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	worship_n	3,428	5	7.3798	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52918	Vox clamantis, or, A cry to Protestant dissenters calling them from some unwarrantable ways, with which they are vulgarly, and perhaps too truly charged, viz. from all unnecessary medling in matters of state, from too deep engagement of themselves in this present world, and too great conformity to it : from thinking too highly of themselves for their separation-sake only : from fanaticism, properly so called, in their prayers, sermons, books, &c. : and seriously exhorting them to the minding of the great concerns of heaven, to fruitfulness in well-doing, to sobriety, and the use of reason in all religious matters / by N.N. a Protestant and declared dissenter from the Church of England, as far as that church dissents from Christian liberty, to holiness and charity, and no further.	N. N., Protestant and declared dissenter from the Church of England.	1683 (1683)	Wing N63; ESTC R5934	64,696	84

good may come of it If it be not evil to do so in it self nor occasions any evil nor scandal for you to swear renounce receive why do you then not ordinarily practice it and so make no breach nor division on that account Yea why do you do it so secretly clandestinely that it should not be publickly known if it be well and lawfully done But if you think it evil and so evil that you cannot well and upon other accounts joyn with it nor with them with whom you differ in these things it is to be wondered at how you can do it on the account you now do Certainly I see not but upon this account you may comply with any thing Secondly Why cannot you trust God the Living God in his own way but take such unhallowed Courses and Practices as these to the great danger and disgrace of Religion and of your selves Sure I am if you have not Faith to trust in God going in plain honest ways ye have no reason to expect his Favour in dishonest and suspicious ways and doings Thirdly If this Procedure be according to Law and the Law made to keep you out why cannot ye be quiet and submit to it seeing there is no penalty for refusing to serve or swear And for being shut out of Offices and Places as to some of them a man would think it should be a conveniency to be excluded and rendered uncapable And it is apparent enough that many if not the most of you would in some such way exclude others if the Power were in your hands as Papists and perhaps some other whose Opinion and Practices in some things you like not They do not compel you to take Office or Place and then make you Swear and take the Test but put those Bars and Blocks in your way that ye might not come into them supposing that when they made them they had laid them so directly contrary to your former declared Principles and Practices that they should certainly exclude and keep you out Fourthly There is great Cause and Reason to believe that God will sooner help and vindicate you if there be damage and dishonour in being shut out I say there is according to the Divine Procedure abundant more reason to believe and ye may rather expect that God will do for you in this plain honest way of proceeding without sin and scandal and in the declining of all sinful and suspicious ways c. Then think to find his help and blessing in ways of your own devising not so plain and honest as they should be but at best doubtful and suspicious and therefore dangerous And God sometimes will have men to trust him with all and he tryes them in some way or other whether they will trust him yea or no and whether they will walk in the plain path of Truth and Sincerity or whether for advantage they will step out of this Path and leap over the Hedge He doth this to prove them and when they are proved and found faithful he sooner helps and vindicates them in a way of patient suffering and constant continuing in well doing than in any other way wherein they think to amend themselves in Methods and proceedings scandalous and dangerous Surely a good honest tender Mind and Conscience that fears Sin and Offences would not thus adventure to walk so near the Pits brink but be rather studious how he may walk farthest from it c. Fifthly Moreover I cannot see but that as it appears to be scandalous and of ill Fame and Report and very hurtful to Religion and Godliness for men to enter into Places of Profit upon these Terms So they also who are active in the choosing such men who they know beforehand must thus debauch their Consciences and do that which at other times they would by no means do I say such Choosers or Electors must in some kind and degree at least be guilty of the same evils or scandals with the other For how can I put another upon the doing that which I know is his standing Judgment and Practice not to do Or why should I be any ways accessary or assistant to any man to put him upon the doing that which I my self would not do and think that he should not And certainly upon the whole all the good that is pretended to be aimed at in seeking thus unwarrantably to come into Place and Power is much overballanc'd with the evil attending it To Conclude I say as before men will stingle and wriggle make use of all their Wits and Strength appear with all their Evasions and Distinctions to salve up such a Practice but if they would take half so much pains to consider the Matter on the other side and lay aside themselves and their own Interest and follow that which is common open and plain and appears so to all to the vulgar and to impartial men and to enemies too they whould do better and appear honester than now they do and honour Religion and the Gospel of our Lord Jesus our Saviour better than they do in 1 Cor. 10. chap. 31. verse 32. Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God give none Offence neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God SECT VII I Note only one thing more wherewith you are not only charged but stigmatized and publickly disgraced viz. with Folly and Phanaticism as if you were a sort of People above all others of crazy Minds Phanatick and irrational Principles and Practices as to matters of Religion particularly in the Matter of your Dissent and Separation from the Established Church Government Laws and Worship Doubtless Folly Enthusiasm and Phanaticism in Religion are as dishonourable and prejudicial to it on the one hand as Prophaneness and Immorality on the other And meeting with some witty wicked Minds and Persons unacquainted with the Principles of Religion and Power of Godliness doth more scandalize them than the other and occasion them to think that no man can be seriously Religious but Fools and that to be devout is a sign of ignorance I do believe that you are much wronged in this Matter by such who care not what they say or may say what they list having all the publick Favour and Countenance and their publick approved Teachers do not seem at all to discountenance but rather themselves use and encourage those that do use such opprobrious Names and Characters how they will answer it to God and how they can make it agree to that Christian Love Meekness Charity and Moderation they as Christians would pretend unto I know not by ill Names worse than Racha to revile rail upon expose to the most ignorant and prophane not only some few but so great a Number and Party of men and their Fellow Christians and doubtless a Party to say no more than plain truth not inferior to themselves either for Number Piety Learning or

every day more and more so far as I know them inclining to Peace Patient ready to bear all that comes or is threatned to be laid upon them Though it has not been without cause of jealousy that some were willing enough to provoke and would have been glad to see them provoked to some undue courses and disturbances that so they might have had occasion to have perfected and crowned their Plot But thanks be to God they were deceived But I was saying that doubtless you and all Christians may concern themselves in ways Christian and proper to them in the Afairs of Government and State in the place where they live And that First In their Prayers for the good of it directing them to God suitable to the occasions or workings of the designs on foot in the present State and Kingdom and Government they live under We are commanded to make Prayers Supplications Intercessions giving of Thanks for all men for Kings and for all men in Authority for this end that under them we may live a quiet peaceable life in all godliness and honesty c. And of old the People of God were commanded to seek and to Pray for the good and peace of the place where they lived though it were in Captivity For in it they should have Peace Jerem. 29.7 8. And so we may and should observe what motions and matters are carrying on in the Land and Government that we may direct our Prayers accordingly with fit and suitable arguments unto God for the good and the peace of it That is the first thing they may and ought to do Secondly If need be and matters go against us and contrary to our minds and as we think not as they should we may certainly with humility petition and pray unto men and those in Power and express our sense and fears about things pray for what we desire in a peaceable way None sure can be against this Thirdly But if the motions and designs we fear and like not be not our concern as we are of such a Party distinct from the rest but do concern the whole body of the Nation as well as us There is no reason we should seem more afraid than the rest but be able surely to bear as long as the rest of the Nation doth so long as such designs are not evidently destructive to the whole Neighbours fare here if it be not the best yet it may at present satisfie us to take our share in common If they will bear it or not mind it shall we only or first or most concern our selves more than others Fourthly Much less should we be the forwardest in matters of this nature and it is worst of all and altogether unexcusable to be querulous still thinking and censuring the worst of things to be discontented and find fault to be found more forward to take exceptions c. We ought having observed how things are let them appear never so ill yet to do in this as in other things we are commanded in nothing to be careful but to commit our selves and requests to God by supplication and to receive the good we have with Thanksgiving and the God of peace and the peace of God will keep and guard your minds in peace Fifthly For you to meddle and concern your selves over-busily will be worst taken of any it will be scandalous and of ill resentment above all others You are at some difference with them on the account of Religion and are Dissenters from the National established Worship and therefore should meddle the less and the least of any in publick State-matters and differences unless called to it I wonder but cannot tell how it came to pass that in our late Differences and Controversies in State and Civil matters you should then be or how now you come to be reckoned as a Party in the present Difference as well as the other sure I am it should not be so What! because we are Dissenters in some matters relating to Religion and Worship must we needs be so too in other matters of