Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	church_n	doctrine_n	reform_a	3,582	5	9.8202	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34948	A serious expostulation with that party in Scotland, commonly known by the name of Whigs wherein is modestly and plainly laid open the inconsistency of their practices I. With the safety of humane society, II. With the nature of the Christian religion, III. Their two covenants are historically related, and prov'd to be no sufficient warrant for what they do, IV. Their new doctrine of a pretended forfeiture, is prov'd to be groundless.	Craufurd, James, 17th cent.	1682 (1682)	Wing C6865; ESTC R4965	39,666	64

upon every slight Occasion Princes were laid aside Subjects absolv'd from their Allegiance and Crowns and Scepters freely dispos'd of when and to whom they pleased so that under Colour of maintaining Christ's Prerogative they refus'd to give unto Caesar what was Caesar's far from paying Tribute as Christ had done Kings were forced to turn their Tributaries and by setting up a new Power in every Kingdom they made Princes contrary to the Intention of Christ and the Gospel great Losers by the Christian Religion Under these heavy Pressures had the Christian World for several Ages groan'd when God raised up a Spirit of Reformation in our Fathers who among the manifold Corruptions of Rome observ'd the ill Treatment Princes had there met with and resolv'd that in restoring to Christianity its ancient Lustre Princes should again be possest of the Prerogatives entail'd upon them by the Gospel This made the first Reformers inveigh so bitterly against the Usurpations of that See and enforce upon Subjects Allegiance and Submission as Duties from which none upon Earth could absolve them and we have Reason to believe that the Justice then done to Princes prov'd under God an effectual Means to rescue many Nations from the Roman Yoke Nor was Duty to Princes only preacht up at first but it has ever since continued as a fixt Principle in the best reformed Churches where next to the Purity of their Doctrine and Worship relating immediately to God they have all along gloried most in the Loyalty of their Religion for laying indispensible Ties of Obedience upon Men towards his Vicegerent So that as it passes with many for a Maxime that Papists acting according to the Principles of their Church can hardly be good Subjects 't is most certain that Protestants who are not conscientiously dutiful and loyal swerve from the Principles of the Reformed Religion and tho there are alas too many Instances of such both at home and abroad yet their corrupt Practices must not stain the Purity of the Doctrine by which they stand condemned But while I ascribe to the Reformed Religion the Honour of reestablishing Princes in their Rights I am sorry any of my Countreymen should renounce their share in it by pretending that our Soveraign has forfeited his Crown and that we are freed from our Allegiance These alas are Words not hitherto known amongst Orthodox Protestants but as they meet with them in impious and condemned Writers Let us consult the Confessions of all the Reformed Churches in the World and see if any of them teach this Doctrine Let us send an impartial Account of our Case with the Nature of our Monarchy to all the Protestant Universities abroad whether in England France Germany Holland Switzerland or Geneva and try if we can have the Testimony of any one Society to confirm us in this Tenet Let us see if we can meet with one eminent Protestant Divine one single Person of Credit and Learning that will own himself of this Persuasion If we look back to the Doctrine or Practice of the Church in the Primitive Times we can find nothing there that makes for our Purpose Neither Heresy nor Idolatry in those Days did make void Princes Right to govern Constantius an Arrian and Julian a Renegade were own'd for Emperours by those who detested their Impieties as much as Jovianus or Theodosius who were Orthodox The more degenerate Ages and the most corrupt part of the Church first taught us the Principles upon which some of us now go We must look no higher than Hildebrand and apply our selves only to prostitute Canonists and Jesuits for Testimonies and Arguments to prove that Princes can so easily forfeit their Crowns for I know there are many well-meaning Papists if not whole National Churches that will utterly reject this monstrous Doctrine And truly then 't is hard that we who look upon our selves as the most thorowly Reform'd should contemn the Pattern set us by the Ancients diffent from all our Brethren and side with the greatest Enemies of our Religion in a Point for which they have been so much expos'd Now no wonder if we run into strange Absurdities when the whole Matter is granted upon false Suppositions First we will have the King 's Right to commence only from the Time of his Coronation then we will have the Coronation a Compact or Agreement with the People by which the Prince forfeits his Right if he do not duly perform his Part and lastly we seem to make the late Covenant pass for the Coronation Oath all which are inexcusable Mistakes First our Laws admit of no Interregnum but date the Beginning of one King's Reign from the very Instant that another expir'd it being an Axiom with us and in all other Hereditary Monarchies that the King never dies The fatal Blow that depriv'd us of our late Soveraign put the Crown immediately upon his Son's Head From that Minute we were obliged to pay the same Duty to our present Soveraign which till then we ow'd to his Father and they who