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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	church_n	divine_a	scripture_n	3,472	5	5.9670	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01012	A vvord of comfort. Or A discourse concerning the late lamentable accident of the fall of a roome, at a Catholike sermon, in the Black-friars at London, wherwith about fourscore persons were oppressed. Written for the comfort of Catholiks, and information of Protestants, by I.R. p	Floyd, John, 1572-1649.	1623 (1623)	STC 11118; ESTC S120899	43,744	60

A vvord of Comfort OR A DISCOVRSE CONCERNING The late lamentable Accident of the fall of a roome at a CATHOLIKE Sermon in the Black-friars at London wherwith about fourscore persons were oppressed WRITTEN For the Comfort of Catholiks and Information of Protestants By I. R. P. Printed Anno M.DC.XXIII TO THE READER LET the duty of weeping for the Dead Tempus flendi Eccl. 3.6 in this late dismall Accident so rufull to flesh and blood which from our hartes both common Humanity and priuate Friendship enforce Tempus loquendi giue place vnto the duty of writing in the behalfe of the liuing which at our handes both Christian Charity and Priestly obligation exact Let Nature which at this present makes me more willing to wett my paper with teares then with inke Ipsi pene viuendi vsui cessationem hoc tempus indicit nedū studijs l. 2. de Consid Cap. 4. 31. Cap. 9. 1. and as S. Bernard sayth of himselfe in a like dolefull disaster weary not only of studying but euen almost of liuing that in lieu of penning discourses of erudition and learning I could much rather powre forth vntaught sighs in the language of Ieremy his Threnes Defecit anima mea propter Inte●fectos My soule is gone from me in sorrow of them that are slayne and Quis dabit capiti meo aquam oculis meis flumina lachrimarum plorabo die ac nocte Interfectos filiae populi mei Who will giue me water vnto my head and fluds of teares vnto mine eyes that I may be wayle day and night the Slayne of my Country Let I say this weake inclination of Nature yeeld vnto Gods holy will and vnto the motion of heauenly Grace concurring with Obedience to preferre before priuate sorrow for friendes the publicke defence of our Catholike Cause seeing ignorant zeale is ready vpon any the least occasion to disgrace it Let mourning for corporall Death which the Holy Ghost confines within the compasse of seauen dayes Eccl. 22. v. ●● Luctus mortui septem dies especially for them whose soules as we with reason hope do raigne in glory be changed into mourning for blind Ignorance and Impiety which the same Holy Spirit will haue commeasured vnto the length of their life luctus fatui impij omnes dies vitae eorum to wit so long as there is hope by teares of instruction to reclayme them This Duty is necessary for foure ends and vndertaken for the satisfaction of foure sortes of persons First to refute their folly who with this darke mist of Gods vnsearchable Counsels seeke to obscure the cleare light of his reuealed Doctrine shyning in the Catholike Church Secondly to still their teares who thinke they cannot weepe inough for their Friendes not so much at their death as at their being taken away by so strange and dreadfull a mischance Thirdly to allay the wondering of them that secretly may complayne of the seuerity of Gods iudgments that in these circumstances he would not spare his owne People not spare his owne Name Fourthly to somewhat asswage their sorrow who grieue not for temporall respects Psal 41.3 but their teares are to them bread day and night to see Gods Enemyes insult vpon his Church to say vnto her where is thy God Which foure kinds of persons styrred vp and troubled with different affections by one and the same commiserable mishappe we shall endeauour to quiet by foure kind of Arguments by Testimonies of holy Scripture by Examples of former Christian tymes by comparison with some more prodigious euents vnto our Aduersaries finally by shewing Gods ends in the permission of this Accident of which we may make our Profit CHAP. I. Comfort from the holy Scriptures THere is not any greater affliction vnto Gods seruants in this life nor any more sharpe corrasiue vnto their hart then the happening of strange dreadfull mischances that carry a shew of his anger agaynst their Religion wherby the enemies therof harden their soules as stone agaynst it And Gods Omnipotent Wisdome as he resolued for reasons best known to himselfe to deuide indifferently amongst the good bad these terrible casualityes of mortall life So likewise in his Mercy Cui vanitati intimandae totum illū librum vir Sapientissimus deputauit Aug. l 10. de Ciuit. c. 3. The Preacher c. 8. 