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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	life_n	power_n	soul_n	8,115	5	4.8720	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43670	A sermon preached before the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and citizens of London, at Bow-church on the 30th, of January, 1681/2 by George Hickes.	Hickes, George, 1642-1715.	1682 (1682)	Wing H1864; ESTC R12553	30,557	44

mean when we cannot escape betwixt denying and dying for the faith It would be endless to cite all the passages in the Gospel which show it to be an obedient peaceable meek and suffering doctrine and so far from being prejudicial to Caesar's autority that it makes him the Minister of God and commands its professors to give him and all that are put in autority under him their dues and rather dye than resist them by force Render unto Caesar saith Christ the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's And ye must needs be subject saith St. Paul and for this cause pay ye tribute because they are God's Ministers Therefore render to all of them their dues tribute to whom tribute custom to whom custom fear to whom fear and honour to whom honour is due Hitherto we have seen what Christianity taught as to active and passive obedience unto Caesar Let us now proceed to enquire what the primitive Christians practised and begin our enquiry at the practice of the Founder of it Jesus Christ As for him as he taught so he lived he verified his own doctrine and exemplified his own precepts both as to active and passive obedience for as Justin Martyr told the Emperor he paid tribute unto Caesar as well as other Jews of the Province and rather than resist the lawfull autority which sent to apprehend him he let himself be led as a lamb to the slaughter saying unto Peter who drew his sword Put up thy sword into his place for all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword and thinkest thou if I would resist that I cannot pray to my Father and he would presently give me more than twelve legions of Angels And when he was arraigned of high treason before Pilate for calling himself a King he made his defence in these words * Joh. 18.36 My kingdome is not of this world for if my kingdome were of this world then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews but I own my self to be Caesar's subject and my kingdome is not from hence Thus he set the example and the Apostles the next Promulgers of the Gospel followed his steps For the first time they were beaten by the Sanhedrin for preaching Jesus and the Resurrection they * Acts 5.41 rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for his holy Name Saint Paul in particular speaking of his stripes above measure of his frequent imprisonments and of his being so often near death I glory saith he in these things which concern mine infirmities as he calls his sufferings and persecutions and exhorts the whole Church of Corinth to endure sufferings after the example of the Apostles who as he tells them were pressed above measure and above strength and who despaired of life having the sentence of death continually in themselves Yet in all this they finned not nor never so much as thought of resisting the powers but still suffered according to the will of God committing their souls unto him as unto a faithfull Creator And therefore when Tertullus in the name of the Sanhedrin accused Paul for a mover of Sedition before Foelix he denied the charge saying They neither found me in the Temple disputing with any man nor raising up the people neither in the Synagogues nor in the City neither can they prove these things whereof they now accuse me Nay so eminent was the patience and passive obedience of the primitive Christians that St. Paul applies this Text unto them out of the Psalmist For thy sake are we killed all the day long we are counted as sheep for the slaughter They followed the Lamb that was slain they overcame the Dragon by the blood of the Lamb they washed their garments in wine and their clothes in the mystical blood of grapes and if any man saith St. John have an ear to hear let him hear He that killeth with the sword shall be killed with the sword Here is the faith and patience of the Saints And as the Apostles followed the Lamb so their disciples and successors followed them For St. Ignatius the Disciple of St. John gloried in the bonds in which he was carried from Antioch to Rome and rejoiced to think as he speaks in his Epistle to the Romans That he was not of the tares but of the wheat which was to be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts to make the pure bread of God That whole Epistle is † Such as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full of divine and heroical strains of Christian patience and courage and in his Epistle to the Church of Smyrna speaking of his sufferings he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that is near the sword is near God and he that is in the Theatre among the wild beasts is as it were in the midst of God He suffered at a time when Christians suffered in multitudes and when they were in a condition to resist For Pliny in his Epistle to the Emperor about the Christians told him † L. 20. Ep. 97. Visa est enim mihi res digna consultatione maximè proptu periclitantium numerum multi enim omnis aetatis omnis ordinis utriusque sexûs etiam vocantur in periculum vocabuntur neque enim civitates tantum sed vicos etiam atque agros superstitionis istius contagio pervagata est Certe satis constat prope jam desolata templa sacra solemnia diù intermissa That the contagion of the Christian Religion had so infected the Towns Cities and Villages of Bythinia that the Temples were become desolate and the solemnities of the Gods almost quite left of And Tiberianus his President of Palestine in a Letter to his Majesty upon the same occasion told him that he was * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weary with killing the Christians who discovered themselves unsought for and multiplied the more the more they were put to death So early were the Christians in a probable capacity of defending themselves but yet rather than doe so by resisting the lawfull Powers they were led like Lambs to the slaughter and like sheep that were dumb before their shearers they opened not their mouths About Fifty years after this when the Christians were grown far more numerous Justin Martyr told the Emperor Antoninus That they were the most innocent and obedient of all his Subjects taking care above all things according to the precepts and example of their Master † 2 Apol. p. 64. to pay him all his customs and tribute and that next after God they loved and obeyed his Majesty acknowledging Emperors and Rulers to be ordained of God and praying always that together with his Imperial power he might enjoy a sound and sober mind And Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna another Disciple of St. John who suffered about this time bespoke the President who had commanded him to swear by the Emperor's-Genius in the name of the Christians thus

