Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	authority_n	church_n	true_a	4,210	5	4.7542	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31846	A sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and citizens of London at the Church of St. Mary le Bow, September the second, 1684, being the anniversary fast for the dreadful fire in the year 1666 by Benjamin Calamy ...	Calamy, Benjamin, 1642-1686.	1685 (1685)	Wing C219; ESTC R5723	17,267	37

pulled off and such deformed Visages have appeared to have been disguised under it that it is to be hoped that the People of this Kingdom or City will not be easily cheated again into a Belief of the Honesty or Good-meaning of any Persons who joyn in a Party against the Lawful Government they live under let their Pretences be what they will It is otherwise with True Religion It is quite of another Genius It begets other Tempers and Spirits in Men. The wisdom that comes from above is first pure then peaceable Especially our Christianity is so admirably fitted for the benefit and advantage of Societies that were there no Obligation to the Practice of it from the Considerations of another Life yet all wise Men would think themselves bound to the observance of the Chief Laws of our Saviour were it onely out of respect to our Peace and Security in this present World 2. Since the Publick Welfare depends upon the Manners of Men we may thence conclude how much it is the Interest as well as Duty of all Governours and Magistrates in their several Places to discourage and punish all Vice and Wickedness and to countenance and promote True Religion which is the great Instrument of Political Happiness The more the Fear of God and the Practice of Righteousness prevails amongst the People the more easie and safe will the Government be and therefore Religion doth fully reward the Civil Powers for all the Protection they can give it True Religion tends so much to the Establishment and Prosperity of any Nation that they whose Office it is to look after the Publick Good cannot do any thing better for themselves or for the People committed to their Charge for the securing their own just Authority or maintaining the People in Peace and good Order than by all means to preserve and increase amongst them a Reverence and Obedience to Almighty God and his Laws This will keep them in firm subjection to their Superiours this will unite them one to another in Love and Charity and which is never to be forgotten this will procure Gods Blessing both upon Governours and People And since Christians are unhappily divided into several Denominations and Communions take that Church I beseech you into your especial Care and Patronage whose Principles do most effectually contribute towards Mens orderly and quiet living together in Societies If you can find any Church or Body of Christians in the World whose Doctrines are more Loyal whose Government is better consistent with Monarchy whose Practices have been more peaceable at all times than the Reformed Church of England I would e'en exhort you then to forsake and renounce ours and not onely tolerate but establish and set up that Church amongst us But in this certainly our Church hath no Competitor Peaceable and quiet living under the Civil Government always was and is still the Glory of the Church of England This Praise she stands upon and challengeth as due to her and on this account doth she with confidence recommend her self and all her true Members to the Care and Protection of those who are in Power and Authority that they would be so just as to defend that Religion that Church which doth best defend and support the Publick State 3. Hence we may learn the true Cause of all those Publick Evils and Calamities that have befallen this Kingdom or City of late Years Our Sins have been the Natural Causes of some of them the Meritorious Causes of others Some we have brought upon our selves as the necessary Effects of our own wicked Courses others God in Justice hath inflicted upon us as the Punishment of our Disobedience I shall not now undertake to give in a Catalogue of those many Sins that we in this City have been notoriously guilty of I had much rather leave that Work to your selves for every Man to smite upon his own Breast in which he will find a faithful Monitor I mean his Conscience which will impartially tell him wherein he hath provoked God and contributed to those Judgments and Distractions we have laboured under if so be he will but patiently attend to its Suggestions and give it leave and opportunity freely to speak unto him I am sure it much more becomes us all this Day to give Glory to God and to take Shame to our selves and to charge and accuse our selves than wholly to shift off all the Guilt Blame upon others We are very apt indeed to impute these Publick Evils to other Causes we are very curious in guessing at the immediate Instruments of them and which is worst of all too many amongst us have been on all occasions ready to lay all Publick Miscarriages and Misfortunes at the Door of their Governours and Superiours whereas the true Cause hath been from our selves wherein no one can acquit himself tho' some far more