Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	faith_n	true_a	truth_n	4,594	5	5.5207	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47744	Five discourses by the author of The snake in the grass viz. On water baptism, episcopacy, primitive heresie of the Quakers, reflections on the Quakers, a brief account of the Socinian trinity ; to which is added a preface to the whole.; Selections. 1700	Leslie, Charles, 1650-1722.	1700 (1700)	Wing L1133; ESTC R1214	55,897	120

but the Woman being deccived was in the Transgression Adam was deceived and fell as well as the Woman but the meaning is he was not first or principally deceived Again As for you who stick so close to the Letter when it seemeth to serve your turn Go ye and learn what that meaneth I WILL HAVE MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE Math. ix 13. By which it cannot be understood that God did not require Sacrifice for he commanded it upon Pain of Death Yet he says Jer. vii 22. I spake not unto your Fathers nor commanded them concerning Burnt-Offerings or Sacrifices But this thing Commanded I them saying Obey my Voice c. according as it is written 1 Sam. xv 22. To obey is better than Sacrifice By all which cannot be meant that God did not Command the Jews concerning Burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices for we know how particularly they were commanded but that the outward Sacrifice was not the chief and principal part of the Command which respected chiefly the inward Sacrifice and Circumcision of the Heart Which when they neglected and lean'd wholly to the Outward then God detests their Oblations Isa i. 14. Your new Moons and your appointed Feasts my Soul hateth I am weary to bear them And he says V. 12. Who hath required this at your Hand It was certainly God who had requir'd all these things at their hands but these outward Performances tho' the Neglect or Abuse of them was punished with Death yet they were not the chief and principal part of the Command being intended chiefly for the sake of the Inward and Spiritual Part From which when they were separated they were like the Body when the Soul is gone a dead and a loathsome CARCASS of Religion And which God is therefore said not to have commanded because he did not Command them without the other As he made not the Body without the Soul yet he made the Body as well as the Soul VIII And as there is Soul and Body in Man so while Man is in the Body there must be a Soul and Body of Religion that is an outward and an inward WORSHIP with our Bodies as well as our Souls And as the Separation of Soul and Body in Man is called Death so is the Separation of the outward and the inward Part of Religion the Death and Destruction of Religion The outward is the Cask and the inward is the Wine The Cask is no Part of the Wine but if you break the Cask you lose the Wine And as certainly whoever destroys the outward Institutions of Religion lose the inward Parts of it too As is sadly experienc'd in the Quakers who having thrown off the outward Baptism and the other Sacrament of Christ's Death have thereby lost the inward thing signify'd which is the PERSONAL Christ as Existing without all other Men and having so Suffer'd Rose Ascended and now and for ever Sitteth in Heaven in his true proper Human Nature WITHOUT all other Men. This the Quakers will not own except some of the New Separation and this they have lost by their Neglect of those outward Sacraments which Christ appointed for this very End among others that is as Remembrances of his Death For it had been morally impossible for Men who had constantly and with due Reverence attended these holy Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper ever to have forgot his Death so lively represented before their Eyes and into which they were baptized or to have turn'd all into a meer Allegory perform'd within every Man's Breast as these Quakers have done But the Enemy has perswaded them to break the Cask and destroy the Body of Religion whereby the Wine is spilt and the Soul of Religion is fled from them And by neglecting the outward Part they have lost the whole Inward and Truth of Religion which is a true Faith in the OUTWARD Christ and in the Satisfaction made for our Sins by his Blood OUTWARDLY shed and in his Intercession in our Nature as our High-Priest at his Father's Right Hand now in Heaven into which Holy of Holies He has carry'd his own Blood of Expiation once offer'd upon the Cross and presents it for ever as the Atonement and full Satisfaction for the Sins of the whole World but apply'd only by true Faith and Repentance thereby becomes fully Effectual to the Salvation of every Faithful Penitent This is the only true Christian Faith And from this the Quakers have totally fallen and that chiefly by their Mad throwing off the OUTWARD Guards Preservatives Fences Sacraments and Pledges of Religion And those OUTWARD Means of Grace which Christ has commanded and given us as the only OUTWARD GROUNDS for our Hope of Glory For how can that Man get to Heaven who will not go the way that Christ has appointed who came down from Heaven