Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	ancient_a	church_n	time_n	2,337	5	3.6439	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50843	Samaritanism reviv'd, a sermon preached at the parish church of Great Yarmouth, upon the ninth of September being the day appointed for a solemn thanksgiving for the discovery of the late horrid plot, against His Majesty's person and government / by Luke Milbourne.	Milbourne, Luke, 1649-1720.	1683 (1683)	Wing M2037; ESTC R7778	45,022	57

terrifie the builders of Gods Church thus Religion it self is by degrees destroy'd and the designs and endeavours of Gods most faithful Servants frustrated These Enemies of Truth know well that fear is a betrayer of all Counsels and makes men unfit for any work the Samaritans try'd the Experiment Nehemiah was told concerning them Nehem. 4.12 From all places whence ye shall return to us They will be upon you They set a Prophet to perswade Nehemiah to fly into the Temple for his security whose fear would have discouraged all the rest and plied him with Ill news and scandalous stories He gives the reason of their acting thus For they All made us afraid saying Nehem. 6.9 Their hands shall be weakned from the work that it be not done Were but Men so good as they should be the Artifices of Gods Enemies could not have such mischievous effects upon them they would not be afraid of any evil Tidings Psal 102.7 their hearts standing fast in the Lord. This great defect makes every Idle rumor every vain fancy terrible so that the most steady the most deliberate and rational Methods of Honouring God may by malicious Men be traduced and they by careless persons believ'd and so those come to be charged with Innovating Humors who above all oppose Innovations and those who cannot relinquish that Religion they have taken up upon infallible grounds are stil'd Apostates Fear representing every object contrary to what indeed it is and bringing us within danger of their Curse who call evil good and good evil 't is counted Madness for a man to kill himself for fear of dying such a Madness those fall into who lose their Religion for fear of losing it who are sollicitous about it till they forget what it really consists in and then engage in endless quarrels about Circumstances as if the Shadow were of any value when the Body or when the solid Substance is gone Those Men yet who are pure Politicians who aim at their own profit or grandure without respect to Religion or the Honour of God prove excellent Instruments to carry on their designs who study to disturb Gods Church If those Enemies be few and inconsiderable they may perhaps let them alone but if they be many and persons of Interest or Wealth the appearing in the head of them and whispering stories on their behalf in the Ears of Princes engages the whole Party on their side who trouble not themselves so much about Faith as about Practice and therefore believe the greatest Atheist that is but on their side to be a Child of Light though walking in Darkness And indeed the only certain means for Capital Debauchees to get any Reputation for goodness is to close with disaffected and malicious Hypocrites which if many persons are not in a very gross Error does like that true Christian Charity recommended to us by the Apostle Jam. 5.20 cover a multitude of Sins And 't is remarkable that when Princes out of Zeal for Religion make the best provision for its defence that Humane Providence can reach to some are so curiously subtile as to endeavour at least to make their Laws like Spiders Webs so tender that every daring Spirit may without danger break through them and sometimes they try to turn their edge from those they were design'd against to those in whose favour they were made and many more Devices are daily found out to the terror of Well-doers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesiod● 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 1. but to the praise of them that do evil such shall never want employment for those who when they are angry at Heaven would go to Hell it self to prosecute their Revenge will never miss any help they can find on Earth But while wicked Men enraged at their disappointments turn every way to work mischief they fall upon the Poets Truth † They draw the greatest mischiefs upon their own heads by their own contrivances and ruine themselves with their own Arts for those who move in an higher Sphere though wicked as themselves regard their Faction but as Steps to mount by which may afterwards be burnt and therefore those Leaders thrust them upon all desperate Actions till from Malice Murmuring and Sedition they rise to Riots and Rebellions