Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	good_a	holy_a	scripture_n	3,042	5	5.5201	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02796	A watch-word to all religious, and true hearted English-men. By Sir Francis Hastings, knight	Hastings, Francis, Sir, d. 1610.	1598 (1598)	STC 12927; ESTC S118429	32,499	130

their parts if obedience faile their commanding is vaine but if well commanding be answered with dutifull obeying then is religion safe the Queene is safe the Common-wealth is safe and we are all safe For Xenophon in his time sayth that Quae hoc tempore habemus bona ob nullam aliam causam adepti sumus quàm ob praestitam obedientiam principi So sacred and holy a thing is obedience to Princes before God himselfe who commandeth vs to obey nay whom in this point none can disobey being a true Christian and so reuerend a thing was obedience to such as knewe not God who were drawne thereto by the light of nature and by experience of their owne feeling the sweete thereof Now herein we haue an aduauntage aboue them for wee haue both knowledge of God who commandeth vs to obey and him we may not disobey and we haue no lesse cause to feele the benefit of godly and Christian obedience to our Christian prince than euer had or hath any nation of the worlde and to shewe our selues senceles of this were to resist Gods ordinance to be ingratefull to our deare Queene and to shake off all care to continue the peace and prosperitie of our countrie and consequently to neglect our owne priuate good I hold it a sound ground not to bee controlled that euery Christian ought to striue to keep these three things soūd within his breast his conscience before God his loialtie to his Prince and his loue to his countrie All which three for my part I account so neerely conioyned each to other as they cannot iustly be seuered For in vaine do wee speake of conscience to God if we be short in loyaltie and obedience to her Maiestie in vaine doe we brag of loyaltie to her Maiestie if we carrie not a loue to our countrie and in vaine do we protest loue to our country if we performe not all loue loyaltie and obedience to our Soueraigne labour not in some measure to satisfie the dutie of a good conscience to our good God Our conscience cannot but tell vs that all obedience is due to the soueraigne Magistrate For we are taught it out of the booke of conscience the holy Scriptures which teach vs that wee must submit our selues to all manner of ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be vnto the King as vnto the superiour c. Our loyalty should tel vs teach vs that the safetie of her Maiestie consisteth in loyall and true obedience frō her subiects for obedience proceedeth of loue and Amor ciuiū est regi inexpugnabile munimentum sayth Seneca And our loue should tell vs that the Common-wealth is most happie where obedience is most heartilie performed For as one saith verie notably Nihil est quod regnum aliquod reddat potentius firmins serenius aut durabilius quàm obedientia subditorum Whosoeuer therefore hath any conscience before God any sparke of a loyall heart to her Maiestie or the least sound loue in his bosome to his countrie he cannot but embrace this obedience euery way in himselfe seeke to expresse it and with others earnestlie labour to perswade it Notwithstāding we haue some and too great a summe of those amongst vs that shake off this obedience and are so vehemently caried with a preposterous blinde zeale to popish Idolatrie that the Romish Antichrist challenging to bee Christes Vicar vppon earth though it bee plaine that in stead of Christ his simple and naked truth he setteth vp his vnchristian and carnal forgeries and vntruths is had in more reuerence and regard by those recusant English-borne subiects than is our most Christian and most rightfull Queene Elizabeth For although the commandemēt be giuen from God that wee should obey her yet dare they couer and cloake their disobedience vnder the colourable name of conscience whereas it is nothing els but a vaine and superstitious conceit wrought in them from Rome besotting them with a blinde loue of their dregges and making them like to the foolish Israelties to preferre the leekes and onyons of Egypt before the sweete Manna wherwith the Lord fed them from heauen So that in them the olde verse is fully verified Quisquis amat ranam ranam putat esse Dianam The foole that to a frog his fācy ties As faire Diana thinks it in his eies Now conscience must be grounded vpon knowledge and knowledge to guide the consciēce must bee fetched out of the sacred and holie worde of GOD the triall whereof they can no more abide then can the owle the light I note three things in this kinde of people worthie to bee knowne and obserued First the hurt they continually do secondly the hurt they would doe and thirdly their deepe dissimulation For the first it would aske a large discourse to discouer all the hurts done by thē they are so many and manifold I will onely touch some My owne experience telleth me that where the gentleman and man of wealth refuseth to come to the Church and is in any sort borne withall there the meaner sort receiue infection and draw back from obedience For A boue maiori discit arare minor Of elder oxe the yonger steere doth learne If the men come to Church and their wiues refuse which is a cunning tricke much practised of late yeres thē is y t houshold both children seruants in daunger wholly to bee corrupted And sure it is that the wiues of the meaner sort are infected greatly by them and the night crowes perswasion preuaileth much and in mint owne knowledge within these three yeares many of the meaner sort are fallen away and doe fall away daily Impunitatis spes magna peccandi illecebra Touching the hurt they would do who doubteth but they would gladly haue vp their Masse againe and banish the sincere worship of God Their whole catholike gouernment and religion I am sure they long for And yet to pronounce these men to carrie hollow hearts to Queene Elizabeth is thought to bee an vncharitable sentence But I pray you tell me Can God and Mammon Christ and Boliall the table of the Lord and the table of diuels agree together Scripture sayth they cannot and it becommeth vs to beleeue it no more can the Popes authoritie and Queene Elizabeths stād together and yet must I beleeue that these men carrie loyall hearts to our Soueraigne though they obey the Pope and disobey her For my part I see no reason at all to beleeue them and I wish all my countrimen to beware of them for they are a dangerous breede and the more dangerous because many of thē shew to haue a good outward ciuill carriage in ciuill matters But let not that possesse you with too great a regarde of them and to deliuer you from the danger of such deceitfull baytes I must assure you that this is a true position that without the true feare of God there can bee no true religion and vnles the religion be sound the

