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A40371 A sermon preached in Christ's-Church, Dublin, on the 23d. of October, 1698 being the anniversary thanksgiving for putting an end to the Irish Rebellion, which broke out on that day, 1641, before the House of Lords / by Nathanael Lord Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. Foy, Nathaniel, d. 1707. 1698 (1698) Wing F2046; ESTC R33792 19,692 32

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that Massacre to Males only and those but of Two Years of Age or under and within the Confines only of a little Village and the Territories of it which could not but exceedingly lessen the Numbers and abate the Horror of the Fact whilst the Cruelty of this Day was confin'd within no bounds but ravaging over a whole Spacious Kingdom spar'd neither Age nor Sex against which neither Piety Innocence of Infants to invite Compassion nor the Infirmity of Age to beg it no nor the Strength of Valiant Men gave the least Security as being unarm'd and asleep but all were alike involv'd in the same miserable Ruine Again that which must be acknowledg'd to turn the Scale exceedingly in favour of Herod was that what he did was purely upon principles of State to secure the Crown to himself and the Succession of it to his Family And truly no wonder such a petty precarious Prince as Herod was jealous of his Crown since the great Lords of the Universe the Roman Emperors were not free from Jealousie that they who should Govern the World were to come out of Judea of which they had been admonish't by a Prophetick Oracle Ex Judea profecti rerum potirentur Recorded by Tacitus Suetonius and other Heathen Authors which became matter to them of great Apprehension Whilst we were Murder'd purely to shew us the way to Heaven and to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ tho' he himself dy'd to save the Blood of this day from being spilt i. e. to plant the Doctrine of Peace and Charity but the Romanists have Defeated his Passion of that end Amongst the Heathen Cruelties the greatest were undergone by Christians in Ten Bloody Prosecutions under the Roman Emperors and are handed down to us in the Martyrologies of the Church but even these as to many circumstances of aggravation fell short of what this miserable Nation suffer'd For what the Primitive Christians suffer'd was by force of an Establisht Law of the Empire which tho' unjust yet they had a fair Tryal and many times great and effectual Arts were us'd not only to save them upon their Tryals but to hinder them likewise from being Try'd as may appear by Trajans Rescript to Pliny in favour of them But we suffer'd not only without but against the force of all the Muncipal Laws of the Land which were in favour of us and not only against them but also against the Laws of Friendship of Mutual Obligations and Hospitality which us'd to be so Sacred in this Nation The Primitive Christians had time given them to prepare for Death had their Friends about them to minister Comfort to them were Executed in the Face of the Sun were permitted to call upon their God and allow'd a decent Burial whilst we fell Sacrifices to the insatiable rage of our profest Friends in the dead silence of Night had not time to prepare for Death nor to cry to God for mercy but were hurried before the Tribunal of another World before we well knew we were leaving this and our mangl'd Carcasses exposs'd to the Birds of the Air and the Beasts of the Field To conclude what the Primitive Christians suffer'd was from the profest Enemies of the Cross of Christ not inlighten'd by the Gospel but under strong and inveterate prejudices against it whilst our Blood was spilt by Christian Hands and Offer'd up upon Christian Altars and what carries the aggravation yet higher that very Order of men which beyond all other Christians profess themselves to be of the Society of Jesus were the contrivers of all these mischiess they Decreed us to Death nay were the Supervisors in many places to put the Sentence in Execution To add the last finishing and master stroke to all which all these Barbarities are laid upon the most Righteous the Meekest the Mildest and best of Princes a Prince who abating the inseparable Infirmities of mankind had no Crime beyond good Nature and Modest a man who by Nature was so inclin'd to Forgive and by his Enemies so us'd to it that he had quite forgotten that Resentment which is so inseparable from other Princes and so necessary in all one who was ever jealous of his own abilities tho' wonderfully great had no defect in Wisdom but that he was willing to Learn where he was able to Dictate It is of this Prince they say tho' with a far different intention from that of Pilate's Behold the Man that they might at once Murder his Reputation and his Person But it is the peculiar of the Romish Church to attempt nothing but what is Great and Monstrous in its kind horrid and affrightful against Sense against Reason against Experience and against Humanity But the highest Aggravation remains yet untouch'd the Romish Church is not yet glutted no not so much as satiated with Blood but like the Grave and Barren Womb those only Hieroglyphicks of it cry Give Give The Babylonish Furnaces do yet rage and we must never expect they will be permitted to go out whilst the Host the golden Image of the Pope is every where Erected and there be any Children of the Captivity found who refuse to bow down to it And of such we hope if ever a sad occasion shall be offer'd there will always be great numbers amongst us who for the Word of God and the Testimony of a good Conscience will not only patiently but chearsullay suffer whatever the rage and fury of our Enemies shall think fit to expose us to or lay us under And now we proceed to the Third and Last particular Thirdly The wonderful force of a misguided and ill-grounded Zeal which usually is fiercer and more impetuous than a true one Of which much need not be said were there time for it since what has been already offer'd is a full proof of it and of which we have two more very plain ones in this Chapter viz. St. Paul before his Conversion compar'd with himself afterwards and the Behaviour of Demetrius with that of the Town-Clerk's Of St. Paul before his Conversion we have this and a much larger account of the same Nature That he h●led Christian men and women to Prison breathing out threatnings and slaughter against them consenting to their Death and sometimes assisting at it None of which we hear of him after his Conversion when he had a better Cause and a well grounded Zeal and I Judge no one will say St. Paul was a less zealous Christian than he had been a Jew He with the rest of the Apostles could peaceably lay down their Lives in Defence and Proof of what they said but they knew nothing of taking away the Lives of other men because they would not believe them They told their Hearers that Christ was a Heavenly-born Person and they endeavour'd to convince them by Reason Scripture where it was proper and Miracles that they spake truth but we never find them sharpning their Arguments nor driving them in with Fire and Sword no nor