Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	abandon_v	agreeable_a	worship_n	65	3	10.5276	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43640	The third part of Naked truth, or, Some serious considerations, that are of high concern to the ruling clergy of England, Scotland, or any other Protestant nation and also a discovery of the excellency of the Protestant religion as it stands in opposition to papistical delusions, being a representation of what is the true glory of Protestants, and what are the base, contemptible and ridiculous principles, on which those that are called Roman Catholicks do build, as upon the sand being very necessary for all Protestant families in this present juncture of time.; Naked truth. Part 3	Hickeringill, Edmund, 1631-1708.	1681 (1681)	Wing H1830; ESTC R2673	42,995	50

Measure of Protestantism than according to what is thus firmly rooted in the hearts of men both by their Education and by the very Principles and Doctrine of the Reformation do seem but to prevaricate only with the reformed Religion and with the sixth Article of the Church of England and do if not in Words yet in Actions seem manifestly to declare that they neither really believe the Scriptures or the Christian Religion or the Reformation to be of God For if the whole of the Christian Religion be contained in the Scripture and in the Scripture alone as the sixth Article of the Church of England doth both plainly and expresly confess it is Then to make the rule of the Word to be our rule wholly as Christians in the Worship of God is so far from an Obstencie and so far from any thing of Humour or Superstition or Conceitedness that the contrary can be no way dispensable and much less maintainable before God and therefore there is neither any part of Popery it self nor any thing of Idolatry though never so gross but it may be as easily imposed upon and as easily entertained by a Protestant as any worship may which he evidently seeth or is sufficiently perswaded of in his Conscience to be against the Mind of God or against the Rule of his Word Seeing it is This Rule that is the only Index of his Mind as to us and it is This Rule alone to which all the Promises of God are intirely made and all the Promises of God being made to This Rule only This Rule and no other must then as we are Christians be The alone Foundation both of all our hope and of all our trust toward God And must consequently be the only ground upon which we can as Christians have any expectation of Salvation and Life And therefore the whole Interest and Concern of our Souls at least as we are Protestants doth and must stand entirely upon the said Word Which things if they cannot possibly any way be denyed Then the disobeying of all such Laws in the matter of Worship as are NOT agreeable to The Word of God or which at least appear not to be so is a thing wholly inevitable and is impossible to be avoided in a Protestant Government even as we are rational persons because there is a threefold reason that necessarily impels it First as it hath its rise from that most forcible and indeleable Character which is writ in the Minds of all men which is That seeing GOD IS HE ought to be worshipped in some manner or another of necessity Secondly as it hath its rise from that Character which hath equal force with the other in the Minds of us as we are bred Protestants viz. That God is no other way to be worshipped nor will accept of any other worship from us as Christians but what is agreeable to his Word Which two Principles seeing by vertue of our Education they make but one indeed in our hearts as we are Protestants they do and must constrain us assoon to abandon all worship it self unto God as to abandon that worship which is properly agreeable to his Word Because so far as we abandon this we do abandon all Worship that is according to our Principles as Protestants either acceptable with God or agreeable to the Mind of God Wherefore if to these two we shall add the third ground of its rise which is as certain also as either of the other viz. That we neither have hope in God nor any Promises made us by God further than as we obey him in his Word or further than as we worship him according to the Rule of it I say these three things being now joyntly considered and seriously weighed by us what man is there or what man can there be who firmly believes that there is any such thing as Salvation and Life who will not run any hazard rather than forbear what he judgeth to be the Worship of God or rather than he will observe such a Worship unto God as he cannot but know or cannot at least but verily believe to be contrary to his Mind and contrary to the Rule of his Word If it be evil then for any man to believe that God is indispensibly to be worshipped after some manner or another or evil for a man to believe that there is no other rule of his Will or Mind to us as we are Christians but his Word and therefore no other Rule wherein his Worship is contained besides his Word Or if it be evil to expect that God will most truly faithfully and fully perform his Promises to us