Selected quad for the lemma: faith_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
faith_n	church_n	heresy_n	schism_n	4,424	5	10.0782	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93064	The dignity of kingship asserted: in answer to Mr. Milton's Ready and easie way to establish a free Common-wealth. Proving that kingship is both in it self, and in reference to these nations, farre the most excellent government, and the returning to our former loyalty, or obedience thereto is the only way under God to restore and settle these three once flourishing, now languishing, broken, & almost ruined nations. / By G.S. a lover of loyalty. Humbly dedicated, and presented to his most Excellent Majety Charles the Second, of England; Scotland, France and Ireland, true hereditary king.	G. S., Lover of loyalty.; Searle, George, attributed name.; Sheldon, Gilbert, 1598-1677, attributed name.; Starkey, George, 1627-1665, attributed name.	1660 (1660)	Wing S3069; Thomason E1915_2; ESTC R210007	99,181	247

conceive anticipated any material Objection that might be made for future in behalf of one or against the other I shall now conclude with you wishing you heartily true repentance and a sound minde Rayling against Majesty when insulted over by the permission of God and casting scurrilities in the face of Gods Anoynted is the mark of a Shimei let his profession of Religion be what it will and if God ever come to awaken your Conscience in mercy or in judgement you will finde such a like reproof in your breast as cursing Shimei had from Solomon Thou knowest all the wickednesse that is in thy heart and which it is privy to c. out of the abundance of which you belched forth your filthy Expressions against him of whom those who are truly pious fearing God and the King give a different Character But I hope all who are indeed wise will be enabled to judge of persons and things You say what you write is the Language of the Good Old Cause I am sure what I write is the Language and according to the sense of Good Old True Christians and of the Scripture What you wrote you wrote no more you say then if you had written to stocks or stones And what I reply to you or to the Ring-leading Rumpers I am confident I write to such that is scared Consciences and stony breasts but as you hope your writings out of those stones may raise up some Children unto Liberty so I hope these my Writings may meet with some who in simplicity are following Absalom in Hebron being by delusions won to desert their lawfull KING in Jerusalem I mean following an Vsurping Aspirer in contempt of true Authority and the true Church deserting their True KING and rejecting the true means of Grace to be only found in Zion But those who are True and Cordial Subjects and Sons to their King and of the Orthodox Protestant Church know that David whom Shimei reviled was a man after Gods own heart and one whom the Lord chose to make an Everlasting Covenant with so different is the esteem of good men being made by divers sorts of persons As an Eye that is distempered and bloud-shot dazles at the Sunne or any clear Light seeing by it nothing but bloud terror and amazement nor can abide to behold it but looking down on the green Earth is more contented and pleased So guilty mindes or restlesse spirits cannot endure the lustre of Majesty but go poring upon and admiring that which is more sordid and neerer the Earth as suting best to their capacity To both which the Poet thus alludes and shewes the fate of each Sapiens domin abitur astris Vir Terrae pronus sensibus is suberit But I hope these terrae filii will be no longer Remora's to our long wished for and expected Deliverance Settlement and Joy which that it may come certe citò both surely and speedily is and hath been my prayer and I hope every Cordiall Subject and loyall Breast in England Scotland and Ireland will say Amen A PERORATION To his EXCELLENCY the Lord Generall MONCK and his OFFICERS AND TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE The Two HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT Which are shortly to meet and Sit at WESTMINSTER Most Honourable LORD HAving in defense of Regall Government against Mr. Milton's Ready and Easie way to establish a Free Common-wealth brought by Gods good help and assistance my ●ntended task to an end it remains that I now addresse my self to your Excellency in a paraeneticall or congratulatory way for what you have through Gods blessing been instrumental in bringing to passe We are all deeply sensible and thankfully acknowledge that the Righteous God for our many and great sins had corrected us and brought us into such a state and condition as this Nation never before was in since it first was known to be a Nation to thi● day He had cut off from us the Ancient and the Honourable had deprived us of our happy Governors broken our once matchlesse peaceably setled and long happily Government Had set Ephraim against Manasse Manasseh against Ephraim and both against Judah so that the Syrians before and the Philistims behinde did all seem to devoure our Israel with open mouth Yet for all this his fierce anger was not turned away but his hand appeared stretched out still against us Our Kingdome was divided rent and tottering one part against the other the Son envying and betraying the Father and one Brother another so that there was neither