14. he would haue his seruants warned heerof abundantly by his holy Word For not only euery Booke of the diuine Scriptures be full of documents agaynst this discomfort but also as S. Augustine noteth one whole booke of that heauenly learning to wit that of Ecclesiastes beginning Vanity of Vanities and all things vanity is entyrely spent in the prosecution of this argumēt That there is this Vanity vpon earth that there be iust men vnto whome it happeneth according to the worke of the wicked agayne there be wicked men vnto whome things happen as if they were iust that so sayth the same Father Men might loue the life that hath not Vanity vnder the sunne but verity vnder him that made the sunne Out of which booke I will alleadge only one sentence but the same so full and so fit for our purpose Cap. 9. initio as it may seeme written a purpose by the spirit of Presciēce to be vsed in this occasion This is the worst of all things vnder the sunne that the same things happen alike vnto all to the iust and to the wicked to the good and to the bad to the cleane and to the vncleane to them that sacrifice and to them that contemne Sacrifice to them that sweare the Truth and to them that are forsworne Hence the hearts of the sonnes of men are filled with malice contempt in their life tyme and afterward shall be carried vnto Hell To these wordes of the Holy Ghost what can be added as more cleare in proofe of our Argument what may be spoken more complete proper and pithy for our comfort in this accident Heere by Gods holy Word we are informed that such is his prouidence in this life that an house or roome may fall no lesse vpon the Iust as they are hearing his heauenly Doctrine then vpon the Wicked as they are blaspheming his blessed Name No lesse vpon the Good that are weeping for pardon and remission of their sinnes then vpon the Badde that feast and banquet riot and reioyce in their sinnes No lesse vpon the Cleane that by humble Confession and penall Satisfaction purify their soules Psal 6.26.2 then vpon the vncleane whose wayes are at all tymes impure the iudgments of God by the doctrine of only Faith being taken away from before their eyes No lesse vpon them that offer the Christian vnbloody Sacrifice of the immaculate Lambe then vpon thē that contemne this holy Sacrifice would rather massacre the Priests that cōsecrate the same Finally no lesse vpon them that sweare the Truth that that doctrine is Christian which from the mouth of Christ

nequam omne debitum dimisi tibi c. Superbia crudelitate impulsus Osiand Epitom hist fol. 30 Qui manet in charitate in Deo manet 1. Io. 4.16 Qui non diligit manet in morre 1. Io. 3.15 Valerius Max. l. 4. c. 4. Daniel 12. ● for that was the subiect his sermon preching the Precept of charity perswading his deuout Auditours to loue their enemyes to forgiue iniuryes to roote reuenge and rancour cleane out of their hart From the eyes of one sparkled fire of anger and Martiall fury not to be quenched but with the bloud of his enemyes From the eyes of the other sprunge teares of Deuotion and Piety which by Sympathy caused waters of Contrition in the harts of his hearers which flowing out at their eyes might serue as a second Baptisme to wash their soules pure in that moment of dissolution and death Is there any man so voyd of Christianity that will not preferre this death in charity and therfore in God before that death of hatred and reuenge and therfore a death not of body only but euen of soule Oh that the Spirit of God with the gale of his aspiring Grace would driue away the cloudes of human sorrow that ouer-whelme the harts of flesh and bloud that pure Christian Fayth shining in her proper brightnes might giue sentence of the quality of this accident Then we would not soe much pitty as enuy such happy passages out of this life nor tearme them disastrous but rather if I may so speake Astruous deaths For that I may apply the wordes of a prophane Authour vnto a true subiect Non ita homines ex spirant sed Astra sedes suas repetunt These be deaths by which men fall not to the ground but STARRES returne vnto their heauenly home those starres I meane wherof Daniel sayth They that informe men vnto righteousnes shall shine as STARRES in the firmament for all eternity Certainly his body fell not so fast to the ground but his soule flew vp as fast vnto heauen like the Doue into Noe his Arke with the branch of Oliue the Word of Peace and Charity in mouth King Euander in the vntimely death of his only sonne tooke