Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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B02681
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A dialogue between two Church of England-men concerning maters [sic] of religion, as set forth in the pulpit.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing D1339A; ESTC R174556
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5,148
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12
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A DIALOGUE Between two Church of England-Men Concerning Maters of RELIGION As set forth in the PULPIT Francis. HOw now Neighbour William you have put on a very Solemn Face this Morning pray what makes you so Sober William Oh! I have had my Head full all this Night of nothing but Fire and Faggots and when I awak'd this Morning I could not perswade my self to open my Eyes or stir Hand or Foot thinking I had been fastn'd to a Stake in Smithfield And the cold Sweat is not off me yet Fran. This was a very Vnseasonable Dream considering the Peace we now enjoy But what should raise these Fancies in your Head at this time of the day Will. I can't tell unless it was the Relicks of a Sermon I heard the last Sunday in which were made several severe Reflections upon the Papists they were not nam'd yet every Body knew the meaning And I believe this has rais'd all the Frightful Notions and horrid Ideas I had in the time of the Popish Plot. And to tell you the Truth these thoughts have been the subject of my Meditation for these Two Hours and I cannot tell how to get them out of my Head. Fran. Fy fy All this in a Dream was pardonable but Awake and Serious and still to go on with these Phantoms reflects upon your Judgment Can you fear a Thunder-bolt when there 's never a Cloud to be seen in the Sky Will. Ay but the Gospel must be fulfill'd Don't you consider that our Ministers preach to us the Gospel And have not they these many years been shewing unto us with the Bible in their Hands the Cruelty and Bloodiness of the Papists their Secret Conspiracies and Open Violence their Treacheries and Falshood their Murthers and Assassinations And when I reflect that at this day we have so many Papists on every side of us Papists in Power Papists Counsellours Papists Commanders Papists Justices so many Papists Souldiers every one a Sword by his side and what is worst of all such a Number of Plotting Jesuits walking the Streets all in Disguise that no Body can tell how or when to get out of their way how can I think of this without trembling Well I shall certainly never dare to go to bed again without a double Guard at my Door And whensoever I lie down I must expect to rise with my Throat cut Fran. You begin to raise the vapors in my Brain And now you have put into my head what the Papists are even according to our Gospel I cann't tell how to think my self safe amongst them If any one should have told us Seven Years ago that within so short a time we should have come to be under their Government could we possibly have surviv'd the News Would not this voice of Terror and Death have left us without Spirit or Life We were then I remember affraid of the very Name and Shadow of a Papist and could we imagine it possible for us at any time to live in Peace and Safety with their Hand and Sword over our Heads Will. No certainly if there was any Truth in our Gospel this could not be possible Fran. Ay but now I think on 't there 's no Gospel to be believ'd contrary to our Senses And therefore since we See and Feel our selves in Peace and Safety amidst so many Papists we must not take those Sermons in a Literal Sense which told us so much of the Bloodiness of the Papists and that there could be no Peace expected for Protestants under such a Government Will. This would be some Relief to an afflicted Soul were this Doctrine a Church of England Doctrine But I fear you have a mind to flatter me into a little Comfort by some vain imagination of your own Fran. No you may rely upon what I tell you I have heard it from Dr. Stilling fleet Tillotson Tennison Sherloc Pellin and the rest of our Ministry that when any thing in the Gospel contradicts our Senses and Reason it is not to be taken in a Literal Sense And do you now apply this Principle to our present Circumstances and see how far it may work upon you Have not we been under a Prince of that Perswasion for above Two Years We have had so many Papists in Office as you contemplate so many Papists Souldiers and such a number of Priests and Jesuits on every side of us and yet have we not all this while enjoyed our Liberty Have we not possess'd our Estates in quiet Has any force been us'd upon our Persons Has any ones Property been invaded Have our Throats been in danger from their Swords or our Houses from Fire-balls Have we been oppress'd with Taxes or wasted in Wars Call in your Eyes and Ears your Hands all your Senses and Reason to witness and if these declare to you the Truth of what I tell you what disturbance can all the Sermons you have formerly heard and now hear cause in you since from the Information of your Senses you are assur'd that those Terrors and Prophetic Threats of Misery and Slavery contain'd in them are not to be understood Literally but in some other Sense which I believe Scholars and Politicians can give a better account of than I Will You give me some ease Death withdraws it self from before my Eyes my Heart begins to dilate it self and my Blood returns into its Vessels But pray Neighbour now you put it into my Head what should be the meaning then of all those Sermons we have heard from our Pulpits concerning the Papists When I come out of Church I cannot imagine the Papists to be any thing but Fools and Ideots Monsters of Impiety and Barbarity And yet in my Conversation and Contracts with them I find them to be like other Men And now as you say we have more fully experienc'd in the Reign of our present Sovereign that in the enjoyment of our Liberty the Peace and Welfare of the Nation we have as great Blessings to expect from a Papist as from any Protestant Prince whatsoever How are these things to be reconcil'd Fran. You put me upon a very Vngrateful Subject But for the relief of your troubles and mine own I 'll lay before you some Observations I have made upon the Pulpit I hope no body ever-hears us Will. No no danger Pray go on and by a charitable Discourse perfect your Cure for if you leave me as I am I fear on the next Sunday the Noise of Popery will make me Relapse Fran. I 'll tell you then About Seven Years ago I took a resolution of making a Collection of all such Sermons as should come out in Print For thought I when I have them by me I shall be able to read them at leisure I can with more seriousness apply my self to that Divine Study and from their Information as from the Gospel learn Truth and Falshood what to embrace and what to fly As I had resolv'd so I did intending by them to steer