on purpose to shew and lead us the way thither yet we will be wiser than he find fault with his Institutions as being too much upon the Outward and think that we can and may Spiritualize them finer and make the way shorter than he has done IX But to return if the Quakers cou'd find such Texts concerning Baptism as I have shewn above concerning Sacrifices as if it were said That God did not command Baptism that he hated it and was weary to bear it that he would not have it c. If such Texts cou'd be found How wou'd the Quakers triumph Who wou'd be able to stand before them And yet if such were found they wou'd prove no more against the outward BAPTISM than they did against the outward SACRIFICES i. e. That if any regarded nothing else in Baptism than the outward Washing it wou'd be as hateful to God as the Jewish Sacrifices when they regarded nothing more in them but the Outward And it may be truly said That God did not Command either such Sacrifices or such a Baptism because he commanded not the Outward alone but with respect unto and chiefly for the sake of the Inward And therefore as all these and other the like Expressions in the Old Testament did not at all tend to the Abolition only to the Rectification of the Legal Sacrifices So much less can that single Expression 1 Cor. i. 17. of Paul's saying upon the occasion and in the sense abovemention'd that he was not sent to Baptize but to Preach much less can this infer the Abolition of Baptism being as positively commanded as Sacrifices were under the Law and as certainly practis'd by the Apostles as the Sacrifices were by the Levitical Priests X. Now suppose that I should deny that OUTWARD Sacrifices were ever commanded or that the Jews did ever practise them And shou'd Interpret all that is said of Sacrifices only of the Inward as the Quakers do of Baptism and I shou'd produce the Texts above-quoted to prove that God did not command Sacrifices which are much more positive than that single one which is strain'd against Baptism I say suppose that I shou'd be so

late Clear and Rational Discourse concerning the Inventions of Men in the Worship of God And Two following Admonitions has made it fully appear That not One in Ten of them do ever Receive this Sacrament in the whole Course of their Lives And the rest very rarely even now since this last Revolution And in the former Revolution of 41 he gives Vndenyable Instances that in several Churches even in Dublin after the turning out of the Episcopal Ministers the Lord's Supper had not been Administer'd till the Restauration 1660 that is in some Churches for Ten in some for Twelve Years together V. These Presbyterians in Dublin and in the South and West parts of Ireland were sent from England and had learnt the contempt of this Sacrament there Where even in Oxford it was not Administred in the whole University from the Ejection of the Episcopal Clergy in the Year 1648. to the Restauration in 1660. as is observed in the Antiquit. Oxon. So that the Quakers have only taken that out of the way which the Presbyterians had worn into Dis-use VI. And from all these Enemies and the subtle Insinuations which they have broached in Prejudice of Christ's Holy Institution of Baptism and likewise of the Lord's Supper for both are slighted by the same Persons and upon the same Grounds it is to be feared that several even of the Church of England have been wrought tho' not into a Dis-use or down-right slight yet into a less Esteem and greater Indifferency as to these Holy Sacraments than they ought and consequently receive less Benefit by them much less than if their Knowledge and their Faith were better rooted and more sublime Nay there is not any Degree of Indifferency but what is culpable in this case and may bring a Curse with it instead of a Blessing For whatsoever especially in Religious Worship is not of Faith is sin And according to our Faith it is to us in all our Performances of Religion VII For all these Reasons tho' this Discourse was wrote wholly on Behalf of the Quakers yet I hope it will not be unuseful to many others to see the strong Foundation Great Necessity and Inestimable benefits of Baptism and the Lord's Supper when Duly Administer'd and Receiv'd with Full Faith and Assurance in the Power and Love of God that He will not fail to assist His own Institutions when we approach unto them with sincere Repentance and undoubting Dependance upon His Promises And many of the Objections hereafter answer'd tho' used by the Quakers to Invalidate BAPTISM are likewise insisted on by several of the Sects which I have nam'd above to Lessen and Disparage it In which sense the following Discourse tho' it respects the QUAKERS Chiefly yet not them Only for it contains the joint Arguments of all the several sizes of the Opposers or Contemners of Baptism VIII But as to the immediate Occasion which engaged me in this Work it was upon the Account of a particular Person who had been Educated from his Childhood in the Quaker Principles and Communion And the Objections which are here consider'd against Baptism are these which at several conferences with