Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A46622
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Mrs. James's vindication of the Church of England in an answer to a pamphlet entituled A new test of the Church of England's loyalty.
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James, Elinor.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing J423; ESTC R36027
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14,362
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13
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bring it to pass And who begins all Quarrels but you And do you say That the Church is a Viper No no it is such as you are for you envy our Happiness and would Hurry us into a Confusion because you think the King Loves us too well and stands in the gap to hinder Your Intentions and is like an Angel to keep Peace amongst us that every Man should Enjoy His Right and Property But this is contrary to your Temper for you long to Enjoy what other Men have and therefore the Church of England is the great Eye-sore And since the King hath been so Gracious to give Liberty of Conscience you think that all the Dissenters should be against the Church to Devour Her but God knows it was for your sakes that the Laws were put against Dissenters and how many Good Souls was against it but dare not speak for fear of being counted Whiggs but for my part I made Application to the hate King That the Laws should not be put against them not that I lov'd them so well but I know their Nature and don't delight that any should be Afflicted no not the Roman Catholicks but you intend well to Reward us and for my late Soveraign you have Abused Him sufficiently but you got Money by it Sir I am sorry for your Ignorance that you should think the Church was in Her Infancy in Edward VI. Time. It is a clear Mistake for She hath been ever since Man hath had a Being and do not Despise King Edward for he was a brave Prince and I doubt not but that he is a Saint in Heaven and methinks it is not Wisdom in you to Lampoon upon the Confession of Faith because it was Compiled in Thirty Nine Articles for they will stand when you will fall and for you to say She Set up a Brat of Her own Was it not the Kings desire that it should be so to Prevent Popery and what harm would it have been for Queen Mary if it had been so For her Reign was but Short and her Life full of Trouble and tho she sent a great many to Heaven she will have no Reward for it for she might have been a Better Christian if she had Let Them Alone But why were They so End ous as to Burn the Bibles For whoever Hateth that is an Enemy to God From such the Lord Deliver my Soveraign and all Good Souls And the Lord grant a Right Understanding for what Mischief hath been wrought for want of it For Christ says He is a Door and a Vine and if any could not understand it must they be put to Death Who is the giver of Understanding but God And to some it is not given that they should understand the Mysteries of Heaven and since it hath pleased God to give us a Right Understanding why should you be Angry You had need to pray to God to Rectifie your own Understanding for there is not any thing more like the Devil than Envy And how Destructive would you be if you had but Power that you dare to lay the Death of Queen Mary at our Door when you ought to have blamed the Presbyterians for hunting her out of her Kingdom and if Queen Elizabeth did Cut her off what have we to do with that Should the King be blam'd because the Duke of Monmouth was Rebellious God forbid for I am sure my Soveraign lov'd him so well that he would have delighted to have made him Great and Happy if he had not wrought his own Destruction by his Rebellion therefore let it be upon his own head and to those that Advised him to such a wicked Thing And for to Villifie Queen Elizabeth is a thing I Abhor for I hate any should speak Evil of any Body that is Dead but how much more of Queen Elizabeth And do not all know that King Henry VIII was lawfully Married to Her Mother and if the Pope delayed the Divorce it was no Fault of the King nor Kingdom and did not John the Baptist lose his Head because he told Herod it was not lawful for him to take his Brothers Wife Therefore how dare you to say That the Queen was a Bastard when all the World knows it is a great Lie For every Good Christian ought to Love Her Memory and you to Chusei for if She had not denied her Self that blessed happiness of Marriage my Soveraign Lord had never been King and therefore for His sake as well as Her own I shall always Love and Admire Her Memory And if Gods Providence had not defeated the Powder Plot my Precious Soveraign would not have had a being in this World nor that which is to come Therefore I will always Admire and Adore the God of Heaven that doth prevent the Wicked Intentions of Evil Men. For how hath God preserv'd His Anointed from the Spite and Malice of Men and Devils and from the Raging of the Seas And I hope He will Preserve Him still that He may Glorifie Him that neither Men nor Devils may prevent Him from doing His Liege Duty to God for it is He alone hath Preserv'd Him and kept Him hitherto and I hope He will for ever and ever And that He may not forget who Destroyed His Grandfather Henry IV. of France For They are the Snakes that will sting to Death And for the LAWS they shall stand to Whip such as You that would Destroy both King and Government I know you would Unthrone my Soveraign for to make your selves Lords and Princes ower us but I hope God will never suffer it for I know you are like the Wheadling Dissenters that would not Trust the King with His own Power but pretended they would Employ it and make Him a Glorious Prince but it was to Destroy Him so You would Wheadle the Church to take away Her Power and then you think to do well enough with my Soveraign when you have got the Power and then you 'll shew your Loyalty but I hope the King will keep His Power and Trust to none of you for you will all prove Treacherous if you can but make any Advantage of it for you cannot but know the sinking Condition of your Kingdom and that makes you so Busie therefore you don't care who sinks so you swim But what is it that can hinder Gods Intentions but Repentance and Amendment of Life for that is the Glory that God desires for that end Christ came into the World that God might be All in All and these is no doubt but God makes the Angels Ministring Spirits but they cannot do any thing of themselves for they continually Wait upon the Almighty for when He moves they flee and what Injury can it be to you to pray to God that moves all Things I think it is the greatest Favour that can be given to Mortals but you say You are not Worthy and pray what is the Reason of that For did not Christ Die for all that would lay hold
