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	faith_n	teach_v	4,044	5	6.3549	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35001	Several sermons, or, Declarations of Mr. Stephen Crisp, late of Colchester in Essex, deceased exactly taken in characters, or shorthand, as they were delivered by him at the publick meeting-houses of the people called Quakers, in Grace-Church-Street and Devonshire-House, London / and now faithfully transcribed and published ; together with his prayer at the end of every sermon.	Crisp, Stephen, 1628-1692.	1693 (1693)	Wing C6941; ESTC R32375	87,023	199

Tenet and the other Tenet this Text and the other Text For my part I should only desire for you to Understand this Text and I should not doubt your going to Heaven Here is the Sum Here is all at once Here is the Quintessence of all Religion of all Types Shadows Figures Ceremonies and Priesthood and all that ever was or could be Named and Practised in the World all brought to this The Heart given up to God our Love set upon him What is this sufficient will some say This will make you a good Moral Man but what is this to the Christian Religion You may be led into Error and become an Heretick for all this How can this be that I should not be of a sound Faith but led into Error and Heresie for all this When People let in Error and Heresie and Unsoundness of Faith Where do they let it in Do they not let in the Principles of Errour and Heresie into their Hearts I believe this and that and the other Error it comes into the Heart and hath a seat in the Heart but how can we do that How can we let it into the Heart When the Heart is given up to God Cannot he keep out Error and Heresie if I give up my Heart and Soul to him Cannot I trust him with all This kind of talk of Error and Heresie hath come among Men that have had the keeping of their own Souls they have taken their own Souls into their own hands and have ordered their Religion themselves or have gotten some body to order it for them and a great many of them have met together to make Creeds and Catechisms and Confessions and Orthodox Doctrines that might certainly be professed and subscribed Afterwards some have come and found fault with them then they must have a Council to try them then these go off and are laid aside and others are given in the room of them so that these Men have set up for themselves These would not be under the Government and Prescription of God as Children under the Government of a Father but they will set up Religions themselves and say to the rest of the World if you own any thing contrary to our Principles you are an Heretick and being an Heretick you are to be rooted out and cut off Do not you read in the Scripture that whosoever hears not the Prophet that was to come into the World shall be cut off What will you not hear Christ speak in the Church Will not you hear Christ speak The Church cannot speak without a Head If you will not hear the Church you shall be cut off Then they have fallen to Hanging and Burning and Killing and Destroying People and Nations not a few And this comes from their making Faiths and Creeds and ordering Religion themselves all their Barbarous and Inhuman Cruelties Martyring and Dungeoning of People comes from their making Faiths themselves and of all things nothing is more desparately wicked and they did not know it The Heart is deceitful above all things and desparately wicked who can know it Men know not how Proud and Arrogant they themselves are and yet they would be ordering the Hearts and Minds and Consciences of others and out of this hath Sprung all Superstition and Idolatry because men would not give up their Hearts to God Thou shalt have no other Gods but me This Commandment is great in it self strict in the terms Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and thy Neighbour as thy self Their Neighbour could not see with their Eyes therefore there must be Hanging and Burning and Destroying one another But blessed be who is now bringing forth true Christianity upon its old Basis and Foundation whereon it was placed at first for Christianity hath been justled off from its first Foundation for instead of Loving God with all their Hearts and Loving their Neighbours as themselves they Hated them Now this is the Day O Friends the weight of it is great This I say is the Day where●n God is bringing Christianity upon its old Foundation I would not have you think that I am here judging our Fore-fathers that are fallen asleep that therefore they are gone to Hell because they saw not this Day and Lived not to see the benefit of it that we enjoy I am far from it This was the thing that they believed and prayed to God for they did not see this Day outwardly but they saw it by Faith I my self when I was a Child I remember the People of God when they got three or four together they would rejoice in the Hope of what they Foresaw they gave Thanks to God for the Blessed Days that he would bring forth