Selected quad for the lemma: work_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	creation_n	day_n	sabbath_n	8,102	5	9.9122	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89544	The reformed gentleman, or, The old English morals rescued from the immoralities of the present age shewing how inconsistent those pretended genteel accomplishments of [brace] swearing, drinking, [brace] whoring and Sabbath-breaking are with the true generosity of an English man : being vices not only contrary to the law of God and the constitutions of our government both ecclesiastical and civil, but such as cry loud for vengeance without a speedy reformation : to which is added a modest advice to ministers and civil magistrates, with an abridgement of the laws relating thereto, the King's proclamation and Queens letter to the justices of Middlesex, with their several orders thereupon / by A.M. of the Church of England.	A. M., of the Church of England.; Bouche, Peter Paul, b. ca. 1646.	1693 (1693)	Wing M6; ESTC R20084	100,071	189

he will be more peculiarly Worshipped This He did at the very first Creation sanctifie the Seventh Day resting thereon from all His Works which he had made and to the Jews he appointed a Seventh Day to be kept Holy So great a Veneration was 〈◊〉 b● the M●sai● Law bestowed on that Mystical 〈◊〉 that every Seventh Year was appointed for a Sabbath of rest and every Seventh of these Sababaths of Rest was a Jubilee unto the People o Israel 2. The Reasons for keeping the First Day of the Week Holy instead of the Seventh considered I shall not here run into needless Disputes about the Changing of the Sabbath from the Seventh to the First day of the Week Reasons for it in a Christian Nation are superfluous and it is to be observed none cavil so much about it as those that would be glad if there were no time at all allotted for those Sacred Solemnities 'T is true there was some Scuffle in the Primitive Times in the Eastern and Western Churches about this Matter One keeping the Jewish on the Seventh Day of the Week the Others observing the Christian Sabbath on the Lord's Day the first of the Week but the general Assent that was given by all the Church soon after shewed the Celebration of the Lord's Day to be of Apostolical Institution and not ordained by Human Tradition For a scrupulous Conscience if any such there be in this Profane Age it may be sufficient to consider that the very Jews did not observe the precise Numerical Seventh Day from the Creation but a Seventh counting from the Day of their Deliverance from the Land of Aegypt Nor could they be so strict in Sanctifying precisely their own Seventh Day since after the Commandment was written the Sun stood still for the space of a whole Day on Gibeon and went back 10 Degrees in the time of Hezekiah But besides the uncertainty the Jews were in themselves of keeping their Sabbath on a precise Day there is another Consideration which renders it impossible for all Nations to keep the same Sabbath all the World over at one instant of Time and that is the Diversity of Meridians and the inequality of the Rising and Setting of the Sun which causeth the Days in one place to vary from what they are in another in some 6 in others 12 Hours difference The reasonableness of Translating the Sabbath from one Day to another will appear more if we consider the many Memorable Passages of the Old Testament which shadow out this Change unto us as well as those Remarkable Instances of the New which all happened on this first day of the Week On this Day God began the work of Creation to build the curious Fabrick of the World and to Form all Beings out of that Chaos in which they were at first involved and it is very probable he designed as much Honour should be paid to the Memory of this great Day as of That in which he had finished all On this Day as a Hebrew Author Observes the Cloud of God's Glorious Majesty sat first upon his People then did Aaron and his Children first enter upon and Execute their Priesthood and thereon did God first solemnly Bless his People Israel This is the Day as David Prophesying of the Resurrection of Christ testifies which the Lord has made let us rejoyce and be glad therein And how great wondrous and astonishing things were done on this Day under the Gospel dispensation It was on This day that Christ finished the Glorious Work of our Redemption and rose again from the Dead for our Justification On this first Day of the Week did He appear after his Resurrection to his Disciples several times On this Day fell the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles as they were assembled together and at the same time upon St. Peter's Sermon were there added no less than three thousand Souls to the Church On this Day was it that the