Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	true_a	worship_n	worshipper_n	3,023	5	12.1458	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53323	A sermon preach'd in St. Paul's cathedral before the Lord-Mayor, aldermen, &c. on Sunday, October 23, 1698 by Edward Oliver ...	Oliver, Edward, d. 1732.	1698 (1698)	Wing O272; ESTC R17592	7,965	28

so does our Saviour frame his Answer as to declare the Worship of the Jews preferable to that of the Samaritans and consequently Jerusalem to Mount Gerizim but adds that the whole Question will henceforth cease while both their Religions were to be abolish'd the one as False the other as Imperfect The Samaritan's false because mix'd with Idolatry wherefore our Saviour says Ye worship ye know not what v. 22. The Jew's though it must be allow'd true because he adds We worship what we know yet to be abolish'd because weak and imperfect Neither in this mountain shall ye worship because Idolatry shall cease as the Prophets foretold And the Lord alone shall he exalted in that day Isa 2.18 and the Idols he shall utterly abolish Nor in Jerusalem because Sacrifice and Oblations he will no longer accept but a third and perfect Worship should be establish'd for the hour comes and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him v. 23. In which Answer of our Blessed Saviour the Deficiency of both the former Religions and the Excellency of that which was to succeed is plainly set forth For the worship of the Samaritans was not in Truth but abounded with Errors and Ignorance That of the Jews was not in Spirit but consisted in Bodily Observances and Outward Ceremonies which were but Shadows of things to come and it was only the Christians that could henceforth be true Worshippers whilst their Religion alone was endued with what the others were deficient in viz. Spirit and Truth Nor could any other Religion than this be proper to be establish'd no other being agreeable to the Nature and true Notion of a God and this in the Text is given as the fundamental reason why the others were abolish'd and this introduc'd God is a Spirit c. And that the Christian Religion is thus agreeable to the Nature of God I shall endeavour to shew by declaring what is here requir'd of us I. By worshipping in Spirit And II. In Truth And by the way shall take notice of such as deviate from this Worship Which I desire may serve as an Application of the Discourse since 't is all which I fear your Patience will permit me to make And I. I am to show what is meant by Worshipping God in Spirit 1. Then do we worship him in Spirit when we are possess'd with a true and lively sense of his Divine Majesty Power and Rule over us humbly acknowledge his unspeakable Goodness so adore his Infinite Wisdom which searches our hearts that we in all things submit to his All-wise Will When we love him with all our Hearts and all our Souls and yet fear and reverence him as a Father and with the greatest chearfulness obey whatsoever he has been pleas'd to command us When we not only give up our Souls pure and spotless but keep our Bodies too fit Temples for the Holy Ghost and thus join'd offer up our selves one Reasonable Service For when we have once this true and awful Notion of the Almighty we must and shall exert our selves in acts of Piety and publick Testimonies of Devotion Express our Sense of his Power and Rule by our daily Supplications our Acknowledgments of his Goodness by our continual Praises our Love by our Charity to our Neighbours and Zeal for his Worship and Service our Fear by our abstaining from the least appearance of Evil lest we offend so gracious a Father And all this with Humility and Reverence Decency and Order with Obedience to Authority and respect to those whom he has set over Us These being most certain and spiritual Duties nay the only things wherein we are capable of testifying that we really do worship Him in spirit And once come up to these just and awful Thoughts of the Divine Majesty which produce such true acts of Devotion and Piety How agreeable to his Nature must be this our Sacrifice how much beyond whatever the policy of the wisest Heathen could invent nay even what he himself instituted in the Jewish Religion God is a Spirit That is a Being Incorporeal and Immaterial his Worship therefore ought to be like Himself refin'd and spiritual and to deduce its Source from the Reason and Soul of Man not to consist barely in outward Acts and Things meerly Corporeal 'T is confess'd God had permitted nay commanded such a Worship under the Old Law but this was