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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
word_n	church_n	scripture_n	unwritten_a	2,749	5	12.4307	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43344	A discourse concerning meekness and quietness of spirit to which is added, A sermon on Acts 28. 22, shewing that the Christian religion is not a sect, and yet that it is every where spoken against / by Matthew Henry ...	Henry, Matthew, 1662-1714.; Henry, Matthew, 1662-1714. Sermon on Acts XXVII, 22.; Howe, John, 1630-1705.	1699 (1699)	Wing H1475_PARTIAL; Wing H1476_PARTIAL; ESTC R14901	132,581	220

made all things Nay even now he is set down at the right-hand of the Majesty on high far above all Principalities and Powers i. e. both good and evil Angels so as to be no more hurt by the contradictions of the one than he is benefitted by the Adorations of the other yet still he is spoken against Besides the Contempt cast upon him by the Iews and Mahometans are there not with us even with us those that daringly speak against him Arians and Socinians are daily speaking against him as a meer Man thinking that a Robbery in him which He thought none to be equal with God Quakers and Entbus●asts speak against Him as a meer Name setting up I know not what Christ within them while they explode that Iesus that was Crucified at Ierusalem Atheists and Deists 〈◊〉 against Him as a meer Cheat accounting the 〈…〉 a great Imposture and His 〈◊〉 a Iest. Profane and Ignorant 〈…〉 slightly of Him as if our Beloved were no more than anoth●●●eloved and some 〈…〉 cornfully of Him as Iulian the Apostate did that call'd Him in disdain the Galilean and the Carpenter's Son Such as these are the hard speeches which ungodly Sinners have spoken against Him the Lord rebuke them even the Lord that hath chose● Ie●●salem rebuke them 2. God himself the great Object of our Religious Regards is every where spoken against It is not only the Christian Revelation that is thus attack'd by virulent and blasphemous Tongues but even Natural Religion also The Glorious and Blessed God the great Creator and Benefactor of the Universe that doth Good to all and whose tender Merc●es are over all His Works even He is every where spoken against Some deny His Being Tho' His Existence be so necessary so evident that if He be not t is impossible any thing else should be yet there are Fools who say in their hearts what they dare not speak out that there is no God Psal. 14. 1. And he that saith there is no God wisheth there were none and if he could help it there should be none Others Blaspheme the Attributes of God that charge the All-seeing Ey● with Blindness saying The Lord shall not see Psal. 94. 7. that charge the Eternal Mind with Forgetfulness saying God hath forgotten Psal. 10. 11. that charge the Almighty Arm with Impotency saying Can God furnish a Table in the Wilderness which is there call'd speaking against God Psal. 78. 19 20. Thos●● 〈…〉 promise themsel●● 〈…〉 They shall not surely die 〈…〉 re●uire it And th●se that bold●● 〈…〉 and Irreligi●●● saying unto 〈…〉 Depart from us Job 21. 14 15. 〈…〉 of God tho' He is infinitely Great and Glorious others speak hardly of Him tho' he is infinitely Just and Good The Name of God is spoken against by the profane using of it so it is construed Psal. 〈◊〉 39 20. They speak against thee wickedly thine Enemies take thy Name in vain● Can there be a greater slight put upon the Eternal God than for Men to use his Sacred and Blessed Name as a By-word with which they give vent to their exorbitant Passions or fill up the vacanci●s of their other Idle-words The Name of God is thus abus'd not only by those that bel●h out bloody Oaths and ●urses which make the Ears of every good Man to tingle but by ●●ose that mention the Name of God slightly and irreverently in their common Conversation in whose mouths he is near when he is far from their reins To use those forms of speech which properly signify an Acknowledgment and Adoration of God's Being as O God or O Lord or an Appeal to his Omniscience as God knows or an Invocation of his Favour as God bless me or God be merciful to me● I say to use these or the like expressions impertinently and intending thereby to express only our wonder our surp●ize or our passionate resentments or any thing than that which is their proper and awful signification is an evidence of a vain mind that wants a due regard to that glorious and fearful Name The Lord our God I see not that the Profanation of the Ordinance of praying is any bett●● 〈◊〉 the Profanation of the Ordinance of Swearing The serious ●●●sideration of this I hope might prevent much