Selected quad for the lemma: rest_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
rest_n	day_n	let_v	sabbath_n	2,286	5	9.6378	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37179	Gondibert an heroick poem / written by Sir William D'Avenant.	D'Avenant, William, Sir, 1606-1668.; Hobbes, Thomas, 1588-1679.	1651 (1651)	Wing D326; ESTC R15933	153,208	320

which the rest are lost 91 By Penitence when We our selves forsake 'T is but in wise design on piteous Heaven In Praise We nobly give what God may take And are without a Beggars blush forgiven 92 It s utmost force like Powder 's is unknown And though weak Kings excess of Praise may fear Yet when 't is here like Powder dang'rous grown Heavens Vault receives what would the Palace tear After this contemplation how acceptable the voice of Poesie hath been to God we may by descending from Heaven to Earth consider how usefull it is to Men and among Men Divines are the chief because ordain'd to temper the rage of humane power by spiritual menaces as by sudden and strange threatenings madness is frighted into Reason and they are sent hither as Liegers from God to conserve in stedfast motion the slippery joynts of Government and to perswade an amity in divided Nations therefore to Divines I first address my self and presume to ask them why ever since their dominion was first allow'd at the great change of Religions though ours more than any inculca●es obedience as an easie Medicine to cool the impatient and raging world into a quiet rest mankind hath been more unruly than before it being visible that Empire decreas'd with the increase of Christianity and that one weak Prince did anciently suffice to govern many strong Nations but now one little Province is too hard for thei● own wise King and a small Republick hath Seventy years maintain'd their Revolt to the disquiet of many Monarchs Or if Divines reply we cannot expect the good effects of their Office because their spiritual Dominion is not allow'd as absolute then it may be ask'd them more severely why 't is not allow'd for where ever there hath been great degrees of power which hath been often and long in the Church it discovers though worldly vicissitude be objected as an excuse that the managers of such power since they endeavour'd not to enlarge it believ'd the increase unrighteous or were in acting or contriving that endeavour either negligent or weak For Power like the hasty Vine climbs up apace to the Supporter but if not skilfully attended and dress'd in stead of spreading and bearing fruit grows high and naked and then like empty title being soon useless to others becomes neglected and unable to support it self But if Divines have fail'd in governing Princes that is of being entirely believ'd by them yet they might obliquely have rul'd them in ruling the People by whom of late Princes have been govern'd and they might probably rule the People because the heads of the Church where ever Christianity is preach'd are Te●rarchs of Time of which they command the fourth Division for to no less the Sabbaths and Days of Saints amount and during those days of spiritual triumph Pulpits are Thrones and the people oblig'd to open their Ears and let in the ordinances and commands of Preachers who likewise are not without some little Regency throughout the rest of the Year for then they may converse with the Laity from whom they have commonly such respect and respect soon opens the door to perswasion as shews their Congregations not deaf in those holy seasons when speaking predominates But notwithstanding these advantages the Pulpit hath little prevail'd for the world is in all Regions revers'd or shaken by disobedience an Engine with which the great Angels for such were the Devils and had faculties much more sublim'd than Men believ'd they could disorder Heaven And it is not want of capacity in the lower Auditory that makes Doctrine so unsuccessfull for the people are not simple since the Gentrie ●●en of strongest education lack sufficient defence against them and are hourly surpriz'd in their common Ambushes their Shops For on sacred Days they walk gravely and sadly from Temples as if they had newly buried their sinfull Fathers at night sleep as if they never needed forgiveness and rise with the next Sun to lie in wait for the Noble and the Studious And though these quiet Co●seners are amongst the People esteemed their steddy Men yet they honour the courage and more active parts of such disobedient Spirits as disdaining thus tamely to deceive attempt bravely to rob the State and the State they believe though the Helm were held by Apostles would always consist of such Arch-robbers as who ever strips them but waves the tedious satisfaction which the Lasie expect from Laws and comes a shorter way to his own Thus unapt for obedience in the condition of Beasts whose appetite is Liberty and their Liberty a license of Lust the People have often been since a long and notorious power hath continued with Divines whom though with reverence we accuse for mistaken lenity yet are we ●●t so cruel to expect they should behave themselves to Sinners like fierce Phinehas or preach with their Swords drawn to kill all they cannot perswade But our meaning is to shew how much their Christian meekness hath deceived them in taming this wild monster the People and a little to rebuke them for neglecting the assistance of Poets and for upbraiding the Ethnicks because the Poets manag'd their Religion as if Religion could walk more prosperously abroad than when Morality respectfully and bare-headed as her Usher prepares the way it being no less true that during the dominion of Poesie a willing and peacefull obedience to Superiours becalm'd the world then that obedience like the marriage yoak is a restraint more needfull and advantagious than liberty and hath the same reward of pleasant quietness which it anciently had when Adam till his disobedience enjoyed Paradise Such are the effects of sacred Poesie which charms the People with harmonious Precepts and whose aid Divines should not disdain since their Lord the Saviour of the World vouchsaf'd to deliver his Doctrine in Parabolical Fictions Those that be of next importance are Leaders of Armies and such I measure not by the suffrages of the People who give them respect as Indians worship the evil Spirit rather for sear of harm than for affection but esteem them as the painfull Protectours and Enlargers of Empire by whom it actively moves and such active motion of Empire is as necessary as the motion of the Sea where all things would putrifie and infect one another if the Element were quiet so is it with mens minds on shore when that Element of greatness and honour Empire stands still of which the largeness is likewise as needfull as the vastness of the Sea For God ordain'd not huge Empire as proportionable to the Bodies but to the Minds of Men and the Minds of Men are more monstrous and require more space for agitation and the hunting of others than the bodies of Whales But he that believes men such moderate Sheep as that many are peacefully containd in a narrow Fold may be better inform'd in America where little Kings never enjoy a harmless neighbourhood unless protected defensively amongst themselves by an Emperour