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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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And for your Loyalty to King Charles I. was it not for your own Protection For the wrath of God was so upon you for you Sins and Iniquities that you might very well have the Fear of Cain upon you And as for the Liturgy and Discipline what made it so hateful but because we had Complied as near as we could to you for Unities sake And the Occasion of the War and of that Good Prince losing His Life and Crown might be for ought I know for Sheltering such Unfortunate Men as you are for you were not so Sensible nor so Honest as Jonah was for he declared the Truth That he was the Man that had Offended and by his Counsel the Ship was Sav'd but you are of a contrary Nature for you do not care if you perish your Selves so others perish with you but the Saints and Servants of God are not of that Nature as Abraham Moses David and Christ Himself for He undertook Death that we might Live and Poverty that through Him we might be made Rich but You are an Enemy for you would have none Rich but your selves thinking thereby to enslave us and triumph over us Therefore I find you have the Nature of Cain who Envied his Brother because his own Deeds were Evil. For my part I can call God to Witness I have been always for the Peace of the King and Kingdom and there is nothing in the World that is dearer to me than the Kings Life and Happiness and if I had a Thousand Lives I could Sacrifice them all in Vindication of His Sacred Majesty without the hope of Rewards or Gain and there is none of my Enemies can Object any thing against me but being over Zealous for my Soveraign Lord For my Blessed Saviour hath Taught me That I cannot serve Two Masters and the Primitive Christians were always olig'd to be for the Interest of the Prince in whose Dominions they Lived so that it is our Christian Duty to Love and Pray for our own Prince but we have nothing to do with any other and whoever is for the Interest of another cannot be a True Subject to their own Therefore my Resolution iâ— That I will be True to my God my King and my Countrey and I am resolv'd by the Blessing of Almighty God never to Change if I were to suffer a Thousand Deaths because God hath Instructed me in that Way from my Infancy and I find it most agreeable to the Word of God and my Temper for I am naturally Inclin'd to Love Kingly Auâ—hority And as for my Faith it is to Believe Sincerely in Christ and there is no other Faith whereby any one can be Saved for I am sure He is the Infallible Rock and I have always kept to that from the beginning â—â—d I hope I will continue so to the end And as for The Changes of Relâ—gious â—orship that is not any thing as to Matter of Faith for Prayer may 〈…〉 according to Peoples Occasions for they were never design'd to be Infaâ—â—â—◠〈…〉 if the Common Prayer hath been Altered I did not care if it had been Altered again and again rather than it should be a stumbling Block to any thâ—â—here is not any thing but what I like and love and I think There is no Good Christian but may say Amen to them and I could Wish our Hearts were as Holy as the Prayers are good then I am sure there is no Body would be weary of them But hath not such as you put the people out of Love with them in saying They came out of your Mass Book and this you did to Wound the Church of England for Her Good Will towards you but you may see how the people Love you for they will not accept of any thing from you tho never so good and if they will not accept of that they may I hope they will not accept of that which they may not for if they do they will not deserve the name of Men and how much less then will they be worthy of the name of Christians for if they do not own Christ now they shall not be own'd hereafter Sir I wonder how you dare Condemn the Church of England I mean that part of it which is for the King Common Prayer and Bishops for Her Faith Teaches Her Piety to Her God and Loyalty to Her Prince therefore She may appropriate to Her Self alone The Principles of True Loyalty above all for Her Doctrine is True and Exhorts all to Repentance and Good Works and Teaches a True Faith in Christ and doth not Judge any Hereticks that differs with Her but owns that whoever truly believes in Christ and Works Righteousness may be in a State of Salvation and She is Christs Beloved Spouse and He will own Her and I doubt not but Her Faith is great enough with Gods Help to stand against all Her Opposers for Christ will Beautifie Her for His Words sake for tho She doth not Teach us that Presumption as to think that any Man is Infallible yet She owns Gods Word to be Infallible and Eternal and a Perfect Guide to Salvation I wonder how any one can be Her Enemy but why should I Was it not so from the beginning for was not Cain Envious against Abel and was not brave and renowned Men in their Generations Enemies to Moses and did not the High Priests Plot against my Blessed Saviour And did not Christ tell his Disciples That the time would come that they should think they did God good Service to destroy them They were not Heathens that did it but those Mistaken Christians that thought they should Merit by it for I find all along that Satan hath made use of those that ought to be the greatest Friends to be the most Inveterate Enemies as when he made use of a Disciple to betray his Lord and that great Disciple that declar'd most Love to his Lord was the first that disown'd Him. This is the Spite of our Spiritual Adversary and the Wisdom of God suffered it so to be that we should not Trust in any thing but in the most High God that always takes care of them that Trust in Him and none can prevent the Providential care that God takes of His and Christs Church must look to be Persecuted by the Enemies of Her Lord but through Him She shall be more than a Conquerer Who is he that is so Presumptions to Brand her with Killing of Kings She Abhors such Doctrines for She is a Preserver of Kings and Princes and makes more of Her Word than the Enemies doth of their Infallible Promise and I doubt not but it will pass currant Hath not you been Angry with her Kings for Her sake and for what Reason only because She owned the Word of God in Sincerity And out of Envy you sent Men to divide Her Members and destroy Her Government and have you not been Contriving Her Ruin all along and Tranâ—forming your selves into all Shapes to
