Sect. 3. Plainly intimating withal that it is a piece of Ostentation to use these Acts of Bodily Worship a sign of a carnal heart to be pleased with them and to neglect them a sign of an Heart intent on God's Spiritual Service Yet Mr. B.