only Temporary and fitted for a People carnal and stiff-neck'd but now the fulness of time was come it no longer suited the Divine Majesty he therefore commands a Worship more Real and Divine If therefore our Actions do not proceed from the Heart and Soul that is from a lively Faith fervent Love and sincere Principles of Holiness they can't be acceptable to God nor is this our Worship agreeable to his Nature But if they take their Rise from the Heart then are they a spiritual Worship for thus are they spiritual in their Original Source and Cause and bear some proportion even with the Almighty himself who is a Spirit And this I take to be the true meaning of worshipping in spirit How grossly then do they err who would make all Religion to consist in Notion and Talk and frame to themselves a Worship that should have nothing of reality in it but at once mock both God and Man These are they that are above Ordinances and all manner of Rule guided by Fancy and a frantick Zeal which they put on to deceive the giddy Multitude with a noise of Holiness who think it enough to vent and boast their Notions of the Power and Excellency of Faith but never take care to shew it by their Works nay esteem the pressing of them as necessary to Salvation nothing less than Superstition and Popery that will talk of Love to God and Familiarity with the Person of Christ and yet forget their Obedience to the Magistrates whom he has set over them and hate back-bite and slander their Neighbour that pretend to the greatest Zeal for God's glory yet are so far from abhorring Sacriledge that 't is one great Mark of their Godliness Blessed God! If these be the effects of spiritual Worship we have chang'd for the worse and are much farther from Heaven than the Jew or Samaritan Others there are that go not so far yet urge this Text against all manner of Ceremonies and prescrib'd Forms of Devotion Are we say they to worship him in spirit what means then this Show and outward Pomp this Rubrick and these Forms Shall we again be bound up with Jewish Slavery Are we not promis'd the Assistance of the Spirit and shall Christ dye in vain to free us We willingly confess that the Worship under the Gospel is more refin'd and spiritual than that under the Law but that it should be wholly so debarr'd of all outward Ceremonies we affirm to be against the Practice of all Ages nay

Mr. OLIVER's SERMON Before the LORD-MAYOR c. At St. Paul's Cathedral October 23. 1698. EDWIN Mayor Jovis xxvii die Octobris 1698. Annoque RRs Wilhelmi Tertii Angliae c. Decimo THis Court doth desire Mr. Oliver to Print his Sermon Preached before the Lord-Mayor and Aldermen of this City at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul on Sunday last GOODFELLOW A SERMON PREACH'D in St. PAUL's Cathedral BEFORE THE Lord-Mayor ALDERMEN c. On SUNDAY October 23. 1698. By EDWARD OLIVER M. A. Fellow of Corpus Christi College Cambridge and Chaplain to the Right Honourable GEORGE Earl of Northampton The Second Edition LONDON Printed for Edward Castle next Scotland-Yard-Gate near Whitehall MDCXCVIII A SERMON Preach'd before the Lord-Mayor c. JOHN IV. 24. God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in sprit and in truth OUR Blessed Redeemer neglected no opportunity of exerting that universal Charity he came into the world to teach that thus by his Practice his Doctrine might gain Credit and the stiffest Prejudices be wrought off and conquer'd by so powerful an Example Answerable to this we find him here in this Chapter bearing with patience the Ignorance and subtle Shifts of a Woman with tenderness reproving the Sins of an heinous Offender with kindness though himself a Jew conversing with a Samaritan Thus by his Affability and stooping to the meanest Capacity does he convince the Understanding that was fraught with Prejudice and Infidelity subject that Will that was led captive at the pleasure of each unruly Lust In short of an Idolater and Adult'ress makes a Convert and a Teacher of others Such care does he take to have all come to the knowledge of the Truth that we find him supplying the defects of Education removing those Disadvantages she lay under and what the Jews might have learnt from the Books of their Prophets which Books the Samaritans did wholly reject and so were not capable of understanding he here with great plainness nay more than he vouchsafes to his own Nation declares viz. That he was the Messiah and was to introduce a new and better Law So much advantage has Ignorance and a Confession of Sins above an affected Pretence to Knowledge