Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	church_n	congregation_n	true_a	2,989	5	6.1703	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27991	The proverbs of Solomon paraphrased with the arguments of each chapter, which supply the place of a commentary / by Symon Patrick ...	Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.	1683 (1683)	Wing B2635; ESTC R18386	254,828	624

likewise because they are signa confessionis signs of what Religion we profess and lastly quia sunt nervi congregationis because they are the nerves whereby the Congregation of Christian people are joyned together and preserved in unity These true ends saith he ought to be understood by the Church and impious opinions to be removed And for such good ends one would think none should question much less quarrel with those few Ceremonies which our Church hath appointed in God's service That this was his opinion also appears in his Commentaries upon the Fiftieth Psalm where he saith that even humane Ceremonies are in some sort the nerves of discipline and condemns onely those that make them effectual for the remission of sin But his mind is delivered most fully in a discourse which I find in the Second Volume of his Works concerning the method of preaching where he directs Preachers to tell the people in general that all Ceremonies are not to be abolished as appears by this that then we must take away Baptism and the Eucharist And if any one ask what must be done with Ceremonies instituted by man he answers some of them are necessary and therefore must be retained as certain days in which the word of God is taught and certain rites in the Church such as that of singing Psalms and certain forms of communicating c. But there are others not so necessary what must be done with them must they be tolerated He answers yes if they be not impious ☞ and if they be usefull either because they commend Religion to the Vulgar or they are instructive to Children for whose sake they were chiefly instituted N.B. For we see in some Churches where there are no Ceremonies left but onely the Sacraments that Religion was never so contemptible as it is now For there is need of external show which may commend Religion to the Vulgar and make it appear more venerable because they cannot of themselves see its magnitude and dignity It is impious also he resolves to think that all Ceremonies were instituted by wicked Popes No there were some prudent and holy men who perceived how supine and dull the minds of the vulgar were that they would never be sensible of the dignity and amplitude of Religion unless their minds were both awakned and deteined by some reverend solemn Ceremonies which might help to lift them up and teach them to admire it These are his Reasons why all Ceremonies ought not to be abolished because some are commanded others necessary and others that are not have no impiety in them and are very profitable for weaker minds Which I thought good here to insert because the opinion of so great and wise a Reformer may weigh much with some persons who have little regard to us I have been so long in this that I must but briefly mention two verses more upon which the before named Lord Bacon hath given some touches c The first is v. 15. where by a merry heart he understands a good Conscience Adv. of Learn B. VII Ch. 1. and thus glosses A mind conscious of good intentions though success be wanting affords truer and purer joy and to nature more agreeable than all that this world can furnish a man withall either for the enjoyment of his desires or the repose of his mind The words indeed of Solomon seem to be larger and to extend unto all that are void of care anxiety and sorrow but this is a pious sense and may well be comprehended in them d The other place is v. 19. the beginning of it where he hath inlarged the sense further than I have done in my Paraphrase and the words will bear it to this purpose that sloth in the conclusion proves laborious For diligence and sedulous preparation levels the way we are to go in any business and removes impediments in our passage But he that is slothfull and put 's off all to the last point of execution must needs perpetually at every step pass as it were through briars and thorns which ever and anon intangle detain and hinder him in his proceedings The same observation may be made concerning the Government of a Family wherein if there be due care and providence used all goes on cheerfully and as it were of its own accord without noise or tumult but if those be wanting when some greater occasion falls out all matters throng in to be dispatched at once the Servants are in an uproar the whole house rings and there is nothing well done in that confusion e The two verses before this some have connected but there is no necessity of it though it be a great truth that passionate men are apt to make disturbance even at feasts which men of temperate spirits indeavour to appease though affronts be offered them According to that excellent advice of Seneca Let dissention begin from others but reconciliation from thee It is there observed by Bochartus L. II. de Animalibus Sacris Cap. 32. Part 1. that herbs or as some translate it green pottage was the poorest and an Ox put up into a stall and there fatted or as the Talmudists understand the phrase a crammed Ox the noblest entertainment in those Countries For it is reckoned among the provision made for the tables of Solomon and Nehemiah and in the New Testament the Marriage provision which the King made at his Son's Wedding were oxen and fatlings XXI Matth. 4. and the fatted calf was brought forth to entertain the returning Prodigal And thus it was in other Countries as he observes out of Dioscorides who notes that Homer never sets any other cheer before his Heroes but this no not at Marriages or any other meetings though he introduce Agamennon often treating the Princes of Greece 1. A Soft answer turneth away wrath but grievous words stir up anger 1. A Mild submissive and yielding answer to him who severely chides pacifies wrath and prevents the further progress of it but sharp contemptuous and sawcy language incenses it more or raises a passion where there was none before See Arg. a 2. The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness 2. A wise man gives profitable instructions and understands also how to speak so seasonably and prudently that it shall make the knowledge he imparts both acceptable and usefull whereas fools have nothing but silly stuff to utter or pour out their thoughts so indiscreetly and confusedly that they onely serve abundantly to declare their folly 3. The eyes of the LORD are in every place beholding the evil and the good 3. There is nothing either in heaven or earth that can escape the knowledge of God who is every-where and observes the most secret motions and actions of men both good and bad 4. A wholsome tongue is a tree of life but perversness therein is a breach in the spirit 4. He that skilfully employs his tongue to give wholsome instructions especially to heal differences

