Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	bishop_n	king_n	year_n	10,302	5	5.1392	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48123	A letter of several French ministers fled into Germany upon the account of the persecution in France to such of their brethren in England as approved the Kings declaration touching liberty of conscience : translated from the original in French.	Jurieu, Pierre, 1637-1713.; Wake, William, 1657-1737.	1688 (1688)	Wing L1575; ESTC R9560	9,926	8

A LETTER of several French Ministers Fled into Germany upon the account of the PERSECUTION in France to such of their Brethren in England as Approved the Kings Declaration touching Liberty of Conscience Translated from the Original in French. ALtho in our present Dispersion most dear and honoured Brethren it has pleased the Providence of God to conduct us into places very distant from one another Yet that union which ought always to continue betwixt us obliges us to declare our sense to one another with a Christian and Brotherly Freedom upon all occasions that may present themselves to us so to do 'T is this makes us hope that you will not take it amiss of us if at this time we deliver our opinion to you touching the Affairs of England in matters of Religion and with reference to that Conduct which you have observed therein We ought not to conceal it from you That the greatest part of the Protestants of Europe have been extremely scandalized to understand that certain among you after the example of many of the Dissenters have Addressed to the King of England upon the account of his Declaration by which he has granted Liberty of Conscience to the Non-conformists And that some others who had already ranked themselves under the Episcopal Communion nevertheless published the said Declaration in their Churches and this at a time when almost all the Bishops themselves with so much Firmness and Courage refused to do it If we may be permitted to tell you freely what our opinion is concerning the conduct of the Bishops and of the Dissenters in this conjuncture we shall make no difficulty to pronounce in favour of the former We look upon it that they have exceedingly well answered the Duty of their Charge whilst despising their own private Interest they have so worthily supported that of the Protestant Religion Whereas the others for want of considering these things as they ought to have done have given up the interest of their Religion to their own particular advantages It is not out of any complement to the Bishops much less out of any enmity to the Dissenters that we make such different judgments concerning them We know well enough how to commend or blame what seems to us to deserve our Praise or our Censure both in the one and in the other We do not at all approve the conduct of the Bishops towards the Dissenters under the last Reign And altho we do not any more approve that of the Dissenters in separating from their Communion yet we do confess they had some reason in the bottom for it and that the Ceremonies which they have refused to submit to are the Remains of Popery which we could rather wish might have been entirely abolished In this unhappy Schism which has so long time rent the Church of England we look upon it that both Parties have been equally defective in their Charity On the one side the Dissenters ought by no means to have separated themselves for the Form of Ecclesiastical Government nor for Ceremonies which do not at all concern the Fundamentals of Religion On the other side The Bishops should have had a greater Condescension to the Weakness of their Brethren And without doubt they would have acted in a manner more agreeable to the Spirit of the Gospel if instead of treating them with so much Rigor as they did they had left them the Liberty of serving God according to their Conscience till it should have pleased him to re-unite All under the same Discipline However the Conformity of Opinion between the dissenters and Us ought to have prejudiced us in their favour had we been capable of Partiality on this occasion There is also another thing which might have disposed us to judge less favourably of the Bishops than of them and that is the Yoke which they have imposed upon the French Ministers by obliging them to receive a second Ordination before they could be permitted to Exercise their Ministry in the Church of England as if the Ordination they had received in France had not been sufficient But we must do Justice to all the World and bear witness to the Truth We have already said and we must again repeat it It seems to us that on this last Occasion the Bishops have discharged their Duty and are most worthy of Praise whereas the Dissenters on the contrary are extreamly to be ●●●●ned And we will presently offer our Reasons wherefore we judge so of the one and of the other In the mean time most dear Brethren give us leave freely to tell you That if our Brethren the Dissenters of England who have Addressed to the King are to be blamed as we verily believe they are you certainly are much more to be condemned The Hardships under which they had lived for many years without Churches without Pastors without Assemblies made them think the Liberty of Conscience which was offered to them a great Ease Their Spirits soured and prejudiced by the ill Treatments they had received from the Church of England had not freedom enough to let them see that the Present which was made them was Empoison'd And therefore upon the sudden they received it with joy and thought themselves obliged to testifie their Acknowledgment of it But for you who never had any part in the Divisions of the Church of England and who by consequence were in a state to judge more soundly of things How is it that you should not have perceived the Poison that was hid under the Liberty of Conscience offered to them Or if you did not perceive it of your selves how is it that the Generous Refusal of the Bishops tho' at the peril of their Liberty and Estates to publish the Declaration in their Diocesses should not at least have open'd your eyes How have those Venerable Prelates now highly justified themselves from the Reproach that was laid upon them of being Popishly affected and of persecuting the Dissenters only but of a secret Hatred to the Reformation How well have they made it appear that these were only Calumnies invented by their Enemies to render them odious to the Protestants and that their hearts were truly fix'd to the Reformed Religion and animated with a Zeal worthy Primitive Bishops Could you see those faithful Servants of God disobey the order of their Soveraign expose themselves thereby to his Disgrace suffer Imprisonment and prepare themselves to suffer any thing rather then betray their Consciences and their Religion without admiring their Constancy and being touched with their Examples But above all could you resolve by your Conduct to condemn that of those generous Confessors Is this the Acknowledgment which you ought to have made to them for that Charity with which they had received and comforted you in your Exile Is this to Answer the Glorious Quality of Confessors of which you so much vaunt your selves Is this the Act of Faithful Ministers of Christ Give us leave to tell you most dear