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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	advantage_n	eye_n	great_a	114	3	2.1332	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67624	An answer to certain observations of W. Bridges, concerning the present warre against His Majestie whereby hee pretends to justifie it against that hexapla of considerations, viz. theologicall, historicall, legall, criticall, melancholy, and foolish : wherein, as he saith, it is look't upon by the squint-eyed multitude.	Warmstry, Thomas, 1610-1665.	1643 (1643)	Wing W879; ESTC R38489	56,563	74

Nation And therefore I could wish there were a Law made for the utter abolishing of both those names as they are now used for names of opposition least the Devill and his complices under the one cast an odium upon the service of God and under the other upon loyalty to our Prince For my part I will endeavour to keepe them both out of my mouth in any such odious acception sith I conceive them to be full of uncharitable non-sens And I am sure you did not well to become the Devils fueller by contributing to the passage of that odious title as it is made whereby you here entitle the Kings Subjects it were more proper worke for you to quench fires then to foment them But we know well enough who you meane and is it necessary then that we must be devoured by the Cavaliers as you call them or the Parliament Is our great expectation of the redresse of our grievances come to this Is this the fruit of two yeares consultation Is this all the advantage that hath beene made unto the poore abused people of the Land of all those large and happy opportunities that have beene afforded this Parliament for the procurement of the good and safety of Church and State that out of our feares and doubts we should be now concluded and shut up unto an unavoidable ruine Sure if it be so we must needs conclude that the wisedome of humane Counsels is not omnipotent and that the Argos eyes of the greatest politique bodies may be sometimes so charmed asleepe as to betray their charge unto danger especially when they intercept the free entercourse betwixt themselves and the head and that there is no confiding even in Parliaments themselves And it may be God is now about to teach us this lesson That we may learne to rely upon none but him and that he hath now suffered us to faile of our hopes that he may instruct us by experience to place them better than upon the wisedome or power of any concurrence of humanity even upon none but upon that indefeatable power and that incorruptible wisedome that is in God himselfe And indeed this lesson if it be well learn't may be worth more to us than any other good that we gaped for since there can be no greater strengthening unto a Nation or People then to teach them to deny all strength in the creature and to cast themselves totally upon God I confesse for my owne part I once thought with the rest That the calling of a Parliament had beene almost that Panchreston that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that universall medicine that would have brought with it a cure for all our diseases Yea and I yet thinke that if we take a Parliament in the right and genuine sense as it is or ought to be an entire body unmaymed unmangled and undivided it is one of the best grounds for a confidence to rest on that the sphere of mortality can yeild us And therefore if we be not altogether indocible the Lord hath hereby taken the most absolute and summary course to beat off our dependance upon any earthly thing that wee can almost possibly imagine since he hath hereby shewed us the fayling of that which of most things that the world can affoord was most likely to yeild an all-sufficiency to our hopes But I could wish if it had pleased God that we might have learn't this document by some more gentle meanes and that we had not deserved to have such a curse sent upon that which we tooke for the greatest of our blessings as to be put into such a miserable strait betweene the devouring jawes of two inevitable destructions like the poore Israelites betweene the Egyptians and the Sea or like the miserable Brittaines infested by the Picts betweene the slaughter of the enemy and the devouring of the waves when they sent that lamentable complaint unto the Romans To Agilius thrice Consull the sighs of the Brittains The enemy drives us to the Sea the Sea drives us backe againe to the enemy so betweene both we are either drowned or slaine but yet we hope better for all your Augury God can open a passage where you can see none for the escaping of both these dangers To conclude this point we have two Answers to your Observation First it is but your groundlesse presumption and surmise or rather it may be your excogitated pretence That if those you speake of should yet be so just as to let men alone with their propriety and liberties they should then necessarily be made a prey both in their goods and lives unto those you stile Cavaliers Nay we doe firmely beleeve that if they might be suffered to retaine their owne and not forced or perswaded by