Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	church_n	doctrine_n	reform_a	3,865	5	10.2412	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90065	A sermon, tending to set forth the right vse of the disasters that befall our armies. Preached before the honourable houses of Parliament, at a fast specially set apart upon occasion of that which befell the army in the west. In Margarets Westminster, Sept. 12. Anno 1644. / By Matthew Newcomen, Minister of the Gospell at Dedham in Essex.	Newcomen, Matthew, 1610?-1669.	1644 (1644)	Wing N913; Thomason E16_1; ESTC R18134	39,055	48

made with mee and now have violated without cause If thou be a God as they say thou art shew thy power and powre out thy wrath upon this perjured people Dictum factum God did justice upon the Appeale of an Enemy a Turke who in his very appeale spake Blasphemy yet God will doe him Iustice presently the battel turnes and it prooved a very bloody fatall day to the Christian Army the King and many of their chiefe Commanders slaine the whole army routed a great part of that Country lost nothing the cause of all this more then breach of Covenant The Violation of the Covenant of God is such a sinne as will bring disaster upon any Army under Heaven Now to apply this to our selves I am sure you have not forgotten for it is not yet a full yeare since you did with your hands lifted up to the most high even in this place Sweare a SOLEMNE LEAGUE AND COVENANT in a most solemne and religious manner I may say to you as Ioshua did unto the people when they had renewed their Covenant with God Ioshua 24.27 Behold these stones are a witnesse unto you that you have made a Solemne Covenant with God as ever people made Sure you have not forgotten it I am sure God hath not God remembreth it God hath remembred it in mercy all this yeare hitherto and now God seemes to begin to remember it in Iudgement Me thinkes this stroake of God upon us so neere that time Twelve-moneth wherein we tooke the Covenant seemes to speake as if God intended once a yeare to require an account of this Covenant at the hand of England ô that we could call our selves to account this day The Iewes have a proverbe Non est paena super Israelem in qua non sit unci● vituli There is no punishment upon Israel in which there is not one ounce of the Golden Calfe meaning thus That was such a transgression as it is in Gods remembrance every time he plagues them and hath some influence into every calamity that falls upon them In like manner we may say Non est poena super Angliam in qua non sit uncia Foederis We fall under no punishment but there is an ounce of our Covenant in it I beseech you please to review a little some of the chiefe Articles of that Covenant and see how we have observed it In the first we engage our selves sincerely really and constantly to endeavour the Reformation of Religion in England and Ireland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government according to the Word of God and the Patterne of the best Reformed Churches A blessed and glorious worke which as it hath the first place in our Covenant so challengeth and deserveth the first and chiefe in our hearts But what hath been done in this great work since the Covenant was taken It is that God and man enquire after What hath the Assembly done what hath the Parliament done in the Reformation of Religion When will some Order be setled for the Worship of God When will the Government of the Church be established according to the Word of God I feare God takes it very grievously that since we have made a Covenāt for Reformation we have spent now a year done so litle in it We have covenanted in like manner without respect of Persons to endeavour the Extirpation of Popery Prelacy Superstition Schisme Prophannesse and what ever shall be found contrary to sound Doctrine and the Power of Godlinesse And blessed be God for the extirpation of Popery Prelacie and Superstition much hath bin done But I know not by what unhappinesse it is but so it is that this last yeare since we all covenanted to endeavour to our utmost without respect of Persons to endeavour the extirpation of Heresie and Schisme Heresie and Schisme have encreased upon us more then ever We are grown beyond Arminianisme Brownisme Anabaptisme we are come I meane many among us to down-right Libertinisme There are two opinions which if encouraged they are encouraged if connived at will open a door to Turcisme Iudaisme Atheisme Polytheisme any monster of opinion The one is That every man is to be left to the Liberty of his own Religion an opinion contended for by the bloudy tenets John Baptist Liberty of Cōscience and the like Pamphlets An opinion most pernicious and destructive as to the souls of men so to the Common-weale of the Kingdome Gerhard 〈◊〉 com de Magistratu § 199. Libertas illa quidlibet credendi saith Gerhard nihil aliud est quam libertas errandi c. That Liberty of beleeving what men will or of holding what faith they please is no other then a Liberty of erring and of erring in a matter that concernes the Eternall Salvation of the Soule wherein to erre cannot but be most dangerous and destructive and therefore saith he as it cannot be safe for sheep to be left alone to wander in mountaines and deserts and graze in what pastures they please Lest they fall upon some unwholesome herb or become a prey to the Wolfe And as it cannot be safe to leave a Ship to it selfe to be driven by the windes and waves without any guide or Steerage lest it dash it selfe against the Rockes So it cannot be safe for Magistrates to leave people to a Liberty of being of what Faith and what Religion they please Lest being carried away from the true Faith and Religion they become a prey to destruction Nor