Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	peace_n	popish_a	recusant_n	4,523	5	13.9656	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66578	Nehushtan, or, A sober and peaceable discourse, concerning the abolishing of things abused to superstition and idolatry which may serve as one intire, and sufficient argument, to evince that the liturgy, ceremonies, and other things used at this day in the Church of England, ought neither to be imposed, nor retained, but utterly extirpated and laid aside : and to vindicate the non-conformists in their refusal to close with them.	Wilson, Joseph, d. 1678.	1668 (1668)	Wing W2927; ESTC R38669	118,485	216

displeas'd with them and punishes them Though Solomon was a man greatly respected by him as his name Jedidiah imports 2. Sam. 12.25 yet in regard he exercised not that severity against Idols he should but in complyance with his strange VVives built high places to them he was so incens'd against him that he interrupts his peaceable and flourishing reign stirs up Hadad Rezon and other adversaries against him 2 Kings 11.4 c. nay rends the Kingdom it self from him 8. From the concurrent judgements of the most holy learned orthodox VVriters the Church of God hath had since the Apostles times Though the best of men not secur'd against it by divine inspiration and direction are as all ages witness fallible and subject to mistake yet it is a considerable inducement to us to believe that what is held forth is the truth when it is witnessed and that upon probable and fair grounds by the unanimous testimony of such eminent persons And thus it is in the present case the ablest and choicest men the Church hath afforded have given their express and full suffrage in behalf of the point in hand August Calvin Martyr Wolphius See Lincoln Abridg p. 24. Lavater Sadeel Fulk Rainolds Perkins do all teach that such things as have been abused in superstitious and idolatrous services ought to be abolished and laid aside and for confirmation thereof urge the very Text I am now upon which they judg'd to hold forth so much These great names Dr. Morton found in the Abridgement he had to deal with but choose what was the matter thought it not convenient to return any answer Dr. Burgess his second Rejoynd ch 4 sect 6. p. 453. saith it would have been unreasonable then to have done it But why so was not this instance of Hezekiah alledged seasonably enough in the Abridgement and was it not seasonable to give the judgements of such learned men upon it and was it not as seasonable for the Defendant if he could to make some answer But in case the Defendant thought it unseasonable how as the Rejoyner did not undertake it especially seeing the Replyer charges the Defendant with the neglect of it Ames Fresh Suit part 2. p. 400. Some concern'd in the business expected it from him but in vain Now this would shrewdly tempt an indifferent person to think there was more in these testimonies than either the Defendant or Rejoyner could well tell how to answer To these I might by way of supply add divers others but shall at present offer you only two or three Haec autem non sic dico ut patrociner Papisticis superstitionibus c De Trad. p. 696. and give you their own words Musculus having shew'd what ttraditions are to be kept and what not adds I speak not these things so as to patronize Popish Traditions Rites and Worships God forbid and I call them Popish Traditions which either of their own Nature or by abuse are serviceable to Popish impiety superstition and blindness And a little after speaking of the Israelites abusing the brazen Serpent to idolatry shews how Hezekiah abolish'd it And Farell writing to Calvin about a Popish fellow whose name was Carolus saith Cumque Sanctus Rex Hezekias c. Ep. Calv. 49. Regula est illa a diaphora non necessaria c. vol. 1 Expl. Decal p. 1346. Princes may learn from Hezekiahs abolishiug the brazen Serpent what they are to do with those rites which idle men have set up and added significations to according to their own pleasure Nay Rivet to mention no more saith it is a rule that things indifferent not being necessary when they are polluted with gross idolatry are to be abolished VVhat authority then these men are of it is wholly ours in this business They are clear and peremptory that such things as are not of necessary use and be or have been made serviceable to corrupt ends and purposes are not only to be detested but abolished 9. From the Doctrine of our own Church which hath openly declared that such things as have been abused are to be laid aside Def. part 1. ch 20. Serm. in Phil. 2.20 p. 316. Def. of Perk. part 1. p. 165. Appeal l. 1. c. 2. sect 25. Eccl. Pol. l. 5. sect 65. as being thereby rendred unfit for further use Bishop Jewell in the common defence which he wrote in her behalf speaking to the Papists of certain of their ceremonies saith These ceremonies ye have so abused that unless we will greatly offend we cannot any longer retain them To the same purpose speaks Bishop Andrews whatsoever saith he is taken up at the injunction of man when it is drawn to superstition cometh under the compass of the brazen Serpent and is to be abolished Hereunto I might add what is delivered by Abbot Morton Hooker to the same purpose but waving such private though very considerable testimonies I shall offer you one or two of a more publick and authentick nature The Church of England in one of her Homilies Against the peril of Idolatry Serm. 2. discourses at large both from Scripture and Antiquity against the Monuments and occasions of idolatry and amongst other passages she alledges that of Epiphanius Bishop of Salamine in Cyprus who entring into a Church and finding an Image on the door took it and tore it in pieces willing the Keepers of the Church to give it to a poor man who was lately dead and wind him in it This she do's not only alledge but approve of telling us that what Epiphanius did he did it in imitation of good King Hezekiah who brake the brazen Serpent to pieces and burn'd it to ashes And as if this were not sufficient she do's in the discourse prefix'd to the present Liturgy render this as the weightiest cause of abolishing certain of the ceremonies that they have been so far abused partly by the superstitious blindness of the rude and unlearned and partly by the unsatiable avarice of such as sought more their own lucre than the glory of God Now if abuse either already committed or likely to be committed be a sufficient reason as she here contends it is wherefore Images and certain ceremonies should be abolished it must needs be a sufficient reason wherefore other things of the like nature in case they either have or are in danger to fall under it should also be abolished 10. From the determinations of our own Kings and Parliaments who among the standing Laws of the Nation have made provision that the reliques of Idolatry should be destroyed Amongst other Injunctions of Qu. Eliz. this was one Injunct 23. that all monuments of Idolatry and superstition should be so utterly extinguished and destroyed that there should remain no memory of them either in our Churches or houses with which the succeeding Laws so far complyed that the Stat. 3 Jac c. 5. impowers Justices of Peace Mayors Bailiffs and chief Officers of Cities and Towns corporate