you and your like to contribute to that unjustifiable designe which is on foot they might have a farre more comfortable enjoyment of their estates and lives too by the protection of His Majesties goodnesse and justice then you can promise them by that course you advise them to whether it be that you would have them be content to be plundered or willingly to offer up their rights Neither doe those that have experience of them finde the Cavaliers as you stile them such ravenous beasts as you would make them I could name some places where they have most to doe where the people enjoy both their lives and goods farre more peaceably and quietly upon the termes and obedience and subjection to their Prince then as we beleeve you in London can boast of or any other places where your party hath long setled Witnesse Oxford Worcester and the rest We heare not in those places of any such violence offered to men in their estates and liberties as you have so frequent amongst you in other places But if the danger were as great as you would make it In the second place it is but a poore miserable comfort that you offer unto the poore people when you would have them give up their estates unto your party that they may be free from the Cavaliers Ne moriare mori is a strange kinde of medicine you would not like such a recipe from your Physitian I beleeve This is in a sort to advise a man to drowne himselfe and tell him it is a sure way to scape hanging or to cast his goods into the Sea to keepe them from a Pirat Or as if one should meet me upon the high-way and advise me to give him my purse upon faire termes least another that comes after may take it by force it is indeed to perswade the people to imbrace a certaine ruine to avoid a possible one But thirdly what justice is it in your party to take upon them to deprive the Subjects of their rights and liberties under the pretence of preventing others from doing them the like or a greater mischiefe That conscience walkes by no perfect rule that thinkes it lawfull to commit the least injustice to prevent another from doing

this purpose 1 Cor. 8.13 if meate make my brother to offend I will eate no flesh while the world standeth lest I make my brother to offend yea in Act. 15. in that famous Apostolicall Synod we finde the Apostles for peace sake and to avoid scandall making a constitution for the abnegement of that freedome in meates and drinks which the Church had obtained in Christ as you may see in that first and most authenticall decretall Epistle which is there recorded sent from the Apostles and Elders with the whole Church by the hands of Paul and Barnabas together with Iudas and Silas unto the brethren which were of the Gentiles in Antioch Syria and Cilicia which examples and precepts if they were well considered they would teach us more moderation and charity then is found in too many in these dayes who are ready to turne the Church upside downe upon every fancyed inconvenience that they apprehend in the discipline or ceremonies of the Church they cry up liberty liberty but in the meane time they make havock of the Church in that that more neerly concernes us which is peace and unity whereas the Apostles teach us both by precept and example that wee are rather to part with liberty then peace and that many other inconveniences even as great ones as Circumcision was after Christ may be admitted rather then the peace disturbed or the preaching of the Gospell hindred And if wee may and ought upon such termes to part with our christian liberty then surely it is most reasonable that upon the like termes i. e. for the peace of the Common-wealth to prevent disturbance to avoid scandall or to make way for the Gospell wee ought to depart from our civill liberty for sicut se habet libertas christiana ad pacem Ecclesiae sic se habet libertas civilis ad pacem reipubl And therefore in such case the command of the supreme Magistrate is to be obeyed though it be contrary to the law in that that concernes the priviledge or liberty of the Subject Secondly this is more precisely confirmed here by the example of our Saviour who to avoid scandall obeyed Caesars Officers and made Peter joyne with him therein although it were against his liberty and priviledge as our Saviour seemes to intimate So it appeares cleerly that our Saviour was free by the law or custome of that Nation and yet to avoid scandall or offence he obeyed Caesars Officers requiring tribute of him though contrary to the liberty of the Subject and Christi actio nostra instructio you cannot walke more safely then in the footsteps of Christ in those things that concerne either your civill or spirituall conversation this will be a farre more authenticall guide unto the people then any rules you can prescribe against it especially in those things which he did of ordinary dispensation as this which was not a matter of power but submission c. And therefore I may aske did Christ well or no in paying tribute against the liberty of the Subject and so in obeying Caesars Officers command against the law of the Kingdome I doubt not but you will answer