Selected quad for the lemma: doctrine_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
doctrine_n	church_n	england_n	reform_a	3,931	5	9.9167	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31832	A sermon preached at St. Lawrence-Jury, London, upon the 9th of September being the day of thanksgiving for the deliverance of the King & kingdom from the late treasonable conspiracy / by Benjamin Calamy ...	Calamy, Benjamin, 1642-1686.	1683 (1683)	Wing C217; ESTC R5418	15,786	42

A SERMON Preached at St Lawrence-Jury London upon the 9th of September BEING THE Day of Thanksgiving FOR THE DELIVERANCE OF THE King Kingdom From the late Treasonable CONSPIRACY By BENJAMIN CALAMY D. D. Vicar of St. Lawrence-Jury and one of His Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary LONDON Printed by R. E. for W. Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in St. Pauls Church-yard 1683. TO THE INHABITANTS OF The Parishes of St. Lawrence Jury and St. Mary Magd. Milkstreet London Gentlemen THE Kindness with which you at first received me and have all along expressed towards me since my being placed amongst you hath been so great and obliging that I ought not in Reason to deny you any thing tho' never so much against my own Inclinations that you are pleased to request of me Yet yive me leave to say that upon my own deliberate perusal of the following Discourse I cannot find any thing in it at all answerable to your Earnestness for its being Printed It was the Occasion the Subject and the Temper which the Consideration of the Wonderful Deliverance of our Most Gracious King and these Kingdoms did on that Solemn Day of Thanksgiving put you into that made this plain Sermon pleasing to you in the hearing of it all which Advantages it will want in the Reading But however I had rather fail in any thing than let slip so fair an Opportunity of shewing my self duly sensible of your Great Respects to me For which I am and always will be thankful And I know no better way of being so to purpose than by endeavouring to do amongst you all the good I possibly can Which I am assur'd I cannot more effectually do than after your immediate Duty to God by encouraging and promoting an Hearty Obedience to the King and Church and a sincere Love and Friendship amongst your selves To effect which shall be the constant study and labour of Gentlemen Your most faithful Friend and Servant BENJ. CALAMY Ecclesiastes X. 20. Curse not the King no not in thy thought and curse not the rich in thy bed-chamber for a bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall tell the matter THE original word which is here translated Curse is variously rendred by Interpreters but the easiest sense seems to be this That we are here forbid tho' never so secretly and closely speaking any evil of or designing any evil against our Soveraign upon any pretence or occasion whatever Curse not the King no not in thy thought we must not so much as wish any Mischief or Harm to him and curse not the rich c. By the rich Grotius understands virum summatem a Person in Chief Dignity and Power whom God hath set in Authority over us and so these latter words are either only a repetition of the former to give the greater force and emphasis to them or else by the rich may be meant subordinate Magistrates and Ministers of State sent and deputed by the King who is Supreme to whom all internal Reverence and Honour ought to be paid as well as outward Subjection and Obedience to express the sense in words ordinarily used amongst us we must not Compass Imagine Desire or Contrive any thing that tends to the Dammage and Prejudice either of our Soveraign Lord the King or of any that are Commissionated or Authorised by him Curse them not in thy Bed-chamber that is tho' we seek the darkest Retirements the most private Corners however cautious we are that there be no Witnesses present who may bear testimony against us so that we think our selves secure from all possibility of Discovery yet a bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall tell the matter Which words signifie that God by his Wonderful Providence some way or other by Means we never thought of shall bring about that all these evil Speeches and clandestine Designs against his Vicegerent shall be revealed to the utter Confusion of all those that are engaged in them Thus these words do not only contain a Prohibition of any secret Plots and Conspiracies against our Governours but propound also a weighty Argument to discourage men from any such wicked Undertakings Because let them be carried on never so cunningly and closely yet they shall be as suddenly and surely discovered as if the Birds of the air had listned to all their Whispers had over-heard all their Discourse in their secret Cabals and immediately flown away with the news and given in Evidence against them An expression like to this we may find in the Prophet Habakkuk 2. 11. where it is said that the stone should cry out of the wall and the beam out of the timber should answer it What is whispered in a corner what is hatched in darkness yet by unlikely Means by unthought of Accidents which by the greatest subtlety and caution could not be provided against shall be disclosed and brought to light the Divine Providence being peculiarly concerned for the Defence and Protection of Soveraign Kings and Princes and in an especial manner watching over them as the choicest Object of its Care Now that it is thus that God Almighty is more particularly engaged for the safety of Kings and Supreme Governours so as wonderfully to appear for their Deliverance from the treacherous Conspiracies of Ungodly Men we have both good Reason upon which to believe it and the Experience of all Ages doth abundantly confirm it We have good Reason upon which to believe it and that upon these two plain accounts I. Because Soveraign Kings and Princes are God's Deputies and Vicegerents set up by himself and they derive their Power and Authority from him alone God Almighty the Maker of us all is the only Absolute Lord and Uncontrolable Soveraign of Men and Angels Part of his own Power and Authority which he hath over his Creatures he hath delegated and committed to Kings and Princes who are the most principal Instruments and Ministers of his Providence in the World Hence are they called Gods and Children of the Most High Psal 82. 6. God hath invested them with some part of his own Majesty stamped his own Character upon them and appointed them in his place to perform and administer even some part of his own Divine Office if I may so speak amongst men Thus constituting them Earthly Gods as to their Persons sacred and as to their Actions accountable to none but that supereminent Divine Authority that gave them Commission This is not any new-coined Divinity invented in favour of Arbitrary Power by Court Parasites and needy Flatterers who seek Preferment as the Enemies of our flourishing Monarchy have sometimes represented it but it is expresly delivered in the Holy Scriptures was professedly owned and taught by the Primitive Christians and hath been the constant Doctrine of the Reformed Church of England Nay it is agreeable to the general sense of Mankind and might be made out by rational Evidence if we had no other