innocent than others But I shall rather chuse to spend that little time your Patience can yet allow me in persuading you all to amend than in ripping up the Vices of this Age or City or several Parties of Men amongst us for which we may justly suppose God hath visited us with the Plague this dreadful Fire and which was no less punishment those unnatural Divisions and Heats which of late so violently broke out amongst us and threatned sudden Ruine both to Church and State 4. And lastly This Doctrine which I have now proved to you teacheth us the best Expedient to prevent such Judgments for the future and to settle us in firm Peace which is a general Reformation of our Lives and Manners Blessed be God the Case is much mended with us since the dreadful Burning of London Our City hath been many Years re-built and that more splendid and glorious than before We miss not that number of Inhabitants who were swept away by the devouring Plague nor hardly now do we feel any of the dismal Effects of that terrible Fire We seem to have weather'd out those sore Calamities And tho' of late our intestine Animosities arose to such an height as that we all feared a woful Interruption of our Peace yet God hath not as hitherto delivered us into our own Hands nor suffered us to destroy our selves Nay things tend at present towards an happy Settlement and Composure and we begin to entertain hopes of living in quiet and safety every man sitting under his own vine and figtree The Face of our Heavens is more clear and serene and the black Clouds that presag'd so dreadful a Storm seem in some measure to be dispersed Yet let us not deceive our selves and rashly conclude that the bitterness of death is now past For as I said at first the same Causes will always produce the same Effects and if the same Sins still continue amongst us they will soon be attended with the same or worse Desolations and Confusions If this be the natural Effect of prevailing Atheism Prophaneness and Contempt of Religion of Hatred and

Tulse Mayor Martis decimo sexto die Septemb. 1684. Annoque Regni Regis Caroli Secundi Angliae c. trigesimo sexto THis Court doth desire Dr. Calamy to Print his Sermon Preached at Bow-Church on the Second of September Instant being the Day of Humiliation for the Great Fire in the Year 1666. before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen and Citizens of this City WAGSTAFFE A SERMON Preached before the Right Honourable The Lord Mayor ALDERMEN AND CITIZENS of LONDON At the Church of St. Mary le Bow September the Second 1684. BEING THE Anniversary Fast FOR THE DREADFUL FIRE In the Year 1666. By BENJAMIN CALAMY D. D. Vicar of St. Laurence Jewry and one of His MAJESTY's Chaplains in Ordinary LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops Head in St. Paul's Church-yard 1685. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE Sir Henry Tulse LORD MAYOR OF THE City of London And to the Honourable COURT of ALDERMEN Right Honourable IN Obedience to Your Lordships Commands I have published this following Sermon and now humbly present it to Your favourable Acceptance The Discourse was suited to the Day plain and serious the Subject Matter of it ordinary and common but highly useful and seasonable And if any of the Inhabitants of this great City are by the reading of it persuaded to or better established in the strict Practise of their Religion in all its several Duties which respect either God or Man I have obtained my whole Design both in the Preaching and Printing of it I beg Your Lordships Pardon if I take this Opportunity to renew my most thankful Acknowledgments of those many particular Favours I have received from Your Lordship by which I am bound ever to remain Your most Obedient and Humble Servant Benjamin Calamy A SERMON Preached before The Lord Mayor On September the Second 1684. ISAIAH LVII 21. There is no peace saith my God to the wicked IT is not to be imagined that the Design of this Anniversary Fast is barely to call to mind those dismal Days wherein this Famous City was laid in Ashes and to hear the doleful Relation of that amazing Providence but it was intended as an Opportunity for the Exercise of serious Repentance and to that purpose we are now met to lament our Sins and humble our Souls in God's presence and to renew our Resolutions against all those Courses which once plucked down such remarkable Judgments upon this Place and will unless we reform them at last prove our utter Ruine And to improve the Consideration of that dreadful Calamity to the same pious purposes is my present Design from the Words now read unto you In the Verses immediately foregoing my Text the Prophet endeavours to revive the drooping Spirits of those amongst the Jews now in Babylonish Captivity who were truly penitent for their past Sins and therefore called v. 15. the humble and contrite ones with the Promise of God's Mercy to them in bringing them back at last to their Native Country assuring those who put their trust in God that tho' now far banished from it yet they should again possess their land and inherit the holy Mountain For God will not contend for ever v. 16. neither will he be always wroth