Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	church_n	jesus_n	king_n	2,057	5	3.6809	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15655	The schollers purgatory discouered in the Stationers common-wealth, and discribed in a discourse apologeticall, asvvell for the publike aduantage of the Church, the state & vvhole common-vvealth of England, as for the remedy of priuate iniuryes. By Geo: VVither.	Wither, George, 1588-1667.	1624 (1624)	STC 25919; ESTC S120316	70,447	142

erre me thought in saying OSCVLEMINI FILIVM which was according to the genuin most cōmon vnderstāding of y● original words among the Hebrewes I apprehended that the Holy ●…host exhorted his Church among the Iewes to homage and worshipp that Sonne of God whoe was diuers wais made māifest vnto thē to be their true King And APPREHENDITE DISCIPLINAM being according to that Translation which I am perswaded God himselfe extraordinarily prouided to reueale his truth by vnto the Heathen I conceiued that the Holy Ghost perswaded his Church among the Gentiles who yet knew not Christ their Kinge to imbrace the knowledge of him And ADORATE PVRE beeing the first trans●…ation that in latine the Church publikly receiued and about that tyme the true worship of Iesus Christ begining to be adulterated my mynd gaue me that psalme being a manifest prophecie concerning the kingedome of Christ to the worlds end it might be that God did by that interpretation perswad those peruerters of his Truth to repentance who should disturbe the peace and quiet of his kingdome in these later tymes But I stand not so thereupon as if I could not submitt to better iudgments Sure I am this meditation is no way repugnant to the Catholike verity and howsoeuer it shal be approoued it serues wel enough to my purpose for demonstratinge that the variety or different expressions of sacred things are not needles but do afford aduantage vnto those of meane capacityes if they meditate vpon them with reuerence and humility If it be but to awaken our dullnes and take away our wearisomenesse in holy duties variety is needful For flesh and bloud as we finde by daily experience loaths those things wherwithal they are naturally best plesed if they be to frequēt how much more tedious then will those things be vnto vs which are perpetually iterated in the same words being naturally vnpleasing to a carnall eare Since god in mercie hath prouided and permitted vs meanes to assist our weaknesses let not such as are strong enough to be without them condemne the vse of such helpes in those whoe beeing not so able must haue their affections weaned by degrees from their childish inclynations We see the Flesh and the Deuill hauing for their seruice thousands of vaine Songes and prophane ballads stored vp in the Stationers warhouses haue neuerthelesse many Muses perpetually ymployed for the composing of new Straynes And that many hundred pounds are yearely consumed vpon them to the inriching of those marchants to the shame of our profession to the corruption of youth and to the building vp of the kingdome of sinne and Satan as it is well knowne and obserued by many of good note in this reuerend assembly Yet there haueing been for diuers ages together but so many Hymnes composed and published as make in some impressiōs not aboue two sheets and a halfe of paper for the reuerence and practice of Deuotion vnto the honour of god they are censured impertinent malitiously exclaymed on violentely opposed and the Author of them seeking for the needefull hyre of his labour but his due and what strangers should haue been suffered to make thereof is publikely accused as a man coueteously hunting after the world and an iniurious oppressor of the common-wealth Oh god how partiall are all men bewitched with selfe-loue in the prosecution of their base ends and how vncharitable in their censunes For the Stationers haue not onely labored to depriue me of the benefit due to my labours but also to make me appeare without Christianity in my intentions by affirming that I sought myne owne benyfit onely in composing my booke of Hymns in publishing it according to the kinges commaund My Poem●… last deuulged was sayd to haue been written in myne own prayse the Hymnes for my priuate profit I wonder to what purpose y● next booke I write shal be cōposed Verily if I be not altogether forgetful of myne owne thoughtes o●… too apt to beleeue ouerwell of my selfe as parhaps I am my principall ayme was the glory of God in both those vndertakinges Neuerthelesse truth is I am so inclyned to the corruptions of other men that although I did what I was able yet was I not altogether soe free from outward hopes as I ought to haue been in those works My weake fortunes my troubles and the chargablenesse of a studie that bringes with it no outward supplie put me vnto a kinde of necessity to cast my thoughts a side vnto wo●…ldly respects but I haue siu●…e been sory for it vpon better consideration And as a iust reward for my too earnest lookeing after vaine ho●… I doe now accept of my present trouble that outwardly is like to impouerish me And the tyme thereof drawes me the more heedfully to consider it being iust about that season wherein I expected to reape some contentment in the