to pass that the Roman Governours suspected the Christians to have a design upon the Empire from the false notion the Jews had given them of Christ's Kingdome insomuch that Justin † p. 58 59. told the Emperour and Senate in his second Apology That if the Kingdome which the Christians expected were of this World they would renounce their Religion rather than die and certainly endeavour by flight or absconding to save themselves for what they expected to enjoy Afterwards to justifie the Christians from all possible slanders and suspicions of being enemies to Caesar and his Government he proceeds to give them an account of the Doctrines of their Master Jesus concerning † p. 61 62 63 64. Patience under sufferings and obedience and submission unto Caesar and all that are put in autority under him In like manner Tertullian to vindicate the Christians from the envious imputation of being * Hostes principum Romanorum Tertul Ap. enemies to the Emperors because they would not swear by their Geniuses nor give them divine adorations shews from their principles and practices that this aspersion was † Vnde Cassii Nigri Albini unde qui inter duas laurus obsident Caesarem unde qui faucibus ejus exprimendis palaestricum exercent unde qui armati Palatium irrumpunt omnibus tot Sigeriis ac Parthenicis audaciores de Romanis ni fallor id est de non Christianis Apol. circa Majestatem Imperatoris infamamur tamen nunquam Albiniani vel Nigriani vel Cassiani inveniri potuerunt Christiani ad Scapul false of the Christians but most true of the Heathens who had rebelled against some and murthered other Caesars and therefore in imitation of such great examples I shall proceeed to enlarge their several Apologies in this particular under the second division of this discourse wherein I undertook to shew II. That this invidious charge of the Jews against the primitive Christians of being enemies to Caesar and disturbers of his Government was most malicious and unjust And this will easily appear if we consider the utter inconsistency of it with the Gospel-doctrines which they so strictly practised the doctrine of obedience and Submission the doctrine of Peace and Quietness and the doctrine of Patience and Suffering under lawfull powers commonly called Passive Obedience All which the Christian Religion taught and the primitive Teachers and Professors of it practised to the astonishment and * Just Mart. Apol. 1.50 Euseb L. 4.8 conversion of the Heathen world I shall begin with the precepts of Obedience and Submission which are such as these * Rom. 13.1 2 3. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God Whosoever therefore resisteth the powers resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Therefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but conscience sake Submit your selves to every ordinance of man * 1 Ep. 2.13 saith St. Peter for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as supreme or unto Governors as those that are sent by him for so is the will of God And St. Paul in his Ep. to † Ch. 3.1 Titus hath made it the duty of Ministers to remember the people of this and to put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers amd to obey magistrates From whence I proceed to the doctrines of Peace and Quietness which are such as these Study to be quiet and to doe your own business be humble and gentle and as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men put away strife and clamour and evil-speaking and follow after the things which make for peace The doctrine of Meekness and Humility is comprehended in such precepts as these Learn of me saith our Saviour for I am meek and lowly The fruits of the Spirit are Meekness Peace and Gentleness And saith the Apostle to the Colossians put on as the Elect of God humbleness of mind meekness and long-suffering It was impossible for Caesar to suffer by a Religion which obliged its professors under the pain of damnation to be so obedient peaceable and humble as these precepts oblige all Christians to be and more impossible yet if we consider the doctrines of Patience and Suffering which are as plainly and copiously laid down in the Gospel as any other doctrines that are taught in the School of Christ This is thank-worthy saith St. * 1 Ep. 2.19 c. Peter if a man for conscience-sake towards God endure grief suffering wrongfully for what glory is it if when you are buffetted for your faults you take it patiently but if when you doe well you shall take it patiently and suffer for it this is acceptable to God For even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps Who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered threatned not but was led like a lamb to the slaughter and like a sheep that is dumb before his shearers he opened not his mouth And rejoice saith he in as much as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings For if you are reproached for the name of Christ happy are ye and if any man suffer as a Christian let him glorifie God on that behalf According to which saith the Apostle to the Hebrews in a time of persecution Let us look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith let us consider him who endured such contradiction of sinners lest we be wearied and faint in our minds and consider also that you have not yet resisted unto bloud The Gospel is a suffering Religion and promiseth special rewards to those who will leave houses and lands and wives and children and lay down their lives for Christ's sake It teacheth us that Christ the captain of our Salvation was made perfect through sufferings that we are baptized into his death and that as many of us as shall be partakers of his sufferings shall also be partakers of his glory who when he had endured the Cross and despised the shame thereof was set down at the right hand of the Majesty on high Therefore saith St. Paul I endure all things that I may obtain the Salvation which is in Jesus Christ for if we suffer with him we shall reign with him Thou therefore Son Timothy endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ Accordingly it puts no great value nor looks upon any Christian to be a true and † 1 Cor. 26.13 Eph. 6.10 11 12 13. 2 Tim. 2.3 4. Epist Ignat. ad Rom. Cyprian ad Thibarit Ep. de Lapsis compleat disciple of Christ who cannot when he is called thereunto take up his Cross drink of his cup and be baptized with his baptism neither doth it prescribe any remedy but flight against the persecutions of the lawfull Magistrate allowing of no other