Selected quad for the lemma: love_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A26440
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Advice from a dissenter in the city to his friends in the countrey shewing it to be their duty and safety to concur with those who are for abolishing the penal laws and tests.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing A633; ESTC R33061
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9,137
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8
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with your selves which you cannot in Conscience honour nor Gratitude deny it being Consonant to the Rule of your Great Master to Do as you would be done by and due in Honour and Thankfulness to His Majesty who so unexpectedly hath delivered you who were Represented to Him as His greatest Enemies out of the Mouth of the Lion and out of the Paw of the Bear. Ay but say you The Church Vpbraids us with concurring to procure a Liberty to Idolaters who as soon as they find themselves in a Capacity will Ruine us Answ 1. Of all People in the World it becomes the Church of England least to make such Reflections whose Votes brought the Popish Lord into the House of Peers to Answer a Turn which now is made the great Danger they so labour to possess the Nation with the fear of if the Parliamentary Test be taken off And is it not at reasonable for us to conclude that the Popish Lords will be True to their Interest now as they supposed they would be then and consequently Adhere to such Laws as shall be made to Secure themselves and others against the Violences of an Vngratefnl Church who after they had done her such Service threw them out again by their Act of Vniformity 2. Have they not many times pronounced it from their Pulpits That they would rather join with the Papists than the Presbyterians And though there is not the least Inclinations in either of these to join with the other except in what concerns their common Safety how can they for shame who have used such Expressions Upbraid us with it 3. Whence comes this so sudden and vehement Zeal in the Church of England against the Church of Rome whose Symphony in Rituals and Exteriour Form of Worship was made use of by Secretary Waslingham to prevent Queen Elizabeth's Excommunication by the Pope and whose advances thither ward have been observable this many years though now their Irreconcilable Interest makes them Halt and Clamour as long since observed by Dr. Du Moulin 4. How can they look upon the Ordination of that Church which they esteem Idolatrous as Valid and yet disapprove of Presbyterian and others Ordination And in so doing though they charge others hotly as Schismaticks make themselves such from all the Reformed Churches 6. Why did they not put the Laws in Execution against them when it was in their power Have they not thereby according to their own Principles incurred at least the Guilt of Idolatry How many Presentments of their Grand Juries and Orders from their Bishops to put the Laws in Execution against them can they produce Or when did they complain that the Laws were too Gentle and Easie for them as they have done against us 6. Why did they Persecute us with more Rigour and permit such whom they accounted Idolators and now by continuing those Penal Laws and Tests put us under a necessity to join with them to secure our own and their Liberty and at the same time Reproach us for it though they pretend now to be for Moderation 7. Where do they find it Prescribed by Christ or the Apostles to Punish any of a different Religion as such Did ever our Saviour or his Apostles require the help of Magistrates to make Penal and Sanguinary Laws to force People to the Communion of the Church Or did they leave any Injunction to do so when the Magistrate should become Christian Was not their way of making Proselytes by Preaching and not Prisoning Healing and not Wounding Curing and not Killing Reasoning not Ruining Argument and not Torment his Command was To take up the Cross and follow him but not to lay it upon others backs that would not stoop thereunto 't is our Duty to keep our selves from Idols though we are not to fall foul upon Idolators The Apostle declares that the Weapons of our Warfare are not Carnal but I an sure Dissenters have found the Churches Weapons such 8. Where do they find that ever Christ or his Apostles made use of such Instruments to press People to their Communion as they have done I do not remember any mention of Proctors Apparitors and Informers nor of Booted Apostles Armed with Weapons of Cruelty as some of their Brethren of the Clergy were and who obtained from the Magistrates as Saul did from the Sanhedrim Authority to hale Men Women and Children to Prison that would not conform to their Church which had no other effect but to strengthen the People in their Dissent who Argued thus Can that be the Church of Christ which acts so unlike Him He commanded us to Love Forbear and Forgive one another and said By this shall men know that ye are my Disciples if ye Love one another and behold they Persecute to Banishment Confiscation of Goods and Death it self for Non-conformity to such things as they themselves grant he never commanded Can these be the Successours of the Apostles who declared the Weapons of their Warfare not to be Carnal And lo they came against us as against Thieves with Swords and Staves Can these be Christians who find our peaceable Assembling of our selves for Worshiping of God to be Riots and yet use no censure against those that are really such Can that be the Church of Christ which makes use of such Anti-Christian Instruments as Perjured Informers Debauched Swearing Proctors and Apparitors Surely if we may guess at their Design by their Practices they have a mind to drive us to Hell not to Heaven for we cannot believe such men will lead us in a better way than they walk in themselves Thus do men discover their Nakedness when possesled with that furious Spirit of Persecuton which drives them headlong into such absurd Practices As for the other part of the Objection That when the Romanists find themselves in a Capacity they will Ruine us Answ 1. There is no probability that ever they should equal us for number or in that respect be any ways capable of working our Ruine the very attempting whereof by Violence will Infallibly issue in their own 2. It is as improbable that ever they should be able to do the same by Law except the present Penal Laws remain in force and then we know who have been their Tools hitherto even the present Struglers for the continuance of these Laws and are as likely to be their Tools in time to come to work our Ruine 3. We have his Majesty's Wisdom and that of a Parliament to rely on for finding out expedients to secure us and why the breach of such Laws as shall be made for Establishing Liberty of Conscience may not be attended with as dangerous or more fatal Consequences to the Romanists as acting contrary to the present Laws no man can Divine and certainly if you choose such men for your Representatives as have any Conscience themselves they will take care that it shall not be safe if possible for any party afterward to invade the Liberty of Conscience to be