Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A67559
|
Against resistance of lawful powers a sermon preached at White-Hall, Novemb. Vth, 1661 / by Seth Ward ...
|
Ward, Seth, 1617-1689.
|
1661
(1661)
|
Wing W812; ESTC R10700
|
22,608
|
47
|
Against Resistance of Lawful Powers A SERMON PREACHED AT WHITE-HALL Novemb. V th 1661. By SETH WARD D. D. Chaplain to His Majesty Published by His MAJESTIE' 's Command LONDON Printed by Tho Roycroft for Iohn Martin Iames Allestry and Tho Dicas at the Bell in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXI TO THE Most High and Mighty PRINCE CHARLES the II. By the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. May it please Your Majesty IF when the present Service was with great Favour laid upon me by that most Reverend Person to whom I not onely ow Canonical Obedience but a free disposal of my Concernments I did not without fear address my self to the Undertaking and if now I make my humble approach into Your Presence with Diffidence and Trembling and without those Tokens of Ioy which would be agreeable to the Honour I have received in being by Your Majesty encouraged to make this Offering Your Majesty being as an Angel of God will graciously be pleased to discern that no Aversness from the service of Your Majesty and the Church Nor apprehension of Difficulty in what I was to undertake Nor fear of the Adversaries of the Truth have created these Passions in me but that they are wholly derived from other Causes For next to the greatend of all my hopes I shall not so earnestly snatch at any thing as the opportunities of serving God in that station he hath ordered for me in the Church of Christ in which service I apprehend the acts of Loyalty and Duty to Your Sacred Majesty and of teaching men so to be most eminently involved As for the easiness of this performance I am perswaded in my Conscience that to him who hath embraced Christianity in the true and genuine Spirit of itâ— and to those who without vile Affections and Carnal Interests shall apply themselves to know the Mind of God delivered in the Scriptures no one thing is more clear and evident or pressed more urgently by the Holy Spirit then is the Doctrine which I have delivered If there be such things as damnable Heresies the denial of Christ himself the Lord that bought us blessed for ever is not more truly an Heresie or a damnable Heresie then that Doctrine which doth encourage Subjects to despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities We are not to maâ—vail if we have seen that after this grand Heresie had broken its way thorough the Consciences of men the sholes of others passed clear without control â— and that those Doctrines and Practises which in the purest Times were abhorred as most heretical and profane were made the marks of the greatest Godâ—iness and instances of the highest attainments in Religion But on the other side it is considerable that in the late days of darkness and of gloominess God did not leave this Truth without witness but amidst all the Blasphemies wherewith Your Glorious Father now with God was in the day of His Calamity blasphemed even Rabshakeh was driven to acknowledge that the Doctrine of Resistance was a Mystery concealed from the Prophets the Apostles and Primitive Christians and reserved to be revealed in our Times upon whom the ends of the World are come And that our teaching Souldiers who taught the Nation with Briers and Thorns as Gideon did the men of Succoth not able to resist the Spirit speaking in the Apostles were wont to resort to this foolish Refuge that the Doctrine of Obedience was a present Truth an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to continue abusing the Saying of St. Peter as they did other Scriptures to their own Destruction As for the Adversaries of the Truths which I have delivered either on the one hand or the other how great soever they may appear in their own Eyes or in the Eyes of their Admirers I humbly conceive it may be no Transgression of the Lines of Modesty if I shall freely profess that they are not terrible in mine no man hath more reason then my self to be laid low on the consideration of days and years withdrawn from that Study whereunto I had been consecrated yet after what hath been spoken me thinks in this Cause I should not fear My fear hath been that in a Cause of so great consequence so clear so nobly handled by the greatest Worthies of the Church of England I should not finde any thing to be tolerably spoken before the greatest and most revered Judgment under Heaven And I now tremble to think that such Failings as in the current of Pronuntiation might disappear being now brought to view the Present which I tender may instead of an Offering be an Offence My fear hath been and still is lest the Truth of that Gospel wherein I stand should any way suffer prejudice by the Weaknesses and Disadvantages wherewith it hath been delivered but we have a gracious God and Your Majesty is gracious I am not ignorant how much the true Cause of God in the World which is truly stated to lie against the Carnal and Spiritual wickedness of men is entrusted in the hands of Princes I know likewise and am assured that if men be taught or brought to believe that the utmost hazard of the greatest Transgressions is onely the loss of a few days or years of life such as they finde it it will be impossible for humane Laws to give check to the unruly Lusts of men or for Society to consist Knowing this and knowing likewise the Scandals laid upon Religion I have proposed in all humble sincerity to lay before Your Majesty the true state of these matters to separate the pretious from the vile the sincere spirit of Religion from the adulterate pretenses of it and if it should please the Authour of Religion and Government so far to bless my poor endeavours by unaffected and unstrained Arguments to do right to the Doctrine of our Church and render our Religion lovely in Your Eyes to represent to Your Majesty how much You have been favoured of God who hath so far wedded Your Concernments and interwoven his Interests with Yours and of how great Concernment it is to Your Majesty to endeavour the settlement of the true Religion and to exert that Power wherewith You are entrusted to the eradication of Atheism and Prophaneness and to the pulling down of the strong Holds of Satan That this Resolution is deeply fixed in Your Bosom God hath put into the Heart of Your Majesty to declare may the same God be pleased to perform this great and true Work of Reformation by Your Hand may Wickedness be rooted out and all things that are generous and praise worthy flourish in Your time may Your Majesty live many happy and glorious days upon Earth and be afterwards crowned with Glory and Immortality So prayeth Your Majestie 's most humbly devoted Chaplain SETH WARD ROM XIII 2. And they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation AMongst all the Stratagemes of the Devil tending to the undermining