Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	ark_n	david_n	zion_n	25	3	9.1179	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66367	Truth vindicated, against sacriledge, atheism, and prophaneness and likewise against the common invaders of the rights of Kings, and demonstrating the vanity of man in general. By Gryffith Williams now Lord Bishop of Ossory.	Williams, Gryffith, 1589?-1672.	1666 (1666)	Wing W2674; ESTC R222610	619,498	452

about us And so indeed it fell out with our selves in these Kingdoms now of late our peace and our plenty hath undone us by making us too wanton to rebell against our King to provoke our God to scourge us for that our Wantonness and Rebellion And therefore S. Augustine saith most truly Magnae virtutis est cum faelicitate luctari ne illiciat ne corrumpat ne ipsa subvertat foelicitas it is a point of great virtue to strive with felicity lest it inticeth us corrupteth us and overthroweth us and so it is a great felicity and happiness not to be overcome with felicity or not to be undone with prosperity as many Men Towns and Kingdoms have been many times for as the said Poet saith Tum cum tristis erat defensa est Ilion armis Troy in her adversity was well defended but alas Militibus gravidum laeta recepit equum Quam facile tadunt splendidae fortunae But sitting and jocond she was destroyed And so it is with many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their fair fortunes makes them to fall How king Davids peace and plenty increased his Piety But it was not thus now with King David for his Rest begat Religion in him and his peace plenty and prosperity increased his Piety and as he delighteth to recount Gods benefits so he considereth how he may show his thankfulness for them and therefore he thus museth and meditateth on the matter Th● summ and substance of Davids deliberation God hath given me a Kingdom and a Royall stately House built of Cedars in that Kingdom Therefore I will build an House for him and he hath given me rest round about therefore I will prepare a place for his Ark which he ordained to be the sign and symbole of his presence and which hitherto hath had no resting place but many a sad and wearisome perambulations that now at last it may rest and be more forced to be transported and carried from place to place For though Enter praesenter Deus est ubique potenter God himself hath an ubiquity of presence being essentially full and filling all places Supra coelos non elatus subter terram non depressus non exclusus nec circumscriptus yet because his gratious and his powerfull presence is promised to be 2 Chron. 6.41 and to be shewed and extended in a speciall manner in some places more and rather then in other places and that place specially is Exod. 30.26 where his Ark resideth and which is called the Ark of his strength and the Ark of his Covenant and the Ark of the Testimony because he Covenanted and promised by the tables of that Covenant Hebr. 9.4 and the other symbols of his presence that were kept in that Ark to be present and assistant and most powerfully to bless and protect all those that kept the Covenant and observed those Testimonies that were preserved in that Ark therefore saith David In requital of Gods favours shewed unto me I will build a House for Gods Ark that so the tables of the Covenant betwixt God and his people and the Manna and the rod of Aaron which were to be kept in the Ark might be the more safely preserved and rest in one place without any more wandering and the people and servants of God which are obliged and commanded to come to serve God and to bring their offerings and oblations to offer unto God before the Ark where it should be might be the more certain of the place of its residence and might with the more conveniency and in a far better manner perform their duties and discharge their service unto God then while the Ark wandered from place to place And this was the result and summ of Davids deliberation and conference with the Prophet Nathan The excellency of Religion which is the preserver of all happiness And it is no wounder that King David was so Religious and so punctual in all particulars appertaining to Religion and the service of God because Religion as one truly saith is as the Poles of the World the Arctick and Antarctick or that Mount Atlas which the Poets say holds up Heaven for it stands on earth and it reacheth to God in Heaven and it is that which poyseth all Societies and all states here below for without the faith and belief of Gods Providence to oversee our actions and then to reckon for our transgressions and to punish the delinquents might craft and falshood would sway in the World alike with men as it is with the Beasts of the field and the Fishes of the Sea and the Conscience of good and evil would be all one and Religion is that which en●bleth the noblest man erects his affections and estates him in a state of happiness far above