peace nor truth among us Our Church also was broken almost to pieces with Schismes Factions and Heresies our profession scandalized with damnable Errors and Blasphemies so that we had scarce the face of a true Church left among us Our Principles were tainted and corrupted with the crying sins of murther sacriledge cruelty of pression hypocrisie rebellion and perjury breach of faith Vowes Covenant and Oaths with hard-heartednesse and impenitency that it was hardly to be discerned if any spark of true Religion and power of Godlinesse remained in this every way guilty Nation or no whose hands were deeply imbrued and beyond washing stained with the sacred bloud of Majesty nor was the cruelty perpetrated upon the Father so repented of as to give glory to the God of Heaven but it was continued upon us and justified by us in the rejecting of his whole Royall Lyne and Issue and neglecting his necessitated Orphons and Widow although by profession we owned our selves Christians and boasted of a far greater Light then had shone upon any of our Ancestors or Predecessors Yet among them in a time not much removed from Paganisme perjured Harold permitted Edgar the true Heir of the Crown to injoy a large part of his Estate and Revenue and to retain the title and command of Earle of Oxford one of his subordinate titles had he been Crowned KING as Harold by Oath engaged to Edward the Confessor he would see performed when Edgar came to years and in the mean time himself would only assume the Title exercise the Office and execute the Charge of Guardian or Protector of him during his minority notwithstanding which perjuriously he himself Usurped the Crown Deposing the right Heir howbeit left him the Title and Dignity of Earle of Oxford with a large Revenue so farre was he from conspiring against his life though he aspired unjustly contrary to his Oath to his Crown But among us Saints by profession enjoying the greatest light which ever appeared since the Apostles time is found Harold's perjury exceeded fourfold and his cruelty a thousand fold For besides one Oath of Allegiance and another of Supremacy given to all also another Oath sutable to the former at Admission to sit in Parliament the Authority of England which was subordinate to the King in order to manage a War against him with whom they were called to consult and to whom and his Queen with his whole Royal Issue they were sworn to be true to preserve his

admit many they fear would dwell among them who might make a Conscience of keeping Allegiance inviolable and would urge against their Protestanisme that ungospellike rejecting their lawfull King although provoked by persecution and would cite the practise of the Primitive Church unanswerably discountenancing and their profession and Doctrine loudly and openly condemning the same by which means the multitude might be brought about to be undeceived and willing to entertain or at least desire their former Loyalty So that Policy not Conscience excluded from among them the Popish and a sordid desire of Gain set open the Flood-gates to all other Religions Among which if that may be accounted a Religion Athiesme is not excluded but findes its Sanctuary Now I pray you Sir where is the Magnanimity of Spirit that you boast of herein When nothing that bears the face or carries the name of Religion is disallowed but that only which is the only publique Religion of their former Prince lest by entertaining it his Friends should be let in therewith to the shaking of their new layd foundation the chief security of which seems to consist in their Nationall abjuring their formerly sworn to Soveraign not minding in the mean while the dishonour done to Gods name by those multitudes of abominable heresies yea damnable blasphemous Doctrines which swarm in those Countreys Amsterdam especially as Frogs swarmed in the Land of Egypt and yet they the more the pity are not at all troubled thereat because they bring profit and commerce along with them but I wish they do not hereby heap up to themselves wrath which may be powred forth upon them in the day of Gods Vengeance When no King was in Israel and every man did what was good in his own eyes then Micah made his graven and molten Image his Ephod and his Teraphim and hired a Levite to be his Priest Then was every man at his liberty what Religion he would follow a King only being so generous spirited and noble as to Engage that Religion publiquely to be professed which appears to him and his most learned Divines the true and most agreeable to the pattern and precepts of Gods Word and prohibit whatever strikes at this foundation nor to suffer any Rents or Schismes in the Church the inlets generally of farre greater mischiefs both in Church and State whereas a Common-wealth being but a puny Authority is compelled to tolerate this and that and twenty Heresies because some rich men or other are Favourites to all and nothing keeps the most rustick Peasant from being created the Greatest Heer or Lord among them but want of a competent quantity of Silver Gold or Merchandise Kings therefore in Scripture are promised to be nursing Fathers and Queens nursing Mothers to the Church but no such Promise concerning Republican Lords let them be never so high and mighty Nor is this degenerate basenesse of spirit visible only in Religious but as well and as much in Civil yea Ordinary