Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	church_n	faith_n	profess_v	3,565	5	8.8932	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60407	A sermon preached July 17, 1681, at the assizes in Huntingdon before the Right Honourable the Lord Chief Baron Mountague and Mr. Justice Windham, judges of the assize / by Benjamin Smith, Rector of Boxworth, in Cambridge-shire.	Smith, Benjamin, fl. 1681.	1682 (1682)	Wing S4021B; ESTC R37563	22,452	38

Government of the State the Preservation of the true Religion as well as the Peace is within the exercise of his Authority and ought to be part of his Care He Contends for it by a tenderness and Care over all its Concerns and by Restraints upon the Petulancy and Unruliness of men who would either Corrupt the Doctrine or disturb and interrupt the Peace of the Church And here is also Your Sphere to Act my most Honourable Lords to whose Wisdom and Skill the Execution of those Laws are Committed by which our Religion hath hitherto been defended and so happily flourished I Shall not presume to direct or advise or Exhort you the Knowledge we have of Your Love to Religion and of your Faithfulness in Your Trust will not suffer us to fear that You will be negligent in the Defence of that Religion which you Love so well or let those Laws which are so great a part of Your Trust be baffled or buried on which the Safety and Peace and Security of our Faith at this time so much depends The Minister must Act in his Sphere and he Contends for the Faith by declaring the mind of God in Truth and expounding sincerely the Oracles of GOD. By opposing and convincing Gain-sayers and defending the Truth from Heresy and Error and the Sophistical Tricks of those who lye in wait to deceive and as the Apostle says Lead Captive Silly women laden with 2 Tim. 3. 6. sins And All men as Christians must Contend in a way suitable to them as such by Knowledge and Practice by Love and Sufferings and all the Methods that are Proper and Lawfull and suit with Christians considered as such in their private Sphere and Capacity And to these in this Circumstance it is that Saint Jude directs his Exhortation and perswades them to Contend for the Faith That is exhorts them to an earnest and immutable Adherence to it so as not to forgo it for all that the Enemy can do Neither to be scared out of it by Dread ●r Danger by Violence or Death nor to be cheated and wheadled out of it by the Insinuations of those that lye in wait to deceive and Creep in unawares that deprave the Faith and corrupt the Doctrine of the Gospel and turn the grace of God into Lasciviousness or exchange the Truth of God for a Lye And thus to secure our standing in the Faith and to preserve that Religion and Purity of Doctrine that God hath blessed us with no Ways are more Suitable and Proper or likely to be more Successfull than these 1. To understand well and be throughly informed in the Principles and Fundamentals of that Religion which we profess For the greatest and most successfull Conquests that in any age the Enemy hath obtained have ever been upon those that are weak and Unstable in the Faith the Wavering mind hangs trembling in an equal Suspence between Truth and Falshood and these hardly escape the Assaults or stand the Shock of those who lye in wait to deceive And therefore the Methods of the Enemy have usually been to pick out those to subvert whom they see Ignorant and Unstable as knowing these to be the most liable and likely to be brought to their Lure And indeed how should it be otherwise for they that are not well informed in what they profess may easily enough be perswaded that their Profession is Erroneous and the Best Religion may Easily be disparaged to them that do not understand its Nature and have not enquired far enough into it to discern the Beauty and excellency of it And doubtless this hath given the Church of Rome a vast Advantage against us who know well enough how to improve it in that so many are strangers to the Principles of that Religion which they profess as having never been Instructed in them nor taken the pains to Examine what it is they pretend to believe Too many have satisfied themselves with being of that Profession in which they were born and brought up without taking the trouble to understand what that Profession is or to have any other Argument for it than their Education And therefore when I reflect upon that Ignorance in Religion that is growing up and that little Concern or Regard that men have to be well versed or informed in the Fundamentals of it instead of wondring that Rome hath gained so many from us I onely wonder that they have gained no more And I very much fear that if the time should ever come that men might with Safety or advantage change the Church of England for that of Rome there are too many that would need but little Perswasion and all because they so little Know the Truth the Beauty and Excellency of that Religion which now they profess 2. To Practise seriously and Conscientiously what we profess To hold the True Faith in Notion and to deny it in Practice is to pull down with One hand what we erect with the Other and to subvert and betray the Faith that we seem to Contend for And indeed it is not easy to suppose that a man should be resolute to Suffer for any Religion nor stand any ways Vigorously in the Defence of it who will not submit to the Power of it nor will let his Life be regulated nor his Lusts be mortified by it To the Profane person all Religions are alike and that which bids fairest for his Interest or is most suitable to his Inclinations Carries it with him It is the Practice of Religion that renders it Truely sweet and pleasant to the Professours of it and none but those can heartily love the Faith and be Zealously concerned for its Defence that have Experienced the Power and Influences of it in themselves To Practise therefore what we profess is a considerable means of Defence for the Religion we own for this engageth God on our side and lets the Enemy see it is in vain to Tamper or be meddling For to live up to the Principles of our Profession and to adorne our Religion with a suitable Conversation is to bring forth Fruit and to glorify GOD and where these are found the End is answered for which the Gospel is bestowed and so long the Candlestick shall not be removed while People rejoyce and walk in the Light And therefore it is observable that the Removal of the Means of Grace and an Eclipsing the Light of the Gospel hath ever in all places been preceded by a Decay of Piety and an Inundation of Profaness This pulls down the Wrath of GOD and that makes the Cunning and Malice of men effectual God will walk no more among them that walk contrary to him and they that will Practise no Religion may easily enough be perverted to Any how irrational or absurd soever it be God grant that that Coldness Looseness and Profaness that so universally over-spreads this Nation be not too sad a Prognostick and preparatory to the Departure of the Gospel from among us