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
A47873	Interest mistaken, or, the Holy cheat proving from the undeniable practises and positions of the Presbyterians, that the design of that party is to enslave both king and people under the masque of religion : by way of observation upon a treatise, intitutled, The interest of England in the matter of religion, &c. / by Roger L'Estrange.	L'Estrange, Roger, Sir, 1616-1704.	1661 (1661)	Wing L1262; ESTC R41427	86,066	191

a Bold seditious Faction bidding defiance to the Civil Magistrate under the Churches Colours I find not any thing so Sacred in the Name of Presbyterian as to protect a Turbulent Party assuming that Appellation It will be urg'd that they do as little Justifie the Seditious as I condemn the Sober Presbyterian But to agree that point I 'l prove that the same Party for whom they plead and against whom I engage are no less Enemies to the King and People than to Bishops and which is more from their own practises and positions I 'l make it good Yet one would hardly guess this from their following Character As concerning their main and rooted principles they admire and magnifie the holy Scriptures and take them for the absolute perfect rule of Faith and Life without the supplement of Ecclesiastical Tradition yet they deny not due respect and reverence to venerable Antiquity They assert the study and knowledge of the Scriptures to be the duty and priviledge of all Christians that according to their several capacities being skilful in the Word of Righteousness they may discern between good and evil and being filled with all goodness may be able to exhort and admonish one another Yet they acknowledge the necessity of a standing Gospel-Ministery and receive the directive authority of the Church not with implicite Faith but the Judgment of discretion They hold the teaching of the Spirit necessary to the saving knowledge of Christ Yet they do not hold that the Spirit bringeth new Revelations but that he opens the eyes of the understanding to discern what is of old revealed in the written Word They exalt divine Ordinances but debase humane Inventions in Gods Worship particularly Ceremonies properly Religious and of Instituted Mystical signification Yet they allow the natural expressions of Reverence and Devotion as kneeling and lifting up of the hands and eyes in prayer as also of those meer Circumstances of decency and order the omission whereof would make the service of God either undecent or less decent As they worship God in the spirit according to the simplicity of Gospel Institutions so they rejoyce in Christ Jesus having no confidence in a legal Righteousness but desire to be found in him who is made unto us Rigteousness by gracious Imputation Yet withal they affirm constantly that good works of piety towards God and of justice and charity towards men are necessary to salvation Their Doctrine bears full conformity with that of the Reformed Churches held forth in their publick Confessions and particularly with that of the Church of England in the nine and thirty Articles onely one or two passages peradventure excepted so far as they may import the asserting of Prelacy and human Mystical Ceremonies They insist much on the necessity of Regeneration and therein lay the ground-work for the practise of godliness They press upon themselves and others the severe exercise not of a Popish outside formal but a spiritual and real mortification and self-denyal according to the power of Christianity They are strict observers of the Lords Day and constant in Family prayer They abstain from oathes yea petty oathes and the irreverent usage of Gods Name in common discourse and in a word they are sober just and circumspect in their whole behaviour Such is the temper and constitution of this party which in its full latitude lies in the middle between those that affect a Ceremonial Worship and the heighth of Hierarchical Government on the one hand and those that reject an ordained Ministery and setled Church-order and regular Vnity on the other hand Observation Here is much said and little proved onely a Pharisaical Story of what they are not and what they are that they are not as other men are and their bare word for all The Tale is well enough told to catch the silly vulgar that look no further then Appearances But to a serious person how gross and palpable is the Imposture In the main points of Doctrine they fully agree with the nine and thirty Articles and 't is but peradventure that they differ in one or two passages so far as they may import the asserting of Prelacy and humane Mystical Ceremonies Behold the mighty Subject of an Holy War the goodly Idol to which we have sacrific'd so much Christian blood Can any man imagine this the true and conscientious reason of the Quarrel Or that the middle way our Presbyter steers betwixt Phanaticism and Popery is the just measure of the Case But hear him on and he 'l tell ye the Party is Numerous as well as Godly VVithin these extensive limits the Presbyterian Party contains several thousands of learned godly orthodox Ministers being diligent and profitable Preachers of the Word and exemplary in their Conversation among whom there are not a few that excel in Polimical and Practical Divinity also of the judicious sober serious part of the people in whose affections his Majesty is most concern'd they are not the lesser number By means of a practical Ministery this way like the Leaven in the Gospel-parable hath spread and