Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	holy_a	life_n	time_n	2,197	5	3.3218	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A73284	Profano-mastix. Or, a briefe and necessarie direction concerning the respects which wee owe to God, and his house even in outward worship, and reverent using of holy places. Shewing chiefly when, and how, wee ought to enter; how to behave our selves being entred, how to depart; as also, how to esteeme of Gods house at every other time. Written out of a true and sincere intent to reduce the disordered and factious, to a better order then either their neglect, stubbornnesse, or scrupulositie can purchase for them. / By Iohn Swan curate of Duxford S. Peters.	Swan, John, d. 1671.	1639 (1639)	STC 23513; ESTC S106202	33,675	74

thousand Protestants at that time more then there were Yet had he come into our ordinary parish Churches hee would have surely said There is much wanting in that reverent behaviour which is required of devout worshippers and more Protestants might bee in England if all places were alike ordered Give mee leave therefore to insist upon five things concerning our assemblies or worshipping of God in his house and one more to be regarded at all times else aswell when there is no Assemblie as when there is The five be these First that at the time of publick worship wee be not Late commers Secondly that we be not Ill Enterers Thirdly that our deportment at the time of our being there be reverent Fourthly that our departure be not till all be ended And then last of all that it be such as becommeth those who are going to their owne houses from the house of God I shall take them in order The first concernes our late comming which is an ill disease and a sore evill for they that bee backward in their service to God are a great way behind in the way to heaven and to preferre their owne fancies before godly orders is to decline the steps of pious leaders And of this they are guiltie who be dull in their approach to the house of God Psal 87.2 For as the Lord loveth the gates of Sion more then all the dwellings of Iacob so the Children of God delight to bee there as knowing that then they are come before him in a more speciall manner then when they were at home in their owne houses Yea and as they doe desire the heaven that is above So also to be one with those in the heaven beneath For that the Congregations of the Church militant is a kind of heaven upon earth is more then manifest and S. Iohn I doe beleeve hath an eye thereunto in that sacred booke of the Revelation Thus it was with David Psal 42.2 My soule saith he is athirst for God yea even for the living God Oh when shall I come and appeare before the presence of God And in another Psalme I was glad when they said unto me Let us goe into the house of the Lord. Psal 122.1 And in the Prophet Esay it is foretold as a token of the flourishing estate of Christs Church that many people shall say Esay 2.3 O come Let us goe up to the mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob And in the Proverbs there is a blessing promised to them who seeke wisdome early Pro. 8.17 ●●● as also to those who watch daily at her gates and waite at the Posts of her doores And in the Acts the good Christians were altogether with one accord in one place Acts 2.1 ●● Acts 4 2● The neglect whereof is no signe of true zeale but a motive rather to stirre up the coactive power of Governours to compell them to come in when they are called that Gods house may be filled It was so in the Parable and must be so also in every particular Congregation I find it therefore ordered in the antient Church of Christ that they which came not in the beginning should be subject to censure as well as those who were absent or as they who departed away before all was ended To which purpose the authoritie of Cassian and forty seventh Canon of the Councell of Agatha is fitly alledged But besides that sloth which a slight regard of Gods house begets in many as well Sectaries as other carelesse Christians what doe I also heare Nothing more then that our prayers are common And what of that They are but as they ought The Church of God would never order that they should bee other Chrysost Hom. 18. in 2 Cor. cap. 8. Our prayers saith Chrysostome are common for all say the same prayer The reason whereof is given by certaine Councels Ne forte aliquid contra fidem vel per ignorantiam vel per minus studium sit compositum Lest perchance something might bee done through ignorance or earelesnesse which might be contrary to the faith as is expressed in the twelfth Canon of the Milevitan Councell in the yeare of our Lord 402. At which Councell S. Austin was present For among others that subscribed there was Aurelius Bishop of Carthage and Augustine Bishop of Hippo. Five yeares before which the third Councell of Carthage was * Viz. in the ●eare 397. celebrated there also was Augustine and in the 23 Canon thereof it was decreed that not any prayers should bee used in the Congregations but such as had beene formerly approved See Math. 6.7.8.9 Math. 23.14 Neither is all this but agreeable to our Saviours meaning who because hee delighted not in vaine bablings taught his Disciples to make use both of a short and set forme And also how unfitting it ever was to give way to private fancies in a publike assemblie S. Paul declareth For when yee come together how is it saith