Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	according_a	true_a	truth_n	2,749	5	5.2105	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38185	The Franciscan convert, or, A recantation-sermon of Anthony Egan ... preached in London on April 6, 1673 to which is annexed, A narrative of the strange behaviour and speeches of the papists in Ireland since His Majesties declaration of indulgence : and the commendatory letter in Latine, given to the author by his superiour before his conversion.	Egan, Anthony, B.D.; Ford, Henry, Sir, 1619?-1684.	1673 (1673)	Wing E248; ESTC R7765	10,949	36

so sharp a rebuke for it that I do not read that he ever so much as wore one after Must the Pope cut off Heads because St. Peter cut off an Ear This is strange The old Romans thought to propagate the Faith by dying for it Our new Romans think to establish theirs but by a quite contrary method Reason is the Crown of a man Religion is the Crown of Reason Christianity is the Crown of Religion Charity is the Crown of Christianity and Charity we know suffereth long and is kind and seeks its own establishment by means and methods the most like to it self I must also tell you that the Prayers to Saints and Angels became very offensive to me having in all the Scriptures not one Precept nor one Example to give countenance to any such custom I am sure our Saviour invites weary and heavy laden sinners to come to him Mat. 11. 28. And when I can come and have an access to the Throne of his Grace with boldness I shall not think my self to stand in need of any other Spokesman if I can be free with my Prince why should I trouble any Courtiers to present my Addresses Besides we have great reason to believe there is an incommunicable gulf between the glorified Saints and us for the Scripture tells us That Abraham knows us not and Israel is ignorant of us c. I could also give large Narratives of their pious frauds as they call them by which they delude the people to fix them in their gross Errors and Superstitions When I was made a Frier a great number of people were present at the Solemnity I appeared in a spruce Garb had there my Horse my Sword and Pistols and appeared with much Gayety and Splendour The head of the Convent advised the People to take notice of my Pompous condition and that I was willing to lay aside all those outward glories for St. Francis his sake and accordingly I disrobed my self and put on the mean Garments which belonged to the Order and then made three Vows of Obedience Poverty and Chastity After that took one and twenty Oaths now in the Oaths I swore never to come on horseback never to wear Shoes to obey my Superiour in what ever he commanded me without examining the lawfulness of his Commands not to be ashamed to beg never to be out of my Friers habit But that which was a cause of a disgust at that time unto me was this The Superiour tells me that I must take my former Garments that is return in the same Posture I came and go see my friends and though all these things were against my Oaths yet he would absolve me from them I must confess this seemed to me a strange cheat to the People that he should tell them what self-denial I was guilty of in taking those Oaths and yet he presently absolves me from them and this is the state of all the Irish Friars And I may tell you what offence I took at those vain stories which they have of Miracles and especially when I discovered their grand impostures therein For about seven years ago a Priest near the City of Limbrick by name William Sarchwell had for fifty shillings hired a Woman to pretend her self a Cripple from her birth and that she had a Revelation that if she dipped her self in such a Well whilst a Priest said Mass by the place she should be recovered of her infirmity The plot thus laid and accordingly executed she comes halting to the Well returns out of it perfectly cured which became a Miracle to the people which did not only get the Contriver of the Cheat a vast sum of money but also confirmed the people in their Superstition But after some time the Counterfeit had some remorse of conscience came to me to confession in order to absolution which I would not grant till she had declared the whole story to the Congregation which she did accordingly It is well known the poor miserable people are mightily deluded by these Cheats A Frier of great note and Zeal told me that he was at a Franciscan Convent beyond the Seas where was the Image of the blessed Virgin made with a Scrue in the head thereof where they put in some water and having a string that came undiscerned to a place where the Friers stood and when they thought the people had brought a good Offering then by the help of that string they could unloose the Scrue by which the blessed Virgin seemed to weep and this was one of their Miracles Indeed the Relator though a Friar said it was a great scandal to him and accordingly complained to the General of the Order but his answer was should he make a reformation in that particular that Convent should starve It is said that the Monks of a certain Convent had put the like fallacy upon St. Bernard himself who when he came into their Church had prepared an instrument to carry a voice to the Image of the blessed Virgin who when he came into the Church saluted him with a Salve Bernarde but he apprehensive of the cheat gave no other return to the complement than this It is a shame for a woman to speak in the Church But of all their fine stories commend me to this new Miracle they talk of for the confirmation of Transubstantiation the Story is this They say that in a certain place within the King of Spains Dominions that as the Sacrament of the Mass was celebrated