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	holy_a	scripture_n	9,894	5	6.0621	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39350	An epistle to the truly religious and loyal gentry of the Church of England written by Edmund Ellis ...	Elys, Edmund, ca. 1634-ca. 1707.	1687 (1687)	Wing E674; ESTC R38858	2,386	10

AN EPISTLE TO The Truly Religious and Loyal GENTRY OF THE Church of England Writtten by Edmund Ellis Rector of East Arlington in the County of Devon. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nazianz. Orat. 9. LONDON Printed in the Year MDCLXXXVII An EPISTLE to the Truly Religious and Loyal GENTRY of the CHURCH of England c. My Honour'd Brethren IF I thought the Address I here make unto you had need of an Apologie it would be Uncapable of any My Confidence I confess is utterly Inexcusable if it be not grounded upon Reason What I Desire therefore is only this That you would be Pleased to Condescend to the most Serious Consideration of what is Said by so Obscure a Person I Do not Pretend to any Skill in the Letter of Our Common Law but that Law which All Mankind Ought to be and that Law which All Christians Profess they are Govern'd by has been my Study above thirty Years And in the prosecution of Charity or Divine Love to which All my Speculations naturally Tend I find it my Duty to Endeavour with all my might to Communicate the Knowledge I have of this Truth that if the Parliament shall Comply with His Majesties most Just and Equitable Desire of the Abrogation of all such Laws against the Papists which are more Rigorous than any of those against the other Nonconformists it would most certainly conduce to the Glory of God and the Good of Men. If any men should say what Impudence is this Is not such a Proposal Contrary to the Present Government I should Confidently Answer It is not And the Reasons of this Confidence I shall here as well as I can within the compass of a Letter in all Humility tender to your Consideration By those words of the Blessed Apostle Do we then make void the Law yea we establish the Law. I am prompted to say to our Adversaries in this Case Do we subvert yea we Establish the Present Government That this may be clearly perceiv'd I shall desire that it may be duly consider'd that whatsoever tends to the Establishing of the Rights of Our MONARCHIE does most certainly tend to the Establishing of Our Civill Government And what is it to Establish the Rights of MONARCHIE but to Secure All Due Obedience to Our MONARCH and His Successors throughout All Generations Tho it be True indeed that it is the Duty of All Subjects Enjoyn'd by the Fifth Commandment to retain a FILIAL Affection for their PRINCE the FATHER of their Country whatsoever he Does or Designs yet alas since the Generality of men are Led more by the Love of Life and Estate than a Sense of Duty towards God and the Hopes of Glory in the World to come and since so many of those who are Habitually Heavenly-minded often fall from their Better Temper and are carried in the stream of Secular Interest How can it be supposed that Subjects should be United in their Affections to their Prince and to one another whilst there are Laws Standing against so great a Number of Them that are Persons very Ingenious very Well bred and of great Estates many of them of Our most Antient Nobility and many Exceeding Learned Laws I say which if put in Execution would deprive them of their Lives or Estates And what do those men Intimate that are so Eager against the Abrogating of such Laws but that they Hope for a Time when they shall get the Bloud of some of their Loyall Fellow-subjects to be Shed or their Estates taken from them because they cannot Do what their Consciences supported by the Concurring Judgements of Thousands of Sober and Learned men Oblidge them not to Do if it shall be said what signifies an Oath to a Papist c. I shall most humbly beg that it may be considered whether such an Objection can have any thing in it of Natural Conscience or Common Honesty since Few or none that we know of the Papists who took the Oath of Allegiance did ever Break it but all the world know's it was Broken in the most haynous manner that possibly could be by Thousands of that sort of People who are and ever have been most Bloudily set against the Papists And as for this sort of People who Murthered the Father of Our Gracious Soveraign Attempted the Murthering of His Brother and the Excluding of Himself from His Royal Inheritance and who were I think I may say All of them in their Persons or in their Hearts and Affections so lately in Open Rebellion against Himself let us Observe His Majesties most Mercifull and Gracious Dealings with Them And Admire the Benignity of that Wisdom which has hitherto Govern'd Him since the Divine Providence brought Him to be Our Governour next and Imemediately Under the Great and Glorious MONARCH of Heaven and Earth And since He is so Kind to them how Crooked and Perverse would it seem if we should endeavour to Obstruct the Current of His Sacred Clemency when it Flowes towards Persons of His own Perswasion in a way so just and Equitable in the sight of all men How much it would contribute to the Peace and Tranquillity the Ease and Comfort of a Protestant Successor if the Papists were freed from the Terror of those Dreadful Laws I could speak largely But I shall hasten to my other Point to shew that this Lenity to the Papists could be no Disadvantage to the Church of England but rather a great Advantage in as much as we should thereby Declare to all the world the Sincerity of Our Profession to be Meek and Lowly in Heart And that we will not be Affrighted by the Pharisaicall Multitude from Acknowledging All the Truth we find Profest and all the Uirtue we find Practiced by Papists The Holy Fathers and the Four First Generall Councils next to the Holy Scriptures Our Church is Founded upon And how many Learned men in this Kingdome began to make light of these Blessed Records of Christian Antiquity which Growing Evill the Course which His Majesty has taken will most undoubtedly Suppress If these Dreadfull Laws were Repeal'd certainly it would take off the Edge of the Animosities which cannot but be in the Hearts of some Learned Papists against the Church of England which must needs make them in their Writings more Pungent than otherwise they would be For poor men they may justly apprehend that the Standing of Our Church tends to the Destruction of their Lives if Our Church cannot stand without those Severe Laws that have been made against them I shall give you no further trouble at present but shall Commend you to the the Protection and Instruction of the Almighty and Onely Wise God the God of Peace and Love And shall ever remaine Your Affectionate Philotheus