Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	according_a	faith_n	rule_n	5,515	5	7.2607	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47052	Nonconformity not inconsistent with loyality, or, Protestant-dissenters no seditious or disloyal sectaries evidenc'd in a sober discourse upon those statutes, by which the Protestant-dissenters are prosecuted at this day : humbly offered to the candid consideration of all Protestants, whether conformists or nonconformists / by James Jones ...	Jones, James, fl. 1683-1684.	1684 (1684)	Wing J958; ESTC R17214	32,964	24

Majesties Laws or shall by Printing Writing or Express Words or Speeches Advisedly or purposely Practice or go about to move any of her Majesties Subjects or any others to deny withstand or impugn her Majesties Power and Authority in Cases Ecclesiastical or shall Advisedly and Maliciously move or perswade any other Person to forbear to come to Church to hear Divine Service or the Communion according to her Majesties Laws or to come to or be present at any Vnlawful Assemblies Conventicles or Meetings under Colour or Pretence of any Exercise of Religion contrary to her Majesties said Laws and Statutes or shall willingly join in or be present at any such Assemblies Conventicles or Meetings that then every such Offender being Lawfully Convicted shall be Committed to Prison there to Remain without Bail or Mainprize until they shall Conform and Yield themselves to come to some Church or Chappel or usual place of Common-Prayer and hear Divine Service See Paragraph 1. 2. It is Provided in the same Statute That if such Offender so Convict as aforesaid shall not Conform in coming to Church to hear Divine Service and to make such open Confession as is after appointed by this Statute being Required thereunto within the Space of three Months after Conviction by the Bishop of the Diocess or any Justice of Peace of the County where the Person shall happen to be or by the Minister or Curate of the Parish That then every such Offender upon his being warned and Required by any Justice of Peace of the same County shall upon his Corporal Oath abjure this Realm and all other her Majesties Dominions and Countreys and shall not Return without Licence from her Majesty See Paragraph 2. 3. It is Provided That if such Offender shall Refuse to make such Abjuration as aforesaid or after Objuration made shall not depart out of this Realm according to this present Act or after such his Departure shall Return again without her Majesties Licence that then in every such Case the Person offending shall be Adjudged a Fellon and shall suffer as in the Case of Fellony without the Benefit of Clergy See Paragraph 3. 4. It is further Enacted That if such Offender before he or they be so warned or Required to make Abjuration shall Repair to some Parish-church on some Sunday or Festival Day and there hear Divine Service and make Publick and open Submission and Declaration of his and their Conformity that then the same Offender shall be clearly discharged of all the Penalties and Punishments Inflicted or Imposed by this Act. The Form of Submission is as followeth See Paragraph 4. 5. I A B. Do humbly Confess and Acknowledge That I have grievously Offended God in Contemning her Majesties Godly and Lawful Government and Authority by absenting my self from Church and from hearing Divine Service contrary to the Godly Laws and Statutes of this Realm and in using and frequenting Disordered and Vnlawful Conventicles and Assemblies under Pretence and Colour of Exercise of Religion And I am heartily sorry for the same and do Acknowledge and testify in my Conscience That no other Person hath or ought to have Power over her Majesty and I do promise and protest without any dissimulation or any Colour or means of any Dispensation that from henceforth I will from time to time obey and perform her Majesties Laws and Statutes in Reparing to the Church to hear Divine Service and do my utmost indeavour to maintain and defend the same See Paragraph 5. 6. It is also Provided by this Act. That no Popish Recusant or Feme-Covert shall be Compelled or bound to Abjure by Vertue of this Act See Paragraph 12. 