comfort to consider he dyed in a glorious enterprize of human friendship in the conducting of his exiled friends into theit promised Country of rest professing that he would euer ioy in the memory of that heroicall death Ducentem in Latium Teucros cecidisse iuuabit What greater or more glorious endeauour of Diuine Charity then to guide soules made to Gods image into the felicity of their cecestiall Country that is the blissefull vision of the face of their Creatour Seing it was Gods holy pleasure to take them out of the world whose longer liues in our iudgment would haue byn beneficiall vnto his Church though we cannot but feele their immature death yet we cannot also but ioy in this happy circumstance therof that they dyed in the exercise of the highest act of Christian Mercy that their last breath was in calling men vnto God most blessedly spent that the sweat of death they felt was no other but the sweat of burning charity towardes God and man Ducentem ad caelos animas cecidisse iuuabit Here we may with reason take into our mouth King Dauid his funerall songe in prayse of Abner As the slouthfull vse to dy thou didst not dye O Abner 2. Reg. 2.3 not groning breathing forth thy soule and spirit in bed but thundering and breathing forth Gods holy Word and spirit in pulpit Thyne handes were not bound but still mouing in charitable deedes so long as they had motion of life Thy feete were not put into fetters but free and that of them particularly the Prophet may seeme to haue spoken Isa 52.7 How beautifull are the feete of him that doth preach Peace that doth denounce the best things For what thing better then charity loue as men fall before the sonnes of iniquity so thou fallest a Martyr in the sight of God his Angels though the persecutor appeared not in the sight of men What shall I say more I will conclude with the words of our Sauiour Matth. 24.45 so proper to set forth the happines of this death as I shall not need to adde so much as a word by way of application Who is the faythfull and prudent seruant whom his Lord hath put ouer his family to giue them MEATE in tyme Non in pane sed in VERBO Blessed that seruant whom his Master coming shall finde SO DOING Verily I say vnto you he will place him ouer all his goodes Protestants that were present at this Sermon defended SOme vrge this accident as a iudgment of Gods vengeance not so much agaynst Catholikes as agaynst Protestants that hauing preachers of their owne would resort vnto this Catholike Sermon whom I will refell briefly not by way of Rhetoricall discourse but by way of Syllogisme prouing by their owne principles these fower ensuing propositions vnanswerably The first Proposition Protestants by the Law of God may heare Catholike Sermons THis is proued Because Protestants may heare the Ministers of Gods holy Worde that haue Diuine Order Diuine calling Diuine Commission to preach it For whom may they heare if they may not heare them whom God appoynts But the Priests of the Roman Church haue Diuine Order Diuine Calling Diuine Cōmission to preach Gods holy Word as now Protestants euē Luther did who sayth The Papists haue the TRVE office of Preaching In Papatu est VERVM prudicandi officiū Luth. cōt Anabapt Mason his booke of this argument acknowledge with full consent yea they pretend and contend to haue a Diuine Order Calling and Commission to preach and administer Sacramēts by the Tradition of our Church from handes of Catholike Bishops originally from the Pope Therfore Protestants by the law of God may heare the Sermons of Catholike Priests at the least with the same prouiso wherwith they heare their own to approue what they find to agree with Scripture and reproue what they find preached agaynst it The second Proposition Protestants should rather heare Catholike Sermons then Puritan THis is proued Because wisedome teacheth that in doubtfull Questions we choose the surest side specially in affayres that concerne the euerlasting saluation of our soules Wherfore in this question whether Catholik or Puritā Preachers are to be heard we must rather choose the certainest part But that Catholike Priests are the Ministers of God endued with Diuine Order and authority to preach his Word and consequently the Men who by Diuine Ordination are to be heard is most sure and certayne because all agree therin in so much as Protestāts as I sayd chaleng their Orders from the Roman that if the Roman ordination be not currant M. Bridges defence of the Gouern pag. 1276. much lesse can theirs be currant as sayth the Protestant Bishop of Oxford If the Roman Priests be not Ministers then