Selected quad for the lemma: opinion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
opinion_n	church_n	doctrine_n	hold_v	2,971	5	6.0227	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65994	A sermon preached at Stow, in the county of Bucks, on the ninth of September, 1683 being the day of thanksgiving appointed by the King's declaration, for acknowledging God's great mercy in discovering and defeating the late treasonable conspiracy against His Sacred Majesty's person and government / by Tho. Wagstaffe ...	Wagstaffe, Thomas, 1645-1712.	1683 (1683)	Wing W212; ESTC R1767	17,329	42

unquam fuit publica Res ubi Ecclesia Tranquilltor We give thanks to our God whose Cause this is that in all the Kingdoms Dominions Common-wealths which have been added to the Gospel there is not so much as one Example of any such thing for we have overturn'd no Kingdom We have diminish'd no mans Dominion or Rights We have disturb'd no Common-wealths Hitherto they remain in their own Condition and in their Ancient Dignity The Kings of England Denmark Sweedland the Dukes of Saxony the Counts Palatine and other Protestant Principalities and Free Cities he there names All these says he have the same Rights and are in the same state they were before or rather in a much better because by reason of the Gospel they have their People much more Obedient Let them go into those Places where now through Gods Blessing the Gospel is taught Where is more Majesty Where less Pride and Tyranny Where is the Prince more Reverenc'd Where are the People less Tumultuous Where ever was the Common-wealth where ever was the Church more quiet and peaceable Thus far Bishop Jewel It is the Glory of the Reformation that as it proceeded by the most peaceable and orderly Steps so it held the most peaceable and orderly Doctrines The first Reformers neither in Opinion nor Practice maintain'd any thing that was infestuous to Common-wealths or injurious to Governours and they justly pleaded as the Primitive Christians did That they always paid Subjection to the Powers set over them that their Behaviour was meek and gentle that they always comply'd with the Will of their Rulers where they lawfully might and where they might not they submitted with patience and always chose rather to suffer than to be turbulent seditious and unquiet This was the first Reformation and this is the true Protestant Doctrine But alas since that Time there hath risen up another Protestant Religion and another Reformation there have been a Generation of Men of violent and furious Principles who were for Reforming by Destruction whose Religion was all Zeal i.e. Fire and Sword and who instead of Obeying were for Fighting and Rebelling for Conscience sake We may remember when Conscience took the Field and marcht with Powder and Bullet and brought a Protestant KING to the Block And the Deliverance we this Day thank God for manifests that these Principles are so far from being lost that they are heightned and improv'd This is a degree above Rebellion and the measures of King-killing are advanc'd very high when Blunderbusses are appointed to take off the Royal Family and numbers of Confederates to follow the Blow This Day therefore is the Text fulfill'd in our Ears that there have been Sinners who have entic'd who have said Come with us cast in thy lot among us i.e. in plain English Let us joyn together in an Association let us Covenant one with another let us lurk privily for the Innocent without cause For the Innocent without Cause indeed for what Cause had the King and His Loyal Subjects given them that they should pursue His Life and thirst for their Blood what mighty wrong had been done that nothing but the sudden destruction of Him and His Royal Brother could expiate and satisfie This is not this cannot be alledged Our Soveraign God be thanked is a Prince of incomparable Mercy and Goodness All the Nation feels His Influence and His healing Hand His Enemies not only live by His Favour but thrive also by His Grace and Bounty Some of the Confederates themselves have by Him been advanced to great Honours and Fortunes And are these the Qualities that must be hunted to Death Are these the Wrongs for which his People must be stirr'd up to worry Him Should a Heathen hear that the KING was to be Pistol'd His Nobles murder'd and His Kingdom rifled he could not but conjecture that he was a Nero at least a Prince fierce and cruel that he delighted in Oppression and Rapine that he kill'd his Subjects for Sport and Triumph and had done some unheard of Cruelties But when Mildness is the most conspicuous part of His Temper when His Mercy is thus far like God's as to be over all his Work when He is in truth the Breath of our Nostrils and the Delight of our Eyes what could exasperate and provoke even the worst Natures to such direful methods of Execution Nothing but the most fell and salvage Dispositions such as have the names of Men but the Tempers of Wolves and Tigers could engage Men to conspire to swallow Him up alive as the Grave and whole as those that go down into the Pit This is the first representing these Words accommodate to the occasion 2. The next is to lay down the Iniquity