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 It is not Interest that moves me to this for I never made Gain of any thing that ever I did nor none I do desire for it was nothing but the Fear of Gods Judgments that hath been the sole Cause of all my Actions for above these Twenty years London Printed for me Elinor James 1687. An Advice to the CHVRCH of ENGLAND AS for Conscience I do not count it a sufficient Guide because it is not so Infallible but it is subject to Err and therefore it ought to be Guided by the Word of God for I find those that will not be Guided by that doth not yield Civil Obedience to Temporal Magistrates and how can they to God And therefore I am not so much for Liberty of Conscience But since it is the Kings Pleasure I rest satisfied for if they misimploy it is not Gods Hand long enough to reach them But who knows but that God that Converted St. Paul may Convert them all that are Zealous and did not intend any thing else but His Glory but for those that are Envious you must not look that they will ever be otherwise I know they offended you because they pretend to be Loyal Subjects Indeed I wonder how they dare say so when the World knows they never had any But why should any be unwilling to return the King Thanks I think it is no more than what every one is obliged to and since the King was pleased to Renew His Promises that none need to doubt his Fidelity I think it is but Reason to renew your Thanks And as for Oxford they are no Example because none lies under their Circumstances but when His Majesty is pleased to remove their Doubts I don't question but that they will be forward enough with their Addressing and 'till that be done I cannot blame them but I find you scruple because you will not be after the Dissenters what a simple Pride is that For a Christian ought to Imitate all Good Things and therefore there is no Excuse Fear not any thing but Trust in God Love the King and be Kind one to another and do not Addict your selves to any thing but what is Agreeable to Christianity And I think you are obliged to frequent the Prayers of the Church for Christ did it and how much more ought we I am very ambitious that you should exceed others I have always Loved the Church of England and therefore I would have them to be Dignified above all and that the Love of God should be the Mover of all their Actions As for Mr. Dryden though some blame him for using my Name I do not because he hath used it civilly Indeed I do not know him nor never read his Book but I am told that he doth Abuse the CHVRCH of ENGLAND for which I blame him For I count it not Wisdom for a Wit to Reflect on that he so lately own'd I hear there are Queries Cried but I have not seen them but understand they are of the same Nature O that I were but a Man I would study Night and Day and I do not doubt but I â—â—ould be more than a Conquerer and so I hope to be nevertheless Mrs. JAMES's VINDICATION OF THE CHURCH of ENGLAND c. SIR I Am very sorry to think that you should be always such a Subtle Adversary but you say You never had an Opportunity to shew your Spite and Malice until now You say you could never find a Convincing Reason and what was the Cause Is it not because it doth not consist with your Interest for that is all that you aim at for that is the God of this World and he hath blinded your Eys and stupified your Understanding and thickens your Scall so that if an Angel came to Instruct you you would not be able to receive it if it did not agree with your Interest I thought Liberty of Conscience might have chang'd your Disposition seeing that the Kings Intention is so Gracious as thinking it is the best way to Unite our Differences and to heal our Breaches and you know it was the Care of the King and Parliament to prevent Scandalous Pamphlets against the King and Government and therefore it is strange to me how you can Print your Paper with Allowance when it is of such a Pernicious Nature and its whole Aim is against the Government surely those Gentlemen that had the Care of the Government are very Negligent or else you dare not say With Allowance certainly none that is in Authority would grant it you and if they did they must be Treacherous to their Trust and are no Friend to the King and Government for can there be any thing of a more Pernicious Consequence than this that would destroy the very Foundation How do you think I can bear it when God hath fill'd my Heart full of Love and Loyalty and I know you Abuse them for you have no cause to call their Loyalty into question for I know Their Loyalty and have been a Labourer with Them therefore I have the greater Reason to Plead for them but I know you will say I am a Woman and why should I trouble my self Why was I not always so when I pleaded with the Parliament about the Right of Succession and with Shaftsbury and Monmouth and at Guild-Hall and elsewhere and I made Applications to my late Soveraign Lord the King whom my Soul Loved That he would be pleas'd to let me Undertake for the City and to make me a God Mother to which the King Answered It would be too great an Undertaking for me but I replied That if it might not be for all that it might be for some and the King granted my desire and I ask'd His Majesty whether He would not wish Well to it and the King Replied Ay with all my Heart and Soul Was not he a Gracious Prince for I am sure He sought nothing but the True Interest of His People but I know such as you are none of His Friends for you did all you could to Pervert his Kingdoms and Sow â—ivisions amongst his People and by such Doings you made his Throne Uneasie Indeed then you might be for the Dukes Interest because it was your own but I am sure it was His loss for before He looked toward you all the People Lov'd and Admir'd Him And who was the cause of the Change was it not you That went up and down Incensing the People of the great Proselites you had made for I suppose you are a Priest and they were of the same Nature for they came to me and I know what they said therefore I find such as you are the Plotters for they troubled me many Weeks together and I thought I should never get Rid of them but I Fasted Seven Days and Nights to give the late King a Petition that