face and shew of ciuill honestie seeme it neuer so glorious in the eyes of flesh and blood is but a deceitfull visour vpon a crabtree face couering the most vile and cankered partes of a most deceitfull heart and so I come to their dissimulation These ciuill honest men that vnder pretence of conscience rebel against God in religion and refuse to yeeld a loyall obedience to their liege Lady and Soueraigne as in religion and policie they ought in her moste iust and christian lawes and commaundements seeme to carry a moste lamentable resolution lurking in their bosomes against Queene Country vs all when they will seeke the life of their and our Queene the thraldome of their and our countrie and the ruine of vs all that professe the gospell to haue their popish priesthood and massing sacrifice vp againe and if this be conscience I know not what conscience meaneth And yet this conscience they fetch from Rome and by the plaine profession of them that are fledde the realme and haue because they thought them selues out of reache shewed them selues in their colours wee may iustly doubt the affection of those that remayne with vs how demurely so euer they will shewe to behaue them selues For they are of the horseleach kinde and seeme to expect when they may glut themselues with the blood of Gods saints without which they cannot haue their Dagon vp againe The Recusants of our age cannot professe nor make greater shewe of loyaltie and loue to our dread Soueraigne neither can serue her outwardly with greater apparance of faithfulnes nor can protest more deepely by wordes and oathes their true and good meaning to her than did Gardiner Boner and Tonstall to her noble father and brother which they did confirme by printed bookes For Gardiner he wrote his booke De vera obedientia and Boner added his epistle before it And Tonstall published a flat treatise against the Pope But when these two noble Princes were called to their last and euerlasting home and kingdome in heauen and Queene Marie possessed the gouernement of this kingdome vpon earth then Gardiner did teare off his glorious visour and shewed him selfe in his right colours and shape For he and his complices neuea rested till they had brought in the Spaniard and had matched him in marriage with the Queene by which they betrayed God her and the whole realme This bloudie intention by this linck thus strengthened then commeth Gardiner out publikely in pulpit with this sentence Hora est iam nos ê somno surgere peruerting the sacred scripture most profanely and blasphemously to his bloodie purpose and what hauock he and Boner and the rest made of Gods saintes and our deare brethren and countrymean stories make mention Yea further as before I haue set downe this bloodie monster Gardiner did put hard at the life of our deare Soueraigne and mistres by whom next and immediatly vnder God wee all liue in peace and safetie both of soule and body praysed be the almightie for her deliuerance and long may shee liue to rule and raigne ouer vs to the wasting of poperie to the least dramme of that religion or rather superstition amongst vs and to the rooting out and vtter ruinating of all treasons and traytors and let all that truly feare God cary loyall hartes to our deare Queene loue their countrey vnfeignedly as faithfull christians loyall subiects and true harted English-men say Amen As for the rest such of them as are to be conuerted I wish them true and speedie conuersion with all my heart otherwise rather than Gods true religion shoulde bee darkened her Maiesties least fingerake by treacherie and treason or my countrey sustaine the least harme by their vnnaturall practises I wish their speedie confusion and ouerthrow For we may well say of them as Tullie saide of Catiline the conspiratour in one of his orations In all or most of these happie yeres of her Maiesties most prosperous peaceable gouernement there hath been no trayterous practise against her person or our countrey but it came alwayes from them and by them whome neither shame of their villanies nor feare of punishment nor any sound reason out of Gods booke or the rule of true christian policie could withholde from pursuing their traiterous purposes and practises And to see or heare that the royall person of our Soueraigne Ladie was in danger was pleasing to them as contrariwise the news of her happie escape was yrksome so that where there is onely the bare sence of a true English heart these Popish Recusants cannot bewitch or deceaue with their hypocriticall holines or ciuill honestie and so I leaue them Now my deare countrymen to you whome God hath seasoned with a better spirite of knowledge and whose hearts he hath taught to honor and loue your rightfull Soueraigne and Queene and whom nature it selfe hath instructed to holde your natiue soyle and countrey deare vnto you and to haue a sensible feeling of many miseries threatned against yourselues your wiues children plucke vp your spirits and bee couragious in the Lordes quarell in the Queenes quarell in your countries quarell and in your owne quarell know and acknowledge this common quarell of GOD Queene and Countrey to be your owne quarel in deede For in this busie bending of diuelish wits together to conspire and this ioynt-banding of huge and strong forces to execute your soules are hunted after that they may bee imprisoned in the darke dungeon of Popish Idolatrie which is the ready way to prepare them for the cheines of darknes for euer your bodies are hunted after to be exposed to their sauage and intolerable torments and here with your wiues to be deflowred your daughters to be rauished your sonnes to bee made slaues and all of you to be tyed to a lingring tormenting life or a bloody cruell death your landes and goods are hunted after not for ransomes to bee accepted for your deliuerance out of their ciuell hands but for prayes and rewards to the tormenting Souldier and proude tyrannicall Spaniard Let vs therefore labour to bee instructed daylie more and more in the knowledge of Gods trueth that our consciences being grounded vppon true knowledge wee may be armed against all the subtill sleights of Sathan and his Romish instruments and with courage and with boldenes stand to Gods infallible and eternall truth to our liues ende that when the time of our dissolution commeth we may enioy the crowne of eternall glorie propounded to and prepared for all those that make a blessed entrance into the profession and practise of true religion continew therein with a christian proceeding and holde on with perseuerance to the end Let vs with all willingnes straine our selues to our vttermost habilities to fight for God for Queene for Countrey and for our owne selues For what benefite shall we receiue of our wealth if the rauening Spaniard catch holde on vs And what cōfort shall our wealth yeelde vs though we possesse it