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	government_n	kingdom_n	3,695	5	5.8013	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96036	Sr. Henry Vane his speech in the House of Commons, at a committee for the bill against episcopall-government, Mr. Hide sitting in the chaire. June 11. 1641.	Vane, Henry, Sir, 1612?-1662.	1641 (1641)	Wing V76; Thomason E198_20; ESTC R12901	4,000	11

Sr. HENRY VANE HIS SPEECH In the House of Commons at a Committee for the Bill against Episcopall-Government Mr. HIDE sitting in the CHAIRE June 11. 1641. LONDON Printed for Francis Constable 1641. Sr. HENRY VANE HIS SPEECH At a Committee for the Bill against Episcopall Government Iune 11. 1641. Master Hide THe debate we are now upon is whether the Government by Arch-bishops Bishops Chancellors c. should be taken away out of the Church and Kingdome of England for the right stating wherof we must remember the vote which past yesterday not only by this Committee but the House which was to this effect That this Government hath bin found by long experience to be a great impediment to the perfect reformation and gowth of Religion and very prejudiciall to the civill State So that then the Question will lie thus before us Whether a Government which long experience hath set so ill a Character upon i●…ing danger not only to our Religion but the civill State should be any longer continued amongst us or be utterly abolished For my owne part I am of the opinion of those who conceive that the strength of reason already set downe in the Preamble to this Bill by yesterdayes vote is a necessary decision of this Question For one of the maine ends for which Church-government is set up is to advance and further the perfect reformation and growth of Religion which wee have already voted this Government doth contradict so that it is destructive to the very end for which it should be and is most necessary and desireable in which respect certainly we have cause enough to lay it aside not onely as uselesse in that it attaines not its end but as dangerous in that it destroy●● and con●…dicts it In the second place we have voted it prejudiciall to the civill State as having so powerfull and ill an influence upon our Laws the Prerogative of the King and liberties of the Subject that it is like a spreading leprosie which leaves nothing untainted and uninfected which it comes neere May we not therefore well s●y of this Government no our Saviour in the fifth of Mathew speaks of salt give me leave upon this occasion to make use of Scripture as well as others have done in this debate where it is said that salt is good but if the salt hath lost its savour wherewith will you season it It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and troden und●r foot of men so Church-government in the generall is good and that which is necessary and which we all desire but when any particular forme of it hath once lost its savour by being destructive to its owne ends for which it is set up as by our vote already passed we say this hath then surely Sir we have no more to doe but to cast it out and endevour the best we can to provide ourselves a better But to this it hath beene said that the Government now in question may be for amended and reformed that it needs not be pulled quite downe or abolished because it is conceived it hath no originall sinne or evill in it or if it have it is said regeneration will take that way Vnto which I answer I doe consent that we should do with this Government as we are done by in regeneration in which all old things are to passe away and all things are to become new and this we must doe if we desire a perfect reformation and growth of our Religion or good to our civill state For the whole Fabrick of this building is so rotten and corrupt from the very foundation of it to the top that if we pull it not down now it will fall about the eares of all those that endevour it within a very few yeares The universall rottennesse or corruption of this government will most evidently appeare by a disquisition into these ensuing particulars First Let us consider in what soile this root growes Is it not in the Popes Paradise doe not one and the same principles and grounds maintaine the Papacie or universall Bishop as doe our Diocesan or Metropolitan Bishops All those authorities which have beene brought us out of the Fathers and antiquity will they not as well if not better support the Popedome as the order of our Bishops So likewise all these arguments for its agreeablenesse to Monarchy and cure of Schisme doe they not much more strongly hold for the acknowledgement of the Pope then for our Bishops and yet have Monarchies beene ever a whit the more absolute for the Popes universall Monarchy or their Kingdomes lesse subject to schismes and seditions whatsoever other kingdomes have beene I am sure our Histories can tell us this Kingdome hath not and therefore we have cast him off long since as hee is forraine though we have not beene without one in our owne bowels For the difference betweene a Metropolitan or Diocesan or universall Bishop is not of kinds but of degrees and a Metropolitan or Diocesan Bishop is as ill able to performe the duty of a Pastor to his Diocesse or Province as the Vniversall Bishop is able to doe it to the whole world For the one cannot doe but by Deputies and no more can the other and therefore since we all confesse the grounds upon which the Papacy stands are rotten how can we deny but these that maintain our Bishops are so too since they are one and the same In the second place let us consider by what hand this root of Episcopacy was planted and how it came into the Church It is no difficult matter to finde this out for is not the very spirit of this order a spirit of pride exalting it selfe in the Temple of God over all that is called God First exalting it selfe above its fellow Presbiters under the forme of a Bishop then over its fellow Bishops under the title of Archbishops and so still mounting over those of its own profession till it come to be Pope and then it sticks not to tread upon the necks of Princes Kings and Emperours and trample them under its feet Also thus you may trace it from it first rise and discerne by what spirit this order came into the Church and by what doore even by the back-doore of pride and ambition not by Christ Jesus It is not a plant which Gods right hand hath planted but is full of rottennesse and corruption that mystery of iniquity which hath wrought thus long and so fit to be plucked up and removed out of the way Thirdly Let us consider the very nature and quality of this tree or root in its selfe whether it be good or corrupt in its owne nature we all know where it is said A good tree cannot bring forth corrupt fruit nor a corrupt tree good fruit Doe men gather grapes of thornes or sigs of thistles By its fruit therefore we shall be sure to know it and according as the fruits of the Government have beene amongst us