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	great_a	rome_n	5,301	5	6.4962	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30438	A sermon preached at White-Hall before the King and Queen on the 29th of April, 1691, being the fast-day by the Right Reverend Father in God, Gilbert Lord Bishop of Sarum.	Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1691 (1691)	Wing B5896; ESTC R4095	15,156	38

Enquiry let us reflect a little on the Two Characters in my Text and ask our own Hearts which will answer us truly if the Question is right put Whether are we of the small and despised number of those that are truly Godly and Faithful or not Have we a Sense of God dwelling much upon our Hearts Is his Fear much before our Eyes Does this Principle make us do or forbear many things that we would not do or forbear without it Do we accustom our selves often to reflect on the Works and Ways of God Do we acknowledge his Providence depend upon it and in all things submit to it Do we often consider that he sees and observes all we do and that he will call us to give an Account of it at the last Day Do we often pour out our Souls before him in earnest Prayer Are we so sensible of our Frailty and Misery that we cry mightily to God for Mercy and Grace Do we often Implore the Assistances of his Holy Spirit and bless him for all the good things that we receive at his Hands Do we often in our Prayers to him intercede for all Mankind and more particularly for the Church and Nation to which we do belong Do we in our secret Addresses to the Throne of Grace make mention of those whom God in his merciful Providence has set over us Do we implore a Blessing upon their Persons and Government upon their Counsels and Undertakings Do we upon these Solemn Days join our Secret Devotions with the Publick Offices and are we seriously affected with the State and the Dangers of our Religion Do we rejoice in the Publick Acts of Religious Worship Do we assist in them with our Hearts as well as with our Persons Have we a Witness within us that can answer all these Questions or must not we to deal truly with our selves acknowledge that we are Strangers to them all and that tho Religion is a Name of so decent a sound that we dare not directly attack it yet in our Hearts we wish there were no such thing in the World we are weary of it and if we cannot conveniently throw off the very Name and Appearances of it yet we take care to let all the World see that in our Account it is no more than a Name If then the much greater part of Mankind live as if there were no such thing as Religion in all their Thoughts unless it be to abuse and profane it If the whole course of their Lives shew that they have said in their Hearts That there is no God then we have but too much Reason to cry out Help Lord for the Godly man ceaseth And alas there is but too much reason to add and the faithful faileth from among the children of men and that the whole Charge of the Prophet belongs too truly to us that there is no mercy no truth nor knowledge of God in the land while every Man is ready to cheat and deceive his Neighbour to flatter him with the Shews and Professions and perhaps the Oaths and Protestations of Kindness while in his Heart he hates him and endeavours to undermine him while Calumny and Slander are the most common Heads of Discourses while no trust can be given to what is said and almost as little regard to what is sworn while it is one of the Arts of Conversation to affirm things which are known to be false and to promise things which are not intended to be observed while all these things are so common among us Where is that Truth in the inward Parts which God loves Where is the Probity and Fidelity that is practised among many Heathen Nations with so Religious a Simplicity that the very Name of Christianity is blasphemed among them When the Christians that go from us and carry with them those Qualities that they had learned in these Parts are for this very reason thought to have a false Religion because they are so impudent in the practises of Falshood and Dissimulation And while we reproach the Church of Rome with the Doctrines of Equivocation as the Arts and Disguises of Falshood the greater part among our selves practise these things in so bare-faced a manner as if they were angry only at the dressing up and disguising of them and resolved to practise a more honest Falshood would avowedly practise that which the others teach us to do covertly Ah if according to the threatning God would cut off all lying Lips under what a desolation should our Cities and Countries our Courts and Camps be quickly brought it would destroy us faster than Famines Plagues or Wars could do And this leads me to the Third part of my Discourse which is to consider the dangerous and almost desperate State of a Nation in which Godly and Faithful men do fail It is dangerous by reason of the natural Effects that must needs follow on such a Corruption besides the Judgments of God that it must draw down upon a Nation Where Men are no more restrained by the Principles of Religion they naturally give themselves up to their Pleasures or Interests this makes them both feeble and effeminate base and treacherous When inward Restraints are taken off Nature must break out and undisciplined Appetites and Passions must work the Dissolution of Society and Government especially where Liberty is preserved and Law bears sway Absolute Governments may be restrained and maintained at the pleasure of a severe Prince But a legal and free Government cannot stand long against an Inundation of Vice and Impiety So that here Religion becomes Indispensably necessary even for the Preservation of the Constitution For how can Men live long together in any tolerable Order and Quiet if neither the Fear of God nor the Awe of Man restrains them The censures of the Law fall only upon some enormous Crimes but the corruption of Mens Morals and Principles cannot be reached in a Government that is exactly legal Therefore such a Constitution must either be fortified by Religion otherwise it must turn feeble and fall into Decay and in Fact we see that no free Government was over-run with Tyranny till the Minds of the People by the abuse of their Liberty were corrupted with Sensuality This blunts Industry and raises the Expence beyond the income which must quickly bring Ruin after it The Expence of Vice must be supported with Extortion and Oppression Corruption and Bribery The ravenous Men of Pleasure as they do little for the Publick so they think they can never rob it enough The Love of the Publick and of ones Country which is the Root of the most generous Actions of which the Nature of Man is capable sinks in a Man dissolved into Pleasure or sold to Interest A noble contempt of Life which gives an Heroical Courage that is the chief Instrument of the Preservation of a Nation has no true Foundation but in Religion Not to fear Death in one that has reason to believe there