season'd the more considerate and teachable sort in all parts of the Kingdom and especially in the more civiliz'd places as Cities and Towns Observation It had been well our Undertaker had put his Orthodox and Learned Thousands upon the List for that Party is a little given to false Musters How many forg'd Petitions and Remonstrances what Out-eries from the Press and Pulpit in the name of the People when yet the forti'th part of them were never privy to their own Askings Of ninety and seven Ministers within the walls of London fourscore and five were driven from their Churches and Houses at the beginning of our Troubles And notwithstanding the monstrous Clamours which occasion'd the Conference at Hampton-Court in 1603. Arch-bishop Spotswood tells us that of above nine thousand Ministers but forty nine appeared upon the Roll that stood out and were deposed for disconformity Such a noise will a few Disturbers cause in any Society where they are tollerated Touching his Practical Ministery I 'l grant the Cause is much beholden to the Pulpit and that without the aid of Seditious Lectures I do believe the strife had never come to Blood But yet these Preachments did not the whole Business Do not we know what Craft and Violence hath been used to Cheat and Force the People what Protestations Covenants and Negative Oathes have been imposed upon pain of Imprisonment Banishment Sequestration Have not all Schools and Nurceries of Piety and Learning been subjected to the Presbyterian mode and many thousands of Godly and Reverend Divines reduced to beg their Bread because they would not Covenant yet all too little to procure either a General Kindess or submission to their Principles For the Reasons afore-going the infringement of due Liberties in these matters would perpetuate most unhappy Controversies in the Church from Age to Age. Let the former times come in and

But I shall pass my bounds too far I 'll borrow one Maxim of the judicious Hooker upon th●t subject which shall serve for all Those things which the Law of God leaveth Arbitrary and at liberty are all subject unto positive Laws of men which Laws for the common benefit abridge particular mens libertie in such things as far as the rules of equity will suffer After the Quality of our Ceremonies the holy man will have one fling at the number of them If the English Ceremonies be warrantably used what hinders the use of divers other Ceremonies used in the Roman Church Is it said their multitude will become burthensome and inconvenient But who can determine the convenient number And however an exchange of one Ceremony for another were not unlawful For what reason may not some other Romish Rites in Baptism be used as well as the Cross seeing they are nothing less significant or inoffensive nay peradventure much more inoffensive because the Papists by giving divine worship to the Cross have abused it to gross Idolatry Observation Beggars must be no choosers Must we use all or none The English Church hath made election of the English Ceremonies what and how many being the proper Judge both in the point of Number and Convenience 'T is not for us to Question the Authority but to Obey it What if the Cross hath been abused So hath the Knee been bent the Hands and Eyes addressed to an Idol Are we because of this mis-application prohibited to worship the true God in the same manner and posture Now to the Liturgy again The Presbyterians are not satisfied in the present Liturgy but desire it may be laid aside or much reformed And what solid reason withstands the Equity of this desire This solid reason does withstand it They beg like sturdy Cripples for Christ's sake with a Cudgel And 't is not safe for Authority to give ground to a Faction Whosoever observes impartially shall find that political prudence was joyn'd with Christian Piety in composing the English Service-Book And the same Prudence is now joyn'd with the same Piety both in the Right and Interest of preserving it His next grief is a heavy one Canonical Subscription lately impos'd is a yoke of bondage Now mark him to be considered by all those that have a true regard to such Liberty in Religion as Equity and Necessity pleads for Observation Either this passage is seditious and to enflame the people against Authority or I am no Englishman The Canon says he requires a subscribing to the thirty nine Articles to the Common-Prayer-Book to the Book of ordering Bishops Priests and Deacons that all these contain in them nothing contrary to the Word of God This is unreasonable unprofitable and unnecessary Nay let us take in the third Article too To wit That the nine and thirty Articles are agreeable to the Word of God And now the form of Subscription viz. I do willingly and ex animo subscribe to these three Articles above mentioned and to all things that are contained in them This is the Yoke of Bondage which our Reverend Libertine complains of First to the unreasonableness of this subscription Touching the King's Supremacy asserted in the first Article he is silent and I suppose he would be thought consenting As to the rest what Reason is there that any man should be admitted into the Ministery without subscribing to the Constitution of that Church into which he seeks admitance If he cannot subscribe in Conscience he cannot be admitted in Prudence and if he refuses in point of stomach that man is not of a Gospel-temper In fine he that holds a fair opinion of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England may very