Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	word_n	worldly_a	worship_n	38	3	6.8080	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12327	A sermon preached in the cathedrall church of Durham, Iuly, 7. 1628. By Peter Smart	Smart, Peter, 1569-1652?	1640 (1640)	STC 22641; ESTC R212597	19,767	42

with fire and sword fire of z●ale and sword of Gods word having the lawes of God and the King on our side As it is said in the 7. Apoc. 16. ver. The 10 Hornes that is the 10 Nations shall hate the Whore of Babylon the Church of Rome and shall make her● desolate and naked and shall eate her flesh and burne her with fire But what are those vaine superstitions the holders whereof ought to be hated Some thinke Magicall arts are meant ther●by to which saith Pliny Orientales populi ad insaniam usque addicti sunt The Easterne people ranne mad after Magick● which Gods law vtterly condemnes But the superstitious vanities in my text are more generall Vanity of vanities saith S●lomon all is vanity beside the feare of God and keeping of his commandements Those vanities saith a learned interpreter are humane traditions superstitious Ceremonies which vndermine and overthrow both the Law and the Gospell after which Ceremonies Orientales our East-worshippers runne mad in a manner And what are Ceremonies are all vaine are all superstitious God forbid Many are tolerable a few necessary Most are ridiculous and some abhominable Indeed in the beginning when the law was first published it pleased almighty God to traine vp the people of Israell vnder a multitude of C●remonies to keepe them in exercise and helpe their infirmity By the externall observation of which he would accustome them to his spirituall worship and nurture them in his feare and obedience till the comming of Christ who was the end the complement the consummation of Ceremonies For when Christ had appeared who was the truth and substance the Shadowes departed neither would he burden his Church with ●raditions and rudiments any longer Onely to preserve the memory of his benefits he ordained two Sacraments left to his Church liberty to m●ke lawes and Canons for order and comelinesse agreeable to his word For Ceremoniarum anima saith one est verbum Dei The life and soule of ev●ry Ceremony is the word of God without which it is dead and damned But Popes and papall Prelates not content with that simplicity which pleased the Apostles and primitive Church would needes adde Ceremony to Ceremony increasing their number in infinitum till they had heapt up a world of Ceremonies which they adorn'd with worldly splendor and bravery Adeo ut Gentes Iudaeos externi cultus superstitione Christiani vicerint saith Szege●ine Insomuch as Christians have surpassed both Iewes and Gentiles in the superstition of externall worship Which malady or plague rather of the Church began then to prevaile saith he Quando relicto verbo Dei mundana sapientia administrari caepit religio Christi When the government of Christs religion began to bee managed nay mard and mangled with worldly wisdome Gods word being abandoned For now saith he not one among a thousand can 〈◊〉 content to serve God in spirit and truth but he will affect some superstitious Ceremonie to worship God therewith Whereas Christs Church in stead of many rites and signes of which the ●ewish religion consisted A Chris●o acceperit paucam saith he eademque factio facillima intellectu augustissima observatione ●astissima The Church hath received of Christ but a few and those most easie to be done majesticall for contemplation chast and vndefiled in observation Quid haec ad insulsas Caerimoniarum nugas Quid ad superstitionem plusquam Iudalcam Quid ad Philaricam tyrannidem quae excrucia● miseras conscient●as Quid ad tot Idolatriae portenta What are these to the trifles of vnfavoury Ceremonies To superstition more then Iudaicall To their divelish tyrannie in tormenting wretched consciences Nay what are they to the prodigious monsters of Popish Idolatry Whereupon hee concludeth Non esse Caeremoniarum multitudine o●erandum Ecclesiam Christ● Church may not be overwhelmed with an Ocean Sea of Ceremonies It must ●lye the supers●uous furniture of pompous ●ites and Papall Pageants devised onely to astonish simple people to ravish their eyes and mindes and to amaze them with admiration Now indeed the originall cause of most of our superstitious Ceremonies is that Popish opinion that Christs Church hath yet Priests Sacrifices and altars Whereas in truth Christ was sent of God to be the last Priest which should offer the last Sacrifice vpon the last altar that ever the world