Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	church_n	great_a	time_n	5,546	4	3.4499	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58138	Vox laici, or, The layman's opinion touching the making alterations in our established liturgy in an answer to a letter from a member of the convocation : with some remarks on the (pretended) answer of Vox cleri / by J.R. in a letter to a friend.	J. R.	1689 (1689)	Wing R36; ESTC R31952	14,808	28

the froward and the peevish should remain so still What will be got by our breaking the Links of a strong and well compass'd Chain when we have often seen the breaking but of one has indangered the whole For these and many more Reasons too tedious here to recite I think and in the words of our Authour must say there is an absolute necessity of considering of this Consideration viz. Whether making any Alterations c. be convenient But Fourthly The Fourth Consideration is Who will it Oblige Methinks I hear many Answer readily to this Consideration before they have at all considered of the matter by telling us it will Oblige a great many of if not all the Dissenters and truly I am of their Opinion for as the Authour of Vox Cleri wisely Observes they would be glad of such an Opportunity to hold forth to their Congregations and tell them they may now plainly see the Truth of what they had so often told them concerning the Common Prayer and the sinfulness of it which they have now without our desiring Altered some few small matters but the chief points in Dispute they retain still But for Argument I will suppose the Altering our Established Liturgy would Oblige some of our Dissenters in another sense I pray who are these Dissenters that some body would so fain Oblige Are they Friends or Enemies to the Church if the former small matters will do it if the latter 't is to be feared great ones will not Our Blessed Lord 't is true has Commanded us To love our Enemies and pray for them that deceitfully use us but I do not any where Read of Carressing Obliging and Trusting them with those matters which gives them but the more Power to destroy us c. I cannot tell but the doing of such things may be counted Politicks in the Church but I presume they never would be so reckoned in the State And I am apt to believe if a Governor of a well Fortified City had but a suspicion of a few false Friends within the Walls he would be more afraid of being betray'd by those few within than overcome by a great Army without If any body doubts the truth of this Assertion I believe the French King can solve the doubt And by this time we may begin to suppose who and what they are that will if any be obliged viz the Enemies of our Church who has endeavoured as much as in them lay to destroy it quite and fain would if that they could do the same again And therefore like Vermin at the Cheese and Bacon they begin with nibbling at the Cerimonies of our Church but if let alone they will devour it all We have had Examples enough of this kind and of the difficulty of Obliging these sort of Men As for instance in Charles II. time when he granted them an Indulgence they gave out he did it not so much through love as fear because as they always boasted of their Numbers they were so considerable a part of his Kingdoms and when that good King took and not without cause other Measures it was called by no other Name than down-right Tyranny Which Confirms the reasonableness of his Fathers Advice to him concerning them viz. Forgive them but never trust them And how much Reason that Royal Martyr had to say so I will leave it to our Convocation Authour to judge As for my part I cannot help thinking it was very good and wholsome Advice and when it was most Observed both the Church and the State was the less in danger but however if the Governors of both are of another Opinion and will try Conclusions I shall not envy the happiness of those that shall find them Obliged by it But Fifthly Who it will not oblige There are some Men in the World who tells us we know nothing but by Comparison then by the same Rule of knowing who and what sort of Persons the Altering our c. will oblige we may have a shrode Guess who and what sort they are it will not which in plain Terms are the true Sons of the Church as it is now by Law Establish'd who is and always was tender of any Affront or Dishonour put upon her as well as being always Obedient to her Commands which by them was never thought Grievous and what Solomon say's of Wisdom may be truly said of her Doctrines and Discipline viz. All her Ways are pleasant and her Paths peace Certainty was ever prefer'd before an Uncertainty and as the saying is A Bird in Hand is worth two in the Bush therefore it is worth while to Consider whither the lessning if not the losing of one Party which the Church are sure of to gain another which they have not the least Reason in the World to hope they shall besides one Isaac ought to be valued before many Ishmaels though some will tell us the contray Advice has not only been Given but put much in Practice in the Two last Reigns viz. Oblige your Enemies because your Friends you are sure will never forsake ye c. Which Maxim let who will be the Authour we have by Experience seen it sufficiently Ridiculed and look'd upon as a weak piece of Politicks for not only Enemies but Friends at least pretended ones when Disobliged Nay oftentimes without has prov'd False and Treacherous and Judas like Betray'd perhaps the best of Masters and though doing Good for Evil is a Command of our Saviours and is an excellent Character of a good Christian yet amongst the Sons of Men 't is very seldom if at all put in Practice but the contrary we see very often and private Peaks many times prosecuted with more Zeal and Heat than the general Good of a Kingdom from all which 't is no unreasonable Consideration to consider as well who it will not as who the Alteration will Oblige But Sixthly The Sixth Consideration which are most Amongst the many Pamphlets some years since that come out against a Sermon Preach'd before my Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen by the learned Dean of St. Pauls now Bishop of Worcester by that Party that our Authour would Oblige I remember a pretty Passage in Mr. A s in quoting of Expositors in which he tells the then Dean he believed he could carry it by the Poll at Guild-hall his being more in the Right in his Mischief of Impositions than the Dr. in his Mischief of Seperation or to that effect which I confess was briskly offered and did carry with it a confident Assurance of their Numbers which they ever use to brag of and their carrying all Things by the Poll But I remember the Dr. in his just Justification did in its proper place Return Mr. A. this modest Answer viz. If he had no better Skill in Polling Nonconformists than in Polling Expositors he might possibly be mistaken or to that purpose And I am easily perswaded were our Convocation Authour to put it to the issue of a