hee that every one hath a Psalme 1 Cor. 14.26 hath a doctrine hath a tongue hath a revelation Let all things bee done to edifying Long before which times it was the counsell of Solomon Eccles 5.2 Let thy words bee few for God regardeth not our prayers according to their length but according to their strength and pithinesse And indeed to have short formes and often ejaculations shewes the eagernesse of the spirit and is to be truly instant in prayer to aske to seeke to knock Dare any therefore be so bold as to vilifie the short and pithy prayers of the Church and thereupon perswade the simple that they have just cause to bee rardie commers Dare they affirme that they are but shreds and pieces and not worthy the name of prayers and that in the Letanie is a kind of conjuring Prophane wretches as they are to bee thus disordered They might easily perceive if they were not blind that the Church goes piously to worke according to the rule of Gods holy word and may be no more blamed no not for her Lord have mercy on us Christ have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us and the like short eager requests no more I say then our Saviour blamed the good woman of Canaan devout Bartimeus or told us that the humble Publican displeased God when hee said no more but See Math. 15.22.15 Mark 10.48 Luke 18.13 God be mercifull to me a sinner An admonition yet I hope may come in time Let these people therefore take heed that God wipe not out their names out of the Booke of life for scorning that Booke which containes the services of the living God in which I know nothing contrary to his holy Word Nay rather this I know that it well agreeth to the holy Scriptures and in the substance forme and order thereof to the formes of the ancient Church containing things not only of excellent use but of absolute necessitie For that

I may the better invite thee let mee plead the cause a little further Dost thou desire to confesse thy sinnes there 's a forme of exquisite confession Or dost thou desire to bee absolved there 's an order how the Priest shall absolve the truly penitent and faithfull soule Or dost thou desire to praise thy God there 's an heavenly Te Deum for such a purpose or dost thou desire to make an open confession of that faith which the orthodox Christians ever held there be the three Creeds namely that of the Apostles Athanasius and the Niceene Creed the two last of which are received of the Church not as new but as expositions of the first Their foundation is in Scripture and are Regula fidei even as the Decalogue is Regula vitae Or dost thou desire to pray as thy Saviour teacheth there 's the Pater noster * Doctor Boyse in his Post A prayer which excells all other in many respects as being the Gospels epitome compiled by wisdome it selfe so large for matter so short for phrase so sweet for order as that it deserveth worthily to have the First and Most place in all our Liturgie The first saith Tertullian as guide to the rest The most saith that learned Hooker as a necessary complement to supplie whatsoever is wanting in the rest This being tanquam sal as a kind of Salt to season all and every part of the divine service Idem ibid. In which regard saith our English Postiller we use it often as at the end of the Letanie at the end of Baptisme at the end of the Communion and at the end of other sacred actions Or againe dost thou desire to give publike thanks as a good Christian ought to doe for publike benefits or to bee eased from generall calamities or to bee secured from common evils why there in that booke be formes and patternes for such a purpose yea for the asking of those things which bee requisite and necessary as well for the bodie as the soule And will none of these things move thee to come betimes to Gods house I doubt thy sanctitie and suspect thy soundnesse The place is holy the service holy And therefore let there bee so much holinesse in thee as may bring thee cheerefully early and devoutly to this holy place and there make thee to be one with the rest in that holy businesse which well beseemes a holy Christian For this is certaine that our holinesse towards God concernes us one way in that wee are men and another way in that wee are joyned as parts to that visible mysticall body which is his Church As men we are at our owne choyce both for time and place and forme according to the exigence of our owne occasions in private But as we be the members of a publike body the service which is to be done of us must of necessitie be publike And so consequently bee performed by us on holy dayes and in holy places And thus I have done with the first thing which is that wee be not late commers The second concernes our Reverence in entring which how it ought of right to bee performed by degrees shall be declared In the Scriptures you know that wee reade of Moses and Aaron that they did their reverence at the very doore of the Tabernacle Numb 20.6 And take heed to thy foot when thou entrest into the house of God is the wise mans counsell in Eccles 5.1 Hee forewarnes thee that hee might fore-arme thee And good reason that his counsell should bee regarded otherwise the heart that thou bringest with thee is no better then cor fatui a fooles heart enough to make a man be guiltie of evill when hee should bee doing of good It is not sufficient to say that although such outward worship was requisite under the Law yet not