Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	church_n	england_n	homily_n	1,679	5	11.5743	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35015	An answer of a minister of the Church of England to a seasonable and important question, proposed to him by a ... member of the present House of Commons viz. what respect ought the true sons of the Church of England ... to bear to the religion of that church, whereof the King is a member?	Cartwright, Thomas, 1634-1689.; A. B.	1687 (1687)	Wing C696; ESTC R16020	49,784	64

and minus has Degrees of Better and Worse There is a Court as well as Churh of Rome and 't will not be impertinent to ask Of which it is we speak in this Case because the determining that will very much influence the respect here inquir'd of and we see that the Most the Best and the Truest Sons of the Church of England have more kindness and respect for one sort than another 'T is fit likewise That the meaning of the True Sons of the Church of England should be adjusted and that the rather because the World was very lately so shamefully impos'd on by the equivocal Signification of True Protestants and we know not but there may be still some of that illegitimate and spurious Off-spring maintain'd under the disguise of the True Sons of the Church of England of whom both the Father of our Country and our Mother-Church have reason to be ashamed By a True Son of the Church of England I mean one who gives his Assent and Consent unfeignedly to the Doctrines of the Church contained in the Thirty nine Articles and Homilies as they were received and expounded in the time of King Charles the Martyr and in the Book of Common-Prayer and who is truly conformable to the Worship and Discipline of the same as far as he is or may be concern'd contained in her Injunctions Canons and Rubricks one who as strictly observes the Fasts and Festivals of the Church as they are solemnly bid and the lawful Commands of the Ordinary Which Sons of the Church may be also consider'd as Clergy or Lay-men and these again as Private-men or Magistrates and Members of Parliament as you your self are whom though I am not sit to advise or instruct when you sit on that Bench yet whilst you are yet at your Country House you have given me no Reason to question but that my Counsel as mean as it is will challenge its Welcome Non tantus Ego sum ut vos alloquar veruntamen gladiatores persectissimos non tantum magistri sed etiam idiotae adhortantur de longinquo ut saepe de ipso populo dictata suggesto profuerint For according to these differences of Orders and Degrees a different Respect will be expected from them in the present case of our debate Lastly We must consider what it is to Respect and Honour the King and his Religion and in what this Honour consists And this is either internal or external the former consists in a due esteem of the Person and Thing so Honoured and Respected and the latter in a suitable external Behaviour towards them and both the one and the other are to be paid to the King both the internal by maintaining an high esteem of him in our Hearts and the external by behaving our selves so as may best express that i●ward esteem we have of him and propagate it in others with whom we converse For our Most Gracious Prince may justly require of us as Saul did of Samuel That we should Honour him before the People for as Kings are Gods by deputation so are they in some sense to be honoured as God and accordingly as we are to Honour God Whether we Eat or Drink or whatsoever we do by doing all to his Glory that is so as to beget in others the highest esteem of him and such as becomes his transcendent Glory so must we Honour his Vicegerent by doing all things which we lawfully may without intrenching upon God's Honour for the King's Glory whereby we may beget and propagate in others such an high esteem of him both as a Christian and Prince such a due Veneration of his Royalty and Religion as becomes his supreme Dignity and his Christian Vertues The Terms of the Question being thus distinguish'd and explain'd I proceed to give a distinct Answer to the same in these following Conclusions 1 st Every Man of what Rank or Order soever is bound in Conscience to keep close to the Religion which he verily believes to be True which the Question it self supposes There always have been there are and there ever will be differences in our Judgments till there be none in the Faces of Men only let them be Sincere Innocent and Inoffensive which they will then be when our Conversations are all of a piece and we delight to serve the Will of God entirely and sincerely and to attend upon his Providence without any Reluctancy or Disturbance so as to bring our Wills and all our Actions Ends and Designs into a compliance with it duly considering that we came into this World by God's appointment not to do our own Wills but the Will of him that sent us When we devote our selves to the Will of God as far as he has reveal'd it to us to serve it faithfully and entirely and rest well satisfied with the Wisdom of his Proceedings who determines all things by an eternal Rule of Goodness we enroll our selves in Eternity For as Gods Kingdom is set up so may the Devil's Kingdom be pull'd down without the noise of Axe and Hammers We may then attain to the greatest Atchievements against the Gates of Death and Hell when we most of all possess our own Souls in Patience and collect our Minds into the most peaceable compos'd and united Temper The motions of true practical Religion are like that of the Heavens as silent as they are swift Though the motions of Grace are perpetual yet are they soft and gentle and it acts most powerfully in them in whom it acts most peaceably Every Person who owns any pretends it to be the true Religion like Brutus and Cassius Vbicunque ipsi essent praetexebant esse Rempublicam they will allow none to be the True Church but that of which they are Members and they will have the Gates of Heaven to be open'd to none but themselves and allow no Wedding Garment but such as is of their own Spinning Ma●unt nullam habere quam non suam They had rather there should be no Religion professed in the World than that their own should not take place and therefore a Man had need count Doctrines and Opinions as well as Money after his Father and if he do so he will find many of these though never so fair without to be counterfeit within And that whilst one is of Paul and another of Apollo and a third of Cephas there are but few of Christ That these Distractions in Religion are the Destruction of it and that the conscionable part which is the Life of all True Religion is lost in the Controversies of it When there is no mind of yielding on either side there will be no end of Disputes but galling one another of which the Apostle justly complains and perswades us rather to forbear and forgive one another as becomes the Disciples of the Prince of Peace Why should we shew so much Violence in these Points of which we can have no certain Evidence