should have He had saith Paul Hebr. 7. Aparobaton jerosun●● a Pries●hood which could not passe or be resign●d to any other He was not to have any successor being a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedeck Having neither beginning of dayes nor end of life but made like unto the Sonne of God abideth a Priest continually Not made as the sonnes of Aaron were after the law of a carnall commandement but after the power of an endlesse life saith he in the 16. verse For they being mortall men could not otherwise continue but by their lineall succeeding of their dying fathers one after another till the passion of Christ After whose Sacrifice offered on the Crosse which was the conclusion and consummation of all Sacrifices the whole Ceremoniall Law Mosaicall Sacrifices and Priesthood were to end with the beautifull Temple and altar therein Onely the Sacrifice of prayer of praise thanksgiving which every faithfull man and woman must offer to God vpon the most holy altar Christ is left to the Church So Ireneus cals him lib. 4. Altare nostr●m Christus Christ is our altar And Epiphanius saith Christus est Victima Sacerdos altare Deus homo omnia in omnibus pronobis factus Christ is the Sacrifice the Priest the altar both God and man made all in all for our sakes To revive therefore and raise vp againe I●wish types and figures long since dead and buried in bringing in altars in stead of Tables Priests in stead of Ministers propitiatory Sacrifices in stead of Sacraments It is not Antichristian p●esump●ion and sacrilegious impiety robbing Christ of his honour and vs of our salvation What is it else but an apostacy a publike protestation to renounce the onely sacrifice and the onely sacrificer Christ Iesus It is the reiteration saith a learned writer of the expiatory sacrifice offered by Christ vpon the altar of the crosse and the surrogation of an vpstart Priest for Christ the eternall Sacrificer and Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck The ordinary Glosse saith well Externi ritus ceremoniae Legis quia fuerunt vmbra Christi tum venturi mysteriorum ideo adveniente veritate Evangelica illicita facta sunt evanuerunt The externall rites and Ceremonies of the Law because they were shadowes of Christ to come and of his mysteries therefore the truth of the Gospell being once come they are made vnlawfull and have vanished out of sight They ought not then to be patternes or presidents for Christians to follow since the comming of Christ who hath accomplished all And the renewing of ●hem derog●teth

much from Christs soveraigne sacrifice for it implyeth imperfection in the same As St. Paul proveth by the legall sacrifices offered so often because they were imperfect Origen writeth thus in his Treatise on Matthew veniente Principe Sacerdotum the Prince of Priests being come the Priest in figure ceased The temple made of stones is destroyed to give place to the Temple made of lively stones Effossum est altare quod erat Deorsum The altar below on Earth was broken downe because the heavenly altar had appeared What have wee then to doe with them if they be past and gone Surely nothing True Christians ever since their Lords death have left them both Priests and altars to Iewes and Gentiles But the Whore of Babylons bastardly brood doting vpon their Mothers beauty that painted Harlot the Church of Rome have laboured to restore her all her robes and jewels againe especially her looking glasse the Masse in which she may behold all her bravery For they despising the plaine simplicity and modest attire of that grave matron Christs holy spouse have turned her of●icers all out of dores withall her houshold stuffe her Tables her cups her bookes her communions the very names of her Ministers and such like words vsed by the holy Ghost th●ough the new T●stam●nt In stead whereof the words Priest and altar ar● taken vp by them because without Priest no S●crifice can be offered without Pri●st and Sacrifice there is no vse of an Altar and without all thr●e Pri●st Sacrifice and altar there can b● no M●sse But the Mass● comming in b●ings in with it an inunda●ion of Ceremonies cross●s and Crucifixes and Challices and Imag●s Copes and Candlesticks and Tapers and Baso●s ●nd a thousand such Trin●ke●s which attend vpon the Masse All which wee have se●ne in this church since the Communion table was turned to an Altar Yet indeed it is no altar that 's but a nick-name it is wrongfully so called For if it be an altar there must needes bee a Sacrifice offered by a Priest to God but in the communion nothing is offered to God but prayers but praise and thanksgiving