Selected quad for the lemma: water_n
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A19308
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A religious inquisition: or, A short scrutinie after religion Wherein the large cope of true religion is narrowly inquired. By Iohn Cope, of Grayes-Inne, Esquire.
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Cope, John, of Gray's Inn.
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1629
(1629)
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STC 5722; ESTC S118371
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36,759
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136
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subiect for â—ithout all the elements there is no body could subsist and yet this warre amongst the elements is the ruine of euery body in which warre they are all conquerers and yet all ouercome for the fire dries vp the water and the water quenches the fire the aire moulders the earth and the earth expels the aire and yet they haue a mutuall concord for the fire and aire agree in heate the aire and water agree in moistnes the water earth agree in coldnesse and the earth and fire agree in drienesse they all agree in this that none of them will depart the field till they haue destroyed the subiect of their contention which is the body of a man and in this is to be admired the wonderfull workmanship of God But yet for all this search the knowledge of God is not to bee found for he is incomprehensible and how can a man comprehend an incomprehensible He is a Spirit and how can flesh and bloud apprehend a Spirit God is infinite not to be limited in time he is euery where and yet no where either circumscriptiuely or definitiuely how can a man circumscribed within two yards receiue a notion of him that fils all things and all places He is omnipotent and how can the weake braine of a man conceiue what He is He is onely good and how can a man that is onely euill be able to vnderstand what He is that is all good He is Wisedome Strength Iustice Fortitude and all Vertue diuine and morall yea in Him are comprehended all Arts and Sciences what man is He is what any other liuing creature is He is yea what is in heauen and earth He is for euill it is a priuation and therefore is not nor cannot haue any being in him and this is all the knowledge man can haue of God that what he himselfe or any other creature is not that God is yea God onely is and man is nothing but what he is in God God is in man and yet no part of maÌ„ man is in God and yet no part of God yea God is absolute without man man is nothing without God and this knowledge of God as imperfect as it is is yet sufficient to direct man to worship God in whom he liues moues and hath his being But how shall man worship him whom he hath not knowne The manner how to worship God which is part of the forme of Gods worship is in truth Seneca a heatheÌ„ man could make a distinction betweene Religion and Superstition or Idolatry Religio Deos colit superstitio violat when he sayes That Religion is an obseruation of God in his Worship whereas Superstition is a violating of his Worship in drawing it from truth and sincerity but what the true Worship of God is man can no way come to the knowledge of but from God himselfe because no man doth in any degree of perfection know what God is Now there are two Bookes that God hath giuen man to study vpon the Booke of Nature and the Booke of the Word In the Booke of Nature although man may reade sufficient to condemne himselfe yet there he shall finde nothing but what will confound him In the Booke of his Word God hath beene graciously pleased more at large to open himselfe vnto man and thereout to affoord him not onely instruments to frame him fit for his Worship but directions how to worship him aright Euery naturall man walkes in darkenesse as is wrriten by the Prophet Isaiah â—saiah 9.2 The people that walked in darkenesse haue seene a great light that is in the Gospell of Iesus Christ The Word sayes the Prophet in the Psalme Psal 119.105 Is a Lampe or a Lanterne to my feete and a light vnto my pathes And Dauid sheweth how he got vnderstanding and was growne to a hatred of false-hood and errour namely by the Precepts and Word of God Salomon or Christ is said to ride vpon the Word of Truth Psal 45.5 as one that would ride in triumph ouer all Heresie Now euery man is content to haue some forme of Religion but this true worship doth so strictly tie the conscience to that forme and practcie of Religion which is taught out of the Word of God as that a man is ready to frame to himselfe any kinde of Religion whereby he might haue some dispensation for his euill course of life rather then to be held to so hard termes and hence it comes to passe that so many fall to Popery who when they are loth to deny and crosse themselues in the lusts of the flesh and yet are desirous to go to heauen they imbrace this Religion wherein they beleeue that though they commit neuer so great sinnes yet if they can get Pardons of Indulgences from the Pope or absolution from the Priest or do some workes of Charity or such as are meritorious in their owne opinion or procure some intercession of Saints or some prayers to be made for them after they are dead they thinke God to be well satisfied for their sinnes and well pleased with them Nay such is their grosse stupidity as that they thinke the sprinkling of a little holy water to be salutary for soule and body which appeares plaine in those conjuring words spoken by the Priest in diuine Seruice In Manual ad vsum ecclesiae Sarisburiensis Exorcise te creatura salis per Deum ✚ viuum Sis omnibus te sumentibus sanitas animae carporis effugiat atque discedat ab eo loco quo aspersum fuerit omnis nequitia I exorcise or conjure thee O creature of Salt that thou beest to all that shall partake of thee sanitie of soule body and that all euill shall depart from that place where thou art sprinkled And farther he saith I exorcise or coniure thee O creature of water that thou mayest serue to the casting out of Diuels Exorciso te creatura aquae in nomine Dei Paâ—â—ris vt fias aqua exorcisata ad effugandam omnem potestatem inimici c. Ad abijciendos daemones morbósque pellendos vt quicquid in domibus vel in locis fidelium haec vnda respersit careat omni immunditiâ liberetur à noxa non illîc resideat spiritus pestilens non aura corrumpens c. to the expelling of diseases that vpon whatsoeuer thou art sprinkled in any house of the faithfull it may haue taken from it all vncleannesse it may be freed from all obnoxitie that no pestilent spirit may remaine vpon it nor any corrupt ayre Let all the trecheries of the hidden enemy depart and if there be any thing aduerse to the health or quiet of the inhabitants let it be chased away by the aspersion of this water And then the Priest casts the salt into the water crosse-wayes after the manner of the Crosse and sayes priuately Let there bee an equall coÌ„mixture of salt and water And thus is their Holy water made and
