Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	according_a	church_n	word_n	2,678	5	4.0797	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54793	Speculum crape-gownorum, the second part, or, A continuation of observations and reflections upon the late sermons of some that would be thought Goliah's for the Church of England by the same author.	Phillips, John, 1631-1706.; Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731.	1682 (1682)	Wing P2111; ESTC R21006	25,619	41

course of teaching true Christian obedience without reflexions flames and virulency that Vnion had been long since accomplish'd which the Protestant Interest at present so much laments Priest Tush they 're a stiffneck'd Generation that will never conform Mery. No There 's one Mr. Read by name has fairly lead the way You will not let him read the Liturgy of England in a Church where would you have him read it upon the top of the Monument Or what would you have him do with those Souls that have commited themselves to his charge and are so well satisfi'd of his conduct to Heaven Will you hear his own words He tells ye first That he has advis'd with his Brethren in the Ministry who did acknowledg the lawfulness of using the Liturgy in the Ordinary Lords-day-Service That his Principles are these That Obedience to the Majestrate in things Lawful is a duty That a form of Prayer is lawful And that Communion in such Churches is lawful Now why must Grand-Juries and Petty-Juries be put to the trouble to vex and torment such men as these and deter them from their good intentions Priest Because of the Law Mery. As to that Law for I know you mean the last Law against seditious Meetings I have this to say First I do not find that the makers of that Law do assign the least breach of Political Obedience against the Dissenters only there is a Supposition that an Insurrection may be hatch'd at such a Meeting So that as long as there is no such thing done as the Law supposes where there is no Transgression there can be no Punishment So then it remains that this Law was obtain'd by some part of the Clergy for their own advantage and to render themselves the more formidable to their Dissenting Brethren In the second place it was never yet known in this World that ever any Civil Magistrate or Supreme Power made a Law with an intent to punish any good man This Law against Dissenters punishes many a good man therefore never intended by the Supreme Power against the Dissenters Now that the Dissenters are good men I prove from David's own description of a good man in Psalm 15. where putting the Question to himself Vir bonus est Quis He answers first as to the Civil Government Qui ambulat integre exercetque justitiam That is He that behaves himself dutifully and obediently toward the Civil Magistrate and justly toward his Neighbour Now that the Dissenters are at least outwardly under the guard of these descriptions of good men is plain for that no Informer complains against them for the least breach of Civil Obedience either in Word or Deed as to any other Law but only the single act of Nonconformity to this Statute So then the Statute not being intended against them as being good and vertuous men and conformable to the Civil Government they can be guilty of no Nonconformity to the commands of the Civil Power For the Civil Power by this Act enjoyns nothing but Peace to be kept with the breach of which no Informer as yet hath taxed them That the Dissenters are not guilty of any Nonconformity to this Act in referrence to the Ecclesiastical Power I offer thus The Statute enjoyns the Exercise of Religion according to the Liturgy of the Church of England which contains no more than only Truth If then the Dissenters speak and pray according to Truth they exercise according to the Liturgy of the Church of England The Psalmist therefore proceeding in the next words after he has declared who does well in Civils tels us who does well in Spirituals That is to say Qui loquitur veritatem ex animo suo He that speaks Truth from his heart But the Dissenters do speak Truth nay the Truth of Truth Divine Truth and therefore exercise according to the Liturgy and as such they are good men and so to be accompted in foro Ecclesiastico Now then put it thus Never any Law-givers ever made a Law with an intent to punish any man that speaks Divine Truth But this Law against Dissenters punishes many a man that speaks Divine Truth Therefore never any Law-givers intended this Law against the Dissenters And the same Argument holds for the Hearers as well as the Speakers for that the hearing of Divine Truth is as Lawful as to speak it So then if the Dissenters as intended by the Act were to be punished they are Transgressors but the Dissenters not being intended by the Act are no Transgressors Therefore the Dissenters are not to be punished by the Act. Or thus If the Dissenters as not intended by the Act are not to be punished they are Innocent but the Dissenters as not intended by the Act are not to be punished Therefore the Dissenters are Innocent The reason why they are not intended by the Act is because they are Loyal to the Civil Government and Obedient to the Spiritual for that they Speak and Preach Divine Truth And then That the Dissenters Preach Divine Truth is easily thus proved The Church of England Teaches Divine Truth the Dissenters teach the same Doctrine with the Church of England Therefore the Dissenters teach Divine Truth From whence we may inferr that to persue such Vast Numbers of People under the Notion of Dissenters with the Lash of a Law that assignes no breach of publick disobedience or Publick disturbance no detriment to the Publick Revenue or forbidden Acts of private injury but only the supposition of an Offence deduced and inferred from the bare separate Excercise of Divine Worship seems an extremity too much simpathizing with uncharitable worldly Interrest that misses more the separated Purse than the seperated Person The moderate Party themselves confess that as to those who purely and out of Conscience refuse to conform their Circumstances are hard And it is as hard that of all the Penal statutes these that have the fairest plea to soften them should be so loudly awakened to their Offices when those against the crying sins of the Nation and more destructive to Government lye dreaming out a Lazy Being for want of Employment And indeed Friend Priestlove the case seems much the harder in regard that the Turk in the present height of his Tyranny and Popular reverence of his Mahumatisme yet lets the disconsolate Greeks have the free Exercise of their own Religion which is all the happiness they have to boast of in this World Priestlove I care not for your Greeks or your Jews neither I tell you the Presbyterians are a company of Traytors and Plotters Does not the Observator and Heraclitus tell yee so and do not the streets ring of their Plots Merry Truly you are well hope up with two special Fathers of the Church of England What if they should tell you that the Moon were made of Green-Cheese would you believe ' em Priest Yes that I would so long as they wrote against the Presbyterians Merry Well but where are these