resisted him before his Coronation were Rebels as well as these who have done it since Whatever therefore a Coronation might have been anciently 't is now only look'd upon in the Nature of an Instalment upon which our Prince's Title to reign doth no ways depend else it would be the first Thing they would go about whereas it is ordinarily put off till such Time as it can be performed with the most Solemnity In the second place it appears by this that the Coronation is no such Compact as destroys the Prince's Title if he fail in his part for where he has his Crown by Inheritance his Coronation is the Effect of his Title but not his Title of his Coronation which can never make him lose what it did not give him nor yet weaken the Right which he had upon his Predecessor's Death As our King ows his Crown to his Birth and not to any Suffrage or mutual Agreement with his People so 't is ridiculous to imagine that his Coronation alters his Right and makes that conditional and capable of being lost which was before absolute and hereditary In a word if the Reign of our Princes commenced only from the Time of their being crown'd they would be in uneasy and dangerous Circumstances till that were over but on the other hand if their Coronation limited their Birth-right or made their Title more precarious they would contrive to have this Solemnity among the last Performances of their Lives Lastly in the Business of the Covenant there is a double Fallacy first in making it pass for the Coronation Oath and secondly in inferring a Forfeiture of the Crown where the Coronation Oath is broken When we complain of the King 's not making good the Covenant we affirm that he has thereby cancell'd his Right to govern which yet according to our own Supposition is not true unless we allow the Covenant to be the Coronation Oath But this is absurd seeing the

the Torrent and stood up for the Royal Interest How were Prisoners of War most unhumanely sentenc'd and put to Death and all that were like to create them any trouble destroy'd without Mercy I need not descend to any Particulars which are still too well known and indeed as I am loth to make Strangers acquainted with them so I wish there could be a Curtain drawn to hide such Tragical Pieces from the View of After-Ages Their sixth and last Article was a Bond of mutual Defence against all Opposers without excepting the King and this alone might serve to render the whole void for if the Oaths of Subjects without the Prince's Consent in Things relating to the Publick can never bind much less then if they directly encroach upon his Authority If a Vow could absolve Subjects from their Duty or deprive the Prince of his Right then we should only be Subjects till we vow'd the contrary and thus the World might find a compendious Way to shake off all Dependance But as the Vowing the Violation of any Man's Property doth not give us a Title to do it but only renders our Oath unlawful so where it is in Prejudice of the Prince every Circumstance helps to condemn us When those who retain'd any Principles of Loyalty insisted upon this they did fly to their sincere Intentions towards the King but nothing can so well explain their Meaning as their Practices afterwards which for the Honour of our Nation ought either to be buried in eternal Oblivion or else so clearly manifested to the World that the Guilty might only be infamous to Posterity while the sounder Part of the Kingdom recover'd to it its native tincture of Honesty and Loyalty Having given some short Hints of the manner of entering into both Covenants of their Nature and Design I am persuaded there needs no further Evidence of their Unlawfulness from the Beginning or of their many other Nullities to prove that they could lay no Obligation upon those very Persons who subscrib'd them and if not upon them much less upon us who are their Children to stand to what they then did Nor do I indeed find any formal Ty upon Posterity mention'd in either Covenant for what is alledged from the former where 't is declared That they are convinced in their Minds and confess with their Mouths that the present and subsequent Generations in this Land are bound to keep that National Oath and Subscription inviolable may prove perhaps that such was the Opinion of our Fathers but can never make it obligatory with us seeing the granting this were to put it in every Man's Power to entail his Opinions upon those who come after him to which none of us I presume will be willing to yield But allowing matter of fact and that there had been a positive Oath made by them in the name of their Posterity Yet this Oath being by Authority declared unlawful and we forbidden to observe it the Compliance we ow to those whom God has set over us cancels all Obligations of this kind that our Parents could lay upon us I shall therefore conclude that seeing our Covenants were in so many respects unlawful from the Beginning and seeing there was neither any formal Obligation laid upon us by our Parents to obscure them nor yet their Authority in this Case allowable as interfering with the Laws of the Land there the least shadow of Reason cannot be brought in behalf of any that presume now to renew those Covenants when the contrary is so plainly enjoin'd us by our rescissory Act of Parliament but as such Persons proceed not upon rational Grounds so it is in vain to think of reclaiming them by Force of Arguments the Government must deal with this frenzy and in its Wisdom find out a Cure suitable to so dangerous a Distemper before the Infection spreads it self wider Fourth Consideration I should