Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	church_n	discipline_n	government_n	3,314	5	6.9877	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85861	A remonstrance presented to O.P. Feb. 4. 1655. By J.G. D.D. A son, servant, and supplicant for the Church of England: in behalf of many thousands his distressed brethren (ministers of the Gospel, and other good schollars) who were deprived of all publique imployment, (as ministers, or schollars) by his declaration, Jan. 1. 1655.	Gauden, John, 1605-1662.	1660 (1660)	Wing G365; Thomason E765_7; ESTC R207143	30,772	35

A PETITIONARY REMONSTRANCE PRESENTED TO O. P. FEB 4. 1655. By J.G. D.D. A Son Servant and Supplicant for the CHVRCH of ENGLAND In behalf of many thousands his distressed Brethren Ministers of the Gospel and other good Schollars who were deprived of all publique imployment as Ministers or Schollars by His DECLARATION JAN 1. 1655. Psal 122.1 For my Brethren and Companions sakes 1 Cor. 13.2 Though I could remove Mountains and have no charity I am nothing Mark 9.41 Whosoever shall give you a cup of cold water to drink in my Name because ye belong to Christ verily I say unto you he shall not lose his reward London Printed by Thomas Milbourn for Andrew Crook at the Green-Dragon in Pauls-Church-yard 1659. THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER FInding by better judgements than my own that this following Petitionary Remonstrance to his late Highnesse O. P. then in power was not only a modest and charitable Address seasonable at that time and safe at all times but also prudentially pious and politick so as it may be of good use in these times I have presumed to make it publique Not but I know that it was at first written with an intent to conceale it from all eyes but those to which it was at first presented which are now buried as all humane glory will be in dust and darknesse yet perceiving that as a Jewel it still reteined its native lusture and might well fit the dark and dubious condition wherein most Ministers in England are thought to stand or rather to fall as to their liberty and livelihood beside their reputation and respect All which seem to be at a very low ebb but on a dangerous precipice and downfal If some men may have their will I supposed this peice might in no lesse be acceptable than seasonable to all ingenious Christians and worthy Readers who still preserve any love and respect to the flock of God and the glory of our Israel I mean the Reformed Religion of the Church of England and the faithul Ministery of it to whom I professe my self a most affectionate friend and servant § Whose common dangers and disadvantages ought with reason to invite them prudently and speedily to compose their private differences least while they scramble as boyes for the nuts of petty opinions and some formal shadows of Religion they and we lose the main substance and grand essentials of it not only as to holy discipline order and government which must first begin among Ministers themselves but also as to true worship sound doctrine and sober reformation which they cannot but see and many of them confess to be much upon the decline and abatement both as to sanctity and solemnity That I mention not Ministers own secular interests as to honest subsistance and civil respects which no ingenuous men can well want and no wise man will supinely neglect § This is most certain that Ministers divisions do mainly advance as the peoples distractions so their own diminution and destruction for their factions and fewds among themselves serve only as rougher hones or whetstones to set sharper edges on the swords and sythes of their enemies whose desolating and implacable spite will never be stopped or resisted unless grave and godly Ministers of all sides be so far blessed of God as first to recover their reason and reputation in point of piety and policy prudence and charity by mutual correspondencies and closures so as to concenter in some uniform way of Church-Government and Order united they would be as venerable as scattered they are contemptible like figures or cyphers they would signifie much in their conjunction little or nothing in their separation § From hence in the second place they would appear to the world not only as petty Presbyters or Predicants single and apart but as a grave and Venerable Society and combination of learned and wise men worthy to manage religious concernments and to enjoy publique incouragements from those that may have at any time Supreme Power in their hands who will alwayes have so much either piety or policy in their hearts as impartially to dispense Justice and rewards to able peaceable and orderly Ministers as well as to any other sort of deserving men that are in any Civil or Military imployment § Considering that the Nation of England never owed to any calling of men more either of its happinesse or misery than to its Clergy or Ministry under whatever Laws or forms they may passe Indeed they alwayes have had and ever will have great influence on the fate and fortunes of any people that are Christian whose consciences first then their estates at last their peace and safety publique as well as private are so far either maintained or undermined by their Ministers as these find themselves either favoured and