of these Practices and this sure needs no proof it hath no subterfuge evasion or excuse The Rebellious Spirits heretofore pretended the Face of Authority and a Parliamentary Power but what is this to Plots and Insurrections they pretended to raise Men by the Kings Power tho against His Person and will His Politic Capacity extend likewise to authorize secret Devices and Treachery They call'd their Forces the King's Armies tho they fought against Him and are these the King's Contrivances and the Kings Associations too which were intended to murder Him and overturn His Government They then call'd the People out to fight the Lords Battels but surely they will not call these the Lord's Plots and the Lord's Conspiracies These things are too obvious and the most Cunning and Politic can never clap such a Face and Disguise on them as shall make them appear otherwise than hideous and monstrous Our Saviour practis'd his own Religion the most exactly and then his Apostles and next after them the Primitive Christians all these suffer'd under the Iniquity of their Governours And what do they all but practise and preach Patience Meekness Gentleness Submission and Obedience They do not revile nor resist Authority they do not associate together to pull down the Government much less lay Plots to entrap the Lives of their Governours Suffering and Patience was Gospel then and Resistance and Sedition was Sin in those days But sure we need not go to Religion to disprove this Common Honesty will lay open its Vileness such Practices are without not only the Example of any good Christian but of any indifferently honest Heathen Ev'n Turks and Jews detest such things All Governments and all Common-wealths have abhorr'd Plots and Treacheries and those engaged in them have by all sorts of Men been esteem'd the Pests of Government and the Bane of all Society To conspire the death of any Man hath been always horrid and infamous but to lurk privily for the Blood of Kings and turn a Kingdom into slaughter is a Mischief of that magnitude that we want words to express it For as there are things of a transcendent Excellency which are too high to be pourtraited by Speech and are better admir'd and conceiv'd than discoursed of so there

greater gain than is usually agreeable to the State of Confederate Robbers for though they may now and then murder men by the High-way though they may kill men in their beds yet what is this to swallowing men up as the Grave which swallows up Kingdoms and devours whole Generations 'T is Insurrections and Massacres that thus triumph in Blood Every Murderer kills a man but 't is only rebellious Leagues and treasonable Associations that have a stomach like the Grave that always eat and devour but are never glutted nor satisfied Neither is it for half a dozen Villains to promise to themselves and their Associates such mighty success as to swallow up all before them But deep Confederacies that are numerous and strong that have made a great part of the People These may think to sweep a Kingdom may make their Multitudes an Argument to invite others may encourage themselves and their Party with the facility of their Enterprize that they are able to swallow men that are alive as the Grave does dead men They shall easily seize them surprize them unawares and the quick shall fall into their hands as the Dead go into the Pit without strugling resistance or opposition And then for that other branch We shall find all precious substance we shall fill our Houses with spoil These are not the returns of common Robberies Men by taking a Purse or breaking open Houses do not expect to lay a foundation of wealth or greatness by such means to enrich themselves and gain great Estates But 't is very profitable to fish in troubled Waters The Common-wealth is a great Stake and if it might be shar'd would be a handsom supply for Avarice and Ambition The Temple of Solomon lately built which being very costly and therefore perhaps Idolatrous the Spoils of it would be a competent morsel and to be sure to kill the Heir and take his Inheritance To seize the Revenues of the Crown and Church is a way Ambitious and Designing men may have to find precious substance and to fill their Houses with spoil 4. Those words immediately after the Text seem likewise to favour this Opinion Surely in vain the Net is spread in the sight of any Bird And they lay wait for their own blood they lurk privily for their own lives that is Those bloody Attempts and Contrivances were in vain they would not come to the issue the Plotters expected for how close and privy soever they were manag'd and carry'd on He King Solomon had knowledge of them and in vain was the Net spread for him in his sight He knew their Devices and secret Machinations So that at length the Mischief they intended would fall on their own heads their laying in wait would catch their own Bloods and their lurking privily would turn to a Conspiracy against their own lives for upon Discovery the Law would lay hold of them and they would be brought to exemplary Justice These are the Reasons upon the account of which I conceive these Words of the Wise King had a main respect to Public Mischiefs