which the hearts and lips of all faithfull communicants offer to God by their Mediator Christ They lay th●m not on a Table they lay not their thanks they lay not their prayers vpon an al●ar either of wood or stone as the Aaronicall Priests laid their burnt offerings and incense We set indeed the bread and wine vpon the table besigning them to a Sacramentall vse by the consecration of Gods holy word we doe not offer them to God but God offereth them and giveth them to vs and with them his sonn● Christ if we be faithfull and worthy receivers To such they are indeed and in truth spiritually and Sacramentally the very body and blood of Christ then which more holy things the whole world affordeth not But if it bee an Altar as Masse-priests and our Priests vse to call it and the body and blood of Christ a Sacrifice to God offered thereon then is the Altar better and more holy then the body of Christ for it sanctifieth it Marke this if the table whether wood or stone be an altar it is better then the body of Christ and holier which to say or thinke is horrible blasphemy it is holier I say because it sanctifieth Christs body and blood if it be an altar● For without cont●adiction saith the Apostle Heb. 7 7. v The lesse is blessed of the better proving thereby that Melchised●ck was a better man then Abraham and we know that to blesse is to consecrate or sanctifie So saith our Saviour in the 23. of Matth. 3. v. reprooving the Phari●ees who taught whosoever shall sweare by the altar it is nothing but whosoever shall sweare by the gift that is the sacrifice vpon the altar he is guilty Yee fooles and blind whether is greater the gift or the altar that sanctifieth the gift So say I to such fond ignorant teachers who call themselves Priests and the Table an altar Y● blind popish Priests vnderstand yee not that by erecting an altar ye advance it above the body of Christ ye make it better then Ch●ists body by making it a sacrifice sanctified by the altar● And I am verily perswaded that some there are who esteeme more of it then they doe of Christs body For I have seene I have seene I say the Priest so will he needs be called take vp the body blood after consecration and holding them in his hands make a low legge to the altar ●nd before hee set them downe againe bow himselfe devoutly and wo●ship the altar He yeelded no reverence at all to Christs body neither when he held it in his owne nor when he had delivered it into the receivers hands● Wh●● is it to preferre a ston● or a piece of wood before the body of Christ if this be not to bow to his altar and not to his body to make many legs to the Kings chaire and none to the King himself And this is evident by their daily practise for the altar is ev●ry day worshipped with ducking to it though there be no Communion nor any man there Christs body is not worshipped with ducking no not at the Communion Is it not worse then Popery But the Fathers many times call it an Altar It is true for the mystery of iniquity began betime to worke by small beginnings lurking in words Sacerdotes altaria Priests and altars and rejecting them which Gods spirit had taught and the Apostles ever vsed Ministros Mensas Ministers and Tables that way might be made for Antichrist and his abominable sacrifice of the Masse Yet the Fathers worshipped not their altars Tertullian● saith Bellarmine was the first that mentioneth geniculation that is ducking to Altars which hee learned of his Master Montanus the first founder of crossings and duckings and many other Ceremoniall fooleries to which hee annexed the gift of the holy Ghost For Tertullian saith Chemnitius was the authour omnium fere Ceremoniarum Papisticarum in a manner of all Popish Ceremonies Whereupon arose an opinion that Montanus the her●tick was the holy Ghost that he claimed the name vertue and dignity of the holy Ghost which is not credible so learned a Doctour as Tertullian could beleeve But he ascribed as the Papists doe such po●er and holinesse to the C●remonies which Montanus had devised that without them none could bee partake●s of the holy Ghost As if the holy Ghost were annexed to Ceremonies included in Ceremonies collated by Ceremonies Whereupon saith Bugenhagius a learned German The Church of Rome condemned Montanus for an hereticke and yet neverthelesse retained his heresies Which saith he hereby is manifest in that the books which defend his heresies are preserved but the workes of those Fathers which confuted them are lost Montanus therefore was the first Altar worshipper and they that now imitate him in ducking to Altars are little better then hereticall