7. It is further Provided by this Statute That every Person that shall Abjure or Refuse to Abjure being Required thereunto as aforesaid shall forfeit and lose to her Majesty all his Goods and Chattles for ever and shall further lose all his Lands Tenements and Hereditaments for and during the Life only of such Offender no longer and that the Wife of such Offender shall not lose her Dower and that the Heir of such Offender after the Death of such Offender shall have and injoy the Lands Tenements and Hereditaments of such Offender From this Statute let these things be Considered 1. That it is Evident this Statute was made for the punishing of sueh as were not at all accounted Papists or Popish Recusants and this will appear in these following Reasons First Because the design of the Statute was for the preventing and avoiding of great Inconveniencies and Perils as might happen and grow by the wicked and dangerous Practices of Seditious Sectaries and disloyal Persons Now this word Seditious Sectaries doth distinguish some Persons from those that by the Law of this Realm are called Papists or Popish Recusants Secondly Because Popish Recusants are exempted from Abjuring of the Realm by vertue of the aforesaid Statute which is a plain Demonstration that the Severity of this same Law was made and intended for such as were not Papists or Popish Recusants and therefore good Reason to conclude that those other Statutes in which mention is made of the Popish Party were made only against them and not against such as are in this Statute called Sectaries who are not Papists 2. Consider how those persons are described for whom the punishments of this Statute are Provided viz. Seditious Sectaries and Disloyal Persons See Paragraph 1. And for as much as this Law hath been put in Execution against the Protestant Dissenters it is meet to inquire whether they are in very deed such persons viz. Seditious Sectaries and Disloyal Persons It is one thing for persons to be called and reputed such and another thing to be such indeed and in truth The city of Jerusalem was called and counted a City of Rebellion and Sedition See Ezra 4.19 The Blessed Apostle Paul was Accused of Sedition and being a Ring-leader therein see Acts 24.5 For we have found this man a Pestilent Fellow and a Mover of Sedition among all the Jews throughout the world and a Ring-leader of the Sect of the Nazareens thus it is evident from the Holy Scripture that the best of persons have gone under the worst names being deemed such as indeed they are not our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was called a Devil yea Belzebub the Prince of the Devils and he was Prosecuted unto death as being a Blasphemer and therefore it must not be wondred at if those that are now most pure in the Profession and Practire of the Christian Religion be called Seditious Sectaries and Disloyal Persons though indeed and in truth they are not such as may be truly said of the Protestant Dissenters 1. They are not Seditious Persons because they make the Word of God the Rule of their Faith and Practice promoting the Christian Religion in every part of it as it is in opposition to Popery according to the best of their light and knowledg in the Holy Scriptures endeavouring to

severity of Divine Justice in the room of Sinners is thereby the compleat and only Saviour of all those that truly Believe in him and Repent of their Sins 3. That the same Jesus Christ which was Born of the Virgin Mary being conceived of the Holy Ghost and that dyed upon the Cross and after being Buried was Raised from the Dead is also ascended to the Right-hand of God in Heaven there to appear in the Presence of god as an Advocate and Intercessor for all them that come to God by him and he is able to save them to the utmost 4. Both Parties do believe that the Holy Scriptures are the Rule of Faith and Practice 5. As concerning the Church of God upon Earth the Dissenters do agree with the Church of England in that description given of Christs Visible Church See the Nineteenth Article of the Church of England in these very words The Visible Church of Christ is a Congregation of faithful men in which the Word of God is Preached and Sacraments be duly Ministred according to Christs Ordinance in all those things that of Necessity are Requisite to the same So profess and confess the Dissenters also 3. Consider the punishments provided by the aforesaid Statute to be inflicted upon the Offenders viz. five shillings for the first Offence and ten shillings for the second offence for being only in the capacity of a Hearer and Twenty Pounds for every house that shall entertain any such Conventicle and Twenty Pounds for the first Offence of him that shall Teach or Preach in such Meetings and Forty Pounds for every such Offence after the first Conviction and also Power in given to the Justices of Peace to Levy the Fines of some persons upon others so far as Ten Pounds and all these Fines to be levyed upon the Goods and Chattles of the Offenders And in the Prosecuting of many Persons by the aforesaid Statute much more then the Sums of Money Levyed have been taken away and the Goods Sold without making any Return of the over-pluss to the very great dammage of many good Protestant Families And now whether such Proceedings be the best