Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	false_a	true_a	worship_n	4,780	5	7.8086	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A06108	The theatre of Gods iudgements: or, a collection of histories out of sacred, ecclesiasticall, and prophane authours concerning the admirable iudgements of God vpon the transgressours of his commandements. Translated out of French and augmented by more than three hundred examples, by Th. Beard.; Histoires memorables des grans et merveilleux jugemens et punitions de Dieu. English	Chassanion, Jean de, 1531-1598.; Beard, Thomas, d. 1632.	1597 (1597)	STC 1659; ESTC S101119	344,939	488

pertaineth to manie yea to the vvhole bodie of the people And admit that this reason vvas effectual yet the glose vpon the place saith very notably That the princes pleasure may be held for a law so far forth as that which pleaseth him be iust and honest giuing vs to know thus much therby that euerie vvill and pleasure of a Prince may not indifferentlie be allowed for a law if it be in an vniust and dishonest action contrarie to the rule of good maners Moreouer it appeareth by the customes of many ancient people and realmes that Princes had neuer this license giuen them to doe vvhat they listed for let them be neuer so mightie yea as mighty as Darius vnder vvhose raign the Persian monarchie was abolished yet he must bee content according to the law of the Medes and Persians not to bee able to infringe that law vvhich vvas by the aduise of his Peeres and priuie counsell enacted and by his owne consent and authoritie established no though for Daniels deliuerance sake vvhom he loued Dan. 6.8 he greatly desired and tooke paines either to disannull or at least to giue a fauourable interpretation of it Such in old time was the custome of the Kings of Aegypt not to follow their owne affections in any actions they vvent about Diod. lib. 2. cap. 2. but to be directed by the aduise of their laws for they had not so much authoritie as to iudge betwixt man and man or to leuie subsidies and such like by their owne powers neither to punish any man through choler or any ouerweening conceit but were alwaies tied to obserue iustice and equitie in all causes neither did it grieue them so to doe being persuaded that whilest they obeied their lawes nothing could better betide them but good Thucyd. lib 1. The Lacedemonian Kings were in such bondage to the lawes of their countrie that the Ephori which were set vp to none other end but to be a bridle to hold them backe from doing vvhat they listed had absolure authority to correct them vvhen they had committed any fault which subiection nothing displeased king Theopompus as it is apparent by the answere he made his wife that reproued him once in anger saying by his cowardlinesse he would leaue a lesse kingdome to his children then he had receiued of his ancestors nay saith he a greater for so much as more durable and parmanent Plutarch praising the vprightnesse of King Alcamenes who for feare to breake the law refused diuerse presents that were sent him bursteth into this speech O heart worthie of a King that hath preferred the authoritie of the law before his owne profite Where are those fellowes now that crie Kings pleasures ought to be obserued for lawes and that a Prince may make a law but is not subiect to it himselfe and this is that which Plutarch saith as concerning that matter who liued vnder Traian the Emperour Cornelius Tacitus discouering the beginning and originall of the Romane ciuill law Lib. 3. Annal. saith that Seruius the third King of Rome after Romulus and Numa was the only man that most established those lawes wherevnto kings themselues ought to yeeld and be obedient And admit that the Emperors swaied with great power and authoritie almost all the world yet for all their fiercenesse and haughtinesse of mind Pliny durst tell Traian verie roundlie In Paneger that an Emperour ought to vse to carrie himselfe with such good gouernment in his Empire as if he were sure to giue vp an account of all his actions thou must not saith he desire more libertie to follow thine owne lust then any one of vs doe a Prince is not set ouer the law but the law placed in authority aboue the Prince this was the admonition of that Heathen man Likewise Antonius and Seuerus two mighty Emperours although by reason of an opinion of their owne greatnesse and haultinesse wherwith they flattered themselues bragged that they were not subiect to anie law yet they added this clause withall That notwithstanding they would liue according to the direction of the law Lib. 4. tit 17. This saith Theodosius and Valentinian two no lesse mighty Emperours is a voice becomming