reasonably set his hand to his opinion and he that does not may as reasonably be rejected because of such disagreement So much for unreasonable Neither is it unprofitable for such as have any spark either of Honor or Shame will in regard to such a Testimony be tender of giving themselves the Lye whatever they would do otherwise His third Cavil is that it is unnecessary so are his Exceptions Let any man consider when all these Bars and Limits are too little to restrain turbulent and sacrilegious spirits from dangerous and irreverent attempts what Seas of Schism and Heresie would break in upon us were but these Banks demolish'd But he hath found out an expedient how Unity in Doctrine and Uniformity in practise may be as well attain'd and far more kindly without this enforced Subscription that is If no Minister be suffered to Preach or Write any thing contrary to the establish'd Doctrine Worship or Discipline nor ordinarily for the main to neglect the establish'd Rule Observation This last passage appears to me most spitefully pleasant Not ordinarily for the main that is Always sometimes he would neglect the establish'd Rule If the Laws already in force against Revolters had been duly executed 't is likely the Interest of England in the matter of Religion had not been now the Question But still this supposition does not imply an absolute sufficiency of that strictness to all intents and purposes of Order and Agreement 'T is what we Think not what we Say the harmony of Souls more then of Forms which God regards without that sacred and entire consent of Judgment and Affections the rest is but a flat and cold formality Not to act contrary to prescribed Rules where we are bound up by a Penalty is but a Negative and Passive Obedience a compliance rather with Convenience than Duty unless joyn'd with a prone and full assent both to the truth and equity of those determinations For these and many reasons more Canonical subscription seems to me exceeding necessary But for those people to decline it upon pretence forsooth of Conscience that upon pain of Freedom and Estates nay and of Hell it self enforced the Covenant is most unequal A Presbyterian Preacher refused to pray for Sir William Nesbett late Provost of Edenburgh when he was lying upon his Death-bed onely because he had not subscribed the Covenant Let me be pardoned if I understand not this incongruous Holiness As for the Decrees and Canons of the Church what rightful Authority doth make them as the Law of the Medes and Persians that altereth not Observation Surely his Reverence over-shoots himself What rightful Authority The Kings and by a less Authority they cannot be discharged By that Authority that Licenses the Excommunication of the Impugners of the Rites and Ceremonies established in the Church of England the Opposers also of the Government by Arch-bishops Bishops c. By that Authority to which this Gentleman hath forfeited the Head he wears Well but he tells us The publick state of these differences is such that the Prelatists may and ought to descend to the Presbyterians in the proposed moderate way but the Presbyterians cannot come

In 87. The Discipline was received and put in practise in Northampton-shire In 88. A Classical Assembly at Coventry In 89. A general Meeting in Cambridge and another at Ipswitch In 1590. Vpon the detection of the Premises they refused to answer upon Oath Being thus Associated they appropriate to their Meetings the name of the Church and use the style The Offices of the Lord Arch-bishops and Bishops c. says Martin Junior are condemn'd by the Doctrin of the Church of England By these degrees the Schismaticks advanced to a dangerous heighth and Boldness and of this temper and extraction are our Presbyterians After the aforemention'd discovery a stricter eye and hand was kept upon them divers of the Ring-leaders were imprison'd and the Covy broken Upon the coming in of King James they began to stir again but he knew them too well either to Trust or Suffer them How they behaved themselves towards the late King is to the eternal Infamy not onely of the Faction but of the Nation too notorious What they design toward the present Government That 's the Question And now I come to enquire Whether in Justice or Reason of State the Presbyterian Party should be Rejected and Depressed or Protected and Incouraged Before I fall upon the Question once again I explain my self By PRESBYTERIAN I intend a Faction that under colour of setling a Reform'd DISCIPLINE seeks to dissolve the frame of an establish'd Government And first I am to prove that Party so distinguish'd such a Faction which both from their own Practises Positions and from Common Observation and Authority I think I shall make good and that their last aim is to exercise that Tyranny themselves which they pretend to punish We 'l first examine how they treat the Civil Power If Princes be Tyrants against God and his Truth their Subjects are freed from their Oaths of Obedience Kings Princes and Governors have their Authority of the People and upon Occasion the People may take it away again Ministers ought not to obey the Prince when he prescribes Ceremonies and a Fashion of Apparel Evil Princes ought by the Law of God to be deposed Andrew Melvil being cited to answer for Treason delivered in a Sermon declined the judgment of the King affirming That what was spoken in Pulpit ought first to be tried and judged by the Presbytery and that neither the King nor Counsel might in primâ instantiâ meddle therewith although the speeches were Treasonable Strike the Basilique vein nothing but this will cure the Plurisie of our State Let us never give over till we have the King in our power and then he shall see how good Subjects we are Delivered in a Sermon It is lawful for Subjects to make a Covenant and Combination without the King But to come nearer Home to shew that the whole Gang is of the same Leaven Worse than all this was daily printed against the late King even by those Persons that were in pay to the Presbyterian Faction and yet at last those outrages are justifi'd against the Father by such as would be thought Loyal to the Son If Parliaments think to scape better they are deceived If the Brethren cannot obtain their will by suit nor dispute the Multitude and People must do the Feat One preached That though there were never so many Acts of Parliament against the Covenant yet it ought to be maintain'd against them all The Parliament can make no Law at all concerning the Church but onely ratifie what the Church decrees and after it hath ratifi'd it yet if the Assembly of the Church shall prohibite it and repeal that Decree of the Church all the Subjects are discharged from yielding obedience to that Act of Parliament An Assembly may abrogate Acts of Parliament if they any way reflect upon business of the Church Reformation of Religion belongs to the Commonalty Of the Parliament in the 24 year of the Queen says the Supplication if the desired Reformation be not granted There shall not be a man of their seed that shall prosper be a Parliament man or bear Rule in England any more Concerning Laws established They Fall in Consequence with the Power that makes them Presbyterians opinion of Bishops Let us see now with what modesty they treat the Church and first the Bishops They are Ordinances of the Devil Proud Popish presumptuous prophane paltry pestilent pernicious Prelates and Vsurpers Robbers Wolves Simoniacks Persecutors Sowers of Sedition Dragons and so to the end of the Chapter Their Clergy an Antichristian Swinish Rabble The Ministers are neither Proved Elected Called nor Ordained according to Gods Word The Ceremonies Carnal Beggerly Antichristian Pomps Presbyterian Reformation Hitherto the Faults of Governors and Government now their Proposals of Amendment and Reformation by what Rules and by what Means we may be Governed Better Thus then Let the whole Government of the Church be committed to Ministers Elders and Deacons Very good and to whom the Government of the State Why to Them too For the Church wherein any Magistrate King or Emperor is a Member is divided into some that are to Govern viz. Pastors Doctors and Elders and into such as are to obey viz. Magistrates of all sorts and the People The Question is next about the Extent of the Ecclesiastical Power and in what manner that Assumption hooks in all Civil Actions within their Cognisance In Ordine ad Spiritualia Forsooth by which rule nothing scapes them 'T is the desire of the Admonitor That he and his Companions may be deliver'd by Act of Parliament from the Authority of the Civil Magistrates as Justices and others and from their Inditings and Finings The Eldership shall suffer no leud customs to remain in their Parishes either Games or otherwise And further The Office of the Church-Governors is to decide Controversies in Doctrine and Manners so far as pertaineth to Conscience and the Church-censures Every Fault says Cartwright that tendeth either to the Hurt of a man's neighbour or to the hindrance of the glory of God is to be examined and dealt in by the Orders of the holy Church Nay Knox goes further yet The bare Suspition of Avarice or of Pride Superfluity or Riotousness in Chear or Rayment Even this Nicety falls within their Censure Now would I know what need of a Civil Magistrate when even our private thoughts are subjected to the Scrutiny of a Presbytery But will some say What signifies the intemperance of Particular tongues as to the General of the Party I am challenged by the Author of the Interest of England to produce their Actions and That 's my next immediate Business The Presbyter has now the Chair see how he manages his Greatness None of that Tyranny ye found in Bishops I warrant ye no groaning now under the Yoke of Antichrist the intolerable burthen of canonical Subscription the Imposition of

likewise to guess the end His End he says is Peace and in this Treatise he hath chalk'd his way to 't He 's a wise man and certainly proceeds in order to the Mark he levels at Let him be judge by his own Rule To mind the peevish of old Grievances and in so doing to transport the honest with a just sense of new indignities Is this the way of Peace To break a solemn Law that Law that saved the Breakers of it to abuse the Mercy of the Prince that made it and to traduce the Government of his Father whom they themselves destroyed and which is worse to justifie all this Is this the way of Peace To startle the mad brutish Rabble with dangerous apprehensions to lay the justice of their Cause before them and when they are ripe for mischief to shew them Men and Arms Is this the way of Peace Then let me learn which is the way of Tumult Shall Protestants destroy Protestants says he for dissenting in the point of Ceremonies No but the Law shall destroy Subjects for attempting to Rule their Governors Touching their Conventicles since they fal● in my way I think of them as of the Painter'● Bad God that made a Good Devil I take them to be none