He knoweth our weakness and how unable we are to stand before him when he is angry He observed therefore their Repentance v. 18. and how they amended their ways and would heal them and conduct them safely to their own Land with abundance of Joy and Peace But if after so signal deliverance they should again fall back to their old Courses if forgetful both of those sore Evils God had inflicted on them for their Disobedience and of his wonderful Mercy shewn in redeeming them from their Captivity they should wantonly return when restored to their former Provocations he tells them that they should by sad Experience find that the same Effects would still follow the same Causes that Sin and Irreligion would again destroy their Peace and bring down God's severer Vengeance against them so that they should be like the troubled sea which cannot rest v. 20. always unquiet and unsetled in continual distraction and confusion And now that they might not in the least doubt of the truth of all this he confirms it by the Authority of God himself There is no peace saith my God to the wicked They must never look to be an happy flourishing People as long as their Lives and Manners were so corrupt and degenerate This some Learned Men take to be the strict meaning of the Words and thus I shall now understand them Under this Word Peace in Scripture is often comprehended all manner of outward Happiness and Prosperity and taking it in this large sense the Words do not then respect wicked men considered singly by themselves but as they are joyned together in Society and Community to whom the Prophet declares from the Mouth of God That there is nothing so destructive of the Political Happiness or Welfare of any People as prevailing Vice and Wickedness Religion doth not onely secure the inward Peace and Tranquillity of our Minds and provide for our future Felicity in the other World but doth mightily promote the temporal Prosperity of any Kingdom or City in this And on the contrary Vice and Wickedness especially where it abounds and is become fashionable and creditable and hath infected all Sorts and Ranks of Men doth certainly undermine and will by degrees overthrow the Peace and Happiness of any Society or Community There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Many and weighty are the Arguments by which men may be moved to Repentance and Amendment of Life There is no Capacity we can be consider'd in no Relation we can stand in but Religion is of mighty use and advantage to us in it and on the contrary Sin and Wickedness infinitely prejudicial and mischievous But I cannot think any Consideration more proper to this Assembly or to the Occasion of this Solemnity than what my Text suggests to us viz. the serviceableness of True Religion to the Publick Good and Interest and the malign Influence that Vice and Impiety hath upon any Kingdom City or Body Politick whence we may learn to what Causes ought to be imputed that dreadful Judgment of Fire which once laid this City waste as also what is the most successful Expedient to preserve this City and the whole Kingdom from any such Publick Calamity for the time to come In the prosecution of this Subject I shall first demonstrate the Truth of what is here affirmed and then make such particular Application to our selves as may be most suitable to the Occasion of our meeting at this day In order to the proving of this That Wickedness doth obstruct the Peace and Happiness of any People or Society I shall insist on these three Arguments 1. The natural tendency of Vice and Wickedness 2. The Consideration of God's Providence and his righteous Government of the World 3. The Experience of

all Ages 1. How contrary Vice and Wickedness is to the Temporal Peace and Prosperity of any Kingdom or City will appear from the natural tendency of Sin and Irreligion which necessarily produceth many Publick Mischiefs which we can no ways avoid but by leaving those Sins which are the natural Causes of them and on the other side the true Fear of God and hearty Obedience to his Laws do in their own nature and direct consequence conduce to the Publick Interest Most of the Duties of Religion are so absolutely necessary to the good Order Quiet and Peace of Societies that Men have found it highly expedient to oblige one another to the observance of them by Civil Sanctions and Humane Laws and should the wisest Men the greatest Politicians on Earth set themselves to find out the best and most useful Rules of Living for the securing the Publick Peace and Happiness of Kingdoms or Cities they could pitch on no other but those very same Precepts which God hath given us of doing to all as we would be done unto of mutual Love and Charity of strict Justice and Temperance of Faithfulness and Meekness and Patience And lest Men should not be sufficiently moved by the Divine Threatnings the wisest Governments have always added Temporal Punishments to restrain Men within those Bounds which Religion hath prescribed to us without which all Humane Societies would presently fly in pieces and the World be over-run with Disorder and Confusion It is a common Observation That even Societies of wicked lawless Men who