Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A53575
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Ratiocinium vernaculum, or, A reply to Ataxiae obstaculum being a pretended answer to certain queries dispersed in some parts of Gloucester-shire.
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Overbury, Thomas, Sir, d. 1684.
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1678
(1678)
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Wing O612; ESTC R24104
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94,328
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197
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wherein doth this permit men to renounce the common Christianity c. as this Answerer very impertinently objecteth And 't is left to the Judgement of all rational men whether they who insist upon the sufficiency of the Spiritual Power Christ hath given unto his Church for the right ordering and governing thereof and the Scriptures being the sole rule of every mans Faith and Obedience in all Gospel duties and Administrations or they who allow unto every national or Provincial Church a Power to Decree Articles of Faith and compose Forms of Divine worship to be imposed by civil Magistrates upon Christians are the more likely to lead into the Paths of Heresie and Schism and to destroy the Vnity of the Church and consequently whether these or those do gratifie the old Serpent in his malitious wiles and methods and give leave to his Instruments to accomplish their Hellish designs in destroying Christianity and the Churches Government at one blow I say again let every rational and unprejudiced person considering the nature and essence of Christianity and by what ways and methods it hath been corrupted and destroyed judge Gods name is not indeed blasphemed as he says when his Institutions are made use of to uphold his Truths c. But he hath no where Instituted the civil Sword to force any to the Christian Faith much less to uphold whatever is taught or pretended so to be And if his name be blasphemed when mens minds are alienated from the Christian Religion They will be found guilty thereof who use such means and methods for its propagation as they pretend as beget an aversion in many towards it and those that use them And who is it that would make the profession thereof Arbitrary They who say the Spiritual Power Christ hath given unto his Church for the right ordering and governing thereof is sufficient unto that end cannot reasonably be said so to do And wherefore doth he here talk of every beâ—ted Brain and Sulpherous Male-content being left to serve God or serve him not to believe in Christ or openly to deny and blaspheme him When all we Pray and Plead for is but That the word of the Lord may have a free course and that his name may be glorified in the free exercise of all Religious duties without ever denying it the Magistrates duty to punish Blasphemy and the like evils and impieties But 't were worth knowing from this Learned and Judicious Answerer how far any are obliged to ad here to the Church in which they were Baptized that we may not have too hard thoughts of our first Reformers for forsaking the Church in which they partook of that Sacrament It is as he says One thing to Convert Pagans and Infidels to Christianity and another thing to keep them within the bounds of their duty who already profess it and yet are both effected by the same means and the Magistrate can no more compel unto the one then to the other But when men give up their names to Christ 't is certainly as he says the duty of Church-men to use all lawfull and proper means to prevent their Apostacy from him But who are the incorrigible offenders he speaks of Or what occasion doth this Query administer To ask why the Magistrate may not be requested to save a soul from death c. The Magistrate may certainly be requested to punish sin and wickedness it being the great end for which God committed the Power of the Sword to him But he can no more save a Soul from death and Rescue him out of the snare of the Devil then he can give grace or faith which are the gifts of God alone yet this hinders not but that Magistrates and Ministers ought to use all due and lawful means To reduce men to Christianity and prevent their Apostacy from it There is no more need now then in the primitive Ages of the Church that its Acts and Censures should be seconded by the Sword of the Secular Power our Blessed Saviour who is faithfull having promised to be with his Disciples Teaching what he commanded them to the worlds end And that there is so little of Power and efficacy in in the Acts and Censures of some who would be accounted his Disciples is not that Christ hath withdrawn any of that ordinary Power he gave unto his Ministers for the perfecting of the Saints and the edifying of his body but their failure in the condition annexed to his promise in not teaching what he commanded but setting up their own inventions and devices in the place of his Institutions were the Censures of the Church as orderly and regularly pronounc't now as heretofore they would have the same effects now as then upon the Souls and Consciences of believers what effect they had upon their Bodies we are rather told then Convinc't of for the Intestuous Corinthian's being deliver'd unto Satan was no more then as hath been already said his being cast out of the Church the Kingdom of God into the World the Kingdom of the Devil nor were the deaths of Ananias and Saphira with the blindness of Ellmas the Sorcerer the effects of any Church Acts or Censures but of that extraordinary Power Christ conferred on his Apostles to manifest his Power and Authority to the unbelieving world and to say it was to supply the defect of the Magistrates Coercive Power in the Church as if the Churches Power were defective without the Magistrates Sword is highly derogatory unto that Spiritual Power and Authority Christ hath given unto the Ministers of his Gospel for the ordering and Governing of his Church unto the worlds end 'T is as one hath well observ'd much of Christs glory to rule his Subjects under the Gospel by a spiritual Power 't is that Power makes a man a Christian 't is that Power in all Gospel Institutions that keeps men in their due obedience unto Christ and 't is that Power carries the sting of the punishment when men are cast out of the Church 'T is indeed that Power does all under the Gospel and to bringin the Temporal Sword is to make the weapons of the Gospel not mighty through God but mighty through the Magistrates Power and wholly to alter the nature of the Gospel and all its Institutions 'T is to Aâ—m the Church with weapons Christ never gave her and to make her a Military rather then a Spiritual Society What he says of Dissenters being pâ—nisht for indangering the Peace of the State by disobeying the Laws of the Church shall be spoken to when he tells us what Laws and what Church he here means Nor can we till then say How the Interest of those Societies are twisted and united But do very well know it to have been one of the greatest Artifices in the mystery of Iniquâ—ty so to twist the civil and some pretended Religious Interests as to preswade the world The Oak cannot subsist without the Ivie but as well Reason as Experience