the roial Maiestie and greatnesse of a king To confesse himselfe to liue vnder a law and in truth it is a thing of greater importance then the imperiall dignity it selfe Lib. 1 ●od to put soueraignty vnder the authority of law Amongst many other good lessons and exhortations which Lewis that good King gaue vnto his son on his death bed Nicol. Gil vol. 1. Chronicl franc this was one worthy the remembring how he commanded him to loue and feare God with all his strength and to take heed of doing any thing that should be contrarie to his law whatsoeuer should befall him and to prouide that the good lawes and statutes of his kingdome might bee obserued and the priuiledges of his subiects maintained to forbid iudges to fauour him more then others when any cause of his owne came in triall Thereby giuing vs thus much to vnderstand that euery good King ought to submit himselfe in obedience vnder the hand of God and vnder the rule of iustice and equitie Wherefore there is neither king nor Keisar that can or ought to exempt himselfe from the obseruance of sacred and vpright lawes which if they resist or disanull doubtlesse they are culpable of a most hainous crime and especially of rebellion against the king of kings CHAP. VII Of the punishment that seased vpon Pharoa king of Aegypt for resisting God and transgressing the sixt commandement of the law WE haue sufficiently declared in the premisses that the mightiest potentates of this world are bound to range themselues vnder the obedience of Gods law it remaineth now that wee produce examples of those punishments that haue fallen vpon the heads of the transgressors of the same according to the manner of their transgression of what sort soeuer which that wee may the better describe it behoueth vs to follow the order of the Commandements as the examples we bring may be fitly referred to any of them And first we are to vnderstand that when God said Thou shalt haue none other Gods before me he condemneth vnder these words the vanitie of men that haue forged to themselues a multitude of gods he forbiddeth all false religiō declareth that he wold be acknowledged to be the sole true God that we shold serue worship loue fear obey him in and aboue al things And whoseuer it bee that doth otherwise either by hindering his worship or afflicting those that worship him the same man prouoketh his heauie wrath to be throwne vpon him to his vtter ruine and destruction This is the indignation that lighted vpon Pharoa king of Aegypt as we read in the booke of God Exod. 3. who being one of the most puissant Kings of the earth in his age God chose him for an

giue themselues ouer to all idolatry against whom there is a decree ordained in the thirteenth of Deutronomie by the lawgiuer of heauen which is this If the inhabitants of any cittie haue turned from the Lord to follow after strange Gods let them be destroied with the edge of their sword and their cittie consumed with fire that they may bee vtterly rased out and brought to nothing This was the sinne of Salomon King of Israell a braue and mightie kingdome in his time a man subiect to none for power 1. King 11. nor fearing any for authoritie yet for all this so filthily recoiling from the truth which hee knew and had professed that in stead of seruing the true God he became a setter vp of false Idols and that of his owne free will and pleasure he that had beene so well brought vp and instructed from his childhood in true religion by his schoolemaister the Prophet Nathan into whose charge he was committed and so often and earnestly admonished by his father Dauid to obserue diligētly the law of God to direct his waies thereby and whom God vouchsafed this honour to appeare twise vnto and to enrich and adorne with such excellent wisdome that the queene of Saba hearing his report came to Ierusalem to bee his auditour euen this Salomon in his old age when he should haue beene most stedfast and constant suffered himselfe to be seduced by the entisements of his strange wiues and concubines to offer seruice vnto strange gods to forsake the God of heauen to worship the Idols of the Gentiles And as his renowne was great and famous before for building that sumptuous and beautifull temple at Ierusalem so was his obloquy and reproch the greater for erecting altars and chappels for the idols of his wiues and concubines euen for euery one of their idols to the intent to flatter and please their humors it was therefore iust and equall that the Lord his wrath being proueked against him raised vp two strong enemies that wrought him and his people much scath Yea moreouer Ieroboam one of his owne seruants whilest he yet liued was by the ordinance of God