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	doctrine_n	worship_n	3,910	5	7.2192	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30250	Another sermon preached to the Honorable House of Commons now assembled in Parliament, November the fifth, 1641 by Cornelius Burges, D.D. ; wherein, among other things, are shewed a list of some of the popish traytors in England.	Burges, Cornelius, 1589?-1665.	1641 (1641)	Wing B5668; ESTC R21418	55,204	69

ANOTHER SERMON Preached to the Honorable House of Commons now assembled in PARLIAMENT November the fifth 1641. By CORNELIUS BURGES D. D. Wherein among other things are shewed A List of some of the Popish Traytors in England That their Treasons were not occasioned by our Laws but from Principles of their owne Religion That their Priests are bound to infuse suc● Principles into them The courses taken by their Preists and Iesuites to animate them unto Treasons An Experimentall Prognostication Published by Order of the House of Commons LONDON Printed by R. B. for P. Stephens and C. Meridith at the Gilded Lion and at the Craine in S. Pauls Church-Yard 1641. To the Honourable House of Commons now assembled in PARLIAMENT WHen first I understood that You had designed only my selfe to preach unto You at that Great and happy Solemnity upon the Fifth of November last I inlarged my Provision because there was no other to second me in that Service But when I came to set before You what the Lord had brought to my hand The Tumults in Ireland I found You so over laid with businesse of such high importance as would hardly permit You to hear any sermon at all This constrained me to contract the two first Parts of my Sermon and wholly to suppresse the third except the last branch of the last Vse which I found meanes to affix to my second Point It was far from my thoughts and above my hopes that such a mangled Peice should gaine such Acceptance with You as to be held worthy of Your Thankes or of Publique View But seeing Your pleasure is to Order the Publishing it I obey Only I have now added the remainder of that Provision with which I could not at first present You by reason of those Indispensable Occasions then pressing on You. The Lord of Heaven direct all Your ways make them plaine before You prosper You in them and hold all Your hearts firme to Himselfe and in Vnity among Your selves set You more effectually upon and carry You more strongly through that most necessary and of all other most Important Work even the Perfecting of the Reformation of this Church by the assistance of a free Nationall Synod if Your wisdomes should so thinke meet for the further securing of our Religion from Corruption in Doctrine from Pollution in Worship from superstition in Ceremonies from Exorbitancy and Tyranny in Ecclesiasticall Government and Discipline and from Anarchy and Confusion under a false guise of Christian Liberty which is farre worse than Tyranny Hee also make You all more zealous to settle a Ministery worthy of the Glorious Gospell of Christ in every Congregation and a sufficient maintainance for all faithfull Labourers therein He raise You higher and higher in honour with God and Man and carry You stil in his Bosome till hee hath brought You to Glory All of which is and shall be the incessant prayer of Your most humble servant C. BURGES PSAL. 76.10 Surely the rage of man shall praise thee the rest of the rage shalt thou restraine THis Text and this day doe well agree Introduction shewing I. The fitnesse Never did day more exactly demonstrate the truth of this Text. Never did Text more fully set forth the Workes of this Day whether we regard the rage of man or the Power of God in over-ruling thereof to his own Praise and our preservation This is that day wherein the most prodigious rage of man that ever the Sun beheld or that Hell it selfe boyled up to an height justly execrable to all the world was ready to break forth out of the nethermost Pit against our Late King Queene the Royall Seed the Parliament Church Kingdome this Place our selves and all ours all at once And this is that day wherein our God came riding to us in his Chariot of Triumph and made himselfe fearfull in prayses by doing wonders and leaving us no more to doe but to praise his Name and lengthening out our happinesse joyfully to celebrate this Publike Anniversarie of that stupendious Deliverance So that II. The occasion while Interpreters contend and sweat about the speciall occasion of this Gratulatory Song whether penned as a Lasting Trophee of the many Victories atchieved by David over the Philistines Moabites Syrians and others 2 Sam. 8. or of the discomfiture of that formidable Army of the Ethiopians in the dayes of Asa 2 Chr. 20. Or of the selfe-destroying of that huge Host of the children of Ammon Moab and mount Seir in the reign of Jehoshaphat 2 Ch. 20. Or rather which is more probable as a Pillar of Gratitude in the time of Hezekiah for the wonderfull defeat of those numberlesse Forces of blasphemous Sennacherib nigh to Ierusalem where an Angel went forth and in one night and slew 185000. men in the campe of the