Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	believe_v	faith_n	infallibility_n	5,890	5	11.4885	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48008	A letter from a gentleman of the Romish religion, to his brother, a person of quality of the same religion, perswading him to go to church, and take those oaths the law directs proving the lawfulness thereof by arguments not disagreeable to doctrines of the Roman Church.	Gentleman of the Romish religion.	1674 (1674)	Wing L1399; ESTC R9395	26,026	47

directed to obey for conscience sake he would commit a grievous sin against God Now what excuse can we make for our obstinacy in refusing to go to the Churches at times commanded The Popes pretended Commands will not do for were they more binding than the Laws of a Nation which certainly they are not yet can we have none such from him having no Bishops or Spiritual Superiours left whom we might or ought to trust for the truth of them when they came and we have his too too solemn promise that he will have nothing to do with us This being so I am afraid the private discourses and false pretences of private mercenary Jesuits and Missionaries will not be a sufficient Basis to rely upon before the last Tribunal for such obstinate resistance against lawful Authority in things in themselves wholly indifferent Now Brother I know Mr. Politick the Jesuit if you shew him this will presently bless himself with the sign of the Cross desire all to joyn in a Pater noster and Ave Maria against the infection and then dogmatically affirm I am turned a rank nay dangerous Heretick Your Daughters must be desired to visit me no more for fear of perversion nay you will be perswaded to double my Annuity on condition I never see your face again Well if these afflictions should happen I cannot help it but for the mind I am in it must be stronger Arguments shall hinder me from avoiding conviction as long as with a safe conscience I can And I think there are none such for I have considered all I ever hitherto have heard and to me they appear weak and impertinent But that I may not be thought only to affirm this I will sum up all I know any thing to the purpose To begin first then with scandal which is one Argument mainly urged I suppose it can never be intended that if a weak Brother id est perhaps a Fool shall be troubled in mind that I have six dishes of meat at my Table and himself and many better Christians than I have it may be scarce half a one That I must therefore for fear of being an eye-sore to him retrench my self to his fragments And yet S. Paul as to his own practice seemed to resolve this since he says he would never eat meat whilst he lived rather than offend the weak brethren So I suppose and reasonably that his Doctrines of Scandals were calculated for the use of Christian Teachers and those that sought to be Rulers in the Church For had he intended them for all Christians I am afraid they would have proved heavier burdens on Believers than ever were imposed on the Primitive observers of the Mosaical Law and would have but ill accorded with the great Argument for Conversion which was Christian liberty from duties which they and their forefathers were not able to undergo Nor is it reasonable to think I am bound to part with two thirds of my Estate because some fool my neighbour may think me an Heretick by my going to Church no let him think on the sin is his not mine who do nothing but what in it self is lawful and what becomes my duty by the Laws commanding it But he judges amiss of my interiour Faith by my outward actions though lawful and therefore sins in want of Charity Thus much I believe may serve for Scandal though much more might be said The next Objection proceeds from this that it is made the sign of Faith and therefore he that complies in it owns the Church of Englands Doctrine but this must be by all rational men positively denied if they will consider these following Circumstances First when going to Church was commanded in England by a Penal Statute it was designed rather for opportunity to instruct people educated Roman Catholicks in the Principles of the Protestants than as an Act of general Uniformity in Faith which could not so suddenly be expected Next it would have been a vain way of trying the Faith of Papists by a thing they might lawfully according to their own Religion do nor can we believe the people of England assembled in Parliament could be so ignorant had they been minded then to have known the hearts of persons as to have fallen upon so impertinent a test For to my sorrow we find when they intended that they knew a ready and infallible way to do it But suppose the worst that the Law designed it as a tryal of Faith and a discovery of persons Popishly inclined permitting still the thing in it self to be no sin that can no ways oblige you to the refusal of it for I would desire Mr. Jesuit to tell me why you are more obliged openly to declare your self a Catholick than he is to owne himself a Priest fear of death I am sure should not deter him since if he dyes his Faith calls it Martyrdom which gains a Crown of Glory a temptation sufficient and much beyond what any of them will secure you for your Estate But if he like S. Paul thinks it lawful to get down in a Basket you may as advisedly come to Christ by night For is it reasonable that because the Law says Every Popish Recusant shall be convicted that therefore I should be bound presently to run and confess my self a Papist at the next Sessions For 't is as rational to affirm that as to say I am bound when the Law prescribes a thing to be done for tryal of my Faith which I may in Conscience do presently to cry out against it and refuse it for that cause only If that were so then it would be no hard matter by another trick to banish us all the Realm by declaring whosoever should be within this Kingdom on the 25 of March next should be esteemed to all intents and purposes no Roman Catholicks but good Sons of the Church of England whether they communicated in it or no. Now I am afraid Brother if such a sign of Faith as this were by the Law made yet Mr. Jesuit would find many excuses for staying after that time But if he would not I wish with all my heart the Parliament would make such a Statute that we might be rid of them But they know better their Principles than to hope so fair a riddance by so easie a way no these are but weak Arguments to lead the too believing Laity by the noses it must be stronger toyls that shall catch their Elephant understandings Therefore good Brother let you and I be no longer held by them For 't is plain neither scandal nor signum fide ought to be a hindrance to me from doing a thing in it self indifferent and which becomes my duty by the Law 's commanding it The next material Objection I have from some of our Spiritual misleaders met with is That as Faith comes by hearing so does Heresie therefore we ought to avoid the place where it is taught lest we should be misguided into it If you answer