honored or depressed and debased being men that commonly have not only a good opinion of themselves but very quick resentments of things apt both for their pragmatique and speaking veine to have a notable byass and stroke upon mens minds and so upon publique affairs by their tongues and pens besides their more solemn preachings and prayings with a devout insinuation into mens and womens consciences among whom they have so much of civil and religious converse § Hence it is that poverty and despiciency cast upon the Ministry makes them either silly sots and abject slaves or else so far unquiet as they are sensible of and dissatisfied with their condition And how indeed can such men as think themselves fit to be publique Pilots of Religion and Conducters of Souls to heaven be much concerned in the civil peace or safety of that Ship or Commonwealth how rich soever it be where they see themselves so pittifully imbarqued and poorly entertained in it that they may well hope for better prize and pillage in the common shipwrack than for pay or profit by any voyage that it makes wherein they are imployed indeed as Predicants but yet kept under as Mendicants not permitted to have any joynt stock or venture either of honor or estate considerable § Therefore wise men conclude it undoubtedly best in point of State-policy either to have no able and learned Ministers at all whose education makes them men of parts and spirit a project which will soon amount to no Religion at all at least no Christian and to be sure no Reformed Religion justly so called for this as times now are full of Religious as well as civil wars must ever be strongly guarded and stoutly maintained by a Spiritual Militia of well-paid and well-fed well-learned and well-armed Ministers else London will soon run to Rome and the Thames submit to Tyber which is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by some men § On the other side it will be Policy no less than Piety to entertain such able Schollars and worthy Ministers so as becomes men of good learning useful parts and exemplary lives in order to maintain the Reformed Religion which is the interest

pious and peaceful Labours were useful to the Church of God though their judgements in all things were not exactly conformable to the then present constitution of England even those asperityes have been thought great disadvantages to the peace and safety of those Governors and that government which then prevailed § Rigorous exactions Whether rigorous depressions be the way of Safety and superfluous severities are alwaies weak Reformers of wilfull men much more of wise men especially as to their principles and perswasions and these not onely inbred but inveterate ingrafted by education abetted by conscience and confuted onely by the successes and the prosperities of those from whom they have suffered many effects of anger and hostility but few impressions either of reason or Religion of equity or charity Truculent methods of Government such as were sometimes not more excessively then unseasonably used in the low Countries by the Duke of Alva and others where people are not more unsetled then in many things unsatisfied do but heighten Animosities by a kind of antiperistasis as Salt and Snow to water fixing and congealing the malice and despite as well as the opinions and perswasions of men all which would sooner disperse and evaporate in milder wayes of humanity and moderation as the spirits of all things do soonest and most exhale in warmer seasons than in cold § Nor are such methods of publique rigors Rigours do not exstinguish different Principles any whit more probable to hinder or suppresse the feared derivation and traducttion of the like principles and passion to others For your Highnesse well knowes That all publique and frequent sufferings in persons in any repute for Piety and Learning If born with Christian courage and constancy do onely move the greater pity and compassion to them in the minds of the spectaters and hearers of their calamities which are by many decryed by most suspected for oppressions of power rather than just punishments or convictions Such sad and Tragick spectacles solicite mens curiosities more seriously to search the grounds of so great constancy which Justin Martyr tells by his own experience was a great occasion of many Heathens conversion to Christianity in primitive times when nothing invited the world to regard Christians but onely their mutual love together with their patience and perseverance in their way not as sullen and obstinate which Marcus Aurelius falsly imputes to them but as deeply perswaded of the truth and merit of their cause or profession of which others grew so inquisitive when they saw them so resolute § From hence by a native kind of softnesse Yea they advance them among the Vulgar by being persecuted mens hearts being as it were melted they easily runne into that mould or frame which first they pity then they enquire afterwards they commend at last they admire both for the magnanimity of the sufferers and supposed merit of the cause to which they are sooner engaged then they well understand it by a pricipitancy of affections which like a quick tide or current carryes them down the stream before their sailes are well spread or trimmed For they