Assyrians King 19. Sure we are Introduction that none of all those Great Acts of the Lord ever administred greater occasion to advance a Publike Thanksgiving beyond the faint and dull straine of Prose to the spritefull courage of a Verse by the gratefull violence of a Poetick Rapture truly divine than that admirable and even ineffable over powering of the matchlesse fury of those Romish Pioneers imployed in that Master-peece of Hellish Invention the Gun-powder Treason affords unto us and all Posterity of greatest exilience and of utmost industry to make His Praise glorious who justly inhabiteth the praises of Israel and is in himselfe exalted above all blessing and Praise For on this Day if ever and even here also if any where brake He the arrows of the bow the shield the sword and battell whereby he is become more glorious and excellent than the mountaines of prey Here the stout-hearted are spoiled they have stept their sleep and none of the men of might * In that great slaughter in the host of Sennacherib the Leaders Captaines and mighty men of Valour were all cut off 2 Chron. 32.21 have found their hands At thy rebuke O God of Jacob both the Chariot and the horse are cast into a dead sleep Thou didst cause judgement to be heard from heaven the earth feared and was still when God arose to judgement to save all the meek of the earth Therefore wee even wee also will for ever say and sing to thy Name as thy people of old Surely the rage of man shall praise thee the rest of the rage shalt thou restraine III. The Summe Which words Janus like have a double Aspect For they looke not only backwards as a Thankfull Remembrance of what God hath already done but also forwards as a Prophetick Resolution and well grounded Conclusion of Faith touching the constant ordering and curbing the rage of all his and our enemies so as to get himselfe glory out of all to the end of the world IV. The Parts of the Text. If we make a Distribution of the Text there will be found in it an Asseveration and an Assertion 1.

smoake was unable to match it Such havock of Royall and Noble Blood such heapes of dasht braines such mountaines of mangled bodies such piles of torne members such numbers of ghastly preys offered up to Death in a moment could never have been thought of much lesse effected This had been beyond all president inhumane and terrible but the dismall effects that must have sprung from such an Act had been much more dreadfull The destruction or forcing the residue of the Royall Stock the subversion of the Lawes the ruine of the Kingdome the utter extinguishing of the Light and Glory of all the true Religion and Profession of the Gospel established among us and the retroducing of Egyptian darknesse Babylonish fornication and Romish Idolatry like a flood to the destruction of soules as well as bodies had all followed at the heels of that Infernall Thunder-clap Cursed therefore and for ever cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruell And blessed be that God who hath scattered first and divided them into peeces afterwards in this our Israel making them an astonishment and an hissing not in Europe alone and among Christians but even in Africke that wombe of Monsters where very Turkes and Moores and all sorts of Barbarians that heard of this monstrous Attempt sate downe amazed their hearts melting and failing within them at the report Indeed if Jesuites be consulted they roundly resolve it not only lawfull but meritorious So did Garnet and the rest before mentioned What all the world justly condemnes as an unjust rage that they cry up as a commendable Zeale Of which more * See the later end of the next Vse anon But this is so farre from excusing the fact that it doth exceedingly aggravate the offence for it drawes in Heaven to father their bratts of Hell Let them but once proclaime us Hereticks and Schismaticks and they may afterwards doe any thing else For our selves though they brand as Heretical those Divine Truths professed amongst us n Act. 24.14 wee confesse and justly glory in it that according to that way which they call Heresie so worship wee the God of our Fathers beleeving all things which are written in the Law the Prophets and the Gospel too And indeed with them this is our fault And whereas they pronounce us schismaticall we have often made good before the world that wee never separated from the Catholike Church but onely from the abominations of Babylon o Revel 18.4 that we might no longer partake of her sinnes nor receive of her plagues But let them account of themselves as highly as they please and rang us among the rankest hereticks that ever were they be yet to seek of a sufficient warrant for such a Prodigie seeing we have the peremptory judgement of Christ himself to the contrary for the everlasting confutation of all such damnable doctrine and the eternall confusion of all the broachers and abettors of it In the Ninth of Luke p Vers 51.52 we finde Christ in a journey from Galily to Hierusalem to keep his last Passover and to offer up himselfe there a Sacrifice for our sinnes and being on the way he