other Quakers to whom that Person brought me were insisted upon At length after more than Twelve Months consideration of this single Point and diligently Reading over and weighing every particular which Rob. Barclay had wrote in his Apology against the Outward or Water-Baptism it pleased God so to open the Eyes and perswade the Heart of this Gentleman that having Informed himself in the true Principles of the Christian Religion as contained in our Church Catechism he has lately with great joyfulness and satisfaction Received the Baptism of Christ as Administred in the Church of England And it was his Desire that this Discourse tho' wrote for his Private Vse might be made Publick in hopes that it may have the like Effects upon others as it has had upon himself by the great Mercy of God And I knowing several others who have of late been Convinced and Baptized in the same manner as this Gentleman I have not Resisted his invitation to contribute my Mite towards the Recovery of so many Thousand Souls as now for 46 Years have thrown off the Sacraments of Christ's Institution and thereby as one main Cause have lost the Substance even Faith in the Blood of Christ outwardly shed for our Salvation as I have else-where shewn The Lord accept my mean Endeavours and make them Iustrumental to His Glory and the Salvation of Souls Amen A DISCOURSE Proving the DIVINE INSTITUTION OF Water-Baptism SECT I. That Matth. xxxviii 19. was meant of Water-Baptism THE Words of the Text are these Go ye therefore and Teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost The Quakers will not own that the Baptism here mentioned was the Outward or Water-baptism Which I will endeavour to make very plain that it was and that in the first place From the Signification and Etymology of the word Baptize I. The word is a Greek word and only made English by our constant usage of it It signifies to Wash and is apply'd to this Sacrament of Baptism because that is an outward Washing To Wash and to Baptize are the very same and if the word Baptize had been rendred into English instead of Go and BAPTIZE it must have been said Go and WASH Men in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost So that the outward Baptism with Water is as much here commanded as if it had been expressed in English words or as we can now express it But because the word Baptize was grown a Technical Term in other Languages whereby to express the Holy Sacrament of Baptism long before our English Translation therefore our Translators did rightly retain the word Baptize in this Text Matth. xxviii 19. and in other Texts which speak of that Holy Sacrament But in other places they translate the word Baptize as Mark vii 4. When they come from the Market 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 except they are Baptized which we literally translate except they Wash And in the same Verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Baptisms of Cups and Pots c. which we translate the Washing of Cups and Pots And Heb. ix 10. speaking of these Legal Institutions which stood only in Meats and Drinks and divers Washings and carnal Ordinances c. the word which we here translate Washings is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Baptisms In Meats and Drinks and divers Baptisms And in the Vulgar Latin the Greek word is retained in both these Texts Mark vii 4. Nisi Baptizentur non Comedunt Except they are Baptized i. e. Wash their Hands they eat not And Baptismata Calicum c. The Baptisms of Cups c. And Heb. ix 10. In Cibis Pontibus variis Baptismatibus i. e. In Meats and Drinks and divers Baptisms So that it

the Jews writing against some Dissenters amongst the Quakers asserts the Authority of the Church very high and the Power of the Elders in the Church p. 13. and presses that Text Matth. xviii 17. Tell it unto the Church to extend to Matters of Faith and Worship as well as to Private Injuries or Offences amongst Christians That Christ says he as well gave His Church Power to Reject as to Try Spirits is not hard to prove That notable Passage Go tell the Church does it to our hand For if in case of private Offences betwixt Brethren the Church is made Absolute Judge from whom there is no Appeal in this World how much more in any the least case that concerns the NATURE BEING FAITH and WORSHIP of the Church her self But the Case was quite alter'd when he came to Answer that same Text as urged against the Quakers by the Church which he does in his Address to Protestants p. 152 153 154. of the Second Edition in Octavo printed 1692. And then that Text does not relate at all to Faith or Worship but only to private Injuries For having deny'd the Authority of the Church in Matters of Faith he puts the Objection thus against himself But what then can be the meaning of Christ's Words Go tell the Church Very well I Answer says he p. 153. 