Selected quad for the lemma: king_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
king_n	bishop_n	house_n	queen_n	489,945	5	12.5858	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53135	The countermine, or, A short but true discovery of the dangerous principles and secret practices of the dissenting party, especially the Presbyterians shewing that religion is pretended but rebellion is intended : and in order thereto, the foundation of monarchy in the state and episcopacy in the church are undermined / by one who does passionately wish the prosperity of the Church, his King and country.	Nalson, John, 1638?-1686.	1677 (1677)	Wing N96; ESTC R7744	126,642	332

in Authority But for all his Exhortation in a two hours Prayer first or last you shall hear but little of that or if the King be named his Titles of Supremacy are not recited or at most but half-way and if he be faintly acknowledged the Defender of the Faith it must not be said that he is Supreme in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal for you must know a Presbyter is as great an Enemy to the Supremacy as a Papist and challenges an underivative-power in Spiritualibus from Christ himself to whom the King is but a Subject and by consequence even in all Temporals in ordine ad spiritualia to every petty Presbyter Oh rare and absolute and more than Papal Church-Tyranny O most excellent Arbitrary Spiritual Government How consistent art thou with Monarchy and with that old and true Aphorism of State Imperium non patitur Duos Empire is incompatible with Rivals and it must be aut Caesar aut nullus Sometimes they will in general terms pray for Him whom God hath set over us an Expression not without Malice according to that place in the Psalms Set thou an ungodly Man to Rule over them They might as well say Whom God has appointed or ordained to be over us which is a Scripture-Expression But I fear they do not think or believe the King and his Power to he of God's appointment for if they did they would endeavour to lead a quiet and peaceable life in all Godliness and Honesty and not think it lawful to draw a Sword against him or think such an Oath unlawful as would tye their Hands from doing it though with the nice distinction betwixt the King and the Person And let them but make it their own Case I dare say they will not be willing to hang up the Presbyter for fear you should also choak the Man This they have done and that they would not be accounted Changelings is plain by their unwillingness to renounce the Devil and all his Works the Covenant and Ingagement to live without King and House of Lords AS for our most Gracious Queen Katherine James Duke of York and the rest of the Royal Family the Bishops and Clergy they never come in their Mouths or Memories so that either the Apostles general Rule to pray for all Men especially for all that are in Authority must be Iyable to an Exception if they think fit or else Queens Dukes and Bishops are No-body with them or not in Authority that is a lawful Authority and indeed that is it which they would be at THERE is nothing which has gain'd these Men that Veneration amongst the Vulgar which this Imposture has done which they endeavour to impose upon easie beliefs whilst they pretend in these Extempore Effusions to be immediately inspired by the Spirit of God which all dissenters cannot be and I am afraid none of them are 1 Cor. 14.14 The Apostle St. Paul speaks of praying with the Spirit but it is manifest that he means there that Miraculous Effusion of the Holy Ghost who for the better propagation of the Gospel gave them utterance in several Languages and let me but hear any one of these men pray in Latine with that fluency as they do in English and I will believe they pray with the Spirit though many of them it may be if they could do that neither in Latine nor English with Understanding But the truth is the Book by which they were taught is not yet made free of the City and it would puzle Cicero himself with all his long-winded Sentences to bestow the Idiom of his Language in which he was so great a Master upon some of their Prayers which are hardly tolerable true English Latine is a Language familiar enough all over Europe and some of them have been educated in it though with others it is the Mark of the Beast and if they had truly the assistance of the Spirit it were as easie for that to teach them to pray in that Tongue as well as in any other and when they can I shall willingly spare them the trial of Hebrew Greek Syriack Arabick c. mentioned Acts chap. 2. But it suffices they say it is by the Spirit and the People who believe they speak as the Oracles of God they believe it and from hence draw a Conclusion that those Persons are the best men in the World having the Spirit in such an extraordinary measure above their Brethren AND this is not the smallest Engine which they make use of to undermine the Church of England and to render the solemn Service of God contemptible All set Forms being as they say dull dead flat and spiritless though they are in a great measure the express words of