and a counterfeited Zeal There is no Verse that has relation to this Story but would afford many useful Remarks But since I have pitch'd upon this of the Text I shall take no further notice of the rest than as they are particularly necessary to the Explication of it And in order to this 't will be expedient to consider to what this Position is oppos'd And we shall best understand what is here meant by Spirit and Truth if we look back a little and take notice how it was introduc'd Nor will the Reflections which I shall make be improper for this Auditory where though I believe there is neither Jew nor Samaritan to convince yet we have those I fear sometimes to deal with who make such a Medley of Religion that they are near as dangerous to the Truth of it For so do the Romanists confound their will-Will-worship and Idolatry with the Essentials of Christianity that they take both from its Truth and Spirituality So do other Dissenters from Us mistake the true Notion of its Spirituality that they derogate from the very Essentials of our most Holy Religion and would go about to persuade us its Truth consisted in mere Airy Notions and Wild Enthusiasm Our Blessed Saviour having convinc'd this Samaritan of his extraordinary Knowledge by telling her all that ever she did she is so far from denying or concealing her fault that she owns him for a Prophet and as such begs his Instructions in that great Dispute that was between the Jews and those of her own Nation It being necessary for her that knew her Sins were many and heinous and had not only learnt out of the Books of Moses that there could be no Atonement made between God and her no Remission obtain'd without a Sacrifice but also that the Almighty would accept of no other Sacrifice but such as was offer'd him in that one Place he had chosen to put his Name in nay yet more That all Sacrifices that were offer'd elsewhere were esteem'd no better than of wilful Murder It was necessary I say for her to understand how and where this her Offering would be accepted Nor could she judge any more fit to resolve her than one of whose great Wisdom and Knowledge she had then had such full Proof and Experience The Religions that at this time took place in the World were those of the Jews and Gentiles The Jews worshipp'd only One and the True God the Gentiles abounded in such as were False to whom they paid their Adoration Now the Samaritans made a mixture of both these and added to the Worship of the true God the Adoration of the false For when Shalmanesser carried Israel away captive into Assyria he sent the Refuse of divers Nations to possess Samaria and the cities of it 2 Kings 17.25 who in the beginning of their dwelling there feared not the Lord therefore the Lord sent lions among them and slew some of them To remove which Plague their King sent one of the Priests which he brought from thence to dwell there and to teach them the manner of the God of the land So they feared the Lord and served their own gods ver 33. that is admitted the Religion of the Jews and yet retained their own Superstition Now though the Jews and Samaritans differ'd in many things as were easy to show yet they chiefly disagreed in the Place of their Sacrifices These pleading the Practice of their Forefathers whom they forgetful of their true Religion esteemed Abraham Isaac and Jacob believing themselves descended from them and settled in this Land ever since the departure of Moses out of Egypt in the mean time upbraiding the Jews that their Religion was only founded on Hearsay and Opinion The Jews justly esteem'd theirs the Holy Temple of Jerusalem where God appear'd between the Cherubims where was an unquestioned Succession of Priests to minister and where their Kings had always offer'd Sacrifice On the other side the Samaritans boasted their Mount Gerizim as the Place chosen of God where Abraham as their Tradition would make them believe in obedience would have offer'd up his Son Isaac and where Jacob returning out of Mesopotamia worshipp'd Nay so were they possess'd with a belief of the Antiquity of their Temple that in the time of Ptolomy Philometor about a hundred and sixty years before Christ they undertook with the hazard of their Lives to prove it before that of Jerusalem even out of the Laws of Moses So strangely mistaken may the fond boasts be of Succession and Antiquity and so little Credit to be given to bare Tradition This was the foundation of the Woman's Question v. 20. and this Question she justly thought dignus Vindice nodus worthy of a Prophet to resolve Now