trying so to wrest that by force out of the hands of their Superiors which by subtile Flatteries they cannot attain to wherein if they succeed though they make themselves perfect Slaves by the bargain yet the Church the great Object of their Spleen must be sure to suffer and while their Leaders triumph the Temples building must cease and Jerusalem continue but an heap of Stones Having laid down these Observations Applic. I shall at last for Application shew the unhappy Parallelism between the Jewish and the English Church in respect of the Practices of the Samaritans against theirs of the Dissenters of all sorts against our Peace and the Restauration of Gods ancient solemn and publick Worship among us To this end Let us look back to the first Reformation of Religion in this Kingdom when it was laid for a sure foundation That we should forsake the Church of Rome only so far as that had forsaken the Rule of Gods Word And it 's notoriously evident That whosoever out of one pretence or other should go further must instead of opposing real Popery close with it running himself upon the same Crime of bidding defiance to and superseding the Gospel of Jesus Christ When God of his infinite mercy was pleas'd after that long and dismal Night of Popish Ignorance and Superstition to give us a Prince who favour'd the pure and undisguis'd Truth those whose Hearts God had touch'd set earnestly upon that great work of Gratitude the restoring Gods sacred Temple or the settling God Worship within these Kingdoms not according to the Pattern of other Reformers but that of the truly Ancient Catholick and Apostolick Church of Christ which they had a greater advantage of doing than others for that the lawful Supream Authority of the Kingdom concur'd with and encouraged them in their endeavours And they proceeded in their work with such care that Dr. Taylor a Martyr in Queen Maries days declares of the Church Service as then reform'd that it was so fully perfected according to the Rules of our Christian Religion in every behalf Acts and Men Tom. 3. p. 131. that no Christian Conscience could be offended with any thing contain'd therein When a new Cloud of Popery rais'd by a bigot Queen was by Gods goodness dispell'd and Queen Elizabeth peaceably settled upon the Throne the Purification of Divine Worship from those foul Accretions which had fasten'd on it in her Sisters days was one of the first things they set upon and whereas K. Edward 's Act of Vniformity had been by Q. Mary repeal'd to the great decay of the true Honour of God Act of Uniformity 1 Eliz. and discomfort to the Professors of the

are for the Other Government the Case is very different They declare No one Man Assemb adv concerning Conf. of Faith 〈◊〉 1. par 4. No Body of Men whatsoever to be Infallible and yet though they acknowledge they may err and be mistaken in their Apprehensions and Decisions of things they are resolv'd to maintain their Superiority to all Powers whatsoever 'T is a standing Rule with them To Discipline must all the Estates in a Kingdom be Subject 1 Book of Discipline c. 7. ● Book c. 13. as well the Rulers as they that are Ruled And this Princes and Magistrates not being exempted from Discipline A third Means whereby they have ●verted our People has been the range and damnable Positions such as that Subjects do of their own Heads 〈◊〉 much better than what they do in Obedience to Authority The Parliament can make no Law at all concerning the Church but only Ratifie what the Church decreeth It is lawful for Sub●●cts to make a Covenant without the King and to enter into a Bond of mu●ual Defence against the King and all Persons whatsoever An Assembly may ●brogate Acts of Parliament if they reflect upon Church Government The Protestation of Subjects against Laws establish'd frees them from all Obligation of Obedience to those Laws Kings Declar. Annals of Ch. 1. p. 760. and those that are placed in the Ecclesiastical Estate rightly ruling and governing God shall be glorified So that though we convince them of never so many Errors and Corruptions and prove their Judgments never so much mistaken there 's no Remedy they are in the Chair and Right or Wrong they will Govern Now where such fallible Persons can Excommunicate the Supream Magistrate and warrant the Disobedience of Subjects 't is in vain to teach Submission to Civil Authority ev●ry one looking upon himself at such a time as dispens'd with for all Vows and Oaths whatsoever I need not instance in any thing more of this Nature these to unprejudiced Persons are enough to convince them of the danger of Indulgence Could it have had a good Influence up●n Piety Julian the Apostate that subtile