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	faith_n	pope_n	3,103	5	6.3417	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02031	A familiar exposition or commentarie on Ecclesiastes VVherein the worlds vanity, and the true felicitie are plainely deciphered. By Thomas Granger, preacher of the Word at Butterwike in East-holland, Lincolne.	Granger, Thomas, b. 1578.	1621 (1621)	STC 12178; ESTC S103385	263,009	371

to all the commandements else shall hell limit his obedience and serue God or rather seeme to serue him according to his owne liking but reseruations and exceptions God abhorreth But a man may make himselfe too iust when hee presumptuously taketh vpon him beyond his apprehension to define what is right what not in this confused disorder of the World and state of frailety wherein all things are full of difficulty For no man must presume aboue his gift or stretch himselfe beyond the line either of all mens capacity or his owne This is but to intrude a mans selfe into the roome of God and to make himselfe a Law-giuer rather then an vnderstander and doer of that which is already giuen and so in the end become rather zealous of his owne Lawes and fancies then of Gods as the Pharisees were and Papists are and other heretikes haue beene Neither make thy selfe ouer-wise As thou must not set vp a iustice or zeale of thine owne so neither a wisedome or doctrine of thine owne And this a man doth when he will search further into the wisedome of God then he hath reuealed in his Word But sith the most perfect hath hardly attained to the fulnesse of reuealed wisedome how shall a man pierce into that which is not reuealed Surely he that will needs behold the Sunne with open eyes in his glory shal loose his eye-sight and so shall he loose his wits that will pry too deepely into the secrets of God If a man will search further then God hath reuealed to man or beyond the measure of his gift he cannot but fall into heresies and foolish fancies which euen to common iudgement shall be ridiculous or wicked Therefore saith Solomon why shouldst thou be desolate or destroy thy selfe Why shouldest thou prouoke God to anger by proudly prying into him and not rather honour him by humble obedience admiring rather his wonderfull wisedome in his workes then seeking to comprehend his infinitenesse to pride thy selfe withall or yet to limit him to thy reason and seeking for satisfaction in things that cannot be had rather then to do good workes as many proud barren talkers do now a dayes The foole seeketh wisedome and findeth it not The Iewes will be righteous without Christ they will haue a Church of their owne making and a Christ of their owne forming So will the Brownists and Anabaptists c. The Greekes will be wiser then Christ both lew and Gentile will be wiser and better then God For whose doctrine was madnesse and life sinfull and end shamefull if not Christs whose lawes and traditions are preferred inforced and vrged more then Gods But the one is wicked the other foolish both are both and so are they desolate For God hath destroyed the Iustice of the one or them for their Iustice and Goodnesse and the wisedome of the other And so shall the Popish celestiall terrestriall Hierarchies their Iustice and deuotions proue wicked madnesse If a man interpret these words of righteousnesse in ciuill causes as it is said summum ius summa in●uria and as Cicero saith Viuimus in faece Romuli non in repub Platonis and of calumniations of the law that is but a branch for the words are to be taken in the generall sence of all diuine and humane things Verse 17. Be not ouermuch wicked neither be thou foolish why shouldest thou die before thy time THe contrary defect is set downe in this verse which is an errour on the left hand As some will be too iust and too wise so some againe will be too wicked and too foolish Be not wicked ouer-much c. As thou must not arrogate to thy selfe to define what is iust and right at thy pleasure as though thou haddest all knowledge and all descerning and the perfection or highest degrees of all so neither must thou runne out into the other extremities of dissolutenesse and wickednesse For because thou canst not satisfie thy irreligious curiosity on the one side must thou therefore deny the prouidence of God on the other side and despise his ordinance Because thou canst not comprehend his vnreuealed wisedome wilt thou therefore cast off all knowledge and discerning Because thou canst not sound the bottome of Gods wisedome and find out the vnknowne trackt of his pathes neither canst comprehend the reason of this or that or why thou shouldest doe or not doe this or that wilt thou