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	head_n	supreme_a	4,494	5	9.0477	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A84001	Englands settlement, upon the two solid foundations of the peoples civil and religious liberties. Collected out of divers petitions, declarations, and remonstrances; wherein is discovered the general genius of the nation. By a well-wisher of the peace and happiness of the three nations.	Well-wisher of the peace and happiness of the three nations.	1659 (1659)	Wing E3051; Thomason E995_17; ESTC R201934	20,652	35

Church that the Christians becoming Masters under Christian Emperours did not persecute the Heathens by whom themselves had been so cruelly persecuted but gave them a Toleration And this was very consonant to Reason laying aside all Divinity in regard the Heathen Religion was the Religion that had been before publickly profest for many Ages and had taken deep roots in the peoples hearts and therefore it required a Toleration till by the force of Truth which ever at length prevailes it should be rooted out Yea this principle is so reasonable that the Turkes themselves though mighty Zealous in their own superstition do grant permission and liberty to Christians whose Countries they conquer of the Religion they finde there profest though they will not grant the same liberty to new Sects that may arise Whence may appear the unreasonablenesse of King Harry the 8 who quitting the Popish Religion though upon no religious pretence as is well known and usurping to himself that fatal Title of Supream Head of the Church of England did persecute most fiercely that Religion on which he himself had profest from his Infancy and which had been the publick Religion of the Nation for many Ages intending presently and unseasonably to extirpate it by force and violence and putting many brave men to death who would not take the oath of his Supremacy against their Consciences Hence also may be seen the unseasonable designs of some new fiery Zelots who would have Toleration granted to all Religions though never so new and ridiculous but would have a restraint put upon Popery and Prelacy which being the two Religions formerly and publickly profest in the Nation ought above all new Religions to enjoy some Toleration Neither can that exception of Popery and Prelacy proceed from any other root but from cruelty and desire of revenge or from Diffidence of their own cause for if these Zelots were sure of the truth on their side as the ancient Christians were they would be also confident of the victory in a calme and Christian way without any force or compulsion Wherefore it may be well concluded against them that these new Christians are not only irrationall but shew much lesse charity and compassion to Christians then the ancient Christians shew to the Pagans yea that they are more inhumane and cruell to their Country-men and Bretheren professing the name of Christ then the Turks profest enemies of the name of Christ are to Christians their conquer'd enemies and strangers And the Turks may rise up as witnesses against them in the day of judgment manifesting to the World that though these Zelots pretended to be Saints yet they were nothing but masked Furies coming short of them in Moral Vertue and exceeding them in cruelty 7. Coercive power c. is against that golden Rule of righteousness known by the light of Nature That we should do unto others as we would have them do to us and do nothing to them which we would not wish to be done to our selves Now who amongst us would be content that others should persecute us for our Religion and Conscience If then we persecute others for their Religion and Conscience do we not oppose that great light that God has implanted in our hearts and violate that law of Righteousness which our Saviour recommended to us in his Heavenly Sermon on the Mount as the summe of the law and the Prophets And will we not come fart short of the perfection of the Saints who according to our Saviours precept ought to pray for their persecutors when on the contrary we persecute our Bretheren who would do us no harme but would live peaceably and serve God according to their Consciences 8. Coercive power c. Is against our own principles and pretences and therefore it 's a greater sin as being more irrationall in us then in others who do not hold the same principles For first we profess our selves to be fallible in judging and determining Vniversally in matters of Religion and object as a haynous crime to the Papall Church that she pretends to infallibility which the Reformed Churches esteem onely proper to Jesus Christ But by persecuting others for their Consciences we proclaim our selves in effect to be infallible as Mr. Colier wisely observes and so we become guilty of the same crime in deeds which we deny in words and which we lay to the charge of others And consequently according to our other principles we usurpe upon the Prerogative of Jesus Christ We show I say our selves in effect to be infallible for persecuting others for their Religion For we cannot rationally persecute any man for his conscience unlesse we do not only know that he is in an errour but also be infallibly sure that we are bringing him to an undoubted truth Otherwise as it would be a lesse sin in a man to follow an errour according to his Conscience then to be driven into an errour against his Conscience so it would be better for us to let him alone in his errour then to force him to ours which we falsly ecteem Truth And therefore if we force men to be of our Religion we ought to be infallibly sure of the truth of it and so in effect we proclaim our selves to be infallible whereas God knowes we may be oftentim●s in actuall errors and by our persecution force others into them As it cannot be denyed by us but that the late Bishops forced both the Papists and many Protestants into errours when they persecuted them according to the strict Laws made by Harry the 8. Queen Elizabeth and their Successors to take the Oath of supremacy and to hear the book of Common Prayer both which we our selves have abolished and condemned as errours And thereby we justifie before the world that the Recusants were unjustly persecuted seeing they were principally or rather only persecuted for not embraceing these errours But withall we leave a great blemish on our selves when we having renounced those errours which were the grounds of the laws made thereupon and having laid aside the Kings by whom and for whom those laws were made which indeed is to abolish those laws yet we still keep up the penalties of the same laws in vigour against the Recusants which seems to be a very irrationall act Yea we are more faulty in another respect then the late Bishops For they at least proposed some positive points though they were errours to be beleeved by the Recusants that these being put from their own might not be without all Religion whereas we by our new oath of Abjuration strive only to spoile the Recusants of their own Religion and as we have not one particular positve Religion setled for undoubted truth among us so we propose not any one Religion to the Recusants to be followed by them but at the most we hold them out a medley of all the Religions and new Sects profest among us that they may put out their hands and blindly choose or draw