Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	believe_v	church_n	faith_n	7,365	5	5.7654	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43700	A sermon preached before the honourable House of Commons, at St Margaret's Westminster, on Sunday the 19th of October, 1690 being the thanksgiving-day for the wonderful preservation of His Majesties person, &c. / by Charles Hickman.	Hickman, Charles, 1648-1713.	1690 (1690)	Wing H1898; ESTC R11219	12,974	30

A SERMON PREACHED Before the Honourable House of Commons AT St Margaret's Westminster On Sunday the 19th of October 1690. Being the Thanksgiving-Day for the Wonderful Preservation of His Majesties Person c. By CHARLES HICKMAN D.D. Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1690. A SERMON Preached before the Honourable House of Commons ISAI LX. x. And the Sons of strangers shall build up thy Walls and their Kings shall minister unto thee for in my wrath I smote thee but in my favour have I had mercy on thee THE Jewish Church for some Ages before its dissolution was reduced to a very deplorable estate Their corruptions at home had provok'd God to bring heavy oppressions upon them from abroad and as he had formerly chose them out to be a peculiar People to himself and given them most signal instances of his favour so now upon the abuse of these his Mercies his wrath was kindled against them and they seem'd a people singled out for nothing but destruction and accordingly we find their Chronicles represent them as a Nation forsaken of God and persecuted by Man and a constant succession of misfortunes fills up the History of their later times But though their Histories were dismal yet their Prophecies afforded them a more hopeful prospect and gave them assurances of a joyful revolution that the time would come when Jerusalem also should have her day and all her calamities should cease and the dark side of fortune should be turn'd upon her Enemies when the fullness of time was come to separate the wicked from the just and make them ripe for a reformation and affliction had prov'd their Doctrines and refin'd their Lives then would God visit his ancient people again and restore the beauty and strength of Israel In the mean time they must be content to walk by Faith and live in hope when there was so little appearance of Charity upon Earth Such is the sence of the generality of their Prophecies amongst which none is more particular and express than that which I have read unto you And the Sons of strangers c. Where we have a glorious representation of the Church of Christ under the notion of Kingdom or rather it represents to us the glories of a Kingdom as it stands in Conjunction with the Church of Christ when it enjoys a confluence of both spiritual and temporal blessings and flourishes in the favour of God and Man then is Sion a strong place indeed the joy of all the ends of the earth when her borders are extended and her establishment is fix'd upon a larger bottom and consequently upon surer ground when strangers themselves shall pay homage at her Courts and their Kings shall contribute to her prosperity and above all the favour of God shall compleat her happiness and turn her heaviness into joy all that the Piety or even the ambition of Man can desire is here propos'd as the Portion of the Christian Church which that we may make our selves partakers of and have our share in the triumphs as well as in the hardships of Religion we have no more to do but I. To understand the nature of this blessing promis'd in my Text. And II. To perform those duties which God requires of us in order to obtain it I. That we may understand the true nature and value of this deliverance promis'd in my Text let us consider 1. What it was that threw down the Walls of Jerusalem and 2. Who it was that built them up the first of which Considerations will shew us why God smote her in his wrath the second how in his favour he had mercy on her First If we consider the many and gross corruptions which the Jews were guilty of it cannot seem strange that God should throw down their Walls notwithstanding all those favours which he had shew'd them heretofore nay chiefly for those very favours sake He had formerly blessed them with a pure Religion and a fruitful Land the two choicest Blessings both of Heaven and Earth and for the security of both had fenced them in on every side giving them his Law for a standing testimony and his Promise for a sure defence and with these high Prerogatives he plac'd them like a City upon a Hill too strong to be invaded and too lofty to be conceal'd While they kept stedfast to that word which God had given them for their ornament and preservation they drew the Eyes of all the World upon them and stood the envy of some the joy of others and the admiration of all But Israel would not obey my people would not consider and so they grew corrupted in their Doctrines and vicious in their Lives till all those things ran cross against them the joy and admiration all ceas'd and nothing but the envy left and that at last grew up into perfect enmity and opposition Nay so far did this enmity prevail against them and brought them so very low that the passions of Men turn'd to the other extream and instead of being envy'd they were sometimes pity'd but most commonly despis'd for their sins they became obnoxious unto God and by their divisions they expos'd themselves to Men and then what could hinder their falling a prey to the next Invader How often did God prove them by the Canaanites vex them with the Midianites and oppress them by the Philistines Every