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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	book_n	canon_n	church_n	2,651	5	4.7172	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45493	A sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, and the Court of Aldermen, at Guildhall-Chappel, Septemb. 19, 1680 by Robert Hancocke ...	Hancock, Robert, fl. 1680-1686.	1680 (1680)	Wing H645; ESTC R10880	15,293	37

appeal to any man that understands the virtue of their Indulgencies and Masses Reliques and Pennances the omnipotent power of Absolutions and other ways of reconciling a sinner to God in the Roman Church Are not some of those practices which make up a great part of their Religion but the Mint Anise and Cummin of Christianity Are not divers others of them inconsistent with the life and power of Godliness I mean their Crossings and Unctions their voluntary Whippings and Severities their superficial Confessions and Abstinencies their mumbling over their Prayers without devotion or attention Were not those dark and superstitious Ages wherein Popery first stole into the World times of the greatest Licentiousness and Irreligion I confess the Monasteries were Seminaries of Vertue and Piety for some Ages but as the Monks encreased in Wealth and Revenues so they degenerated into Idleness and Luxury This is so plain a Truth that even some of their own Authors that are most devoted to the Papal See cannot deny or conceal it I know 't is usually imputed to the Jesuits that they allow men to lye and forswear themselves to swallow a thousand Venial Sins without danger of Damnation and to repent of as many Mortal Sins without forsaking them It is commonly said Than they undertake to pardon or dispense with some of the most monstrous Crimes and that some of the blackest ones are with them lawful or meritorious and these are the Guides of Souls in the Church of Rome But I will be so just to that Order as to acknowledge they not only affirm but prove it too that this is the Practical Divinity of the Church it self Is not the very Canon Law stuff't with Forgeries and Wickedness Are not such extravagant Maxims to be found in the Divines and Casuists of other Orders as the more sober Heathens abhorred Are not the Books publisht with the Authority and Approbation of the Church Are not the Authors of them entrusted by her with the Consciences of men Why don't they acquaint the World what expurgatory Index hath condemned the Writings of the three Cardinal Jesuits what Anathema's their Church hath bestowed upon them (f) Bellarmine Baronius and Tolet. Were not their Persons had in admiration and are not their Writings applauded by the teaching governing part of the Church The truth is the Interest and Grandeur of Rome are supported by them and they must be maintain'd whatever becomes of the Souls and Consciences of Men. I do not think that Popery is able to root out all good Nature and if any of that Communion be so eminent for Vertue and Charity as I hope they be we must not thank the Doctrines of their Church or the Integrity of the ruling party for it but either their natural Dispositions or the over-ruling Grace of God which have preserved them from the Contagion of their Religion 3. This is the way to propagate a meer empty formal Religion amongst us A Religion that teaches men to build their hopes of Salvation upon such Conditions as may be observed without offering Violence to their sensual Lusts and dearest Interests And so long as they desire to go to Heaven with as little trouble as they can I do not wonder that they will not endure sound Doctrine but after their own lusts heap to themselves Teachers having itching ears (g) 2 Tim. 4.3 They will be content to offer God the Calves of their lips rather then to give him their hearts to censure or commend many Sermons rather then to put one in practice to put on a sowre or demure countenance rather then a broken and contrite heart to present God Almighty with variety of Phrases or the most pathetical Expressions rather then to pray with Faith and Devotion Humility and Heavenly-mindedness in which the Spirit of Prayer consists For such things as these serve for ostentation and vain-glory they are very obvious and sensible they are no great Enemies to the Passions and Interests of men Whereas Purity and Devotion Self-denial and Meekness Obedience and Charity Mortification of the Will and Affections have less of the Pomp and Form though infinitely more of the Life and Power of Godliness in them Thus I have given you a short Account of the most natural and pernicious effects of Vice and Wickedness upon a Church and Kingdom And since these things are so I would make an humble Address to all in Authority That as you value the Honour and Security of our most holy Religion or the Peace and Happiness of your King and Country you would endeavour to suppress the growth of Vice and Immorality For what Peace so long as there is so much Riot and Luxury Leudness and Debauchery Injustice and Oppression customary Swearing prophane Drollery and contempt of Religion among us What Peace so long as such a Deluge of Sin and Wickedness overflows the Nation For these the Lord hath a Controversie with the Inhabitants of the Land therefore shall the Land mourn (h) Hosea 4.1 3. These are the Nurseries of Plots and Treasons of Schism and Sedition But if you cannot compel men to be truly Pious and Holy you may at least force them to sin with more modesty and civility If you cannot quite banish Sin out of the Nation yet 't is in your power to stigmatize it with disgrace and make it sneak into Corners you may restrain it from being bare-faced and impudent from infecting the Land and involving us in the guilt of it If you cannot root out all secret Wickedness you may stop the growth of horrid Impieties of publick and crying Sins If wicked men will have the exercise of their Irreligion in private yet I beseech you let them not sin in the face of the Sun and openly make Proselytes in defiance of the Laws of God and Man And would you have men make conscience of all their Oaths Contracts and Promises Would you have them be Loyal to the King Obedient to Magistrates and Serviceable to one another Do what you can in your several Spheres to encourage and promote the practice of solid and substantial Religion But if we desire the suppressing of Atheism and Immorality we must take heed of those licentious Doctrines and Principles which are most apt to lead us into such practices For what wonder is it to see men act in conformity to their Principles What reason is there to hope that the generality of the World will be better then the Doctrines of their Religion incline them to be I will mention the principal of them and leave you to judge whether the natural result of them be not the banishing true Religion and Holiness out of the Nation 1. I begin with the Principles of the Leviathan That there is nothing but Body in the World and that the very notion of an Incorporeal Being implies a Contradiction (i) Leviathan c. 4. c. 5. c. 12. c. 34. That men are good or evil fatally and unavoidably And that God may be

