Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	christian_a	church_n	religion_n	1,340	5	5.5492	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41817	Two letters written to the author of a pamphlet entituled Solomon and Abiathar, or, The case of the deprived bishops and clergy discussed	Grascome, Samuel, 1641-1708?	1692 (1692)	Wing G1579; ESTC R37402	44,307	44

and are liable to the censure of the Church and stand actually censured by the Canons and this being the Case the Act of the Dean and Chapter argues only their own sin and shame And indeed if it were be to laid open it would appear to be as indiscreet and weak an act in some and as insolent and vile an act in others as almost any this Revolution has produced but let that pass the act is in it self null and void and therefore cannot prejudice the Right of the Metropolitane But lest the Dean and Chapter should not be strong enough you call in the Convocation for help And 1. You tell us what your worthy Conformists did and what was their Opinion but this is just the Proverb Ask my fellow if I be a Thief but say you Their sending the Convocation shews their Subjection and condemns Recusancy as an Error p. 28. And we say this is many Errors but what then The Case is disputed between us you say you do so therefore it is and must be so as if your irreligious disloyal actions could justifie not only the evil you have done but all that you shall proceed to do But the silence of the Convocation you think will work Miracles for that argues their Opinion to be that they were in this to yield to the State p. 28. And thus we are utterly undone with the Arguments of Lovers and Fools Silence gives consent There must be many other concurring circumstances before the least consent can be presumed from silence for otherwise it is often a sign of indignation scorn fullenness yea even of obstinate denial itself and what they meant by their silence you may better guess when you have resolved this Quaerie Whether you can reasonably think that they would have chosen him for their Archbishop whom they refused for their Prolocutor But what if they were not so silent as here you make them 'T is pitty your Memory is not better for through forgetfulness you give in evidence against your self for p. 34. you tell us of a motion in the lower House of Convocation for a Petition for the restitution of the Bishops and then Suspended Clergy One would think this look'd very kindly towards them unless there be a Revolution also in Mens Sense and Brains and their meaning is to be understood as they read Hebrew backward for otherwise no body would take petitioning for Men for appearing against them but what if there had been none of this but they had been eternally silent Were ever Bishops deposed by silence If you do not you ought to know that before a Bishop can be deposed he must be judicially cited upon his appearance he ought to have a full and fair hearing a Crime or Crimes meriting Deprivation must be proved against him and lastly a Canonical Sentence by Bishops must be passed upon him and published against him and if they fail in any of these things the whole proceedings are null and when all this can be done by silence I will yield you the Cause Your jumble of Q. Mary's and Q. Elizabeth's Bishops I shall not examine because a full answer to that either already is or suddenly will come abroad But I cannot but take notice of a Question which you start that you may thence take occasion to represent us to the Government as the most dangerous Men in the World and set them on to use the utmost cruelty to us who have suffered so much already that so you might end with a Sting in your Tail The Question is Whether he that hath unjustly gotten into a full Settlement upon another Prince's Dominions ought to succor the Church in those Dominions Now this is very disingenuous dealing for you cannot but know that we dispute not against but submit to a full Settlement only we say that a full Settlement in one while another who has Right claims and endeavours to recover his Right is contradictory non-sense You have been often told the meaning of a full Settlement but wilfully shut your Eyes and will not see though you Hypocritically pretend to desire information The Question therefore ought to be in short whether an Usurper ought to succour the Church under his Usurpation Now though it is most certain that in Duty and Conscience he ought to quit it yet because those Beasts of Prey are rarely induced to part with their Quarry the Question must be what is his Duty to the Church if he will not quit his Usurpation And doubtless it is to succour it or at least not to destroy it as you and some others would persuade him and you might have been so hardy as to affirm this though the Church would not own him to be a lawfull Sovereign for if he have done evil himself must all be made away with who will not join with him in it and approve of it Must they be all serv'd as the Highland Clan and have their Throats cut in their Beds who contrary to their Knowledge and Conscience will not own him to be the true Owner of his unjust gotten Goods Your Reasoning indeed shews the wretched necessity of sinning which Men are put upon who resolve by any means to maintain injustice but doth not at all teach them what they ought to do And it had more become you to have taught them some good than to instigate them to more evil than they can do But however none of these things ought to move a Christian from his Duty in which he must proceed and leave the event to God who knows best how to take care of his Church The Blessed Jesus hath left us a Religion and authorized Persons to teach and do all things concerning it which will infallibly bring us to Heaven if we be true to it This nothing can take from us if we our selves do not forsake it in spight of Swords and Cannons Tyrants and Devils we may obtain Salvation if we be firm to our Religion but then if our Superiors set themselves against it we are to maintain it not by fighting but suffering and if it come to that hardship to save our lives by losing them which is so far from endangering the loss of Religion that by experience it hath been found the greatest means to propagate it So that the security of the Christian Religion lies in the Authority of our Saviour and the Doctrine of the Cross but you give both away while you press a compliance with whatever a Prince shall think necessary for his security At this rate there should not be a Christian under the Turk and you your self must turn Turk to morrow if your new Master whom you persuade to be more cruel than a Turk should declare for that Persuasion This I think is indeed to expose the Nation to an utter Destruction at the pleasure of any one that is uppermost For whom it doth not Butcher it will Damn I should here have concluded but that I cannot forbear to observe how you