presume That Cause hath something in it more than Humane which beares up wise and good men so much above humane frailty worldly principles and secular pleasures At last the insinuatings of mans affections and passions like the motion of Screwes secretly but powerfully rayseth their minds not onely to approve the cause but to emulate the heroick constancy of such men which by degrees they grow so much to love and applaud on one side that they easily arrive to hating of the other and to bitter reprochings of those that are the implacable Authors of such mens sufferings in whom they thinke virtue it selfe with Grace and Truth yea Christ himselfe and God doth suffer Thus opinions true or false usually grow and spread more yea and take deeper rooting in mens hearts not only by the reputation of their authors and abetters but also by their being pruned and cropped with sharper and severer hands § Your Highnesse cannot be Ignorant The first means to allay different Parties Principles in State that the best medicine to allay the humors and inflamations of civil dissentions in matters of Opinion is of the same temper and confection with that which Tacitus and other wise men prescribe against cancerous rumors and scandalous libels which are frequently vented against persons in power by the eructations of envious and ambitious Spirits as those mists and foggs which from valleys and lowest bottoms usually rise in the face of Heaven Agniti adolescunt rumores spreti exolescunt If they be too much owned and opposed like torrents or land floods stopped in their courses they gain force and credit If they be neglected like Squibs they spend their force and fury without any danger or blemish to Princes or States who by a generous indifferency discover not onely a just despiciency of such follies but great confidencies of their own Integrity and such a magnanimity as not being easily discomposed cannot be wanting to the maine points of Safety and Power § Nothing The Mutuall cruelties of the Guelphes and Gibelines we see kept up those bloody and bitter warres or assasinations and massacrings rather between the Guelphs and Gibelines the Imperiall and Papall factions for more then one hundred years in Italy and other places but onely repeated and exorbitant revenges upon those who had no other way injured each other but by their different perswasions one preferring the Popes Ecclesiasticall the other the Emperours civill Power in the Empire From this principle each party was cruelly vigilant to improve the vicissitudes of Power what ever advantages they could get at any time which they used or abused rather not as lenitives to compose differences and recover the publique or common tranquillity but as corrasives or sarcasmes to eat out and wholly extirpate the remnant of the adverse party to the ruing of many worthy men many noble Families flourishing Cities and opulent Countries § Doubtlesse Clemency Equanimity the best calmers of publique stormes as to mens minds not the blustrings of Boreas but the calme Sun-shine of generall tranquillity shining equally and indifferently on all honest able and peaceable men in any Nation or community makes them soonest forget their past sufferings to lay down their fewdes to compose their differences and to conform to that generall quiet of which they see they may upon faire termes have their share Thus the Flints of civill Factions are most easily and safely broken on softer cushions which put between the anvill and hammer of Power and Oppression are prone to strike fire and fly in the faces of those who thus strive not onely to dash them in peices but to beate them to powder § But here my Lord I cannot be so stupidly indiscreet The Authors Apology for touching upon State Policy as not to confess my folly besides my fault and to

Candlesticks in the Temple of God as burning and shining Lights among whom Christ hath sometimes delighted to walk and converse in the excellent graces and usefull gifts of his Spirit § How great a sinne and shame must it be Publique Sin and Shame to oppresse good Ministers as well as darknesse to this Church and Nation professing the Christian and Reformed Religion not onely to behold but to cause the faces of so many Nazarites who have from their youth been separated and sanctified to the speciall service of Christ and his Church who were heretofore whiter than snow to cause them to contract by sordidnesse of living such blacknesse and deformity as if they had lain among the pots among the lixae calones black guard which usually attend great mens Kitchins § It is great pity that such goodly Pillars of Gods House should be cast down to the ground and levelled to the dust even to the beasts or meanest of the people Can it be comely to see such ponderous and laborious oxen ploughing with Asses which God in the Law forbad It was a shame and reproach to King Jehojakim that he buried the dead body of the Prophet Vriah in the graves of the meanest of the people How much more will it be to bury Ministers even alive among them That is so to abuse and crush them as to enforce them either to embrace the dunghils or converse only with clods and clowns § All which burthens of life must needs press the more sadly No way of competency or comeliness for Ministers but their calling