that all the perfect Effigies and proportion of a man rose out of the Host but when the people came too near that they might plainly see the Miracle he vanished away therefore for ever hereafter it must be horrid Blasphemy to deny Transubstantiation shall be hardly guilty of so much Vanity as to make any replication to such a ridiculous story only let it be no offence to tell you what a remark a facetious person made to the Rélator of it You suppose saith he that it was Christ himself that appeared and it seems that upon the approach of the people he vanished a way which is the only circumstance to make the story credible for he might suppose the people were come to eat him and so he vanished Upon these considerations and reasons and others more than I have now time to mention I renounce here in the presence of God and this great Assembly my former Popish ways and withal I declare my self a Protestant and that you may believe me a true Protestant I do further declare that I am a Protestant according to the Church of England as it is here by Law established And I must further declare before the Searcher of all hearts that I speak none of these things either out of malice or prejudice nor for any sinister end or corrupt design whatsoever but that Gods name may be glorified his truth cleared and my Brethren edified and that my own Soul may be eternally saved But will it not

Advertisement THe Author being informed that after he had Preached this Sermon the people judged him to be the Capuchin Fryer who lately burnt his Beads Crucifixes c. in the Pallace Yard at Westminster He desires to satisfie the World of their mistake for that to his knowledg he never saw him in his life neither was he in England at that time Anthony Egan FINIS The Franciscan CONVERT OR A Recantation-Sermon OF ANTHONY EGAN Late Confessor General of the Kingdom of Ireland and Guardian of the Friory of Monasterioris in the Province of Lemster Now a Minister of the Gospel according to the Ordination of the Church of England Preached in London on April 6. 1673. To which is annexed A NARRATIVE of the strange Behaviour and Speeches of the Papists in Ireland since His Majesties Declaration of Indulgence And the Commendatory LETTER in Latine given to the Author by his Superiour before his Conversion LONDON Printed for Robert Clavel in Little Britain 1673. The Franciscan Convert OR A Recantation-Sermon c. Luke 22 the latter end of verse 32. When thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren COnversion is an hard work but it is glorious it relates to the two great Faculties of our mind the Understanding and the Will Our Understanding that our Faith be found Our Will that our Morals be good I will begin with our Morals because it is no matter what our Judgment is when our manners are bad Lewd men credit no Profession but disgrace the cause they own Christianity consists of a redemption and that redemption from the iniquity of our ways that is to say a Turning from Sin to Vertue from Satan unto God A Turning from a bad life is nothing else but a Separation of a mans self from profane uses unto Holiness As when a Child and Heir of Hell becomes one of the Sons of God in Scripture Phrase this work of Conversion is called a Ceasing from evil and a learning to do well A putting off of the old man and a putting on of the New and it is called a new Creature a Conformity to Christ in his Death and Resurrection or according to the same Apostle elsewhere Be not conformed to this World but rather transformed by the renewing of your minds Or lastly in our Saviours Language A seeking the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof and being holy as he is holy in all manner of Conversation Therefore Christians as you desire to have Peace with God and your own minds live soberly righteously and godly in this World Labour to prove the truth of your Profession by your pious practices Endeavour to become living Images of God Vessels of honour and Temples of the Holy Ghost I might argue against Sin from the common mischiefs of it and remind Sinners of the Labyrinths into which it leads them and assure you that Gods Service is perfect freedom For if all the happiness which Christian Religion propounds to us were only confined to such Promises as have a relation to eternal Bliss it might be thought that the Lord Jesus was only careful to make the end of a Christian Race glorious yet had neglected to make the way pleasant which leadeth thither But if it be truly considered on the other hand that those very Precepts which are enjoyned as the Rules of our duty are in themselves infinitely conducing to our own present satisfaction then we must conclude that none can be miserable in the next World but only such Sots as will not give God leave to make them happy in this For the Laws of the holy Jesus are so agreeing to our Natures that the Execution of them are as great expedients of our present happiness as Testifications of our duty so that our duty and our priviledges run parallel in one Line In the next place as Conversion relates to our Wills so also to our Understandings that we may have such Notions of God and his Worship as becomes the Solemnity of that duty we owe to our God And what dangerous Errors Education and Prejudice may breed is very obvious to all that have made remarks in the World For we know that a dangerous Principle hath hurried many into desperate Practices Saint Paul's Zeal for the Mosaick Law made him spurn against Christ himself So that the immoralities and debaucheries of some men are less dangerous than their Tenents God forbid that any thing that I say should give the least countenance unto Vice but to shew that we may