litle contemptible Nation which he left as thorns in their sides took courage sometimes to goad them to the heart till at last God brought a mighty Conqueror into the very bowels of their Country laid a heavy destruction upon their heads and the Romans came and took away both their place and Nation So dangerous a thing is it for any people to presume upon their Prerogatives and depend upon their exemptions and neglect that vertue upon which all their grants are founded as if any Charter were of force to hold out against God himself therefore they forfeited that liberty which they had so long abus'd and that law which they themselves perverted was very justly consign'd unto other hands a Calamity which was often foretold them by the Prophets but was never believ'd till it came to pass Many a time were they admonish'd to repent that they might prevent the danger but yet they delay'd so long till the danger overtook them and prevented their repentance Such then was their temporal estate But their spiritual was as bad or worse Religion was now grown into Faction and several Parties disturb'd the unity of the Church and when their Faith was so divided every Man took so much of it as would please his fancy or serve his turn The Sadducees they would believe as far as Moses went but nothing further a Sect of Men that set up for Atheism and Irreligion For though they did observe the Laws and in obedience to those Laws would perform the Sacrifices too yet as

for the mysteries of Religion they renounced them all Angels and Spirits and all immaterial substances they look'd upon as a contradiction and would know nothing of And when they had robb'd God of all his Attendants they left his Majesty to shift for it self His Providence also they thrust out of their Creed and the Resurrection too which is the great power of God the only solid foundation of all Religion they wholly rejected as a fiction of Men and made it the subject of their derision and wit And that which gave occasion for all this blasphemy was nothing but the Pharisees another Sect of Men who ran to the quite contrary extream so great pretenders to Religion and that with so ill a grace that they brought Religion it se●f into contempt and by their affected Pride they did the cause of God more harm than all their sanctity could do it good And as Vice is always upon the improvement from them there sprang up a third order of Men who call'd themselves Zealots for the Law as proud as the Pharisees but more fiery than they Crucify him Stone him Cast him out were the Characters whereby they distinguish'd their Religion and their only Arguments to support it and with these Arguments they assaulted one another Lord in how dismal a condition is such a distracted Church Amidst all these Contentions what room is there left for Vertue or what respect can be shew'd to one that is an Israelite indeed To such a condition had these proud contending Parties brought themselves till at last came the Romans with a pride above them all who derided all Religions but their own and admir'd their own they knew not why Only their Conquests gave it credit Universality was their Plea and they despis'd a little peculiar but more especially a divided Church How did they vilifie the Law and prophane the holy Place and tempt the People to blaspheme the Name of God How did they ensnare the weak in Faith and exasperate the strong by imposing upon their worship and setting up Idolatrous Statues in the Temple that by that abomination they might provoke the people to Sedition first and then destroy them for it Something like this and that almost in every particular we our selves have too much reason to remember with how much industry and art our Adversaries endeavour'd to divide us first and then break in upon us with what insolence they invaded our Laws and attempted our Religion and instead of the pure worship of one God as it is here profess'd and practised amongst us they would have set up an absurd Idolatry of Mans contriving a fabulous Divinity of their own finding out and as many Gods as the old Romans themselves pretended to With what fury they drove on their designs and how far they advanc'd towards bringing them to effect we all know too well to stand in need of a Remembrancer and I am loth to sowre the Solemnity of a Thanksgiving-Day by such ungrateful melancholy reflections Let it suffice to say That God has smitten us in his wrath and for our sins has suffer'd our Walls to be brought in danger and this will make us more apprehensive of his favour in that he has at last had mercy on us Which is the second thing propos'd Who it is that builds us up Build thou the Walls of Jerusalem says the Psalmist to shew us that God is the Author of our establishment and that we may know what instruments he employs The sons of strangers shall build them up their Kings shall minister unto thee says my Text. Whensoever God pleases he can make the remotest Persons to contribute and the unlikeliest circumstances to concur for the good of his Church and People though for their transgressions he sometimes suffers their Walls to be broken down yet as long as the foundation stands the stone out of the Wall shall cry Rejoice not against me O my Enemy and the beam out of the timber will answer it Though I fall yet I shall arise again In sundry manners he works out our preservation and sometimes by unexpected means When our dangers are come to the height and there is no humane hopes of redemption left then is the time for him to interpose that we may see the Finger of God in a wonderful