Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	church_n	doctrine_n	rome_n	4,451	5	6.9113	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58926	A seasonable discourse shewing the necessity of union amongst Protestants, in opposition to popery, as the only means (under God) to preserve the reformed religion also, the charge of persecution, lately maintained against the established religion, by W.P., H.C. and other insignificant scriblers, detected : proving it to be the ministers of state, and not the church, that prosecuted the penal laws on Protestant dissenters.		1688 (1688)	Wing S2228; ESTC R14748	13,863	17

want to sustain me so that I may comfortably end those days that remain For woful Experience too frequently informs us That Children and Friends too soon forget their Du●y and the innumerable Kindnesses of their tender Parents Since things are thus let common Prudence dictate better things to us than to part with what of right belongs unto us or to let go that lawful Security we have for all that is dear unto us and by so doing we may easily prevent our being made a Prey to our implacable Enemies from whose tender Mercies Good Lord deliver us I might much more enlarge on this particular but should I proceed to enumerate all the manifest Dangers and Inconveniencies that I could easily insist on I should cry out with the Poet Tantae molis erat Romanam condere gente●… In the third place Let your Zeal for your Holy Religion continue and let your Moderation be seen by your very Enemies and let not the worst of them have any just cause of laying any severe or unbecoming Actions to your charge How will it please your Enemies to see you differing and dividing your Interest and Affections with those That a Worthy and most Learned Member of your Church in my hearing lately Preach'd against excluding by Excommunication from Communion with you for indifferent Things which may be left undone and yet Salvation obtained The reasons he gave for loving them were Because there were many good Christians among them and because they protested against the same Errors believed the same Articles of Faith and hoped for the same common Salvation by Christ that you do You can't but be deeply sensible how many Eyes are fixed on you and what desires your Enemies have of seeing you exposed to Publick Shame and Contempt Have Charity towards all Men especially to all those of the Protestant Religion that in any tollerable Measure conform to the Rules of it As for your Dissenting Neighbours like the Reverend Doctors Till and Ten. let your Love and Moderation be so great towards them as if possible though you cannot make them satisfied with your Reasons for Conformity yet let your Christian Charity and Affection to them as Protestants and Members of the same Body you profess to be have such an Influence over them as to expel any Malice or prejudice they might have entertain'd against your Persons and who knows but such Methods as these may have a great Influence towards a farther Conformity It 's my Opinion and not without Reason That the bitter Invectives not long since in and out of the Pulpit created greater and fiercer Enemies against the Church of England than otherwise she would have had but as this has sometime since ceased so Charity ought to be exercised in forgeting what was amiss in hopes the like may never be heard again My Advice to you Dissenting Protestants is for the most part the same I gave to the Church of England I need not enlarge any farther on the absolute necessity of Vnity and Charity among Protestants at this Season when it is very manifest that nothing is more delightful or acceptable to those that have the Protestant Interest than to see one Protestant rending tearing and back-biting another It being too apparent that these Fishers of Men delight in troubled Waters knowing it to be the fittest time and opportunity to overcome their Heretical Enemies for so they call Protestants when their Dissentions among themselves are greatest Therefore I earnestly perswade and entreat you as you tender the Peace and Welfare of the Kingdom and the establishing your sound Religion to put on a Spirit of Meekness Charity and Complyance as far as possible with the Church of England and if you can't receive satisfaction enough from her Learned Members throughly to Conform yet let not your Charity be so narrow as to have a bad Opinion of those Worthy Men that are abundantly satisfied with the reasonableness of their Conformity As you desire no harsh Censures be past on you for Nonconformity so be sure you avoid reflecting on those Pious Men that hold it lawful to assent and consent to all the Articles of the Church of England If possible have Peace with all Men especially with those of the same Houshold of Faith you profess Strongly endeavour to prevent bitter Invective Speeches against that Church which in all probability is like to be the only Invincible Bulwark against Popery And I am the more inclin'd to be an earnest Advocate for the Church of England nor only because I have hopes she has laid aside those bitter Things formerly with some Truth laid to her charge but chiefly because a vast number of her Worthy and eminently Learned Members have with great Learning and Solidity defended our Holy Religion from the Heresie Schism and Novelty falsly charged on it by the Church of Rome All Persons that Study any thing to the purpose of the Controversie betwixt us and them must certainly perceive how admirably they have confuted the unreasonable and unaccountable Doctrines of that pretended Infallible Church clearly proving the Truth and Excellency of the Protestant Religion and that we are not as they pretend beholding to them for it But evidently making it appear that the Protestant Faith is most ancient and that its Doctrine is consonant or agreeable to the Word of God and the practice of the purest Christians in the Primitive Times This very consideration alone is sufficient to clear the Body of that Church from being Popishly affected A second Reason to Love and Esteem them for is their firm adhering to the known Laws of the Land for what-ever a few unfound Members of her Communion have done to the contrary yet she is not accountable for them the greatest and most considerable part having been found very faithful on that account A third Thing for which you ought to value the Members of the Church of England viz. Their stedfast adhering to the Rights of the People and especially of the Clergy Their Consciences have been so just that notwithstanding the Angry Frowns of Majesty have taken hold of ●h●m and that they have and are likely to suffer very much by it they rather choose to trust God with their Temporal Felicity and Comfort than sinfully violate those Sacred Oaths they have so Solemnly taken by betraying in the least the Trust reposed in them notwithstanding the Frowns or Allurements of the greatest Men. This only single Instance of their signal Fidelity to God and Man ought to have no small sway or Influence with all considering Persons He that orders his Conversation according to the Divine Rule and faithfully Studies to preserve the just Rights and Lawful Liberties of Mankind deservedly Merits the greatest Love and Affection imaginable But he that makes no Conscience of his Duty to God and designedly makes Ship-wrack of the Lawful Rights and Priviledges of any Party or Society and that will Sell his Birth-Right for an inconsiderable Value deserves not the Name