if we shall serve him according to his Word and not otherwise I say if any of these three things are evil then it may be evil to disobey any Law relating to the Worship of God though it be not agreeable to his Word But if none of these things be evil in themselves they can never make any man evil who simply conforms to them I say not simply for his conformity how strictly or intirely so ever it be And therefore if these three Principles are of such a nature as creates a necessity of our compliance with them even as we are rational persons we must either then remove the Principles themselves and the lawfulness of them or we must unavoidably suffer and permit their efficacy as lawful over men For to allow the Principles themselves as good and lawful and as necessary and indispensible in themselves and to disallow nevertheless the Practice of them or to disallow such persons as follow them and imbrace them and to account such persons to be only disturbers or to be men so evil and bad as that they are not fit to be tolerated in a Nation even though no Crime besides this be objected against them Is either grosly to prevaricate with the said Principles and to make but a mock or sport of them or it is to do that which is absolutely repugnant absurd and contradictory in it self which is wholly against the Reason and Nature of a man as a man For though it cannot be maintained that all the Laws of men must or ought necessarily to arise out of the Laws of God viz. either that of his Word or that Law written in the heart of man Yet it is maintained among all Christian Governments whatever That no Law of the Civil Magistrate hath any power to supersede any Law of God whether it be that writ in the heart of man or that writ in his Word and therefore it is universally agreed by all Governments and cannot be denyed by any that profess Christianity That all humane Laws if they be inconsistent either with any of those common Principles that are writ in our Nature which are called the common Principles of Reason or with any thing that is expresly writ in the Word of God They are null and void in themselves Because they are against a prior or preceding Obligation which

upon the Consciences of all Persons as Protestants by or from the Scripture is yet the more considerable because whatever Worship Service or Religion we as Protestants do profess to give unto God we profess it only from the Authority of the Scriptures themselves and from the Authority of them as they are thus owned and professed by the Protestant Church to be our Supreme and consequently our immediate Tye in all that we believe and in all that we act as Protestants towards God which hath not its Termination in or its dependance so much upon men or upon the Ruling Clergy or upon the Church as upon the Scripture or Word of God it self We judging it lawful enough to forsake the Church when we once judge the Church in what it believes or in what it acts or practiseth toward God to have forsaken his Word And our Profession or Religion being thus founded I mean out of Conscience purely to Gods Word Every man then properly as a Protestant if he be Sincere doth as much believe that the Worship whatever it be that he professeth is as truly agreeable to the Mind and Will of God as is the very Scripture it self And consequently that he is as much to contend for the said Worship as he is bound to contend for the Authority of the Scripture it self For these two being taken by him but for one thing viz. the Truth and Authority of the Scripture and the Truth and Authority of what he professeth consequently the same Tye that binds him to the Scripture must of necessity bind him to that Religion whatever it be which he as a Protestant professeth unto God And consequently if there be no Tye so firm or so strong upon the Conscience as that of the Divine and Absolute Authority of the Scripture is There can be no Tye stronger than what Protestants as such and as Sincere must necessarily have for the Religion whatever it be that they do respectively profess unto God The Third Effect And Thirdly This now being made clear and undoubted viz. That the Tye and Obligation that every man hath to the Worship which he professeth unto God properly as a Protestant lyeth in and riseth immediately from the Scriptures And it being likewise cleared that the highest Tye which can possibly be laid upon the Conscience of any man is that proceeding from the Scriptures as they are The ONLY Rule of God's Mind and Will to us It must necessarily follow that if the Authority of men can neither remove the Use of the Scriptures themselves nor remove the Obligation which they have above all things upon the Consciences of men even from their very Education as they are The only Rule of God's Mind then no Authority of man can ever possibly remove the Obedience which men will always conceive themselves obliged to give to the said Word in whatever it be they apprehend it doth clearly command Seeing this Obedience is looked upon to be the same and no other with an Obedience given to God himself And if an Obedience given unto God