Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	liberty_n	papist_n	protestant_n	1,212	5	9.6046	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81350	An apologie for the Reformed churches wherein is shew'd the necessitie of their separation from the Church of Rome: against those who accuse them of making a schisme in Christendome. By John Daille pastor of the Reformed Church at Paris. Translated out of French. And a preface added; containing the judgement of an university-man, concerning Mr. Knot's last book against Mr. Chillingworth.	Daillé, Jean, 1594-1670.; Smith, Thomas, 1623 or 4-1661.	1653 (1653)	Wing D113; Thomason E1471_4; ESTC R208710	101,153	145

that to us for a crime which inevitable necessitie hath forced us to doe God knows with what a deal of constraint we are come thus farre how troublesome a thing it hath seemed to us to renounce the duties and services which we owe to them to whom we bear so much respect and love our Princes our Fathers our Friends our Countreymen But what shall we doe when we find our selves surprized with necessity Ye see that our consciences torment us that they represent to us heaven and the eternity thereof hel and its punishments and which is more yet the will of God our Soveraigne Father This is not a toy nor can we please our selves in it You have seen that our belief doth necessarily bring along with it all these considerations Shall we preferre yours before them Shall we violate the motions of our conscience Shall we disturb the peace thereof and overthrow that which we beleieve to be the law of our Soveraigne God to please you Shall we venture willingly and knowingly to provoke His anger to avoid yours Shall we fear lesse to offend Him then to displease you You your selves I know very well will condemne such a loosnesse and in stead of approving it will extremely abhorre it For ye know and teach as well as we both by word and example that we owe all to God who looks upon the religion of our consciences Be pleased then to bear with us if we preferre what we believe to be the interest of His glory before your desires and our own And in other things where your contentment will not overthrow His service we shall freely acknowledge that we owe you our whole utmost are ready to testifie it by actions therein to do your absolute pleasures though it be with the losse of what we count most precious on earth our bloud our life it self Onely suffer us to reserve our consciences to our selves or rather to Him whole and entire over which no man can reign without affronting our God And if you think that the judgement we make concerning these matters is an errour be pleased to take the pains candidly to shew us it We shall willingly examine your proofs we shall bring pliant minds and as full of prejudice in your behalf as you can wish as persons that have all the interests in the world to perswade us to desire to live in your communion if it may be with the peace of our consciences We honour as well as you the H. Scriptures given and preserved to the Church by the Providence of God to be the laws and fountains of his Faith Let us we pray see you prove from thence the Articles which you presse so strongly or at least the principles whence they may be clearly and lawfully deduced If you shew them us and after such a manifestation we continue scrupulous we then neither can nor will denie but that you will have just and good cause to esteem us Schismaticks But if you cannot or do not me thinks you should have no reason to refuse what we request viz. To bear with our separation and not hereafter to give it the odious name of schisme which agreeth onely to such separations as are made by a pure and voluntary opinionativenesse grounded onely upon the peevishnesse ambition envy hatred animositie or the like passion of such as depart from the Communion of a Church without a true and necessary reason THE END * Ecclesia non in parietibus consistit sed in dogmatum veritate Ecclesia ibi est ubi sides vera est Caeterùm ante annos 15 aut 20 parietes omnes hîc Ecclesiatum haeretici possidebant Ecclesia autem illîc erat ubi fides vera erat Hieron in Psal 133. Nemo mihi dicat O quid dixit Donatus aut quid dixit Parm. aut Pontius aut quilibet eorum quia nec Catholicis Episcopis consentiendum est sicubi fortè fallantur ut contra Canonicas Scripturas aliquid sentiant August de unit Eccles c. 10. in Edit Lugdun Honorati Anno 1562. Ecclesiam suam demonstrent si possunt non in sermonibus rumoribus Afrorum non in Conciliis Episcoporum