fruition of my labors and expences God graunt this experience may inrich me another way and settle my hopes vpon more certaine thinges and that those who accuse mee of this imperfection may examine their owne heartes and if they finde them guilty of the like infirmity learne by myne example to confesse their errour And my prayer shal be that we both may more directly seeke gods glory in our vndertakings But why should I be the man more accused the●… all others for seekeing after the iust hyre of my labours am I the only One guilty of studyinge myne owne profit●… in the course of my paynefull endeuours for religious ende I would to god I were and that no man liuing saue I were so wicked as to make his owne glory and inriching the end and scope of his christian diligence For doubtles such an vniuersall pietie would be a powerfull meanes of drawing me to repentance But I beleeue there be so fewe who can with the Apostle cleare himselfe herein that if none might be permitted to throwe at me the stone of reproofe but only they who are free from this weaknes I may walke from Saint Michaels Mount in Cornwal to Douer●… from thence euē through our mitropolitan Churches to the farthest Northeren Isles without touch of exception And whereas they obiect I haue compassed a priveledge to the publike greeuance your Reuerences shal ceiue how innocent I am from giuing cause of such an imputation if you please to consider the circumstances of his Maiesties Grant with his pyous intention and my carriage in the procuring and execution of it For I did not as some of the Stationers haue done in the name of many and by pretending the reliefe of the poore whome they may be prooued therby to oppresse monopolize the principall bookes of Sale within this Realme euen those wherein the whole cōmonwealth haue a inst interest which is really one of those Monopo●…es that our State abhores But hauing composed a new Booke which no man could claime a share in while it remayned myne owne and in mine owne power to make publike or no

pietie but let them not measure the Church by their cubite nor judge the profitablenes of her Discipline by the abuses or misinterpretatiōs of ignorāt Detractors For if those who fancie most perfection in their priuate rule of life had at first wanted those helpes remembrances and publique meanes of instructiō which were tendred them by the Church they had eyther wandred perhaps after vncertaine pathes or neglected to proceed at all in their Spirituall Iourney Our holy Mother the Church hath many Children of diuers tempers and constitutions and as the Maister of a great Feast prouideth so that euery Guest may finde some what to agree with his appetite So Gods Church hath established such discipline for her childrē that euery one may finde that which accordes vvith their capacities and inclinations As therefore it were madnesse for a Guest to rayle at his friēds Bāquet because he saw there many moe varieries thē he listed to seed on or some wholesome meates which his stomack loathed through his owne default And as it were barbarous inhumanity in him that had learned the way through an obscure Desert by heapes of stone raised by his Predecessours to pull downe those marks because he imagins that he hath foūd a passage vvithout them So it is monstrous impiety in them who seeke either to take away or make contemptible those Chaistian helpes whereby others may be assisted by which they themselues were at first initiated because forsooth they finde a distast through their owne distemper or a possibillity of doeing well without them through their owne ouerweening cōceit And it is the greate mercy of God if their presumption carry them not into the gyddy and vncertayne pathes of perdition I wish hartily that those weake members of our Church who are ignorantly offended at her Disciplines because they knowe not the Christian vse of them would with more sincerity take those things into their consideration weigh how farr our Solemnityes are from that superstitiō wherof their blinde guides accuse them how differēt from popish Obseruations how greate an offence it is to scandalize that Authority whereunto they ought to be obediēt in euery thing not repugning the sacred word And if they be not hardned in their malice I would those Stationers also who by falsly accusing my Hymnes of blasphemy and superstition haue drawne many of that censorious generation to help them clamor against what they haue not yet perused would make more consciēce of their actions not worke vpon the credulity of their customers to the generall disparagmēt of that booke vvhich they ought rather to haue aduanced But I feare I vvish an impossibility on the Stationers behalfe For they haue so long so vnciuelly resisted those Himnes vvhich haue been published for helpes to deuotion that it may be doubted they will be now ashamed to speake well of them how profitable soeuer they be approued Nor will yt be much materiall I thinke ere long whether those who haue been my Detractors praise or discommend For I am persvvaded they will make their dispositions so well knowne after a while that no man of vnderstanding wil regard vvhat they speake As yet their true qualitey is not fully discouered therefore yf any