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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	bishop_n	church_n	great_a	8,286	5	3.5391	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A87434	Le dragon missionaire, or, The dragoon turn'd apostle being a dialaogue between a French Protestant-gentleman, and a French dragoon, wherein the new-way of convverting hereticks by dragoons is very lively and truly represented : to which is annexed a letter of Monsieur Jurieu to a French gentleman of quality, upon his dragonary conversion / translated out of the original French ; suppressed in the the late reign, but now re[pr?]inted ...	Jurieu, Pierre, 1637-1713.	1686 (1686)	Wing J1201; ESTC R43871	21,022	27

from a Priest and a Bishop from a Bishop D. Alas Sir you are mistaken there are more Devils and Dragons than I forasmuch as they are the Master-Dragons and the Princes of Dragons and for us we do nothing but by Vertue of their Mission and by the Spirit and Authority they communicate unto us Lewis the Great is he not the Head of the Gallican Church G. As for that what you please Sir but in the mean time behold here a new kind of Mission and a Call so altogether extraordinary that I think you are obliged to prove and confirm it by some Miracle D. And so we do every day and what is more I do intend to work a Miracle here in your presence yea upon your own person G. How so D. Why the Miracle is this That I shall assuredly make a Catholick of you in spight of your Teeth and make you go to Mass notwithstanding all the resistance you can make to the contrary These Sir are our Miracles altogether unknown and unheard of till now and which far surpass those of Jesus Christ and his Apostles G. The Prodigies you speak of are a sort of Miracles indeed but such as derive from the Red Dragon from whom you hold your Mission and you are those Waters which he casts forth after the Woman that fleeth into the Desert D. Fair and softly Sir I pray you take too much liberty Do you know of whom and to whom you speak When you speak to a Dragon and of the King of Dragons the greatest King upon Earth yea the God of this World You ought to speak with the greatest Respect imaginable And Sir I tell you once more to your Teeth that I will convert you in spight of you We have already drawn down and cast headlong into our Bottomless Pit the third part of the Stars in the Huguenot Heaven and shall you think to resist us No Sir know you must come down thither as well as the rest for it is written That the Beast that is a Dragon-King according to the language of St. John who ariseth out of the bottomless Pit shall make war with the Witnesses of the Gospel and shall overcome and slay them Don't you already see the execution of this Sentence Don't you see their dead bodies lying in the Streets of our great City For indeed there is no more life in them and they are no more than dead Carkases G. Alas Sir this pitiful and frightful Spectacle makes me melt in Tears and would to God you had only slain the bodies of your Enemies D. Our great Master and King resembles God in this and we as well as he kill both Body and Soul together G. If you would be pleas'd to prosecute the History of the Destiny of those dead Witnesses you shall find that after three daies the Spirit of Life shall re-enter into them and that they shall arise from the Ground where they now lie slain D. O Sir the meaning of that is That of bad Catholicks and Hypocrites as they are now they shall become true and zealous Catholicks G. I believe the same but not in your sense D. Well I think we have now disputed enough of Conscience and that you cannot but be cleared of all your Scruples think therefore of Converting your self and that without delay G. In the Name of God Sir do not go about to force me to betray my Conscience nor to bend my Knees before the Calves of Dan and Bethel D. You are a Fool to talk so I don't desire you to Worship any thing but the Holy Sacrament which I am sure is neither Cow nor Calf G. But it is Bread and Bread is inferiour to a Calf forasmuch as it is a living Creature D. I grant it but the Calves of Dan were Gold or Brass or some other like matter and Bread is better than all that G. You would then have me to Worship Bread D. Not at all but the Body of J. C. hid in the Bread or in the presence of Bread which Bread is the Image or Symbol of the same G. But still if it be no more than Bread I cannot Worship meer Bread D. You must believe and firmly imprint in your Imagination that the Body of Christ is there and in case you have not command enough over your own Spirit to make it believe this then you may adore J. C. whilst you prostrate your self before the Sacrament in like manner as you might do at the sight of a Crucifix G. If I might be suffered to declare and protest that I Worship neither the Bread nor the Wine in the Sacrament and that I don't believe that Christ in his proper substance is hid in them I should make no difficulty of doing what you say D. If that be all that hinders you to become one of us the business is done Go to Sir I give you leave to declare and protest what you please provided you be no longer Huguenot or Schismatick G. Ay Sir it were well if the Bishops were of as easie a temper and composition as you are but without that nothing can be expected D. I dare engage my word all