sends before to a village of Samaria to take up some lodging The Samaritans for difference from the Jewes in Religion but chiefly about the Place of worship than which at that time a greater Controversie could not happen refused to entertain him especially now that he was going up to that feast And this heightned their offence of inhumanity toward a stranger to an act of impietie against Religion refusing upon this ground that he stedfastly set his face to goe to Hierusalem Vers 53. and they knew part of his businesse there His two Disciples James and John who perhaps had been sent on that errand in zeal for their Master took fire at this and presently put it to the Question Ver. 54. Lord wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them even as Elias did They not only make the Proposition but avouch a President of great authority Elias q 2 King 1. did so upon the old Samaritans therefore why not wee much more upon these That wrong was but to a servant this to the Son of God himselfe And we desire no other revenge upon these than he took upon those But what is Resolved upon the Question by Christ their Master Surely he gives judgement against his owne Disciples although himselfe were most concerned in the Cause He will not have it so much as attempted no not upon such impious Samaritans For he both sharply rebuked the propounders of such a fiery Motion saying Vers 55. Ye know not of what spirit yee are and refuted them too by the end of his comming which would not consist with that Act of Elias for the Sonne of man is not come to destroy mens lives Ver. 56. but to save them Now then if the Question be at any time put Whether a Papist may lawfully blow up a Protestant or otherwise destroy him for difference in Religion and upon pretence of Heresie without Legall Triall We can not better resolve it according to the minde of Christ than by that Resolution which Himselfe gave to a Question of his owne Disciples to this effect Whether it be lawfull for a beleeving Jew yea for Apostles upon wrong done to Christ himself for difference in Religion to set fire on a Samaritan Wee see Christ is cleerely and resolutely for the Negative which is enough to secure all Cities and Villages from such a Desolation and our Persons from such a Massacre by any who truely follow Christ while the World standeth Let it now be supposed by Papists that our Religious King Queene Parliament and all Protestants were all out as bad as those wretched Samaritans and themselves as Catholike as Apostles or as Christ himselfe yet by Christs Resolution Protestants ought to have been no worse used by Papists than the Samaritans by Christ. Would Christ not endure that a contemptible Village of Miscreants should be destroyed upon such a quarrell and yet authorise these to destroy a whole Kingdome yea Three Kingdomes upon the matter with one puffe upon a farre lesse occasion If he would not permit such a punishment from Heaven upon only Delinquents would he approve the blowing up of many others who in the judgement of the Conspirators themselves were esteemed Innocent God would not so deale with Sodome it selfe when the cry of their sinnes called for fire from heaven But if now we invert the scale as justly we may The Instance will conclude more strongly If Christ would not give way to the good to bring fire on the evill not to Apostles to destroy hereticks and Idolaters 2 Vse nay not so much as to pray for fire even from heaven althought the Prayer were to be put up by James and John against Samaritans would he warrant not only a Prayer for but

all time to come And this being so I shall in the Vse observe my former method beginning with a Parallell of this Truth and these Times no truth being sweeter than that whereof we have largest taste and experience nor Vse more seasonable 1. Use of the last Point than that which comes most home to our present condition That great Deliverance we now celebrate was not as a dead bush to stop a present Gap onely 1. Behold the experience of this upon our selves nor a mercy expiring with that houre and occasion but intended for a living lasting breeding Mercie that hath been very fertile ever since It was an in-let to further favours and an earnest of many moe blessings for which I appeal to Your own Experience who have duely observed Gods dealing with you Many of You who have now the honour to sit Members of the High Court of Parliament were unborn when the Powder Treason should have been acted Yet you cannot say you were born out of due time for that very Deliverance hath since that set down many a rich mercie at all your doores This very Parliament speaks out this truth to all the world The very Calling of it and the sitting of it speaks it The many Conspiracies that have been detected the many Popish Designes that have been defeated the many snares that have been broken the many Mountains that have been levell'd the mighty Nimrods that have been pluckt down the unsupportable yokes of which our necks have been freed those whips of Scorpions the back-breaking heart-sinking Courts which are now broken and dissolved