suorum non in literis quorumlibet disputatorum non in signis prodigiis fallacibus quia etiam contra ista Verbo Domini cauti redditi sumus sed i● praescripto Legis in Prophetarum praedictis in cantibus Psalmorum in ipsius Pastoris vocibus in Evangelistarum praedicationibus laboribus hoc est in omnibus Canonicis Sanctorum librorum autoritatibus Eodem lib. c. 16. ejusdem edit Vtrum ipsi Ecclesiam teneant non nisi divinarum Scripturarum Canonicis libris ostendant quia nec nos propterea dicimus credi oportere quod in Ecclesia Christi sumus aut quia ipsam commendavit Optatus Ambrosius vel alii innumerabiles nostrae communionis Episcopi aut quia nostrorum Collegarum Conciliis praedicata est aut quia per totu orbent tanta mirabilia sanitatum fiunt c. Quaecunque talia in Catholica fiunt ideò approbantur quia in Catholica fiunt non ideò manifestatur Catholica quia haec in ea fiunt Ipse Dominus Iesus cùm resurrexisset à mortuis discipulorum oculis corpus suum offerret nè quid tamen fallaciae se pati arbitrarentur magis eos testimoniis Legis Prophetarum Psalmorum confirmandos esse ●udicavit ibid. Non audiamus Haec dico sed haec dicit Dominus Sunt certè libri Dominici quorum Autoritati utrique consentimus Ibi quaeramus Ecclesiam ibi discutiamus causam nostram Eod. l. c. 2. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in Act. hom 33. * It is entituled A memoriall for Reformation or A Remembrance for them that shall live when Catholick Religion shall be restored into England Wherein are directions in so many severall chapters what he thought best to be done as well in the Court as Countrey with the King and Counsell as with the rest of the Nobility and Commonalty Clergy as Laity when this Nation shall be as he said he was confident it would be reduced In summe he would have its Grand-Charter burnt the manner of holding lands in fee-simple fee-tail frank almain Kings service c. wholly abolished the Municipall laws abrogated and the Inns of Court converted to some other use That for Lawyers Then for Divines The Colledges in both Vniversities should be wholly in the power of six men who should have all the Lands Mannors Lordships Parsonages c. and what ever else belonged to Church or Cloyster resigned into their hands allowing to the Bishops Parsons and Vicars competent stipends and pensions to live upon according as Bishops-Suffragans and Mont seniors have allowance in other Catholick Countreys These are Parsons own words That at the beginning no mans conscience be pressed for matters in Religion then That publick disputations between Papists and Protestants

whole Church had no share in it so that it was an intolerable piece of injustice a strange pride and mad fantasticalnes to abhorre a whole Church for the errours of offences of one particular man I would to God the case between the Romane Church and us had been the like That we had seen nothing deplorable but onely the faults of her Pastours and the disorders of her manners or That such of her doctrines which we cannot receive had been the thoughts of some particular men onely Had there been nothing else we should have lived still together Our Fathers would never have separated from Her Communion or if some strange passion which we dream not of had precipitated them into a rupture and schisme like that of the Donatists We do in our Consciences protest that we would have been afraid to follow their errour and that we would have lost no time of uniting our selves with them from whom we had been so imprudently separated For we cannot but confesse That 't is a piece of very high injustice to impute the faults of men to their profession and to accuse their Religion of those extravagancies which they commit especially if against it In such a case we should questionlesse practise the doctrine of our Saviour speaking of them who sit in Moses chair Matt. xxiii 3. All those things which they bid you observe those observe and do but do not after their works The Church wherein they live is not guilty of their errour especially when it highly and oft out of the mouthes of those very men condemneth the faults and disorders of their lives The Church may say to such fugitives The faults of my children are no fit reason to induce you to abhorre Me. Live in my communion you may and not be obliged to communicate with their wicked deeds Those very men who are thus wicked should drive you from the vice in stead of bringing you to it for if you mark it They carry preservatives in their mouthes against the poisons of their