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	pope_n	rome_n	5,434	5	6.6788	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61177	A sermon preached before the Lord mayor, and the Court of Aldermen, at Guild-Hall Chappel, on the 29th of January 1681/2 by Thomas Sprat ...	Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713.; Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy (London, England)	1682 (1682)	Wing S5057; ESTC R17957	18,038	47

Certainly never till the Anabaptistical madness and Enthusiastical phrensies of these last Ages did any Members of the Church of Christ presume upon an extraordinary Purity and Holiness of their own to declare themselves Absolved by a Spiritual Light within them from the eternal Bonds of Reason Right and Justice to which we are all indispensably obliged not only as we are men but much more as we are Christians And to manifest the just Judgment of God against them all for these Usurpations is it not very observable that the very same men who most of all men that call themselves Christians have invaded the rights of publick Government and private Virtue the Romanist on the one side the Enthusiasts on the other the very same men have made the greatest Invasions on Religion it self the one on its Purity the other on its Unity Those of the Church of Rome Pope Hildebrand and His Followers who assum'd a Dominion and Supremacy over all Temporal Laws did not they first exalt themselves in the Temple of God above all that is called God above the Scripture it self the express Law of God The Anabaptists in Germany and their Successors of whatever Name or Sect who first falsly boasted that their inward Sanctity and Inspirations did set them above the low rudiments and beggerly elements of this world as they miscall'd the Obligations of Virtue and Obedience did the same men rest satisfied there Did they not at the same time profess that all sober Piety and decent Worship and intelligible Religion was as gross and carnal and Antichristian and as grievous to their spirits as they had pronounced all the Ordinances of Civil Government and moral Virtue to be But God be praised neither of these abominable examples is of sufficient Authority or Antiquity to make a President against the constant universal practice of the whole uncorrupt Christian as well as Jewish Institution Still therefore the same observation holds good that Justice and Piety Righteousness and Religion came into the world together In their beginning they were brought forth as Twins the most beloved Children of the most high the most likely Off-spring of Heaven And as they were Contemporaries at first so they have been all along educated together both cherish'd alike by God himself both observed alike by all wise holy and good men Nor indeed could it well be otherwise For the mutual agreement between Justice and Piety is inseparable The perpetual union of Righteousness and Religion is most necessary The Principles on which they both subsist the ends which they would both produce are the same or subordinate one to the other Are not true Reason and the Word of God some of the chief Principles of true Righteousness so they are of true Religion Are not the Glory of God and the happiness of mankind the ends of Religion so they are of Righteousness Religion indeed does carry the blessed work much farther undertakes to finish it in another life But Righteousness begins it in this life and performs its part so well that without it Religion it self could have little or no real influence on the Consciences of its Disciples Was not mankind a Society as soon as it was a Church and Righteousness contributed to make it a Society as Religion did to make it a Church Was it not Righteousness that first made men begin to confide in one another to commit their private Safety and Profit to each others Fidelity That therefore was the common parent of all other Virtues That first peopled the world That first drew and enticed men into Houses and Cities and then secured them there and so divided mankind from beasts in conditions as well as habitations Certainly it was Righteousness as a part of natural Religion that first made men to be men and so prepared and then deliver'd them over to reveal'd Religion and at last to be made Christians and Saints If Righteousness had not temper'd and soften'd and reconciled humane nature within it self no creature had been more fierce and salvage than the Sons of Adam none would have had more vehement passions to desire mischief none more cunning to contrive it none a greater power to effect it If we take Righteousness out of the heart of a man we leave nothing there of the image of God after which he was created Take Righteousness out of a private Family and it soon turns into a den of Thieves Take Righteousness out of a State and that only becomes a more regular more politic more combin'd and therefore a more pernicious society of mighty Robbers Take Righteousness out of the World and the world would not deserve to be call'd as it was at first the complete work of God's hands but a Chaos still or a rude Forest or Wilderness or something worse For to be inhabited only by rapine and violence is worse than to be only an innocent unfrequented Desart Thus whatever increase of Civil Arts whatever flourishing of populous Nations whatever intercourse between people and people has been practis'd to supply the necessities conveniences and Ornaments of humane life they were all at first founded on Righteousness From that are derived to us all our temporal Blessings without that we