Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	deny_v	lust_n	ungodliness_n	2,308	5	11.2023	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51154	An apology for the clergy of Scotland chiefly oppos'd to the censures, calumnies, and accusations of a late Presbyterian vindicator, in a letter to a friend : wherein his vanity, partiality and sophistry are modestly reproved, and the legal establishment of episcopacy in that kingdom, from the beginning of the Reformation, is made evident from history and the records of Parliament : together with a postscript, relating to a scandalous pamphlet intituled, An answer to The Scotch Presbyterian eloquence.	Monro, Alexander, d. 1715?	1693 (1693)	Wing M2437; ESTC R20155	87,009	107

leads them to do every thing against the Spirit and Practice of the Church and though the Canonical and Universal Methods of the Church are tempered with regard to our weakness and infirmities yet they love to fly in the Face of their Mother when she tenderly binds up their Wounds and offers her Assistance to prevent their Ruin and Danger I have almost forgot to enquire into the meaning of that distinction of occasional and fixed Communion Why may not one do that constantly since the Common Tyes of Christianity oblige him that he may do occasionally But if the meaning be that their Consciences allow them now and then to hear an Episcopal Presbyter Preach or Read though they dare not venture upon the highest Acts of Communion such as receiving of the Lords Supper at this rate they may have this occasional Communion with Papists Grecians Jews and Mahumetans for they all teach some great and common Truths which they dare not refuse But secondly It is apparent that the Scots Presbyterians are Schismaticks in the strictest Sense because by their Principles they must needs profess that if they had lived one hundred and fifty years before the first Council of Nice there was then a necessity to separate from the Unity of the Church For then all those things that they scruple at in the Publick Worship were practised by the Universal Church the Solemnities and Festivities the Publick Fasts the Altars the Hierarchy of Bishop Presbyter and Deacon Nay the Dignity of Metrapolitans is supposed as Ancient and Venerable by the first Council of Nice So upon the Presbyterian Hypothesis they should have been obliged if they had lived amongst the Ancients then to keep up distinct and separate Conventicles when the Purity of their Lives and the Glory of Martyrdom and Patience made them shine to the Confusion of their Enemies when their Zeal for God made them victorious over all the Powers of Darkness when by their Fastings and their Prayers they crucified the Flesh with all its Lusts and Affections when they taught the Gospel in its Majesty and Simplicity and bafled the Objection of the Pagans by their heavenly Conversation Let my Soul be with those first Christians I would chuse their Company at all adventures without the least fear of either Christmas Easter or Good Friday But thirdly The present Presbyterians must be Schismaticks by the Doctrine and Practice of their Predecessors This I have touched a little before Fourthly I desire the Presbyterians to name some Schismaticks in the Records of Ecclesiastical History that are now acknowledged by the common consent of all Churches to be Schismaticks and then I enquire what it was that made them such and if this be not agreeable to the Presbyterians more eminently than to any rank of the ancient Schismaticks I am mistaken But fifthly They themselves do not deny nor can they but that they are Schismaticks in St. Cyprian's Notion of Schism since to separate from ones own Bishop was a just and Apostolical Notion of Schism And the Presbyterians of Scotland are by so much the more inexcusable in that they have stubbornly and factiously Conspired against the Apostolical Hierarchy of Bishop Presbyter and Deacon The next thing that I remark is his Censure of the I piscopal Clergy for Preaching Morality pag. 62. and 63. He tells us that the Author of the Second Letter wrote That the Episcopal Party understand the Christian Philosophy better and that it was never understood or preached better in Scotland than under Episcopacy The Vindicator replies very wittily That he thought the Commendation of a Minister had been rather to understand Christian Divinity than Christian Philosophy But softly Sir I do not see that nice distinction between Christian Divinity and Christian Philosophy for if Philosophy be truely Christian it must be refined upon no lower Standard than the Morals that our Saviour practised and recommended and is not this Christian Divinity in it Nature and Tendency The Author of that Letter did not understand by Philosophy the lame and defective Systems of the Pagans but rather that Heavenly and Spiritual Rule delivered by our Saviour I hope he has not the Impudence to accuse the Clergy that they recommended the Pagan Morals as a perfect Rule of Life to their Hearers or that they themselves did neither believe nor exhort others to believe the Mysteries of Faith the Credenda of our Religion It may be they did fortifie some excellent Arguments among the Philosophers with Christian Motives and what the Philosophers who spoke of the Immortality of the Soul with dissidence and hesitation could not recommend but faintly the Christian Preachers did assert boldly since the Resurrection of our Saviour from the Dead was an invincible and infallible Argument not only of our Resurrection but of the Glory that shall afterwards be revealed There is nothing truly excellent among the Pagan Writers but what is in one place or other for the Matter found in the New Testament and purer Morals and greater heights than the Pagans could discern Nor can I think but that the Preachers of the Gospel may make very good use of Pagan Moralists I always thought Seneca a very excellent Book but if Seneca be Christianised as the Vindicator speaks I cannot see what fault the Vindicator can find with Seneca or Marcus Aurelius or any of our Ancient Friends For certainly Christian Morality in its true extent and latitude is nothing else but Evangelical Obedience and Holiness without which no man shall see God And I believe the Author of that Letter intended no more than that the Episcopal Clergy did plainly and seriously recommend to their Hearers the Reformation of their 〈◊〉 according to the Christian Standard And truly Sir notwithstanding the Vindicators Sarcastic Paraphrase I think this is very good Philosophy nay more I think Moral Philosophy never arrived at its true Elevation and Meridian Purity but by the Doctrine of our Saviour and his Apostles and does the Vindicator know better Philosophy than what is taught in the Sermon upon the Mount and in the 12th to the Romans we Preach that the Wisdom which is from above is pure peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie we Preach that a man endowed with knowledge should shew out of a good Conversation his Works with meekness of Wisdom We Preach That if any seem to be religious and bridleth not his Tongue but deceiveth his own heart that this mans Religion is vain because true Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and Widow in their Afflictions and to keep himself unspotted from the world We Preach that the Grace of God that bringeth salvation bath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And truly Sir I think this very good Morality and