is any thing almost more destructive to a State or Common-weale Praecipuum Concordiae vinculum est Religionis similitudo de cultibus Divinis Consensio Likenesse of Religion and agreement in the Worship of God is the strongest Bond of Concord Bucholc in Chronol Nor is there any thing that doth more unite the Mindes of men then the same opinions of God and Communion in sacred things On the contrary Diversity of Religion dis-joynts and distracts the minds of men and is the Seminary of perpetuall hatreds jealousies seditions warres if any thing in the world be and in a little time either a Schisme in the State begets a Schisme in the Church or a Schisme in the Church begets a Schisme in the State That is either Religion and the Church is prejudiced by Civill Contentions or Church controversies and disputes about opinions breake out into cruell warres Quod à nobis avertat Deus Men will at last take up swords and speares in stead of Pens and defend by Armes what they cannot doe by Arguments Nor doe we want Examples that tell us that Bella sacra are managed with more enraged mindes then common warres are Gualth in Luc. cap. 10. For as another saith Constat nulla esse atrociora odia c. It is apparent that no hatred is so cruell no dissention so bitter as that which ariseth from difference in Religion For such is the Power of Religion that it possesseth the whole man and if once it

degenerate into superstition doth so enflame mens minds against those of the contrary party as they not only hate them but are even mad against them c. And the more we have been sometimes united in Religion and the wayes of God the greater will the mischiefe be that this Diversity shall I say or Vniversality of Religions and opinions pleaded for by some will lay us under Philip. Cawer in oper sacris cap. 92. For Odia acerbiora immortalia inter eos existere solent qui in fide Religione conjunctissimis animis fuere c. The bitterest and most immortall hatred is usually betweene those that have sometimes been of the most concordant mindes in Faith and Religion and afterwards begin to differ for nothing doth more alienate the mindes of men quam similis vel dispar Religio Once for all it is the Preservation and Reformation of Religion which you have covenanted to endeavour and not a Liberty of opinion that will consist with neither It is the Extirpation of Heresie and Schisme that you have covenanted which if to be connived at why doth the Apostle Paul reprove the Corinthians for their Schismes so much and why doth our Lord Jesus commend the Angel of the Church of Ephesus for trying those which said they were Apostles and were not And why is the Angel of the Church of Thyatira reproved for suffering that woman Jezabel who called her selfe a Prophetesse to teach and seduce If once we come to this that any man be suffered to teach what he pleaseth to seduce whom he lists to be of what Faith or Religion seemes good in his owne eyes farewell Covenant farewell Reformed Religion farewell the Peace and Glory of England If that day once come But you Right Honourable I hope better things of you though I thus speake I hope while you live and sit in Parliament this shall never be Greg. Tholoz●●de Repub. lib. 8. Fieri nec solet nec potest ut quit Deum sincerè ex toto corde diligat qui diversas Religiones simul fovere desiderat certissimum enim ost neutram credere qui contrarias admittit It is not usuall nay it is not possible that they which love God sincerely should desire to cherish differing Religions for it is most certain he that admits contrary Religions beleeves neither of them There is a second dangerous opinion give me leave in the name not only of all the Ministers of Christ in England but of all the Ministers that Christ hath in the world to complaine of it it is this That there is no Jus Divinum upon the Calling of the Ministry To this purpose there was a Pamphlet lately put forth bearing the Name of the compassionate Samaritane that under pretence of pouring Wine and Oyle upon the wounded Anabaptists as he fancies them poures the venome of Dragons and the gall of Aspes not only upon the Assembly who yet are to no other end an Assembly then that they may be serviceable to God and you in the things of Jesus Christ nor onely upon the Ministry of the Church of England for then I had held my peace at this time but upon the whole Ministry of Christ through the world and would make that Sacred and Tremend Function to be as meere an Imposture as very a mystery of iniquity as arrant a juggle as the Papacie it selfe I shall not need tell you what Anvill this was forged upon nor that the Principles of Anabaptisme are as destructive to the Magistracie as they are to the Ministery All that I say is this the Lord make you mindfull of your Covenant and wise and able to apply apt and seasonable Remedies to these growing evils before they be incurable We have covenanted against Prophannesse too But what hath beene done against True it is you have made pious Ordinances for the strict Observation of the Lords Day and dayes of solemne Humiliation But for want of a strict course prescribed for the bringing of such as shall yet dare to profane these dayes to severe and exemplary punishment not onely in the Countrey but here in the Citie and before your eyes Sabbaths and Fasts are as much contemned as ever It would be worthy of your second thoughts what further course to take for the better sanctifying of those Dayes As also for the stopping of that Rage of all manner of prophannesse that in these loose and arbitrary times breakes in as a floud upon us and no wonder Perverse opinions and perverse manners alwayes walke hand in hand together Buchol in Chronol O●●nibus seculis Doctrinae coelestis