though they could not tell when they did say and believe that God would scatter the Foggs and Mists and bring forth an Happy Day wherein his People should have the Gift of his Spirit when they saw the Impositions and Persecutions of these times when they that did not Conform and Comply were cast into Prisons and thrown into Dungeons and Goals Well it will not always be thus say they there is a Day a coming wherein the Lord will set his People free from all the Yoaks of Oppression and from the Oppressour Indeed my Soul did rejoyce when I was hearing the Prophetical sayings of these good men and I thought I might live to see that Day Blessed be God that hath Preserved my Life to this Day and to this Hour to enjoy what they Prayed for They Prayed to God to scatter the Mists and Fogs that they might no longer Cloud and Darken Men's Minds and hinder them from enjoying God's Teaching Blessed be God that we are now in the injoyment of the Prayers of the Faithful that left the World before we were in it Now the Day is come that they Prayed for and Enquired after How strangely doth the Man Talk will some say concerning the Christian Religion The Christian Religion is all England over go to any Meeting in London except one and they will tell you they are Christians I would to God they were that is the worst I wish them all But what should we talk of the Christian Religion without the Christian Life Except we find that amongst them What signifies the Name and Profession of it And the Christian Doctrine is wanting in many places too There be many in this City urging this very Command of Loving God with all their Hearts and their Neighbours as themselves as fervently as I can do or any body else and yet they will tell you in the next breath that no man in London nor in all the World can do this No Man can possibly Love God with all his Heart Never a Man can be found that can perform such an Act as to Love his Neighbour as himself Not every Neighbour it may be but some one choice Associate he can pick out that he can Love and bear with his Infirmities and

spake or wrote it It was not the Blood of Bulls or Goats nor the Blood of a Ram that could purge away Sin from their Consciences And after the Apostle had opened the Mystery of Divinity who had a Divine and Spiritual Skill in unfolding the Restoration of Mankind he declared plainly that when the Offering was made by Aaron for Sinners even then there remained still a Conscience of Sin for it was not possible that the Blood of Bulls and Goats should take away Sin so that their outward performances and their outward services they did but point out the Mediator they had a pointing finger as it were to the Real True and Everlasting Mediator Christ Jesus who is made a Mediator betwixt God and Man that by and through him man might be again Reconciled to God So that now in these Gospel days wherein God is opening the Mysteries of Life and Salvation to the intent and purpose that the Sons and Daughters of Men might be restored again unto their Primitive Enjoyment of the Favour of God Now in these days it is the Duty of all Christians and of all that are seeking the welfare of their Immortal Souls that they have their Eyes and their Hearts unto Jesus as unto one that is able to Reconcile them unto God To him it is committed to him Wisdom and Power is committed and to him Authority is committed that he should be an Everlasting High Priest and that all the Services and all the Worship and Religious performances that People offer up to God should be in his Name that so by him they might be Recommended to God For none will ever find Acceptance with the Father unless in all their performances they have an Eye unto him So that it comes plainly to pass according to that short and confident Assertion of the Author to the Hebrews That without Faith it is impossible to please God But it is possible to Offer Sacrifices without Faith and possible for People to perform Religious Services without Faith as woful Experience have taught us in our days That many have been exercised in a kind of a Religious Service and Worship that never in their Lives had Faith enough to believe the things that they pray for And they are without Faith For when People Pray to God to send his Holy Spirit into their Hearts that they may keep his Commandments to their Lives End they have not Faith to believe it And when they Pray Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven This is a Religious performance but I question whether it be done in Faith if not it is but an Increasing in Sin an Addition to Sin Where is the Man that is exercised in praying to God that believeth that ever such a thing is like to come to pass Go where you will in this or the other Nation and Inquire of People about their Faith they believe there is no possibility of Extirpating and Rooting out of Sin while they live upon the Earth therefore all their Prayers for it are vain and their Faith a vain Faith and it