the devouring sword of war brandished in the heart of this Kingdome that is now put up those Rights and Liberties which had been led away captive past hope of rescue that are now restored that Religious necessarie noble Vow and Covenant for conservation of Religion and Protestation against Popery and Superstition into which both Houses have worthily entred that frequencie of Parliaments for preventing future inundations of miserie and bondage that is now happily setled this blessed opportunitie of sitting in Parliament at this time for the more effectuall and timely quelling of that unhappie Rebellion of some Papists in Ireland and the providing for the continuance of this present Assembly till all our grievances be heard and relieved till those that are complained of as instruments of our destruction be brought forth to triall 2. Use of the last Point till the Church be purged Reformation perfected and our Laws estates Liberties and Religion be all setled and secured These I say and many moe do all speak and proclaim the manifold wonderfull and invaluable mercies that have flowed in upon this unworthy and unthankfull Nation from that admirable defeat of the Gun-powder Treason Wherefore a Psal 107 2. let the redeemed of the Lord whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemie say that his mercie endureth for ever Yea let all that fear him say b Psal 68.19 Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with his benefits even the God of our salvation and let them put a Selah to it c Psal 102.18 for the generation to come that the people which are yet unborn may praise the Lord. Vse 2 2. But what terror and torment speaks this to all wicked men whether Papists or Atheists that speak Terror to the wicked and do so exceeding proudly from day to day as if all were theirs and that nothing could hinder the satisfying of their lust upon the Gospel What stone have they left unturned what plot unattempted And yet what Treason of the many which they have contrived hath taken effect Will they not see that in all their rage and conspiracies they do d Psal 2.1 imagine but a vain thing that they are sure of a hard bargain of it like that of a naked bodie e Act. 9. to kick against the pricks that it is a desperate service they daily go upon Have they not miscarried and gone by the worse all along and may they not out of their miscarriages past as out of an Experimentall Prognostication read their destiny for all time to come Do they not know that God hath engaged himself to his people that f Isa 54.17 no weapon that is formed against them shall prosper Even Hamans wife though a heathen could tell her husband enraged against Mordecai g Esth 6.13 If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews before whom thou hast begun to fall thou shalt not prevail against him but shalt surely fall before him I know God sometimes in anger gives his people into the hands of their enemies to chastise and humble them But mark the issue the tail of the storme ever lights upon the rods of his anger For the Lord hath said it h Isa 10.25 Yet a little while and the indignation against the godly shall cease and mine anger in their destruction that is of those whom he imployed to correct them Yea which is a deeper cut to a malicious heart God doth at last usually bring his enemies to confusion even by those poore despised oppressed out-casts of Israel whom the wicked in their rage had resolved to devoure i Zach. 12.2.3 Behold saith the Lord I will make Ierusalem a cup of trembling or of poyson unto all people round about when they shall be in the siege both against Iudah and Ierusalem And in that day will I make Ierusal●m a burdensome stone for all people all that burden themselves with it that is labour to take it up and throw it out shall be cut in pieces though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it O that wicked men would yet desist from their conspiracies against the godly before the Lords wrath be kindled and they perish for ever But if they will not be instructed I must leave with them that which the Lord denounced to the uncureable enemies of his Church heretofore k Isa 8.9 10 Gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces yea gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces Take counsell together and it shall come to nought speak the word and it shall not stand for God is with us Vse 3 3. But O the fathomlesse consolation and steeling encouragement that this Truth administreth to all the godly Comfort to the godly but more especially to You who are now imployed by God and the King in the great service of the Kingdome Is it so that your souls be among Lions and that you lie among those that are set on fire to plot Treasons against You continually and boldly to breathe out bloody threatnings so that when you go forth in the morning you can scarce hope to return in the evening in peace Do but cast up your accounts and experiments of Gods former Mercies in protecting directing preserving and delivering of You hitherto and you need no other Prognostication to foretell what will befall you