this will be granted you upon condition you 'l but go to Mass G. I cannot believe that for after all their promising and permitting us whatsoever we demand they will have us believe all the Church believes and that without exception D. You are mistaken Sir they have something else to do than to trouble themselves about what you believe or not believe they are satissied when you only tell them you do believe G. Forasmuch as I can perceive then the Thing required of us is that we be Lyars and Hypocrites D. I can't say anything to that but at the most it it but a Trifle and meer Formality and deserves not that you should so subtilly canvass it Besides we are sufficiently convinc'd that when you say you believe you do not speak the truth G. Why that is the thing which so much the more surprizeth me for if it be so you are altogether inexcusable in obliging us to make Declarations which you know are only made from the Teeth outward and we cannot but sin in making those Declarations under what pretext soever for in doing so we deny the Truth and betray our Conscience D. Well and what if you do Do not the most part of your Ministers sign the Confession of Faith of your Churches and the Synod of Dort yet without believing all that is contained in the same yea notwithstanding that they are for usniversal Redemption or Arminians or even Socinians also C. I can scarcely believe what you tell me But besides Sir it is the Law of God which alone must be the Rule of our Actions and not the Examples or Conduct of Men. D. Sir I must return upon you as before that you stick at a meer Nicity and Formality for my part I should be loath for so small a matter to hazard my Estate my

pleaseth A Spirit who when it pleaseth him walks on the Ti●er the Pau and the Thesin goes a Foot rides on Horse-back in a Coach or in a Chariot may be shut up in a Portmantle a Packet of Letters or any thing you please Spirit of Submission of Faith and of Blind Obedience Spirit Roman Catholick enter thou into this Body and Soul possessed by the Devil of Calvinism in the Name of St. Francis of St. Dominick and of the Patriarch Ignatius Loyola G. Ah Sirs cast as much Holy Water as you please upon me but don't beat me with the Sprinkler D. We do this that the Water may the better enter into your Body and extinguish the Fire of Heresy G. Nay if you be resolved to kill me with blows at least let me not languish under your hands but dispatch me forthwith I beg of you D. Not so we are forbid to kill you but we shall so plague you if you be not presently converted that Death will seem sweet to you in comparison of the Sufferings we are prepareing for you They place the Gentleman before agreat Fire and hold his feet to the burning Flames and so burn them by degrees the violence of which Suffering makes him fall from himself bringing him to the fire again they demand of him whither he be willing to go to Mass D. What are not you yet converted and will not you go to Mass G. Ah Sirs how would you have me to go now you have burnt my Feet and Legs D. We will either carry you or cause you to be carryed G. O Lord Jesu have pitty on me and strengthen me D. I find we must once more approach you to the Flame that you may be more enlightned They bring him to the Fire as before and begin again to burn his Feet he faints under the extremity of the Torture and saith G. Take me away and do with my Body whatsoever you please D. What shall we carry you to Mass G. Whither you please to a Mosque if you think good D. Did not I tell you I would do a Miracle here and that I would convert you whither you would or no. The Glory of all be render'd to the Great King of Dragons to his Holy Father Confessor and all other Subordinate Instruments in this Great Work A LETTER OF MONSIEVR JVRIEV To a French GENTLEMAN Upon his Changing his RELIGION SIR I Have been so afflicted and astonished with the stroak of your Fall that tho' I feel my self obliged to reach you my hand for to raise you again yet have I not been at liberty to do it till now I begin only a little to recover my self from my Astonishment but my Affliction still continues and will till you return from whence you have gone astray I know Sir that you have been surprized and that for your overthrow there hath been employed the Name the Orders and Soveraign Power of the King the Ability the Caresses the Instances and the Authority of his greatest Ministers the Numbers the Force the Quartering and Havocking of Souldiers the Disguisements condescention and credit of the most famous Prelates the example of Cities and whole Provinces And last of all the fairest promises and the most terrible threats and that besides all these you have flatter'd your self with many other thoughts not necessary for me to dive into And indeed upon the review of all these it is no more a matter of so great astonishment to me that such a throng of extraordinary Objects have surprized and dasht you out of Countenance a less thing often does it But now that your surprize and terrour ought to have ceased you ought also to recover your self from the disorder into which they have cast you Let us Sir in cold blood and at leisure consider a while and take a view of the Religion you have forsaken and of that which you have newly embraced That which you have forsaken acknowledges no other Father but God nor other Head besides