Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
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A50342
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A sermon preached before the King at White-Hall on January the 30th, 1681 by Henry Maurice ...
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Maurice, Henry, 1648-1691.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing M1370; ESTC R3724
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13,058
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37
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A SERMON Preached before the KING AT WHITE-HALL ON JANUARY the 30th 1681. By HENRY MAURICE B. D. Chaplain to His Grace the Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY Published by His Majesties Special Command LONDON Printed by Samuel Roycroft for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in S. Pauls Church-yard 1682. ISAIAH XXXVII 3. This is a day of Trouble of Rebuke and Blasphemy IT was the manner of the Ancient Christians to observe the Anniversaries of their Martyrs not with the mournful Rites of a Funeral nor the dejectedness of Fasting and Humiliation but as the days of their Birth and Coronation with the highest expressions of Joy and Thanksgiving with the same chearfulness and serenity that they had suffer'd Nor could it be conceiv'd proper to remember them with Tears whose happy condition was rais'd above the assistance and charity of the Church's Prayers for those glorious Spirits take sanctuary under the Heavenly Altar where no Persecution no Sacriledge can invade them Those as the Fellow-sufferers of Christ have the special priviledge of immediate admission into Paradise and tho the passage be rough and boysterous yet the speed and the dispatch is proportionable and the Fire as it hastens to destroy becomes at the same time a swift and rapid Chariot to transport the Martyrs into glory What wonder then if when one Member be so eminently honour'd the whole body take occasion to rejoyce with it But besides this recompence of the Sufferers which the Church was wont to congratulate with a joyful Remembrance the honour done to Religion by those who own'd it with their dying Confessions and subscrib'd it with their Blood requir'd yet a farther Acknowledgment and Thanksgiving For what were the Passions of the Martyrs but so many Victories of the Christian Faith that proclaimed it to be stronger than Principalities and Powers stronger than the Counsel and Indignation of Men stronger than the desires of Life or Terrors of Death By these Conquests was the Kingdom of Christ enlarged by these Invincible Sufferings was the perversness of the Nations reduc'd When Christians knew how to die better than to dispute but none understood yet how to rebel for their Religion What then can the Commemoration of these Victories be but the common Triumph of Christianity How then are we departed from this ancient and reasonable Practice How comes this black and melancholy appearance to obscure and as it were eclipse this Day of our Royal Martyr Is the Crown of Martyrdom now become less glorious or is it not at least an equal recompence for the loss of Earthly Kingdoms or the Cause for which he suffer'd the Cause of God and of his People was it not sufficient to entitle him to the dignity of Martyrdom This part admits of no suspicion for the Title of the Martyr as it is more honourable so it is no less clear and undoubted than that of the King Nay the Malice of his Enemies prophetick as that of Caiaphas foretold this his heavenly Inauguration and accomplished their own prediction by making him a glorious Prince indeed We bewail not him therefore at this time but weep for our selves and for our Country stain'd with this Innocent and Royal Blood which was shed not by the hands of a Pagan Invader for so some of our Kings became Martyrs in the defence of their Religion and their People but by a new and unhear'd of Treason of his own Subjects And had the Conspiracy of a few desperate Wretches prevail'd against him the suddenness and secresie of the stroke might have been our Excuse and cover'd the Nation from the guilt and infamy of the Fact But this Treason usurp'd the name of the Senate and People of the Land and as if the Fears and Astonishment of the Nation had been taken for their consent and approbation Murder was drest up in the form of Publick Execution and the Coronation of the King was not more solemn had hardly more Spectators than that of the Martyr Had he fallen in the day of Battel by the blind and undiscerning fury of Rebellion or afterwards in the dark recesses of his Prison the reproach had been common to us with many other Nations But this was the first time that Treason affected to make it self a Spectacle and grew Impudent and desperate enough to undergo the horrour and envy of a Publick Regicide And not content to trample all Earthly Majesty under foot the name of God and of Religion and what is our more peculiar disgrace of Reform'd and Protestant Religion were brought to suffer together with our late Sovereign while they were abus'd into a pretence to carry on and to justifie the Wickedness of this day These are the sad Reasons of our present affliction that render the remembrance of this Martyrdom so bitter These are the Clouds that overcast the day and give it so different an appearance from the Feasts of the Ancient Martyrs 'T is this in fine which renders it so exactly agreeable to the description of the day in the Text A day of Trouble of Rebuke and Blasphemy The Trouble as St. Jerom explains these words