be in Conscience also infinitely preferrable to any Obedience to man then must an Obligation to the immediate Law and Will of God be always preferrable to and stronger than any Obligation whatever to the Law or Command of men which is a third unavoidable Effect of it The Fourth Effect And Fourthly if the Law of the Church or of the Ruling Clergy cannot in the matter of Worship any way compel or bind men to Obedience farther or otherwise than as they apprehend it to be agreeable to the Law of God or to the Law of his Word Then neither can the Law of the Prince or the Law of the Civil Government bind mens Consciences in the matter of Worship further or otherwise than the Law of the Church viz. no otherwise than as the said Law shall appear to them to be agreeable to Gods Law which is the Law of his Scripture or Word And consequently it can never be avoided by any Protestant Prince but his Authority as relating purely to things Civil with the Efficacy of it must stand upon one Rule And his Authority as relating to things of Divine Worship with the Efficacy of it must necessarily and unavoidably stand upon another Rule And therefore that his Authority over his Subjects in the one and in the other of these must of necessity be distinguished Which is the fourth thing that we say cannot in any Protestant Government possibly be prevented That these four things are the certain Effects of that which is the Main part or the Chiefest Privilege of any that came by the Reformation it self before mentioned may be further and more fully demonstrated thus For if no Law can possibly Eradicate that Notion That there is a God Then no endeavour of man whatever can hinder his being worshipped by such at least as have a sence of his being and do verily believe that HE IS Wherefore if we are trained up from our Childhood and trained up not only as men but as Protestants firmly to believe that God will accept of no other Worship at all from us as Christians but what is agreeable to his Word And if it be a thing continually inculcated to us even from our very Infancy That it is in a Conformity to this Word alone that all Religion whatever doth consist Then it is not Reason only but Experience it self which attests it That a man may as soon quit his Notion that there is a God or be affraid to own it And may assoon quit the Notion that God is to be worshipped or be affraid to own it As he may quit or be affraid to own as he is a Protestant this Notion viz. That God is so only to be worshipped and no otherwise than he hath set down in his Word And if this Notion then about his Word as the only Rule of the Worship of God be as firmly planted in us by our Education as any Notion can be planted in us that belongs to our nature as men It must needs follow that a Government may as well and with as good success hope or propound to it self by a Law to extinguish common Notions as hope or propound to it self by a Law to extinguish among any Protestant Nation the Notion of the necessity of Worshipping God according to his Word And therefore if it be rightly considered it will likewise appear That it must be to him that is truly educated as a Protestant every way as grievous to be commanded by a Law to forsake Christianity it self as to be commanded by a Law to forsake that Worship which he as a Protestant cannot but believe in his heart is alone agreeable to the Mind and Law of God which is that Worship that is given to God directly conformable to his Scripture or Word And of the Truth of this the Martyrs in Queen Maries time are a competent Witness And consequently they that pretend to take another

all men as men have by Nature unto God as unto their Supreme Lord and Creator Wherefore in as much as it is clear that all Laws which command men to forbear that Worship which they as Protestants do in their hearts judge and believe to be agreeable to the Mind Will and Word of God or which commands them to conform to such a Worship as they judge according to their own Understandings and connot but believe it to be disagreeable to the said Mind Will and Word of God are of this nature that is First they are such Laws as have a manifest Inconsistency either with the Law writ in the heart it self which is That God is indispensably to be worshipped in some manner or another Or Secondly they are such Laws as have an Inconsistency with the Law writ in the Word of God which is That he will reward all such as shall obey him according to the Rule which he hath given them in his said Word and will punish such as shall do the contrary Or Thirdly they are such Laws as have an Inconsistency with the Rule of the Reformation it self which is that all Worship which is Christian and foederal is to be given to God according to the Scriptures and that whatever IS NOT read in the Scriptures nor may be proved by the Scripture IS NOT to be required of any man that it should be believed as an Article of Faith Which are the very words of the sixth Article of the Church of England and which Article if wounded the rest of the thirty nine Articles must be wounded equally with it seeing they