should happen to ouer-heare them at their Goose-nest behind Saint Nicholas Shambles Or vvhen a knot of them hath gotten a Cuntrey-Chapman Citty-Customer or nevv flovvne Academick to some Drincking-schoole vvithin the compasse of their verge yt vvould deceaue a common iudgement to obserue vvhat grauitey zeale and learning some of them vvill consume in rayling vpon my Hymnes One as if he had been Register or Liberary-keeper to all the primitiue Churches vndertakes to tell his Auditory that no such thing had been published in the first 300 yeares after Christ As if that had bene to any purpose A second out of his deepe vnderstanding in such language dares pronounce some of my expressions obsceane A third by conuersing with the Titles of Bookes only for their insides he vvas neuer acquainted vvithall is become so learned that he ●…yndes himselfe impudent enough to accuse me of blasphemy A fourth iustly suspecting that his owne opinion will add no credit to his foolish invectiues belyes some Reuerend customer of his or brings the Authority of some of those Worshipfull censurers vvho vpon the Stationers bare credite vse to condemne Bookes before they reade them Yea so shamefully will some of them aver obiect whatsoeuer they can imagine vvill disparage my Labour and vvith such counterfeite shewes of pittying me and making a Religions conscience of their words that such as know neyther of vs vvould thinke them the very quintessēce of Sincerity and me some irreligious Scribler vvho cared not vvhat I published for mine ovvne aduantage But that whereby they hope to work me farthest out of good opinion is my Hymne for Saint Georges day Yea the bare obiecting of that hath made many who passe for wiser men then they prooue to condemne the same before tryall And as if that Hymne could haue beene to no purpose but to mainetaine a Popish and superstitious obseruation they rashly make yt an occasion of miscōstering all the rest and so malitiously vilify my honoring the solēnity of that day with a Hymne as yf they had been of that Dragons confederacie for whose ouerthrow yt praiseth God I knovv no cause there is giuen of such dislike For I haue ascribed no Diuine honor to any creature in that Hymne nor appropriated it to that Martyr ignorātly reputed the tutelary saint of this Kingdome and by some heretofore superstitiously inuoked in warlike incounters Nor haue I sorted the Festiuall of Saint George among the solemnities appointed by the Church but mentioned the same as an Obseruatiō set apart by the State onely as are the first dayes of Kings raignes And though my Hymne prepared for that Solemnitey is numbred among the Hymnes of the congregation because it is composed as personating many Neuerthelesse euen that all the rest were by me intēded for paterns to assist or direct priuate deuotiōs rather then to be imposed for sett formes which I thought worthy to be vsed in our publike Assemblies Were the obseruation of Saint Georges feast as popish an limpertinēt as some of my traducers ignorantly and irreuerently conceiue yet since I neither inuented it nor haue power to abolish the same why should I be blamed for shewing vvith what meditations it may be the more appleyd to Gods glory and redound to the greater honor and edification of those vvho are attendants on that solemnity Seeing that place of Saint Paul which counselleth that vve should direct all our Actions to the glory of God may be my warrant for so do●… ing without wresting the meaning of the Text. For that Hymne together with a Preface shewing the true vse thereof whome we vnderstood by Saint George I inserted among the rest for those purposes First to giue men occasion of spirituall

meditations in their ciuill Tryumphs to remēber thē to honor God in those Solemnities wherein he hath honored thē with place Title aboue others Secōdly that the order of Saint George being one of the most honorable orders of christiā knighthood throughout the world Instituted to the prayse of God as I take it our highest Title of honour might haue more high esteeme then among some it findeth And lastly that such whoe are apte to misdeeme of those thinges whose Reasons and true purposes they know not might be more sparing in their censures and not conceiue as many ignorantly doe that our State acknowledgeth any other Patron then that champyon of the holy catholike church by whome the great Dragon and his Angels were ouercome Euen those were my christian intentions in publishing that Hymne amōg the rest which I offer to be censured by your RRces whether there be iust occasion of scandall giuen thereby to others or of any such reprooses as my Traducers haue bestowed on me If it be so let that Hymne bedivorced from the rest in all future impressions But yf it be otherwise and that in your opinions it tēdeth rather to Gods glory and the honour of the State I doubt not but God and that Noble order of whose Solemnities I haue declared the right vse will deliuer me from that many-headed monster which hath Dragon like persecuted the honorer and interpreter of their mistery But Saint George being receaued for a Martyr and the order called after that Name being at first founded vpon a very meane occasion some are of opinion that there was