be glad to make an end here without mentioning the last Objection not that I apprehend any Difficulty in undertaking to answer it but because I really blush to publish the pernicious and traiterous Principles which some among us have of late taken up and are not now asham'd to own That our Soveraign has forfeited all Right to his Crown and that his Subjects are absolv'd them their Allegiance 'T is plain that Princes Persons and Authority are more effectually secur'd by the Christian Religion than by all the Contrivances of humane Policy Fear or Interest among Heathens were the chief Motives to keep Subjects within the Bounds of their Duty and made them submit because they durst not rebel Princes had outward Obedience pay'd them which was all they could then either challenge or expect But the Doctrine taught by our blessed Saviour and his Apostles did fasten their Crowns much surer gave them a new Title to reign in their Subjects Hearts made Subjects dutiful more out of Conscience than Fear and by forbidding Resistance under pain of Damnation laid a much stronger Ty upon Men than the Hazard of Lives and Fortunes or all other humane Penalties could ever have done And no question had the Roman Emperours understood how much they were beholden to Christianity instead of endeavouring to extirpate it they would have protected and encourag'd it for as long as Christians suffer'd themselves to be govern'd by the Maximes which Christ left them Princes were truly happy in such Subjects Christ did indeed put a Sword into his Ministers Hands to punish notorious Sinners when he gave them Power to excommunicate or cut Men off from being Members of the Church in depriving them of the Benefits and publick Exercise of their Religion and there being no Exemption granted to any Person Kings and Emperours themselves were to fall under this heavy Censure when their Offences deserv'd it But tho Ministers had the Courage to shut them sometimes out of Church as St. Ambrose did Theodosius the Great yet they did not pretend to thrust them off their Thrones or wrest their Scepters out of their Hands They knew that their Authority was only Spiritual and did not therefore meddle with those Priviledges which they enjoy'd as Princes but readily obey'd in all other Cases those whom they excluded from their Assemblies and thus they kept within the Limits prescrib'd by Christ for near a thousand Years When the Spirit of Christianity was afterwards quite spent and Religion had put on a new Face the Riches and Ambition of the Roman Hierarchy made them stretch their Authority further than Christ design'd it and then did they begin to declare that Princes falling under the Censure of Excommunication did forfeit their Crowns and all other their Temporal as well as Spiritual Priviledges The great Advances Gregory the seventh and his Successors made in several attempts of this kind and their Vanity to see themselves on a sudden raised to an universal Monarchy made them vigorously pursue such Courses and thunder their Sentences of Excommunication and Forfeiture so liberally that

himself as a Patern to Christians 1 Pet. 2. v. 21. For tho it behoved Christ according to the Scriptures to suffer yet what was necessary both in respect of God's Decrees and for the Benefit of Mankind must be acknowledged voluntary in respect of the Sufferer and ceases not to be imitable If we will be his Disciples we must trace his glorious Footsteps take up our Cross and like faithful Souldiers follow the Captain of our Salvation when he calls us What he requires at our hands is most reasonable for if we be not able to do great things for his sake sure it is in our Power to command our selves from doing Violence to any to forbear even acting against our Persecutors and by this means we become Sufferers with him He approves of no other resistance than what he made himself and what the Scripture Heb. 12. v. 4. mentions of resisting to Blood Christ's Followers are only to fight his Battels in the noble Army of the Martyrs And in this no doubt we perform a truer Act of Religion more acceptable in the Sight of God more agreeable to Christ's Doctrine and Practice than we are able to do by any other Service whatsoever After our blessed Saviour's Ascensson the Apostles did carefully observe the Rules he left them their Carriage upon all Occasions was humble peaceable and gentle When they were brought before Magistrates and Governours they treated them with respect but did never call their Authority in question nor upbraided them with Cruelty and Injustice as we too frequently hear done in our chiefest Judicatures St. Paul Acts 23. having spoken irreverently to the High-priest who unjustly commanded him to be smitten while a Prisoner at the Bar before Trial or Sentence thought it his Duty to make an Apology declaring that he knew not the Quality of him before whom he stood and that Men were not to speak evil of the Ruler of the People He stood indeed upon his Priviledg and appealed from an inferiour Magistrate unto Caesar Acts 25. but in this he owned the higher Powers which some among us have learned to reject he pleaded not any Exemption by virtue of his Apostleship tho he could not reasonably expect much Favour where a Nero was to be his Judge His Doctrine of Obedience and Submission is no less remarkable than his Practice so that if there were not one Word in the Writings of all the Apostles to this Purpose besides what St. Paul has in the first seven Verses of the thirteenth Chapter to the Romans we might there be sufficiently instructed in the Duty of Subjects his