Disciples afterwards met frequently together to break Bread and to lay up their Charitable Contributions for the use of the Poor 3. The Lord's day How and by whom Profaned These things being premised I proceed to consider how Shamefully and Odiously the Solemnities of this Day are slighted derided and Profaned by this our Corrupt and Dissolute Age. And herein I could wish the Openly Debauched and Licentious person were the only Delinquent But alas if we deal Impartially we shall find many of those who seem to look Wisely and would be angry if you called them by any other Name than that of Christian to be deficient enough in this respect They tell you Judaism only required so strict an Observation of the Sabbath that Christ the Lord of the Sabbath has remitted that rigour with which the Mosaic Law obliged its followers That it is Puritanical Enthusiastick Zeal which spurs on some to be so Religiously given on this Day This is no invented Account grounded upon a mere Hypothesis but what is to be seen by every Days Experience And if none else can bear me Witness of the truth hereof yet I might appeal to some Judicious Mens Opinions who have declared the Suppressing of the Profanation of the Lords-Day to be triffling Nugatory and little less than a Grievance to the Subject So little is the Concern which Men now a-days have for God and Religion and such slighting thoughts do they bear to the Divinity of the Lord's Day I know not what Church allows so much Licentiousness thereon sure I am the Church of England is far from it in her Doctrines and Discipline let her pretended Followers use their Christian Liberty for a Cloak of Wickedness as long as they please 4. Who can forbear lamenting the sad Degeneracy and Apostacy of the Age wherein to reform from Superstition is to run upon the other Extream and be Profane wherein the Cure of Pharisaical Hypocrisie consists in being openly loose and Debauched wherein to plead for the Keeping holy the Lords-Day is Malepertness in the Minister Cant Impertinencie and Presbyterianism in a Private Person But notwithstanding all this I shall pursue my design in tracing the Profane and Irreligious in all His By-Paths and transgressions to lay open the several Ways by which he Violates this Holy Institution and drive him or shame him if possible into the Power as well as the Form of Godliness 5. One would think in Complaisance to the fashion and in Conformity to the Custom of the Country wherein they Live The Lords-Day is profaned First by neglecting to c●me to the publick Ordinances of the Church there should be none but what went to one Assembly or another but we have too many who neither go to Church nor to any other place of Divine Worship tolerated by Law on that Day Can't God say they be served as well at Home as in the Publick Congregation Will not our Reading a good Book profit as well in our own Houses as the Hearing of a Sermon in the more

Hour No certainly we find the Unhappy Creature tho' he has so much grace left to come to Church after his Epicurean Dinner yet overtaken with sleep before Prayers be half said and in his Slumbers before the Minister has named his Text twice over And can we think God is well pleased with such a Man's Sacrifice Can the most Charitable Christian now living allow such a stupid Soul to have Sanctified the Lords-Day aright 14. But to prevent this Others are so cautious as not to go to Church at all A Third work of the flesh is Gaming on this Day and the Cloth removed they betake themselves to what they then are most fit for to Softness and Effeminacy to Gaming and Dancing to Singing and telling of Idle Stories 'T is very well known how many I wish I could not say of the Higher Rank of Men spend the Close if not the greatest part of the Lords-Day Not in Reading and Meditating not in Instructing and Praying with their Families but at Chess or Tables at Cards or Dice I would very willingly know whether their Time is so much Employed on other Days that they are so forward to set this Day apart too for their Sports and Pastimes Shall the Devil not only Engross the Week-Days but have the Sunday spent in his Service too Strange and Horrible this That Men should be so Insatuated and Enslaved so Bewitched and Inveigled to their Idle Pleasures as to bestow all their time both secular and sacred upon them 15. But this is not all to fill up the measure of Iniquity they must have their Anticks and their Merry strains on this Holy Day A fourth Work of the Flesh is Dancing and Profane Singing on this Day They cannot go to Bed without a Song or a Dance to refresh their drooping Spirits Poor Hearts They have been fatigued with the long and tedious Duties of the Day have with patience undergone the Burthen thereof and attended till they were weary