belongs to us whose was the loss whose was the sin The Rebuke proceeds from God whose Judgment this was The Blasphemy is the part of our Enemies who are glad of this occasion to insult us and our Religion It is the Echo and repercussion of that execrable stroke return'd upon us with the censures and reproaches of the World Of these I shall speak severally according to the order of the Text and begin with the Trouble of the day 1. Of all the Blessings God is pleased to bestow upon a Nation there is none either more beneficial or more magnificent than a good King who represents not only the Authority of the Universal Monarch but the affection and tenderness of our Heavenly Father and is the Image of the love and goodness no less than of the Power and Majesty of God What happiness may not a People enjoy under a Prince after Gods own heart How must Religion flourish under his protection how must Vertue reign in his Laws and triumph in his Example what Peace and Prosperity must adorn his Reign what Security and Content must possess his Subjects whose Power is sufficient to secure them against foreign depredations and whose Justice and Clemency interpose between them and the Terrours of his own Power This Condition of all things seems to approach nearest to that of Gods Heavenly Kingdom where the Saints do not Obey so much as Reign together with their King But when it shall please God to recall this great Instrument of Humane Welfare when this mighty Vessel that contained so many and such variety of Blessings shall be drawn up again into Heaven and this Earthly God comes to die like other Men the Joy and Delights of the People expire with him and it is not an ordinary Affliction and Mourning that he leaves behind him nor is any Loss lamented with more sincere or
GOD who has restor'd Us to our Ancient Honour and Dignity by the Restauration of our Gracious Sovereign And tho all this Reproach and Obloquy may be justly come upon us yet what has our Innocent and Holy Religion done to be Involv'd in the same Blasphemy The rest of the Calamity was grievous enough and like the Arrows of God sticking in the Flesh but this breaks the Bones according to the Expression of the Royal Psalmist My Bones are smitten asunder as with a Sword while mine Enemies that hate me cast me in the Teeth Nor was it any Personal Reproach that wounded him so deep but the Dishonour of God Namely while they daily say unto me Where is now thy God And I would to God the Enemies of our Religion had wanted so fair an occasion to Blaspheme it just there can be none and this is but too plausible For when Religion was made the Disguise of a most Unnatural Treason and the most Wicked Wretches upon Earth did Impropriate to themselves the Name of Saints together with all the Sacred Functions of the Ministry and took a singular delight in the style of a Preaching and Praying People When Prayer and Fasting was made the Prologue to some Bloody Tragedy and serv'd as the Eve or Vigil to the Day of Sacrifice When Scripture was alledg'd in Defence of the greatest Villanies even that of this Day and where Scripture could not be colourably perverted Immediate Revelation was pretended and Special Commission from God In sum When all the Mischiefs which We now bewail were carried on under the disguise of Conscience and Religion what wonder is it if the Name of God upon this occasion be Blasphemed among the Gentiles Great and grievous was the Blasphemy and too fatal was the Influence it had upon Weak Minds that had been Trayn'd up in the Opinion of Christian Religion Many began to run away from all Form and Appearance of Religion and were afraid to make any shew of Piety for fear of being suspected for Rebels and Impostors Many were asham'd of that Profession that was cover'd with so much Infamy and Reproach and True Piety was almost out of Countenance and forc'd to hide it self Yet after all this The Blasphemies of Irreligion are but false and mistaken Triumphs For if a True Jewel lose nothing of its Value because there are many Counterfeits if the sincere and precious Metal preserve its Esteem notwithstanding all secret practice to Embase it If an Angel of Light cannot lose his Integrity and Honour because Satan transforms himself into his Likeness why should Christian Religion why should Holiness and Vertue suffer for the Wickedness of detected Hypocrisie Nay on the contrary it is clear that the Real Value of any thing makes Men so industrious to Counterfeit and if there were not some great Excellency in True Godliness Evil men would never take the pains to pursue the Shadow of it and to carry on their Wicked Designs under that Disguise But besides the Common Enemies of Christian Religion the Peculiar Adversaries of the Reformation are not wanting to so fair an Occasion of Blaspheming it The Church of Rome which we charg'd but too truly with the Treasonable Doctrine of Killing Kings and Practices correspondent do not neglect to return the Charge with Insolence and Triumph and appeal to this day for the Loyalty of Protestant Religion It cannot but be a great grief to any one who owns the least Affection to that Name under which so many Noble Churches united against the Common Oppressour that any who make Profession of it should give the Enemy so great occasion to Blaspheme But Men will take what Appellations they please and Act afterwards as they think fit and it would be too hard measure to charge the Crimes of some Usurpers upon the whole Denomination the Lewdness of the Gnosticks might have been as reasonably charg'd upon Christianity and the Piracy which the Turks