deliverance We cannot discover the motions of his hand the overtures of Providence are all miraculous to us 't is enough that we see the revolution though the springs of it are out of sight His way is in the Sea and his paths in the deep Waters and his footsteps are past finding out When Pharaoh would not let his People go nor allow them to serve their God when all their former fidelity and services could not move him and all their solicitations and intreaties made him but more averse his anger did that which his kindness would not do it drove the Children of Israel not into the Red Sea as he thought but the nearest way to the pleasant Land the Sea it self was a Wall unto them but a ruine to the Egyptians and there the unhappy King was lost but the poor passive Israelites were safe and inoffensive still When God sends forth his People naked and disarm'd he himself undertakes for their defence and will not suffer their innocency and obedience to lead them into a snare If thy own Sons must not perform the work the Sons of strangers shall build up thy Walls and the wisdom of God never wants sufficient means to rescue his Church without dishonouring of his Religion Indeed there is nothing but a steady preserving the Principles of Religion that makes any Church worth the contending for These are the Houses the Palaces that make up the City and if they are down to what purpose should we build up the Walls but if these are preserv'd intire the Walls will quickly be repair'd again Strangers themselves will build them up when they see the beauty and advantage of the situation and if we our selves do not depart from our fidelity God never fails to raise up mighty Defenders of our Faith A stedfast adhering to the Principles of Religion is the very thing that invites Converts unto the Church 'T was this that reduc'd the Nations to the belief in Christ and brought the Heathen into his Inheritance not the Eloquence much less the Learning of his Apostles but the constancy of their Faith and the unalterable sincerity of their profession not only the strength of their reasons but the vigour and firmness of their Minds that they would suffer the last extremity rather than depart from the Principles of their Innocency or violate the least punctilio of their Religion 'T was that that baffled the Cruelty of their Tormenters made the Roman Eagle both asham'd and weary of her prey and submit at last to the Christian Dove And give me leave to say for the honour of our Mother Church That when she was so furiously assaulted by the Roman

the Gospel A Church which for the purity of her Faith and the regularity of her Institution has ever since stood the Envy and endur'd the brunt of Antichrist and has so many miraculous deliverances to shew that God has espous'd her Cause We have heard with our Ears and our Fathers have declar'd unto us the Wonders which he did for her in their days and our own eyes also have seen the salvation of God How he rescued us from an implacable ravenous Herd of Men who had nothing but numbers to entitle them to a Catholick Church and with those numbers they design'd to over-power the truth with those Wolves they thought to have worry'd this little Flock Against us alone they bent all their Rage and whet their Teeth in the late unhappy Reign and when their small stock of Arguments was spent they prepar'd for another kind of onset But God deliver'd us from all the expectation of the Romans and shew'd that it was not their Church but ours that is founded upon that Rock And I wish all they that are still projecting to overturn it would for their own security consider this that no weapon ever prosper'd yet that has been lifted up against it And now for any of us to question the honesty of our Mother Church which we have seen attested by so many unquestionable Proofs by all the demonstration that the nature of the thing will bear must be something more than Ignorance something that I am loath to name To forsake this guide of our youth who never deserted us in any times of difficulty never consulted her own safety when she saw her Sons in danger but boldly oppos'd every Enemy and stood in every breach for us I say to desert her upon any score is such vile ingratitude as hardly can be parallell'd but can never be excus'd What iniquity have your fathers found in me said God that ye should forsake me and follow after other Gods A very serious Expostulation a most pathetical Complaint And the same thing may be said in behalf of our native Church What is there in this our way of Worship that can justly give offence What is there in the substance of it that the godliest Man can scruple or the wisest Man can mend What Supplication or Prayer can be made for any Blessings or any grant of which our humane nature stands in need that is not daily and decently offer'd up to God from this our House of Prayer What Portion of God's Holy Word is there that is not here duly read and I hope faithfully explain'd unto you What Christian Doctrine have we conceal'd from you or when have we taught you for Doctrine the Commandments of men Where have we defrauded you of that which is the Word of God or impos'd upon you that which is not If any of these charges can be made out then we will willingly bear the blame till there is a Reformation but if they cannot be prov'd upon us as I am certain that they can't if our Church has constantly discharg'd the duty of a careful Mother then well may she expect from us the obedience of Sons or else cry out upon our disobedience What iniquity have you or your Fathers found in me In the mean