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	roman_a	4,619	5	7.9310	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43127	A sermon preached in the parish church of St. Giles in the Fields at the funeral of Bernard Connor, M.D., who departed this life, Oct. 30, 1698 : with a short account of his life and death / by William Hayley ...	Hayley, William, 1657-1715.	1699 (1699)	Wing H1214; ESTC R412	16,421	37

that the Doctor thanked him for it and desir'd that none of those persons adding a reproachful word which I do not think decent to publish should be admitted to him and that it was the Doctor 's own desire that I should attend him in his sickness and I cannot see what occasion there should be for such a piece of dissimulation if he had been of the Roman Communion Now if the case were thus that he was really past his senses it cannot but give us some resentment of the confidence of persons who will take such liberties in our Land as to obtrude themselves upon the dying Members of our Church when they know what severities any Protestant must expect who should dare to do any thing like it in a Popish Country And it must give us some indignation against the vanity of that Church which hopes to save a man by words said over him in which he bears no part and against the prophaneness of those Priests who prostitute the most Sacred parts of their Religion to those who have no faith in them or regard for them However it be I thought it a sincere part to lay the thing open as it happen'd that it might not be pretended that any thing was concealed which should argue him of the Roman Communion or that we do what we justly reproach our adversaries for endeavour to gain credit to our Church by feigned and pretended conversions IV. It is time now to hasten to the last thing I proposed to conclude with an earnest exhortation to all that hear me to make that due application of their hearts to wisdom which the Text directs us to pray for and the present occasion does so movingly recommend to us Does the numbring of our days then afford us the most moving and prevalent arguments to a pious course of living and does the shortness and uncertainty of life and other reflections drawn from it naturally excite us to caution and vigilance let us then for our own interest and for the glory of God be perswaded to fix it in our minds and meditate upon it Nature has written it in legible characters and providence gives us frequent demonstrations of it in the Funerals of our friends and acquaintance and this day affords us a fresh instance to awaken our memories Let not this occasion then be unprofitable and vain let it not add to our condemnation by proving a new slighted call to conversion but let the natural death of our Brother be the commencement of our spiritual life and if we have not yet considered of our great change let us now begin and let not business pleasure or time obliterate the thought or stop its growth but let us constantly recall it upon all occasions in temptation it will help us to fly and resist in business it will prevent immoderate care and anxiety and in pleasures it will make us cautious to guide them by innocence and confine them with moderation Thus will it be of use in all the scenes of our life and keep the judgment steady and the passions in sobriety But above all let us take care that our meditations on this subject be not bare thought and persuasion but that they have their due energy upon our manners let not actual amendment of our lives be put off till another day nor Iet vain hopes of future opportunities which may be will never come make us loose the present which God has put into our hands If we know we must die let us live as men that expect it if our time at best cannot be very long let us not give idleness or sin any share in it and if our end for ought we know may be now at hand and no one can tell but his turn may be the next let us endeavour to leave behind us a pattern for imitation and love and not for terror and abhorrence And in the last place since we have no other time allotted us but this mortal life to provide for eternity and to secure our happiness let all our actions speak that we think of it and are preparing for it So shall our life here be a blessing to our selves a joy to our friends and a benefit to the publick and our death when ever it comes shall be acceptable and welcome not attended with anxious distrust and doubtful expectations but chearful and resigned and such as gives a blessed presage of a happy immortality Which God of his mercy in his due time grant unto us all Amen FINIS