is high time in such a day as this when men are Faithless and Unbelieving to preach up the object of Faith the Lord Jesus Christ People are of divers Faiths and of divers Beliefs but we have found by experience that they do them no good they do not bring a thing to pass that of necessity must be brought to pass ere they can be Reconciled to God their Faith doth not cleanse the Heart nor extend so far as to believe that ere they shall be cleansed In all the Worship and Religion that they perform they come not to this Faith that they shall be made clean All that is done is but in sin and uncleanness they cannot bring a clean Sacrifice out of an unclean Vessel And our Lord Jesus Christ saith concerning this Subject An Evil Tree cannot bring forth Good Fruit. But there must be good Fruit brought forth how must we do it Make the Tree good and the Fruit will be good When that Mens vain janglings about Religion and Religious fancies must come to an end Then all that Religion will appear to be in vain and will not answer the end for which it is performed till men believe that it will make the Tree good and cleanse the Heart and Transform men by Renewing the Spirit of their Minds So that Religion it must begin within And it is not our changing our forms of Worship from one form to another and taking up this and the other Opinion that doth change our hearts Sad Experience doth teach us that men may carry over their old Lusts into a new Religion we can carry over our old Inclinations into our new Opinions For though the form of Worship be changed the Heart remaining unchanged and the Lusts unmortified their Religion is in vain let them be of what persuasion they will Now the remedy of this great Calamity that hath overspread all sorts of People for there is no sort of People but there are those among them that are under this great Calamity of holding the profession of Godliness with an Ungodly mind and the profession of Truth with a false and treacherous Spirit Now for the remedying of this there is but one way that all Mens Eyes be brought off from having their Eye unto their Performances and to the Doctrines and Tenents that they hold and do as the Apostle saith Fix their Eye upon Christ and look upon Jesus that is the first thing that must begin our Religion for Christ must be the Alpha of our Religion as well as the Omega of it If I begin not there let me begin where I will I begin wrong Let me begin at the most serious and sound Doctrines and at the most Apostolical Religion If Christ and his Apostles were here upon the Earth if I walked among them if I believed all they said and did I should begin wrong if I did not fix mine Eye upon Jesus Christ that is the taker away of sin and is the sanctifier of the Soul by his Spirit There must be the first beginning and there must be the conclusion he is the Author and the finisher of all true Faith There are Authors of other Faiths Men have different Faiths and their Creeds and Articles And they have exposed and imposed them too but this is the worst of it none of them are right let them be exposed and imposed with never so much force and violence none of these will cleanse the heart but that Faith which is delivered over by Christ J●sus that hath the quality of cleansing and purifying that is the Faith when all is done that will do the work that is it that will save and sanctifie and do the business that all the World is about every one would have a Reconciler with God and Sin rooted out and be as God would have them be this is the publick profession of Christendom at least they

the Lord how be had led them and delivered them yet when it came to this that they must hear the Voice of God they said we cannot bear it We cannot indure it We have devised for our selves an easier way for the Voice of Thunder and Dreadful noises put them into Terrour and Quaking and Trembling and great Dread came upon them but we have found an easier way say they what is that Go thou said they to Moses and hear thou what the Lord saith and come thou and tell us Thou shalt be a Mediator between us let God speak unto thee and do thou speak the same to us and we will hear thee This was the Jews that were not come beyond the Law of God written in Tables of Stone they would not come to receive it in their Hearts as the Christian must so Moses he received the Law from the Mouth of God and he was Faithful as a Servant in the House of God and he ministred forth the Law of God his Precepts Statutes and Judgments and Testimonies and he made them a Book of Laws for all of them to walk by from the highest to the lowest how they should act in Criminal matters and do justice between Man and Man and what they should do in the Worship of God and what they should do towards the Priest whose Lips should preserve knowledge for them and so he brought up a Form of Religion but his Work was according to the Precepts of God and he brought them into the Form of National Religion and Government