Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	faith_n	true_a	truth_n	4,594	5	5.5207	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25426	The king's right of indulgence in spiritual matters, with the equity thereof, asserted by a person of honour, and eminent minister of state lately deceased.	Anglesey, Arthur Annesley, Earl of, 1614-1686.; Care, Henry, 1646-1688.	1688 (1688)	Wing A3169; ESTC R6480	75,236	84

Right to the King that he may indulge this condemned person and give him a pardon for his life which is every dayes experience And many in our time have tasted the fruits of his Majesties Grace and Clemency herein And if the Common Law gives this Right of Indulgence for Life to the King it were hard to deny it him in Spiritual matters for not coming to Church or the like 6. That this right was in the King by the Common Law and practice of it may appear from many both ancient and later Precedents some whereof and first before the time of W. 1. will be remembred in their order It is observed ●●n ●Rep ●prae● f. that as under the Temoral Monarchy of Rome Britain was one of the last Provinces that was won and one of the first that was lost again so under the spiritual Monarchy of the Pope England was one of the last Countreys of Christendom that received this Yoak and one of the first that did reject and cast it off again That the Sea of Rome before W. 1. s time had no Jurisdiction in England neither in the time of the Brittans nor of the Saxons as appears by the passages of Pelagins and Colman an Irish Saint and divers others in our story but that the Kings then exercised Supream Spiritual Jurisdiction appears in part by what hath been before noted out of our stories It will not be supposed an easie thing ●ev ●esbur ●de ●ccles at so great a distance of time and after so many Revolutions and injuries of accidents to find particular apt precedents for that which is our present argument yet there seemeth to have been some even in those times not impertinent to our purpose In the Reign of the British King Arviragus ●Park● ●34 in the 63 year after the birth of our Saviour it is related that Joseph of Arimathea and eleven more of Philips Disciples arrived in Brittan and preached the name of Christ unto the Brittans who were then Pagans This new Doctrine and Religion wholly contrary to Paganisme and tending to the subversion of that whereof the Brittans were so blindly zealous yet tho they could hardly be perswaded to change the Traditions of their Fathers nevertheless they were so far from persecuting of these Non-conformists to the old Religion that they freely permitted them to preach and to instruct the people in this new Doctrine and Worship though wholly different from their own Profession And the King did so far grant Indulgence to them and to all that would hear them that every one had the liberty of his own Conscience indulged to them And because these Preachers came from far and that their lives were full of Modesty and Meekness and that they instructed the people in pious things the King for their maintinance granted to them the Isle of Glassenbury each one of these Non-conformists having an hide of Land given to him and they twelve in number they are called the twelve Hides of Glassenbury to this day You see the Pagans were so far from persecuting them or taking any thing from them as they gave them a livelyhood This Indulgence and grant was confirmed by many of the Saxon Kings their Successors When Paganus and Damianus preached the Gospel of Christ to the Brittans King Lucius not only gave them Indulgence though their Doctrine and Religion was so contrary to Heathenisme then professed here but both the King and his People became Non-conformists to their old Pagan Worship and embraced the true Faith of Christ How much longer might that blessed Truth have been hid from our eyes and that glorious Light of the Sun of Righteousness have been obscured from our eyes had it not been for granting Indulgence to the preaching of it sure we ought to have the better opinion of Indulgence since Christianity was introduced by it So it was when Augustin the Monk preached to the Saxons had he not been indulged to preach and the people to hear our Saxon Ancestors had not been converted to the knowledge of Christ Jesus The Christian Saxon King Kenulphe Stamford 3. c. 38. f. 111. 