Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	bind_v	kingdom_n	loose_v	4,040	5	10.0176	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50353	The publisher or translator of Nicholas Machiavels whole works out of Italian, faithfully into English, concerning the following letter of Nicholas Machiavels, wherein he clears himself of the aspersions alledg'd by some on his writings also, his judgment as to government, whether monarchie or democracie be the best : and lastly, (tho' a papist) shews their wicked and base errours, both of popes, Jesuits, priests, &c. and that they shall be brought to ruine / written by the author, April 1st, 1537.	Neville, Henry, 1620-1694.; Machiavelli, Niccolò, 1469-1527.	1688 (1688)	Wing M139; ESTC R23469	20,698	46

of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye ●hall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for this promise ●s to you and to your Children and to all that are afar ●ff even as many as the LORD our GOD shall call Next to judge infallibly of Divine Truth and to forgive sins as CHRIST did Then to be the Head of all Ecclesiastical Persons and Causes in the World to be so far above Kings and Princes as to Judge Depose and Deprive them and to have an absolute Jurisdiction over all the affairs in Christendom in Ordine ad Spiritualia yet all this the Canonists allow him and he makes no scruple to assume whilst it is plain that in the whole New Iestament there is no description made of such an Officer to be at any time in the Church except it be in the Prophecy of the A●ocalyps or in one of St. Paul's Episties where he sayes Who it is that shall sit in the Temple of GOD. shewing himself that he is GOD. CHRIST tells us his Kingdom is not of this World And if any will be the greatest amongst his Disciples that be must be serwant to the rest which shews that his Followers were to be great in Sanctity and Humility and not in worldly power The Apostle Paul writing to the Christians 〈◊〉 those times almost in every Epistle comman●● them to be obedient to the Higher Powers or Mag●●strates set over them and St. Peter himself from whom this extravagant Empire is pretended t●● be derived in his first Epistle bids us submit o●● selves to every ordinance of man for the LORDS sake whether it be to the King or c and this is en●● joyn'd although it is plain that they who go●● vern'd the World in those days were bot●● Heathens Tyrants and Usurpers and in th●● submission there is no exception or proviso for Ec●clesiastical immunity The practice as wel as precepts of those Holy Men shews plainly that the● had no intention to leave Successors who should deprive Hereditary Princes from their right o● Reigning for differing in Religion who without all doubt are by the appointment of the Apostl●● and by the principles of Christianity to be obeyed and submitted to in things wherein the fundamental Laws of the Government give them power though they were Jews or Gentiles If I should tell you by what Texts in Scripture the Popes claim the powers before mentioned it would stir you up to laughter and prove too light for so serious a matter yet because possibly you have never heard so much of this subject before I shall instance in a few They tell you therefore that the Jurisdiction they pretend over the Church and the power of pardoning sins comes from CHRIST to St. Peter and from ●im to them Thou art Peter and upon this Rock 〈◊〉 will build my Church I will give thee the Keyes of ●he Kingdom of Heaven whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever thou ●halt loose on Earth c. From these two Texts ridiculously applyed comes this great Tree which hath with its branches over spread the whole Earth and kill'd all the good and wholsome Plants growing upon it The first Text will never by any man of sense be understood to say more than that the Preaching Suffering and Ministry of Peter was like to be a great foundation and Pillar of the Doctrine of Christ the other Text as also another spoken by our Saviour to all his Apostles whose sins ye remit they are remitted and whose sins ye retain they are retained are all by the primitive Fathers interpreted in this manner wheresover you shall effectually preach the Gospel you shal carry with you Grace and Remission of sins to them which shall follow your instructions but the people who shal not have these joyful Tidings communicated by you to them shall remain in darkness and in their sins But if any will contest that by some of these last Texts that Evangelical Excommunication which was afterwards brought into the Church by the Apostles was here presignified by our great Master how unlike were those censures to those now thundered out as he calls it by the Pope these we● for edification and not destruction to affli●● the flesh for the salvation of the Soul that th● Apostolical Ordinance was pronounced for som● notorious scandal or Apostacy from the Faith and first decreed by the Church that is th● whole Congregation present and then denounced by the Pastor and reached only to deba● such persons from partaking of the Communi●on or fellowship of that Church till Repentance should readmit him but was followed by no other prosecution or chastisement as is now practised But suppose all these Texts had been as they would have them how does this make for the Successors of St. Peter or the rest Or how can this prove the Bishops of Rome to have right to such Succession But I make haste from this subject and shal urge but one Text more which is the spiritual man judgeth all men but is himself judged of none from whence is inferred by the Canonists that first the Pope is the Spiritual man and then that he is to be Judge of all the World and last that he is never to be lyable to any judgment himself whereas it is obvious to the meanest understanding St. Paul in t● is text means to distinguish between a person inspired with the Spirit of God and remaining one in the state of Nature which latter he sayes cannot judge of those Heavenly gifts and graces as he explains himself when he says The natural man ●●nnot discern the things of the Spirit because they are ●●olishness unto him To take my leave of this matter wholly out of the way of my Studies I shall beg of you Zen●bio and of Guilio and the rest of out Society to read over carefully the New Testament and then to see what ground there is for Purgatory by which all the wealth and greatness hath accrew'd to these men what colour for the Idolatrous worship of Saints and their Images and particularly for speaking in their hymes and prayers to a piece of wood the Cross I mean Salve Lignum c. and then fae nos dignos beneficiorum Christi as you may read in that Office what colour or rather what excuse for that horrid unchristian and barbarous Engine called the Inquisition brought in by the Command and Authority of the Pope the inventor of which Peter a Dominican Fryer having been slain amongst the Albigesi as he well deserved is now Cannoniz'd for a Saint and stil'd San Pietro Martine In the dreadful Prisons of this Inquisition many faithful and pious Christians to say nothing of honest Moral M●ors or Mahometans are tormented and samish'd or if they out live their sufferings burnt publickly to death and that only for differing in Religion from the Pope without having any crime or the least misdemeanor proved or alledged against them

