Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	abate_v	church_n	divine_n	21	3	9.5508	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44543	The sirenes, or, Delight and judgment represented in a discourse concerning the great day of judgment and its power to damp and imbitter sensual delights, sports, and recreations / by Anthony Horneck ...	Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.	1690 (1690)	Wing H2853; ESTC R8310	130,970	370

others if I go to one doth not my example encourage men to go and see those which are more loose and wanton If I mean to discourage Sin in others by my Actions I must not give them occasion to do that which is evil Sensual men distinguish not betwixt the more harmless and the more hurtful and if I encourage the one by my presence I encourage the other too and if by my example I approve of the Players Profession in one thing I approve of it in another too and harden them in their Folly not to mention that my seeing the more harmless as I call them will in time entice me to see the more prophane for Sin is catching and one Vanity draws on another and from the lesser we run to greater and when the horror of Sin is once abated in our minds the things which are most contrary to Christianity begin to appear harmless and thus the Soul glides insensibly into darkness and eternal misery That which you use to pretend sometimes that there are Divines of the Church of England who approve o● these Shews hath nothing of validity in it for suppose there were some who allow of these Vanities doth i● therefore follow that the Church of England doth encourage them The Opinions of some Divines are not the Standard of our Church nor are the private Sentiments of a few Men Prescriptions for her to go by The Church of England hath no where declared so much and as long as the Church is silent it 's presumption to interpret the fond opinions of some men as her Rule and Doctrin How can our Church countenance such things that professes strict adherence to the Word of God and looks upon the judgments of men that are contrary to it as Heterodox and Erroneous At this rate you might as well argue that because some Divines have been seen at a Play that therefore they have encouragement from the Doctrin of our Church The Doctrin of a Church is one thing and the practice of some of her pretended members is another The Churches case would be very hard if she were to answer for all the misdemeanours of her seeming Votaries and who knows not how in all Churches the professors generally deviate from the rules that are extant in their Books and Canons But after all it 's worth enquiring whether those Divines you speak of be of the graver or the younger sort that some young men who want experience and perhaps a lively sense of Religion should be taken with these shews I do not wonder but who takes a raw youth and such as think any thing great and good that 's witty and serves to tickle the fancy who takes such men for judges in an affair of this importance As to the graver sort I doubt you 'll find none or but very few that are favourers of these spectacles or if they do declare at any time that if Plays were reduced to their true decorum they might be inoffensive from hence it will not follow that they countenance the common Tragedies and Comedies which so manifestly go beyond the limits of decency And what if you do go but now and then Doth your going but seldom justifie the action All that this excuse will amount to is only this that you do not sin so often as other men but doth this free you from the guilt or make you innocent in the sight of God How would you take it if a man should give you a box on the ear but now and then Or how would you resent it to have your good name taken away by a person not always but whenever his humour prompts him And from hence you may easily guess at the weakness of this exception and if you have that mean opinion of God that low esteem of his greatness as to think that to affront him but now and then can do no harm you are unworthy to be his Disciple and judge your self unworthy of Eternal Life But I am forced to go you say my Superiours command me to wait upon them to a Play and how can I refuse it except I will lose their favour and the Place I hold under them And is this such a Bug-bear to fright you from your duty To whom have you greater obligations to God or Man If to God why dare not you prefer his favour before the favour of Men and be guided more by his Laws than by the benevolence of dust and ashes Have not you courage to make a vow and when you are solicited by your Superiours to go cannot you speak out and tell them that you lie under the obligation of a vow not to go and who will be so profane as to desire you to break it Had you rather sin than displease Men or is a poor Creature more terrible to you than he who thunders in the Heavens If you are perswaded in your conscience that to be present at these shews is sinful shall a creatures smiles make you venture the displeasure of the most High And what if you lose something considerable by pleasing God Hath God no ways to make you amends for your losses Hath he no Glory no Kingdom no reward no recompence to redintegrate your fortune If you lose this World for his sake is not the felicity of the next recompence enough But why should you mistrust him even in this present life He that made Moses after he had left the Court of Egypt General of his own Army and advanced Joseph who hated to be great and rich by sin to be Viceroy of the Realm and preserved Daniel in his grandeur for this reason because he would not depart from his conscienciousness is his arm shortned or is his strength abated that he can do nothing equivalent to all this Are not the hearts of men in his hand and doth not he turn them as streams of Water How often doth he make it appear to the World that where a mans ways please the Lord he makes his very enemies to be at peace with him Nay how often do these generous self-denials work by Gods providence upon Superiours and they that at first sollicited a man to do that which was vain and contrary to the Laws of Religion when they see him resolute in his conscienciousness how often have they been perswaded to reflect upon themselves at least to have a better opinion of the person who fears God more than them What you have often told me that from this way of reasoning it would follow that it is unlawful to write or to read a Play will deserve some consideration As for the writing of it though Poetry be a thing lawful and commendable and is sufficiently warranted by the writers of Divine Poems in Holy writ yet that will not justifie all the subjects Poets pitch upon and a consciencious man will take as much care that the subject he writes of be grave and serious at least innocent as he would do of his discourse in