fly from one extreme to another I may compare the enormities of Vice to a Sore that is Ulcerated Nauseous and Offensive to all mens view Errors in our Judgment or a false worship of God is like to a Sore skinned over though not so offensive to our Senses yet more dangerous to the Vitals Our Saviour told the Scribes and Pharisees that Harlots and Publicans entered into the Kingdom of God before them not that we are to think that the Kingdom of God is a place for either Harlots or Publicans as such but that the recovery of the one is more hopeful than the recovery of the other The Profane person is sick but then he and all men know it The Heretick is sick but he thinks himself well and so neglects all means for a remedy and the cure of such a one becomes a wonder The Subject I have chose this day is copious and from it I might present you with many particulars but I must forbear and come to the Application which I must Center in my self When thou art converted c. I hope this Scripture is fulfilled this day on my self being a Monument of God Almighties mercy in bringing me from the gross Superstitions of Popery to the glorious light of the Gospel and seeing the Consequent of my Text is the strengthening of my Brethren I shall now give you some few of the principal motives which drew me from my former perswasions You must know I was bred and Catechized in all the absurd Doctrines and Practices of the Romish Church and no little Zealot in that way I was ordained Deacon and Priest and made Confessor General throughout the Kingdom of Ireland was a Frier of the Order of St. Francis and afterwards Superiour of a Convent and Chaplain to several eminent persons of qualety in that Kingdom Upon a certain time I accidentally came to a publick house to refresh my self I found that a lewd Priest had pawned the consecrated Host to the woman of the house for five and thirty Shillings which I redeemed And with this remarke that Christ was made by him not an Offering for Sin but a Sacrifice for his Lust I need not tell you how great the Scandal was to my self but augmented by considering that the Person was a Superiour of an Order and in great reputation among his People There are many sad circumstances in the story but I will forbear at present to mention them Upon this great disgust I began to dispute

fury of the Papists there against me and others one whereof being Guardian of a Friery and after some Correspondence with me had inclination to become a Protestant whereof Talbot that goes by the name of Arch Bishop of Dublin understanding Excommunicated him and the whole Inhabitants of two Parishes procured a Warrant from the Lord Dungan who is a Papist and made a Justice since the Indulgence to take the said Guardian or Prior who being brought before him he caused him to be laid in Irons and committed to a Dungeon where he remained till complaint was made to the Counsel of Ireland whereupon the Councel dispatched Sir Henry Ingoldsby to know the truth thereof with a Habeas Corpus for his Removal who found him in the Condition before related and committed for High Treason as appeared by his Mittimus whereby he could not be removed but all the said Sir Henry Ingoldsby could do by being bound for his true Imprisonment was to procure him the liberty of the Town and a Tollerable Roome to Lodg in till he should be delivered by due course of Law All which I am ready to prove not only of my own knowledg but also by the Testimony of several persons of Quality some whereof are now in this Kingdome and many other things of like nature which to avoyd prolixity I now omit but if desired will shew the particulars By the Lord Lieutenant General and General Governour of Ireland ESSEX WHereas we are informed that Anthony Egan Clerk the last Sabbath day and several other times hath been Assaulted abused and disturbed in the Street and other places by Boys and other disorderly loose and idle persons to his great discouragement in the performance of his Function and contrary to his Majesties Lawes and all good Order Government For prevention of the like disorders in the future We do hereby strictly Charge Require and Command all Magistrates Justices of the Peace Sheriffs and their Officers Constables and all other his Majesties Officers and loving Subjects whomsoever not only to permit the said Anthony Egan and his Servant quietly and peaceably to pass from place to place as they or either of them shall have occasion within this City and Suburbs or elsewhere in this Kingdom but in case they or either of them shall hereafter be Assaulted Abused or Disturbed or any manner of Violence or Injury offered unto them or either of them openly or privately they behaving themselves civilly as becometh Loyal Subjects to take apprehend and secure all such person or persons of what age condition or sort soever they are that shall be found offending as aforesaid in any kind and carry them before the Lord Mayor of this City or the next Justice of the Peace to the place where they shall be taken to be punished according to Law Given at his Majesties Castle in Dublin the 4th day of February 1672. Henry Forde This following Commendatory was given to the Author by his Superior a little before he was Converted to the Church of England TEnore praesentium licentiam concedo fratri patri Antonio Egano nostri instituti confessario eundi ad Commitatum de Clare circa quaedam negotio per agenda nobis nota quibus finitis sicut ipsi videbitur expediens revertatur praecipue commendo praefatum Antonium omnibus Christi fidelibus ad quos contigerit in via ut benigne charitative illum tanquam verum obedientiae filium recipiant 15. March 1670. Frater Carolus Mack Carty Guardianus