Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A10795
|
Gods holy house and service according to the primitive and most Christian forme thereof, described by Foulke Robarts, Batchelor of Divinity, and prebendary of Norvvich.
|
Robartes, Foulke, 1580?-1650.
|
1639
(1639)
|
STC 21068; ESTC S121261
|
55,029
|
143
|
and dull And do wee not perceive plainely that when we betake our selves to our knees for prayer the Soule is humbled within us by this very gesture And when when wee lift up our hands and our eyes towards God wee feele an elevation of the Soule also towards the throne of grace There is an instance in the booke of Exod. which fully illustrateth this point For when Israel was in fight with Ameleck Moses Aaron and Hur went up Exo. 17. 10. 11. to the tope of the hill And it came to passe when Moses lift up his hand Israel prevailed And when he let downe his hand Amaleck prevailed Shall we thinke that there was a charme in this his holding up and letting downe of his hand Is it not manifest that Moses was heard at his prayers to God for his people and that as his handes were borne up his soule did beare up also in the greater measure of zeale and faith whereby his prayer became the more Lyr. powerfull per hoc ostendttur suae orationis efficacia i. by this is manifested the efficacie or force of his prayer Nec contra Amalechitas tantum vis armorum Orig. in num hom 13. quam Moysis valuit or atio Vt enim elevasset manus ad Deum vincibatur Amalech remissae vero dejectae vinci faciebant Israel i. The force of armes was not so powerfull against Ameleck as the prayer of Moses For as he lifted up his hands to God Ameleck went by the worst but if his hands setled or fell downe Israel tooke the foyle St. Aug. speaketh to the same effect And may we not conceive Ser. de tom 93. that Saint Paul meaneth the same thing when he will have menat their prayers to lift up pure hands A learned interpreter speaketh full home to this 1 Tim. 2. 8. purpose saying upon that text Voluit hoc symbolo significare vim orationis Elevatio enim manuum contentionem orationis remissio manuum remissionem orationis adumbrabat Elevans manus elevabat mentem Cornel. a lap intendebat in Deum Cum vero lassus remittebat manus remittebat orationem i. He would by this symbol set out the force of prayer For the lifting up of his hands did signifie the earnestnesse of his prayer and the setling of his hand the slaking of his devotion In lifting up his hand he rowsed up his spirit and dealt with God the more fervenly but when growen weary he let fall his hand then he cooled in his prayer As for my part Whensoever I see any man using outward reverence in the act of Gods worship I shall judge him to be the more devoute within by how much the more he doth outwardly expresse in reverened gestures Neither can I ever be perswaded that that man is inwardly affected with reverence towards God who doth not outwardly declare the same by the reverend behaviour of his â— a. 2 a. q. 94. body For as Aquinas alleadgeth out of S. Aug. Exterior cultus est confessio quaedam cultus interioris i. The outward worship is a certeine confession of the inward worship Wee cannot deny but that men may make a faire outward shew of holinesse and devotion when they are most foul within through hypocrisie and prophanesse as the Pharisies made long prayers whilest they intended to devoure widdowes houses But yet let me prevent or represse insolent censures with the words of St. Paul Who Râ—â— 14. 4. art thou that judgest another mans servant Thou dost with thine eyes see reverence in the outward behaviour Thou seest not what is within in the heart 1 Cor. 13. 7. But Christian charity beleeveth all things and hopeth all things and requireth that wee judge the best according to the outward appearance God only is the judge of the heart we are to judge according to what wee see and not according to what we see not Wee are taught to be devout and reverend both within and without And to performe worship to God not with the body alone nor with the Soule a-alone but with body and Soule both that so wee may not seperate those which God hath conjoyned No doubt but there is too often an outward shew of much devotion and reverence where there is none or very little within For impiety can dissemble Sathan can change himselfe into an Angell of light The woolfe can put on Sheepes cloathing But there can be no inward reverence or devotion in the heart which doth not shew it selfe outwardly except peradventure when some perplexing terrour may for a time make a Christian man discover humane frailety for true Religion loveth not to dissemble The Angell of light will not transforme himselfe into a Divell of darkenesse nor will the sheepe cloath it selfe with the skinne of a woolfe And the man which hath a devout and Religious heart will not seeme prophane but will declare his piety and probity outwardly by the holinesse of his workes in his conversation and by the reverendnesse of his behaviour in the worship of God The Schoole-men make a threefold act of adoration Pined in 3. q. 25. ar 2. whereof the first is in the understanding apprehending and conceiving the excellencie of the object or that which is to be worshiped The second in the will inclyning and disposing a man to honor that object And both these they call inward worship The third act is the expression of that inward apprehension and inclination by sensible signes as by word deede or gesture and this they call outward worship Ex duplici natura Compositi sumus intellectuali sensibili Duplicem adorationem deo offerimus Spirituale qua consistit in interiori mentis devotione corporalem 2. 2. q. 14. ar 2. in exteriore corporis humiliatione i. Wee consist of a two fold nature intellectuall and sensible Wee performe to God a two fold worship The one Spiritual consisting in the outward devotion of the minde and the other corporall in the outward humiliation of the body But here my brethen are ready to tell me that by these words of Aquinas what is done by the Object body is but a corporall worship and that the spirituall worship consisteth in inward devotion and then they urge the words of our Saviour saying Josh 4. 24. 1 Tim. 4. 8. God is a spirit and must be worshipped in spirit and trueth whereto they adde the words of St. Paul bodily excercise profiteth little It may be thought by these words first of Saint Ans Paul that bodily exercise doth profit some thing though but a little and we are not to neglect much more to abhorre that which may afford the least furtherance in the way of Godlynesse and in Gods worship But if my brethren tell me that I do much mistake the meaning of the word litle in this text I must tell them that they in thus applying it to our behaviour in the worship of God do much more
