Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	believe_v	church_n	reason_n	2,125	5	5.7482	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43640	The third part of Naked truth, or, Some serious considerations, that are of high concern to the ruling clergy of England, Scotland, or any other Protestant nation and also a discovery of the excellency of the Protestant religion as it stands in opposition to papistical delusions, being a representation of what is the true glory of Protestants, and what are the base, contemptible and ridiculous principles, on which those that are called Roman Catholicks do build, as upon the sand being very necessary for all Protestant families in this present juncture of time.; Naked truth. Part 3	Hickeringill, Edmund, 1631-1708.	1681 (1681)	Wing H1830; ESTC R2673	42,995	50

of it OR doth not at least dare to Trust to it Wherefore if the said Church or the Clergy rather as the Rulers of it meerly upon these Grounds and only to these ends which are both thus evil in themselves and thus contrary to the very Grounds and Ends of our Reformation shall endeavour to Ingage the power of the Civil Magistrate to her Assistance which God forbid they should ever do any more in England for we have good ground to believe that several of the Ruling Clergy if not all do abhor it to their Praise be it spoken I humbly offer it to Consideration whether in moving this to a Prince especially as he is a Protestant she doth or can move him to any other purpose than That his Authority may promote the Defection she hath made from her own Principles and may Countenance her in that which she knoweth that the Rules of the Reformation and of Protestantism cannot viz. not only her Cruelty and Severity but her Exorbitancy And whether she hath or can have any Argument to the said Prince for his Countenancing of her greater than this viz Than as she knoweth that all the evil which would be charged upon HER wholly and ONLY as a Church may now through his countenancing of her be in part as well charged upon his Royal Authority and Pleasure as upon her Which Argument being really of no better a nature than this whether it be therefore reasonable in it self or whether it be so much as fit or modest for the said Church to make or whether it be agreeable to that Duty Honor and Sincerity which she as a Church professeth to owe and ought at all times uprightly to pay to her Prince I humbly leave and submit to the Judgments of all Ingenious Persons and especially when with reference to the Effect of this Motion it is matter of Fact that though twenty six private Persons would be thereby gratified some of whom are men of no Birth Interest or temporal Estate in the Nation and more than twice so many thousands are greatly grieved injured and wronged in their Persons and Estates which are equally his Majesties Subjects as well as they And many of which are every way Peers to them for Birth for Vertue for Loyalty for Temperance for Morality for Mercy for Charity for temporal Estates and even for Learning also And here it will be necessary in the next place to consider again what it is in these respects that we blame the Church of Rome for I mean What the Guilt of the Church of Rome is For either Guilt is a thing of Weight before God or it is not And either the Guilt which hath been charged upon the Church of Rome by reason of her Persecution by our Reformers first and by many worthy Men of the Church of England since is justly charged upon her or it is not But if that Guilt be Real and that it is justly charged upon the said Church It is apparently Criminal two ways First as she through her Persecution is the cause of all that Hypocrisie Dissimulation and Apostacy which men commit for meer fear of her and by which though out of weakness they do greatly wrong their own Conscience and greatly injure their former Profession before God and know they do so and lye oft-times under trouble of Conscience all their lives afterward for it And secondly she is equally guilty as she is the cause by reason of her Persecution of the Sufferings Distresses and great Afflictions which many particular Persons and many Families groan under by which she occasions many solemn Complaints Cries and Appeals to be made unto God which men who are conscious to themselves of their Sincerity towards God did pour out to him as the Righteous Judge of all persons And if this be The Guilt of the Church of Rome and if we as Protestants when we write against the Church of Rome do say that all the Righteous Prayers Appeals and Complaints to God against her shall be heard And that she shall answer as well for the Crimes of others as for the Oppressions and Wrongs that she hath done to others What then can be said when a Protestant Church or the Clergy rather who are the Rulers of it shall be guilty of the same manner of Persecution and upon the very same unjust or upon more unjust Grounds or Principles that the Popish Clergy are and when by the means of this Persecution the said Protestant Clergy are the occasion of many mens Hypocrisie Dissimulation and Desertion of their Principles through weakness to the extreme injury and wrong of their Consciences and are the express Cause of the Sighs Sufferings Groans and Complaints of divers others that are poured out in the very bitterness of their Souls unto God and when the said Protestant Church or the Ruling Clergy rather of it shall have no sence at all of the evil of any of these things nor seem to be in the least moved or concerned for them These things being considered the Question is whether any man that is rational can draw any other Conclusion from them but that The said Protestant Church or the Ruling Clergy of it do not believe themselves at all when they write against the Papists for these things and that notwithstanding they do threaten the Church of Rome with the Judgments of God because of their Cruelty and of their Persecutions of men for their Conscience sake yet they do indeed but laugh in their sleeves at it and do not believe any such thing as that the direful Judgments of God shall come upon any either for Cruelty or for Persecution of others