State and Government As I said before we should be so much the less in these and indeed scarce seen in them It is most unhappy to be thus involved and if it be the ill design of any to have it so or to represent you as such we should still so much the more decline it You should remember how apt the World has been in all Ages to cast the crime or suspition at least of Sedition and Rebellion upon the Dissenting Party so it was objected against the Christians when the world was Pagan c. So when it was Popish and so it hath always been and is like to be And at this present common Fame the common Pamphlets and Prints will needs proclaim that ye are Dissenters from and opposite to the Civil as well as Religious establishment Though it may not be uncharitably suspected and conjectured that they which charge you most with Sedition and Rebellion would be most glad if they could have the opportunity to see you so and find you actually ingaged therein and that it would both please them and advance their design for the total suppression of you but I trust that they shall for ever lose their longing However still the reason and argument of perswasion to take you off from minding and meddling too much in those concerns is so much the more forceable and perswasive upon this supposition Sixthly When ever any have through the force and provocation of violence persecution hard and cruel usage been forced out of their patience into passion and discontent and so into Insurrection Rebellion c. for their defence The adversary has improved this either to the utter destruction and extirpation of them in those places where it has been or at least to make their States and Cases much worse than they were before Seventhly Indeed it has seldom or scarce ever been seen that God has bless'd this way of Christians going about to better and amend themselves i. e. The way of force c. Neither could it be expected it being quite out of Gods way contrary to the Spirit and way of Christ Jesus and to that patience meekness bearing of Injuries Oppressions Persecution with a patient continuance in well doing and well-suffering according to the example of our dear Lord Trusting in the living God committing our ways unto him waiting patiently upon him till he in his own due time which is the best time help and deliver which if he should not do in this World is not the hope of that to come sufficient to enable Christian men to bear and suffer here for a little season Certainly if Christianity be true and truly believed it is enough that it promises so great a good to those who continue in so good and approved a way However upon the whole you may see 't is not safe meddling yea scarce safe speaking of State and publick matters and differences

Those three thousand converted to Christ in so short a time could know little of Christianity or the Laws and designs thereof they did only acknowledge that Jesus was the Christ whom they received and accepted of for their Lord and Saviour Yet this was a sure way to put all not only into a savable state but into all the rights and priviledges belonging thereunto So moreover when Peter Mat. 16. made such a frank Confession of his Faith this very Faith we speak of That Jesus was the Christ the Son of the living God Immediately a blessing or a blessed priviledge was conferred upon him as it follows there and accordingly all Christians are indued with the same upon their believing and open confession and profession of the Name of Jesus Therefore all those little conditions and qualifications that men now make and require of Christians before they will admit them into the Christian Church and Fellowship or Communion of Saints are Conditions and Orders their of own devising and serve only to form a Party for their own purpose as all Sects have commonly somewhat peculiar more than to advance Religion or Godliness and of this kind are all other Impositions laid upon men as the condition of their admission into the Church Some have of late days devised and practised that men must make a confession of their Faith in a great many Articles or according to such and such Creeds that be in fashion among them and must believe just as they do which a man may do or however may profess to do and yet be as bad as unregenerate carnal and hypocritical as the worst Some others before they will admit any into their Church and Communion will exact a Formal Narration or Declaration not only of their Faith but of their Conversion and the work of Grace upon them with the manner of their Conversion and Conviction at their first turning from their sins to God but there 's no certainty in this First For oftentimes those that are most consident and bold can do this when others of better Spirits and better in the main can't nay it is to be feared many may strain here to say more than is true or more than they have had the experience of Secondly Others sometimes have related such passages and circumstances in reference to this matter which were but trivial absurd if not ridiculous Thirdly Suppose some to have had real Convictions and trouble of mind at such a time Have not many had Convictions that yet have not proceeded to a real and through Conversion and a change of heart and spirit And have not some been changed or converted rather from one sin to another from sins more carnal to sins more spiritual than from sin it self wholly unto righteousness I say not of any that they are so but 't is possible in such a way men may deceive themselves and others so no certainty of knowledge by such a Confession Fourthly But however it is they to whom this Confession or Declaration is made are