could never have enjoyed the means of our eternal Blessings For where there is no true Righteousness there can be no true humanity no civility no kindness of men to one another and by consequence no true Religion For all true Religion is always accompanied with some true humanity wherever the power of Christianity comes it either finds some civility or makes it What is that which immediately follows Glory to God on high peace on earth good will towards men And where there is no Righteousness there can be no good will where there is no good will of men to one another there can be no place or no well-grounded hope of Gods good will to men This is the first thing in my Text Righteousness a virtue so beneficial so necessary to mankind so highly valued of God himself This deals with men as men upon the square upon even terms justly expecting a like return of good offices The next is Mercy But that has more of superiority and majesty in it That takes men on the greatest disadvantage with the greatest generosity when they are either miserable by distresses or obnoxious by injuries relieves the one pardons the other Whatever therefore I have said or can be said in praise of Righteousness still the chief place in our praises and practice ought to be reserved for Mercy Great indeed is the extent of both these together All below Righteousness is sin nothing is above Mercy So that both together comprehend the whole compass of mens duty to one another from the lowest to the highest part of it which may be all contained in two words Honesty and Charity that is the Righteousness and Mercy in my Text. Thus they are best together But if consider'd asunder or compared then Mercy

that prospect above which is the last bound of the very eyes of our Bodies how much more ought it to be the last object of the eyes of our minds And if that life that honor shall be at the bottom of all your hearts shall be the beginning and end of all your pains and studies if by Righteousness and Mercy you shall aspire towards them you cannot come short of them This way you shall find as near and as sure a passage to Heaven from the midst of your earthly business and worldly Employments conscientiously and piously righteously and mercifully managed as any other man has reason to expect from the greatest retirement of a solitary Devotion I speak this on good authority For thus the holy Scripture it self dispenses the joys of Heaven In the whole course of the Gospel eternal glory is as much at least as much ensured to the just and charitable virtues and graces of an active life and of a publick station in this world as to any other part of all contemplative or practical Religion Whatever imaginations some men may have concerning the true way and gate that leads to celestial happiness which men have been always too ready to open to themselves and to those of their own parties and opinions too quick in shutting it upon all others too many usurping an authority of brandishing the terrors of Gods Justice and of scattering the assurances of his Mercy when and where they please which were neither of them ever committed to their distribution yet whatever claim such men may make to the joys of Heaven some pretending to them only by the free Grace without regarding the precepts of the Gospel some only by relying on single Faith and vilifying of Charity some by great scruples in little things and far less care of great things some by censuring of other mens lives and putting as many as they can under a state of Damnation by being more against other mens Religions than for their own yet undoubtedly none of these is the way These are all mistaken unrighteous unmerciful ways The only true way to Heaven which God himself has traced out which Christ himself does often point at though it be narrow yet it is a direct not a cross way though it be strait yet it is passable and has a gate always open And what is this way what this gate It is not a disputing contentious comparing censorious but a mild peaceable righteous merciful way And this it is By the mercy of God the Father Christ made to us Righteousness and that Mercy and this Righteousness made effectual to us men by the assistance and consolations of God the Holy Ghost and that received by men with a lively efficacious Faith and that evidenc'd to be in men by such effects as most resemble their Divine Original such as respect both God and man Which are true Righteousness and Mercy of men to one another accompanied with unfeigned piety towards God Is there still behind in my Text any more reward promised to the man who follows after Righteousness and Mercy Indeed can there be any more than mortal life and honor life and honor immortal yes there is still more And it is that you see which is the cause of all the other Rewards It is Righteousness it self He that followeth after Righteousness and Mercy findeth life righteousness and honor which now if you please may be thus briefly paraphrased He that lives righteously and mercifully towards men if he shall practise these virtues humbly and constantly if he shall perform them so as not at all to rely on their merit for salvation if still he shall find the want and believe the efficacy and lay hold on the benefit of our dear Redeemers more precious Righteousness he shall then partake of the fruits and enjoy the happiness that is promised indeed to our righteousness and mercy but was purchas'd only by our Saviours Righteousness and bestow'd only by Gods mercy I am now arrived at the other more Evangelical signification of the word Righteousness But I