concernments and there is a naturall reason for it since according to the Proverb According to a mans meeting so is his greeting Vulgar deportments find but vulgar respect nor is it fit or likely that he who puts little value upon himself should have greater put upon him by others that are about him Majesty and state may be kept without adoration but not without humble and due submissive respect Too much familiarity in all relations breeds Contempt The state and distance which Solomon kept between him and his subjects we finde registred by the Penmen of Sacred Histories as part of his magnificence and no small portion of Gods temporall blessings cast upon him as an additional Supplement to that for which he requested to wit Wisedome And I finde Paul the famous Apostle appealing to Caesar from Festus who was a subordinate Deputy to the Emperor hoping for greater shelter as to Religion from the Head of all Majesty Caesar himself then from an inferior Substitute or Lieutenant unto him And we read in the last Chapter of the Acts how long and how free he lived considering him in bonds at Rome being arrived in prosecution of his Appeal an evident argument that he expected and doubtlesse found more freedome under the Wing of Majesty then probably he should have had from an Inferior Governor neerer allyed to the common rank of men And as in the persecution of Religion the greatest favour is to be found in probability from Majesty it self so in the protection incouragement and advancement of Religion Kings and Emperors are unparallel'd Fathers and Nurses thereof Witnesse of old David Solomon Hezekiah and Josiah with many other godly pious Princes And of late since Christ Constantine and Theodosius with severall glorious truly Christian and famous Emperours And among us Edward the sixth Queen Elizabeth King James and without regard to your rayling black mouth our unparallel'd Martyr King CHARLES under whom how glorious was our Church to the admiration of many and envy of some of our Neighbours During whose pious Reigns if we will be poring only upon what was defective and whining after what was to be desired in our Church Discipline we shew our selves very ungratefull to God and men but if with thankfull hearts we could have enjoyed and prized what really was our Lot beyond all who were about us we might have said truly Our lot was fallen to us in a pleasant place and we had a goodly Inheritance God not so dealing with every Nation as he had with us who therefore might be named the darling of the Lord. It is the glory happinesse and true beauty of a Nation professing Religion when the face of man is not feared but God is so far exalted that none is acknowledged beside him King in the Church and therefore not only Caterpillers and Locusts are destroyed and Cattell which browse upon the Vynes kept out but the Foxes the little Foxes are taken that spoyl the Vynes they having on them tender Grapes How glorious a thing is it for a truly zealous and pious P●ince to countenance and encourage the Priests and Levites such I mean who oversee and manage the service of the Lord that out of the Church may be excluded not only the abominable and the unclean but likewise every thing that offendeth What more dangerous in the Church which is the Garden of the Lord then Factions and Heresies but what so fatall as the plucking up its Hedge and throwing down its Wall which is not as many imagine a foolish agreement or Covenant of the people one with another but a Christian and conscientious submission for the Lords sake to those who by Divine right are appointed and set over them to maintain which pale inviolable the King when a true nursing Father of the Church as blessed be God we had many such is next to God the greatest defense on earth on which score not without cause our Kings have had and deserved the name several of them of Defenders of

the Faith to wit the true Christian and Apostolick Faith concerning whose profession of and owning so honourable a defense we were bound and still are to say with good Nehemiah Blessed be God who hath put such a thing as this into the Kings heart and to pray that he would more and more be his Guide Counsellor Director and Protector that under him Religion may flourish and we may once more be a happy flourishing Nation 'T is to be confess'd that while the Church is militant here upon Earth there will and must be Offences and Scandals this Christ hath pronounced as absolutely necessary and the contrary impossible although woe to them by whom they come but for professed Christians to be viewing perusing overlooking and examining the Constitution of the Church they live in to be carping at and inveighing against the defects thereof practicall especially where much that is practised is not allowed and wished by the Judicious that it may be amended as soon as may be with conveniency and thereupon reviling reproaching and separating from the same it argues in my opinion those who are but nominall not reall Christians yet such is the temper of most of our modern Giddy-brained Phanatiques who from Controversies in Religion fell naturally to dabling with State concernments and have without Gods infinite mercy kindled in both our Church and State an inextinguishable Combustion I shall come now briefly to take a short view of what we were before these unhappy late Warres and compare