Scripture and warranted by ancient usage in the Church if not from the Apostolical Times at least from the very next and immediate Age unto them Yet one of their Disciples did not long ago in the presence of several witnesses openly declare That what we call Divine Service and the Worship of God was Blasphemy and the using those Prayers blaspheming not honouring or serving God and since they are all learnt Jurare in verba we may well believe he spoke as he had heard the true sentiments and opinion of his Master NOW that we may discover the greatness of this dangerous and popular Cheat we will first make our Appeal to their own Judg the Scripture Go we then to him who is the Way the Truth and the Life and to whom should we go but to him who has the words of Eternal Life And if we will hear him he gives us an express Charge against Battologies S. Mat. 6.7 8 9. and much speaking in our Prayers and commands a short Prayer and a Form too Whatever long Prayers may be he tells us they look like Hypocrisie and Superstition But when ye Pray say Our Father c. And use not vain Repetitions as the Heathens do for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking Be not ye therefore like them but after this manner pray How well they observed this Rule we need trouble our selves no further to find out if we can but remember that it is not yet twenty years ago since the Lords-Prayer was accounted unlawful and by some scandalous and indeed was generally out of Fashion in the Pulpit and so it is still amongst many Dissenters and yet then they would have us believe they pray'd by the Spirit as well as they do now and I believe they did but it must be the same Spirit which made Saul throw his Javelin at the Musician For it taught them the same Practice not only to be angry with the Musick but to kill the Musicians and put all out of Tune I am sure it could not be the Spirit of Christ which taught them to break and despise a Command of Christ for he tells us that promised Spirit shall speak what he hath heard

Beloved as I came hither I saw that place of Idolatry naming the Cathedral Ah! poor Souls A pitiful man I warrant him thought I with my self that live in that place of Superstition what will become of you but you my friends are not in darkness but under the precious Sunshine of the Gospel-Light And so he went on And in truth the treatment which these Sacred and Venerable Places met with in the time of their Empire is sufficient to convince us of that respect and kindness they have for them Our Lord upbraids the Wicked Jews for making the House of God which was to be a House of Prayer for all Nations a Den of Theeves and a house of Merchandize what may we then think of those Men who once made St. Pauls whose very Ruins are one of the Wonders of the World not only a publique Exchange and a Den of Theeves but of Murderers a stable for Horses far more innocent Beasts and less Brutish than their Riders and if ever there were Hippocentaurs in the World it was they for the Horse and Man were both of a piece It were a pretty Subject for a Romance and so great was the impiety that future Ages will scarcely believe it any other to relate the Pious Adventures of the Knights Errant of those dayes what fierce Battels they had with the painted Glass Windows with Christ and his twelve Apostles the Saints and Martyrs Where-ever they met with them they were sure to suffer in Effigie How many right Doughty Knights they overthrew and kill'd over and over after they had been dead some Ages only because their Superstitious Marbles were in the idolatrous posture of Kneeling and more certainly Praying to some Popish Saint in the neighbouring window In vain was it that they had taken Sanctuary in those Holy Places they could not protect themselves nor be at rest till by their looking like Skeletons they gave an ample testimony to all that saw them that they were Dead and as they thought beyond the hopes of a Resurrection though God be praised in that particular they were no true Prophets and we have seen those dry Bones live and flourish again Long may they do so Long live and flourish And here I cannot omit a pleasant passage which happened at a place where Ireton had his Quarters in the late times and which I have since seen In his zeal against Images at the Church whose windows were very Beautiful he made all the twelve Apostles and many other Saints suffer a second Martyrdom only the Picture of the old Dragon vomiting the Flames of Hell out of his Mouth was spared and for old acquaintance left intire and undefaced which was then by the Inhabitants taken notice of and who was his Saint not without applying the proverb Like to Like quoth the Devil to the Collier But had these Men power I am satisfied they could make good use of the Places even the same that Judas would have had made of the precious Oyntment Jo. 12.5 sell them and give them to the Poor and 't is easie to guess who those are for though they abhor Idols Rom. 2.22 as they account these places yet they think it no Sin to commit Sacriledge and we may remember that some of the