publickly appeared This betrays the Folly as well as the Wickedness of all those who are ingaged in such Caballings and Plottings that they vye Power with God himself and resolve to destroy him whom by such a series of miraculous Providences God hath shewn himself resolved to save and protect Alas they are not only the Guards whom they must seize upon and master In vain are all their Meetings and Consultations about the feasibleness of such a Design unless they can find out a way to escape God's knowledge or could be too hard for the Almighty who hath undertaken to guard and secure our King and will see that no Weapon formed against him shall prosper Was it not by God's wonderful Providence that he was preserved from the Fury and Rage of those who embrued their Savage hands in his Fathers Sacred Blood Was it not the same good Providence that continually compassed him as with a Shield when his own Subjects in Arms against him sought his Death and Destruction Was it not the same Providence that for a long time hid and concealed him from the most diligent search of Blood-thirsty Rebels though so many Conscious yet none tempted by great Rewards and more powerful Fears to betray him and at last after a miraculous manner provided an escape for him and through innumerable dangers conveighed hime safe to a strange Land Was it not the same God who defended and supported him during a long and most unjust Banishment and at length by his own right Hand and outstretched Arm brought him safe again to his People and gloriously restored him to his three Kingdoms Hath he not since been graciously pleased in time to discover all the evil Designs of Wicked men against his Person and Government or hath prevented those which were never discovered Hath he not saved him from the Popish Plot And are we not this present day met together to bless God for his deliverance from a Fanatick one And after all have we not vast Reason from such large Experience of God's infinite kindness towards our most Gracious Soveraign and in him to us his People yet to hope that he will still preserve him and continue his Life amongst us to be every day a greater Blessing to these Kingdoms Give me leave therefore in this Case to apply the Words of the Psalmist in the beginning of the Second Psalm Why do the Papists rage and the Fanaticks imagine a vain thing What madness is this that thus possesses them to unite and associate together The heads of the several Parties and Factions set themselves and take Counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed King saying Let us break their Bands asunder and cast away their cords from us Let us not be tyed up any longer by that slavish Principle of Obedience to Authority for Conscience sake but rather like free born People throw off the Yoke which the King and his Ministers would impose upon us He that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision The Almighty Soveraign by whose Commission and Authority our King Reigns shall despise all these foolish Attempts and will expose these presumptuous Rebels to the Scorn and Contempt of every man Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure Even then when they think they have effected their Design and made all sure God shall suddenly disappoint and confound them so that all men shall observe the tokens of the Divine Vengeance against them Yet have I set my King upon my Holy Hill of Sion See how madly they have Plotted against themselves For our King and his Government is not only yet preserved but we hope Strengthened and Established by their impious Conspiracy against it But more particularly we are now assembled to make due acknowledgments of God's wonderful Providence and Mercy in Discovering and Defeating the late Treasonable Conspiracy against his Sacred Majesties Person and Government In speaking of which I shall first of all briefly set before you the Horridness of the Conspiracy it self then the Greatness of the Deliverance we now bless God for and lastly add some few plain Advices suitable to this occasion I. The Horridness of this late Conspiracy will sufficiently appear if we consider only these three things 1. The Actors or Persons ingaged in it 2. The Motives from which they acted 3. The Mischiefs that would inevitably have followed had not God's Providence made timely Discovery of it and under these heads I shall only hint at some few things 1. As to the Persons that were ingaged in this Plot they may be considered under several Circumstances which do all highly aggravate their Crime and Guilt As that they were Protestants nay the most Zealous Protestants who would hardly allow any others to be such besides themselves Hence on all occasions they would appear most vigorous and active for the Prosecution and Suppression of Papists and counted all that were not so fierce and violent as themselves to be Popishly affected and ready upon any turn of the times to leave their Religion All this Zeal against the Papists they professed to proceed from a just Hatred of their Disloyal Principles which were inconsistent with the Civil-Government and dangerous to the Monarchy and the Kings Person as if they had a mind to save the Government from the Papists only that themselves might have the Honour of Subverting it They liked the thing well enough it was a glorious work but only they did not approve of the Instruments And if these must be called Protestants who can joyn in such Villanous Designs I shall only say that then I know some Protestants who are every jot as bad and as little to be trusted as any Papists We indeed of the Church of England for this one thing were not a little beholden to these Conspirators viz. That they were so careful to distinguish themselves from us and were for a finer and purer Communion than that Established by Law A Protestant is a word at large and may signifie any thing and comprehends all that are not Papists whatever they are for But the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England we all know what it is it is Stated and Defined and we are sure that it condemns all Disloyal Seditious Practices on any pretence whatever And therefore they who were ingaged in this Wicked Conspiracy however some of them might sometimes be seen in our Churches yet they were forced to find fault with our Establishment to decry our Bishops and Ministers and weaken their Authority to endeavour by all means to prejudice the People against our Church and to lessen its Interest which they knew stood in the way of their Designs And have not these Men now bravely provided for the Credit and Honour of the Protestant Religion Had these great haters of Popery gone to School to the Jesuits could they possibly have been taught a more compendious way to