Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	court_n	england_n	king_n	6,974	5	3.9777	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61463	A thanksgiving sermon preach'd before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Court of Aldermen, sheriffs, and companies of the city of London at St. Mary-le-bow, April 16, 1696, upon occassion of His Majesty's deliverence from a villanous assassination in order to a French invasion by William Stephens ...	Stephens, William, d. 1718.	1696 (1696)	Wing S5465; ESTC R14197	18,938	34

was held as a Maxim of State during the happy Reign of Queen Elizabeth of ever blessed Memory viz. That England should always make it self the Head and Protection of the whole Protestant Interest Our Christian Church or Nation call it which you please saw it self particularly oblig'd to this undertaking by the especial Providence of God which furnished us with that Strength Wealth happy Situation and Fertile Soyl which rendred us the Envy and Terrour of Antichrist And hence was it that our Church looked upon her self in relation to other Protestant Churches as the Elder Sister in the Family who being grown up to greater Strength and Abilities than the rest dischargeth the part of a Mother in giving her Assistance to the Younger and more tender Branches of that Houshould By pursuing this Pious State Maxim Englands Glorious Queen made her self the Nursing Mother of the whole Gospel-Reformation hereby she gave check to the power of Babylon and by making all true Protestants i.e. all true Christians her Friends she enabled England to make good her Oldest Maxim of State which was To keep the ballance of Europe equal and steady From whence it is evident if the Line which Succeeded that great Queen had Religiously pursued the Holy Politick of her Reign Europe had never heard of the overgrown greatness of France much less submitted to those Barbarous Insolencies which some places now groan under Nor had England at this day been startled by Popish Cut-throats who were to prepare the way for a French Invasion So that our Allies of the Roman Communion must allow this Protestant Maxim to be truly Catholick because their safety from the Power of France was wrapped up in it together with our own And hence it may be discern'd who amongst us are truest Protestants and best English-men Those who endeavour to heal up all Differences amongst Christian Churches who are willing to join with them in bonds of Affection as Fellow-members of the same Houshold of Faith or those who by vilifying all Foreign Reformations and all other Communions but their own divide the Body of Christ and the Affections of Christian Churches from one another From what hath been said also 't is evident that the Body of Anti-Christ can be no part of that One Body mentioned in my Text and no more within the perview of our Christian Law of Charity than Turks and Infidels I have read in the Turkish Alcoran some honourable mention of Jesus the Son of Mary but tho' the Mahometans join with us in paying some fort of Respect to our Saviour yet since they pay a greater Deference to their own Prophet and an intire submission to his Laws and since their Laws have inspir'd them with the Genius and Spirit of their Prophet which never faileth to exert itself in the highest degrees of Rage and Malice against all who profess an intire subjection to the Lord Jesus I do not remember that the Mosque hath ever been owned as a branch of the Christian Temple And altho' the State-politick Confederacy of Rome erect Temples and Altars to Christ tho more to his Mother yet in as much as they pay a more profound Respect to their own High Priest and the Laws which he hath confirmed and since the Genius and Spirit of those Laws is so directly opposed to the good Spirit of the Gospel that there is no Rebellion or Insurrection so bloody no Murder or Massacre so cruel no Conspiracy or Assassination so base and barbarous but what the Spirit of Popery not only alloweth but injoyneth in Opposition to those who own no High-Priest but the Lord Jesus it cannot easily be comprehended how the Mass-house should be any part of the Christian Church altho' the Papists assume to themselves in exclusion of all others the Sacred Name of Christians And in this they are follow'd by their Adherents among us tho' of another Denomination who chuse to serve Baal for the sake of Jehovah and to preserve our holy Christian Church in its original Purity joyn themselves to Antichrist This is indeed a Combination without precedent the Fundamental of their Faith is Contradiction and their Principles would best have been explained by the Philosopher who read Lectures concerning the blackness of Snow I have heard of a crazed Friar the fore-runner of these men who made his Prayer to God to reconcile himself to the Devil in order to establish Peace in the world just as this sort of Men assist French Dragoons into the Kingdom Popish Cut-throats into the Court and the late Subverter of our Religion and Laws into the Throne and all this in order to support the Church of England which Church does therefore cast them out as Apostates from her Communion But if there shall be found within the pale of our holy Church any Abettors of these Adherents who shall still be disputing our gracious King William's Right to the Brittish Throne who by divine Assistance first recovered and does still support all the Rights of these Kingdoms tho' this sort of men take great pains to sequester themselves from our Christian Charity yet I trust that God in his great mercy will continue to blast all the designs of Antichrist confound the Stratagems of Rome discover the Treacheries of France and prosper the Arms of our Rightfull and Lawfull Sovereign King William that his happy Success and our secure Settlement may be even to these men as a divine Illumination IV. The fourth general Head was the great motive to Christian Charity which in the Text is taken from our obligation to thankfulness be ye thankfull We cannot reflect upon any one reason which engageth us to be thankfull to God but what obligeth us to Charity towards one another Our Creation Preservation Redemption Means of Grace Hopes of Glory and all the Blessings of this Life for which we give daily Thanks are either common Bonds of Union or Talents to be employ'd for common good But how particular a motive to mutual Charity the wonderfull Deliverance which God hath so lately wrought doth assord us will appear if we consider the Particulars thereof so far forth as they have already been discovered as first The Deliverance of a Life as dear to us as the breath of our Nostrils from a barbarous Assassination and secondly Of our Nation from an unnatural Insurrection in order to assist a French Invasion All the parts of this Conspiracy were linked together in one Chain the Assassination was to facilitate the Insurrection the Insurrection to make way for the Invasion and all this in order to a French Conquest If any private person hath received injury from another there is in all civiliz'd Countries a Law and Court of Judicature from whence the Appellant may receive a Recompence so that there is no room left for any private Revenge much less for that which is in the highest degree barbarous as is an Assassination upon the meanest person If a difference ariseth between Sovereign Princes their