yes unlesse you are out of love with him too because he is a King but here he presents himselfe to us as a subject well why than I say unto you and to every other man as our Saviour once in another case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the demand of tribute against the law was sinfull in the Officers but our Saviours obedience was good and laudable as he did all things well and therefore imitable by us Thirdly this will appeare by the rule of reason in three conclusions which I hope you will not deny the first is this That wee may and ought to dispense with our private right where it cannot likely be preserved without a publique ruine nature teacheth the arme to expose it selfe to a blow to save the head and the whole body for the generall safety is alwayes to be preserved afore the particular though never so neere us Secondly That the preservation of the Church from scandall or the Common-wealth from division is the preservation of a publique good and the prevention of a publique evill and both these are in themselves full as good or better then liberty and therefore especially when they are enlarged by the advantage of the gratuity of them in respect of a private freedome and this is according to the rule of charity for as Mr Calvin well hath it sicut charitas fidei ita libertas subjicienda est charitati and therefore although it be granted that where nothing else is to be considered the Magistrate doth an injury in commanding you contrary to the law of the Kingdome and that you doe wrong unto your selfe in obeying such a command yet if the command enjoyne you nothing that is contrary to the commanding part of the law of God or the Common-wealth but onely against the permissive part thereof not against duty but priviledge you ought to obey in such case rather then give occasion of scandall upon the Church or bring reproach to your profession or disturbance to the peace of the State wherein you live And in such case your obedience is no wrong to your selfe but your disobedience a wrong to the Church and Common-wealth Thirdly By way of corollary to prevent an evasion least any should object that the publique liberty is endangered by suffering entrenchments to be made upon the private The third conclusion is this that as publique good is to be preferred afore private so amongst publique and private goods peace is more necessary than liberty as that which concerneth the very being of a body is more necessary then that which concerneth onely the well being now that peace concerneth the very being of a State our Saviour himselfe seemes to instruct us when he tells us That a Kingdome divided cannot stand But we cannot say so of liberty and therefore even the publike liberty is to be dispens'd with for publike peace we must dispense with commodities for preservation of essences Besides that we have learnt by lamentable experience that when liberty is built up upon the ruines of peace it cannot stand long upon such a foundation but is quickly buried in the ruines which it hath made Pax est custos libertatis The peace of the Kingdome is the nurse and guardian of the liberty and freedome of the State and if you take away that to preserve this it is as if you should pull downe the foundation to inlarge the building or as if you should send away the nurse for the preservation of the childe or remove the fuell to maintaine the fire And truly I conceive this rule may be well observed for the discovery and prevention of one maine plot of the Devill who hath beene ever and anon setting liberty against peace and exposed this to ruine by the intemperate desire of that This is the ordinary stratagem of Satan to set Schisme a-foot

we were countenancers of Rebellion and all because we through I was about to say too much charity have tolerated such as you are amongst us It is you Schismaticks not we Protestants that have given this occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme it is you that like Simeon and Levi have made us as much as in you lyeth even to the stinke amongst the Inhabitants of the world when even Papists Turkes and Heathens are ready it may be feared to lay your mischievous opinions and ungodly practises upon us as if Protestants were patrons of Rebellion which we doe abhorre from the very bottomes of our hearts Witnesse the cleare Article of our Church of England And therefore it matters not to us what Papists say or doe in this point it hath beene an old quarrell betweene Papists and us and you may even goe and shake hands with them in this point And yet I see not what great advantage Bellarmine gives you in that you here quote out of him I could direct you to some others of them that speake much more plainly to your purpose and it seemes you are yet but a novice in the study of Rebellion that you are furnished with no more pertinent authorities for what I beseech you doth Bellarmine grant you here truly all is scarce worth thankes for ought I see 1. The place is from Christ alone then take heed how you despise the authority of that place or office which is derived from Christ 2. The person