therefore cast off the royall commandement and walke in crooked turnings and by-wayes Wilt thou not vnderstand those duties aright whereby thou art to testifie thy humility feare and obedience because thou canst not goe beyond that which is written or beyond thy line Wilt thou not reade the Scriptures at all because they are hard to be vnderstood What must thou needs haue the exact vnderstanding of all or else wilt thou vnderstand none This is indeed the common folly of Popish Ideots They dare meddle with any thing saue the Bible For they beleeue as the Church beleeues but what it beleeueth they know not so they beleeue they know not what and liue they know not how They are too wicked too foolish If the Scriptures be hard then must thou pray more earnestly and labour more diligently But the Gospell is hid to them that perish not to others Because there is and all wayes hath beene so much contention about the points of religion and the chiefe articles of the faith must thou therefore make thy selfe an Epicure Must thou cast off all care and seed thy belly Because the Primitiue Church was pestered with heresies must the Pope therefore take away all knowledge of God clasping vp the Bible in an vnknowne tongue And because Saint Ierome complaineth of the abuse of the common knowledge of the Scripture in the mouthes of some prophance vulgars must all men euen the whole Church therefore be cast out into vtter darkenesse must there be neither preaching catechizing nor praying Must the Booke of God be turned into pictures and idols teachers of lies Must Pastors and Teachers be turned into idle Monkes and Fryers and faith and true obedience the onely meanes to saluation into their regularities As before the prophane made a common prattle of Scripture without reuerence so now must they therefore be deuout in lies contrary to Scripture A faire mends Because Monkes and Fryars the Popes orders had too much liuing not onely Tithes the Churches due by diuine right but the best Temporall liuings lands and houses must the Ministers of Christ now be stript of all and be plaine beggars Yea destitute of common meate drinke and lodging Because they had too much for nothing doing must we haue nothing for sore trauell Because they had more cloathes and gownes then needed must we therefore by extreame need be driuen to weare but halfe gownes And because they were wolues deuouring the flocke must therefore the flocke now be greedy dogges worrying their she pheards Because nothing was enough for those Drones shall

peace contentation and felicitie they care not how The sonnes of Adam would faine bee in an earthly Paradise againe which thing Salomon reclaymeth them from in this booke to cause them to looke for the true spirituall and euerlasting peace and happinesse and to enter into the heauenly Paradise Let vs therefore murmure at our sinnes and be discontented with our discontentednesse and behold our wickednesse in our afflictions and troubles which are but the measurable punishments of our vnmeasurable sinnes and set vp our rest peace and comfort in him onely and there onely in whom and where it is to befound and had Wobe to thee O Land when thy King is a childe This complaint in the verses before shewd forth indignatio which being pacified with Salomons answer breakes foorth agayne after another maner to wit in an exclamation commiseration or desperation which is further emphatically coloured with the figure apostrophe to presse it more forcibly The parts in respect of the subiect or matter are two First the childishnes or insufficiecy of the King to rule Secēdly the voluptuousnes or riotousnes of the Nobles Wo be to thee This word alwayes importeth some great euill as heere it signifieth the foolish prince to be the greatest euill and a sure token of Gods anger it is indeed Therefore the Lord threatned to set children to rule ouer the rebellious Iewes vnder whom there should be neither peace nor iustice but oppression and wrong euery man vexing and deuouring another When thy King is a childe By Childe he meaneth not so much one that is young in yeares as in vnderstanding and discretion S●nex aetate iuvenis moribus old in yeares but a childe in discretion and contrarily is a distinction well knowne When Ioash was yong he followed the counsell of Iehoiada the high priest and the Land prosperd and the Church florished but in his elder dayes hee became a childe being mis-led by the wicked princes 2 Chron. 24. So Vzzia● being but sixteene yeares olde reigned well 2. Chroni● 26. 