Presbyterian Plotters You see the Popish-Plotters have been visible enough at the Old Bayly Westminster-hall Tower hill and the Gallows where be these Presbyterian-Plotters Do they walk in the Clouds or have they got every one a Gyges's Ring in their Pockets Has your Observator been all this while observing and observed none of 'em yet Whoever they be let 'em be brought to the Stake and let the Observator and Heraclitus have the pleasure of Roasting 'em to death the next burning of the Pope for the reward of their great pains However I will not undertake to justifie every individual Dissenter there may be Turbulent Factious and Ambitious persons of all Professions and under all Masks of Religion Nevertheless I hope you would think it a great peice of Imprudence for a man to throw away a whole Quarter of Wheat for the mixture of a Peck of Tares If your Observator and your Heraclitus would bring their Winnows and their Skreens and separate tke Corn from the Chaff they might then gain some applause perhaps for that which now runs about the World only for scandal and impertinence Priest I must tell ye they have no decency no decorum in their Worship Mery. As how Priest Why you shall come into a Meeting-House and while the Minister is in his Pulpit there you shall see a company of People Young and Old Rich and Poor sitting upon their Bums their Hats pull'd over their Eyebrows with their Pens and their Books and their Blotting-Papers all so busily employed as if they were so many men Copying of News-Letters and this in such a strange Ethiopic Character that no-body can tell what they Write They may be setting down their last Weeks Gains and Expences for ought I know Nay I saw one so wedded to his Hat that after the Minister was in his last Prayer he would not stir it from his Head till he had concluded what he had to Write wiped his Pen screw'd his Inkhorn fix'd his Blotting-Paper clasp'd his Book and put it in his Pocket and by that time the Minister had almost done Mery. All this while this is no disobedience to the Law However I wish there were no greater obstacle of Protestant Unity than this since it would discover a very extravagant obstinacy indeed if the promise and performance of the Reformation of such an inconsiderable scandal as this should be refus'd For indeed Friend Priestlove I must here close with you that it seems to me a very indecent thing for the Ambassador of so Almighty a Prince as the King of Heaven to be uncover'd and that the Hearers should receive the glad tidings of Salvation in so unthankful a Posture I speak not this so much out of respect or veneration to the Walls or the Pillars or the place it self but to the Message deliver'd the Deliverer and the Time of Delivery But now to retaliate your Indecorum I will tell ye of another Indecency which I take to surpass yours from which I can except no Parish-Church within the Lines of Communication and which I look upon to be the mischeif of Pews not us'd in other Reformed Churches and that is the hideous noise and clatter in the time of Divine-Service For it behoves Mr. Sexton or Mrs. Sextoness to have a vigilant eye that day knowing that Christmas will come And the greater the reputation of the Minister that Preaches that day the worse it fares with mortal Ear and disturb'd Devotion At one end of the Church come in Two or Three Women and then perhaps in the midst of the Absolution slap slap slap by and by come in Three or four men together and then 't is Our Father which art in Heaven slap slap slap and if the Lock be a little refractory then three or four slaps more into the bargain By and by comes a whole shole of Slugabeds and then 't is We beseech ye to hear us good Lord slap here and slap there slap there and slap here slap a that side and slap a this side slap slap slap Anon come in two or three gay Peticoats then upstarts Mrs. Ginglekey from her Hassock opens this Pew and that Pew and then 't is Lord encline our hearts c. Slap here and slap there And thus there is no end of Slapping all the whole Prayer-time as if the Pew dores had been ordain'd to supply the place of Organ Responsories a confusion that would not be endur'd at a common Musick-meeting Priest This is so customary that no-body minds it and besides it may be very advantageous to keep people from falling asleep Mery. Then keep your Dores open while Prayers are done and slap 'em in Sermon-time Priest But how will you help it Mery. Nay look you to that I am sure 't is a very great Indecorum Go to the Observator and Heraclitus they are wise men perhaps they 'l advise you to Oil your Locks every Saturday night and line your Pew-dore with Cony-skin Furr But I 'le tell you of a greater inconvenience than this and that is the Translation of Hopkins and Sternhold I may call it a Common Nusance to the Service of the Church a Translation to use Mr. Abraham Cowley's expression that hath revil'd David worse than Shimei You shall find the famous Dr. Don bewailing the scandal that attends the Church by reason of their permission and utterring his complaint in these passionate Expressions For I must not rejoyce as I would do When I behold that these Psalms are become So well attir'd abroad so ill at home Dr. Patrick gives this Character of it That the words are mean uncouth and that the sence of the Prophet is often mistaken To say truth the words are opprobrious to the present Language to all Rhime Reason and common Sence To satisfie your Judgement I will give you a tast of some passages but not so commonly taken notice of beside those already obvious But Lord out of my Mothers Womb I came by thy request Do you believe now that ever David was so unmannerly as to tell God Almighty that his Mother had never brought him into the World unless he had desir'd it Now for down-right Barbarisme Lord when wilt thou amend this gear Why dost thou stay and pause This seems to me to be a kind of expostulating with God for taking too much consideration This that follows is quite out of season I shall depend thy Grace upon With all my heart and Lust. What use young and illiterate persons may make of such a provocative as this I leave you to consider For they are ignorant that Lust had two significations before and now but one In another place he would make you believe that the Universe was govern'd by some ordinary Mechanick For saith he Their hearts were nothing bent To him nor to his Trade It put me rather in mind of the Shoemakers Saint and the Knight of the Burning-Pestle that run away from their Master Take