are judged to be founded mainly upon it I do therefore with all humbleness say that all such Laws in any Protestant Government whatever which restrain such a Worship as is agreeable to the Word of God or is really believed to be such by them that practise it I say all such Laws are entirely against that Prior Law or preceding Obligation which men as men have by Nature indispensably unto God as to their Immediate Creator and Lord above any which they have or can have unto man how lawfully soever he may be the Superior of them And consequently that all Non-obedience or Non-conformity to any of the said Laws though it be in a sence voluntary yet it is neither elective nor indeed truly or properly free And therefore that such Non-obedience is not any the least breach of affection Nor any the least forfeiture of a mans Duty to his Prince or to the Government Because it is a Non-conformity or Disobedience that is absolutely constrained compelled and of an inevitable and indispensible nature in its self by reason of the Prior Law or of the preceding and indispensible Obligation which we have both as Men and as Christians unto God And have above and beyond any Obligation that we have or can have possibly to any person as the Prince or Superior of us And all men that maintain the contrary and that either out of a Luxury of Wit or out of a Super-foetation of Vanity Insolency or Pride do seek to baffle this Argument or to evade the force of it from or under the pretence of the Capriciousness Humoursomness and affectation of Singularity that may be in some Persons may with as good Reason and with as solid a Judgment make a meer Mock or Ridicule of all the Martyrs that have ever been since the World stood and may as well call Daniel and the three Children and all the Primitive Christians and the Apostles who suffered for God and for the Testimony of his Word and of Christ Revel 6.9 Revel 1.9 men that were only capricious humourous and persons that did affect a Singularity as call all men so at this Day whoever they are that do not conform to the Laws Nationally made about Worship and Religion For if their bare Allegation that all men that do not conform are men only of humorous and capricious Tempers and men who meerly affect a Singularity and Disturbance shall be taken for a sufficient Evidence against them By as just a Law the Testimony of any Atheist may as well be taken against all the Martyrs that ever were And the Testimony of any common Person may be taken against them themselves that alledge this that they are Atheists And if this last be not reasonable neither is the first For if anothers bare Allegation is not to be taken against them nor ought to be allowed as an Evidence So neither is their bare saying to be taken against others By all that I have said then it will appear that there is a clear difference between the Authority of a Prince in things Civil and in things relating to Worship and Religion For as a Princes Authority in things Civil is unquestionable and enterferes with no Law of God whatever and can have no pretence therefore to intrench upon the Conscience or upon any prior Obligation or Duty that a man oweth unto God and as it must for all these Reasons be necessarily and indispensably obeyed and submitted unto by all his Subjects So on the contrary a Prince especially as a Protestant can put out no Law about Divine Worship but his Subjects so far as they are Protestants are bound in Conscience and by the very Principles of that Religion which they profess not only to Consider it But to Examine it whether it be agreeable to the Word of God or not and if it appear not to be such at least according to the best of their Understandings As they will have a Plea always not to submit to it by Reason it intrencheth upon a Prior Obligation So this Plea cannot well with Justice be denyed them if no Crime whatever in their Conversation can be proved against them NOR can men in this Case be actually punished and proceeded against without the Sence and Grief of that Wrong or Oppression that is manifestly done to them and suffered by them especially seeing their Non-conformity to the said Laws proceeds not as we said either from their Election or Liberty Nor yet from any breach of Duty or Affection to their Prince But only from what appears to them to be an Inevitable or Indispensable Necessity that ariseth and is occasioned from their meer Profession as they are of the Protestant Religion To this end I shall therefore offer one Argument more which shall be taken from The Character of a Papist The thing which doth Essentially distinguish a Protestant from a Papist more than any Note Mark or Character whatever besides is That a Papist by his Principles as a Papist may not and indeed cannot dispute any Law whatever relating to the Worship or Service of God provided it be declared and established by what he acknowledgeth to be the Church Because he takes the Authority of the Church for the whole Argument or for the only Foundation of all his Obedience unto God rather than the Divine Authority of the Scripture or Word And because