Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	act_n	king_n	parliament_n	3,024	5	6.5132	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61448	The spirit of the church-faction detected, in its nature and operations more particularly in the mystery of the convocation-book lately published and exposed to the view and censure of the world by the late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, and the progress of the faction, and the mischiefs thereof, the late civil war, and our present disappointments.	Stephens, Edward, d. 1706.	1691 (1691)	Wing S5443; ESTC R24618	38,051	52

decree that the Order of Kings is of Divine Right the Ordinance of God founded in the prime Laws of Nature and clearly established by express Texts of Scripture That a Supream Power is given to this Order by God himself to command all and punish with the Temporal Sword all stubborn and wicked doers That the care of God's Church is committed to Kings in Scripture and her Government belongs in chief to Kings That the Power to call and dissolve Councils is the true Right of all Christian Kings That to avow in any of their Realms any Independant Coactive Power either Papal or Popular is to undermine their Regal Office That for Subjects to bear Arms against their King upon any pretence whatsoever is at least to resist the Powers which are ordained of God That Tribute Custom c. and all manner of support and supply is due to Kings from their Subjects by the Law of God Nature and Nations c. And they ordain this to be read by every Parson c. every quarter of the Year under pain of suspension and that no Ecclesiastical or Academical Person shall maintain or abett any Position in opposition or Impeachment of any part thereof under pain of Excommunication Now if this be true which they have decreed then have all Kings the same Power jure divino which cannot be restrain'd by any humane Constitution then are all those Constitutions of Government whereby a limited Power only is given to the King though settled by solemn Agreement and mutual Oaths for Observation and Performance thereof all void as to any Limitations as derogatory to the Law of God and the King may and must use his Power which he hath jure divino and then are all those who insist upon any Right by any such Laws which is inconsistent with that Plenitude of Royal Power jure divino factious and seditious and to be punished with the Temporal Sword as stubborn and wicked doers But if all Forms of Government when throughly settled have Gods Authority and the Powers that be in each be ordained of God if Publick Pacts and Agreements by which Governments are usually constituted and ratified are to be observed inviolably jure naturali and if Solemn Oaths by which Pacts and Agreements are usually confirmed and made as Sacred and Inviolable as may be are to be observed most religiously and jure divino then is their Doctrine false factious and seditious and tending to the Subversion or Disturbance of most Kingdoms in this Part of the World and of our own in particular and was therefore justly condemned by the next Parliament then is the Church of England in Convocation and her Doctrine no less fallible than the Church of Rome and then was that Faction the great Occasion of our late Civil Wars by misleading the Consciences of the King and of a great part of the People of great Abuses by Declarations and Clauses inconsistent with the Constitution of our Government obtruded into divers Acts of Parliament and of many illegal Arbitrary Acts in the Reigns since is still the occasion of our Civil Dissentions and Unsettlement and of much of our Disappointments under the present Government at this day and will continue so to be till either some good Counsel and Resolution put an end to it or it produce another Civil War For while Princes and some part of the People shall be perswaded upon pretended Principles of Religion that the Regal Power is Jure Divino above all Humane Laws and the rest know that it anciently hath been and to this day is very different all over the World in all Kingdoms according to their several Constitutions in some more absolute as the Eastern and the Roman Emperors in others very little as divers of the Northern and particularly the German from whom the English descended who acted in Council Authoritate suadendi magis quam Jubendi Potestate and that by the English Constitution it is limited and confined to the observance of Law in all parts of it this must be a perpetual Cause or Occasion of Dissensions which are apt to break out at last into Wars But if the Occasions of that Error being observed it be well considered that the Power of the Jewish Kings the Roman Emperors or any other is no Rule for the measure of our Government where the greatest Power of all is manifestly not in the King but remaining in the whole Body of King Lords and Commons That Expressions in some Acts of Parliament Articles of Religion or Canons used and intended meerly in Opposition to Papal Pretences ought not captiously to be extended to what was not intended or in question contrary to manifest Truth That Expressions in the Homilies out of Zeal against Conspiracies and Rebellions of Papists are of no Authority in Questions or Controversies of State nor Deerees of Universities when to serve a Faction or please those from whom they expect Preferment and That Ambition Self-interest and Flattery the usual Attendants of Princes Courts are always the promoters of such Pretences the Faction will soon be deserted by all honest men and then may we hope for a Happy Settlement which is the Design of this Paper and the sincere Desire of it's Author FINIS

two Masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other Ye cannot serve God and Mammen So it is plain that the reason why they have so little concern for the Honour and Service of God is because they are so full of the Spirit of the World There is their Treasure and there are their Hearts also This is apparent in many and frequent Instances of divers Natures deserting of former and many times great Charges for a little advantage of Profit Deserting of such Charges as an industrious Man might well enough discharge and for Advantage in the Profits not only accepting but contending for such Places as are greater than they can possibly discharge And for Pluralities and Non-residence I refer the Reader to Mr. Jones's Sermon and to the Groans of the Church in a Book entituled Ichabod Printed for John Harris at the Harrow in the Poultrey And Thirdly It is as plain that there is more in it than meerly the sordid Spirit of the World the Spirit of Covetousness though that be said to be Idolatry as is every excursion of the Affections to any thing more than to God and the amity of the World to be enmity to God there is also a proud haughty arrogant domineering Spirit of Opposition of whatever stands in its way of Reformation of any thing tho' never so necessary of the very spirit and life of Religion and of Christ himself in his Saints In plain terms the Spirit of Antichrist the very same with that of Rome only a little restrained by the Reformation from some particular Projects of Opposition which yet it supplies by others as effectual But in divers Instances it appears to be the very same As 1. In violent Opposition of any Reformation though never so reasonable or necessary and upon the very same Principles viz. least it should weaken their Authority or abridge some Temporal Advantage And hence it is that not any of those things which the first Reformers settled as well as they could for the present but noted to be defective and desired might be more compleatly reformed in due time hath to this day bin promoted toward a more compleat Reformation but whoever appear'd much concerned for it were opposed reproached and persecuted As this appeared early even in Queen Elizabeth's time when those who desired a Reformation in respect of Discipline were at first reproached with the Name of Disciplinarians and afterwards persecuted unto Death not without some straining of the Law against them but not any thing done in so necessary a Case The very same Spirit it is which in the case of Pluralities and Non-Residence that storms and bandies against David Jones for but touching upon it in transitu And the same Wicked Spirit it is which keeps our Divisions not only by Obstinacy against all Christian Condescention in things indifferent least they should remit any thing of their Authority but by obtruding new occasions of Offence and Difference to keep out as many as they can from Conformity that so they may ingross all Preferments the more intirely to themselves 2. In more strictly requiring Obedience and Conformity to their own Laws than to the Laws and Commands of God nay at the same time permitting the greatest Violations and Contempt of the Gospel by their own Members without the least resentment and conniving at notorious Immoralities I might say indulging them in such as are but zealous for the Church as they call the Faction for such are frequently excused treated and commended by them as honest Loyal Church-men though they seldom appear at the Church or perform any serious act of Religion And what is this but setting up themselves above the Worship of God 3. In flattering and cajoling of Princes or in the Scripture phrase in Fornication with the Kings of the Earth There is only this Difference between the Great Whore and this Faction that the former like a great Person a stately Dame was folicited and courted by the Kings of the Earth and imperiously commanded them though she prostituted her self to their embraces But this like a little Whore or Common Prostitute solicited them and mercenarily prostituted her self to their Pleasure for Silk Stockings Ribbons and such Finery for Preferments But in three most material things they agree exactly 1. In asserting the Pretences of their Gallants 2. In raising themselves in Temporal Advantages by them 3. In incensing them to espouse their Quarrels and by Temporal Laws and Civil and Military Power to subdue or suppress their Adversaries But this must be explained and the Mystery be made manifest The Sacred Office of Ministers of Jesus Christ I think truly the most Honourable Employment that a mortal Man is capable of and therefore should think nothing too much for them which might render the Persons employed in such an Office the more honourable in the sight of all Men. But when I consider what only is truly Honourable in the sight of God of the Blessed Angels and of all wise men and what is so only in the Opinion of the Ignorant People of the World that these latter without the former are apt rather to move Indignation and Contempt than any truly honourable Esteem in the Minds of Men and that Common Experience sheweth that such is the corruption of Humane Nature that they not only usually prove Lures to corrupt minds to attract such as to the Prey but for the most part corrupt or debase even the better sort of those who do but accept them it puts me in mind of that notable Observation of Ammianus Marcellinus concerning the Bishops of the City of Rome and the Countrey Bishops That the former indeed lived in great Splendor rode in their Coaches were curiously cloathed and fared sumptuously but might be truly happy if despising the Grandure of the City they lived like the latter whom their modest Attire their spare Dyet and their humble Behaviour recommended both to the Eternal Deity and to the sincere Worshippers of him It makes me think also of the words of that Great and Good Man Sir Matthew Hale who when I told him the News of the Preferment of one of the Clergy whom I knew he had a respect for replyed very seriously and gravely I did never rejoyce in the Preferment of any of my Friends of the Clergy for though it be a good sign of good times when Good Men are preferred yet I do not think it good for them For I never knew any man made better by Preferments but many worse And it makes me conclude with much Assuranee of Truth that those things wherewith Constantine heretofore and our Ancestors in this Nation afterward expressed much Affection and Respect to the Church and piously designed to adorn and exalt it in Esteem Honour and Power have proved in truth no better than the unadvised Indulgences of fond Parents usually prove to their Children please their childish