and inveterate Enemy to Christianity would never have granted it Dissidentes Christianorum Anti●●●● cum plebe disci●●● pal●●●● intro●●●●es me●●bat ut Civilibus discordiis C●nsopit●s ●uisque nullo vetante Religioni sue serviret intrepidus Quod agebat ●d●ò obstinate ut dissensiones augente licentiâ non timeret unanimantem postea plebem Null●s 〈…〉 bes●ias ut sunt sibi fera●es plerique Christianorum expertus Amnian Marcell Lib. 22. cap 5. nay his own Historian assures us That be recall'd those Christian Bishops from Exile who had been banisht by his Vncle Constantius advis'd them to live peaceably and every one else to exercise their Religion freely hoping that the Christians by that Indulgence being animated one against another that Heathenism which he design'd to restore would meet with the less Opposition And the same is confirm'd by the Church Historian in his Account of Julians Revocation of the banish'd Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sozomeni Lib. 5. c. 5. Denique tunc ●●ddidit Basileias Haereti●is quando Templa Daemoniis eo medo putan Christianum nomen posse perire de t●rris si unitati Ecclesiae de quâ lapsus fuerat invideret sacrilegas dissensiones liberas esse permitteret August Epist 166. And whereas the Donatists as well as others had their Share in Julians Liberty of Conscience St. Augustine tells them That Julian opened Temples to Hereticks and Devils at the same time hoping by that means so far to encourage and foment Dissensions in it as thereby at last totally to ruin the Church of Christ And whereas we find Themistius applauding Jovian the Christian Successor of Impious Julian for his Gentleness in permitting every one to serve God according to his own Conscience a Policy very necessary in that sudden Revolution of Affairs upon the Apostates Death A Learned Man of our own observes That when the Gentiles were under Hatches Caves Eccles. 2 vol Introd See 4. p. 51 52. they knew no Means so effectual for the keeping Paganism alive as frequent Intercessions for a Toleration But supposing it fit an Indulgence should be granted to all persons of what Profession soever I would fain know why the Extravagancies of Morality as well as Divinity should not be allow'd why should not Vice be publickly and legally allow'd and protected Every one I know will exclaim against that and yet more may be said for that than the other In Relation to the Church Vicious Men are scandalous yet they never quarrel about Circumstances or study to set people together by the Ears If they give Offence in participation of Divine Ordinances let them but alone and they 'le never trouble you they have as Vicious no Piques against the Pastors of the Church for doing their Duties nor do they trouble themselves in controverted Doctrines whose Arguments are the strongest so that in the Church if tolerated they create no Disturbance nor begin any Heresie or Schism In relation to the State Let but the Adulterer enjoy his Whores the Drunkard his Cups the Covetous Man his Tre●●●sures c. and as such a one he 'le never engage himself in Plots ●g●●●●st the Established Government nor pry too busily into the Miscarriages of Superiors But indeed when Men of these Trades to cloak their Vices espouse the Interests of a Religious Party then they grow dangerous for since nothing but their furious Zeal for a Faction hinders the World from making Remarks upon their Shameful Debaucheries 't is their greatest Policy to shew enough of that by this means after their firm Closure with Malecontents and Schismaticks how many soft and gentle Words are found out to extenuate their Crimes So that He that is loaded with all the Wickedness Hell can furnish for him while he Heads a Party shall be accounted though a frail and frequently tempted yet a very sincere and well-meaning Brother But if at last we look into the Word of God we shall find that as he has commanded us to abstain from all Immoralities even from whatsoever has the least appearance of Evil so he has by the Apostle enjoy'd us To mark to set a Brand of Infamy upon those which cause Divisions and Offences contrary to the Doctrine we have learn'd 1 Thes ●5 22 and to avoid them for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own Belly and by good Words and fair Speeches deceive the hearts of the simple Rom 16.17 18. It is not the openness of a Sin that makes it comparatively the greater Malice is as bad as Theft yet it lies close conceal'd within the dark Recesses of the Soul Witchcraft is an obscure Sin few know what it is yet every one believes it worse than Drunkenness Adultery Covetousness c. And Treason though it hates the Light is as bad as Prophaneness