A LETTER FROM A GENTLEMAN OF THE Romish Religion To his BROTHER a Person of Quality of the same RELIGION Perswading him to go to Church and take those Oaths the Law directs Proving the lawfulness thereof by Arguments not disagreeable to Doctrines of the ROMAN CHURCH LONDON Printed for John Starkey at the Mitre within Temple-Bar MDCLXXIV Dear Brother THE business of your pleasant Letter I can no ways judge could be the motive of its jocular style Is conviction for Recusancy so slight a matter that it is only to be laught at or is it that you have a mind to give his Majesty two of your three thousand a year I fear not but it may be then you have been reading Mr. Cowley's Verses out of Hesiod lately Vnhappy they to whom God han't reveal'd By a strong light which must their sense controul That half a great Estate 's more than the whole Vnhappy from whom still conceal'd does lye Of Roots and Herbs the wholesom luxury But truly Brother believe me if these Verses were Canonical Scripture yet would they be too little to keep body and soul together when the seisure is made by the Sheriff Yet is not 2000 a year worth inquiring after at least to know some small reason for parting with it Methinks it should be so I 'm sure if it was mine I should cry two words to a Bargain before I parted with a souse of it except some body would secure me Terra firma in Heaven for Reprisals And for your sake I am resolved to argue the point with our Holy Father the Pope a little to know why we his poor despised Children in England are bound to do some things at his commands he no ways expects from his more indulged ones in other Nations and such things too that practised produce our utter ruines Now good honest Friend Mr. Jesuit mind not me but follow your more necessary Imployments of answering the Doctors Stilling fleet Tilleson and Floyd with the rest of the Papist-Grinders For I am no ways denying the Popes Infallibility but will give him fair play and allow him to be a more considerable person of Honour than consists with the posture of the times or my present affairs Nay if it will do him any service I will grant him at present to be not only Supreme Bishop chief Ruler universal Head or sole Head of the universal Church but let him be as great magnificent and powerful as his most flattering Courtiers would have him that is as great indeed as the Devil himself pretended when he proffered the whole Earth and consequently universal Monarchy to our Saviour for a little worship Let him be all this at present if he pleases say I yet I hope to prove that an English Roman Catholick and consequently you Brother may go to Church as the Law directs nay ought to do it notwithstanding any commands or pretended commands from him or his holy Predecessors to the contrary For let us consider that this Omnipotency of his power be it more or less must needs terminate in this that he has no power where he will have no power and cannot command where he will not command Nay I may safely conclude That a good Catholick may believe he does not command where he plainly openly and solemnly says he will not command till he unsays that saying This in plain terms is the Popes fate now in England they have long since by an unrepeal'd publick Act of their Authority Excommunicated in the highest manner this whole Nation interdicting to the very ground that feeds us and the air we breath any spiritual Blessings or Benefits Now this solemn Excommunication not only casts out of the Fatherly protection and care of the Pope those who fall under it but deprives them of the use of Sacraments Masses Indulgences Churches Succession of Bishops Priests and Holy Orders and all other Christian Rights and Priviledges whatsoever as plainly appears from the very form used in doing it as likewise in the practice of this Kingdom in King John's Time as is proved by our Histories when for six years this Kingdom remained under it and lately in Venice when the Jesuits left that State rather than obey the Senate in performing Holy Offices contrary to his Holinesses intention which Act of theirs they to this day justifie I might instance many more Examples to prove the sad Condition of Countries Excommunicated if the Exalters of the Popes Authority were Infallible Heavenly Oracles But I having nothing to do in that point shall only glance at those things necessary to my present purpose which is to save your Estate Brother and therefore shall still allow the Pope his most extended Infallibility since that makes not at all against me in this Argument For 't is not material to me that Father Paul Author of the History of the Council of Trent does in his defence of the State of Venice against the proceedings of Pope Paul the Seventh prove that Excommunication is a spiritual punishment which implies there ought to be an offence and that except there be the Censure cannot reach the Person against whom it was intended I say though this be reasonable nay may be unanswerable as to the thing then pleaded for yet it will be no ways satisfactory to the point now in hand which is whether the Pope has any Authority left in England or no for that is plain he has not for though at first it may be all our Grandfathers did not justly incur so rigorous a sentence as to be wholly lopt off from the Catholick Church yet that Pope that excommunicated them and those ever since have absolutely refused to have any Spiritual care of them and consequently command over them renouncing it then and Annually renewing that Renunciation ever since so that there has been no continuation of Bishops in this Kingdom nor cannot be according to the Institutions of the Roman Catholick Church till that solemn Excommunication be taken off In this Condition is England and Scotland put by the Pope whilst Ireland our neighbour and fellow Subject Kingdom still continuing in his Holinesses good Grace enjoys all the Priviledges from him of the most Catholick Country So that I conclude the Pope's Infallibility will certainly reach this at least That he has Power to refuse to Govern Command or Protect all he pleases and wheresoever he pleases amongst which Places I take England to be since he and all his Predecessors since Pius Quintus's Time have solemnly declared it to be so Then Good Father Clement since you will have nothing to do I desire you will still stand by and let us shift for our selves as well as we can As for the Gentlemen Missionaries you have sent to convert us I hope we shall be able to deal with them well enough for all we go to Church which I am about to prove to you Dear Brother we may lawfully do First The thing in it self is by all Casuists in the World