Jesus Christ nor other Spirit but that of the Father and the Eternal Son The onely Object of all its Devotions of its Faith Love Hope and acknowledgment the onely Source and foundation of its Joy and Salvation is the said ever blessed and adorable Trinity It hath no other Rule of its Doctrine Maxims and Conduct but the Holy Scripture Its Ministers attribute no other power to themselves except that of Teaching the Gospel and to press the Observance of it by their Word and Examples as meer Teachers and Directors without pretending to any power over the Consciences Bodies or Estates of their Disciples Nay more than that recommending very carefully to them to examine whatsoever they hold forth to them by the Rule of Holy Scripture and forbidding to believe them any further than they find them conform to the same To this purpose they neither speak themselves nor make God speak to his People but in a known Language and with all their might continually press the reading and study of the Holy Word In a word the Religion you have renounced is nothing else but the sincere and true Profession of the Gospel That which you have now embraced is quite of another Nature for to give you a Draught of it in little It is a Religion of which the Pope is Father and Head and Rome the Mother and Nurse Concupiscence its Spirit and Heart a Wafer its God the Worship of Creatures its Devotion it s own Authority the highest Law whose Ministers are Lords and absolute Princes and its Votaries so many Slaves which are continued in Slavery by hiding the Law of God from them by speaking to them in a Barbarous Tongue by prescribing to them a superstitious Worship and frighting them with the Fantasmes of this World and that which is to come And to speak to you more frankly and to call things by their own Names the Father Bridegroom and Head of the Church of Rome is the Antichrist her Mother is Babylon and her Spirit is the Spirit of Lyes of Murder and impure Lusts her God is an Idol her Worship Idolatry her Soveraign Power Tyranny her Ministers Tyrants and her Votaries so many unhappy Wretches whose Liberty Repose Estates yea Bodies and Souls are sacrificed to that Cruel and Insatiable Beast of the Revelation The Bounds I have set my self of keeping within the narrow compass of a Letter will not allow me to enter upon any ample Demonstrations and large Deductions of what I have just now in few words hinted yet they leave me room enough to convince you if any love of Truth or desire of your own Salvation be left with you I take or granted as an avowed Truth that the Pope is the Head and Father of the Church of Rome wherefore nothing remains for me to prove but that He is the Antichrist and this I 'le endeavour with this one Argument which contains as many more as it consists of Parts and is of unquestionable Truth If the Characters which

the Holy Scripture gives us of Antichrist do agree with and meet in the Pope it is evident that he is Antichrist This we will enquire into as briefly as may be The first Character which the Holy Scripture gives us of Antichrist is That he should depart and apostatize from the Faith and addict himself to seducing Spirits and to Doctrines of Devils That he should teach Lyes in hypocrisie having his Conscience feared with an hot Iron forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats 1 Tim. 4. 2 Thes 2.3 All which is fulfilled according to the Letter in the Person and Conduct of the Pope He is departed from the Faith and sound Doctrine and hath made others go astray from the some by himself and other Deceivers he hath employed In stead of the Truth he hath taught Lyes and all this in Hypocrisie i. e. Under the Name and Cloak of Godliness and Religion For this Impostor attributes to himself the Title Authority and Priviledge of a faithful Minister of God He does nothing if we will believe him but for advancing of the Divine Glory and the Salvation of Souls He makes a great shew of being for Jesus Christ and seeking nothing but his Kingdom He hath the Horns of the Lamb and takes to himself his Authority his Office and Glory but he hath the Voice of the Dragon His word is like that of the Devil false deceitful proud and murderous His whole Conduct and behaviour of himself is a Mystery but a Mystery of Iniquity a Mystery in appearance but Iniquity indeed and in truth His Conscience is seared with an hot Iron that is He is insensible of the Checks of it and hardned in all manner of sin He forbids Marriage and commands to abstain from Meats which God hath blessed The second Character of Antichrist is The Man of sin 2 Thes 2.3 This also fits the Pope and to be convinced of it you need only to read the History of their Lives writ by Papists themselves you 'l find there that there is no Vice which they have not made profession of nor Crime which they have not committed yea what is more taught and authorized not only by their Examples but also by their Dispensations and Indulgences and by the Tax and Rate-Book they have made of the particular Sums of Money payable to the Apostolick Chancery for the Pardon of every sin And lastly also by hiis Emissaries such as are the Monks and above all the Jesuits who as they have over-turn'd the Gospel by opposing the Doctrine of Grace so have they also annull'd the Commands of the Law by the Maxims of their New-found Morality 