Cathedrals were once exposed to Sale though as it was observed the gains the purchasers made of their Bargains was like Aurum Tholosanum which made all those who had it die Beggars and miserable But the Persons are their greatest Eye-sore being as they complain Goads in their Sides and Thorns in their Eyes the Houses and Inheritance might do them good if the present owners were but dispossessed of them and at this they strike fair whilest they perswade the People all they can that the present Office of a Bishop as it is in use in the Church of England is a meer humane invention That by the Bible Bishops and Presbyters are all one That they Lord it over the Flock of Christ and that their Authority which with so much Rigor they Exercise over the Church of God and especially over tender Consciences and good Men is a meer Tyrannical Vsurpation upon the Liberties of their fellow Labourers in the Gospel They are not altogether so busie upon this Theme in Publique as formerly they were when their Tongues were their own and there was no Lord over them not so much as Soveraign Lord or Lord Bishop to restrain them which were brave Dayes of Liberty indeed But I make no Question but they ply it in Private and I am the apter to believe it because the unwary now and then blab it out And it was but the other day that one of this Tribe a little heated with discourse could say before a great many Persons of a contrary Judgment to his What do you think the Bishops fit to govern the Church undoubtedly He did not nor do any of them and had not his fear pull'd him by the sleeve and given a check to his overforward Tongue no doubt but he would have produced all the strong Reasons of the Cabal for the proving of the Negative And this I dare confidently affirm that there is not one in a hundred of them who have drunk of this Poison but hate the present Office if not the Person of a Bishop who may have done them much Good but never any injury and possibly one whom they never saw in all their Lives Did the Commons of England understand what great Immunities and Priviledges they possess by the perswasions and powerful influences of some former Bishops upon our Kings and the Laws they would find that they have a great deal of Reason to Love and Honour the present Bishops for the sake of their Predecessors My Design being not so much to pretend to the full Determination of Controversies as to discover the secret practices of these dangerous People I will not undertake the Quarrel nor undervalue those Reverend Fathers of the Church by taking up the Gantlet for them lest under the pretence of doing them Justice by my ill Managery of so great and good a Cause I might affront and injure both them and it I was always of the Opinion that every man is not a fit Combatant for all Truths and I have not yet shaken hands with that Modesty which hitherto has made me esteem my self of their Number who may want Ability rather than Will or Courage to do them service And indeed as they are sufficiently able without calling Auxiliaries to their assistance they have already several of them vindicated their own Cause Office Institution Succession and whatever does concern them so learnedly fully and Effectually that it were but to light a Candle to the Sun for me to go about it Leaving them therefore to the Management of their own Affairs let us return to our Propose and having heard what are the Opinions of these Dissenters concernign the Places and Persons we now come to take their

I promise you in some Company where he thought he might be bold lamenting the looseness and vitiousness of the Times and the blame being laid at the Door of the Inferiour Magistrates who were so remiss in putting the Laws in Execution Pray says he how can it be otherwise when there are none in Authority but the God-damm'ees and though no former Prince has so highly obliged them as his present Majesty by the Act of Oblivion and a General Pardon since though possibly a better Temper and milder Inclinations are not to be found amongst all Mankind yet for all that I believe the Guards about White-hall at which they grumble so oft calling them a standing Army are a greater Security for him than their Love or Allegiance And I make no dispute but if they had Power proportionable to their Desires if he would not consent to their unreasonable Demands and in Effect depose himself they would make bold in plain English to un-King him and it may be something more as well as his Glorious Father whose Caution I think therefore ought never to be forgotten * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lady Elizabeth's Relation of what the King said to her immediately before his Death To Forgive them but never Trust them For what is a King to them if he be not one of the Elect and that he can never be unless he be of their Church and resolve to Establish their true and Evangelical Ways from which he must therefore be very far so long as he suffers the Laws and his subordinate Ministers of Justice to persecute these People who are the Elect the undoubted Children