'T is not about Faith but Injury that Christ speaks and the place explains it self which is this Moreover if thy Brother shall TRESPASS against THEE go and tell him his FAULT between thee and him alone Here is Wrong not Religion Injustice not Faith or Conscience concern'd as some would have it to maintain their Church-Power The words TRESPASS and FAULT prove abundantly that He only meant Private and Personal Injuries and that not only from the common and undeniable signification and use of the words TRESPASS and FAULT but from the way Christ directs and commands for Accommodation viz. That the Person wronged speak to him that commits the Injury alone if that will not do that he take one or two with him But no Man can think that if it related to FAITH or WORSHIP I ought to Receive the Judgment of one or two or three for a sufficient Rule Therefore it cannot relate to Matters of FAITH and Scruples of CONSCIENCE but PERSONAL and PRIVATE INJURIES Thus he But tho' the Judgment of one two or three is not of it self a sufficient Rule none ever said it was yet may not one two or three ADMONISH one another even in Matters of Faith and Worship as well as of Private Injuries and in case of Refractoriness and Obstinacy bring the Cause before the Church Lev. xix 17. Thou shalt in any wise Rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him Yet was not the Judgment of every Man a sufficient Rule to his Neighbour And our Saviour's commanding to bring the Cause finally before the Church shews plainly that the Judgment of the one two or three was not meant for a sufficient Rule that is the ultimate Decision But in Answer to Mr. Penn's Argument That this Text Tell it unto the Church was meant only of Private Injuries I shall repeat but his own words before quoted and grant that as it was meant of Private Injuries so as Mr. Penn very well infers How much more in any the least Case that concerns the Nature Being Faith and Worship of the Church her self But to return The fifth Article in that Enumeration of Fundamentals Heb. vi 1 2. is The Resurrection of the Dead which the Quakers do likewise deny as it is fully prov'd in The Snake in the Grass Par. 2. Sect. 13. The last is that of Eternal Judgment which depends upon the former and may be made one with it and is likewise deny'd by the Quakers that is turn'd into Hymeneus and Philetus's Sense of an Inward only and Spiritual Resurrection or Judgment perform'd within us I have frequently heard Quakers say that they expected no other Resurrection or future Judgment than what they had attain'd already that is the Resurrection of Christ or the Light and the Judgment or Condemnation of Sin in their Hearts George Whitehead in his Book call'd The Nature of Christianity c. printed 1671 p. 29 thus ridicules it Dost thou says he to his Opponent look for Christ as the Son of Mary to Appear outwardly in a Bodily Existence to save thee if thou dost thou mayst look until thy Eyes drop out before thou wilt see such an Appearance of him And now what Wonder is it that these should throw off Baptism who have likewise thrown off all the other Fundamentals which are reckon'd with it in this Text VII But let us hence observe and beware of Neglecting or Despising the Outward Institutions of God because these depending upon the Authority of God no less than the Inward and Spiritual rejecting of the one overthrows the Obligation and Sanction of the whole and is a rejecting of God the Institutor who in His just Judgment suffers those to lose the one that think themselves too good for the other Men were made Partakers of Christ to come by the Sacrifices which were appointed as Types of Him under the Law So now are we Partakers of Him who is come by the Sacraments which He has appointed in Remembrance of Him under the Gospel And as those who neglected or despis'd the Sacrifices when they might be had from the Legal Priests according to God's Institution were made liable to Death and did forfeit their Title to the Participation of Christ the Archi-Type So those who neglect or despise the Sacraments which he has commanded as the Means of Grace and of our Inward Participation of Him under the Gospel do thereby justly forfeit their Title to such Participation For if we will not take God's Way we have no Promise nor Reason to secure us in the following of our own Inventions SECT XI The Quaker-Objection That there are no Signs under the Gospel I. THE Quakers throw off all Outward Institutions as not only Vseless but Hurtful to the Christian Religion which they pretend consists not only chiefly which is granted to them but solely in the Inward and Spiritual Part. They say That all Figures and Signs are Shadows and that when Christ who is the Substance is come the others cease of course That they have attain'd to Christ the Substance and therefore these Shadows are of no use to them That Baptism and the Lord's Supper are some of these Shadows and these were Indulging to the Early and Weak Christians but that the Quakers who have stronger Participations of the Spirit are got beyond these Beggarly Elements c. II. A Key c. by W. P. Printed 1694. C. 10. of Water-Baptism and the Supper P. 24. This is settl'd as a Foundation-Principle That no Figures or Signs are perpetual or of Institution under the Gospel-Administration when Christ who is the Substance is come though their Vse might