of a Man or to be admitted into the Society of Mankind I desire you would imitate the Church of England in all those things for which I justly commend her In the first place Follow her Loyalty as far as you can and not break the Laws of God nor Men thereto corresponding In the second place Be servent and constant in the Sacred Religion you profess your selves Members of You know without doubt the greatest part of you the Transcendent Excellency of your Religion and therefore if any of you should for Interest or Preferment turn from Truth to Falshood from Light to Darkness from a Sound to a Corrupt Religion How great and unpardonable would so wilful a Sin be And to speak the Truth I must do you the Justice to commend you for your firmness in your Holy Profession in that I have heard few or none that have either gone over or been perverted to the Communion of the Church of Rome notwithstanding the alluring Favours of that Church towards you and practice of her Clergy and Laiety to gain Proselytes among you What I shall say on this Head is Go on and Prosper and without doubt the Spirit of Truth will guide and direct you for the best In the third place Imitate their Fidelity to the Laws of the Land You can't but with admiration perceive how stedfastly they labour to preserve them and all the reasonable Rights and Priviledges of the People As you are Rational Men professing the Protestant Religion and render the Publick Good let not any uncertain Transitory Interest prevail with you so far as basely to give up your Religion and the known useful Laws of the Land be sure you neither consent to the suspending or taking away any that to all Intelligent Men are like to prove your only Security When the Country-man designs to preserve his Grain from those Creatures that would Eat it up or otherwise spoil it he is far from rooting up the Fence that secures it So ought you carefully to preserve the Laws for your own and the Publick Safety Things at present look to you perhaps with a good Aspect I wish they may long continue in that condition But if the course of things should mightily alter and these Halcion Days of which you have no assurance should not long continue how greatly would your hopeful expectations be frustrated Therefore be sure you do not imprudently purchase your present Liberty and seeming Favours at too dear a rate for such Acts may wholly deprive you of the Favours that you may otherwise expect from the next Successor c. But strenuously endeavour to manifest to the World that your former great out cries against the least Invasions of your Religion Liberties Properties and the Laws of the Land were really in earnest and that as then you truly hated those that were in any measure guilty of them so now it something lyes in your Power you will not by the greatest Perswasions and Promises of Kindnesses be wrought on to part with the Laws of the Land because you can't well be Ignorant of the fatal consequence of so doing If you either give us the Laws or cease to execute those that are most necessary you not only highly serve and gratifie your known Enemies but by betraying your Trust you will render your selves extraordinary Odiou● in the Opinion of most Men in that you are unfaithful to what you formerly so much cryed up viz. That the Laws might flourish and Justice might duly and impartially be distributed and all Men quietly possess what of right belongs to them No Honest Man or good Christian will disswade you from Serving or Obeying your Soveraign as f●r as i● Lawful But in all Obedience strict recourse must be had to the Divine and Human Laws that the Limits of neither be Transgressed and then the Issue of such Obedience will be of no ill consequence to you or the Publick Such Obedience will redound to your Immortal Honour Fourthly Consider if the the Papists in England were not of a rigid violent and ambitious Nature they would not make all this stir about the Test which debars them from a share in the Government In Holland we know that though the Papists are very Peaceable and have given many Years Testimonies of their good Behaviour under a Protestant Power yet the States for their own and the Publick Safety will admit none of them into any Offices I am of Opinion and not without Reason Roman Catholicks here can't give so good an account of their Peaceable and Christian Behaviour as those in Holland can Therefore greater Arguments may be produced why no Power ought to be granted to them in England It being notoriously known that though their Prince be a Just Man valluing his Word yet a restless Zeal moves the Papists manibus pedibusque to advance what they call Catholick Interest which without any Restraint will not keep within the bounds of Moderation But if the Laws are taken off I know not of any Obstruction they can meet with then we must expect to be Govern'd wholly by Papists and the consequence of such a Government must be terrible to Protestants for what can they expect less than Popish Lords and Commons and from such a Parliament what less than a perfect establishing of Popery by a Law and without doubt when such Laws are Enacted in favour of that Religion as severe will be made against the growing of Protestant Heresie in England from such Laws and such Times God in Mercy deliver England Pray therefore consider if you once give the Papists so much Power whether so soon as they have it they will not make severer Tests against Protestants than ever were made against the Church of Rome The late Famous Actions of the French King and the Marian Kindness of old to Hereticks are convincing Evidences of the Lenity and Moderation of a Government wholly in the hands of Papists As for the Happiness and flourishing of Kingdoms or Republicks under the Papists See the contrary in Dr. Burnet's Travels The Romanist's great Ambition and eager desire to be in Eminent Places of Trust is enough to convince any Rational Man that for no mean or inconsiderable Enterprises do they contend for them They think if once they can get into the Saddle with greater ease they may Ride the poor Hereticks I would advise you to Ponder with great deliberation the Natures Dispositions and especially the Interests of those Men that with might and main labour to take off the Test And if it shall appear as doubtless it will 't is a grievance to those only that espouse a Forreign Interest directly contrary to yours and that the Test is a strong defence to preserve you I hope you will manifest your real Love and Kindness to this Nation by undergoing for a time as great Severities as ever rather than in any degree be Instrumental in ruining of this now happy Kingdom I mean in her Laws I would