to Mr. Parsons Discourse of an Hour long And must they be debarred from a harmless Diversion which hurts no body and is an Offence to none but meddling Fools and unaccountably-scrupulous Puritans Perhaps this might be tolerable were it not attended as is most commonly with Masqueradings and Balls of half a Nights Continuance But shall such Farce and Sonnetting go down Shall such Fooleries and Apishness make up the Conclusion of the Sunday Shall Singing of Divine Anthems Hymns and Spiritual Songs so much recommended by St. James and so much in use among the truly merry-hearted Primitive Christians be abus'd ridicul'd and laid aside by most And shall the Melodious Harmony of the Saints and the Consort we may hold with the Heavenly Host be Converted into Obscene Modern Songs which would not take at any other time were it not for the Pandarism of a Musical Composure 16. But as yet we have seen but the best part the foulest is still behind what I have said of the two last ways by which the Lords-Day is profaned to wit The last way w●ereby the Lords-day is profaned viz. By Country Revellings and Riots by Singing and Dancing is what the Civilized Citizens and more Gentile Courtiers are guilty of But if you step into the Country you will see Franticks as well as Anticks on this Sacred Day No sooner is the Evening-service over but you would think Hell it self were broke loose and that every Parish and Village were a Universal Bedlam They are Sober indeed who keep House and pass away the time in some idle Romantick Discourse and are not seen with the more Licentious Multitude But good God! What Routs and Disorders what Cudgel-playing and Wrest-ling what Races and Foot-Ball Matches are set on foot in their open Fields on this Great Solemnity Dancings and R●vellings May-games and Wakes are so Customary that if you offer to suppress them you incroach upon the Priviledge to the Subject Nor is this their Practise only on a Licentious Carnival or a Jovial Whitsuntide but on every Sunday in the Year Not is it the Custom of any peculiar Place but almost of every Village Division Hundred and County in the whole Kingdom This Pest reigns in every Air this Plague is Predominant in every Clyme and this Profane Infection has taken hold of every Quarter and Corner of the Nation 17. But Brutes that you are How unreasonably do you style your selves Christians An earnest Expostulation and Exhortation for the duly Celebrating the Lords Day when as you do that on the Lords-Day which a Modest Heathen would blush to do at any time Are there any Pagans in Nature worse than your selves in Practise What is it you think of Are your Sports and Pastimes your Routs and Revellings all the Evening Sacrifice God is like to have at your Hands Will those be an Incense of a sweet savour unto his Nostrils Is God the Master of your time and are you accountable to him for All and must the more precious Minutes thereof be Squandered away at this Rate Can you find no leisure Hours from your Business to recreate your Bodies but the day which the Lord has set apart for himself Must that be your Vacation your Play-day Vngrateful Wretches that you are Had God desired some Great thing at your Hands could you have denied him since your Breath your Lives your All are of and from him And can you when he only bids you remember the Seventh Day to keep it Holy find tricks and ways how to rob him of his right in that too Monsters of Ingratitude Where is your Love where is your Du●y where is your Thankfulness and where is your Obedience to that Being by whose Permission alone it is that you breath out of Hell one Moment What hinders but you may be Zealous in Observing this Sacred Day Are you afraid the Church will disown you for being righteous overmuch Are there any stronger Encouragements to be Zealous unto good Works than what are to be found within her Bosom Is it a disgrace for a Church of England-Man to be strict in obeying God's Commands Is the Name of Precisian Singular or Puritan so powerful to frighten you from walking according to the Precepts of our Blessed Saviour Are you afraid or ashamed to be His followers Why than do you affix His Name before yours And take it as an affront if you are called by any other Name than that of Christian Be persuaded than to be Christians indeed to bear a Reverential Zeal and Fear to all that belongs to God to his Attributes to his Name to his Word to his Works and to his Day For the Celebration of the Last of which take these following Rules 18. Some Rules laid down for the right Observation of the Sabbath First Preparation on the Eve Prepare thy Heart for this Great Solemnity If there was so much Devotion and Decorum so much Preparation and Cleansing requisite for the Receiving the Law the Approaching the Ark