our condition then with what we have been since that so an estimate may thence be taken what we are like in the End to come to unlesse God in mercy prevent our ruine as he hath already blessed be his Name given us great hopes Our Government and Governors were of two sorts Civill who ruled us as men and Ecclesiasticall who were set over us as Christians Of Civil Magistrates our King was supreme a true but not an absolute Monarch He had none above or singly co-ordinate with him and in dignity he excelled and went before all the rest Howbeit his Rule or Government was purely Paternall for as a loving and carefull Father in managing the affairs of his Family will consult with his Sonnes when grown to age yea and with his discreet Servants so the Royal Father of this great and flourishing Family consulted not only with his Nobles whom he honoured with the Title of Kinsmen and who were the most discreet and judicious of them of his honourable Privy Councill but he advised also with this Commons who for that end chose the Chief men of their Shires Cities and Boroughs Corporate and intrusted them with power in their name and for their welfare and benefit to represent and lay open their cases wants and grievances before the King and his Peers and joyntly to endeavour study and finde out a way of redresse or relief of the same They were still the Masters of their own Purses they not only raised whatever Money was to be levyed but advised together and consented to the disposing of it This grand Council was the Physick under God for the Nation when it was sick or any way distempered which the King like a wise Physician called as oft as he with the advise of his Wise Counsell judged it needfull either for the necessary cure of a distempered State or the convenient preservation and farther beautifying or adorning a flourishing one While things ran in this Channell how happy was England in Generall although some particular blemishes or pushes in the Body politick were lanced fretted and made sore by this means But when the just indignation of God was come to its height because we were so unthankefull for multiplyed blessings he then suffered this ungratefull Nation to loath Manna and to long for Physick to come into a course of medicinal diet and to linger after first a Trienniall then a perpetual Parliament which we have enjoyed so long nominally at least though really the Fagge end only or Rump of that Parliament which was also sore Ague-shaken several times by disgracefull and long Ejections which yet they willing to perpetuate themselves as oft as they came on the Stage again called only Interruptions however they cannot deny but they made or suffered tedious Exits which were as long as the rest of the Play and other Scenes nay whole Playes were acted in the Intervals I say we have endured so tedious a course of State Physick till we experimentally and to our cost and shame found the Proverb verified Medicè vivere idem esse a● miserè vivere At the Convening of this Parliament what was accounted grievous and so represented to his Majesty but he was willing to redresse it effectually Monopolies Star-Chamber and High Commission by his Royall assent abolished and the Council-Table regulated so as to stand for little more then a Cypher by his Majesties permission and all because his people whom he loved more dearly then his own safety shewed a dislike of them and accounted them a burden T●●●age and Poundage willingly layd down at his Subject● feet the Militia and Negative Voyce so far granted from himself that he left himself only power to be made a Martyr at his Subjects pleasure Yea and for the Episcopal Dignity he consented they should be stript of whatever the Parliament thought fit saving to them only their Office which his Oath at Coronation bound him indispensably to maintain O England England couldst thou but then have seen the things that belonged to thy peace which soon after alas were hid from thy eyes Yea the Nation did see it yea the Reverend Senators were deeply sensible of it the Nobles discovered evidently the true and only cure under God for the Nations distempers Nor do I blame them nor yet the major part of them but know and they since have been made sensible that a few restlesse dangerous factious pestilent spirits in both Houses first begat and then fomented a misunderstanding between his Majesty and his Cardially loyall subjects which Coal being once kindled they by the same cunning but devilish policy blew into the flame of a War in which posture all things could not be defended on either side but his Majesty wanting the sinews of warra could not possibly keep that discipline in his Army which the Parliament did in theirs and so Gods Providence permitting and our sins procuring his Royall person being captivated and his Forc●s dissipated those whose loyall breasts only intended his welfare and advancement in glory and Revenue which they in soverall Declarations protesting and appealing to God as a Judge and Witnesse of the truth of their intentions enforce me as Christian to believe to be their design were convinced by several Treaties that his Majesties both actions and intentions were misrepresented to them by some Boutefeus of State and therefore relenting towards him and his Royall Posierity intended a speedy settlement of the Nation in a Religious Peace and had done