Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	pope_n	rome_n	supremacy_n	5,220	5	10.1442	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61177	A sermon preached before the Lord mayor, and the Court of Aldermen, at Guild-Hall Chappel, on the 29th of January 1681/2 by Thomas Sprat ...	Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713.; Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy (London, England)	1682 (1682)	Wing S5057; ESTC R17957	18,038	47

Certainly never till the Anabaptistical madness and Enthusiastical phrensies of these last Ages did any Members of the Church of Christ presume upon an extraordinary Purity and Holiness of their own to declare themselves Absolved by a Spiritual Light within them from the eternal Bonds of Reason Right and Justice to which we are all indispensably obliged not only as we are men but much more as we are Christians And to manifest the just Judgment of God against them all for these Usurpations is it not very observable that the very same men who most of all men that call themselves Christians have invaded the rights of publick Government and private Virtue the Romanist on the one side the Enthusiasts on the other the very same men have made the greatest Invasions on Religion it self the one on its Purity the other on its Unity Those of the Church of Rome Pope Hildebrand and His Followers who assum'd a Dominion and Supremacy over all Temporal Laws did not they first exalt themselves in the Temple of God above all that is called God above the Scripture it self the express Law of God The Anabaptists in Germany and their Successors of whatever Name or Sect who first falsly boasted that their inward Sanctity and Inspirations did set them above the low rudiments and beggerly elements of this world as they miscall'd the Obligations of Virtue and Obedience did the same men rest satisfied there Did they not at the same time profess that all sober Piety and decent Worship and intelligible Religion was as gross and carnal and Antichristian and as grievous to their spirits as they had pronounced all the Ordinances of Civil Government and moral Virtue to be But God be praised neither of these abominable examples is of sufficient Authority or Antiquity to make a President against the constant universal practice of the whole uncorrupt Christian as well as Jewish Institution Still therefore the same observation holds good that Justice and Piety Righteousness and Religion came into the world together In their beginning they were brought forth as Twins the most beloved Children of the most high the most likely Off-spring of Heaven And as they were Contemporaries at first so they have been all along educated together both cherish'd alike by God himself both observed alike by all wise holy and good men Nor indeed could it well be otherwise For the mutual agreement between Justice and Piety is inseparable The perpetual union of Righteousness and Religion is most necessary The Principles on which they both subsist the ends which they would both produce are the same or subordinate one to the other Are not true Reason and the Word of God some of the chief Principles of true Righteousness so they are of true Religion Are not the Glory of God and the happiness of mankind the ends of Religion so they are of Righteousness Religion indeed does carry the blessed work much farther undertakes to finish it in another life But Righteousness begins it in this life and performs its part so well that without it Religion it self could have little or no real influence on the Consciences of its Disciples Was not mankind a Society as soon as it was a Church and Righteousness contributed to make it a Society as Religion did to make it a Church Was it not Righteousness that first made men begin to confide in one another to commit their private Safety and Profit to each others Fidelity That therefore was the common parent of all other Virtues That first peopled the world That first drew and enticed men into Houses and Cities and then secured them there and so divided mankind from beasts in conditions as well as habitations Certainly it was Righteousness as a part of natural Religion that first made men to be men and so prepared and then deliver'd them over to reveal'd Religion and at last to be made Christians and Saints If Righteousness had not temper'd and soften'd and reconciled humane nature within it self no creature had been more fierce and salvage than the Sons of Adam none would have had more vehement passions to desire mischief none more cunning to contrive it none a greater power to effect it If we take Righteousness out of the heart of a man we leave nothing there of the image of God after which he was created Take Righteousness out of a private Family and it soon turns into a den of Thieves Take Righteousness out of a State and that only becomes a more regular more politic more combin'd and therefore a more pernicious society of mighty Robbers Take Righteousness out of the World and the world would not deserve to be call'd as it was at first the complete work of God's hands but a Chaos still or a rude Forest or Wilderness or something worse For to be inhabited only by rapine and violence is worse than to be only an innocent unfrequented Desart Thus whatever increase of Civil Arts whatever flourishing of populous Nations whatever intercourse between people and people has been practis'd to supply the necessities conveniences and Ornaments of humane life they were all at first founded on Righteousness From that are derived to us all our temporal Blessings without that we could never have enjoyed the means of our eternal Blessings For where there is no true Righteousness there can be no true humanity no civility no kindness of men to one another and by consequence no true Religion For all true Religion is always accompanied with some true humanity wherever the power of Christianity comes it either finds some civility or makes it What is that which immediately follows Glory to God on high peace on earth good will towards men And where there is no Righteousness there can be no good will where there is no good will of men to one another there can be no place or no well-grounded hope of Gods good will to men This is the first thing in my Text Righteousness a virtue so beneficial so necessary to mankind so highly valued of God himself This deals with men as men upon the square upon even terms justly expecting a like return of good offices The next is Mercy But that has more of superiority and majesty in it That takes men on the greatest disadvantage with the greatest generosity when they are either miserable by distresses or obnoxious by injuries relieves the one pardons the other Whatever therefore I have said or can be said in praise of Righteousness still the chief place in our praises and practice ought to be reserved for Mercy Great indeed is the extent of both these together All below Righteousness is sin nothing is above Mercy So that both together comprehend the whole compass of mens duty to one another from the lowest to the highest part of it which may be all contained in two words Honesty and Charity that is the Righteousness and Mercy in my Text. Thus they are best together But if consider'd asunder or compared then Mercy