and National Laws And so Moyses and the Priests ruled over them and the Priest he offered Sacrifice for them and made attonement for them and Moses inquired of the Lord and asked Counsel for them and taught and instructed them and what c●me of all th●s at last When this was done the Priest made attonement for Sin but he could not pluck away the guilt of one Sin there remained the Conscience of Sin after he had made his Offering and Moses taught them the Counsels of God and the Commands of God but he could not bind their Hearts to the obedience of them for he declared openly against them that they were a Rebellious and stiffnecked People notwithstanding this they had a Law without them indeed time would fail me to run through the manifold miscarriages of the Church of the Jews in respect of their Idolatry in respect of their Contempt and Rebellion both to God and his servant Moses which was to teach and to guide them I say the time would fail me to mention the manifold miscarriages that happened among this People that had a Law and Religion without them and a Teacher without them Now in the fulness of time it pleased God in sending his Son Christ Jesus to raise up a Prophet like unto Moses in respect of Faithfulness though higher in respect of Dignity for Moses was faithful in all his House as a Servant but this Man was faithful as a Son in his own House in the House that he was Heir of that House wherein he was a King both a Priest a Prophet and a Ruler in When the Lord signified by the Spirit of Prophecy the coming of the Just one he signified to the People that his Ministry it should not be as that of Aaron the People should not have their Religion without them and their Laws and Precepts without them and their Priests without them and their Worship and Church without them but that they should have it all within them I will write my Law in their Hearts I will put it into their Inward Parts then they shall be my People and I will be their God and they shall not forsake me Your Fathers brake my old Covenant but I will make a new Covenant in the Latter days a New Covenant not like that your Fathersbroke they brake the Law without them But I will Write my Law in their Hearts This Prophet that is like to Moses he shall Teach my People he shall be a Leader to them and guide them in the way they are to go and shall be a Captain for them to lead them to Salvation And it shall come to pass in the Day that I do this if there be any that will not hear him he shall be cut off from among the People That is the Judgment that comes upon the contemners of the Gospel upon them that will not hear Christ Jesus they shall be cut off from the People from what People From the People of God they shall have no part of the Priviledges that are enjoyed through Christ they shall be cut off from the Benefits that others reap by their Faith in Christ So that now we are to expect the operation and working of a Ministry that leads a People to an inward Religion a Heart Religion where the Heart is fixed intirely upon the True and Living God as the object of their Dependance and Trust and they have no other that same is a strange Word to Flesh and Blood what no other Dependance but on the Invisible God Flesh and Blood can never come to this Flesh and Blood and Sensuality can never come to this This is a Religion that hath been hid from Ages and Generations and will be hid to all Ages that ever shall be in the World where Sensuality prevails What will you have me to have my whole Dependance for the Comfort of my Life here and of the Life that is to come the other Life to have my Dependance upon an Invisible God that Invisible Power that made me and Created the World How is it possible for me to sequester my self and draw my self off from all visible Objects I must trust to this and trust to that Flesh and Blood can never attain to this with all the Wit and Reason it hath it can never separate it self from Idols they are little Children that keep themselves frrom Idols They are Children of another birth born of another seed that will keep themselves from Idols Friends Idolatry is a great deal more common I find than most are aware of Am I commanded to Love the Lord with all my Heart and Soul and Mind and Might What is left when the whole is taken away If God hath my whole Heart what have I to bestow upon the World What Love what Affection what Eagerness what Fervency can I bestow upon the World or any Object in the World when my whole Heart and Soul and Mind is gone before gone towards the Lord This is the First and Great Commandment and the Second is like unto it that is Thou shalt Love thy Neighbour as thy self Here it is that the Law and the Prophets Faith Creeds Prayer Religion and Worship all that ever was in the World all Comprehended in this Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart Soul and Strength and thy Neighbour as thy self So what need is there for us to be disputing about Religion about this