for Conscience sake or for being the occasions of many mens sinning against and wounding of their own Consciences but that when they speak of the Judgments of God they speak of them but as Scare-Crows Bug-bears or Pot-Guns For would it not be an uncharitable thing or rather is it not an incredible thing for any man to think that the Protestant Clergy should do the very same things which they expresly declare and acknowledge to be heinous Offences and Crimes against God in their Adversaries the Church of Rome if they did really believe themselves in what they usually write when they threaten them with the Judgments of God upon them for the said things If to avoid this which they perhaps may look upon as some imputation or reflection upon them the said Protestant Church or rather the Ruling Clergy of it shall deny the Case to be the same and shall say that the Grounds or Principles upon which they persecute men are much different from those of the Papists or Church of Rome Let them I mean the Ruling Clergy lay down the State of it and shew us wherein the greatness of the said difference doth consist For if the Fact for which men are punished by the said Protestant Clergy be the very same or of the same nature with that for which the

Religion in regard that this is appropriated solely to the Clergy And the Clergy taking upon them the sole right of Judgment in all Religious and all Ecclesiastical Affairs do by this means presume That their judgment alone is to be received by the Prince whensoever they see it reasonable to desire his Authority to Confirm and Assent to such things in Religion as they would have confirmed and assented unto And whensoever they on the contrary shall desire his nulling and repressing such things as they properly dislike and would have nulled and repressed by him And seeing all such Representations when at any time made by the Clergy are not only the easier but the sooner gained by them because of the entire trust that in the whole affair of Religion is generally committed to them as to Persons not only of supposed sufficiency but of supposed Conscience and Integrity And because there can be no third party therefore that hath a power to examine the things propounded by them or to sift into the grounds or reasons of them They are the more easie to be gained also because of the Power and Influence which all pretences about Religion do commonly and rationally carry with them with reference to the publick Peace and to the establishment of Piety and to the procuring both of Prosperity and of blessing upon a Nation it self Which things being generally apprehended and believed by all to be the real Consequences of Religion Nothing therefore can render a Prince more plausible or to speak more properly Nothing renders a Prince more naturally grateful to the hearts or more inwardly awful and reverend to the mind and affections of his people than the Supposition of his being Religious or pious doth And therefore all Propositions about Religion having this advantage above all others of any kind whatsoever no marvel if they gain a more easie reception with any Government than any other Proposition can Especially if offered by such who claim the main care and charge of all things which concern Religion and concern the welfare of it as well as they challenge the chiefest knowledge and judgment about it For these reasons therefore and for the purchasing and the conserving such a name among his people as may become a Prince that would justly be accounted Pious and for the avoiding the Blemish and Imputation of the contrary a Prince is oft-times induced through the instant request and importunity of the Clergy both to dispence with and yield to such things which otherwise if duly examined would neither be judged sutable nor perhaps consistent with his Dignity either to do or to grant So that though it be a thing for those reasons very plain That a Prince cannot in the affairs of Religion easily decline the Judgment and Representation of the Clergy yet nothing is more certain than this That their Judgments and their Counsels prove sometimes not only imposing but very dangerous both To his Government To his Safety To his Honour and to his Interest And the more because as the rise of their Advice doth often proceed if not for the most part from those Considerations and no other wherein their own interest as a Clergy is particularly and sometimes privately concerned so the end of their advice terminates many times in nothing else beyond this That due Care and just Consideration which is but fit to be had to their Princes Interest being either not so faithfully or uprightly or at least not so circumspectly minded by them as it ought For the Proof of which we may appeal even to matter of Fact there being not one or two but rather too too many Precedents to be found wherein the Advice which the Clergy hath given to Princes hath been so precipitate and rash that Princes to avoid those mischiefs that have followed from their Counsels and doubting lest other and farther inconveniences might insue upon them that might be worse have been forced oft-times to rescind their own Orders though to the lessenning of the Credit and Authority of their Government Yea not only so but through the importunity of the Clergy and through the rashness and unseasonableness of their Counsels it is not one Prince but several Princes that have been frequently intangled Either with Divisions and Dissentions at home among their own Subjects or with quarrels abroad among their Neighbours not only to the disquiet of their Government To the Ruine of many antient Families To the shedding of much innocent Blood and to the waste and consumption of an extream Mass of Treasures but which is yet worse to the doing of all this without any Fruit and to the giving over at length the very quarrel it self even for these very Reasons viz. Because they saw they were misled in it and were able to effect none of those ends which others propounded to them by it and which they propounded to themselves than which nothing can render a Prince more unfortunate to the eye of himself or of others which