3. Antichrist sitteth as God in the Temple of God and exalteth himself above all that is called God 2 Thes 2.4 That this also is the Character of the Pope is plain He extolleth himself above all the Church of Christ and not only attributes to himself the Name of God but also his Infallibility Soveraignty Omnipotence and Glory for he causes himself to be Worshipped as if he were God indeed He exalts himself above all that is called God That is above Kings and Princes whom the Scripture calls Gods pretending to be the Master and Disposer of their Crowns and Properties and not only so but above the Gods of the Roman Church I mean her Saints and Saintesses because he hath the power by his Canonization to Deifie them above the God of the Mass which he can unmake at pleasure and his Priests also by power received from him and can make it again when it is made and which he causes to be carried on Horseback whilst himself is carried upon the Shoulders of Princes yea he doth even extol himself above the living and true God by dispensing with his Laws abrogating them and making others contrary to them and moreover by attributing to himself the power of doing what God can not viz. To make Vice Vertue and Vertue Vice and that which is Sin no Sin and which is no Sin to be Sin The fourth Character of Antichrist is Idolatry Rev. 17. Which so exactly suits with the Pope as nothing more for his Idolatry is so universal and crying that it is become the Offence and Detestation both of Heaven and Earth Believers and Infidels yea of many who live in communion with him 5. Antichrist was to set forth a false Christ and by his Doctrines concerning the same was to over-throw the manifestation of Jesus Christ in flesh and the Essential Properties of his Body and Blood Matth. 24.23 24. and 1 John 4.3 And does not the Pope hold forth a false Christ viz. that in the Mass and doth he not attribute to Jesus Christ a more fantastick and false Body than ever Marcion did or the rest who have opposed his Humane Nature 6. The coming of Antichrist was to be with power and signs and lying wonders 2 Thes 2.9 and how many false Miracles hath the Pope and doth still employ for to Authorize his Errors Superstitions and ungrounded Pretensions 7. Antichrist also according to Scripture was to be a great Merchant dealing in all sorts of Merchandizes whether of this World or the other of Heaven and of Earth yea and of Hell too and of the Bodies and Souls of men For what is it which the Pope doth not either buy or sell What can you name which he doth not make Money of Or what can be done with him without Money What Trade hath he not drove with Souls since they have been sold for Money All these Marks taken joyntly together for they must not be taken apart cannot be found in any person save that of the Pope onely We will add for the Eigth and last Mark his having his Seat where Antichrist was to have his viz. at Babylon and this Babylon is Rome which is the Mother of this Religion For it is this Woman this great City who reigned over the Kings of the Earth in the time of St. John Rev. 17.18 Which cannot be said of Constantinople which at that time had no such dominion This is that City seated upon seven Hills Rev. 17.9 which is so clear and distinguishing a Character of Rome that both the Ancient and Modern Doctors not excepting the Papists themselves as Bellarmine Baronius Ribera Viegas and many others do own and allow it as well as we The Antichristianisme of the Pope and his Religion doth also most evidently shine forth in the Spirit which animates that whole Body as well as the Head of it which is the Spirit of lying of murder and impurity As for the Spirit of lyes that reigns universally in the Church of Rome this Spirit is the Father of all those Errors wit which it swarms the Inventer of so many pious Cheats of so many false Revelations of so many counterfeit Miracles of so many supposititious Relicks of so many fabulous Stories and Legends which are so solemnly and seriously exposed there and of so many Gulls and Cheats as

she puts upon her new Converts The same Spirit is the Author of so many horrible Slanders wherewith they blacken the Church of God and his faithful Servants It is he hath establisht that Maxim That Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks that Equivocations and mental Reservations are lawful and that the Pope hath power to dispense with the most inviolable Oaths that may be From the same Source have been derived all those Perfidious dealings with the Protestants in France by Repealing the most solemnly sworn and ratified Edicts and by publishing others quite contrary to them Neither is the Spirit of Cruelty and Murther less in vogue in the said Church Who can enumerate all the Barbarous Cruelties committed by the Holy Office of the Inquisition as they are not ashamed to call it the bloody Wars Massacres Poysonings Assassinations and Butcheries which that Religion hath and still doth put in practice in the four parts of the World or those only she hath been the Author of in Germany Bohemia Hungaria France the Low Countries England Scotland Ireland and Italy The Protestants of France formerly have been and are now at present a most sad and convincing Instance of this Truth The Cruelty of this Religion appears also by her condemning to Hell universally all other Christian