of the best Churches but for ought I know they may make excellent I beg ye onely to observe now the equity o● these good Folks Is it for the service of Christ and the encreas● of his Kingdom the Church that so many abl● Divines should be debarr'd the use of the Lord Talents that so many laborious Minister should sit still in silence that when Christ teacheth us to pray that the Lord would thrust forth Labourers into his Harvest those Labourers should be thrust out of his Harvest Surely this would make a cry in the ears of the Lord of the Harvest Observation Do none of the Woes in the Gospel belong to this talker of it The Service of God went merrily on in the Thorough Reformation did it not When not a Minister kept his Living but to the hazard of his Soul and in several places where the allowance was small neither Sacrament nor Sermon for divers years together But in those days the Covenant kept all in good order With what a monstrous confidence does this man press a Text which the whole Nation knows is clear against him And all in Scripture-phrase forsooth Ne sine formâ tantum scelus fiat for the honour of the exploit These people use Religion as your London-Cooks do their pickled Barbaries they garnish with it It serves for every thing I know not how it is but they do 't because they find the women like it When the Episcopal and loyal Clergy their Wives Children and Families were swept entirely away by th●t SCOTCH PLAGVE the COVENANT That made no cry sure in the ears of the Lord of the Harvest Let the great Great Judge of all the World determine it If the neglect of brotherly Pacification hold on and the Hierarchie resolve upon their own advancement to the highest pitch one may well conclude that they make a full reckoning to wear out the Presbyterians and to swallow up their Interest conceiving they are able to effect it by degrees and that greater changes than these have been wrought without much ado Let but the meanest Soul alive now judge of these mens Consciences I speak of those that tumult since the Act of Pardon As deep a forfeiture as ever was made by mortals the King hath remitted to them They have cost the Nation more then they have left it worth beside the blood the Grief and Desolation they have brought upon it This notwithstanding they have at this Instant the self same Interest they ever had as to Freedome and Safety and otherwise more They keep what they got beg and get more and are not yet content unlesse they Govern too But this is but another Alarm as who should say Look to your selves my Masters lose not an Inch for if you do they 'l do your Business by degrees By and by among other concurring advantages to the great Changes Queen Elizabeth wrought in Religion he reckons this for one Popery sayes he being in substance a Religion con●rary to what was publickly professed had no advantage for encrease by publick Preaching or Books publickly allowed Observation Nothing more certain then that the Freedome of the Press and Pulpit is sufficient to embroyl the best ordered Government in the World All Governments have their Disorders and their Malecontents The one makes use of the Other and here 's the ground of all Rebellions Some Real faults are first found and laid open to the People which if in matter of popular Freedome or Religion so much the stronger is the Impression the vulgar being natural●y stubborn and Superstitious Bring it to this a very little Industry carries it on at pleasure They shall believe Impossibilities Act eagerly they know not what nor why ●nd while they reach at Liberty grasp their own Fetters Their unhappiness is they can ●etter Phansy a Government without any ●aults then brook one that hath some Add ●ut to this distemper Licentious Pamphlets ●nd seditious Sermons the World shall never ●eep that people quiet Wherefore since on all hands it is agreed that Printing and Preaching in opposition to a ●ublick establishment are of so dangerous con●equence by the force of the Gentlemans ●wn Rule we ought to hear no more of their Discipline from the Press or Pulpit Observe ●is next coherence There are now in England thousands of Ministers dissatisfied in the Hierarchy and Ceremonies who are all competently and many of them eminently learned They are not generally of light spirits but steddy and well resolved and tenderly affected touching their spiritual Liberties Observation Take notice first how many and how resolute they are That is take notice again for we have had it exceeding often His Resolute thousands make me think of the Tribe● repairing to David But they are dissatisfied he sayes it may be 't is because they are no● Bishops Yet truly if they be so well resolved methinks they should not be dissatisfi'd with tha● they cannot help I 'll ask but two Questions and I have done 1. Are any of those Tender-conscienc'● thousandsthat are so tenderly affected toward spiritual Liberties those Presbyterians that denye● the King the freedome of his own Chaplains 2. Had any of these eminently learned thousands a hand in the Assemblies Letter to th● Reformed Churches of France the Low-Countries c. as great a Schism in Learnin● as the other was in Religion He comes now t● the point indeed Commonly sayes he those people who try all Doctrines by Scripture and are swaye more by its Authority than by the Ordinanc● and Customes of men do much hesitate and stagger concerning the sole Jurisdiction of Bishops the pomp of the Hierarchy and sacred mystical Ceremonies of humane Institution And