strict Fendings and Provings 1 Cor. 13. but rather suffereth long and is kind and thinketh no evil but admits of as good colours as the Advocate can put upon the Actions of his Client v. 4 5. for Charity believeth all things and hopeth all things i. e. believeth and hopeth the best of all things and whensoever the Offender pleadeth Guilty the Process is stopped and then both parties are satisfied the one that he hath found favour the other that he hath granted it One is delivered from fear the other from trouble both rejoyce that their Controversie is happily brought to an end And to crown all it sometimes falls out that each hath made a Friend of the other 2. The Second general Head to be considered was the Rules of this Court by which she governeth her Judgment Now the Rules and Measures constantly us'd in Courts of Judicature are those Methods and Ways which long Experience hath found out to be useful and expeditious for determining of Causes By these our Courts give Law to their own Power in order to the publick Good And the Rules by which Charity decideth Controversies are these 1. Charity judgeth not the Person of any Man from those ill Consequences which are charged upon his Opinion especially if he disown those Consequences Since nothing but what cometh from within can defile the Man A good Man will reason thus with himself 'T is possible I may be mistaken in the Inferences I draw from such an Opinion Or if I have concluded right another who receiveth the Opinion it may be doth not discern the ill Consequences of it but if he declare his Disbelief of 'em though they may be ever so truly charged upon the Opinion they cannot upon the Man This Rule of Charity would calm the Disputers of this World and soften the Stile of Controversie 'T would suffer no Gall to drop from the Pen of the Writer in bitter Reflections upon the Person of his Adversary This Rule would have softned the Controversie and prevented the Quarrel which not long since arose betwixt the Calvinists and Arminians the one call'd the other Free-willers and from thence laid to their Charge that they lessened the Esteem due to the Grace of God as if it were not absolutely necessary to our Salvation when on the other hand it was objected to them who held the Article of absolute Predetermination that they blasphemed God by making him the Author of Sin Now tho' the one Party owned God's Grace absolutely needful to their Salvation and most of the other Party disowned God's being the Author of Sin and all disowned that he was culpably so yet an immortal Hatred arose between both Parties and when each had the Opportunity of Power the other felt the Effects of it 2. This Court esteemeth Errors in Men's Judgment not to be a Subject Matter of Punishment but Instruction Errantis poena est doceri Seneca Such Opinions which are meerly speculative tending to no immoral Practice whether they be true or false are innocent and can therefore give no reason of Disturbance and consequently no just Occasion of punishing their Abettors They fall not under the Cognizance of the Ruler Rom. 13.3 4. who is only a Terrour to evil Works a Revenger to execute Wrath upon him that doth evil Had this Rule been observed Smithfield Fires had never been kindled and the World had been guiltless of all the barbarous Murders of those who held this innocent Opinion could it possibly have been an Error viz. That what was Bread before the Consecration of the Priest was Bread after it But if a Man will propagate such erroneous Opinions which directly mislead Men into wicked Practices the publick Weal requireth that an effectual Restraint be put thereunto as in the Case of a Native of England who hath received Orders from the See of Rome and is therefore by Law condemned to Death the reason is because no Priest is admitted to Cure of Souls under that See but is obliged to take an Oath contained in the Bull of Pius the 4th Super formam juramenti professionis which is usually annext to the printed Canons of the Council of Trent which Oath contains in it evident Matter of Treason as will appear by these Clauses Romano Pontifici veram Obedientiam spondeo juro i. e. I vow and swear true Obedience to the Pope Again Caetera omnia à sacris Canonibus oecumenicis Conciliis definita recipio i. e. all the Decrees and Determinations of general Councils and holy Canons I receive and at last hanc fidem integram indubitanter recipio ab illis quorum Cura ad me spectabit teneri doceri praedicari quantum in me erit curaturum juro i. e. as I heartily receive these Doctrins so I swear that I will take care to the utmost of my Power that they shall be propagated wheresoever I shall be concerned Now since those Canons which the Papists call holy and Councils which they call general give the Popes a Power to depose Sovereign Princes And since the Experience of our own Nation hath informed us that former Popes have endeavour'd to render the Imperial Crown of this Realm feudatory to Rome and that K. Henry VIII and Q. Elizabeth were actually excommunicated and deposed by papal Power certainly such Natives of England who swear to propagate Doctrins of this Tendency among their Countrymen and also vow and swear personal Obedience to the Pope in Matters of this nature can be consider'd by our Laws no otherwise than as Traytors to their Country I know the Papists complain that their Priests suffer here for Religion and the Catholick Faith but if what they are pleased to call by those Names be in Truth Treason of the highest Nature The burning of Men alive upon the score of Religion is by the Papists called an Act of Faith I do not see how specious Names can excuse the Guilt of such execrable Villany any more than the fine Phrase An Act of Faith can excuse the most barbarous Sort of solemn Murder which is the burning of Men alive against whom they pretend not to lay the Charge of any Immorality But on the contrary if the Opinions which some Man or Society of Men profess have in their Nature no Tendency to produce immoral Practices betwixt Man and Man nor to unsettle the Form of Government which is established in a Nation this Court of Chancery hath no Rule whereby to punish such Opinions notwithstanding the Complaints of some angry Men of all Communions who shall charge him that professeth any Opinion they dislike with a Breach upon the Peace of the Church 3. This Court forbid deth no Man or Community of Men that Liberty in the Exercise of their Christian Profession which Christ hath not forbidden Nor will it compel any one by Fine Imprisonment bodily Pain or any other Force whatsoever to own any Article of Belief or joyn with any Form