Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	accuse_v	evil_a	excuse_v	1,813	5	9.4788	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68098	A pleasant dialogue, betweene a souldior of Barwicke, and an English chaplaine Wherein are largely handled & laide open, such reasons as are brought in for maintenaunce of popishe traditions in our Eng. church. Also is collected, as in a short table, 120. particular corruptions yet remaining in our saide church, with sundrie other matters, necessary to be knowen of all persons. Togither with a letter of the same author, placed before this booke, in vvay of a preface.	Gilby, Anthony, ca. 1510-1585.	1581 (1581)	STC 11888; ESTC S109674	76,666	200

the Lorde can be rightly ministred without a surples And what policie call you this to maintain so fonde opinions of the people Bern. The Queene doeth commaunde it for policie not for any Superstition howsoeuer the fonde people doe abuse it Mil. Ah that your politicall Proctors eyes are so blinded that they cannot see that so long as the supersticious things remain that superstition which hath bin so long rooted in the hartes of the people wherevnto man is so prone by nature can neuer be taken away And therefore it were a most necessarie policie for the Queenes Maiestie and all Christian Princes to roote out from the eyes of the people all the monuments of superstition Idolatrie according to gods commaundement and the words of the first Iniunctions Thus Moses Ezekiah and Iosiah destroyed the Idolls and the Idolatrous monumentes euen the Serpent set vp by Gods commaūdement a signe of Christ and a Sacrament of Gods fauour and mercie And Iehu killeth the Idolatrous priests in their priestly garmentes For none of these good Rulers could thinke that theyr commaundement was able to turne superstition into policie neyther had they any such power or authoritie because God had commaunded the contrarie Besides this to looke vppon the matter rightly ther is nothing that toucheth Christes religion more neare than the maner of making of Ministers and the forme of the ministring of the Sacramentes Wherefore nothing is further from policie like as in the appointing of these twayne Christes simplicitie is cleane contrarie to humane policie Therfore is it no marueyle though mans wisedome do not like it I haue also reade in a Booke of that Godly Father Martin Bucer whome your side boasteth of so muche that the tenthes and the firste fruites taken from the Benefices are sacriledge and robberie though they bee called meere policie All is not good policie that beareth the name of policie For these wicked impropriations pluralities of Benefices adoration of the Sacrament excommunication and absolution for money many moe popish practises haue nowe the name of policie But cursed is that policie that maynteineth any popish polling idlenesse superstition or Idolatrie Bern. Why may not a King cōmanud such thinges for good purposes that the Pope hath abused Mil. Both the commaunder the obeyer haue theyr limits in Christ not against Christ in the feare of the Lord not against the will of the Lorde to edification not to destruction Howbeit it were too long to aunswere all that maye herein bee sayde and the euils are too euident so that muche needeth not But this must all Christian Princes knowe that the King him selfe is bound to haue Gods booke hy him continually and thereby to directe his policie that he turne neither to the righte hande nor to the lefte For when he casteth away the worde of God from his policie there is no wisedome therein I coulde tell you further of licences and dispensations and other Popishe Lawes whiche are couered with the cloake of policie Howebeit all this is but a cropping of that Romish Rainoldes eares and so to bring in an English Poperie Bern. Nay Miles you are far ouerseene to call this an English poperie For you are bound not onely to obey your Prince for feare of punishment but also for conscience sake Mil. This sentence of the Apostle doth bind vs in conscience to haue a loue and reuerence vnto our Prince as vnto Gods Lieuetenaunt and of a faithfull harte conscience to obay him and to assiste him with our bodies and to ayd him with our goods so long as he doth this office in maintening good things good persons and punishing euil men and wicked doings For this cause doe we paye tribute sayth Paule that the Prince may be able to mainteine the good and to punish the euill as Gods Minister For example All the people were bound to assiste Moses in destroying the Idolaters and that Idoll in the wildernesse to helpe him with their goods in the making of the Tabernacle and to ayde Iehu in destroying the Idolatrous priestes and Temple of Baal and to obey Hezekiah and Iosiah in the destroying of the Idolles and Idolatrous monumentes in their times But no man was bound to obeye Ieroboam Ahab Iehoram Ahaz or any of y e wicked kings commaunding any superstition or idolatrie though for conscience sake because GOD placeth euill men ouer vs for our sinnes we may neuer ceasse to do our duties towardes them which is firste to giue vnto God our selues wholie then to giue vnto Caesar that which apparteyneth vnto him such tribute and seruice as is requisite As cōcerning wicked commaundements we must say That we must obeye God rather than man For Israel is sore threatened that Gods wrath shal come vpon them because they walked after the commaundement of the King And though Iosiah had taken away all the Idolatries and superstions which Manasseh his Graunfather had set vp and his Father Amon had maintayned yet was it so farre of that the cōmandement of those two wicked Kinges coulde excuse the people that notwithstanding some repentaunce in the dayes of Iosiah the Lorde turned not from the fierce wrath where with he was angry against Iuda and Ierusalem but put them foorth of his sight for the sinnes of Manasseh Whereby wee may see that we may not obey any wicked commaundement of any Prince vnlesse we will expose our selues to Gods heauie displeasure as that people did whiche obeyed the commaundement of Manasseh Wherefore as our conscience doth binde vs to obey the Prince commaunding good thinges and punishing the euill so doth our conscience which shall accuse or excuse at the great day teache vs that withoute any resisting euen praying to God for the euill Prince we may disobey any such commandement as may in any wise withdrawe vs from our duetie towarde God as we haue a manifest example of Daniel and his three companions refusing courtly delicates and in other their actes afterwarde As also wee haue this playne commaundemente to abstayne from all shewe of euill Yet doe wee graunt as I sayde before that in all Godly policies wee doe owe obedience in the bestowing of all that we haue Bern. What callest thou Godlie policies Mil. All Godly policies are furtherances to the keeping of Gods commaūdmēts wherein the cheefe and firste is the precise honouring of the true God and therefore the abolishing and abhorring of all Idols and of all their monuments Bern. Is not loue charitie and concord the fulfilling of the law And these are made for loue and concorde therefore this is a policie furthering Gods law and commaundements and so I heard Maister Doctor reason with a Minister Mil. Sir Bernard I did maruell where you had gotten this Logick and Diuinitie But first I doe aunswere that for the keeping of the first table the loue of God that I spake of before and therefore the detestation of Idols and al idolatrous monuments is