Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	bishop_n	church_n	king_n	3,230	5	3.5319	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93861	The second part of the apology of Socrates Christianus, or, A plain declaration of the authority by which he acts freely offered to the consideration of all serious, considerate, and unprejudiced Christians.	Stephens, Edward, d. 1706.	1700 (1700)	Wing S5439A; ESTC R42855	13,986	16

Monthly Communions but at last brought it to Weekly and it so continued till I had occasion to remove thence for my Health to a City where it was then so Celebrated Nor was I satisfied with this but being frequently at London I wrot to the then Arch-Bishop Sancroft that it might be Ordered to be Daily in one or two Churches about London And my Letter was well taken by the good man though it was not done whatever it was that hindered it But at last when I had little or no Hopes of what I had so long Desired it pleased God to grant me my desire in a Surprising manner I had brought back a Person who had been Ordain'd according to the present Church of England from the Dissenters to frequent the Early Communion at St. Laurences and I had sent to the place where he was ordained and had a Certificate of his Ordination from the Register but not in the least then thinking of what after followed But returning one Morning from that Early Communion with him and some other Devout People I over-heard one of them saying something of the Comfort and Benefit they found in it Whereupon I replyed Ay what would ye say to have it so every day And when several of them declared how glad they should be of such an Opportunity I replyed again that if they were in good earnest I knew how it might be for there was one in the Company who to my knowledge was in Orders according to the Church of England and would I doubted not be willing to Officiate And thereupon we agreed to meet at his House at Night and there farther agreed to begin the next Morning that DAYLY COMMUNION which has been continued ever since with many as surprizing Steps under the same Sacred Conduct by which it was at first begun This was in Autumn 1692. I had before this left off my Profession of the Law After that had received a Providential Qietus as I apprehend it from some other things wherein I had Socrates-like endeavoured to serve my Country And I had also forsaken the World and settled all my Estate upon my Wife and Children as absolutely as I could without any Reservation whatever casting my self wholly upon the Providence of God without any thoughts of any thing more than a Solitary Retirement And I have by that Providence ever since been so provided for and Conducted as to me hath been far beyond all the Enjoyments of the World and all Human Wisdom whatever Our little Society was begun upon these three Principles To meet every day early at the Holy Communion To follow the Example of the Ancient Christians as near as we can and To avoid all Offence as much as we may It was begun at his House who did first officiate but after a little time settle in another mean and dispicable but very convenient Place and where we enjoyed that Serenity and Satisfaction which is not commonly to be met with in Princes Courts or the Palaces of Great Persons in the World But it was not long before the Person who did officiate was removed from us and I my self brought into such Circumstances that I neither could unless I would let the Work I had been so much concerned for so long promoting and was so far engaged in fall to the ground nor durst refuse to take Orders to which I was invited and not only led by a surprizing External Conduct but also obliged by several Internal Motions both correcting my Reluctance and encouraging my Submission And after I had done this and had begun to officiate my self it was not long before we were as unexpectedly and surprizingly led from our private Lodgings to perform that solemn Service in a Publick Church and of one of the greatest Parishes of the City but without the Walls And after some time to another just within the Walls something less but much more to our Satisfaction by reason of its Privacy But neither were we permitted to continue long there Nor could we obtain the use of any other by any Means we could use but in the very Heart of the City And both the Services being more than I was able to perform we had no other expedient but were forced to meet daily at eight of the Clock at Bow and then to walk thence along Cheap-side to St. Matthews as if on purpose that what we did might the more be taken Notice of whether we would or no. And then I began to be sensible what our Business was to which were led by so many surprizing Steps of such a Secret Conduct viz. to bear a Tacit Testimony for God against the common wilful Neglect of that Solemn Worship which we there performed in all other Parts of the Nation It was my desire to restore this Holy Worship of the Christian Sacrifice not only to its due Frequency but also to its just Integrity which had been much deformed and disordered by Cranmer and his Foreign Agents though I knew not then by whom or what Practices it was done only perceived that it was so and therefore Composed a Form as near as I could to the Mind of the Antients but taking in all the Common Form and had a few Copies Printed which we used while we continued at our Private Lodgings But this I could not expect would be permitted to be used in a Publick Church and therefore I was forced to use the Common Form only supplying what I could from other parts and restoring what had been disordered to the proper places And yet this was not easily permitted till being Questioned for it I was to make my Defence the same good Providence which had ordered the Buisness all along brought as seasonably as unexpectedly to my hand one of those Book which were Composed for the Church of Scotland under the Inspection and with the Approbation of the English Bishops in the Reign of King Charles 1. as compleatly agreeable to my mind as as if I had done it my self and not long after the first and only true English Liturgy composed by the English Clergy in the Reign of K. Edw. 6. but wickedly deformed by Cranmer and his Foreigners and his deformed Changeling Schismatically obtruded upon the Church by the Parliament without the Consent of the Clergy in the Convocation instead of it which was the Original from which that for Scotland was taken Upon sight of the first of those I printed my Defence which I had before sent only in writing to the Arch-Bishop and not long after when I had met with the other The Liturgie of the Antients represented as near as well might be in English Forms with a Preface concerning the Restitution of the most Solemn part of the Christian Worship to its Integrity and just Frequency and presented it to the Arch-Bishop Bishop of London c. used it in the Church and offer'd to stand a Tryal with any that would question me for it notwithstanding the Statutes of 1 Eliz.