neyther any such Allegory vnderstood or to be vnderstood in the story of Saint George as I haue affirmed nor any thing directly intended to the glory of God in the so lemnization of that day And vpon this false ground they improperley conclude that I haue neyther warrant for shaddowing the true Cham pion of the Church vnder that Name nor ground for applying that solemnity to so Christian a pur pose That there was George a Martyr wee may be leeue but that euer he slewe a Dragon delivered a Lady as the vulger story of saint George relates the same there is noe probable testimonie Therefore yt hath bene generally vnderstood as an Allegoricall expression of the churches deliuerāce from the powre of Sathan And that the Title of saint George may bee allegorically imposed vpon our spirituall Patron without iust exception I haue declared in my preface before the Hymne of saint George his Day by an argument drawne from the greater For the Father being by the Aevangelist called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that person doubtles vvho is inferior touching the māhood may in some respects be called by the same Name without irreuerence Or if this be not sufficient it may be inferred also by an argument from the lesse For if Iesus Christ be termed a Lambe a Lyō or by the Nams of creatures inferior to those as a Doue a Way a Vine c sure vve may then vvithout exception entitle him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and giue him such attributes or appellations as are proper to creatures of a higher nature if they may with any warrant of the holy Text serue to expresse him the better to our apprehensions Soe ignorantly deuoute were those tymes in which the Order of Saint George vvas first instituted that it may be some mistook our Patrō Yet none can peremptorily affirm that it was any created Saint whom our Fore fathers first chose to bee the Gardian of this Kingdome honored by the Name of Saint George much lesse can they affirme that it vvas George the Martyr For if they had aymed at a creature for their Patron it is likely they would haue chosen one of the blessed Patriarcks or Apostles as Scotland Spaine other Nations did or one of their owne contry Saints as in Ireland and France and not haue committed themselues to a stranger-saint who perhaps neuer heard of this Realme and of whose being or holynesse they haue no certainty Otherwise they were either much distrest for a Sainte or very indifferent to whose patronage they committed themselues Our predicessors desiring a tutelary Saint for this kingdome according to the superstition of their neighboring Cuntrys as the Children of Israel longed for a King after the manner of other Nations It may be that it pleased God prouiding better then they themselves desired to mooue them to make choyce of a Name long since attributed to God himselfe which being considered according to that allegoricall story aunciently ascribed therevnto vsually interpreted to meane the Champion of the Churcb could not certainely be applyed to the person of any inferior Saint And so they honored in their solemnity the true Deitie though it were perhapps till the light of the gospell begann to shine clearer as ignorantly as the Athenians did when they sacrifized therevnto vpon that Alter which they inscribed TO THE VNKNOWNE GOD. For the vulger history of Saint George is in the litterall sence so improbable so hyperboicall so voyd of testimony And in the Allegoricall sence so proper so auntiently receaued So aluding to the Victory of Saint Michael that name of George aunciently made the patron of soe many Christian Cuntryes Honorable Orders of kingthood that I am perswaded it siginfied no lesse person then he that is said to make warr with the Dragon in the Revelation of Saint Iohn But whomsoeuer former Ages vnderstood by St. George the Soueraignes of that Order who were since the Reformation of Religeon who by the lawes of that fellovvship are to resolue all doubtfull questions concerning their Order haue long since as I am informed declared that by Saint George they vnderstand no other Patron then he to whose praise I haue directed my Hymne Yet some will not allow the Solēnities of that day to be esteemed so reverend nor the Order of St. George to be so Christian an Institution as I account it by reason of that occasion wherevpō it is said to haue bene first inuēted As if the almighty prouidēce did neuer turne mens vaine purposes to become beyond their ovvne meaning the occasion of that which is of great cōsequence Yes verely When Pharohs daughter vvent to fetch but an idle vvalke shee brought home Moses the Deliuerer of his Brethren vvhen Saul went to seeke Asses he found a Kingdome whē Agrippa heard St. Paul out of curiosity only he vvas made almost a Christian. So the first founder of that Honorable Order did intend a vvhile it may be to erect some Title of honor sutable to his first apprehension But considering better thereupon aduising vvith his graue Counsell hovv to establish that vvhich might redound most to his honor he raised his purposes farr aboue the first designe instituted a new Brotherhood of Christiā Knights which he his Nobles entred into recōmēded to posterity to be professed cōtinued to the