Positions are so plain and the Arguments by which he enforces them are so convincing that had he lived in our times and heard all the Objections which are raised against the Doctrine of Submission he could not have answered them more clearly nor in fewer Words and no doubt the Spirit of God which did dictate what He and St. Peter and St. Jude did write upon this Subject had an Eye to the Degeneracy of latter Ages and design'd to lay such sure Grounds of Christian Obedience as the Wisdom of the World should never be able to shake in those who are resolved to regulate their Lives by the Scripture Nor doth it add a little to the Weight of their Testimony when we consider the Circumstances under which they then were had the World in those Days been govern'd by Christian Princes who submitting their Scepters to the Cross had gloried in shewing themselves nursing Fathers to the Gospel in its Infancy their Doctrine might then have seem'd suitable to the Temper of those they had to deal with nor could they have allow'd too much to Princes who were like to use their Power for the Establishment of the Christian Religion Or had their Princes tho Heathens been Nerva's Antonius's or Aurelius's Persons remarkable for their Justice and Clemency there would have been no great Inconvenience in this Doctrine but their preaching up Submission to such Monsters as Claudius or Nero under whose Cruelties the Roman Empire then groan'd doth clearly demonstrate that they were not govern'd by Political Maximes nor biass'd by any Worldly Consideration But on the contrary that they laid down general and inviolable Rules to be observed at all Times and towards all Princes the froward as well as the gentle those who did unjustly persecute them as well as others that vouchsafed them Protection And certainly in this and in no other Sense did the Primitive Christians understand the Apostle's Words and were therefore of all Subjects the most dutiful to the very worst of Princes no Barbarous Usage no Oppression could make them swerve from their first Principle of patient Submission they had always before their Eyes the Pattern of their blessed Saviour in every Step of his Humiliation and Sufferings nor did they forget what he had taught them John 18. v. 36. That his Kingdom was not of this World and that they being his Servants were not therefore to fight they knew he intended no Prejudice to the Rights of Princes in setting up his Monarchy which is Spiritual and Eternal And this puts me in mind of a remarkable Passage in a Fragment of Egesippus a most ancient Christian Writer how Domitian like another Herod being jealous of Christ's return to dethrone him raised an heavy Persecution against the Church giving particular Order that such as were of the Seed of David should be forthwith secur'd whereupon some that were related to Christ according to the Flesh being brought before him and examin'd first concerning their own Condition which they easily made appear to be mean and low and afterwards concerning the Nature of Christ's Kingdom they shewed so plainly that it was not of this World but commenced properly when others ended being Spiritual and Eternal that having satisfied the Emperour and freed him from any Apprehension of Christ's Design upon his Crown they themselves were set at Liberty and a stop was immediately put to the Persecution The Behaviour of the Christians in those golden Ages of the Church never gave any just ground of Jealousy to the Roman Emperours in all the Vicissitudes of that Empire in the frequent Rebellions against the Government or Conspiracies against the Emperour's Person the Christians kept constant to their Allegiance When by siding with such Usurpers as Cassius Albinus Niger Parthenius c. they might not only have freed themselves from bloody Yokes but have also in all probability made sure of large Immunities they could never be wrought on to take Arms against the establish'd Authority they were perswaded how ill soever the Emperours might manage their Trust yet that their Commission was seal'd by God Nay sometimes the Christians brought upon themselves Persecution by refusing to join with Rebels as in the Reign of Adrian when Barochebas and the Jews not being able upon their Revolt to engage the Christians in their Party turn'd the Edge of their Sword against the Church killing most

barbarously all the Christians that they met with and made them thus Martyrs for the next best cause after Religion if it is not to be called a Part of it Now without doubt the many Edicts which Emperours past in Favor of the Christians were grounded chiefly upon such Considerations seeing upon strict Enquiry they had never found them engag'd in any Plots against the State and 't is particularly observ'd of Severus that the Kindness he shew'd to the Christians in the beginning of his Reign proceeded from a sense of their dutiful Carriage in difficult Times both towards himself and the former Emperours In fine the most inveterate Enemies of their Religion could not deny them this Testimony That in the sharpest Persecutions when they were only suffered to live to prolong their Torments when a simple Death not accompanied with those horrid Cruelties which were then practised past for no small Favour When the Streets were filled with the Carcasses of Martyrs and the Rivers dy'd with the most precious Blood of the Church they could never be tempted to rebel Nor was there truly any thing in which their Enemies did more industriously labour than through Despair to draw them into Rebellion that so they might have had the better Excuse to