calamity of a Son both because the affection of a Mother is more soft and tender and perchance is conscious to her self that by too much indulgence she hath tainted and corrupted his tender years She is more at home also it may be added and therefore having her Son's folly more in her eye hath a greater share in the grief that it causes But this is not to be too much pressed I think for both of them have such a share either in the joy or in the sorrow that it is as hard to distinguish between them constantly as it is to make a difference between the joy and grief for the well or ill doing of a Son and the well or ill doing of a Daughter which may be and oft times are equal And therefore I have but just touched upon this in my Paraphrase of the first verse Concerning which I shall note this further that whether these Instructions were written with a peculiar respect to the education of Solomon's own Son or indifferently for all it was most judiciously done to begin with such as this first part chiefly consists of there being so great a necessity as the forenamed Writer observes in his VIIth Book Chap. 3. that men drink deeply all pious and moral knowledge before they taste of politick that they who are bred up in the Courts of Princes and in affairs of State from tender years rarely attain to inward and sincere probity of manners For not being seasoned with Religion and the Doctrine of manners and offices of life their judgments are corrupted and made to think that there are no true and solid moral differences of things but all things are to be measured by utility and success And in this false opinion they are the more immovably settled if to ill education there be added the fewel of bad Books which all those will reject with disdain who shall be so happy as to make this Book their early study In which there follow here immediately and very properly some Instructions about getting riches and about the keeping and using them aright v. 2 3 c. that a curse may not be intailed upon them and descend with them unto our children And then v. 7. a memorable observation is annexed b which Plato as Eusebius observes translated into his VIIth Book of Laws concerning the fame of good and bad men after they are dead About which the same great man before named the Lord Bacon hath this Note in the same VIIIth Book Parab 8. That the Name of good men after Envy is extinguisht which cropt the blossome of their Fame while they were alive presently shoots up and flourisheth and their Praises daily increase in strength and vigour But for wicked men though their fame through the partial favour of Friends and of men of their own faction may last for a little time a detestation of their name springs up not long after and at last those vanishing praises end in infamy and like bodies that putrifie expire in a filthy and noisome odour And thus the LXX in this place instead of the memory of the just is blessed or is with blessing or benediction have these words the memory of the just is with encomiums or praises which is the true explication of the phrase And accordingly the Church commemorates the Saints of God recounting their worthy deeds and praising Him for them Of which see Mr. Mede Discourse XXII The rest of the Chapter consists of mixt observations concerning the difference between wise men and fools idle persons and diligent ill-natured people and those who are candid and kind v. 12. and especially between the vices and vertues of the tongue and their rewards and punishments v. 13 14 c. And one remarkable observation is inserted v. 22. which belongs to c that head of diligence and laboriousness upon which he remembers us no man is so to depend as to imagin to obtain what he would have by that alone but to look up to God as the donour of all good things and giving success to our industry Which was a thing little thought of by heathens who were too prone to imagin all things requisite unto happiness to be placed in themselves But the Scriptures every where inculcate this that it is God who gives wisedom to the wise and victory to the valiant and riches to the diligent and good success to the prudent and potent c. d Vnto which add that observation also v. 24. which may be further improved than is expressed in the Paraphrase to this sense that wicked men many times draw upon themselves that which they feared by those very means whereby they study to avoid them An Example of which as Bochartus observes in his Phaleg L. I. c. 16. Part. 1. we have in those that built the Tower of Babel who for fear of dispersion designed to build a City and a Tower saying Go to let us build c. lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth XI Gen. 4. But God so ordered it that this very attempt was the occasion of their dispersion and brought what they feared sooner upon them atque ipsum mali remedium illis cessit in periculum the very remedy of the evil they would have avoided leading them directly into it R. Levi hath an observation that the precepts of Wisedom from the beginning of this Chapter to the 10th verse of the XVIIIth are in a manner all concerning the danger of several sorts of vice and wickedness and afterward they are all concerning other subjects Which how true it is I shall there consider 1. THE proverbs of Solomon A wise son maketh a glad father but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother 1. LET the Father's care in educating his Children especially his Son the Heir of his Family be equal to the joy he will have in their well doing and let the Mother beware that her indulgence do not spoil them for she will have the greatest share in the heaviness which their untowardness will give them See Arg. a 2. Treasures of wickedness profit nothing but righteousness delivereth from death 2. This is more necessary than the care of heaping up riches for them which many times tempt men to fraud and oppression for though great treasures be gotten by such means they will be so far from availing the owners in time of distress that they will rather expose them to be a prey when justice and mercy with a little wealth will procure safety and deliverance from the greatest dangers 3. The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish but he casteth away the substance of the wicked 3. The reason is the Lord hath Treasures in store for the just especially for the mercifull man and will send him such supplies in his straits that he shall not starve but rather have enough But He will drive the wicked out of their ill-gotten possessions whereby they think to secure themselves