to search the Houses and Lodgings of Popish Recusants for Popish Books and Reliques and if they find any such Books and Reliques or any Altars Pixes Beads or Pictures to deface and burn them This Law hath in part been put in execution and if it had been wholly as it hath been in part the worship of God had been preserved more pure and the Protestant interest had been more safe than now it is but as Rome was not built so neither was it to be destroyed in a day and therefore we are not without hope that notwithstanding present delays God in time will perswade and excite our Governours to go on in the work so happily begun and cleanse his house from defilement 11. From the Concessions of the Papists themselves who as all know are the greatest retainers and users of abused things of any people in the world having in a manner made it their business to gather up almost whatever either Heathens Jews Turks or others have defiled Si nonnulli ex praedecessorib nostris fecerunt aliqua quae illo tempore potuerunt esse sine culpa postea vertuntur in errorem superstitionem c. Grat. dist 63. Cap. Quia sancta The Canon Law notwithstanding all the chaff that is in it tells us from Pope Stephan That if our Predecessors have done some things which at that time might be without fault and afterwards are turn'd to error and superstition we are taught by Hezekias his breaking the brazen Serpent that posterity are to destroy them without delay and with great authority VVhich passage holds forth these two things containing the substance of what I am pleading for First that things lawfully instituted being abused to error and superstition are to be destroyed and then that Hezekiahs breaking in pieces the brazen Serpent do's oblige us thereunto VVhence we see that rather than God will suffer his truth to want testimony he will extort it from the mouths of his adversaries themselves and make them bear witness to it Rather than Israel shall not be blessed he 'll make Balaam to do it Rather than the death of Christ shall not be sufficiently foreshew'd he 'll make Caiaphas to do it and rather than abused things shall want accusers to appear against them and implead them he 'll make Antichrist the very Patron thereof to do it Now if this Doctrine of the Canon Law were put in execution what work would it make in the Papacy what alteration would it make in Churches Chappels and other places Tiber it self would scarcely be a sufficient Kidron to receive all the Altars Images Crosses and other trash that would then fall into the hands of Justice 12. From that kind of reasoning which we term a Minori ad Majus it is his pleasure that such things should be abolished as have been abused in miscarriages and proceedings of a lower nature than such high matters as superstition and idolatry can reasonably be thought to be Thus his servants both in former and latter times have understood him and therefore when they have observ'd somethings to be abused though they were not stain'd with such high matters as superstition and idolatry yet they took themselves bound to lay them aside and accordingly did it as I shall shew in several instances 1. The Christian Church leaning too much on her own wisdom hath instituted and set up several Officers and orders of persons not appointed by the Word but after a time seeing the gross and insufferable abuses that attended them she thought fit to appear against them and abolish them Socrates tells Hist Eccl. l. 5. c. 19. that the Bishops from the time the Novatians sepated from the Church and refus'd to communicate with those who under the persecution of Decius had faln from the faith thought fit to appoint certain Priests to take the confessions of such as had so faln which after they had done it happened that a certain Noblewoman coming to a penitentiary Priest and confessing her post-baptismal sins amongst other things which she acknowledged her self guilty of she told him that a certain Deacon of the Church had been too familiar with her Upon notice hereof great stir was made the business was discuss'd to and fro and the Deacon thrown out of the Church But this was not all Eudaemon taking notice of the disgrace that hereby befel the Clergy and for preventing of the like for the future advised Nectarius Bishop of Constantinople to lay the penitentiary Priest aside which was accordingly done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 692. This my Author tells me he had from Eudaemons own mouth Now if the penitentiary Priest were laid aside for the fault committed by the Deacon what would have become of him had he been found guilty in his own person And if one fault be sufficient for the throwing of a person nay an office of long standing in the Church aside what are many Controv. part 1. contra Duraeum l. 5. p. 134. Furthermore Dr. Whitaker disputing with Duraeus of religions orders minds him how the selected Cardinals wrote to Paul 3d. acquainting him that the abuse of them was so great that they thought all conventual orders were to be laid aside Nay the Jesuites themselves notwithstanding all their plausible insinuations have by several Nations like a company of Vipers been thrown out from amongst them Further Discovery c. Ep. ed. p. 2. The Jansenist solliciting the States of Holland to rid their hands of them tells them that the Republique of Venice looking on them as a publick contagion banished them their territories in these imperious terms Be gone carry away nothing with you and never return And he also instances in England France nay the States themselves as having in times past exercised no less rigor towards them And the truth is so many and great are the mischiefs which they work in the world that its a wonder that all Princes and States instead of protecting and shewing them favour do not proceed against them as the known enemies of common peace and honesty Were it needful I might multiply instances of this nature but these I have here set down may serve to intimate what opinion great and wise men of different callings and perswasions have had of such kind of Officers and orders of persons and what course they have taken with them They judg'd it most convenient both for the vindicating of Justice and the preventing of miscarriages for the future to remove and lay them by 2. The Primitive Christians did for a season to the Eucharist add their Love feasts the end whereof was spiritual rejoycing with the preservation and increase of charity and friendship but in time they fell sadly to pervert and abuse them turning them into occasions of very great disorders which Paul observing amongst the Corinthians blames them for it and charges them to lay them aside 2 Cor. 11 21 22. In eating saith he every one taketh before other