cut them off It grieved the Roman Emperours to employ their Axes and not their Swords and to give their Executioners so much Work while their Legions were idle and spill so much Blood with so little Reputation but Christians knew their Duty too well to give them any Advantage in this Point for the Renouncing their Religion or their Alledgiance were the only Things wherein they could never be brought to gratify their Princes It were easy to bring many Instances in Confirmation of what I say but I shall only pitch upon that famous History of the Thebean Legion which tho commonly known yet can never be either too much admired nor too often repeated All the Officers and Souldiers of this noble Legion haveing been converted to Christianity by Zambdas Bishop of Jerusalem during their Winter-Quarters in those Parts were in the heat of the Dioclesian Persecution sent from the East to reinforce the Army of Maximianus Herculeus in France and understanding upon their Arrival in the Imperial Camp that a new Military Oath was to be given them at an Heathen Altar purposely to pollute them with Idolatry the whole Legion did thereupon retire from the rest of the Army when Maximianus commanded them back Mauritius and Ex●perius the Chief Officers answer'd in the name of all that they were ready to return and fight against his Enemies but being Christians they could not offer Sacrifice to the Gods This Answer did so enrage the Emperour that he sentenced every tenth Man of the Legion to be put to death which was accordingly done none offering to make the least Resistance and when the same cruel Orders were renew'd Mauritius had so prepar'd them by Applauding their former Behaviour that they all answer'd They were Caesar's Souldiers that they had never brought upon themselves the imputation of Cowardise nor deserted their Colours that they were ready to obey the Emperour in every Thing but in offering Sacrifice to Idols and that their Bodies he might dispose of as he pleased only their Souls they reserved to Christ then Exuperius confirming them in their generous Resolution said That they did now engage in a new War and that they must not think to fight their Way to Heaven with their Swords Tell the Emperour says he that Despair it self shall not be able to engage us against him we have Arms but we will not resist because we are willing rather to suffer than conquer preferring much an innocent Death before a Life stain'd with Guilt And afterwards making good their own and their Officers Words in Imitation of their blessed Master they suffer'd themselves to be led as Sheep to the Slaughter and received every one a glorious Crown of Martyrdom If we compare the meek and Christian Behaviour of these stout Officers and Souldiers with that of our greatest Professors we have reason to bewail the Age in which we live as scarce retaining any Tincture of this primitive Spirit What excuse can we bring for Men who pretending to embrace the sacred Function of the Ministry and to preach the Gospel of Peace have thought fit to appear in Arms surrounded with Troops in opposition to Christian Authority when we find the Officers and Souldiers of a Legion here throw down their Arms rather than oppose an Heathen Persecutor What could Mr. Welsch or the Captain of his Guard have alledged in their own behalf had they heard Maunitius upon the Head of his Legion rejoicing at the patient suffering of those who died in the first Decimation and Exhorting them that surviv'd to follow their Example and not to dishonour their Profession with the Guilt of Rebellion How much more Christian was the Death of Exuperius who stript himself of his Arms as soon as the Emperours Commission was produced than that of Mr. Cameron who died with a Sword in his Hand resisting his Prince I dare not say that Mr. Cameron and this noble Officer seem'd to act each others part seeing Exuperius truly perform'd his own and hath deserved to be celebrated by all Posterity for a Christian Hero But I hope M. Cameron's greatest Friends will not be offended with me if I declare that in my humble Opinion the Manner of his Death did give no great Lustre to his former Actions for whatever Reputation it may be to a Man fighting against Turks and Infidels in Defence of Christianity to be said to have sold his Life at a dear Rate yet in giving the Character of a faithful Minister of Christ I cannot think it much for his Honour to mention that he died as we know M. Cameron did boldly fighting in direct Opposition to Authority I am not ignorant how uncharitable some have been in affirming that the Submission pay'd by the ancient Christians flow'd chiefly from their want of Power and that they did not oppose their Domitians nor their Dioclesians because they were not in a Condition to carry on a Rebellion but 't is a most malicious as well as a false Suggestion only to sully the Glory of their Sufferings and to deprive many Martyrs of one of the most precious Jewels in their Crown by making that Submission forced which was most voluntary This is directly to tax those sincere Christians with Disingenuity as if they had pretended Conscience for what proceeded chiefly from Fear or Weakness while indeed the Principles of their Religion made them good Subjects and taught them to be more afraid of the Guilt than the Punishment of Rebels Those that were known to pray every Day for a long Life and a peaceable Reign to their Emperours could not be supposed to harbour the least Thoughts of giving them Disturbance and had their Inclinations been at all mutinous by joining with a disaffected Party which