Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	church_n	faith_n	scripture_n	5,037	5	6.2487	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34533	A discourse of the religion of England asserting, that reformed Christianity setled in its due latitude, is the stability and advancement of this kingdom.	Corbet, John, 1620-1680.	1667 (1667)	Wing C6252; ESTC R19414	29,523	57

They are not excluded from among the Nobility among the Gentry they are not a few but none are of more importance then they in the Trading part of the people and those that live by Industry upon whose hands the Business of the Nation lyes much It hath been noted that some who bear them no good will have said That the very Air of Corporations is infected with their Contagion And in whatsoever degree they are high or low ordinarily for good understanding steddiness and soberness they are not inferior to others of the same Rank and Quality neither do they want the Rational Courage of English Men. As for the Ministers of this Perswasion some have called them Fools for their Inconformity others are reported to have said That the Church should not so easily be rid of them as if their Conformity had been dreaded by them Some have pitied them wishing that they would Conform and others revile them saying Conform or not Conform never trust them Howbeit they make Solemn Appeals to the Most High God That they dare not Conform for Conscience sake and that it is not in the power of their own wills to relieve them And whatsoever their grounds of dissent be they hold it out against all hopes of Indulgence whilst many of them live in Necessities and most of them upon the kindness of others It is now about Five years since a Full and Vigorous Act of Uniformity at once cleared the Church of the supposed Enemies of her Polity All Corporations have been New-model'd and changed as to the Principles and Tempers of persons for the better securing of the Government in Church and State The Private Meetings for Religious Worship termed Conventicles are strictly prohibited Deportation being the Penalty upon the Third Conviction And for the breaking and dissipating of the whole Party it is provided by another Law That the Non-conforming Ministers be removed five miles distant from the places of their usual supports and influences Such care is taken and such is the advantage both of Law and Power to strengthen the State and restrain Dissenters Nevertheless the State Ecclesiastical hath advanced little in the esteem acceptance or acquiescence of people The Dissenters are still the same and are rather strengthned in their aversness And those of them that repair to the publick Assemblies retain their Principles of Reformation as they speak without seperation The Indifferent sort of men are still indifferent and it may be have some kindness for the depressed Party and pity them in their Sufferings SECT XII The Extirpation of the Dissenters is both difficult and unprofitable PEradventure some think their total Extirpation to be the surest way to publick Security and Peace and that great Severities will do the work But Violent compulsion and Terror comports not with the nature of Christian Religion which is a Rational Service and seeks a willing people and is not at all in truth where it is not received with judgment and free choice Besides the success of such a course may be doubted of since the Protestant spirit is not like the Popish Cruel and outragious and the nature of English men is not bloody but generously compassionate Wherefore in this Land to execute Extremity upon an intelligent sober and peaceable sort of men so numerous among all ranks may prove exceeding difficult unless it be executed by such Instruments as may strike terror into the whole Nation The Civil Officers in general may not be found so forward to afflict their quiet and harmless neighbours Moreover if severity used once for all could extinguish an opposite party there might be some plea of Policy but when Severity must still be justified with more Severity without an end it is like to prove unlucky to the undertakers Nor is the Nation like to grow the better by the subversion of this sort if it were effected For in them no small part of the Nations Sobriety Frugality and Industry doth reside They are not the Great Wasters but mostly in the number of Getters In most places the displaceing of them hath not encreased Civility and good Conversation among men and it makes not for their dishonour that many will swear and be drunk to declare they are none of them There is something of more importance To purge the Nation of this people may be to purge out more of its Vitals then the strength of this State can bear To suppress those that are reckoned among the chief in Trading and whose Commerce is so general may beget a general diffidence and insecurity in Traders and may help to drive away Trade it self and send it to an emulous and encroaching Nation May we mind without offence the event of things among us The business of the Nation hath not proceeded with the current and free passage expected nor doth its Wealth and Glory encrease Trade languisheth and Traders fail in great Numbers the Rents of Lands fall there is scarcity of Money in City and Country the Necessities and Difficulties of private Estates are common and Complainings are general And after a continued decay things are at last fallen and funk much lower in the Ruins of the City of LONDON 'T is the Nations happiness to be re-established upon the Ancient Legal Foundations but it is the right stating and pursuing of its true Interest by which it comes to a firm consistency and proportionable growth But this sort of men are inquisitive and therefore troublesome to Rulers to whom Obedience without disputing is most acceptable It is fit indeed they be as humble and modest as inquisitive Yet these inquiring men stand much by that main Principle of Protestantism the Judgment of Discretion Indeed the Churches Infallibility and the peoples implicite Faith may help against all Disputes but it cannot be so in England whilst the people read the Scriptures and the established Doctrine of Faith remains with us And if no greater latitude can be allowed then is at present a Race of Non-conformists is like to run parallel with the Conformists to the worlds end SECT XIII The representation of this Difficulty is no Threatning to Rulers or Intimation of Rebellion SUch as take this Representation for a Challenge to the Higher Powers and a Demand of LIBERTY and a Threatning if it be not granted are too far transported with Passion What can be of greater concernment to Governors then to discern and consider the state of their people as it is indeed And why may it not be minded by Subjects and spoken of without any hint or thought of Rebellion If Subjects use Arguments of Equity and Safety to Princes it doth not presently speak a Demand And it is no Threatning to say That Rulers themselves must be ruled by Reason or do worse The truth is should they whose Case is here argued upon this score meditate Rebellion and Warr they were abandoned of their own Reason and would hurry themselves into a precipice of manifest Ruin To rush into ways