the Author of Sin (k) Lev. c. 21. Lib. and Nec in divers places That the Law of the Civil Magistrate is the only obliging Rule of Just and Vnjust and that the New Testament is not a Law of any place where the Commonwealth hath not made it so (l) Lev. c. 42. That the Obligation of Subjects to their Sovereign lasteth no longer then the power lasteth by which he is able to protect them (m) Lev. c. 21. 2. What is the consequence of the Practical Divinity of the Romish Divines and Casuists about Repentance Purgatory and the efficacy of the Sacraments in conferring Grace but the subverting the necessity of an Holy Life 3. There are some malignant Doctrines that have a more immediate influence on Kingdoms and Governments and they are such as these That Dominion is founded in Grace That the Obligation of Oaths and Promises may be taken away by some Authority on Earth That it is lawful to make use of Equivocations and mental Reservations That Church-men are exempted from the Jurisdiction of the Civil Power That a Sovereign Prince is either the Pope's Subject or the Peoples Trustee That he is accountable for Heresie or evil Government to his Holiness at Rome or to some Assembly of Church-men or Inferiour Magistrates within his own Dominions 4. I wish the Libertines Antinomians and other Carnal Gospellers of this Age had not furnisht us with another Catalogue of Licentious Doctrines The chief of them are these that follow That the Moral Law is abrogated by Jesus Christ That the Covenant of Grace is absolute and unconditional and that no man ought to work for Salvation much less for the fear of Hell That the Torments of Hell are not properly Eternal That a good Moral Man is further from the Kingdom of God then a loose Liver That justifying Faith consisteth in believing that a man is perdestinated to Eternal Life That Sins are pardoned before they are committed and that God sees no Sin in his People To this Head I might reduce all such Notions of Christian Liberty as destroy the necessity of Obedience in all lawful things All such Notions of God and his Decrees as make him the Author of our Sin or Misery or set up the Decrees of God in opposition to his Laws or one of his Attributes in opposition to another All such Notions of Jesus Christ as set up his Person in opposition to his Gospel or make us righteous with Christ's Righteousness whilst we continue in any Course of Sin But thus much may suffice to have spoken of the first thing 2. We have reason to be apprehensive of the effects of our unnatural Contentions and Animosities as well as of our open and notorious Vices Certainly never any People enjoyed more excellent means of Peace and Unity never any People laboured more under the Calamities of Rebellions and Factions never was any People assaulted with more bloody implacable more subtle and industrious Enemies then we are It is therefore the Duty and Interest of all Loyal Subjects and good Christians to endeavour to correct that Spirit of Sedition and Division that is working among us and to promote the Security and Establishment both of our Government and Religion 1. I begin with the Civil Government You have blessed be God the Scriptures in your own Language and if you read them without partiality and prejudice you will soon learn those indispensable Duties of Peace Humility and Obedience They will teach you to pray for the King and all in Authority under him (n) 1 Tim. 2.1 To be subject not only for Wrath but for Conscience sake (o) Rom. 13.5 They will plant in you all those dispositions which are essential to the support of Government and Society they will subdue all those Passions and mortifie all those Lusts which are the Parents of Strifes and Quarrels of Confusions and Treasons besides you are Members of a Church whose just glory it is to assert the Rights of Princes with so much plainness and sincerity that no man can be true to the Church of England whilst he is false to his Sovereign This holy and peaceable Religion will teach you to beware of and suppress all others of what Communion soever that vent any seditious Doctrines or allow of such practices as are consonant to them I know the most horrid things have been taught and acted among us under the disguise of Religion but of all men living the Romanists have the least reason to charge any of our Sects with Treason and Sedition For the most barbarous Villanies that were committed in these Kingdoms may be justified by the principles of that Faction and the most Antimonarchical Doctrines that ever came from the Pulpit or the Press either were or might be derived from the Canon Law the Popes and Councils the most approved Casuists and Guides of Souls Let Pope Sixtus the Fifth have the honour of being either the first inventer or polisher of the Fanatick Art of Canting and perverting the Scriptures admiring the providence of God in the murder of a lawful King and the truth is the first Thanksgiving Sermon that I find on such an Occasion was preacht by his Holiness in the Roman Consistory (p) See his Panegyrick Oration on the murder of H. 3 of France It was printed at Paris An. 1589 with the approbation of three Doctors Nor do I envy the Roman Church the glory of sanctifying Rebellions and Murders Perfidiousness and Cruelty by the Authority of some of her General Councils 'T is no wonder if the same power which transforms bread and wine into the substance of Christs natural body and blood do also transform Christians into Wolves and Tygers Did some of our Sectaries abuse Curse ye Meroz and other parts of Scripture to the carrying on the blackest Designs So did Alexander the third (q) Ep. Alex. 3. Conc. Bin. tom 7 par 2. pag. 656. so did Pius the fifth those (r) Bullar Cherub tom 2. pag. 305. printed at Rome 1617. words of God I have set thee over Nations and Kingdoms c. Did not Innocent the Fourth prove his power of deposing Princes from that Text Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth c. (s) See Pope Innocent the Fourth's Sentence of Deprivation against the Emperour Ferdinando in the Council of Vienna Have you never heard of the incomparable Interpretations of Rise Peter kill and eat Feed my Sheep Vpon this Rock will I build my Church It were no hard matter to give you a Specimen of the Divinity of Popes and Cardinals men of greater Learning and Authority but of as little Conscience and Loyalty as the Authors of our most pestilent Sermons and Pamphlets Are any of these under unlawful Oaths and Engagements So are all the Bishops Jesuits Monks and Friars of that Church under Oaths of absolute Allegiance to the Pope or of blind Obedience to their Superiors that are his Creatures and Vassals (t)