now required For before Iudaisme began Iacob acknowledged Bethel Gen. 28. the house of God to bee a place of feare and reverence Hee did no sooner perceive that it was an house of God but hee presently began to bee perplexed for feare he had not behaved himselfe so in it as of right he knew hee ought to doe in all such places And albeit our Saviour said to the woman of Samaria in the fourth chapter of S. Iohn that the time was then at hand that God should not be worshipped either at Hierusalem or at mount Garazim but that the true worshippers should worship the Father in spirit and in truth yet did hee not say any thing for the abolishing of publike Places purposely consecrated and set apart for publike worship What then I answer that hee did declare the cessation of worship to be now at hand both according to the custome of the Iewes worshipping at Ierusalem and of the Samaritans worshipping upon the aforesaid Mountaine For all such shadowes types and figures as pointed to the Messiah must cease the body being come And in that regard hee useth the word Spirit by way of opposition or as it is set against that commandement which in Heb. 7.16 is called carnall And so also for the word truth he speaketh of it not as wee set it against a lie but as wee take it in respect of the outward ceremonies of the Law which did only shadow that which Christ performed in very deed as even the Geneva note observeth Or if that of Spirit and truth bee further urged the better to colour mens want of reverence in the house of God it is againe answered that when outward or corporall worship proceedeth from spirituall devotion and is applied thereunto it is then a Spirituall worship because by this rule it is joyned to that which ought to bee the chiefe and principall mover in all our postures 2.2 q. 84. art 1. Ad primum And so saith Aquinas Quod etiam adoratio corporalis in spiritu fit in quantum ex spirituali devotione procedit adeam orainatur And indeed so long as man hath a body as well as a soule how shall hee manifest his inward feare and reverence but by his outward devotion or shall the soule be subject and the body free 'T is nothing so hee that made both requireth as the Apostle tels us that we glorifie him in both And so outward reverence as well as inward feare doth necessarily belong to every Christian The true worshippers therfore should remember to addresse themselves with dread and horror and enter with preparation as unto God prostrating Eae quae exterius aguntur signa sunt interioris reverentiae Aquin. sum 2.2 q. 84. art 1. or bowing downe their bodies not only in token of their both inward and outward humiliation but also in regard of the reverence which they owe to God into whose house and before whose presence they are now entred And indeed it is an humble soule that is both ready and willing to shew and afford due reverence whereas the proud and haughty will rather kick against

his service I thinke him more stupid then a stone who will beleeve it There was a great difference sure betweene the Ash-pans and the Altars although both were holy So also betweene the Bells and the Chalice And if so then also a difference betweene the Belfree and the Chancell For all things and parts are not consecrated to one and the same height as by and by shall bee declared Secondly by this their reasoning of a like holinesse in every part and corner of the Church the holinesse which they grant to bee in Churches seemes in some sort to be as if it were inherent But whether that bee the consequence yea or no I will not stand to argue for sure I am that in very deed there is no such thing Aquin. Sum. p. 3. q. 83. art 3. Churches saith Aquinas and such inanimate things though they be not capable of grace yet receive by their consecration a spirituall power whereby they are fit for divine service I shall therefore amplifie that which I have already touched namely that the preheminence which wee give to one place above another is onely relative that is in relation to those holy offices unto which the places consecrate are set apart as also in relation to the presence of God in places consecrate For to speake of these things further according to the Scripture phrase The face or presence of God doth in this sense signifie in the general a peculiar sacred place where teaching hearing praying sacrificing and other duties of Gods publike worship useth to be performed Thereby teaching us that when wee come into Gods house wee come as into his presence For instead of that which is said in the 1 Chron. 16.29 Bring an offering and come before him In Psal 96.8 it is Bring an offering and come into his Courts I speake not therefore of the gracious and comfortable effects of his presence Esay 66.1 2. Math. 18.20 For they according to his promise are best of all manifested by the sinceritie of our decent devotions But I speake of that high honour which hee himselfe vouchsafeth to such places as are dedicated to him for his publike worship viz. that they are accepted as his houses must bee so esteemed and comming into them wee are come as before his face or sacred presence in more speciall manner then when wee were in any place else For though hee be ubique yet hee would not have us thinke that hee is ubique uniformiter but aliter atque aliter And in that regard even in places consecrate one place may have a more neere relation to his presence then another