He might know in what State His Kingdom stood in and though I never saw them afterwards yet I do not question but there was endeavours used to blind Him but if it had pleased God that His Majesty had Liâ—ed a little longer I do not doubt but he would have taken New Measures That you should never have had cause to Boast that you made him a Preselite And as for my Soveraign that now is he is as Sweet and Precious a Pâ—ince as the World can afford and it is pity you should Abuse Him for He is a King of Great Experience and hath Suffered as much as any Prince in the World which doth teach His Majesty such Wisdom that it is His whole Caâ—e to keep His Kingdoms in Peace and to have His People to Flourish and will not disturb the Peace thereof upon any Condition whatsoever and God be Thanked the King hath no need to distrust us for is not His God our God and we acknowledge Him to be a Christian King who Belives in the Almighty who made the Heavens and the Earth and he doth believe that Jesus Christ is His Son and that he came into the World to Save Sinners and I doubt not but that His whole Trust is in His Merits and we all hold and own the same so that we lack nothing but a Holy Life agreeable to the Life of Jesus but I find you are Mettlesome Spirits and want Employ therefore I would desire you to go to the Turks and Infidels and Convert them and in so doing you might expect your Reward and I should like it well but for you to think that you can Convert People when they are Converted already is meer Nonsense for it is Perverting and undoing what the Blessed Spirit hath done which will be a Sin of such a Nature that I would not be guilty of it for all the World. I know you will be Angry but I do not value it for I must discharge my Conscience toward all and if you would have me to be your Friend you must take New Measures and Learn of Christ for he did Good to all and hurt to none and if you would not have me to speak against you you must not give me the Occasion I am sure my Soveraign will not allow you to Villifie and Abuse us for He is a Prince of Justice as well as Mercy and hath promis'd That He will Defend us and not only so but will venture as far as any in our Vindication and the King was satisfied with our Loyalty and declared it to the World and how dare you condemn the Kings Judgment and Scandalize the Church for all that knows Her knows Her to be the only Church for Loyalty for doth any of you own the King to be Supream Head and Governour but She And for your part all the World knows what you own so that my Soveraign cannot be your Supream Governour and therefore there is no Comparison to be made I my self can Weigh you all down for Loyalty and if I can do so much for that am but one what shall we all do Therefore I know the King will not be Angry with me if I Vindicate the Church of England for in Vindicating of Her I Vindicate His Majesty which I have always done for when the Peers Speech Abused my Soveraign I Answered it for I hate Rebellion and the Church doth not hinder any one from that Singular Gift of Loyalty for Her Desire is That all should Fear God and Honour the King and She is the Spouse of Christ and He will own Her for His Mystical Body and every one that truly believes in Christ is a Member of that Body and all the Members makes the Whole and Her Doctrine is Holy I wish those that own Her would Live according to Her Doctrines for then they would be Safe and Happy She hath been Infallible in Her Duty to Her King which Her Discontented Brethren knows full well for that was the only thing that they laid to Her Charge That She would not be Treacherous to Her Prince nor Side with His Enemies for if She had you would not have been so great as you are now tho She was not for Popery as some thought for indeed She hath always been the Bulwark against it and that makes you Envy Her so for you think if you can but bring Her down you shall do well enough with the Brats whom you Begot tho your Infallible Belief in them may deceive you for though you made them Enemies to the Church of England yet I find they will prove no Friends to the Church of Rome for indeed every Good Soul will rather endure any thing than to be inslaved with Popery And as for the Church of England She never Lived under the Slavish Fear of it as the Dissenters did but doth Trust God with all and desires nothing else but to Serve God Truly and the King Rightly And as for Her Revelations as you say is Peculiar to Her Self is a clear Mistake and yet Her Lord and Head hath promised That the gates of Hell shall not prevail against Her And what is the Gates of Hell But all those things that lead us to Darkness and Ignorance and to fling down Gods Holy Will and to set up the Will of Men and secretly makes us to be an Enemy to Christ and a Friend to Anti-Christ But Christ is able to Save HIS OWN and that you shall know for He hath His Chosen People amongst all and I really do believe He hath His Saints and Servants in the Church of Rome as well as any other and I hope our of His Infinite Mercy He will Reconcile our Differences and make us Happy And as for those that envies our Happiness They shall not be able to stand before the Almighty in the Day of His Anger for His Power is able to disperse them and to blow them away in a Minute as his Divine Power did the Locusts Therefore I would Advise all the Enemies of the Church of England to be Quiet and Amend for the time to come for while we are Contriving the Ruin of one another God may justly destroy us all and bring in the Heathens who may bring forth better Fruits than we And for your Allowing our Loyalty to King Charles I. I do not thank you for it is well known or else you would not have owned it For that Destruction of Three Kingdoms and the Death of the Best of Princes is Writ in Gods Book and who shall be called to an Account for it God Almighty knows but I am sure You cannot be Acquitted For was it not the Fear of Popery with your Pride that caused the Difference when you Compelled the Queen to go bare-foot and in the mean time such as you Rid in Her Coach to the great Hazard of Her Life For as I was told She Miscarried who did you learn it of I am sure not of Christ nor His Disciples