combine together to do mischief and injury to others yet are forced to bind themselves to the practise of some Vertues without which they cannot hold together Thieves and Robbers promise to be just and faithful to each other and the very Powers of Darkness take care to preserve Order and Unity amongst their miserable Subjects without which our Saviour tells us the Devil's Kingdom cannot stand But what Effect Religion hath upon Societies will better be understood if we consider distinctly first the Principles of Religion and then the Duties and Offices of it and shew what Influence they both have upon the Publick Peace and Safety 1. As for the Principles of Religion the Belief of a God and a Future Life these are the very Basis and Foundation of all Society without which it can never subsist This is sufficiently acknowledged even by Atheists themselves whilst they affirm as Tully expresses it the whole Opinion of the Gods to have been feigned by wise Men for the sake of the Commonwealth that so Religion might engage those to their Duty whom Reason could not They would suspect all Religion to have been a Politick Contrivance of Civil Sovereigns and crafty Law-makers by the Fears of an Invisible Power to keep Men in awe and order There was a time at first as they tell us when Mens Lives were disorderly and brutish and the Will of the stronger was the onely Law After which they consented and agreed together to make Civil Laws that so the Disorderly might be punished But Temporal Penalties not being sufficient to deter Men from secret Injuries at last when Mankind hapned to be under one Vniversal Monarch there arose a mighty sagacious and prudent Prince or Minister of State the Author of a further Invention to scare Men from private as well as from open Injuries and that was by feigning a God Immortal and Omnipotent who hears and sees and takes notice of all things and from hence the noise of a God came to ring over the whole World and to fill all Places with Temples and Altars Thus they would represent Religion as a meer Engine of State and Mystery of Government to possess the Minds of the Vulgar with the Belief of a God and a Life to come thereby to render them more tame and gentle submissive and obedient And this alone hath continued the Cheat in the World to this day because this Device hath proved so strangely successful for the Ends of Government to serve which it was first invented and hence it became the Interest of States and Kingdoms to maintain and cherish such Apprehensions in those subject to them I have not time now to confute or expose this wild Supposition for which there is not the least Ground or Evidence but I think I may draw these three Conclusions from this Atheistical Suggestion which will be not a little to my present purpose As 1. That by the Confession of the greatest Enemies and Haters of Religion the Principles of it are very useful and beneficial to Mankind Admitting all they say for true yet it is great pity that Religion hath not its Foundation in Nature and Reason it being so advantageous to Government and it laying such strong Obligations upon People to quiet and orderly living that without it the Earth would be but one vast howling Wilderness and Men so many Beasts of Prey continually worrying and devouring one another 2. If the Principles of Religion were all false if they be all Imposture and Cheat yet it is best for Men to be kept ignorant of this Secret the Belief of them being of so great consequence to the Welfare of all Kingdoms and Societies If we are imposed upon in the Matters of Religion yet it is against our Interest to be undeceived 3. It follows further That they are the greatest Enemies of Mankind and of the Nation or City they live in and ought to be looked upon and avoided as the most dangerous Disturbers of the Publick Peace and the very Pests of Humane Society who go about to root this Belief out of the Minds of Men and to set them free from those Fears which Religion propounds to them this being the readiest and shortest way to dissolve all Government and disband all Societies Take away the sense of Religion and the Consideration of a Superiour Invisible Power who takes notice of all we do and will one day call us to a strict account and Men have no other Rule left to guide themselves by but their own Will and particular Interest All Fences are then broken down Every Man may do any thing he can safely and nothing is unlawful to be done by him who hath but Power enough to justifie it and can defend himself when he hath done it There can be no Security to Governours no Confidence one in another there is nothing we can call our own no Obligation to stand to our Promises and Covenants or to obey the Laws of the Society we are Members of any further than we see it is for our own private Benefit and of this then every Man is Judge for himself So true is that excellent Saying of Plutarch That a City might be as well built in the Air without any Earth to stand upon as a Commonwealth can be either constituted or preserved without the support of Religion 2. If we consider the Offices and Duties of Religion we shall find most of them plainly subservient