of that 〈◊〉 which is 〈…〉 God and to his Holy Name by some that 〈◊〉 not with others to an exce●● of Ri●t The Pro●●dence of God 〈◊〉 likewise every where spoken against by Mur●●u●ers and Complainers that qua●●el with it and find fault with the disposals of it and when they are hardly bestead curse their King and their God Thus is the mouth of the ungodly set against the Heavens and their Tongue walket●●●hbrough the Earth 〈◊〉 The Word of God the great Rule of our Religion is every where spoken against so it was 〈◊〉 was first preached wherever the Apo●●●es 〈◊〉 preaching the Doctrine of Christ they 〈…〉 those that spake against it ●ontradicting and 〈…〉 So it is now it is 〈◊〉 Atheists speak against the Scriptures as not of Authority 〈◊〉 speak against it as dark and uncertain further than it is expounded and supported by the Authority of their Church which receives unwritten Traditions pari pietatis affectu ac reverentiâ with the same pious affection and reverence that they receive the Scripture nay and if we may judge by their practice with much more Thus is the Word of God blasphemed by them who call themselves the Temple of the Lord. But if we take away Revelation as the Deists do all Religion will soon be lost and if we derogate from the Scriptures as the Papists do all Revelation is much endangered Those also speak against the Scriptures who profanely Iest with them and that they may the more securely Rebel against Scripture Laws make themselves and their idle Companions merry with the Scripture Language The Word of the Lord is unto them a reproach as the Prophet complains Ier. 6. 10. And another Prophet found it so whose serious word of the necessity of Precept upon Precept was turned into an idle Song as Grotius understands it Isa. 28. 13. The word of the Lord was unto them Precept upon Precept Very likely it was done by the Drunkards of Ephraim spoken of v. 1. and it gave occasion to that Caution v. 22. Be ye not mockers lest your Bands be made strong Profligate and Debauched Minds relish no wit like that which ridicules the Sacred Text and exposeth that to Contempt As of old the insulting 〈◊〉 must be humour'd with the Songs of Sion and no Cups can please Belshazzar in his drunken Frollick but the Sacred Vessels of the Temple Thus industrious are the Powers of Darkness to Vilify the Scriptures and to make them coutemptible but he that sits in Heaven shall laugh at them for in spite of all the little efforts of their impotent Malice He will magnifie the Law and make it honourable according to the

be treated A due expression of Displeasure so much as is necessary to the amendment of what is amiss will very well consist with Meekness and Quietness And your Gravity and Awful Composedness therein will contribute very much to the preserving of your Authority and will command respect abundantly more than your Noise and Chiding Masters of Families and Masters of Schools too have need in this matter to behave themselves wisely Psal. 101. 2. so as to avoid the two Extreams that of Eli's foolish Indulgence on the one hand 1 Sam. 2. 23 24. and that of Saul's brutish Rage on the other Hand 1 Sam. 20. 30 33. and for the hitting of this Golden Mean Wisdom is profitable to direct 2. Inferiors are commonly very apt to complain If every thing be not just to their Mind they are freting and vexing and their Hearts are hot within them they are uneasie in their Place and Station finding fault with every thing that is said or done to them Here wants a quiet Spirit which would reconcile us to the Post we are in and to all the difficulties of it and would make the best of the present state tho' it be attended with many Inconveniencies Those unquiet People whom the Apostle Iude in his Epistle compares to raging Waves of the Sea and wandring Stars ver 13. were Murmurers and Complainers ver 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blamers of their Lot So the Word signifies 'T is an instance of Unquietness to be ever and anon quarrelling with our Allotment Those Wives wanted a meek and quiet Spirit that cover'd the Altar of the Lord with Tears Mal. 2. 13. Not Tears of Repentance for Sin but Tears of Vexation at the Disappointments they met with in their outward Condition Hannab's Meekness and Quietness was in some degree wanting when she fretted and wept and would not eat 1 Sam. 1. 7. but Prayer compos'd her Spirit and set here to rights v. 18. Her Countenance was no more sad It was the unquietness of the Spirit of the Elder Brother in the Parable that quarrel'd so unreasonably with the Father for receiving and entertaining the Penitent Prodigal Luke 15. 