way to surpress Popery and promote the Protestant Religion shall be left to the serious consideration of all sorts of Protestants especially to Protestant Magistrates who oftentimes have opportunity to display Justice with Wisdom and Mercy which is far better then such Severity as looketh too much like Cruelty And therefore as a help to such Magistrates as are perplexed with Informers by the demand of Warrants to disturb Peaceable Protestants in their Meetings and in the Seizure of their Goods afterward let these following things be inquired into by such Magistrates as desire to discharge their Office faithfully in doing Justice between the King and the Subject 1. Whether all the People above the number of five besides the Family are the Subjects of this Realm for they are the Offenders in the sense of this Statute and not the Subjects of other Realms and therefore the Informer ought to swear that those he doth inform against are Subjects of this Realm 2. Whether there was any endeavours to make or contrive any Insurrections against the Government for the very design of the aforesaid Act was to prevent such Meetings 3. Whether there was any seditious words spoken in the Prayers or Preaching of the Assembly of People seeing this Act was made on purpose to suppress Seditious Meetings 4. Whether the Praying and Preaching was according to the Liturgy and Practice of the Church of England viz. whether the Prayers were Protestant Prayers and the Preaching Protestant Preaching so as to promote the Protestant Religion or some other Religion if the Informers should say they were not there long enough to know the truth of these things then it will be evident that such men are not fit to be sworn Evidences against such Meetings forasmuch as their Oath doth not reach to such matters of Fact as is mentioned in the Statute And these things ought to be the more narrowly looked into because those that turn Informers are usually such as have some particular spite against some particular persons and so instead of doing Justice according to Law do but seek after some Revenge for themselves upon the Persons of such as they are offended at or else it is done that they may have that wages mentioned in the Act viz. the third part of the Fines of such persons they swear against and so strive to make themselves rich by making others poor And this is to be greatly lamented that some Justices of the Peace have mightily furthered the Informers by being too ready to receive their Informations and by Convicting Persons of divers Offences as they called them before ever the person knew of such Conviction and so sending divers Warrants of dist●ess altogether amounting to very considerable sums of Money A Hot-headed Constable presently becomes a Slave to the proud Informers and so maketh a suddain Seizure upon the outward Substance of such as fear God and love Godliness and whereas the Justices may if they will lay but the Fine of Five Shillings upon a person for his first or ten shillings for his second Offence they do sometimes lay the sum of ten pounds for the defaults of others and so add many ten pounds together to the near Ruining of some persons And thus they that depart from evil maketh themselves a Prey but the Lord will see and show himself displeased at it See Isaiah 59.15 VII Another way of distresing and perplexing the Poor Protestant Dissenters is by the Proceedings of the Ecclesiastical Courts the ways and methods of whose Proceedings are as followeth 1. The said Ecclesiastical Courts do require the Church-Wardens and Ministers to make Presentment of such persons as do not come to their Parish-Church and unto the Sacrament 2. Upon Receiving such Presentments then the said Courts do issue forth Citations for such Persons being Presented to come and make answer to the said Presentments 3. If the said Citations be not served upon the persons who are Presented then the said Courts cause a Paper called Viis Modis to be set upon the Church-Door or upon the Persons own Door requiring the Person to appear upon a certain day 4. If the Person do not appear then the said Court proceedeth to Excommunication for Contempt 5. If the Person do appear then the Court doth acquaint such Person that he is Presented for not coming to Church and for not Receiving the Sacrament 6. If the Person do not make it appear that he hath been at Church and taken the Sacrament within the time mentioned in the said Presentment then the Judge of the said Court doth proceed to Admonition That the said Person shall Repair to his Parish Church and take the Sacrament by such a day as is appointed by the Admonition and bring a Certificate from the Minister of the said Parish that he hath so done whether fit for it