they are so often Call'd and Assembled Nor 6. Are the Mischiefs to the State and Government less than these to the Church They betray the State into Sin by encouraging a Usurpation which is one of the greatest Acts of Sacrilege that can be and that by as Gross and Pernicious an Heresy condemned by all Parties but their own Faction and besides are charged with Schism by a Considerable Part of the Church of England who make out sufficiently by strength of Argument what they want in number of Persons But of such Latitude are their Principles that they comprehend as great Matters as all this as justifiable or excusable enough for attaining their End and therefore one of them Melitus himself who first began the Clamours could tell me Do you think that King William will part with such a Flower in His Crown Yea say I why not and with his Crown too for just and necessary Cause if he be indeed a Christian But they who are themselves so much for getting and keeping that they can strain their Consciences for it cannot easily believe that others will be perswaded to part with what they have once gotten upon any Terms or Consideration Such Flowers to the Eye of a worldly minded Man are to a Christian indeed no better than Weeds stinking Weeds and are really Poysonous Weeds in their Effects And certainly it is no more consistent with the Duty of a faithful Pastor of Christ's Flock than of a good Subject and true Friend to his Country to suffer his Prince to take such Poyson without Warning But what wonder if they who make no scruple to betray the Rights of Christ's Kingdom make as little to expose their Prince and Country too to danger for their own Ends And what else do they who encourage a Prince whose Title is doubtful or it may be none at all in the Judgment of his Neighbours to do and continue what is offensive to so considerable a part of his Subjects and cast the Odium of their own Evil Counsels upon his Will and Pleasure to the Prejudice and Scandal of his Government The English are an Active and Bold People and as sensible of the Violations of their Rights as any And when they are free from Wars abroad are not like to be very quiet at Home upon such Occasions and Provocations And Rights of the Church have in the English Laws been always heretofore as carefully provided for as any and particularly in the Corronation Oath And the Rights of the Convocation which are well vindicated in a Learned Book lately published are so well understood by many Learned Men of this Church that I wondered that none did it before or that the Universities and the Clergy of the several Diocesses did not by some Publick Instruments declare their Judgments or at least revive the Antient good Custom of Communicatory Letters in much use when under Heathen Emperours they could not enjoy the Liberty of Synods to Consult of the Common Concerns of the Church But I hear of another coming out and more may reasonably be expected if this Course be still continued Surely it is time both for the Clergy and for the Commons of England the Commons I say not their Trustees especially such as are notoriously known to have made a Trade of their Employment to look about them for I do not apprehend that the Christian Religion and the true English Government can be in greater Danger than from two such Factions in Combination The One is so full of the Spirit of the World and so temporizing and compliant to the Powers of the World and with their Prudentials which is nothing else but the Wisdom of the World such corrupters of the Simplicity and Generosity of the Christian Religion in their Explications and Betrayers of Souls and States into Sin that if the other prevail to get the Power into their hands there is little doubt to be made of their Compliance whatever the Religion be which they set up be it Deism Socinianism or whatever else I know one of them who objected such Matters of Conscience against his Acceptance of a Preferment proposed to him that I could not in Conscience perswade him to accept it and yet soon after he did accept it and holds it too to this day with another of it self a sufficient Charge for any man of Conscience to undertake I have known the same Person very warmly reprove a Master of a Family for not allowing his Family the Use of such Pomps and Vanities of the World as he thought renounced in their Baptism very disagreeable to the Example and Precepts of our Saviour his Apostles and the Primitive Christians and of evil Consequence to the living of most People and thereby encourage them to live in Disobedience to his Grief and their Shame and Prejudice And yet this Man passes for a good Man To the Author of the Appeal It looks like Madness to attach a Religion when it becomes the Religion of the Country when it has the Establishment of the Laws of the Constitutions And in his Wisdom such Zeal for the Souls that Newgate could not escape their Diligence is an Aggravation of a Crime of the Priests and such a Crime it is as such good Men are little guilty of and might be ashamed to mention a Matter so reproachful to themselves Such Prudentials as these have been noted by others in their late Patriarch and may easily be traced to their Original in their Protopatriarch himself And such Agreement there is in some of their Principles with Mr. Hobbe's and such kindness have they commonly shewed to one of the most Active Promoters of Socinianism that their Complyance and Officiousness to the other Faction if they succeed is not to be questioned And for the other Faction which lay concealed for a time among many Honest well-meaning Men in the long Parliament and hath lain concealed among many such call'd Whiggs in the late Reigns it presently appeared after this King came in how they stood affected to Religion and is now since the Peace apparent enough how they stand affected to the Government too Both might easily be perceiv'd by such as have had Admittance to the Calves Head Club and to Mr. Toland's Clubs before now But now appear bare-faced enough so that they are no Mysteries And the Whiggs are now commonly reputed the veriest Knaves of the Nation by many Honest Men who were heretofore taken to be of their Party While I was writing this I took notice in a Booksellers-Shop of this Title of a Book A brief History of the Times which opening at page 40. I cast my Eye upon these Words The Plot-Faction Design'd the Ruine of the late King and to compass it by leaving him neither Money Power Credit nor Friends And when I had looked farther into it I observed such Agreement between what is there related then to have been and what I am satisfied now is in Agitation as do mutually confirm the