unfortunateness by their ingaging in quarrels relating to Religion hath nevertheless happened not only to Princes of ordinary but to Princes of extraordinary Wisdom Courage and Conduct Witness the ill success of Charles the Fifth in his War upon the Princes of Germany And of his Son Philip the Second of Spain in his attempt upon the Netherlands And witness also three Kings of France one after another And witness what is not fit to be particularized even those things that happened at home even in our own Countrey which have drawn a Mourning-Veil upon the Records of our own times And yet so untractable have the Clergy been at some Times and in some Places or Countries that if a Prince shall refuse their Advice though out of judgment or shall oppose the unreasonableness of their Counsels though never so justly They do hereupon not only meet and Herd among themselves but partly by Preaching partly by Writing and partly by other ways of negotiating they do Endeavour to gain to themselves both the greatest Persons and the greatest part of the Nation even to prevent the effects of this Judgment Prudence and Moderation And if these things we have now said have any Weight or Truth at all in them they will evidence the Deductions following to be as true and as certain viz. 1 That the Affair of Religion is of too active a nature to lye wholly neglected and unregarded by any Government 2 That none can have a principal hand in the Government of it but they must have the principal power and opportunity through it to affect the people more than any other either in the point of Obligation or in the point of Neglect and Disrespect 3 That this must be much more true and certain in such a Nation where the Peoples Zeal and Affections do run most strongly of any to Religion as in these Nations than it is or can be true in any other Nations whatever 4 That whoever will weigh it must find the

just ground to examine her Doctrines or Authority by it and to withdraw from her or to assert there is a necessity that divers things should be reformed in her And for this Reason it is therefore that she neither hath any Subjects nor can or will admit of any to be her Subjects whether of the Laity or Clergy who will not withdraw their Obedience immediately from the Letter of the said word and from the Authority of it and give it to her as a Church Which injury against the Authority of the Scripture or written Letter of the word of it as it is therefore knowingly wittingly and willingly committed by the Church of Rome must for this cause be much the greater But the greatness and heinousness of it is made most manifest by that Argument which the Apostle useth Heb. 2.2 3. Heb. 10.28 29. Heb. 12.25 For if the Law or Covenant of Moses how divine soever was given to the Church nevertheless by one that was no more than a Servant only in Gods house And if that the Grace and Truth which came by Jesus Christ was given us by the only Son of God who was properly the Lord himself of the House Then a Sin or Crime done purposely against the Gospel of Christ and out of a real intent or design to turn men from the express Word or Letter of that Law or Covenant which was set up by Christ must be a far greater Evil or Impiety against God than the like sin attempted against the Law of Moses with a purpose or intent to turn men from the Letter and express Word of it There is such Force and Strength in this Argument added to what hath been already said as there needs no more to be said to manifest the abominableness of this Evil and therefore we shall herewith conclude this Discourse as with that great word of Truth which ought in this case to be most of all pondered and considered by them whom it most concerns For if it were evil in any even in him that had the name of a Prophet to turn men from the Law or from the Word of Moses who was but the Servant of God with an intent that they should rely upon another word different from it even upon his Word or upon such a Sign or Wonder as was wrought by him who did desire so to turn them from Moses and if this was such an Evil as was by Gods own Command to be punished absolutely with Death Then how much greater evil must it be in the sight of God to go about to turn men from the express Word and Law of the Lord Christ who was the only begotten Son of God with an intent that they should rely upon another Word different from it and to do this not only wilfully but avowedly and professedly by preaching to men openly that it is not their duty to rely upon the Word of Christ as it is immediately and expresly set down by the Holy Spirit but upon the Church only and what the Church shall declare to them concerning the said Word and when to effect this also the better men shall throw so great Contempt and Scandal upon the said Word as to affirm it to be so dark and confused that no certain or infallible Sence either is in it or can possibly be had from it And if this sin were the greater under the Law because of those Miracles which God had wrought by Moses to testifie him to be the Servant of himself Then it must be an aggravation of the said sin under the Gospel Because God hath not only by Miracles but even by Moses himself and by many other means and ways in his Providence born a far greater Testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ than ever he did bear unto Moses and hath abundantly manifested That he was the Only begotten Son of himself And if any man under the Law that did attempt to turn men from the word of the said Law was to be accounted as a false Prophet much more then ought he to be so accounted that doth both with all Industry and set Design indeavour to do this under the Gospel FINIS

