Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A57341
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The Ripping-up of Sir John Presbyter's garment, or, The Ground-work of schism laid open to all true Protestant readers, &c
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1679
(1679)
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Wing R1530; ESTC R38037
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8,226
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5
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freed from their Allegiance Wherein they have more then justified the Jesuits for about the beginning of the late Civil Wars a Jesuit wrote a Book in defence of the Loyalty of their Order alledging that Protestants had allowed the Rebellion of Subjects against Princes and gives instance for the same in Buchanan Knox and Goodman and now it fears me that ere it be long another Jesuit may publish a Book to prove that the late Insurrection in Scotland was a greater Rebellion then was the Popish Plot For if matters are carefully inspected we may find our Puritain Brethren have engaged a great part of Scotland and Ireland and many who know not what the matter means so that this may be called the common sin of that Sect whereas the other cannot-be charged upon the Religion of the Papists But perhaps you will say it is Religion that moveth them What! did ever the true Religion allow of Rebellion Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum I know they pretend the defence of the National Confession of their Church and the Oath received by their Forefathers in the year 1581. by the Kings example and commandment but if it be so I will subscribe their Covenant also which is the greatest Curse I can lay upon my mortal Enemy And now I have taken from them all pretences of Religion which is not fit to be a Mask for such Villany I will guess what are the true causes that set them on work not using light conjectures but building on more then probable grounds First That which sets the Clergy on work is self-love which as St. Austine says did build the City of the Devil it is pride singularity ambition and the desire of popular applause they cannot endure to acknowledg a Bishop esteeming themselves men of greater gifts and perfections This pride has been the occasion of many Heresies in the Church as will evidently appear unto those who read the Histories of Arius coveting the Bishoprick of Alexandria of Donatus labouring to have been Bishop of Carthage of Novatus desiring a Bishoprick in Italy and divers others I could name who affected these Honourable places and receiving their several Foyls when through ambition they could not obtain what they sought for in the Church they laboured to gain Honour another way I could also tell you of many who are now Ring-leaders of the Faction here in England as Pemberton Stretton Alsop Whitaker and divers others who publickly preach Sedition and Rebellion in their several Meetings and the King to be a Conspirator against himself If such can be the true Doctrine of Christ as they pretend it is God have mercy on all Protestants Secondly That which sets the Lay-men on work is Convetousness amongst whom not a few would gladly prey as their predecessors have done upon the Abbies Church-Lands Bishopricks Tithes and Church-Duties c. And they in Scotland and Ireland as they are of the same Stock so consequently they are also of the same mind And when they hear any speak against Popery Bishops or Catheral Churches nay against the King or his Government for there 's enow dare do it how it pleases and tickles their Ears looking for the like prey they formerly had These dark-Lanthorn Saints have already in their hearts devoured the Government both of Church and State and value not Religion so they may but get the Spoil nay I am confident they would have been content to have Crucified our Blessed Saviour so they might but have had his Garment Our Age is full of Bloud-thirsty Cormorants whose hearts and inclinations are full of Perjury Blasphemy Murther and Treason in all degrees and are still yawning after a prey to fill the bottomless Sacks of their greedy Appetites with And although it be to their perpetual shame and infamy yet would they purchase a second Field of bloud so little they value the name of an Englishman which once was beyond parallel and is now even among the Turks become a scorn and must be dasht in the Teeth with Murthering their King though never so loyal in heart Thus have these Vipers made our whole Nation odious to the World by their venomous Doctrine Thirdly I may more then probably conjecture that they have another aim even such as was Jeroboams when he had drawn away the Ten Tribes from the House of David he said in his heart If the people go up to Jerusalem to worship their hearts will return again unto their Lord Rehoboam and therefore he erected two Golden Calves and said unto the people It is too far for you to go up to Jerusalem these are the Gods that brought you up out of the Land of Egypt So these intending to draw away the King's Subjects from their Obedience and perceiving that if they should joyn with His Majesties good Subjects in the true and orderly worship of God that their hearts would return again unto their Lord the King they have devised an Idol of their own brain like Jeroboam's Calves even their Presbyterial Discipline and cry that up as the only true worship of God And yet I hold them not all to be alike guilty but that many yea the far greatest part have not as yet learned the depth of Satan we may distinguish them into two degrees The first sort are they who are the principal Contrivers and Actors and the Seducers of others for such there is no excuse to be made therefore I shall leave them as wild Asses to be spoken with in the mouth of their affliction The second sort and the far greater number are the Seduced which are like those 200 which followed Absalom out of Jerusalem knowing nothing of his Treason these have been drawn to dance after their Pipe though they understood not the Tune yet they are carried along with it and all done under Godly pretences for they are made to believe that the very state of Religion Church and Kingdom do depend on the Covenant and that they are all bound in Conscience to defend the National Confession of Faith and the Oath â—o maintain it sworn by their Forefathers besides it is with the people a very plausible matter to hear them depraved that are in Authority but especially to understand of any Liberty or Power which may appertain unto themselves Furthermore also it is not unknown to any of Judgment how much the profession of extraordinary Zeal doth work with the un-thinking Multitude when they see men go simply in the Streets bowing down their heads like Bulrushes though their inward parts burn with deceit wringing their Necks awry fetching deep sighs and turning up the whites of their Eyes as though they were in some intollerable grief and finally make long Prayers under colour whereof they would not only devour the Houses of the Fatherless and Widows but the Married people also in so much that none can escape their violence Lord what Tyrannical hands are we like to fall into can these men produce me one Text of Scripture to support or verifie their proceedings No not one for those Holy Laws admit not of Vsury Sacriledge Disobedience to a lawful Authority and Rebellion against Princes these are the very Incendiaries of Christendom as if they had come to set Fire on the Earth not gentle and mild but are more austere in their carriage than ever was Cato they are known to be the most rigid Censurers of others whilst they applaud their own Vitious Actions in the highest they easily espy the Mote in their Brothers eye but cannot endure to hear of the Beam in their own All this have I done to detect these men and their proceedings to the end that I might draw from amongst them all that pretend to Christianity or any the least Moral Virtues if there be any such uncorrupted for who would follow their steps whose Religion is Sacriledge whose Bond is Perjury whose Badge is Rebellion Therefore come out from among them and partake not in their sins lest you receive also of the Plagues God has prepared for them and think not to halt thus between God and Baal neither do thou fear their power for howsoever they prosper for a time it is but a Summer Storm and let them be assured it will not be long before their turn of Sufferings come about For that God by whose Power Kings Reign will give strength unto his King and exalt the horn of his Anointed he will scatter the people that delight in War and make their hearts to melt and their joynts to tremble This I protest to God I speak out of the great grief of my heart and the very anguish of my Soul when I consider the dreadful after-claps that are like to ensue it fears me that our Sins are come to a full maturity and that we are ripe for God's Sickle to reap us I dare not say with St. Paul that I could wish my self Anathema or separated from Christ for my Country-men but I do say with all sincerity of heart that I could be content my Life were given in a Sacrifice so that could procure the Peace and Unity of our Nation that so my King and his good Subjects may be preserved from the most damnable havock John Presbyter designs to make amongst us Therefore I beseech all you of good will to joyn with me by applying our endeavours for quenching of this Fire which as yet is only to be found by its Smoak let all of us be instant with God in Prayer lifting up our hearts and hands to the Heavens and beseech him who is the Author of Peace that he will be pleased to open the eyes of that wicked People and turn their hearts that they may acknowledge their Duty to God and perform their Obedience to his Vice-gerent This is the true Prayer of honest Tom the Joyner