is from the choosers it may be in some sort true in elective Kingdomes but I pray you remember that the Crowne of England is successive and hereditary and therefore none but God is the chooser here so that the person is from him too 3. The union of these two is from Christ but by mediation of an humane act What then though it were granted this would make little for your purpose for if the union betweene the person and the place be from Christ let what humane act soever intercede none but he that makes the union may take upon him to make a separation if that rule of the Apostle be authenticall Those whom God hath joyned let no man put asunder Besides by this act they set him above all their owne power and doe part with that very power unto him which was before in them in designing him for their supreame Governour and you must shew some superiour authority to enable the doing of such an act And now let Protestants have their eyes in their fore-heads and see how grossely you paralogise to deceive both your selfe and others Did you not finde that the people are mad already a man might thinke you would scarce venter such stuffe amongst them But let Papists and Schismaticks hold what they will at their perils we Protestants by Gods grace will live and die in obedience unto God and our Gratious Prince whom God long preserve to the peace of this Kingdome The fourth Consideration you say is criticall I leave you to make good the sense of this title which for my part I am not so good a critick to understand very well But to the matter And herein you seeme to lay downe one exception of the people against the employment of their estates in this present bloudy businesse that you plead for and thereto you returne your answers My money shall not helpe to kill men that you set downe as the voyce of the squint-eyed multitude as you call them And now let us see your answer and indeed here you are liberall that you may teach them to be so you give them two answers for failing and it was but need of your bounty for both will scarce make up halfe a good one one six pence would have beene better then two such slips but what you want in weight it seemes you would make up in number And first you tell them Their money is none of theirs if the Lord the Law the Liberty the Cause or the Defender thereof stand in need thereof no more then the Asse in the Gospel or the bread and beefe of Nabal Theirs in the like case Secondly you tell them that If they hinder the killing or quelling of those who would both kill and quell you yours your Religion Kingdome they become friends of Gods enemies and yours and resolve to make peace with them with whom God is resolved to have warre In your first answer your Thesis is true But it will trouble you to make good your Hypothesis neither are your proofes so cleare and pertinent I shall endeavour to display your argument thus 1. You lay downe this for a ground That where the Lord or the Law or the Liberty or the Cause or the Defenders thereof have need of our estates private mens purses are none of their owne That 's the meaning of your Thesis Your Hypothesis you tearme to be understood and if you speake any thing to the purpose it is this But in the present designe against His Majestie the Lord the Law the Liberty the Cause and the Defenders thereof have need of the peoples money and therefore as the case now stands Their money is not theirs their property ceaseth they have no power to deny Your Thesis you make good by two examples or presidents of holy Scripture The first out of Matthew 21.3 where we find the Asse delivered up for the supply of our Saviours necessity to furnish him for his journey to Hierusalem The second out of the 1 of Samuel the 25. and the 11. where we find David in his necessity desiring supply of Nabal and being denyed by that unthankfull churle going about to revenge himselfe upon him by a resolved plunder and destruction of Nabal and his family 1. Give me leave to say something unto your Thesis and to examine your proofes and then I shall shew the vanity and fals-hood of your hypothesis And first I grant you this with all my heart that every one is bound to part with his private estate where the Lord cals for it or hath need of it either for the procurement of his glory or for the supply of the necessity of the Church or his poore members or where the exigency of the publique requires it for the maintainance of the law the liberty or the publique good for the defence of a good cause and the assertours of it and whosoever doth not part with their estates in a due proportion being legally required preferring the publique good before their private commodity sinnes for the Word of God teacheth us that the Lord is the chiefe proprietary of the whole world and that of him we hold all that we have and are but Stewards of it to his use and for his glory And nature it selfe teacheth us that the good of the parts must yeeld unto the necessitie of the whole body and we find the parts of the universe though senselesse and irrationall putting this rule in practise as they are swayed in their motions