manners But alas 'T was not this that drove us from the Church of Rome 'T was not the fall of one Felix nor the weaknesse of some Cecilians 't was not the covetousnesse of her Prelates the licenciousnesse of her Monks the filthinesse of her Court the excesse and abuse of her Sovereigne Pontifes For though she suffered these disorders with too much indulgence yet she neither doth command them nor openly approve of them Though she very gently tolerate such as were debauched or vicious yet she did not force any to be so No man was for entring into her communion constrained to be a slave to any of those vices which bore sway in the midst of her No a man might have lived within it and yet addicted himself to honesty and goodnesse And as yet corruption had not gained so farre as that ill manners were authorized by publick laws But on the contrary during the worst of times though her voice was weak and languishing yet she made some noise against the impietie of the age And oftentimes those very men that gave ill example in their lives preached against it and decryed it horribly in the pulpit That which hath pulled us from her communion is her doctrine and not her actions that which she commands and not that which she suffers that which she requires of us all and not that which she tolerates in some others the articles of her faith and not the faults of her life For the adoration of the Eucharist invocation of Saints veneration of images and those other articles which we rehearsed before are not such things as she onely tolerates as bad or excuseth as doubtfull but beliefs which she commendeth as true and observations which she commandeth as usefull and necessary to salvation Nor doth she onely practise them in the house and privately but likewise preach them in the Temple as perpetuall parts of her Faith So that if we continue in her communion we must needs make profession of believing them that is make our selves guilty of an horrible hypocrisie confessing with our mouth what we do not believe with our heart Now if these were onely the opinions of some one of her Doctours if it were onely some one Divine that were to be blamed and the rest of their Church disavowed these things we should not for such a matter make any scruple of communicating with Her acknowledging ingenuously That 't is an unreasonable thing to impute the opinions and so the faults of a few particular men to a whole entire body Since we see it often happens that they who live in the Communion of a Church are neither in whole nor in part of the same belief with that Church Thus formerly among the Jewes The sect of the Sadducees had their doctrines apart and the Pharisees had likewise theirs And for a mans being a Jew he was not at all obliged to embrace or hold precisely the opinions either of the one or of the other sect And at this very day in the Church of Rome whence we departed the order of the Dominicans hath some opinions proper to themselves and the Franciscans have others and so likewise the Jesuits others peculiar to their respective Orders If therefore there were in the midst of Her onely some one societie of men that held affirmatively those things which we cannot believe and others lived at liberty either to receive or reject them In this case I confesse that it were very difficult to excuse our Separation since the Communion with that body whence we have departed doth not oblige us precisely to any points contrary to our consciences But who knows not that those Articles which we cannot receive are publick not private Doctrines common to the whole Church of Rome and not peculiar to the Pope and his party established authentickly in her Generall Councels by the suffrages of the Deputies of all the Churches in the world that live in her Communion Articles to the belief and observation whereof she obligeth all sorts of persons whatsoever Clergy and Laity Monks and Seculars Men and Women little and great anathematizing all as Hereticks who teach or believe otherwise and besides the thunderbolts of the Church excommunications making use of fire and sword and what else they can against them where ever she hath power Thus it appears that our cause is no whit like that of the Donatists our Separation arising from publick and universall Doctrines of the Church of Rome whereas Theirs had no foundation or reason but onely a pretended act of one particular man neither confessed nor proved The African Church whose communion they fled from presented them nothing in her Creeds and Service which was contrary to their faith whereas Rome whence we are departed will constrain us to think and do severall things that directly overthrow the doctrines which we in our souls and consciences believe CHAP. VII That there are two sorts of Errours the one overthrowing the

