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 |
|
A58921
|
A seasonable corrective to the one project for the good of England intended for God's glory and the good of souls, and dedicated to the King and his great Council.
|
|
1680
(1680)
|
Wing S2226; ESTC R13156
|
15,035
|
12
|
his Accomplices Ye take too much upon you All the Congregation are holy Or had they been in any vogue when the Saviour of the World came with perfect Innocency attended with a miraculous power to beat down Satan's Kingdom they would have said as the Chief Priests and Pharisees did If we let him thus alone They shew'd their malice in his Condemnation and the Romans came to avenge his Innocency all men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation But wisdom is justified of her children and to use this Projector 's own words No Ignorance can excuse such Zeal nor can wise men believe it to be the product of either Ignorance or Zeal but a trick to take down the Throne and weaken Soveraignty that themselves may with the less hazard gain possession of the Chair To this purpose he projects a Civil Government fit onely for an Utopia or an Isle of Pines where Religion is of no concern nor supposed to be any part of the People's Interest And if we can imagin a Society of men brought forth into the world without the help of Parents or the nursery of common Education a people without hope and without God in the world where there is no belief of Heaven or Hell but a persuasion that the Soul evaporates with the breath and is quite extinguish'd at the dissolution of the Body there haply the Civil Interest this Projector pleads for may stand alone upon its own bottom And yet at this time a day 't is very hard for us to believe it for we are taught 't is God that makes men to be of one mind whether in a House or in a Kingdom That God is in the midst of it therefore the holy city shall not be moved with Tumults Psal 48.3 because God is known in her Palaces for a refuge But unless the Lord doth first build and then watch it man's pains are to little purpose to secure it But this Projector is for a civil Vnion without the cement of Divine Providence and for a civil Safety without the guard of a Divine Protection Insomuch that when a man reflects seriously upon his Invectives against the Loyal Clergy and his making the Church not the pillar and ground of truth 1 Tim. 3.15 but an empty name he must needs find himself under a great temptation to believe that this Projector was designed to pull down the Church and advance Atheism But God is so great an Enemy to Atheism and Irreligion that if men will not know him otherwise he will make himself known to them by the execution of his Judgments And so great a Lover he is of such as are sincerely religious that S. Austin imputes the long prosperity of the Roman Empire to the sincerity of their Zeal though their Religion was erroneous And some have made the like Observation upon the Turkish Empire 'T is time for us therefore to be awakened when we are alarm'd by such Projectors and to inquire a little more strictly into our own belief Did the Son of God come down from Heaven and really suffer death upon the Cross to purchase himself a Church When he had done this with so much sweat and torments did he leave that Church exposed and an Orphan Did he not promise that Kings should be nursing fathers and Queens nursing mothers to it Did he not promise also that they should bring their glory and their honour into the Church with them Isa 60. and that the Nations should walk in the light thereof 'T is true Apoc. 21. Christ's Kingdom is not of this world but 't is in this world for all that And if the Church be in the Empire 't is as well the interest as the duty of that Empire to take care of it And if the Church be Christ's Kingdom as without all doubt it is to suffer that Kingdom to have no share in our Affairs no influence into the Conduct of our Conversation will certainly draw upon us the guilt of a Nolumus hunc regnare and make us to be look'd upon as Christ's enemies and then what will become of our Civil Safety But if God be taken into the Constitution as the Author of it if his Sovereign Power be acknowledged the foundation of our Government if his Wisdom and Providence be concern'd in the support of it then the Holy Oracle without doubt is to be confuted and we are to consider that in all reason we are obliged to serve him if we expect he should preserve us and we should consult his Honour that he may establish ours Does the honour then of the Civil Governour consist in the multitude of his People So does God's Does the safety of the Government consist in the Vnion Vnanimity and Regularity of that Multitude The preservation of God's solemn Worship and Service does so too If therefore we are so zealous for a Civil Vnion for the Honour of our Prince and Countrey why not as zealous for a Church Vnion for the Honour of our blessed God And if their Union onely in a Civil Interest makes a People so formidable and secure against the Attempts of a common enemy will not the addition of another Interest be a further addition to their strength and grandeur Doubtless their Vnion in a Religious Interest will much more endear them rivet them the closer and make them stand more firm and steddy against all Forein Opposition 'T is this will make our Jerusalem impregnable And this caused the Psalmist to celebrate the concord and communion of that Church and People with so much Ecstasie Psal 133.1 Joh. 17.24 Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity 'T is this occasion'd that ardent Prayer of our Saviour that his Disciples may be one and be made perfect in one This was the ground of the Apostle's Gratulation and Rejoycing for the Colossians c. 2.5 Their order and the stedfastness of their faith in Christ Yet our bold Projector does not so much as dream of such a Church Vnion as if it were impossible But is not such an Vnion and Vnity in a National Church possible I say in a National Church De Consecrat d. 4. cap. de trina mersione for of the Catholick Church that of Gregory is most certain In una fide nihil afficit sanctae Ecclesiae consuetudo diversa But for a particular Church of one denomination such Vnion and Vnity is under command and duty and therefore possible What saith the Apostle to the Ephesians Eph. 4.1 4. I the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace And what says he to the Corinthians Now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 1.10 that ye all speak the same thing and that there