1 H. 7. f● 23. tit 2 Coke 5 Rep. Eccl● Case f. 9. Ab omni Episcopali ju● re in sempeternum esse quietus nu● lius Episco● aut suorum officialium jugo inde depremantur Leg. Alure● Reg. c. 2. Bilson differ p. 40 Bede l. 1. c. 25. by the Counfel of his Bishops and Senators did grant to the Abbey of Abingdon certain Lands with an express clause of Indulgence contained in the grant That the Abbot and his Successors should be free for ever from all Episcopal Jurisdiction and that the Tenants and Inhabitants should not be depressed by the yoak of any Bishop or his Officials but in all things should submit to the Decrees of the Abbot And although this were done by the Councel of his Bishops and Senators that doth not impeach but rather fortifie the Kings Right to do it by their Judgments that it should be done by him In the Laws of King Alured he grants Indulgences and Immunities for the Clergy themselves And when Gregory sent Augustin the Monk and his Companions to convert the Saxons they stayed in the Isle of Thanet till the Kings pleasure were known and whether he would grant them Indulgence to exercise their Religion here and instruct others therein which the King although it were sufficiently different from the Religion then professed by the Heathen Saxons did grant unto these Dissenters and encouraged them so far that at length they became of their perswasion The Application may be thus far proper That if Pagans gave so much Indulgence to Christians it would ill beseem Christians not to give the like to one another 7. Some Precedents in the time of W. 1. and after Eadmerus f. 165. 167 7 E 3. Quare Imp● 19. 5 Rep. f. 10● Mat. Paris Anno 1119 Coke 5 Rep. Eccle● Case f. 106● Roger Hovenden f. 496. down unto our own memories may be next in order remembred W. 1. granted a full Indulgence by his Charter of Exemption unto Battel-Abbey that they should be under no Jurisdiction of the Bishop And it was an Indulgence to the Free-holders when he divided the Bishops Court from the Hundred Court which before that sate both together So was his appropriating of Churches without Cure to Ecclesiastical Persons The like exemption and Indulgence is granted by his Charter to the Abbey of Reading H. 1. granted an Indulgence by his Charter to the Abbey of Reading and saith he doth it as well in regard of Ecclesiastical as Regal Power H. 2. granted an Indulgence to his people That none of the Popes Decrees should be executed here nor any of his Bulls of Excommunication Not. in Ead● mer p. 14● He did the like to his Clergy of Normandy in the Exemptions he granted to them 45 H. 3. Rot. Stan● in 14. dorso● 1 E. 1. Rot. Stans in 5. dorso● H. 11.

whole Estate is thereby past away and what he had by Law he hath given away by this Release of his Right That which we call a Man's Right is that which is due which by Law and Justice he ought to have 2. Next We may consider the King 's Right which is what the Law and Justice gives to the King that which is due to him The Right of the King of England is no new upstart Right but of great Antiquity injoyed by his Predecessors from the beginning of Government amongst us It is no Usurped Right but descended to him from his Royal Ancestors by Succession and Inheritance It is no disputable Right but certain and clear defined by the known Laws of this Kingdom and general Consent of his People who have submitted thereunto It is no Subordinate Right our King acknowledgeth no Superior his Empire is Independant under God and as Soveraign by Law as any Prince's in Christendom 3. Of the King's Grant may be our next Argument wherein I intend not to argue the several sorts of the King's Grants under the Great Seal the Privy Seal or his Sign Manuel and the force of such Grants This is not our present business but the meaning of the King's Grant as we intend it is where he gives or bestows his Favour and Indulgence to any of his Subjects by such ways and legal Conveyance or Grant thereof as is Valid and Effectual to those to whom it is made be it under the Great Seal or otherwise this is meant by the King's Grant. And it is the Honourable Intention of the King that all his Grants should be effectual and valid as the Grants of a King ought to be else his Officers do not their duty 4. We may now inquire the meaning of Indulgence The word Indulgentia Spieg. Is cui alimenta relicta fuerant in metallis damnatus Dd. in exped ard de Por. c. ult l. 6. Spieg. Lib. in quasd 13. ss 4. cap. de Sen. pass restit 9. in Extra de Paen. remis L. 2.3.11 c. de sent pas Bris was properly used for the leaving of Victuals for one who is condemned to the Mines It comprehends generally a Permission a Condescention a certain Lenity or mildness