superstition and Popery so that when we meete it in our Churches in their consecration and usage of them in all which they say it is we may know it and deale therewith as becommeth us Shall I tell them what I am taught that superstition is in Greeke called Δεισιδαιμονία which signifieth Plut. in Alex. Deos esse metu credere i. through feare to beleeve that there are Gods animum stolida timiditate complens i. When the heart is fraught with foolish feare Or to speake with Nazianzen superstitio est meticulose Deum colere to worship God timorously To this effect Saint Paul speaketh using the word in the adjective and comparative degree ΔεισιδαιμονεςÎÏȣς as if he should have sayd fearing God more than you neede To which purpose are the words of Aquinas who having declared out of the Glosse that superstitio est relligo 2 a. 2 ae q. 9â— ultra modum servata i. Superstition is Religion maintained beyond measure doth after declare it to be vitium religioni oppositum secundum excessum i. A vice opposite to Religion in the excesse as if he should say too much Religion and then least it should be imagined that a man may be too Religious he explaineth himselfe and telleth us that he doth not call superstition Religion in any other sence than by way of Metaphor because it seemeth so or lookes something like unto religion As when a crafty Mate is called a wise fellow And therefore afterwards hee calleth it simulata religio counterfeit Religion Againe he stateth superstition to consist either in the Object as when the Creature is worshipped in stead of the Creator or else in the manner of performance whereof hee giveth this instance If a man now under the Gospell would worship the true God with the Leviticall forme and Ceremonies And though I conceive that any kinde of superstion may be referred to one of these two heads yet to endeavour the further clearing of this point I will give one other distinction of Superstition viz. Superstition is either observing or abstaining The first member of this distinction I take from the words of Saint Paul Ye observe dayes and moneths and times and yeares Vpon Gal. 4. 10. which words a learned interpreter noting a fourefold observation of times 1. Physicall 2. Civill 3. Ecclesiasticall 4. Superstitious saith this superstitious Heming observation of times is quando opinio cultus meriti justitiae necessitatis accedit i. When men have a conceite that one day maketh them more acceptable to God than another with whom agreeth Master Calvin saying upon the same text Libera apud nos est omni superstitione pura observatio i. The observation of times with us is free and without Superstition as if he should say we doe not ascribe any vertue efficacie luckinesse or Piety unto one day or time more than to another The other member of the distinction viz. abstaining Superstition I take from the same Apostle where he saith touch not taste not handle not Which words Zanchie with other interpretors reading Eate not taste not handle not maketh this Observation Indicat Apostolus insatiabilem superstitiosorum hominum in condendis novis observationibus libidinem i. The Apostle sheweth how eager superstitious men are in coyning new observances Hemingius also on these words saith these are the words of the false Apostles quibus Superstitose decreta cumularunt i. Wherewith they have superstitiously multiplyed decrees The words of Piscator on this place are superstitiosorum conatum exprimit i. The Apostle setteth forth the disposition of superstitious people afrayd to touch taste or handle those things in the touching tasting and handling whereof there is no sinne nor any danger Of this abstayning superstition I may say as David speakes of some men they were in great feare were no feare was which Psal 53. 5. very thing in effect S. Gregory applyeth to these kinde of superstious people saying Superstitiosus omnia timet terram mare aerem caelum tenebras lumen strepitum silentium somnum i. The superstitious In moral man stands in feare of every thing of the earth of the water of the ayre of the skye of the darkenesse of the light of noyse of silence and of his owne dreames sutable whereto are the words of the Philosopher Qui superstitione imbutus est quietus esse nunquam potest i. The superstitious man is ever restlesse or of an unquiet Spirit For as it is in Curtius humanarum mentium ludibrium superstitio i. Superstition is the very foolery of the mindes of men for it is like a scare Crow in the braine and maketh a man afrayd of his owne shadow as he that durst not looke out for feare the skye should fall Now then having thus described superstition and given you his true markes whereby you may know him when you meete him Let us betake ourselves to the pursuite and search some where among us this theefe doth lurke and I doubt not but to finde him out and bring him to light before we have done And herein I will deale as Laban did when he sought his lost Idols he made search first in the tents of Iacob Leah and the handmaydes Gen. 31. and when he found them not there hee went to ransacke in the Tent of Rachel where hee might have found them if he had not beene too credulous And I meane to enter first into the Tents of Iacob Leah and the handmayds that is the Cathedrall and Parochian Churches And that my brethren may see faire play I doe request them to goe along with me and if they perceive mee to passe by any Corner unsought and then to call mee backe to a more carefull search And in this course we cannot but begin with the Church yards of Cathedrall and Parochian Churches And being here in the open ayre I desire to know what superstition is here to bee either discerned or imagined Master Carthwright is angry with them yet all that he hath T. C. pag. 50. § 6. 7. Defentra 5. c. 2. dives 7. to say against them is but this That as they came in with the Monke so they might have gone out with him for all the good they doe The Monke which he meanes is Dionysius Pope of Rome of whom Damasus saith that he was a Monke But Eusebius saith that he was a Priest L. 7. c. 7. and then Pope of Rome when as yet the Bishops and Church of Rome flourished in exemplary Anno. 266. faith and probitie But whether Dionysius were a Monke or a Priest before he was Pope and whether Church-yards the constitution whereof is very ancient as appeareth by Athanasius Athan. apol and others were first set out by Dionysius is nothing to the purpose to prove in them or in the use of them any superstition They are consecrated with the Church unto God as being the Courts of the Lords house And have beene anciently used and yet may be not