exercise under the Counterfeit of our Colours may with the same Justice be imputed to Us. And this is our Comfort in the present Case That whatever Agreement the Authors of this Days Wickedness may own with other Churches they have done us the Favour to disown Us. And doubtless We have great Reason to own the Kindness of their Separation They went out from Us and would not be of Us because Our Doctrine was too Loyal and Passive for Men of so fiery Temper and the greatest Tyranny they found in Our Religion was the Restraint that it laid on the Conscience of Men from resisting against the Higher Powers This was nay is yet more grievous to them than all the pretended Oppressions of the Hierarchy This is a more real and greater grievance to their Consciences than all the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church And had they been Enemies only to the Dignity of our Church or the Decence of our Worship some Accommodation might be expected but alass these things are but Pretences to cover the Restless and the Factious Spirit and to disguise their Practices against the Government 'T is this we know not how to reconcile to our Communion 'T is this which no honest Comprehension can admit Nor is this a new Charge rais'd by Zealots of Our Church to render them odious to the Government For a Great Statesman of this Nation and reputed no Ill Friend to the Party has long ago acquitted Us from any note of Persecution on their Account and confesses Their Sedition to have been the sole ground of all those Laws that have been made against them and adds in behalf of the Government then That it was Wise enough to distinguish between Conscience and Faction And how much Wiser at leastwise more Knowing in that Point sad Experience has made us since I need not say This Day shall speak it for me But now to Return to the Blasphemy of the Church of Rome If Community of Name be not so much to be regarded as Agreement in Doctrine our Accusers will be found to have a greater part in these Sectaries than We for both Agree in the Fundamentals of Rebellion and the Lawfulness and Merit of Resisting the Higher Powers And if we Trace backward the Footsteps of our Troubles we may easily see that it was from thence the Faction borrow'd their Arguments and from their Catholick Authors the Semons and Speeches of the Party had deriv'd all the Art and Colour of Their Treason But this is not a Time to Justifie but to Humble our selves nor is it so material from whence these Barbarous Men deriv'd their Principles of Disloyalty since it is too certain that they owe all their Success and Advantages to our Sins as these Increase so do They they have both one Common Fate they multiply and decrease together Our Prophaness and Contempt of Religion begets in them a Contempt of Authority and the Laws and the Neglect of that Holy Service we pretend to Extol adds greater Numbers to our Enemies than all their Arts and Industry can pervert If we would weaken that Faction let us take away the Support they have among our selves the Open scandal and Viciousness of our Lives and then they are lest without Pretence and fall without our Trouble Let us confute their Reproaches by a Reformation of our Manners and detect their Hypocrisie not by washing off the Paint with Satyr but by Confronting their Pretence and Form with solid and sincere Piety Without this all other Means will be to little purpose Without this Loyalty is but Affectation a thing no less Unserviceable than it will be Uncertain for he who Fears not God will have but little Reverence for a Man whatever Title or Authority he may bear and he who has no due Conscience of his Duty to his Prince and Obeys not for Gods sake but his Own is a Servant but during his own Pleasure or Advantage Or if the Treacherous foundation do not betray that frail Faith to Change and Ruine yet what Fruit can be hop'd from the Services of those who are at defiance with GOD upon whom all the Success does depend Be not deceiv'd God is not mock'd especially not by an open and profest Contempt and if the different Mockeries of Hypocrisie and Prophaness should come to Contend for Victory who can tell but that God should rather Incline to favour the Shadow and Resemblance of Religion rather than a Wanton Contempt of all that is Sacred and Good and that Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites of transparent Disguise may yet be preferr'd to Sadduces and Libertines that believe neither a Spirit nor a Resurrection and Live as if neither Body nor Soul were to render any Account And now let us Learn from this Vnhappy Day and how shall we Learn if this cannot Teach us the Necessity of Joyning Religion to Loyalty to Fear God and the King together It is the same Power that is to be Reveronc'd in both they cannot be separated but to the manifest Disadvantage of all Human Authority Let us Lastly out of a due Sense of the Trouble Rebuke and Blasphemy of this Day Learn to detest all the plausible Beginnings and Witchcrafts of Rebellion and Confirm our selves with stedfast Resolutions of perpetual Obedience to our Sovereign And further Since it is not the Affection and Loyalty of Men but the Favour of GOD that supports the Royal Throne Let us Beseech Almighty God That he would Protect the Person of his Anointed and make the Government to Prosper in his Hands that at length He would Recompence all the Sufferings of the Royal FATHER with Double Blessings of Prosperity upon the SON Our Dread Sovereign that under him We may live Quiet and Peaceable Lives in all Godliness and Honesty in all humble Obedience and Loyalty FINIS