as wise as they were before and can pass but little better judgment than they could at first because proceeding by no certain rules but those of fancy and conceit and the opinion they have of the present capacity and honesty of the person speaking or declaring if he be either ignorant strongly conceited or hypocritical he may deceive them all Much more might be said against this new way and these new devised conditions and qualifications and to shew that all are to be received who profess Faith in Christ and promise to walk holily and obediently according to his Laws to the best of their knowledge and ability if afterwards they appear to be or walk otherwise they are to be looked unto watch'd over admonished reproved and in case of non-repentance or not amendment to be separated cut off and withdrawn from Fifthly And finally as to this to add this word more The case may be that many that are of upright hearts and truly fearing God who have from the heart turned unto him and hate all sin as such and are truly humbled for it yet are able to tell neither time nor circumstances in particular when or how this change was made and wrought in them Such a work may grow by degrees by vertuous Education or otherwise The beginning of the power of the Kingdom of God in the heart may be like that as to its progress which our Lord speaks of of the Kingdom of God The good seed of the word according to the similitude of the Corn sown in the earth the blade first appears then the ear then the full Corn in the ear no man presently perceives himself much less another to grow yet he may see that he hath grown and is growing in the power of the Divine Life and in good time it may become manifest in him by the fruits of it both within and without He may be born of the Spirit that knows not the time nor particular way how this did operate in him But to conclude what if it be real that such persons do declare and acknowledge and that they were really changed from evil to good yet there is no reason necessarily to conclude that therefore they must be so still Secondly Another Argument as to this is taken from the nature of the Christian Religion which being the last and so the most liberal and extensive of all the revelations and dispensations of the counsels of God unto the World for the better progress and propogation of it it is in the nature of it made fit for the whole World and the state of all mankind And therefore according to the nature of it and intendment of God in it must needs allow a great Latitude to the several ways customs usages of men in their several Nations and States Every Nation and People has somewhat peculiar and particular and differing one from another according to which the Christian Law and Gospel of Christ Jesus will suit in a good degree so they be not sinful in themselves nor contrary to the main holy end and purposes of this Religion yea so free and large is this Christian dispensation in the nature and intent of it that as it will yield much to the several ways so to the weaknesses radicated opinions customs humours of several particular persons at least for a time until they have learned or grown to better knowledge and maturity Thus it is in its self and thus it was at first when first preached to men and propagated c. Insomuch that that excellent generous spirited person the Apostle Paul in conformity to the free nature of the Gospel did become all things to all men in the 1 Cor. 9.19 20 23. verses Vnto the Jews saith he I became as a Jew i. e. In many things complyed with the Jews in their Laws Customs Ceremonies the better to win them off from those things again As without Law to them that are without the Law i.

mind and will of God what he would have us to do and to believe seeing that all this is fully made known by Christ Jesus in his Gospel who was sent on purpose to make known the most perfect will of God and did at the first in a most plentiful manner send down his Gifts and Endowments upon men to fitthem for the same Work which himself had laid the Foundation of So that there can be no frequent need and occasion for extraordinary Revelations and Motions If there be any thing yet remaining of an extraordinary Nature there may be expected extraordinary Assistance but for our ordinary Duties belonging to a Christian Life and to the keeping of the Commands of God to the glorifying of God our Heavenly Father and for the walking worthy of such a Calling as we are called unto we are to learn from the Scripture and to give our selves to the study of them with understanding and judgment learning and drawing our duty from them together with the Spiritual Nature Excellency and Dignity of the things we are to understand the things of God and of Eternal happiness and herein we have the Promise and may expect to receive the help of the Divine Spirit in and by the means of our Study and Enquiry only it is necessary we be sincere sober and considerate about such matters Lastly Supposing that which is not viz. that such strong motions and impulses should be vouchsafed and allowed for the stirring of us up to our ordinary daily Works and Duties such as Prayer Meditation Devotion c. Suppose I say that we needed not go about them till such motions were strong upon us though this were true as it is not yet this were not the best nor the most excellent way of Obedience nor of the performance of any Duties or good Works but a kind of weak low and childish Obedience in them that would not could not stir until they were forcibly led and that could not upon the appearance of the reason necessity and occasion of the Duty set themselves about it or