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

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46363	Monsieur Jvriev's judgment upon the question of defending our religion by arms, with reflections upon the affairs of England, in his ninth pastoral letter of the third year faithfully translated out of French.; Lettres pastorales addressées aux fidèles de France qui gémissent sous la captivité de Babylon. Année 3. Lettre 9. English	Jurieu, Pierre, 1637-1713.	1689 (1689)	Wing J1204; ESTC R15972	19,775	36

Monsieur JVRIEV's Judgment Upon the Question of Defending our Religion by Arms WITH REFLECTIONS UPON THE Affairs of England IN HIS Ninth Pastoral LETTER of the Third Year Faithfully Translated out of French. Licensed and Entered according to Order LONDON Printed for John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultrey and are to be sold by Richard Baldwin next the Black Bull in the Old-Bayly MDCLXXXIX THE Translator TO THE READER 'T IS said by the Prophet Daniel That many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be encreased The Commerce of Nations the Translating from one Language to another is this running to and fro whereby Mankind communicate their general Sentiments improve by the Correspondence and are absolved from the Curse of Babel People that only measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves among themselves take very scanty measures and make very fond comparisons when they are mistaken they have no way of rectifying themselves but enjoy a very great satisfaction in being positive and immovable tho' they are never so much in the wrong In opposition to this the World has always had a great deference to a Catholick Sence so soon as ever Christianity enjoyed its liberty under the Glorious Emperour Constantine there was such an assembling of Councils communicating the Judgment of particular Churches for Agreement of the whole that the Heathens were wont to deride the Christians for tiring the Post-horses and wearing out the Stage-Coaches of the Empire When Christianity was Transubstantiated into Popery and all the Methods of Religion turn'd against it self then was Catholicism made use of as the grand Instrument of its own Ruine The general falling away which was the Prediction of a false Religion prevailing was the chief argument why that Religion was not false which had prevailed So that we have the Judgment both of Friends and Enemies those who first setled Religion and those who afterwards overthrew it that the general Opinion of the Church of God ought to be of the greatest esteem especially in those difficult Cases where we are not our selves able to determine our Duties out of the Holy Scriptures 'T is then only disputed which is the Catholick Church that which shone bright immediately after our Saviour's time or that prevailing Faction of Apostates which clouded the Heavens and cast a mist over the face of the Earth But the Light of Truth is so sprung forth again that the Question vanishes 't is easy to distinguish between Day and Night Now if the Christians had so great an Opinion of their common Agreement before their Religion was corrupted why should not we honour the same way And since Reformation is but the Restoration of Primitive Religion be glad to hear what foreign Churches say of those Doctrines which are disputed amongst us He is an Enemy to the Church of England who would set it up against the Reform'd Churches of France and Germany and of the Northern Crowns where God is worshipped also after the manner which his Enemies call Heresy Why should not the Church of God be esteemed one Catholick Church since its Reformation as well as before its grand Depravation There were as many Heresies and Schisms and Errours within its bowels then as now but the common Agreement of the greater part in substantial Truths made the Advice of one Church to another to be very much reverenced and regarded The Judgment of Monsieur Jurieu is not to be looked upon as his private Opinion but as the general Sence of the good Christians of France for the Papists had an Intrigue to destroy the whole Reform'd Religion all over Europe by perswading the Protestants to stand still while they were ruined and to this purpose Monsieur de Meaux picks up and ridicules the Decisions of their Synods That it was lawful to make use of Arms in favour of Religion So that this is a Defence of their ancient Doctrine and rescuing the Right of Self-preservation from the hands of their Enemies in a most needful time when they would have taken it away from all men in order to an Vniversal Destruction of the Truth Certainly the French have demonstrated such eminent Loyalty and Patience that they well deserved to be heard upon the Question We may in England look back with some horror upon the danger we have escaped this piece of Policy was framed also for the finest and strongest Intrigue that could bring about our Destruction it was the presumption of Arbitrary and Irresistible Power of Absolute and undeniable Obedience which heartned our Enemies to such attempts as they durst not otherwise have thought upon They had the advantage of many Years to make preparation by preferring such to Places of Honour and Power who were themselves generally the greatest Slaves and so were willing to enslave others The choice was made with a great deal of Judgment and Curiosity either of such whose Atheism and Debauchery made them ready to do any thing or of such who had suffer'd under the Pretenders to Liberty and therefore were inclined to an excess of Duty The former run into all the extravagancies of Blasphemy having their mouths full of great swelling words That the King was above Jesus Christ that Tyranny and Oppression themselves if acted by Persons in Authority were the Ordinances of God and not to be resisted under pain of Damnation But Death has eased some places of their burdens and called those Followers of Balaam before a Tribunal where they shall behold him whom they pierced The better part consider'd the Glories of suffering Relion how much it was able to bear and that Passive Obedience had first made its triumphant entry into the World they therefore encouraged the inferiour Clergy to such a degree that it was almost received as the Doctrine of the Church of England that an Vnlimited Authority was of Divine Right and that tho' Religion was never so much our Property yet it had a property in it to yield up itself and every thing else to the will of the first Invader But so soon as the Rights of our Religious and Civil Liberties were found to be mortally wounded and that its Interest was to be destroyed by such Sufferings as neither the Laws of God or Man required then could the Fathers of the Church no longer conceal a Truth the neglect whereof had near cost them that which was dearer to them than their Lives the tenderness they bore to their Children would not expose them to an unnecessary Destruction After their personal Sufferings and the Day-break of our Deliverance appear'd the late King James was alarm'd with an expression in the Prince of Orange's Declaration That he was most earnestly Invited hither by divers of the Lords both Spiritual and Temporal and by many Gentlemen and others He therefore sent for the Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishops of London Peterborough and Rochester to sign an Abhorrence under their hands of the intended Invasion But this they refused to do not being