Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	apostle_n	church_n	creed_n	2,605	5	10.2206	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93945	A letter sent from the Earle of Strafford to his lady in Ireland, a little before his death: May 11. 1641. Together vvith a speech of Mr. Plydell Esquire concerning the church; Feb. 8. 1641.	Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, Earl of, 1593-1641.; Pleydell, William, b. 1601 or 2.	1641 (1641)	Wing S5787; Thomason E208_15; Thomason E208_16; ESTC R17770	1,589	4

THE SPEECH OF Master Plydell ESQUIRE Master Speaker I Have heard since I had the honour to sit here many grievances presented and truly Sir my heart bleeds within me when I thinke of them especially those that concern Religion But what should I speake of grievances concerning Religion when Religion it selfe is become a grievance nay the very Nurse and Mother of all grievances all scandalls all reproaches Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum SIR Not to trouble you with any long discourse if I have any sight That Bark both of Church and State hath a long time floated betwixt Sylla and Charybdis Popery on the one side and I know not what to call it on the other in many respects both alike dangerous unless the Italian Proverbe may alter the Case God defend me from my reputed friends and I will defend my selfe from my profest enemies Sir We are entrusted by God the King and the C●●●●●y with the managing of this Bark fraught w●●● the fortunes of three great Kingdomes Now should wee so decline the former Rocke that wee d●sh on the other side I humbly offer it to this Honourable Assembly whether thee might not have just cause to say she had changed her Pilot rather than her Condition and only shifted places to find her ruine For Sir there is as much beyond Truth as on this side it and would we steere a right course we must be sure to keepe the Channell lest we fall from one extreame to another from the dotage of Superstition to the frenzie of Prophanenesse from bowing to Idols to worship the Calves of our own imaginations Sir I beseech you consider what libellous Pamphlets are now printed what Sermons are preached not building hay and stubble but utterly subverting the foundations of Truth What irreverence in Churches what profanation of Gods Service to the scandall of Christianity the reproach of Religion and the intollerable griefe of all good men of which I may take up the words of Petrus de Aliaco to the Councel of Constance Nisi celeriter fiat reformatio audeo dicere quod licet magna sint que videmus tamen in brevi incomparabilia major a videmus post ista tam horrenda major a alia audiemus Sir I take God to record I am no mans Advocate no mans enemy but a faithful lover of truth and peace and a dutifull Son of our distressed Mother the Church of England in whose behalfe and our own my motion shall be shortly this That the Ministers petition with so much of their Remonstrance as hath been read may be committed and the rest of it concerning matter of doctrine may be referred to some learned and approved Divines as have spent their time in that noble study For give me leave to tell you there is a Vulgus among the Clergy as among the Laity Et in utraque nil modicum and for these and all things which strike at the root and branch as they please to call it I shall humbly move that we rather consider how to satisfie the petitioners with some timely declaration from both Houses of the lawfulnesse and conveniency of Episcopall Government derived from the Apostles and so long established in this Kingdome rather then to venture upon any alteration the consequence whereof the wisest man cannot foresee and in truth Sir should we once begin for my own part I know not how or where we should stay Neverthelesse if any one doubt the superiority of Bishops over Priests and Deacons in Ecclesiasticall government or in ordination I shall be readie whensoever this House shall command me to make it good and I think by as pregnant testimonies as we are able to prove the difference betwixt Canonicall and Apocryphall Scripture the necessity of Infants baptisme or that the Apostles were the Authors of their owne Creed But Sir I hope you will save your selfe and me that labour and rather devise of some set way to binde up the Churches wounds which God knowes are too wide already that so the Clergy and Laity being made friends and all reduced to the modell of our Ancestors since the reformation wee may all together preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and so his Maiesty having graciously and prudently exprest himself I am the more confident we shal not only put an end to all mis-intelligence betwixt Prince and People but also highly advance the Protestant cause and give a deadly blow to the See of Rome Sir I humbly crave the favour of the House for God is my witnes Non potui aliter liberare animam meam FINIS