A RELIGIOVS INQVISITION OR A short Scrutinie after RELIGION Wherein the large Cope of true RELIGION is narrowly inquired BY IOHN COPE of Grayes-Inne ESQVIRE LONDON Printed by FELIX KINGSTON and are to be sold by IAMES BOLER at the Marigold in Paules Church-Yard 1629. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE AND right vertuous Lady ELIZABETH Countesse of Holland Madam I Had and haue buried a good wife since which time God hath not disposed of me in a second mariage by reason wherof I haue not a Child of my body being single I conuerted to my selfe and I know not how my braine became in labour and is deliuered of this I know not what to call it it is not worthy the name of a booke except your Ladiship will deigne to patronage it and giue it desert which fauour if your Ladiship indulge towards me then my Booke like some meane man that hath been entertained by some great personage vnder the protection of your fauorable approbation shall walk abroad without shame of it owne vnworthines and my selfe shall remaine as alwayes I shall haue cause to doe from your former large fauours Your deuoted seruant Iohn Cope TO THE READER COurteous Reader for so you must be to me if you haue patience or will spend time in reading so slight a piece of writing as this is instead of an Epistle I will tell you a tale which is this There was a yong man who after the death of his Parents was minded to venture his fortunes vpon the Seas and was furnished as hee thought with a prety tite vessell which was likewise fraught with commodities that were passable This yong man lanched out into the Ocean where for a long time together he had so faire gales of winde as his heart could desire thus with full sayles he made his way thorow the deepes but being ignorant of the passages of the Sea and would not be ruled by the Pilotes and Mariners of which kind he had some that were skilfull hee suddenly ranne himselfe into a crosse Sea where after hee had beene sorely tossed and troubled and washed with the surging waues his Barke began to leake which wrought in him a sore dismay but the dashing of these angry billowes one against another was a meanes to worke this weather-beaten Vessell into a calmer Sea This Young man resolues to returne home and though with much losse to desist from his adventure or to repaire his decayes but comming into the narrow Seas where he found a boysterous passage he discouered his owne Country and knowing of a safe Hauen that had beene open whence he put forth at his going to Sea where many a tottered shippe had found harbour he intended to put in there but so it was through the neglect of keeping the Hauen in repaire it was so choaked with quicksandes that no ship could venture to make passage into it without danger of shipwracke as it fell out with this yong man who putting to shore split the prore of his barke vpon a sand This yong man had two Iewels giuen him by his Parents in both which they had in their lines a ioynt interest At his going to Sea he lest one of them with his friends to keepe for him the other he wore tied with a string about his necke next his heart and though he had sustained great losse at last a Fisherman light vpon him who finding a Iewell about his neck that seemed of some worth though much blemished with the beating of the salt water vpon it being moued with compassion tooke him into his boate setting him on shore holpe him to land so much of his goods as could be preserued and with much difficulty he saued his broken Vessell If the Reader desire to know any farther meaning of this Fable thus it is applyed The yong man was my selfe my Parents knowne to be deceased the Sea was the world the vessell my estate as well of minde and body as that of my outward meanes the fraught some measure of vnderstanding apprehension and memory some knowledge both in humanity and diuinity farther my health strength of body and vse of sences which were good indowments and part of this aduenture The Ocean may resemble the large scope I gaue my selfe wherein I was carried amaine by the whisteling gales of all manner of pleasures which did so fill the sayles of my empty affections as that I feared not to passe thorow any deepes of hazard My ignorāce in the world was like with the Yong mans vpon the Sea The Pilots and Mariners whose direction I refused to follow were some of my friends that better knew the course of the world then my selfe The crosse Sea I fell into was the incounter betweene prosperitie and aduersity as the incounter betweene plenty and want betweene pleasure and trouble betweene sicknesse and health and so betweene any present good inioyed and any contrary euill that approacheth and now my Barke began to leake amaine when I could not with all the power of my vnderstanding body or estate so fast pumpe out the waters of aduersity as they brake in vpon me which made mee almost heartlesse yet after much tossing and struggling in vaine against the insulting fury of the billowes I was cast vpon a calmer Sea of patience Thē I resolued to returne home to a better vnderstanding of my selfe and see if I could find any meanes to repaire my decay yet when I came neere home I found but an vnquiet passage thorow the narrow Straights I had put my selfe into how-euer discouering where I was I aduētured to put in whence I had hoysed sayle expecting harbour but found the Young mans successe The two Iewels bestowed vpon me by my Parents were Religion and a good name the former I kept as neere my heart as I could which yet had lost much of its lustre being continually dashed vpon with the brinish water of many corruptions which I passed thorow The Fisher-man that tooke mee vp who had good knowledge of my Iewell was such a one as our Sauiour Christ vndertooke to make his Apostles fishers of men Now gentle Reader be pleased out of my Fable with the moral to take my intention in putting forth these few and imperfect Leaues which is to let all that know mee vnderstand what my Religion is which they may well suspect either to be none or not the right after so dangerous passages in the world And in the next place my earnest suite to my friends is that as farre as charity will moue them they would endeauour without apparant cause to suspend their good word or opinion of me to preserue my good name which I therefore desire to leaue in their custody And lastly my purpose in divulging these worthlesse Lines is to tie my selfe by them to the obseruation of my owne directions the frailties of corrupt nature being tolerated withall which successe if I find I shall haue my full desire and so rest a well-wisher to you and all