to the Plots and Designs of wicked Men against him and his Government And if I may have leave to Conjecture they may have a more immediate relation to the Rebellious Principles and Practices first set on foot in the time of David his Father for tho after the defeat and death of Absalom the King return'd and govern'd the Kingdom in Peace yet it is not probable that all the Seeds of Sedition were so soon extinguished A Rebellious Ferment once raised in a People tho it may be calm'd and quieted yet it is apt to stir again upon any occasion or opportunity The same Principles and many of the Persons were still in being and tho for some time dormant might again be quickned by Politic and discontented Persons and they might again be blown up to the same Commotions by the same plausible Pretences that Absalom had used before These things Solomon seems to have an eye to and is vigilant against and therefore earnestly presses his People not to give ear to any such Insinuations And this being so the Text is a Caveat not to be entic'd nor ensnar'd by them My Son if Sinners entice thee consent thou not My Son is a Compellation of love and kindness and denotes the Fatherly Affection he had for his People The King here then if this Interpretation hits the true meaning exhorts all his loving Subjects not to entertain any mutinous and seditious Principles to beware of those Men that would tempt them into Leagues and Covenants of Blood and Rebellion And to enforce this upon them he tells them that the End of their Confederacies was only Murder and Spoil and how fair soever they might seem what allegations soever of Right and Justice they might make they were but crafty Devices to intrap the incautelous for in truth Their feet run to evil and make hast to shed blood In discoursing of these Words I shall endeavour 1. To represent them in a manner suited to our own Circumstances 2. To lay down the Iniquity of these Practices 3. To enforce the Caution That therefore we ought not to consent if we are entic'd to things of that Nature 4. To lay down some Rules as preventive Expedients to preserve us from them 1. To represent these Words in a manner suited to our own Circumstances Apol. pag. 74. Nos esse homines turbulentos Regibus Sceptra de manibus eripere populum armare Tribunalia evertere Leges rescindere possessiones dissipare regna ad popularem statum revocare The Incomparable Bishop Jewel in his Apology for the Church of England when it had been objected by the Papists That the Protestants wer turbulent Men that they took away Scepters from Kings that they arm'd the People that they overturn'd Tribunals that they laid aside the Laws that they broke in pieces mens Rights and Possessions that they turn'd Kingdoms to popular States c. After a sufficient detestation of all these things and having said That the objecting them against the Protestants was such a Calumny as was cast upon Christ and his Apostles Answers thus * Pag. 77. Arg●on●s enim Deo nostro cujus haec solius causa est gratias in omnibus regnes ditionibus Rebusp quae ad Evangel●um accesserunt nullum unquam adhuc hujusmodi exemplum extitisse Nullum enim nos regnum evertimus N●ll●us dition●m aut jura minuimus Rempub. nullam turbavimus Manent adhuc suo loco avitâ dignitate Reges Angliae Daniae Suetiae Duces Saxoniae Comites Palatini c. omnes eodem jure eodemque statu quo faerant antea vel potius quia propter Evangelium populum habent obsequentiorem multo meliore Eant sane in illa loca ubi nunc Dei beneficio auditur Evangelium ubi plus majestatis ubi minus fastus Tyrannidis ubi Princeps magis colitur ubi Populus minus Tumultuatur ubi

impious Disingenuity to load every Miscarriage of State with Reproach Bitterness and foul Language And 't is much worse yet to call those Mistakes which are the best Rules The Art of Governing is an abstruse thing the Influences and Effects of it are like the Hand of a Watch visible to all but the way whereby these are mov'd and convey'd are like the Spring and Wheels secret and not discern'd by any but those that know the Machin And yet there are and always have been a sort of Men who have neither Opportunities nor Faculties to dive into the Mysteries of State to comprehend the Administration of Public Affairs who notwithstanding are always Censuring and Accusing the Government always crying out There is Corruption Above and Things are not well carry'd These Men are fit Tools in the hands of Ambitious and Politic Men and may be turn'd to what purposes they please They are easily perswaded to believe their own Censures first themselves think hardly of the Government and then will easily swallow the worst Representation Ill men can make of it This is a Temper therefore just ripe for Sedition for 't is Natural for men to endeavour an Alteration or Reformation of what they think they are capable to mend It is therefore necessary for the quiet living under any Government that this Censorious Humor be kept down For Rebellion hath its degrees first Censure the Government then believe our own Censures then hate it then endeavour to overturn it Destroy therefore this Monster in the Embrio kill Rebellion in the Seed Let us do what is very