unworthy Ends but for Conscience sake and chuse rather to acquiesce in a Tolerable State which for the main is sound and good rather then to endeavour a total Change which may be mischievous and at best is full of hazard Wise men know That by hasty Changes they do not come to rest and quietness but only change their Old Grievances for New ones If Practice sufficiently uniform that is to say without any scandalous difference may be obtained from men of different Perswasions Why should Uniformity of Judgment be exalted and men tempted in doubtful points to set their Consciences on the Rack If any number of Dissenters were willing to do their uttermost towards Compliance why should needless Choak-pears which they could not swallow be forc'd upon them If the Church's Authority be had in reverence if Order and Peace be kept what matter is it from what speculative Principles such observance proceeds Though a man so complying be not of the same mind with his Superiors yet he may have this honest Catholick Principle To promote the common Interest of Reformed Christianity and to dread the weakning and shattering of it by needless Schisms As for a narrow-bounded Uniformity both in Opinions and petty Observations it is no more necessary in the Church then Uniformity of Complexions and Visages in the same Civil State and is indeed no more attainable where a generous Freedom of Judgment is allowed SECT XVI Whether the Dissenters are capable of being brought into such a Comprehension VVHilst Reason is urged on their behalf that are left without the lines of the present Establishment some haply may ask Will they themselves hearken to reason Be it supposed that some among them seem not reducible to a due publick Order but another sort there are and those of chiefest moment whose principles are fit for Government the stability whereof hath been experimented in those Countreys where they have had the effectual concurrence of the Civil Powers Their Way never yet obtained in England nor were they ever favoured with the Magistrates vigorous aid so much as for an Accommodation with the Established Polity But their difficulties have still encreased and how streight soever the Terms imposed on them were in times before the after-times have still made them streighter Wherefore if they have been too much addicted to their own Opinions or have committed some errors in the management of their Affairs it is no marvel It was not easie for them being destitute of the Magistrates influence and lying under great discouragement and disadvantage always to keep stable and sure footing in such a slippery place as Church-Discipline The asserting of their Discipline is not here intended but the Inquiry is Whether they be of a Judgment and Temper that makes them capable of being brought under the Magistrates Paternal Care and Conduct to such a stated Order as will comport with this Church and Kingdom This is no undertaking Discourse it presumes only to offer its Reason to equal and impartial Readers When a Divine of great fame and of much esteem with the chiefest of the English Clergy was taxed by the Jesuit his Adversary for being no Protestant as refusing to subscribe the Nine and thirty Articles he judged it a sufficient Answer to testifie his belief That the Doctrine of this Church was so pure and holy that whosoever lived according to it should undoubtedly be saved that there was nothing in it that might give just cause to any to forsake the Communion or disturb the Peace thereof Who or what is there almost that this or the like Latitude would not encompass when hearty endeavours are put forth to gain men The same Catholick Spirit may dwell both in larger and stricter judgments One that cannot subscribe to all things contained in a Volume of Doctrines and Rules compiled by men subject to error may be ready to joyn with any Church not depraved in the substance of Religion that doth not impose upon his belief or practice things unsound or doubtful as the terms of her Communion The Presbyterians generally hold the Church of England to be a true Church though defective in its Order and Discipline and frequent the Worship of God in the publike Assemblies And many of those that press earnestly after further Reformation do yet communicate as well in the Sacraments as the Word Preached and Prayer And a way might be opened for many more to do as much by a safe and easie condescention of those in Authority The Ministers of the Presbyterian Perswasion in their Proposals presented to His Majesty declare That they do not nor ever did renounce the true Ancient Primitive Episcopacy or Presidency as it was ballanced or managed by a due commixtion of Presbyters therewith That they are satisfied in their judgments concerning the Lawfulness of a Liturgy or Form of Worship and they Petition His Majesty That for the setling of the Church in Unity and Peace some Learned Godly and Moderate Divines indifferently chosen may be employed to compile a Form as much as may be in Scripture-words or at least to Revise and effectually Reform the Old Concerning Ceremonies they profess to hold themselves obliged in every part of Divine Worship to do all things decently and in order and to be willing therein to be determined by Authority in such things as being meerly circumstantial are common to humane actions and are to be ordered by the Light of Nature and Humane Prudence according to the general Rules of Gods Word But as for divers Ceremonies formerly retained in the Church of England in as much as they contribute nothing to the necessary decency which the Apostle required and draw too near the significancy and moral efficacy of Sacraments and have been rejected together with Popery by many of the Reformed Churches abroad and ever since the Reformation have been matter of endless Dispute in this Church and an occasion of great seperation and are at the best indifferent and in their own nature mutable they desire they be not imposed and they heartily acknowledg his Majesty to be Supreme Governour over all Persons and over all Things and Causes in these his Dominions Upon these Proposals His Majesty in His Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs hath thus graciously expressed himself We must for the Honour of all those of either Perswasion with whom We have conferred declare That the Professions and Desires for the advancement of true Piety and Godliness are the same their professions of Zeal for the Peace of the Church the same of Affection and Duty to Us the same They all approve Episcopacy they all approve a set-form of Liturgy and they all disapprove and dislike the sin of Sacriledg and Alienation of the Revenues of the Church And if upon these Excellent Foundations in submission to which there is such a harmony of Affections any Superstructure should be raised to the shaking of these Foundations or the contracting and lessening of the blessed gift of