nature and in a word this procures all blessings to light upon us So that whether you aime at the spiritual true and eternal felicity or the civill-Weale and temporall happiness only yet Religion is and ought mainly to be magnified and preserved and therfore the King did most wisely and Religiously call the Prophet to consult about the building of an House for the Ark and for the service of God What Davids example should teach all other Princes And this practice of King David is a pattern and a looking-glass for all Kings and Princes whereby they may see how to spend the times of peace and prosperity to their best profit and advantage and that is 1. Not to spend their whole time either in idleness or vain pastimes because as Hesiod saith Illi pariter indignantur dii homines quisquis otiosus Lesson 1 est both the gods and men detest him that is idle Matth. 20.6 and therefore Christ demandeth of them that did nothing Why stand ye here all day idle and for pastimes and recreations Ludendi modus retinendus est a mean or measure and certain ends and rules ought to be observed therein Quos ultra citraque nequit consistere virtus Horat. For so do we read of the Roman Scevola he used to recreate his spirits Valer. Max. l. 8. c. 8. after he had wearied himself in the weighty Affairs of the Common-wealth but as it is said of Scipio Africanus that he was Not to spend all their time in pleasures Non minus otiosus quàm cum otiosus never less idle then when he was idle Quia semper in otio de negotio cogitavit because that when he had nothing to do he was stil thinking and considering what he should do even as King David here When he sate in his house and was at rest and took his ease and was quiet from all Wars he bethinks himself of building Gods House So should all other Kin●s and Princes do to give unto the very times of tranquillity their proner task and share of their Affairs because as Homer bringeth in God telling Agamemnon that Non decet principem solidam dormire

noctem Homer Il. 〈◊〉 It beseems not a Prince to take a sound sleep all night long Quint. Curt. as Alexander did on that night when he was on the next very day to fight with Darius Which might have lost him the field Ezech. 2.9 had not his fortune been better then his fore-sight For God puts a Scroule into every Prince his hand semblable to that schedule of Ezechiel wherein all their charge and duties are set down at large with this inscription Gesta illos in sinu Bear all these alwaies in thy bosome and let them never depart one of thy mind and as the Egyptians Hieroglyphic painted Oculum cum Sceptro an Eye with the Crown or Scepter to betoken a prudent Prince so should every King have an eye in his head as well as a Scepter in his hand or a Crown upon his head and to use Vigilance as well as Authority over his people And so Augustus Caesar that found Rome of brick and left it of Marble The great care of August Caesar for the good of the Common-we●lth is made famous by the Historians for his great and extraordinary care and vigilancy which he alwaies used for the good of his Empire when as he gave himself no rest nor suffered any one day to pass over his head in quo non aliquid legeret aut scriberet aut declamaret but he either read or writ or made some speech unto the people and when he heard of a certain Gentleman of Rome that was very deeply indebted and yet slept most securely without care to pay his debts and without fear of any danger he desired that he might buy the bed A careless Gentleman whereupon he rested because the debts that he stood bound for both to God and to the Common-wealth would never suffer him to sleep so secure when as it is ars artium the chiefest of all arts and the heardest of all things to Rule and Govern an unruly people so difficult that the Prophet David compares it to the appeasing of the raging Seas saying Thou stillest the rage of the Sea and the noise of his waves and the madness of his people because as Seneca saith Nullum morosius animal nec majori arte tractandum quàm subtilis homo There is not any living creature so froward and so hard to be tamed and ruled as a suttle and crafty man Reges fatui quibus similes But those Kings and Princes that think the Common-wealth to be made for them and not themselves for the Common-wealth and do spend their time not much better then that Romans Emperour who when he was in his privy Chamber sported himself in catching flies and to pull out their eyes with a pin for which he became so ridiculous that o●tentimes when any demanded Who was with the Emperour his servants would answer ne musca quidem truely not a flie they are said to be tanquam simiae in tecto like Apes on the top of a house that delight themselves to spoil and to untile the house And God made them Kings and appointed them for other ends and not to destroy his people as many Tirants do which we deserved for being so unthankfull to God and so undutifull to our King