he presumeth the Church also to be a thing altogether Holy and such as neither hath Erred nor can Err for should he question this he must question the whole of his Religion it self opposite to which Character we shall now consider The Character of a Protestant But the Protestant Church on the other hand having separated from the Church of Rome not only upon the Supposition that she hath actually Erred but that she hath been grosly corrupted as well in Manners as in Faith And the Protestant Church having for the better Justification of her own Practice both in the matter of Worship and in all things relating to Doctrine and Faith SET UP The Scriptures as the Sole and Soveraign Rule of Gods Mind and Will to his Church As she cannot challenge the Exercise of any Authority therefore that is beyond that of the Scripture or any that is not subordinate to the said Scripture it self So it is expected that all the Duties which she requires and all those Articles or Points of Faith which she at any time recommends to such as are the Members of her should always be enforced from those Arguments properly and only which are drawn from the Scripture Because it is this which she her self hath appealed unto and this only which she challengeth to justifie her A Protestant then that understands the Grounds of his Religion or that hath been at all instructed in the Rise or Principles of the Reformation taking this for the very first Article of his Faith That a Church may Err and may have Corruption in it and may in its Worship possibly swerve and depart from the pure Mind Word and Wisdom of God And laying that no less firmly as the Foundation of his Belief on the other hand viz. That the Scripture cannot Err nor can be other than the unalterable and incorruptible Rule of Gods Law and of his Will and Mind to his People he cannot possibly hold the Authority of the Church to be Divine any further or otherwise than as it appears to be clearly grounded upon the Scriptures as the Word of God And therefore the Tye or Obligation which he hath to obey the Church so far as it relates to the Conscience and binds the Conscience ariseth out of no other Ground than from the Conformity which he seeth or is perswaded that the said Church hath in her Laws Orders and Doctrines to the said Word and if this Conformity doth or shall once cease in the said Church a Protestant as a Protestant cannot but judge his Tye or Obligation to her as a Church ought to cease also with it And this being the true State of that Radical or Essential Difference that is between the Principles of a Protestant and the Principles of a Papist as a Papist It will hence follow That if a Church that professeth her self to be Protestant or the Ruling Clergy of a Protestant Church shall not much consider or regard the justifying of what Laws and Orders she makes by the Consonancy they expresly have to the Law or Mind of God in his Word which is his Rule to the Church nor shall much concern it self to clear and inforce the Faith and Doctrine which she holds by the Evidence of its Truth or by the Authority of it as sufficiently grounded upon that Word that is absolutely Divine But shall on the contrary in whatever she Commands or in the things she Teacheth constrain or exact an Obedience from her Members to her self and to her own Authority as absolute and as unsubordinate to the Word of God and therefore to her Authority as it is a distinct thing from the said Word That Church or the Clergy rather that are the Rulers of it so far as she doth this in any Doctrine or in any Law that she makes indispensable doth so far cease in her Principles and Practice to be Protestant and doth so far disclaim not only a main and chief Ground of her Separation from the Church of Rome but the very Principle it self upon which she pretends to guide her self in her Reformation For it cannot be denyed that these were the great and the main Causes of our Separation from the Church of Rome viz. First Because she had made her self Absolute and had set up an Authority in the matters of Worship and Faith above that of the Scriptures as the only Word of God And Secondly Because she did not barely excommunicate men but did also persecute them and did deprive them both of their Estates Liberties and Lives upon a Principle as contrary to humane Reason as it was contrary to humane Society and Quiet viz. not for any evil in their Conversations in their Morals or in their Lives But meerly for obeying what they sincerely judged to be the Law Mind and Will of God And meerly for believing that his whole Law Will and Mind to his Church as a Church especially relating to the Worship of himself was contained in his Word Thirdly Because by this persecution as it was extended to the extreme Punishment of Persons both in their Liberties and Goods and sometimes in their Lives by stinking Prisons and want of Necessaries she did unavoidably draw upon her self the Guilt of mens Apostacy Hypocrsie and Dissimulation who durst not but obey and comply with her Commands meerly out of fear And did as unavoidably draw upon her the Guilt of all that Suffering Cruelty and Blood whatever it were she spilt and did inflict upon those persons who withstood her Commands and who were otherwise in all things blameless both as to their Morals Lives and Conversations I say if it be matter of Fact and that which cannot be denyed that these three things were some of the Main and Principal Causes for which we separated from the Church of Rome and for which our first Reformers themselves called her Antichristian and sometimes Bloody and sometimes the Scarlet Whore And if these three things when at any time mentioned with reference to the Church of Rome are still acknowledged to be evil and so stiled to this day so far as it concerns her Yea if these three things are at this very present in our Controversies with that Church not only charged upon her but cast in her teeth among many other things by way of reproach and to set forth the just ground that we even as the Church of England as well as other Churches have both of exception against and hatred of her MUST NOT these three things be MUCH MORE EVIL in a Protestant Church who after she hath condemned all these things not only as evil but as Antichristian in the Church of Rome and after she hath pretended to separate from the said Church for them doth nevertheless give her self leave to practise them without condemning her self at all in them And MUST NOT This Practice cast a manifest Blemish and Reproach upon on her own Reformation and evidence to the world that she doth not either believe the Principles