3. And Iosiah beganne to seeke the Lord when he was a childe and reigned well all his dayes 2. King 22. But contrarily Rehoboam was forty yeares olde when he shewed childishnes in refusing the wise counsell of the Ancient 1. Kin. 12. To conclude that king is termed a child when he is ignorant of the Law without discretion contrary to the commandement Deu. 17. 18 19. 20. Secondly when he is mindlesse forgetful of the cause of the poore and of the righteous which are alwaies oppressed falsely accused by the rich and the wicked Thirdly when he that should gouerne is rather gouerned and led by others giuing place to craftie and flattering perswasions as Ioash did after that Iehoiada was dead Fourthly when he committeth the gouernment and care of the kingdome to others which at their pleasure prey vpon the subiects enriching themselues by oppression and robbery both of Church and commonwealth whiles he followeth his pleasures and vanities Fiftly when he is prouoked to wrath for trifles but passeth by the great matters of the law as the Pharises did Sixtly when being addicted to licentiousnes he crusheth the Church the godly and ancient through the false suggestions of prophane Princes as Ioash did but openeth the mouthes and strengtheneth the armes of wicked flatterers yea suppresseth the one and countenanceth the other as children loue to be pleased and are kinde to deceitfull flatterers but they hang downe their heads and runne away from their true hearted friends and best counsellers Briefly when he seeketh not Gods glory in obedience to his word but his owne glory as Saul did Therfore Samuel told him that he was become a foole The second part of the woe is the riotousnesse of the Nobles and officers which giue themselues to pompe and prodigalitie not regarding the welfare of the people but their owne bellies which is meant by eating in the morning They meditate not study not consult not in the morning when wit and memory is fresh for the welfare of the Church and commonaltie but for couetousnesse oppression pride and pleasures as it is said of the idle shepheards Esay 56. 12. Yea rude Princes oppose themselues to the feare of God and practise of religion and contrarily giue countenance to rude libertines left their rudenesse should appeare to the commons and so breed contempt and shake off the yoke of obedience whereas if they themselues were godly and gracious they should be loued of the godly and be a terror to the wicked as Iob was They should binde Kings with chaines and Nobles with fetters of iron much more the commons such honour haue all his Saints Psal 149. 8. 9. And why should not Kings be Saints It is no disparagement to their royaltie though wicked Amaziah bade Amos prophesie no more at Bethel because it was the Kings Chappell and the Kings Court Amos 7. 13. yet not many wise not many noble not many learned after the flesh hath God called 1. Cor. 1. And it is hard for the rich to enter into the kingdome of heauen yet are all things possible with God that sanctifieth When Princes are not godly and gracious themselues their owne consciences breed iealousies and euill suspitions in them euen when there is no cause at all For the wicked man flyeth when none pursueth when none opposeth as Saul pursued Dauid and grew at length into such extremities as to slay the Lords priests and to account them his enemies and worst subiects that feared God most and most lamented his case whereas his cauilling clawbacks brought him to a miserable end Verse 17. Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the son of Nobles and thy Princes eate in due season for strength and not for drunkennesse AN illustration or aggrauation of the former griefe by the antithesis or opposition of the contrary blessednes of the land that is gouerned by the royall hearted King and truly noble Princes Blessed art thou c. By noble is not meant him onely that is of royall bloud or descent for so was Iehoiakim who is likened to an asse Ier. 22. 19. or carrion and Ieconiah whose name was curtalled and cropt off in contempt as the lappes of Dauids seruants were by the King of Ammon vers 24. Neither by sonne of Nobles is meant him that thinketh himselfe glorious for his ambition pompe pride crueltie as Rehoboam did and Sennacherib Nabuchadnezzar Antiochus Herod c. but he that was noble hearted as was Dauid who was borne of meane parentage and Iosiah who was not giuen to pompe pride ambition superfluitie but was content with a mediocritie and delighted in purging the Church of Idolatry in setting forth the glory of God as Dauid did He that is wise and godly is the truly aged though he be a childe and truly royall and noble though he be poōre as Salomon said before Chap. 4. 13. He that feareth God and hath command ouer his owne lusts and