that was so pious and so gentle like King David and so good as the best that ever England had Lesson 2 2. As King David spent not his time like Domitian in catching of flies nor like Heliogabalus in following after his pleasures That king Davids chiefest care was for Religion and to promote the service of God but like Scipio and Augustus for the good of his Kingdom So here you may see the chiefest good he aimed at was to erect an House and a House of Beauty and Majesty for the Majesty of the God of Heaven for his thoughts conceived it not a sufficient discharge of his duty to provide for the peace of his Kingdom and the happiness of the Civill State unless he did also take a speciall care for the honor and service of God and see the works of Piety performed as well and rather then the duties of equity and civility for he understood it full well that God ordained Kings to be not only Reges murorum for the preservation and defence of walls and Cities and the outward prosperity of their people but also Reges sacrorum to see the holy duties of Religion and Gods worship duly performed And therefore as God had made him a Monarch over men and had given him an House of Cedars so he was desirous to become the Priest of God and to build him an House for his service What all kings and Princes ought to do And this should be a good lesson for all other Kings and Princes to imitate this good and godly King in the like sweet harmony of pollicy and piety and to have a greater care to provide for the Ark of God then for the Kings Court because Religion is the basis and pillar that must bear up their Kingdoms And therefore all good Kings ought not only with Moses to rescue their people and to set them at liberty from the Egyptian bondage and out of the hands of Vsurping Tyrants as our gratious King hath now done or with Sampson to fight for them against the forces of the Philistines Judges 15. or with Augustus to make their Cities abound with all kind of prosperity or with Ezechias to set up an exchequer for silver and gold and pretious stones 2 Chron. 32.27 and for shields and store-houses for to keep Wheat and Wine and Oyl and stables for Horses and all Beasts of service that is to strengthen their Kingdoms with Meat Money and Ammunition and all other necessaries both for War and Peace but they ought also with David to bring home the Ark of the Lord into the House of God 2 Sam. 6.17 and to set Levites to do the serv●ce of the Tabernacle that is good and godly Ministers and Bishop 〈◊〉 attend the Church and to teach the people 1 Chron. 16.4 and 37 c. and with King Asa to overthrow the Idols and Altars and all other monuments of Idolatry and false worship of God 1 Reg. 15.12 and with Jehu to slaughter all the Priests of Baal and to root out all Heretical Schismatical and false teachers from the Church of Christ 2 Reg. 10.25 And to make this more apparant and clear That all good kings Princes ought to preserve and to promote Gods true Religion that all good Kings and Princes ought to take care of Religion and to see that Gods service should be duly exercised within their Dominions you shall find that when through the profaneness and negligence of King Saul to discharge his duty and the desidiousness and carelesseness of the Priests and Levites many abuses crept into the Church as the Tabernacle was broken and lost the Ark of God was out of the Temple out of

Rites which were such a burthen that neither we nor our fathers could undergo and also from the curse and malediction of the moral law would under this pretence of Christian liberty be freed from the obligation of all lawes and give themselves the freedom to do what they pleased for this would prove to be not the liberty but the bondage and the base slavery of a people that are not governed by lawes but suffered to do what they please because that neither God nor good lawes confine us but for our own good and he that forbids us to obey impious commands bids us to obey all righteous lawes and rather to suffer then to resist the most unrighteous Governours But I fear that under the name of the liberty of the subjects What is often aimed at under the name of the● liberty of the ●ubjects the licentiousnesse of the flesh is aymed at because you may see by what is already come to passe our civil dissention hath procured to many men such a liberty that few men are sure either of their life or estate and God blesse me from such a liberty and send me rather to be the slave of Christ then such a libertine of the world Whether for the preservation of our Religion we can be warranted to rebell And if religion be the cause that moveth you here hereunto I confesse this should be dearer to us then our lives but this title is like a velvet mask that is often used to cover a deformed face decipimur specie recti for as that worthy and learned Knight Sir John Cheek that was Tutor to King Edward the sixth saith If you were offered Persecution