Communions whatsoever and in that there is not the least Article she professes to which she hath not annexed an Eternal Anathema against all those who shall dare to contradict or deny it And for the Spirit of Impurity it hath so perfectly got the Mastery and Dominion over that Churche that it even reigns in those places which one would believe should be the Refuge of shamefac'dness and Chastity I mean even in Rome the Holy and throughout the whole Patrimony of the Church in their places for Confession in their Mon asteries of the one as well as the other Sex in the habitations of their Clergy throughout whole Spain which is so Emphatically Catholick and throughout whole Italy which one would think should not approve nor tolerate any such filthiness as being the own Country and Seat of the Holy Father and his Holy Court. And that no man may here alledge that these Disorders are not Authorized nor approved of it is most notorious that the Pope draws a yearly Revenue from the Publick Stews which are solemnly established in all the Cities of his Dominion that the Casuists even the most famous and of greatest Authority with that Communion do favour the practice of the most detestable and unnatural filthiness which the Spirit of Uncleanness can possibly suggest to men yea all the Popish Divines do declare with a loud voice that it is better for their Clergy to burn in the fire of all sorts of Uncleanness than to be Married But this Communion is not only guilty of Corporal filthiness and impurity but also of that which is Spiritual that is Idolatry For according to what was said before the very God of that Religion is an Idol What God is it which she serves and to the Worship of which she will compel and force the whole Earth To whom doth she Erect her Altars Consecrate her Festivals her Offerings her Vows and Prayers To whom doth she betake her self upon all occasions whether Ordinary or Extraordinary To whom doth she address her most solemn Adorations Is it not to the God of the Mass even to a God which the Priest makes every day of a little Water and Flower after he hath mumbled four or five Latin words over it and which he devours after he hath made it And this God can it be supposed ought else but an Idol And must not a man be deprived of the light of Sense and of Reason and of Faith before he can in the least doubt of it But to convince the most prepossed of this Truth from their own Principles is it not agreed upon by all that the Object of the Worship of true Religion cannot be doubtful or uncertain For they are false Religions which worship that which they know not as our Lord said of that of the Samaritans and is it not true and incontestable that the Object of the Worship of the Roman Church is uncertain and doubtful Is any one assured nay is it possible that any one should be so that J. C. is really present in the Species of the Eucharist since that depends upon the intention of the Priest that celibrates Mass according to the express decision of the Council of Trent And who can be certain that this or that Prie●t had the intention of fixing him there or that he had it not and supposing he had the intention who can be assured that his intention is acomplished and that our Saviour in obedience to the same hath indeed hid himself under the Species of Bread and Wine And if this Object be thus uncertain the Religion of Rome must needs be so likewise Again if this Object be doubtful it can never be the Object of Faith nor of true Devotion it cannot be the Deity nor indeed any thing else but a meer Idol But alas this is not the alone Idol which Rome Adores she hath as many more of the number as there are Angels yea Saints and Saintesses in Heaven and as there are Popes Crosses Images and Relicks upon earth for she bestows Religious Worship upon all these in the sight and ken of the whole World and consequently she cannot but be guilty of Idolatry and that in so high a degree that she may justly boast of worshipping the vainest of all Idols for never were any more vain than her Wafers are and of having raised Idolatry to that pitch beyond which no farther advance can be expected for there is no Instance in all the Records of Time of a more transported and besotted Dovotion than that which she hath for that piece of Paste Now tho' all this be indeed prodigious and amazing yet behold here another Instance which is no less surprizing and unaccountable which is That the Romish Church hath erected her self for an Idol and Object of her own Adoration and which she imposeth upon others to worship as God For she attributes to her self Infallibility and a Soveraign Independence and Authority Characters which are the Propriety of God alone She imposeth her Decisions as so many Divine Oracles and will have them received for this sole reason because they seem good in her Eyes She hath the boldness to maintain That all the Articles of Faith depend upon her Authority that it is from her we hold the Greatest Mysteries of our Christian Religion as that of the Trinity of the Incarnation Grace c. She raiseth her Authority so far above that of the Holy Scriptures that she maintains the Holy Scriptures to have no other Authority but what she gives to them and that without Her we are no more obliged to believe the Word of God than that of Mahomet which is Bellarmins own Comparison In a word