and carry with it in particular a more speciall signe or demonstration of his residence And therefore first of all in case the Act of Consecration bee but one as some object yet in relation to those holy offices unto which the places consecrate are set apart it must needes admit of a different degree because as all places are not for one purpose no more are all offices of a like eminence And so a more awfull reverence both in and towards one place then another Yea so farre were those particular degrees of Consecration evermore extended that they belonged as well to persons as to places both when Moses was upon the Mount and the people below the Tabernacle pitched the Temple built and the Priests assigned to their severall charges And as then the separation and difference observed redounded more and more to the honour of God so also now For as there is no reason that the Lord should lose any part of his honour by sending of his Sonne So neither would hee that it should bee lost For Christ Iesus himselfe who came to doe his Fathers will in whipping the buyers and fellers out of the very utmost borders of the Sanctuarie shewed his zealous forwardnesse in the preserving of his Fathers honour and that in future times it should of right be as well regarded as before For when he layed his hands to the whip and his tongue to the text it was no other time then after his Baptisme and at the very * viz. In the last weeke of his ministery viz. on Sunday and Munday of the said weeke as the Harmonists witnesse point of his passion when he was ready to finish the worke of redemption and when the legall sacrifices of Oxen Sheep and Doves had * Math. 11.13 Galat. 3.24 25. begun even from the Baptists preaching to bee dead already Whereby is shewed that that holinesse and honour which heretofore was due to Gods house and to God in his house should not die with those ending figures of the Law but still abide extending it selfe to the praise and glory of God so farre as the benefit of Christs baptisme and passion did and should live as long as either praying or preaching remained And secondly although the Lord would have the whole structure to bee accounted as his house and would doubtlesse that wee should thereupon account him more present there Gen. 22.10 then else-where as Abraham said In the mountaine will the Lord bee seene or as himselfe speaketh Psal 132.15 Here will I dwell for I have a delight therein Yet his very presence there hath not one and the same degree For if when we say Est Dominus in loco hoc Lippom. in Gen. 28. ex August Wee expound it with S. Austin that it is as if it should be said Est hic demonstratio domini non enim Dominus in loco est then it must needs follow even in our Churches that in what part or place wee have the most lively demonstration of his presence by something which is either done or said there more then else-where as in a place Aquin. Summ. 1.2 quaest 10. art 4. and at an instrument appropriated for that service that there I say is the very highest degree thereof and so the highest Court of or for his holinesse which is not unfitly called the place of Majestie throne or most presentiall place in all the Church And although the particular service be not alwayes there in act yet the demonstration ceaseth not because the same place and things are reserved still for the same purpose and Gods relative proprietie not abolished the great signe of his presence still abiding Nor may this seeme strange that in one and the same house there should bee such differenced degrees of his Presence for besides the reasons alledged this we also find that he himselfe is well pleased to call one part as the place of his Throne another as the place for the soales of his feet as is expressy mentioned in Ezekiel chapt 43.7 Ezek. 43.7 And this his old people alwayes marked keeping their distances and directing their postures accordingly In imitation whereof the Primitive Christians ordered to have their Churches built with the like distinction of places and that though the distribution of the Sacrament might be in other parts yet

at which they might not offer except they were in perfect love and unitie one with another For in that Sermon where this dutie is commanded the Precepts given were not legall but Evangelicall it being a degree above the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees to seeke such peace as was then preached upon the Mountaine No tradition of the Elders or other Law being knowne to urge any such direction as was there delivered Whereupon considering one thing with another it may bee concluded as in a plaine case that by both names that sacred seate of the body and bloud of our Saviour as Optatus stileth it hath beene promiscuously and indifferently called from the first beginning of the Christian Church They goe wrong therefore who will be led by vulgar opinion and astonished by popular reports of they know not what Rome indeed hath made many things offensive to ignorant eares But it is neither vulgar opinion feare nor heare say that can disprove a truth For as shee seekes no corners so being suffered to display her colours shee cleares her selfe against all sorts of opposites bee their temper what it will To returne then to the matter in hand Antiquitie and that grounded upon Scripture takes from it as well as from what is appendant to it all and every just aspersion of innovation