So it used in the Civil Laws and the Canonists take it for a Pardon It comprehends a Recovery or Restitution of Dignity Lands and of all things lost Most pertinent to our purpose is the Sense wherein the Gloss takes it that it means a relaxation of Punishment which one is to undergo for his Offences a grant of the Prince's Clemency by which a Subject is freed from Punishment and in this sense doth the Law of England also mean an Indulgence and is the same with a License an Exemption a Pardon or a Dispensation 5. We may likewise inquire the meaning of Spiritual Matters by them are meant such matters as concern the Soul or Spirit such as concern the Worship of God in Doctrine and Discipline It is no loose Consideration Seneca Epist 27. by what Care and Cost Kingdoms and States should be preserved being they derive and uphold all happiness to Men. The only infallible ground of their preservation is true Religion the worship of God in Spirit and in Truth And though ill manners are by accident the cause Ex malis moribus bonae leges or rather occasion of good Laws which are better in execution and best in obedience yet good manners cause obedience and Religion begets good manners Spiritual matters are matters of Religion but Religion cannot consist without Publick Exercise and action and the requisits thereof If the Expression Spiritual P. Nye of the Kings Supremacy be interpreted by the contradistinct member Temporal it seems to direct us to understand such matters as concern Eternity for that is the true opposite to what is Temporal The things that are seen are Temporal 2 Cor. 4.18 and the things that are not seen are Eternal This we mean by Matters Spiritual 6. But it may be now not improper to express in the negative what I do not mean by this Indulgence and then what I do mean by it By Indulgence I do not mean that a toleration should be granted by the King of any known Blasphemy or Sin. Neither do I mean such Indulgences whereof Luther complains that for Money Indulgence was granted for Sin and redemption out of Purgatory surely none can pardon Sin but God alone and Money got by such means perisheth with the getter 7. But in the affirmative by Indulgence in Spiritual matters is meant a permission of Liberty of mens Consciences in matters not sinful of themselves and whereby there is no disturbance of the Publick Peace That where Men out of tenderness of Conscience cannot submit to some particulars injoyned by Authority in matters touching God's Worship fearing or doubting least if they should do it they should offend God and hazard the salvation of their precious Souls and upon these grounds do not conform yet live peaceably For an Indulgence and Permission to these Persons to serve God as they think most for the good of their own Souls especially when they agree in Fundamentals with the rest of their Brethren That these may not be punished in their Estates or Liberties much less in their Lives for Nonconformity This is that Indulgence which is meant in matters Spiritual CHAP. II. That from Grounds of Policy Indulgence in Spiritual Matters is fit to be granted 1. IT will be needless to discourse of the King 's Right to grant Indulgence in Spiritual matters unless it be fit and expedient that such Indulgence be granted If it be not fit to be granted the King will not grant it his wisdom and affection to his People will disswade him from it therefore before we proceed any further in this Argument it will not be impertinent to enquire whether such Indulgence be fit to be granted or not And it seems to me very clear that it is fit to be granted and that first from grounds of Polity The chief grounds of Polity is the preservation of the Publick Peace to which nothing more conduceth than the granting such Indulgence Other grounds of Polity therein are the incouragement of Trade the increase of People their dependance upon the Prince and the quieting of mens troubled minds Upon all which grounds is inferrd and that in Polity the granting of such Indulgence and we shall take the liberty to treat somewhat of them in order 1. It seems fit for the better preservation of the Publick Peace that such Indulgence be granted Tacitus notes That it is safer to let pass things grown up and strong in discrepancy than to provoke them to future discords When things are old and rooted they labour in vain who would remove them by violence the shaking of them makes them but the firmer To unite Men in Religion by force is to cause the Sword to be drawn French History H. 4.