for Religion you ought to flye and yet you intend to fight if you would stand in the truth ye ought to suffer like Martyrs and you would slay like Tyrants Thus for Religion you keep no Religion and neither will follow the Counsel of Christ nor the constancie of Martyrs And a little after he demands why the people should not like that Religion which Gods Word established the Primitive Church hath authorized the greatest learned men of this Realm and the whole consent of the Parliament have confirmed and the Kings Majesty hath set forth is it not truly set out Sir John Cheek in The true subject to the rebell p. 4 6. Dare you Commons take upon you more learning then the chosen Bishops and Clerks of this Realm have This was the judgement of that judicious man And I must tell you that Religion never taught Rebellion neither was it the will of Christ that Faith should be compelled by fighting but perswaded by preaching for the Lord sharply reproveth them that built up Sion with blood Micah 3.18 and Hierusalem with iniquitie and the practice of Christ and his Apostles was to reform the Church by prayers and preaching and not with fire and sword and they presse obedience unto our Governours yea though they were impious infidels and idolatrous True religion never rebelleth with arguments fetched from Gods ordinance from mans conscience from wrath and vengeance and from the terrible sentence of damnation And this truth is so solid that it hath the clear testimony of holy Writ the perpetual practice of all the Primitive Saints and Martyrs and I dare boldly say it the unanimous consent of all the orthodox Bishops and Catholick Writers both in England and Ireland and in all the world That Christian Religion teacheth us never with any violence to resist or with arms to withstand the authority of our lawful Kings If you say The Laws of our Land Whether the Laws of our Land do warrant us to rebell and the Constitutions of this our Kingdom give us leave to stand upon our libertie and to withstand all tyrannie that shall be offered unto us especially when our estates lives and religion are in danger to be destroyed To this I say with Laelius that Nulla lex valeat contra jus divinum Lael●●s de privileg Eccles 112. Mans lawes can exact no further obedience then may stand with the observance of the divine precepts and therefore we must not so preferre them or relye upon them so much as to prejudice the other and for our fear of the losse of estate life or religion I wish it may not be setled upon groundlesse suspitions for I know and all the world may believe that our King is a most clement and religious Prince that never did give cause unto any of his subjects to foster such feares and jealousies within his breast and you know what the Psalmist saith of many men They were afraid where no fear was And Job tells you whom terrours shall make afraid on every side Job 18.11 12. and shall drive him to his feet that is to runne away as you see the Rebels do from the Kings Army in every place and in whose Tabernacle shall dwell the King of fear for though the ungodly fleeth when no man pursueth him yet they that trust in God are confident as Lyons without fear they know that the heart of the King is not in his own hand but in the hand of the Lord Prov 21.1 Bonav ad secundam dist 35. art 2. qu. 1. as the rivers of waters and he turneth it whithersoever it pleaseth him either to save them or destroy them even as it pleaseth God He ordereth the King how to rule the people And therefore in the name of God and for Christ Jesus sake let me perswade you to put away all causelesse fears and groundlesse jealousies and trust your King if not trust your God and let your will which is so unhappy in it self become right and equall by receiving direction from the will of God and remember what Vlpian the great Civilian saith that Rebellion and disobedience unto your King is proximum sacrilegio crimen and that it is in Samuel's judgement as the sinne of witchcraft whereby men forsake God and cleave unto the Devil and above all The remembrance of his Oath should be a terrour to the conscience of every Rebel remember the oath that many of you have taken to be true and faithful unto your King and to reveal whatsoever evils or plots that you shall know or hear to be contrived against his Person Crown or Dignity and defend him from them Pro posse tuo to the uttermost of your power So help you God Which Oath how they that are any wayes assistant in a warre against their King can dispence with I cannot with all my wit and learning understand and therefore return O Shulamite 〈◊〉 lay down thine arms submit thy self unto thy Soveraign and know that as the Kings of Israel were merciful Kings 1 Kings 20.31 so is the King of England thou shalt find grace in the time of need but delay not this duty ●est as Demades saith the Athenians never sate upon treaties of peace but in mourning weeds when by the losse of