can I in reason be accused for that it would become those who lay this blame upon me to undeceive them whom my Papers have mis-led and to shew the World to what other causes we may impute those admirable effects those Heroick qualities and performances that integrity and purity of manners that scorning of riches and life it self when the publick was concerned If they please to do this they will oblidge my Readers who will owe to such the rectifying their Judgements and not at all offend me who have reasoned this matter impartially and without passion nor have positively affirmed any thing But what if this part of my accusation had been true Why should I be condemned of Heresie or indiscretion of preferring a Common wealth before a Monarchy Was I not Born Bred and imployed in a City which being at the time I write under that form of Government did owe all wealth and greatness and all prosperity to it If I had not very designedly avoided all dogmaticalness in my observations being not willing to imitate young Scholars in their Declamations I might easily have concluded from the premisses I lay down that a Democracy founded upon good Orders is the best and most excellent Government and this without the least fear of confutation for I firmly believe that there are none but Flattorers and Sophisters would oppose me such as will rest Aristotle and even Plato himself to make them write for Monarchy by misapplying some loose passages in those great Authors ●● nay will tell their Readers that what is most like the Government of the World by GOD is the best which wholly depends upon his absolute Power to make this comparison run with four feet these Sycophants must give the poor Prince they intend to Deific a better and superiour Nature to Humanity must Creat a necessary dependance of all Creatures upon him must endue him with infinite wisdom and goodness and even with Omnipotency it self It will be hard for any man to be mis-led in this Argument by proofs wrested from Theology since whosoever reads attentively the Historical part of the Old Testament shall find that GOD himself never made but one Government for Men that this Government was a Common wealth where in the ●●nchadrim or Senate and the Congregation or ●opular Assembly had their share and that he ●hanifested his high displeasure when the rebelli●us people would turn it into a Monarchy but that I may not stricke upon the rock I profess to shun I shall pass to that which is fit indeed to be wip'd off and which if it were true would not only justly expose me to the hatred and vengeance of GOD and all good men but even destroy the design and purpose of all my Writings which is to treat in some sort as well as one of my small parts can hope to do of the Politlcks And how can any man pretend to wrire concerning Policy who destroys the most 〈◊〉 sential part of it which is obedience to all Governments It will be very easie then for Guilio Salviati or any other Member of our Society to believe the Protestation I make that the animating of private Men either directly or indirectly to disobey much less to shake off any government how despotical soever was never in my Thoughts or Writings those who are unwilling to give credit to this may take the pains to assign in any of my Books the passages they imagine to tend that way for I can think of none my self that so I may give such persons more particular satisfaction I must confess I have a discourse in one of my Books to encourage the Italian Nation to assume their ancient valour and to expel the Barbarians meaning as the ancient Romans used the word a● Strangers from amongst us but that was before the Kings of Spain had quiet possession of the Kingdom of Naples or the Emperour of the Dutchy of Milan so that I could not be interpreted to mean that the people of those two Dominious should be stir'd up to shake off their Primces because they were Forreigners since at that time Lodovic Sforza was in possession of the one and K. Frederick restored to the other both Natives of Italy but my design was to exhort our Countrey-men not to suffer this Province to be the Scene of the Arms and Ambition of Charles the 8th or K. Lewis his Successor who when they had a mind to renew the old Title of the House of Anjou to the Kingdom of Naples came with such force into Italy that not only our good were plundered and our Lands wasted but even the liberty of our Cities and Government endangered but to unite and oppose them and to keep this Province in the hands of Princes of our own Nation this my intention is so visible if the Chapter it self that I need but refer you to it Yet that I may not answer this imputation barely by denying I shall assert in this place what my principles are in that which the World calls Rebellion which I believe to be not only rising in Arms against any government we live under but to acknowledge that word to extend to al● claindestine Conspiracies too by which the peace and quiet of any Countrey may be interrupted and by consequence the Lives and Estates of innocent Persons endangered Rebellion then so described I hold to be the greatest crime that can be committed amongst men both against Policy Morality and in foro Conseientiae but notwithstanding all this it is an offence which will be committed whilst the World lasts as often as Princes tyrannize and by enslaving and oppressing their Subjects make Magistracy which was intended for the benefit of Mankind prove a Plague and Destruction to it for let the terrour and the guilt be never so great it is impossible that Humane Nature which consists of Passion as well as Virtue can support with patience and submission the greatest cruelty and in justice when ever either the weakness of their Princes the unamity of the People or any other favourable accident shall give them reasonable hopes to mend their condition and pro●ide better for their own interest by insurrection ●o that Princes and States ought in the Conduct of their Affairs not only to consider what their ●cople are bound to submit to if they were inpired from Heaven or were all Moral Philoophers but to weigh likewise what is probable de facto to fall out in this corrupt age of the World and to reflect upon those dangerous Tumults which have happened frequently not only upon oppression but even by reason of Malver●ation and how some Monarchies have been wholly subverted and changed into Democracies by the Tyranny of the Princes as we see to say nothing of Rome the powerful Cantons of Switzerland brought by that means a little before the last age to a considerable Common-wealth courted and sought by all the Potents in Christendom If Princes will seriously consider this I make no question