related to God as our selves and to keep our selves pure and unspotted of the World And accordingly his Apostles and Disciples those who had not the things of the World sought them not but were contented with Food and Rayment and that they often sought by their own labours and those who had more distributed what they had to such as wanted On the contrary Antichrist is described in the Scripture 1. With great Pomp State Grandure Power and Dominion 2. With much Subtilty and strong Delusions 3. With great Violence and Cruelty being drunk with the Blood of the Saints And if we well consider the Methods which have been used for the suppression of the Christian Religion through the Instigation of that Wicked Spirit which rules in the Hearts of all wicked Men and too often prevails in such as are not of his party if not well purified from carnal and terrene Affections and very vigilant and circumspect we shall find that the first was indeed by open Violence by the Jews and the Heathens But as soon as that appeared not to be sufficient for his purpose he made use of his Subtilty and transforming himself into an Angel of Light set to work by his Instruments to corrupt the simblicity of the Christian Doctrine with subtile Notions and under pretence of Zeal for the true Faith to raise Dissentions and divide the Christians into different parties and set them one against another And by this Means he prevailed mightily among the Greeks who were addicted to Speculation and Oratory But when his first Method of Force wholly failed him and the Roman Emperours became Christians neither had his second Method that effect among the Romans as it had with the Greeks they being more addicted to Pomp and Grandure and Dominion than to Notions and Speculations he presently attach'd them with those things which were more agreeable to their Disposition and instigated them to express their Zeal for the Church by conferring as much of this kind upon it as might be and their Bishops as greedily to catch at it This is that which St. Augustine and the Bishops of that famous Council in Africa noted and gravely and sharply reproved in the then Bishops of Rome that they introduced Typhum Seculi in Ecclesiam the Pomp and Grandure of the World into the Church And when they were once tainted and levened with this Poyson of the Spirit of the World they were easily instigated to the use of Force and Violence against any who never so justly opposed their Ambition as that Council did till at last they proceeded to Blood and all kind of Cruelty in after Ages And now for the Tendence and Subservience of these things of the World so much neglected by Christ and his true Disciples and so greedily sought after by others to which of the Ends before mentioned it is most and the Effects and Consequences of them upon Men 1. It is plain that they do for the most part strangely insinuate themselves into the Affections of those that acquire them insomuch that what is commonly said of one of them Crescit amor nummi quantum ipsa pecunia crescit may truly be said of all much would have more and the more men have the more they still crave and so easily observable every where that I need say no more 2. These Affections to the things of the World are apt continually to occupy and take up the Mind and to avert it or detain it from God its proper Object partly by Complacency in them and partly by Distractions about them 3. And this doth easily proceed to a kind of Trust and Confidence in them and Reliance upon them with Acquiescence and Repose whereby they become such a false bottom to it as I mentioned before an Idol instead of the Living God 4. And this must needs partly chill if not extinguish all true Devotion and Affection to God and cause a Narrowness of Soul as to any generous Acts for his Service or the common Good of Men and partly infatuate it with False Security and Presumption of the Favour of God grounded upon such External Blessings and a formal outside Religion according to its own Disposition 5. And then lastly All is soon compleated with that height of Pride Arrogance and Indignation and Severity against all who oppose or refuse to stoop and pay Reverence to so Worshipful a Being All which is directly contrary to the intire Subjection of the Creature to the Creator which is the very End of our living here upon Earth and of the Conduct of the Divine Spirit and insensibly leads into the State and subjects it to the Power of the Devils And for the Effect and Consequence thereof upon others the Ostentation of those who have some share of these things is apt to provoke the Emulation of those who have less and that instigates them first to Care and Pains to get as much as their Neighbours though otherwise they may perhaps have enough for themselves and their Families if they would but conform to it and so robs them of much precious Time and distracts their Minds from their proper Object by unnecessary Care for Superfluities and so also gives advantage to the Spirit of the World to insinuate the deeper into them And Secondly if honest Pains and honest Gains will not satisfie the Emulation it instigates further to indirect Means as Frauds Cheats Exactions Oppressions secret Stealth and open Robbery wherewith particular Persons are wronged and molested and many undone many Arts Projects and Practices of Covetous and Ambitious Officers Courtiers Statesmen and Princes whereby States and Governments and whole Nations are disturbed and often involved in great Troubles and most of that various Wickedness which we daily see punished with the untimely Death of so many Malefactors But besides those grosser Evils which are apparent to every ordinary Observation there is another more subtile Evil Consequence which falls heavy upon a great part of Mankind and so makes the Curse much worse than ever God made it It keeps down many Young and many honest industrious People that with all their Care Labour and Industry they are hardly able to get an honest Livelihood and Subsistence for their Families and makes Necessity a great Temptation to many These are great Evils under the Sun such as do greatly strengthen and increase the Kingdom of Darkness and such as the Christians of the Reformed Churches as we call them have much to answer for before God But it would require a longer Discourse than is fit for this place fully to explain them I shall therefore only add that the Great Instruments of this Mystery of Wickedness are the Great Men of the World the Stately Dames and all that either prosecute the things of the World with Greediness and without measure retain them without use or use them with Ostentation in Attire in immodest Fashions such as our Womens Fioccoes fitter for Fore-horses heads than for the Foreheads of