reasonable never undertake to censure what we do not comprehend Let us believe well of the Government 'till we have plain Reason to do otherwise Let us make but the same allowances to the Actions of Princes in their Administrations as we would have to our own in our small Affairs and then what Spots and Blemishes soever foul and malicious Eyes may spye the Government in its whole frame and management will appear to us beautiful and admirable 2. Which is neer of Kin to the former Have a care of entertaining unreasonable Fears and Jealousies These have been the Incendiaries which for many years have inflam'd the Nation and these are the Tools Designing Men have wrought with to unsettle mens Minds and make them Mutinous It is somewhat strange that the same methods of Deceit should continue so long that a Nation should be near twice Ruining in the memory of Man by the same Stratagems Jealousies and Fears were the Cry of the late sad Times and have we not yet suffer'd enough by such Insinuations shall we again be tempted to swallow that Bait which already in our memory hath spilt so so much Blood and made such havock of English men Let us but reflect upon the Tragedies it acted what Miseries have thereby been brought upon a Distracted People and it will certainly make us wary how we again are led away by such Devices When such things are offer'd and obtruded 't would make any Considering man suspect some lurking Mischief that those Men had some Design upon the Government who would endeavour so fouly to represent it If therefore we would have our Fears work rightly let us be afraid of such Temptations The Mischiefs and Consequences of a Rebellious War have sufficiently evidenc'd that we have fear'd where no Fear was that the means we took to release our Fears brought us truly under those Mischiefs we were before only jealous of And what are we now afraid of Do we fear the Alteration of the Government and the Subversion of the establish'd Laws And is Sedition and Rebellion a Remedy Will being Tumultuary under the Government release us This is but to do the Thing we fear to create Real Evils for fear of Imaginary ones actually to destroy the Government and the Laws for fear only lest they should be destroy'd Our Fears therefore are on the wrong side and we ought as much at least to fear lest by any Seditious and Mutinous Practices Desolation be brought upon the Nation Our Fears of Injury to the Government and Laws should work in us to be Peaceable under both for if we are really afraid of any such Inconveniences 't is sure but reasonable for us not to contribute any thing thereto by our own Behavioun otherwise it will be thought that we do not purely Resent the Ruine of the Laws and Government only we take it Ill that any Body else should Ruine them beside our Selves 3. Beware of Imprudent and Intemperate Zeal This is a Weed of Religion that spoils the whole Crop A Tare that not only corrupts but blasts the whole Field For Religion is of it self the most calm and quiet thing in the whole World but when 't is heated by Disorderly Zeal 't is the most Tempestuous Men who measure the strength of their Christianity only by the warmth they have for some Opinions are the soonest fired of any People and will break through all Bounds to prosecute the things they are Zealous for If therefore the Government opposes or discountenances those Opinions the hot Zealot is uneasie and fretting the Laws cannot hold him and he is ready upon every turn to attempt something for the Security of Religion The Cause he undertakes for he thinks is good and this will sanctifie the use of Means which otherwise upon other accounts would not be so warrantable The Killing a man not Judicially Condemn'd is Murder but when Phineahs without Trial and Form of Law out of Zeal to God's Glory kill'd Zimri and Cozbi it was his Righteousness and his Crown so as those Ways which are otherwise Illegal yet if they be for Defence of Religion and for Prevention of Idolatry they are not only justifiable but Heroically good Not now to consider that Case of Phineahs and the state of the Jewish Zealots who acted by peculiar and appropriate measures by special Commission when they were under the immediate Government of GOD which cannot now be pretended We shall find besides sufficient Reason to be careful of sucking in any such Principles if we consider That if this were admitted Religion would be the greatest Fire-brand in the World and serve for little use else but to disturb Common-wealths and set Men together by the Ears for 't is but for some Cunning men to perswade the People That their Religion is in danger that Idolatry is coming in upon them and then they may Plot and Conspire and Associate for Insurrections and Commotions and do any thing for their Cause is the Cause of God and their Earnestness in it is their Vertue and Glory And in truth there is scarcely any thing so bad and barbarous which hath not already been acted under this Principle And now is there nothing else in Religion but Zeal Are not Peace Humility Patience Obedience to Government are not these principal Parts of it and must these be eaten up by that which is only an Appendage