because they are now toward the evening of their dayes well stricken in years their light growing dimmer and their shadowes both of fears and infirmities larger So that to dig they are not able and to begg they are ashamed I have known many of them very grave and venerable men rather want than ask and contend with poverty rather than conquer their ingenuity Who were wonted to more tender foreheads and a more blessed as well as honorable way of giving rather than receiving If they be now driven into a desolate wildernesse they may probably meet with Firy Serpents to sting them by adding contempt to their want But what Manna or miraculous Food can they exspect What rock will follow them to relieve their thirsty and fainting Souls if they must be utterly turned out from any place as Stewards in Christs Family or Dispensers of Heavenly Mysteries § What commendable frauds I boseech your Highnesse can there be found for the sustenance of so many men and their Relations Who never have been nor now are men of any great secular dealings or receipts and accounts Such as the unjust but wise Stexard used for his preservation when he saw he must be cast out of all bufines A provident practice which we see our Blessed Saviour commended not as to the injustice and immorality of it but as to that worldly prudence and natural policy or sagacity which teacheth and commandeth even Bruit Creatures to be provident for themselves and theirs Shewing us that there is nothing more Bruitish and Barbarous more Vmnanly and Vnchristian than to neglect providing for our selves and our Familyes which who so doth is worse than an Infidel and is by the truth declared as an Apostate or denyer of the Christian Faith Sure if voluntary negligence and improvidence be so much blamed and to be abhorred in reason and Religion There can be nothing commendable in forcible imposing those exauctoratings silencings and restraints upon honest and Industrious men as must compel them to necessitypes when they are more willing to take paines in their callings § I might further add to the hunger and thirst of such mens outward condition Famine of Souls will follow famished Ministers that scarcity and famine of the word which must necessarily follow in many places and that leanness which is like to enter into many poor peoples Souls to whom such able men formerly dispensed the bread of eternal life as the faithful Stewards of Christs family whose absence is not so readily to be supplied with Ministers proportionable to their abilityes industry and gravity as is evident in many sequestred places where people are either almost famished or at the best much infected with the unwholsome food of unsound doctrine yea what if such as succeed these outed and able Ministers give people stones instead of bread and scorpions instead of fishes what if they affect to feed mens Souls after the vaporing of some novices in these dayes with empty mangers and high racks giving them the chaffe of Juvenile Notions and uselesse Speculations instead of those saving practical Instructions with which those veterane Teachers were wont to furnish and feed their Auditors both elder and younger what account can be given to the great Bishop and Pastor of Souls if his Sheep be starved for want of their Shepherds If wast and weaknesse diseases and death eternal fall upon mens precious Souls for want of saving knowledge § Certainly nothing should be done in civil affairs with more deliberation and circumspection than the silencing of Christs Minisiers Of changing the Spiritual Militia of the Ministry and the divorcing of them from their people where God hath placed and prospered them every one ought to take heed what they do to those that are the servants of the most High God and teach the way of Eternal Life There should be no lesse care and caution in altering disbanding or cashiering this spiritual Militia than in that of the secular Nor should therein Reason of State onely be considered but Reason of Religion with Christs Interests and the good of Souls for these are of eternal concernment to poor mortals the other but momentary § Since then the temporal welfare of so many worthy Ministers The blessings accruing to the Publique by able Ministers by enjoying their liberty to officiate is so agreeable to the Glory of God the Honor of Jesus Christ and the Salvation of poor Sinners I hope they will not seem to your Highnesse inconsistent with the publique Peace and and security yea since there appears no probable means under God for the covenient support of so many honest and useful Preachers besides other Scholars but onely your Highnesse Clemency and Benignity in indulging them their honest liberty Since necessity drives the poor to the rich the weak to the strong and the miserable to the merciful yea even to the God of Mercy whom though we cannot move by any merit of our own yet we may by such humble importunities as only obtrude upon him our miseries § Let it not displease your Highnesse that I have thus far presumed not onely by soft and suppliant words but by potent and I hope prevalent reasons to perswade you to such equanimity and charity as may in real effect obtain some such merciful qualifications remissions or suspensions as to the execution of your Highnesse Declaration That Pious and