corruptionem comitatur pu●●●u morum corruptela quae tandem Regnis ultima fata attrahit Common corruption of manners hath ever attended corruption of Doctrine and this at length brings desolation upon a Kingdome We live in a strange age for licentiousnesse of opinion and as strange for licentiousnesse of living There was a thing done not many dayes since not farre from this place I think the like was hardly ever done before in England or in the Christian world I meane that scandalous abominable I know not what to call it I doubt not but you know what I meane how farre your wisdomes will thinke fit to take notice of it and enquire after it I know not But certainly it was such an affront to the Justice of God such a dare to the power of his wrath now burning against us such a scorne to the whole Nobility Gentry and Parliament of England as both your owne Honour and Gods call upon you to shew your just indignation against it Had some young Gallants in Rome while heathen played such a Trick the Censores morum would have at least degraded them We have Covenanted to bring Incendiaries Malignants and evill instruments to punishment Since this Covenant God hath delivered many of yours and the Kingdomes chiefe Enemyes into your hands I will not inquire what Iustice you have done upon them That may upon some prudentiall considerations be deferred possibly But whether it be right in the sight of God that his and the Kingdomes Enemies when God hath shut them up in your hand should not onely have their Lives and their Ease but their lusts their sinnes indulged them and which is the common complaint in your prisons Sweare and Drinke and Gluttonize and be as joviall and as filthy as in their owne Garrisons whither this be right or no consider Some possiby are ready to say to you Petr. Nicol. Gelstroup as that poore smith in Thuring did to the Landt-grave of that Country who was more mild then was for his peoples good Duresce Duresce ô infoelix Landtgravie c. I know there ought to be in those into whose hands God hath put the sword a contemperature of Severity and clemency The sword of Iustice must be fourbished with the Oyle of Mercy yet there are cases in which severity ought to cast the scale I know not what

to thinke of that saying of Tully Si clementes esse voluerimus Cicero Epist ad Brutum nunquam ●●●erunt Bella civilia yet there is a great deale of reason in that which one speakes in confirmation of it Zevecotius in Observatis Politi●is cap. 14. Paena Lenior majorem peccandi occasionem suggerit c. a slight punishment doth but tempt men to wickednesse while all men hope they may escape and never be discovered or if they be they know before hand they shall goe away with it pretty cheape Therefore saith the same writer Laudo Venetos apud ques unicum publicae pecuniae denarium intervertisse non infame solum est sed Capitale Consilia decreta patrum revelasse quempiam rarò auditum est semper graviter punitum We have all Covenanted for our selves and all that are under our power both in Publike in Private in all duties we owe to God and man to amend our Lives and each to goe before other in the example of a Reall Reformation had we kept this Covenant ô what Saints should we have bin all our families would have bin as so many Churches England would by this time have been the Holy Island we had not now been fasting and weeping and mourning but rejoycing and singing praising But I beseech you Beloved tell me is there that Evidence of Personall and Family Reformation that such a Covenant as this did seeme to promise Look upon the Families of Lords Gentlemen Citizens where is such a Reformation as this Covenant binds us to Me thinks in all these particulars It is too too evident that we have transgressed our Covenant We have sinned and transgressed our Covenant The Lord help us to lay this sin to heart There is indeed a double violation of Covenants the one through wilfulnesse this I hope you are free from The other through unmindfulnesse This may be chargeable upon Gods owne Servants They were not mindfull of his Covenant saith the Psalmist Now even this is cause of Humiliation to us I remember the Day wherein we tooke the Covenant together in this place was like the Day of laying the foundation of the second Temple A Day of shouting a Day of weeping A Day of joy and a Day of trembling A Day of joy and shouting to see Parliament Ministers People so willingly offer to joyne themselves in Covenant to the Lord 't was such a Day as England never saw before and yet withall a Day of Trembling Weeping The Lord knowes there was many a gracious heart trembled that day for fear we should transgresse the Covenant we then made And now behold your eyes see even yours we have done so in too great a measure O what should our Weeping and Trembling be before the Lord this Day O let every one of us take up a Lamentation and cry with Ezra O my God I am ashamed confounded and blush to lift up my face unto thee ô my God Behold we are before thee in our sins and trespasses and cannot stand before thee because of this O let us be humbled for our Covenant breaches past and if we would not have God go on to break and blast our Armies let us not only renew our Covenants which is a part of the worke of this day but let us be mindfull of and faithfull to our Covenants or never look to have God more with our Armies The Lord tels Joshua plainly in the 12. verse of this Chap. Neither will I be with you any more till you have destroyed the accursed thing frō among you Breach of Covenant is an accursed thing It is a polluting of the great and dreadfull Name of the Lord our God The Lord our God is a jealous God We cannot expect he should be any more with us while such a provocation is among us FINIS