Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	ordinance_n	power_n	resist_v	1,861	5	9.7674	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30218	A sermon preached at the anniversary meeting of the natives of St. Martins in the Fields, at their own parochial church, on May 29, 1684 by Richard Burd, A.M., chaplain to the Right Honourable the Lord President, and lecturer of St. Mary Aldermanbury ; published at the request of the stewards.	Burd, Richard.	1684 (1684)	Wing B5616; ESTC R34772	15,233	51

praise of them that do well And Saint Paul in the 13th to the Romans is most full to this purpose Verse 1. Verse 2. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers And whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation And than concludes wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for fear but also for conscience sake out of a sense that it is a duty which God exacts at our hands And t is very observable that these precepts were all given at a time when those powers were Roman Emperours and cruel persecutors of Christianity to shew that no pretence of the wickedness of our Rulers can exempt us from this duty Nay in the case of our blessed Saviour and if ever resistance would be tolerated and indulg'd one might expect it in this And yet Christ would not allow of it but sharply rebuked Peter for drawing out his sword and smiting one of the inferiour officers saying they that take the Sword shall perish by the Sword And some learned men are of the opinion that the Souldiers which came to seize him had no warrant but was rather a rabble that broke out with swords and staves of their own accord and motion and yet Christ was so jealous of infringing the supream authority that he would not notwithstanding suffer any opposition to be made By the holy institutes and exemplar of our Saviour and his Apostles we must all pay obedience unto our Governours either active or passive active in the case of all lawful commands and passive when the thing enjoyned is repugnant to the letter of Scripture herein I confess we are not bound to act as they would have us but even this is a season for passive obedience and we ought quietly to undergo whatsoever is inflicted for such a refusal and not to secure our selves and rise up against them Nay it often happens out that worse evils and more bloodshed will follow resistance than by patiently suffering as hath been happily observed by some Historians that how bloody soever Nero was yet there was not so much blood spilt in his fourteen years reign as there was within a few months after his death Wherefore men had better patiently submit their necks to the Yoke than to rise up and rebel and so derive down greater judgments upon their own heads I am sufficiently sensible this is a very irkson doctrine to carnal and worldly minded people to the suggestions of flesh and blood and yet this is no more than what Christianity obliges us to if ever we hope for salvation and which the planters and propagaters of our Religion all stuck to and died by it But alas there is no such danger and trials now as there was in those days before Christianity was adopted into the Laws of the Empire we have no persecution raised against the Church but we all live in Luxury and ease as for what has been lately used against Dissenters ought not in any wise to be branded with so foul a character these are not persecutions but light and gentle admonitions only full of affectionate care and kindness sent to mind them of their duty to their Mother and to joyn in communion with that Church out of the Pale whereof Salvation can hardly be obtained The Pythagoreans were so passionately concerned when any one forsook their Schools that they presently carried out a Coffin after him and so gave him over for a lost and dead man And how I pray shall those amongst us be reckoned in a better condition who nere come near our assemblies but refuse canonical obedience and despise the Sacred standing Ordinances of the Church which are the very life and nourishment of all its members The meer suspension and deprivation whereof was that which made the Primitive Excommunicants as they lay weeping and condoling before the portal so importunately to request the prayers and intercessions of all good Christians when they entered the congregation for a plenary indulgence 〈◊〉 absolution of all their sins that they might again be admitted into a fellowship with the Church out of which no spiritual gift or blessing can proceed and 't is for this end only that our Rulers study now to bring some amongst us within the Pale they are wise Senators and know what is best and are kinder to them than they are to themselves and therefore they shake the rod over them being solicitous to scare and draw them to the constant frequenting the publick Oratories which is of such infinite concern to the everlasting welfare of their souls and this is all the severity that is exercised towards them and how can any shorter course be taken and what gentler lenatives can be applied to make them come in than this But nevertheless there is a loud out-cry made and a great talk of persecution and much muttering and complaining in our Streets and never more symptoms of Rebellion and disloyalty than now and which is most strange from those that call themselves Christians but how does it appear that they are such if they dont discover better principles We shall never find then out unless their actions be suitable to their their profession and therefore if they would be known they must be served as an unskilful painter does all his pictures when no eye can discover by the features and Lineaments whom they represent he is forced to subscribe their names so must these men have the name of Christ Stampt upon their fore head or else by their practises we shall never know them for Rebellion and disobedience is diametrically opposite to the institutes of Christianity and I have read that it is a mark to discover Mahometans by but never Christians before Secondly another argument I draw from the danger of its contrary which is this that disobedience unto Governours is as mortal and damning a sin as any of those that more immediately concerns the honour of God God holds the Balance even and bears an equal regard to all his sanctions and threatens no greater penalty for the breach of one than another but Wills our obedience to Governours as much as to himself God makes no difference but looks upon every sin with the same abhorrency and albeit he seems in Scripture to be more severe with the Jews for the sin of Idolatry yet this was only to put them farther off from it that being the first Religion of their Country and to which they was most prone and not but God hated all kind of vices alike and tho some be of a deeper tincture than others yet the Wages of every sin is death Rom. 6.23 God therefore lays no greater stress upon one precept than another but obligeth us to all his commands impartially and calls for our performance of those duties to our Neighbour and the several relations we standinone to another as much as those that more immediately concern his own worship Nay he is