while I wish every Man would conscientiously consider this That a needless separation is very far from being an indifferent harmless thing and therefore they whose Consciences will give them leave to Communicate with us at some times I know not how they can excuse themselves for not doing always so for certainly Union is so positive a Command of God and the want of it is of so pernicious consequence to the Souls of Men that nothing but absolute necessity can give us a dispensation nothing can justify us for breaking the Unity of the Church but when the terms of Communion are utterly unlawful if any Man thinks that our terms are such they have their liberty and we have ours and so I hope there may be Charity although there is not Union amongst us and therefore leaving every Man freely to his own way as he will answer it to God who cannot be deceiv'd as well as to his own Conscience which can let us proceed to the last thing propos'd wherein I hope we do all agree and that is in paying Honour and Obedience to our Sovereign and that not only upon a Civil but also upon a Sacred account not only for wrath but for Conscience sake Kings are the only Persons upon Earth unto whom God has given an immediate delegation of his Authority whom to obey is to obey his Ordinance and whom to resist is to resist his Power And whosoever denies Obedience to be a religious duty takes away from the King the fairest Jewel in his Crown and the strongest Fortress in his Dominion But this is a Doctrine that has been so frequently discuss'd of late so learnedly demonstrated and so undeniably establisht amongst us that there is no need to insist upon it now Only give me leave to say That notwithstanding the unreasonable cavils of gainsaying men yet Passive Obedience always was and I hope always will be the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of England I am sure 't is a Doctrine of which no Church need be asham'd and no King can be afraid And to this I shall only add That all that Obedience which the Scripture requires us to pay unto the King we must now look upon as devolv'd upon their present Majesties and properly belonging to their Claim The Powers that are says the Apostle are ordained of God and upon that account they justly Challenge our Submission And in this point though I must not say with St. Paul that I think I have the Spirit of God yet I dare say that I have the Spirit of that Church in which I was born and bred And I dare say no more For Crowns and Scepters are very nice curious things something akin to the Ark of God they must be handled with Ceremony and though we approach them with never so much respect yet by an unskilful touch we may easily offend and 't is a trespass upon Majesty to come too near it As for You whom God and the King have placed in a nearer station to the Throne in God's Name consult and labour to support it But our Duty is to keep at an humble distance and obey and to pray That God would prosper all your Consultations for his Glory and the good of his Church and for the Safety Honour and Welfare of Their Majesties and Their Kingdoms FINIS Books Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard BIshop Overall's Convocation Book MDCVI concerning the Government of God's Catholick Church and the Kingdoms of the whole World 4 to Dr Falkner's Libertas Ecclesiastica 8 vo 's Vindication of Liturgies 8 vo 's Christian Loyalty 8 vo Dr Scott's Christian Life In three Vol. 8 vo Dr Fowler 's Libertas Evangelica 8 vo Mr W. Alien's Tracts 8 vo Mr Raymond's Pattern of pure and undefiled Religion 8 vo 's Exposition of the Church Catechism Mr Hesketh's Piety the best Rule of Orthodoxy 8 vo 's Serious Exhortation to frequent Communion 8 vo 's Case of eating and drinking unworthily 8 vo Faith and Practice of a Church of England Man 12. The Third Edition Dr Pelling's Sermon before the King and Queen Dec. 8. 1689. 's Vindication of those that have taken the Oath 4 to Mr Lamb's Dialogues between a Minister and his Parishioner about the Lord's Supper 8 vo 's Sermon before the King at Windsor 's Sermon before the Lord Mayor 's Liberty of humane Nature stated discussed and limited 's Sermon before the King and Queen Jan. 19. 1689. Dr Grove's Sermon before the King and Queen June 1. 1690. Mr Jeffery's Religion the Perfection of Man 8 vo Dr Worthington of Resignation 8 vo Dr Kidder's Christian Sufferer supported 8 vo Dr Sharp's Discourse concerning Conscience The first Part wherein an account is given of the Nature and Rule and Obligation of it And the case of those who separate from the Communion of the Church of England as by Law established upon this pretence that it is against their Conscience to join in it is stated and discussed 's Discourse of Conscience The second Part concerning a doubting Conscience 's Fast-Sermon before the House of Commons April 11. 1679. on Revel ii 5. 's Duty and Happiness of doing good in two Sermons the former Preached at the Yorkshire Feast Feb. 17. 1679. on Eccl. iii. 10. the other before the Lord Mayor at the Spittle Apr. 14. 1680. on 1 Tim. vi 17 18 19. 's Sermon at the Election of the Lord Mayor Sept. 29. 1680. on Psal cxii 4. 's Lent-Sermon at Whitehal March 20. 1684. on Luke xvi 31. 's Sermon before the Queen at Whitehall Apr. 11. 1690. on Gal. v. 13. 's Fast-Sermon before the Honourable House of Commons May 21. 1690. on Deut. v. 29. Now in the Press Reflections on a French Testament Printed at Bordeaux An. Dom. MDCLXXXVI Pretended to be Translated out of the Latin into French by the Divines of Louvain By Richard Kidder D. D. and Dean of Peterborough