Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	canonical_a	church_n	scripture_n	11,364	5	6.3973	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62951	Innocency no shield against envy A sermon preached on Friday, April 11. being the fast-day appointed by the Kings proclamation to seek reconciliation with God, &c. By George Topham, rector of Boston in Lincolnshire. Perused and approved of by the right Reverend father in God, Thomas, Lord Bishop of Lincoln.	Topham, George, d. 1694.	1679 (1679)	Wing T1906; ESTC R220703	23,634	40

with the Hedg of good Discipline of wholsom Laws of gracious Government with the Brazen Wall of thy Almighty and miraculous protection never people had more exquisite rules of justice thou hast not left us to the mercy of a rude Anarchy or a Tyrannical violence but hast regulated us by Laws of our own asking and swayed us by the just Scepters of moderate Princes How hast thou made us members of a Church as pure for Doctrine and Discipline as any that either is See Art 6. of the Church of England or has been these fifteen hundred years a Church which has no other rule of Faith and Practice than the holy Scriptures A Church that receives for Canonical neither more nor less than those Books of whose Authority there was never any doubt A Church that professes the same Faith and no more than what all Christians have made the Badge and Symbol of theirs namely Art 8. that which is briefly compiled in the Apostles Creed explained in those others stiled the Nicene and Athanasian A Church wherein are used the same Sacraments Christ left in his Art 25. and no other A Church the Administration of whose Worship and Sacraments are in a Language understood by all those that are concerned in them as St. Paul commanded 1 Cor. 14. and those performed with such Rites as are consonant to the Word of God and the direction of the same Apostle 1 Cor. 14.40 in decency and order Lastly we are members of a Church which above all other Constitutions in the Christian World enforces the great duty of obedience and submission to Kings and all that are in authority under them and this not only for wrath but for Conscience sake Thus O Lord hast thou courted us by thy favours in the miraculous restoring and gracious preserving hitherto the breath of our nostrils thine Anointed Servant and under his protection the solemnities of thy Sacred Ordinances the establishment of our Laws and the enjoyment of our Interests Thus hath the vigilant eye of thy Providence out of the Window of Heaven watcht over this Nation for good not an hellish Pioneer could mine under ground but thou hast spied him out nor a dark-Lanthorn offer to deceive midnight but thou hast descried it not a Plot not a purpose of evil could look out but thou hast discovered it and glorified thy mercy in our deliverance And now what service what obedience what thankfulness must such a Defender such a Protector such a deliverer expect from a people so wonderfully obliged But O my soul what deplorable retributions have we made When God gave us great and long prosperity like Jeshurun we waxed fat and kicked against him When he threw us into horrid confusions from which we saw little hope of arising even in the time of that distress did we trespass yet more against him When by miracles of mercy he turned our Captivities we soon returned to our wallowing in our former or greater filthiness Even while he has of late appeared for us by discovering the Plots and Contrivances of our implacable enemies of the Romish Faction we have been in the mean time and that most impudently by our sins fighting against heaven and against him Vice formerly like an old Curtesanguilty of her own witheredhess durst not walk abroad without a borrowed Mask They are frontless Zimries that bring Whores to their Tents in the face of all Israel Yet such is the debauchedness of the Age wherein we live that he is look'd upon as a cowardly sinner that is ashamed to shew his face though the spots of his guilt be written there we even dare noon-day to witness our ungodliness and do our villanies as the Pharisees gave their Alms to be seen of men O the Oaths and blasphemies that are to be heard in each Corner of our Streets It is not only a fashionable sin and the Mode of the vain Gallants but it is spread among the Herd the brutish among the People are got to it the very Vagabond and he that has scarce a rag to his back will swagger with his Oaths O that that Name which is Reverend to Angels and terrible to Devils O that that Name we have been so oft delivered by from the hands of our Enemies should be so profaned A complaint we have cause to sill up with tears more than words Have we so learnt Christ as only to swear by him Will neither the mercies received nor those we expect charm our lips from such a Rebellion What drinkings what staggerings what reelings are to be seen in all parts of our Land This deluge of excess has drown'd the face of the earth and risen many Cubits above the highest Mountains of Religion and good Laws What extortings what defraudings what oppressings of the poor what covetings even the pretenders to a further Reformation look asquint with a Sacrilegious eye upon the small remnant of the Churches Patrimony what repinings what traducings of Magistracy what Atheistical discoursings of a Deity It is deplorable to see how these sinners are set down in the seat of the Scorner and since they cannot argue resolve to laugh all Piety out of countenance Yet alas were these the sins of ignorance of infirmity they might be worthy of a pious pity But O the high hand of our presumptuous offences we draw iniquity with the strings of vanity and shoot up those hateful shafts against heaven Did we sit in darkness and the shadow of death as too many Pagan and Popish Regions do these works of darkness would be less intolerable But now that the glorious Sun of the Gospel has darted its Rays has shined so long bright in our faces nay even now when God has declared visibly for us What can we plead against our own confusion O God! where shall we appear when thy very favours aggravate our Crimes and thy Judgments What pious soul can consider all this and much more and not fear that all these mercies are but fore-runners of some greater miseries that all our preservations are but reservations to some more signal destruction How justly may heaven give us over into the hands of our enemies depopulate our Cities destroy our whole Nation like Sodom and make us the scorn and Proverb of all succeeding Generations Dan. 9. But O our God let thine anger and fury be turned away from thy Jerusalem thy holy Mountain O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord harken and do Defer not for thine own sake O our God for thy City and thy people that are called by thy Name But what speak I of not deferring to a God of mercy who is more ready to give than we to crave more loth to strike than we to smart and when he must Complains Why will you die O house of Israel To a God who in despite of all our sins of all our impieties of all our ingratitudes does still continue his favours does still preserve us from our Adversaries that