of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sect. 16. upon the Ordinance against the Common-Prayer-Book And as his late Majesty of blessed memory does in the forementioned Book not improbably Conjecture Possibly that aversion they all have for the Publique Litturgy of the Church is because it does so frequently pray for the King and the Royal Family to which in their Hearts they cannot say Amen and that the Conjecture is not wide of the Mark this following Instance will in some measure make apparent One of this Gang being amongst other Company entertain'd as a neighbour at a friends house immediately as soon as Dinner was done he steps out of the Room into a by Entry and a Clergy-man who was present returning thanks and as is customary and commendable closing his Grace with a short Prayer for the Kings Majesty the Queen and Royal Family this impudent Fellow was by those who stood next the Door heard scornfully and maliciously to say when he came to that Passage Oh! by all Means if it were not for that all were worth nothing and indeed it makes me apt to think that this is one if not the only Reason why they account all the Prayers of the Church worth nothing for they are not yet arrived to that Perfection in Christian Religion to love or pray for their Enemies in which number they never fail to put all Crowned and Mitred Heads How directly contrary this Doctrine is to the Divine Philanthropy the infinite Love of God to all Mankind and indeed to the whole Current and Consent of the Sacred Scriptures how dishonourable to God and disadvantageous to Christian Religion are Subjects already largely and learnedly treated of by other Pens And if as they fell in my Way I have lightly touched upon any of them it is only so far as they were necessary to shew how pernicious this Doctrine of theirs is to themselves and the salvation of their Souls how troublesome unquiet uncharitable and unchristian it is amongst their Neighbours How destructive it is to the Church and Ecclesiastical Government Places Persons and Performances and how irreconcileable and desperately dangerous it is to the State of the present Royal Dignity and Government CHAP. XIII Of their Doctrine of the necessity of Separation from the Wicked which they teach in Private and by their Example in Publick These uses they make of it to know their strength and numbers which they always boast of if possible to bring Authority to comply with their Desires hereby they engross a Trade amongst themselves Of their undermining Authority by making it contemptible by their daily affronting it Of the unlawfulness of Separation from the example of our Saviour and from Scripture Separation by St. Jude made a mark of Reprobation Jeroboams Policy the End of their Separation LET us now proceed to a second Doctrine which is he Spawn of the first and the Daughter of such a beautiful Mother cannot chuse but must be most admirable fair Being the Elect People of God those whom from all Eternity he has out of his infinite Love predestinated to Holiness and Happiness though they are in the World yet they are not of the World and therefore they must Separate from Sinners and be a peculiar People without which they think they are not sufficiently zealous of Good Works which in plain English is That whosoever will be of the Number of the Elect People of God must have no religious commerce with the rest of the World for all other he may and that a true Title to Heaven is only to be hoped for and had in their Church and Communion and by this means they advance the so necessary Point of Separation or Distinction of a Party without which Instruments their Spiritual Carnes and Engines to draw up the Stones after they have hew'd and fitted them by the former Doctrine they cannot go on with or ever hope to finish the New Model of their Church so as to set up the Corner-Stone and with joy and shouting cry Grace Grace unto it for they would only change his Grace of Canterbury into his Grace of Presbytery And this they manage with as little noise as possible and with the same Secrecy and Subtilty as the rest though some people say they can plainly hear the Axes and Hammers go perpetually Psal 77.6 which they lift up to break down the Carved Work of all the Houses of God in the Land in order to their setting up the Synagogues of Satan in the room of them If you discourse with them and put the Question Whether the Church of England is a true Church and whether Salvation may not be obtained in Communion with it They will do all they can to decline the Question and will certainly dissemble their Opinion by telling you They dare not judge every man must stand or fall to his own Master That they forbid or hinder none from coming to our Church whose Consciences will give them leave All which is only to avoid the Pinch of the Controversie and is neither better nor worse but what the Apostle S. Paul calls Speaking Lyes in Hypocrisie 1 Tim. 4.2 For it is evident that they think it unlawful because they abstain from our Church and refuse Communion with us themselves and should they speak never a Word to their