designed king ouer ten tribes so God punished him for his idolatry backsliding leauing him but a small portion of the kingdome to continue to his successors which had it not been for his father Dauids sake had ben also taken away It is true that we read not that he euer hindred the seruice of the temple or compelled or persuaded any man to worship an idol yet he did enough to make him culpable before God of a greeuous sin in that hee being the head soueraign magistrat of the people committed such wickednes such Apostasie in Israell beside it is a maruellous strange thing that in all his historie there is not so much as any token mentioned or to be gathered of his true repentance after this notable fall And he that wel weigheth the nature quality of this sin shal perceiue it that some what resembleth that which is spoken of in the 6. cha to the Heb. ver 4 5 6 for Salomon was not so ignorant and destitute of the knowledge of God but rather had the treasure of wisedome in fulnesse and abundance and was endowed with the gifts and graces of Gods spirit that hee was able to instruct others and to discharge a Doctors place in the church as hee also did both by word and writing And although that the sonne of God was not as then yet manifested in the flesh yet the power and efficacie of his death being euerlasting and from the beginning whereof the law with the ceremonies and sacrifices thereof was as it were a schoolemaister could not bee hidden from him therefore so soone as hee adicted himselfe to his Idolatrie hee foorthwith abandoned the holy ordinances and sacrifices of Gods law and quitted himselfe of the promise of saluation therin contained disanulling and making of none effect as concerning himselfe the grace of the mediator ordained from the beginning so that his downefall was terrible and perillous yet there be that thinke that after all this he wrote the booke of Ecclesiastes as a declaration of his repentance whose opinion I purpose not to contradict Roboam his sonne succeeded him as well in the likenesse of his sinne as of his kingdome 2. Chron. 12. for after that the priests and Leuites forsaking the part of Ieroboam because of his Idols and leauing their houses and possessions to strangers had made repaire to him for feare of God and loue of his holy seruice and that hee had disposed and put in order his publike affaires for the ratifying and confirming of his kingdome presently hee and all his people forsooke the law of God and gaue themselues ouer to Idolatrie and other greeuous sinnes wherefore the Lord also forsooke and gaue them ouer to the handes of Caesac King of Aegypt that raised vp a mightie power of men euen a thousand and two hundred chariots threescore thousand horsemen with an infinite multitude of footmen to make warre against him So that all the strong Citties and fortresses of Iuda no nor Hierusalem it selfe was strong enough to repulse him from sacking and taking them and robbing the Temple of their treasures and despoiling the Kings pallaces of his riches and carrying backe into Aegypt a rich prey of the best and beautifullest thinges that were therein And this was the first shake that euer this kingdome receiued since it was a kingdome whereby it began to waine and decline Notwithstanding all this yet the Lord had compassion and pittie of him and his people and would not suffer his dignitie to bee troden vnder foote and quite suppressed but restored him once againe into an honourable estate because when hee was reproued by Semeia the Prophet he humbled himselfe before the Lord and his Princes also which is a manifest signe that his sinne was not an vniuersall Apostasie whereby hee was wholly turned aside from God and all hope of grace as his father Salomon was but it was a particular reuolt such as was that of his forefathers the children of Israel when they immagined that God would be present with them in the idolalatrous golden calfe and in that figure to worship him so grosse and sencelesse were they although yet Roboams sinne seemeth to exceed theirs in greatnesse and guiltinesse The Iewes that in the time of Ptolomey Philopater abode in Aegypt and willingly renounced the law and seruice of God in hope thereby better to prouide for their worldly commodities enioied not long their ease and prosperity for the other Iews which had couragiously stucke to their profession and had beene miraculously deliuered from their enemies being greeued and chafed at their recoile made their supplications to the king whose heart God enclined to fauour their suit that hee would permit them to reuenge Gods quarrell vpon those Apostataes as they had deserued Machab. 7. alleaging that it was hard