19. For those that are given to be uneasie will never want something or other to complain of It is true tho' not so readily apprehended that the sullenness and murmuring and silent frets of Children and Servants is as great a Transgression of the Law of Meekness as the more open noisie and avowed Passions of their Parents and Masters We find the King's Chamberlains wroth with the King Esth. 2. 21. and Cain's quarrel with God himself for accepting of Abel was interpreted Anger at God Gen. 4. 6. Why art thou wroth and why is thy Countenance fallen The Sowr Looks of Inferiors are as certain an indication of Anger resting in the Bosom as the Big Looks of Superiors and how many such instances of Discontent there have been especially under a continual Cross our own Consciences may perhaps tell us It is the want of Meekness only that makes those whom Divine Providence hath put under the Yoke Children of Belial that is impatient of the Yoke 3. Equals are commonly very apt to clash and contend It is for want of Meekness that there are in the Church so many Pulpit and Paper-Quarrels such strifes of Words and perverse Disputings That there are in the State such Factions and Parties and between them such Animosities and Heart-Burnings That there are in Neighbourhoods such Strifes and Brawls and Vexatious Law-suits or such Distances and Estrangements and Shiness one of another That there are in Families Envies and Quarrels among the Children and Servants Crossing and Thwarting and finding Fault one with another And that Brethren that dwell together do not as they should dwell together in Unity It is for want of Meekness that we are so impatient of Contradiction in our Opinions Desires and Designs that we must have our own Saying right or wrong and every thing our own way That we are so impatient of Competitors not enduring that any should stand in our Light or share in that Work or Honour which we would engross to our selves That we are so impatient of Contempt so quick in our Apprehension and Resentment of the least Slight or Affront and so pregnant in our Fancy of Injuries where really there are none or none intended They are not only Loud and profess'd Contentions that evidence a want of Meekness but also those silent Alienations in Affection and Conversation which make a less noise little Piques and Prejudices conceived which Men are themselves so ashamed of that they will not own them those shew the Spirit disturb'd and wanting the Ornament of Meekness In a word The wilful doing any thing to disquiet others Slandering Backbiting Whispering Tale-bearing or the like is too plain an Evidence that we are not our selves rightly disposed to be quiet And now may we not all remember our Faults this Day and instead of condemning others tho' never so Faulty should we not each of us bewail it before the Lord that we have been so little acted by this excellent Spirit and repent of all that which we have at any time said or done contrary to the Law of Meekness and from under the Direction and Influence of it Instead of going about to extenuate and excuse our sinful Passions let us rather aggravate them and lay load upon our selves for them So foolish have I been and ignorant and so like a Beast as the Psalmist speaks when he is recovering himself from an intemperate heat Psal. 73. 22. Think how often we have appear'd before God and the World without our Ornament without our Livery to our shame God kept account of the particular Instances of the unquietness of Israel They have tempted me saith he now these ten times Numb 14. 22. Conscience is God's Register that Records all our Miscarriages Even what we say and do in our haste is not so quick as to escape its Observation Let us therefore be often opening that Book now for our Conviction and Humiliation or else it will be opened shortly to our Confusion and Condemnation But if we would judge our selves we should not be judged of the Lord. May we not all say as Ioseph's Brethren did and perhaps some are as they were in a special manner call'd to say it by humbling Providences We are verily guilty concerning our Brother Gen. 42. 21. Such a Time in such a Company upon such an Occasion I wanted Meekness and was unquiet my Spirit was provok'd and I spake unadvisedly with my Lips and now I remember it against my self Nay have not I lived a Life of Unquietness in the Family in the Neighbourhood always in the Fire of Contention as in my Element and breathing Threatnings And by so doing have not I dishonour'd my God discredited my Profession disturbed my own Soul grieved the blessed Spirit and been to many an occasion of Sin And for all this ought not I to