which is not so easily sheathed again Princes well advised have never put some of their Subjects to death to make others believe that they have not wasted their Provinces by War but to instruct the Consciences of their Subjects by the Sword knowing that Religion is an act of Union Concord and Instruction War nothing else but Misery and Destruction And they who have moved Heaven and Earth that is have made use of every Engine to force the Consciences of their Subjects into the same Religion have been constrained at last to desist rejecting the Counsels of bad Physicians who have nothing but Stibium and letting of blood for all sorts of Diseases Where Liberty of Conscience cannot be enjoyed the Canker of Civil Discord frets and eats till it can break forth into open Sedition But by granting an Indulgence both their Minds and Persons become peaceable 2. That this is so appears from the Examples of some of our Neighbours who had many troubles and much disturbances of their Peace before Indulgence was granted to Dissenters among them and much Peace and Security after it This was the case of the Netherlanders whom their Governours could not retain in Peaceful Obedience till they had granted this Indulgence which with them is very large yet is esteemed a chief cause of their Peace and Civil Unity nor do any flourish more in Trade and all Security That wise and gallant Prince H. IV. of France saw so great Mischiefs in his State and such a floud of Civil Dissention for want of this Indulgence that he thought fit to grant it and told his Parliament That Necessity and Utility moved him to do it by the Advice of all his Council who found it good and necessary for the State of his Affairs and the good of his Service to confirm the Indulgence and to dissipate those unhappinesses that Discord had produced and it would be found equally prudent peaceful and happy for every Prince to follow this Example 3. That by such Indulgence the Peace will be the better preserved appears further by Examples of elder times Christians have been so strangely hated and persecuted in the Birth of the Church that some gave them no other Names but of Impostors others accused them of the injury of the Air of the sterility of the Seasons of the overflowing of Rivers and of Earth-quakes But the Emperour Adrian would not that they should be curiously searched into as to the matter of Religion and Antoninus his Successor commanded that he that accused them should be burnt alive After the whole Empire had found the publique Prosecutions of Dioclesian and Maximinius to be vain and fruitless and that for one Christian they caused to be Burnt an hundred sprang up out of their Ashes their Successors found it true Curtius L. 7. nemo Rex perinde animis imperare Potest That Kings have not the same command over Hearts as over Bodies That Religion could not be forced that Truth could not be joyned with Violence nor Justice with Cruelty and that there is nothing so free as Religion nothing so voluntary that the Permission and Indulgence of that freedom tends most to the preservation of Publique Peace a main ground of all Polity Pagan Princes have found it so Pagans have Indulged Christians by Indulging the Christians And it was Objected against Decius that his want of Moderation towards the Christians robbed him of the Title of a Great and Righteous Prince Christian Princes also have Indulged Pagans Christians have Indulged Pagans and would not have Paganism among them to be Punished The Emperours Honorius and Theodosius though burning with the Zeal of advancing their Religion yet would not that the Heathens should be forced to be Christians and required of all Judges and Presidents of Provinces not to trouble them so long as they did live without Disturbance or Sedition It were hard for Christians to deny the like favour and Indulgence to one another The Jews Jews have been Indulged by Pagans although irreconcilable Enemies to the Ethnicks and to the multitude of their Gods yet have they dwelt with the greatest security among the Grecians Parthians Medes Elamites and Mesopotamians none ever chaced them out of the Roman Empire they have had there in all times their Synagogues especially under Nerva and Antoninus Pius They have lived peaceably and been Indulged in England And by Christians France Spain and other Countries and wheresoever they were driven out of any Kingdom it was not for their Religion but for their Vsuries and great Cruelties and it would be hard to see these in quiet who deny Christ and Protestants hurried to Prison for disliking Surplices or some little things Doubtless A violent way of force will never be found a way to preserve Peace where a mild way of Indulgence is open and having been taken it appears by Examples both of elder and latter times that it hath been found by Princes the best way to preserve their Tranquility 4. Upon the grounds of Polity from the consideration of the the present state of our Affairs in England it seems sit that this Indulgence be granted and that thereby our Peace will the better be preserved The Baltique and other deep Seas being once moved by Tempests do swell and rowl high for many hours after and a small new Storm raises them yet much higher After hideous Storms of Civil Discord in England the Affairs thereof through the miraculous goodness of God in his Majesties Restoration are come into a calm state yet the more apt to rage because so lately moved and therefore surely all Tempestuous courses are to be avoided and Provocations laid aside There are three ways of stopping Commotion from raging again by Force by Extirpation or by Indulgence If Force be used to keep Dissenters quiet and to compel Conformity this Force cannot be maintained without a vast Charge this Charge will increase Discontent in them and others that must cause increase of Force that again increase of Charge and that of Discontent and so it will run round in a course of unhappiness and unsetledness It were Impiety in a Prince to be angry with his own Countrey he ought rather to imitate good Physitians who having used sharp Remedies without profit do apply sweet ones Those who are for an Extirpation of the Nonconformists would un-people their Native Countrey disarm their Prince of so may thousands of Strong and Valiant Subjects abate their own Revenue and the publique Wealth and Trade to enrich Foreign Countries Some merciless Fancies would force a Conformity on Pain of Death a sure way of Extirpation Such Tyrannous men are like their Predecessor infamous in History who would have all conform to his Stature those who were not so tall as he to be racked out to his length those who were taller then he to be cut stort to the length of his Bed. Certainly there is as much difference in Judgments as in Statures and as