come to it so late that I cannot treat of it at large And it is better to say nothing of it than too little Only from this and the rest of my discourse I beg leave to present you farther with one short observation which perhaps will not be unseasonable by me to be mention'd with all Submission by you to be received with favorable Interpretation You may perceive that the true Doctrine and Practice of Righteousness and Mercy of mens righteousness and mercy to one another of Gods righteousness and mercy to men had the same Divine Author and example at first the same course and progress afterwards and they are all along in Scripture represented under the same or very like expressions Righteousness and Mercy are the sum of the Law in one sense they are the substance of the Gospel in another The only possible means and instrument to secure and preserve the one of these is Civil Government The only way to teach and maintain the other is Religion What now may be fairly concluded from all this Certainly that as these two most admirable things have themselves so long so well agreed in matter and words in growth and increase as they are both the best things in this world so the means and instruments of preserving them both are both most nearly united in interest and ought to be so in mutual affections and assistance Certainly when God himself chose his first Law-giver and his first High-Priest out of the same Family when he appointed Moses and Aaron two Brethren of the same house to be his principal Ministers of Justice and Piety it was not by chance it was not for want of choice But there was even then some mystical intention and that was even then a happy presage that between the true Righteousness and the true Religion there should in all succeeding Ages be nourish'd a perpetual League and Alliance offensive and defensive that as God himself expresses it Aaron might be to Moses instead of a mouth Moses to Aaron instead of God And is there not still the same reason for the same entire union between both these things among us as there was then among Gods own people have they not both the same strengths and dangers the same hopes and fears the same friends and enemies the same friends in Heaven and Earth the same enemies in Earth and Hell The common adversaries of both may begin against Religion as God knows in most of our memories they did But did not then and will not always the ruine of Righteousness suddenly follow the overthrow of Religion In all or most of the seditious practices tumults and confusions among us the false cause of God has been first pretended the true cause of God first struck at and next to that immediately a false Justice has been made a colour to supplant the true Justice The Church has been always attempted first to be removed that they might come at the State the more easily Can there be then a more powerful argument to unite us all in preventing the like mischiefs than our common danger Can there be a better guide to admonish us all how to prevent them than our common experience I profess I speak this not only as a necessary caution for the time to come but as well in just acknowledgment of what is past For as we have reason to thank the enemies of our Religion on all sides when they upbraid us as they often do that ours is a meer State-Religion because the interest of our Church has been always ever since its Reformation inseparable from that of the Civil Government Which we freely grant and must always assert as that by which we shall stand or fall nay by which through the blessing of God we shall always stand so we must declare to all the world that next to the Scripture it self and the genuine Interpretation of it by the ancient Christian Writers and the uninterrupted use of the best and purest Ages of Christianity next these the great Establishment and Strength of the Church of England is the protection of the Crown and the stability of our Civil Government and Laws And thus far we confess ours is a state-State-Religion Our Church was Reform'd by Authority of the State and above all its enemies it best provides for the security of the State Wherefore in the name of God as the best way to frustrate all our enemies hopes against our Church and State which will be the most solid answer to all their little objections let us all unanimously persevere in our several stations to pray for and obey to strengthen and defend one of the most moderate the wisest the most pious frames of Religion that ever Christians enjoy'd since the Primitive Age one of the best the freest the most happy constitutions of Civil Government that ever mankind enjoy'd since the Creation May we all agree in this undeniable truth that whoever would subvert the State they are mortal enemies to Religion whoever would destroy Religion they are equally enemies to the State To both let us be subject not only for wrath but for conscience sake And the more for Conscience sake because so very little or no wrath so much of Justice and Mercy is to be found in them both May therefore Iustice and Piety Mercy and Truth meet together that Glory may dwell in our Land may Righteousness and Peace always kis each other among us May the Counsels an persons that advance and protect both in th Nation be inviolably united in Righteousnes and Mercy may they for ever prosper with Lif and Honor. AMEN FINIS Eccles. vii 16. S. James ii 13. S. James ii 13. Psal. cvi 45. S. Mat. ix 13. S. Luke vi 36. Ps. cxlv 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c S. Mat. vii 7. I Kings iii. Rom. xii 21 Psalm xxxvii 25. Rom. xiii