be held in both the Vniversities That for some years it will be more commodious for the publick and more liberty for the Preachers to have no appropriation nor obligation to any particular benefice but Itinera Mitto caetera He that would know more of it may read the book it self for which I heard some Romanists last yeare commend M. Parsons or because that is rare he may peruse a book of the same Parsons entituled A Manifestation of the folly and bad spirit of certain in England calling themselves Secular Priests wherein this Memorial is owned by him and analysed and excused from fol. 55. to 63. Or W. Clark a Romane Priest his answer to the Manifestation entituled A Reply unto a certain Libell lately set forth by Fa. Parsons pag. 74. c. Or Watsons quodlibets p. 92 93 94. together with the Reply to a brief Apologie and severall other books which fifty years agoe the Priests wrote against the Jesuites and the Jesuites against the Priests Whereby he may in transitu perceive that there be as many and as great differences between them as among Protestants * p. 52. § 18. p. 337 § 75. p. 354. l. 20. p. 495. l. 31. p. 648. l. ult p. 728. l. ult c. p. 808. l. 20. pag. 812. lin 16. But I delight not camerinam movere since to say nothing of Mr. P. du Moulin and other Protestant collections which I think not so considerable in this kind the Romanists have written so much against one another in severall languages to this purpose that my soul oft bleedeth in secret to foresee That if they proceed thus The reducing if not this yet the next age to the good old Christianity wherein as Epiphan witnesseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divided the world into hereticall and Orthodox Professours or even to morall honesty while gain shall be counted godlinesse and è contra will be found a matter of farre more difficulty and miracle than at the first plantation as Aphorismes ou Sommaire de la doctrine des Jesuites par lesquels le vray Christianisme est corrompu 1610. Mercure Jesuite 1631. Mysteria Jesuitarum 1633. Theologie morale des Jesuites extraict fidellement de leurs liures Contre la Morale Christienne which last the Sorbon Doctours publisht They and the Lovain have publisht severall other Common-places or catalogues of Jesuiticall opinions shewing that they teach a large number of opinions which open a wide door to treachery revenge covetousnesse debauchednesse c. And 't is likely the Jesuits who are seldome behind-hand when they are able have done as much for them Mean while I pray God preserve Christianity * That which one or two or some few Romane Catholick Doctours say is lawfull may in the judgement of Papists be done without mortall sinne the major is M. Knots Charity maintained c. 4. sect 25. as also Valentia's Vasquez Lessius Enriquez Sa. Cellot de Hist l. 8. c. 16. p. 714. But not onely one but many Rom. Cath. Doctours say 'T is lawfull to murder or depose a Supreme Magistrate that is guilty of heresie or suspected of it Cavete Principes conclasioneni * Is it not a shame that learned men should blame this opinion concerning reason in Master Chillingworth Doctour Hammond c. and thereby advance Socinianisme and ruine Christianity Saints rest Praef. to the 2. part p. 18. saepe alibi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Chrysost in 1. ad Cor. c. 2. hom 6. ad Coloss c. 2. in Matt. hom 49. Gregor in Evang. hom 29. Aug. de Civ Dei l. 22. c. 8. de vera religione c. 25. Justin qu. resp Orthod qu. 5. Tertull advers Marc. l. 3. c. 3. Opus imperf in Matth. hom 49. Theodor. in Deut. qu. 12. August de unitat Eccl. c. 16. de civit Dei l. 22. c. 8. b August in Joan. tract 13. Hieron in Epist ad Gal. c. 3. Tertull. de praescr c. 44. c Baron Annal. tom 2. an 139. sect 4. Sueton. in vita Vesp. c. 7. Tacit. hist l. 4. annal l. 2. Plutarch in vit Fu. Camilli Val. Max. l. 1. c. 8. d Bellarm. de Eccl. milit l. 4. c 15. Card. Cajetan apud Catharinum Annot. l. 4. p. 273. 274. Stella in Luc. xi Ferus in Matth. praef l. 2. Gregor I. in Evang. hom 29. Lyra in Dan. 14. Biel in Can. Missae lect 49. Baron Annal anno 1027. Acosta de temp noviss l. 2. c. 19. l. 3. c. 3. Salmeron de falsis signis disp 3. * de la difference entre les Schismes les Conciles 3. part * Belgic Expurgat pag. 12.