all the sacred writings and mysteries gave him order with what Sacrifices and upon what days and in what places the Rites of Religion were to be perforwed had it not been a violation of his Religion to have us'd other Sacrifices upon other days in other places and with other Rites then he appointed And if among Heathens as he farther observes both publick and private Mysteries were all determined by the Chief Priest that it might be known where the Common People might repair to worship their Gods lest there should be any disorder or confusion in Religion either by neglecting the sacred Rites of their Country or introducing any that were Foreign and Strange Shall not we allow the Lord Jesus our High Priest to determine the sacred mysteries of his Religion with all Rites and Ceremonies thereof that under pretence of Order and Decency there may not be introduced that disorder and confusion in the Christian Religion we see at this day through the neglect of those sacred Rites of his Institution and the introducing such as are Forraign and strange into his worship Let not therefore those that abhor Idols commit Sacrildge And if Heathen Romans as he observes were so careful that none but the Roman Dieties might be worship'd â—nd that after no other manner but that of their own Institution How much more careful and concerned ought Christians to be that none but the Almighty the Holy one of Israel be worship'd and that after no other manner then that of his own Institution and appointment And since as this Answerer observes That wise people were so jealous and careful least any Innovation should be made in their Religion and least its Vniformity and Integrity should be dissolved by the Customs and mixtures of other Countries How much more ought Christs Disciples to be jealous and careful that no innoventions be made or humane Inventions added to Christs Institutions either as to matter or to mannes beyond the orderly observance of such circumstances as necessarily attend such Ordinances as Christ himself hath Instituted least the uniformity and integrity of his worship should be dissolv'd by the Customs and mixtures of other Countries in the establishing of different ways and modes of worship according to the variety of mens Inventions and Fancies And since not only Grotius from St. Anstin observes That the Romans were successful in their Arms because they had a hearty respect and veneration for Religion But the Apostle tell us That Godliness hath the promise of this life as well as of that which is to come surely it can be against no rule or form of Justice or Prudence nor any violation of the Law or light of Nature for Christian Princes to be as zealous for a true Religion as the Heathens were for a false one But as the wise man says He that Answereth a matter before he hear it so he that Answereth a Question before he understands it It shall be â— folly and shame unto him And now we are told of the zeal and care the holy Kings and Governours of the Jewish Nation had of Religion which will never prove That to execute before Judgement is no violation of the Law and light of Nature Nor in the least prejudice any Principle these Queries labour to support When he shall inform us What Davids ordering the turns and courses of the Priests and setting up Musick in the Temple it is to this Query it may be consider'd of or if he would inâ—er from it That civil Magistrates without particular Warrant or Commission from God may order or appoint in the worship and service of God what they please or shall Judge conduâ—ive to the Honour and Glory of God or the â—ecent and Orderly performance of Divine worship 't is a Question we are not at present â—oncern'd in and shall therefore pass it by Asa did not any thing which was by any â—enyed to be his duty nor commanded ought in others which they did not acknowledge â—â—kewise to be theirs And notwitstanding â—ur Answerers asserting the contrary The Covenant which Asa and all Judah and Benjamin and the Strangers with them enter'd into was voluntary in all parties for it is said They did it with all their heart and with all their soul and again v. 14. They sware unto the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with Trumpets and with Cornets And all Judah rejoyced at the Oath for they had sworn with all their hearts and sought him with their whole desire and he was found of them There cannot well be greater evidence to prove any action to have been voluntary For God is not found of those who seek him not in sincerity and with a willing mind who draw nigh unto him with their lips while their hearts are far from him Let none therefore too hastily credit this Answerer in ought he says but like the noble Bereans search the Scriptures whether it be so oâ— no. Jehoshaphat we are told used his Coercive Power in taking away the High places and groves dedicated to Idolatry and what did he therein which all Judah acknowledg'd not to be his duty And who did ever deny it to be in the Magistrates Power to send Teachers to instructâ— the People in the Law of the Lord or Judg'd it a violation of the Law or light of Nature so to do And what did Jehojada in putting Athalia to death and in making a Covenant between him and between all the People and between the King that they should be the Lords People And iâ— breaking down the Altars and Images in the House of Baal and slaying the Priests thereof before the Altar which he had not good Authority to do and which all Judah approv'd not of The Reformations of Hezekiah and Josiah were very eminent but nothing done by either of them or by any of the good Kings of Judah doth in the least oppugne ought in this or in any of these Queries What did Hezekiah in opening the Doors of the Temple that had been long shut up in cleansing the City and Kingdom from Idols in restoring the Priests to their Offices and dues in reviving the Sacrifices which had been long neglected and celebrating the Pass-over with great magnificence more then what every mans Conscience told him was right and necessary to be done And did Josiah in making a Covenant before the Lord to milk after the Lord and to keep his Commandments and his Testimonies and his Statutes with all his heart and with all his soul to perform the words of the Covenant which are written in the Book of the Law of the Lord and causing all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it yea in making all that were present in Israel to serve the Lord their God Do ought which any acknowledg'd not to be both his and their duty and how made he them to do all this was it by secular force and Power or by reading unto them