Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	rule_n	scripture_n	word_n	4,947	5	4.8566	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53335	England's call to thankfulness for her great deliverance from popery and arbitrary power by the glorious conduct of the Prince of Orange (now King of England) in the year 1688 in a sermon preach'd in the parish-church of Almer in Dorsetshire on February the 14th, 1688/9 / by John Olliffe ...	Ollyffe, John, 1647-1717.	1689 (1689)	Wing O288; ESTC R17619	23,014	38

Nature of that Religion is when once it hath got the Power in its Hands it will suffer none to stand by it whatever Laws Provisions or Promises are made for the securing of any other as is apparent from the Popish Management in the Neighbour-Nation where such a Persecution hath been set afoot and carried on against the Protestant Party as the Tongue of Man is not able to express nor the Pen of any to depaint in its right Colours And neither the Merits of that Party nor the Edicts and Laws that were in their Favour could ward it off which is an Evidence besides the many sanguinary Proceedings and bloody Massacres that have been before executed in that and other Popish Countries what we must have look'd for when once that Religion had got the Ascendant over us that it had been out of Fear of Danger it self What could we then have expected but that Prisons and Racks Confiscation of Goods and Fire and Sword must have been our Portion as well as our Neighbours having also had so many Testimonies and Marks of their Kindness to us in former Ages at home But we have cause to fear that this would not only have been the end of this Religion when once it could have come to its Growth and Establishment which must have been a long time first if that was to be procured by ordinary and common Methods But the fiery Zeal of our Enemies was too rapid and fierce to be contained within the ordinary Bounds of slow and usual Methods we must have expected it to have broken out far beyond and it is not to be doubted but if they could have been secure of their Arms at home and of a Fleet at Sea to have served the Design or as soon as they could have ordered the matter that it would have been so there should a forreign Force have then joyned with them and we should have had Swords and Guns to have converted Protestants which Arguments and Reasons had been too dull Tools to effect what the Politicks could not have brought about should have been attempted by main Might And what between the Prerogative of a bigotted Prince the Sentence of corrupt Judges the Colour and Favour of Laws to be procured for Popish Service and the Violence of an armed Force poor Protestants could have expected nothing else but to have been ground to peices as between so many Milstones And this was coming upon us a-pace if our Almighty Deliverer had not procured for us a Remedy in good time And if once England had become a Prey to Popish Rage which hath been justly esteemed the great Bulwark of the Reformation the Protestant States abroad had not been like to subsist long but in humane prospect of things must have undergone the same Fate And whose Heart would not ake then to consider the Power and Prevalence that the Romish Religion should have had not only among us but all Christendom over if God had not put a stop to its rising Greatness and beat off the Chariot Wheels by which our Enemies did drive so fast and in the nick of time drown the Egyptians before they could overtake his Israel The glorious Reformation which hath so long shined with a mighty Lustre must then have set in obscure Darkness And those Protestants that would still have kept the Faith and a good Conscience must have run to Caves and Holes of the Earth for Shelter for there had been no longer any place of abode for them in the City that is set on a Hill. Then you must have been bowing your Knees to Idols again and falling down before Stocks and Stones or would have had such a weight of Oppressions and Cruelties laid on that would have broke your very Backs and if we could not admit to bear the Load of all the Popish Superstitions we should have had a Load of another Nature that without the Strength of Martyrs we must needs have fallen under We must have taken the Mark of the Beast in our Foreheads or we should hardly have bought and sold in the Markets Then Traditions and Canons must have been our Rule rather than the Holy Scriptures Yea we should not have been allowed to have believed our own Senses nor to have made use of the most natural Right which belongs to us as rational Creatures to have judged for our selves but must have submitted Sense Reason Conscience Scripture and all to a pretended infallible Judge though we know not how he came by his Infallibility nor can see any thing in the World that he hath to say for it but big Words and proud Boasts But we must have put out our own Eyes and yet have been forc'd to have followed blind Guides If we had kept the Foundation we must have had Hay and Stubble built upon it and then if ever we had been saved it must needs have been with the greatest Difficulty imaginable We and our Children must have been nurtur'd up with corrupt Doctrines and false and lying Legends instead of being fed with the sincere Milk of the Word You must have had half Sacraments and Latin Prayers that you should not have understood what you had been about and you must have worshipped a little piece of Dough for a God conjured into a Deity by five words of the Priest when you may have as good an one your selves in your own Cupboards And if you could not have turned Papists throughly then at least you must have turned Hypocrites and dissembled before God and the World or else a Crusado of red Coats and Dragoons fit for the purpose would have tried their skill upon you But all this and much more which might be represented our gracious Saviour hath mercifully prevented and not only so but we have good hopes of such an Establishment and Settlement that all our other Grievances may be redressed likewise and Peace and Righteousness may flourish in our Land. I have good hopes that we shall not only be feoured from the Fears of Popery and Slavery but that we may see a long-look'd-for blessed Union among Protestants and Religion in its Power and Purity in good Reputation among us that it shall be a thing of as bad a Name to be a wicked Man as to be a Papist It hath been a mighty Work which hath been done already and that will give us Encouragement to hope for more if we thankfully accept and improve that which is begun You will all allow that these are great things indeed there being nothing that is more dear to Men then the saving of Life Liberty and Religion But these great things hath God done for us in this his wonderful Dispensation at this time Secondly It will appear that God hath done great things for us if we consider the Circumstances As that it was at a time when our Enemies were bold and confident when they thought all things secure to themselves and past danger of miscarrying they had the Advice and Assistance