know when to do it Out of doubt it must be judged the most free most generous and excellent kind of Obedience to do and set about our Duty that we know to be so though we feel no such powerful motions nor strong inclinations to it as long as our Reasons and Consciences are convinced of it that it is to be done Knowing our Duty in the general we should according to that common light and wisdom and the ordinary vouchsafement of God unto us be willing sometimes to stir up and to compel our selves to our Duty or any good work we have to do and what in our knowledge and Conscience we ought to do though we should find our selves unwilling or as we say going against the hair i. e. the present disposition inclination and temper of our spirits But if we must still wait for extraordinary Motions and not many times go against our Minds when they are contrarily bent and indisposed as too often they are what mean besides our own experience all those great Charges and Injunctions-prest upon us to stir up our selves to gird up the loins of our Minds to shake off sloth or not to be slothful but vigorous Followers of them and of that which is good to be intent and earnest in it though we have aversation and indisposition to it c. Now may not all see that this is the most free the most excellent generous reasonable and consequently the most acceptable and well-pleasing way of obedience in which not following our natural or ill dispositions or indispositions we pursue what according to the Divine Law and our Duty we are bound to do whether it go with us or against us And the more we deny our selves and go against our selves the more we shew of Reason and of Resolution and of entire Devotion Resignation of our selves unto God and to his service Is not this I say the most excellent and therefore the most acceptable way of obedience and performance of all Religious and Holy Services I might add to what hath been said something about the spirit of Phanaticism as to Opinions and Tenets in Religion and matters of Faith and Doctrine Some sometimes take up new and strange Doctrines meerly upon the account of some present strong motion and perswasion that is upon their minds They think they are Divinely inspired because a thing is set home upon their hearts and this conceit as wild as it is hath produced many strange Notions and Opinions that have been born and brought forth into the world by it The Heat of the Brain and the Strength of Fancy have been the Parents and though upon no better a foundation many Disciples have been made and the Authors have had many followers Such was the beginning of many Sects among us such was the first rise and beginning of several of the Orders of the Romish Church for the same Spirit works both in them and sometimes in those that would seem most opposite to them and whosoever will be at the pains to read Histories both Civil and Ecclesiastical may find not a few of this kind and if you will but be at the labour to read some pieces written purposely on this Subject as Dr. Merrick Causabon of Enthusiasm and Dr. Stillingfleet of the Phanaticism of the Church of Rome and others of this Nature you may have enough c. This wild Spirit hath seemed to shew it self most at the beginning or soon after the Reformation or some change in Religion as it was when Men began in great Numbers to fall off from the Church of Rome and Popery and at some other time since amongst Protestants c. When Men are newly come out of Darkness and Ignorance and begin to see the Light which not having been used unto they seem to be for a while in a maze not well knowing where they are nor how to six themselves and so run out into extravagancies of Opinions and Fancies without Reason without End or else when they new come out of their former Bondage and Slavery wherein they have been tyed as to Religion and their Consciences and begin to taste Liberty and the sweet of it they often grow wild and extravagant so that no sober bounds of Reason and Religion can hold them And feeling the Reins now upon their Necks with which they have been pinched and too straitly held in they now run on while they are quite out of breath They devise new Opinions and spawn new Sects at no Aim Which thing considered might be a good Caution and Admonition to them who have or pretend to have the Reins of Ecclesiastick Power in their hands and such who take upon them to guide and rule others in matters of Religion and Conscience This I say might be an Admonition to them while they are in Power to deal gently with those under them to draw them and drive them as they

are able and willing to go For though some through Fear and Force and sometimes for Interest will go on and swim with the stream and go in the Crowd yet secretly in their minds they hate and distaste if not detest it And though for their present either Ease or Interest they comply and submit to the yoke of their hard Masters yet this somewhat galling their Necks perhaps their Consciences as soon as ever they can get loose and be at liberty from under this Bondage remembring their late forced Compliance they commonly become the greatest Enemies to their old Masters and above all others are most fierce against them Yea those who never complied but were clear Dissenters from them commonly are not so great Haters fierce and implacable Opposers as these For they having not only stoopt against their Wills but against their Consciences too in some kind they now know not how sufficiently to revenge themselves against their Drivers The experience of our former Troubles besides the reason of the thing it self is a sufficient Proof of this But