And verily those Sainted times loved the great God of Heaven and Earth too well to love any thing like him They knew him to bee a jealous God and therefore did not adore the thing or place toward which they worshipped but God alone to whom this homage is due Just Mart. ad Orthod quaest 118. See also Ter●ul Apol. c. 16. Orig sup Nū Hom. 5. Basil de spirit sanct c. 27. Aug. de Serm. Dom. in Mont. lib. 2. c. 19. cum mul●is aliis It cannot bee saith Iustin Martyr that at the time of our Prayer wee should looke at all the parts of heaven at once therefore we worship looking towards one part viz. the East Not that that is only of Gods making or that hee hath chosen that only for his dwelling but because it is the place appointed for that worship and service which wee performe to God Adding moreover that from whom the Church received the custome of praying from them also it received where to pray that is from the Apostles Thus that godly Father and blessed Martyr who was famous about 117 yeares after Christs Passion expresly witnessing that this order came first from the Apostles viz. that Christians direct their aspect towards the East when they pray or worship Tertullian witnesseth the same order and so doth Origen Athanasius Basil Gregorie Nissen Saint Austin Damascen with many others Nor can the Centurie writers but affirme it most of our Churches excepting some of late being built for scituation accordingly From which direction thus delivered was clearely shewed that albeit in the Iewish Tabernacle and Temple the Westerne part thereof was chiefe yet not so in the Christian Churches for in ours the Easterne part must be preferred And as with them the Westerne part was chiefe because the Mercie seate was there so with us the Easterne part because the Holy Table is placed here And for the scituation of both these there was just cause why they should bee rather so then otherwise For the Iewes wee know were in the times of darknesse in comparison of our times of light Their Tabernacle therefore and Temple had the place of highest Majestie in the West towards which they looked for want of the Sunnes appearance Christ was then unborne But wee are in the dayes of a better light the Sunne is risen and visiteth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●s the Day or Easterne light from on high Luke 1.78 Wee therefore in acknowledgement thereof turne our faces toward the East have there the place of highest Majestie and by turning thither professe our times to be the times of light To which may be added that of Damascen Damas de Orthod fid lib. 4. c. 13. affirming that when Christ hanged upon the Crosse hee was placed so as that his face looked into the West and therefore could not be seene but of those whose faces were directed towards the East Which together with the former was also a reason why the Christians had cause to preferre the Easterne part of their Churches before the Westerne and to place the Altar of their commemorative Sacrifice rather there then else-where Yea and further because the Divell is Gods Ape the Pagans looked into the West as well as the Iewes That therefore in opposition to the one as well as the other wee may renounce the Divell whom they served in their heathenish Idolatrie as well as the religion of the Iewes who denie Christ to be come wee turne to the East and so enter a covenant with the Sunne of righteousnesse And of this last Saint Ambrose among other of the Fathers speakes after this manner Thou art turned to the East because hee who renounceth the Divell is converted to Christ and beholds him directo obtuitu with a direct aspect Vnto which custome as is probably supposed Saint Iohn seemeth to allude in Revelat. 7.2 For there the Angell ascends from the East to meet and embrace them that looke towards him and seale them with the safetie of that Sacrament by which Christians seale their service unto him as in Master Yates is well observed Here therefore wee are to seate the Holy Table as in its proper place Nor was it ever otherwise among Christians when they might bee suffered to doe as they would except in some particular Churches which can be no fit president to be opposed against a generall practise And thus as I can see no reason why any should bee offended at a decent and holy reverence when wee come into the House of God which all Religions have beene carefull to performe so much lesse that they should grudge against it when wee doe it towards that place where the high and heavenly Mysteries of our salvation are to be consecrated and celebrated with all the solemnitie and devotion wee can possibly imagine Here it is that wee have our perfectest communion with God It begins indeed in Baptisme but ends in the Lords Supper for higher wee cannot goe till wee come in heaven and they are the best Saints that are admitted to it at the least wee judge them such because such they should be For though all may come to the Word and be present at our ordinarie Service yet when this commeth all but the faithfull must bee gone Ite Missaest was that which was said of old yea and still the unworthy are not to bee admitted but the rest invited to come and draw neere that they may receive this Sacrament to their comfort and have that high advancement of being fed at Gods owne Boord with the body and bloud of his beloved Sonne Say not therefore any longer Why are not the Font Deske or Pulpit