from what Cause soever it is this is certain when Men break loose from under the hands of tyrannous and superstitious Men few of them can keep in temperate Bounds for being rid of the common Enemy to them all every one of them are ready to set up for themselves some into one way some into another some devise new Opinions whereby to make a new Sect or Party c. And among the many Occasions and Temptations this way this is frequently found to be one they either are persuaded themselves or pretend to it and endeavor to make other Men believe that they have some new Revelation and what they do is by Divine Inspiration which thing for the supposed excellency honour and singularity of it invites and tempts great Numbers after them to which this doth not a little contribute in that they now see what little or no reason their old Masters had to claim such a Power and Authority as they used and exercised over them And they cannot also but easily and quickly see this that they have full as much Authority to guide and govern themselves to take their own course in chusing of their own Religion Sect or Opinion yea and more than their former Lords could justly pretend and lay claim unto for the Rule and direction of those they had under their Power Therefore certainly it would well become all that are in Place and Power either in Church or State when they intermeddle and concern themselves in Religion and go about to direct and guide Consciences in it that they would make this most evident to them that the Power they exercise and the Things they command and enjoin are most clear and evident upon the most undoubted Principles of Reason and Religion such as are either really or upon the matter self evident c. Finally This still seems to have been the Method and Policy of the Devil and evil Angels proceeding from that great malice and envy they have unto Men because of the great mercy of God shew'd unto them viz. That in the first place they endeavour to debauch the Souls and Consciences of Men and to turn them quite off from God and to draw them if possible through the vile Sinks and Channels of all Filthiness Pollution and Prophaneness unto all abominable Sin and Wickedness both of flesh and spirit c. But if this be not so feasible always but that some Men will be sober serious and perhaps Religiously inclined yea devout and zealous then they lay the train of their Temptations another way and in another vein more suitable to their Nature and Tempers and find out for them and fill them with some fine Notions and curious Speculations with strange Doctrines and some new devised or new revived Opinions and Heresies and make them believe that these matters newly revealed and brought to their minds set home upon their spirits are from and by the Spirit of God and that God hath in a special manner revealed and honoured them to be the Authors or Preachers of them and so they increase and propagate and being carried on with great heat and confidence and in the Name of God and being Novelties which the Vulgar are not acquainted with they are much affected therewith they take them up both eagerly and hastily and will by no means have the patience nor the prudence to have any thing seriously tryed by plain Scripture and Reason or however will not hearken with calmness and without prejudice what may be said to it and against it but run away with it being loth to lose the honour of a new-discovery and of being the first promoters of it c. POSTSCRIPT THus Christian Friends I have taken a liberty but no other than the common concern of every Christian will allow to mind you of some things wherein you may be blame-worthy or thought so to be I neither have nor dare take upon me so much Authority or Confidence to reprove judge or condemn you for the matters here taxed but only I take my observations from others and from not so much private as publick reproofs nay from the scorn and derision some make at those things they think reprovable in you publickly exposing you on those accounts Your Friends being in the mean time heartily sorry that you take no more notice thereof but because they are your reputed enemies and such you account loose and prophane though you cannot think they are all so that have publickly and in Print thus exposed you you have not endeavoured seriously to look into your ways and to consider whether something thus noted may not stick to you Remember that we all considered both as men and as particular Sects and Parties are better seen by others than by our selves and should not hastily and out of prejudice and ill opinion reject the reproofs and admonitions no not those that are done out of malice and hatred and perhaps with scorn contempt and revenge knowing that though such may overdo yet are like enough to light upon what is true as well as false because they will take all that is to be found or suspected But I assure you some of your Friends and such who agree with you in the same cause of Nonconformity have with grief and regret observed some of these faults and defects especially those about too much Formality amongst Professors and Dissenters thinking so well of themselves for if not glorifying in their Party and way of Dissent and Separation without those real Fruits holy Dispositions and such Christian temper of Spirit in all Peace Meekness Humility and Sanctity and such good works that should grace the Christian Profession and cannot be reproved but may be understood and approved of all even the worst of men And they are not a little troubled at the folly Fanaticism and Enthusiasm of some of you though others of all Parties may be guilty as well as