Selected quad for the lemma: love_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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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
bring it to pass And who begins all Quarrels but you And do you say That the Church is a Viper No no it is such as you are for you envy our Happiness and would Hurry us into a Confusion because you think the King Loves us too well and stands in the gap to hinder Your Intentions and is like an Angel to keep Peace amongst us that every Man should Enjoy His Right and Property But this is contrary to your Temper for you long to Enjoy what other Men have and therefore the Church of England is the great Eye-sore And since the King hath been so Gracious to give Liberty of Conscience you think that all the Dissenters should be against the Church to Devour Her but God knows it was for your sakes that the Laws were put against Dissenters and how many Good Souls was against it but dare not speak for fear of being counted Whiggs but for my part I made Application to the hate King That the Laws should not be put against them not that I lov'd them so well but I know their Nature and don't delight that any should be Afflicted no not the Roman Catholicks but you intend well to Reward us and for my late Soveraign you have Abused Him sufficiently but you got Money by it Sir I am sorry for your Ignorance that you should think the Church was in Her Infancy in Edward VI. Time. It is a clear Mistake for She hath been ever since Man hath had a Being and do not Despise King Edward for he was a brave Prince and I doubt not but that he is a Saint in Heaven and methinks it is not Wisdom in you to Lampoon upon the Confession of Faith because it was Compiled in Thirty Nine Articles for they will stand when you will fall and for you to say She Set up a Brat of Her own Was it not the Kings desire that it should be so to Prevent Popery and what harm would it have been for Queen Mary if it had been so For her Reign was but Short and her Life full of Trouble and tho she sent a great many to Heaven she will have no Reward for it for she might have been a Better Christian if she had Let Them Alone But why were They so End ous as to Burn the Bibles For whoever Hateth that is an Enemy to God From such the Lord Deliver my Soveraign and all Good Souls And the Lord grant a Right Understanding for what Mischief hath been wrought for want of it For Christ says He is a Door and a Vine and if any could not understand it must they be put to Death Who is the giver of Understanding but God And to some it is not given that they should understand the Mysteries of Heaven and since it hath pleased God to give us a Right Understanding why should you be Angry You had need to pray to God to Rectifie your own Understanding for there is not any thing more like the Devil than Envy And how Destructive would you be if you had but Power that you dare to lay the Death of Queen Mary at our Door when you ought to have blamed the Presbyterians for hunting her out of her Kingdom and if Queen Elizabeth did Cut her off what have we to do with that Should the King be blam'd because the Duke of Monmouth was Rebellious God forbid for I am sure my Soveraign lov'd him so well that he would have delighted to have made him Great and Happy if he had not wrought his own Destruction by his Rebellion therefore let it be upon his own head and to those that Advised him to such a wicked Thing And for to Villifie Queen Elizabeth is a thing I Abhor for I hate any should speak Evil of any Body that is Dead but how much more of Queen Elizabeth And do not all know that King Henry VIII was lawfully Married to Her Mother and if the Pope delayed the Divorce it was no Fault of the King nor Kingdom and did not John the Baptist lose his Head because he told Herod it was not lawful for him to take his Brothers Wife Therefore how dare you to say That the Queen was a Bastard when all the World knows it is a great Lie For every Good Christian ought to Love Her Memory and you to Chusei for if She had not denied her Self that blessed happiness of Marriage my Soveraign Lord had never been King and therefore for His sake as well as Her own I shall always Love and Admire Her Memory And if Gods Providence had not defeated the Powder Plot my Precious Soveraign would not have had a being in this World nor that which is to come Therefore I will always Admire and Adore the God of Heaven that doth prevent the Wicked Intentions of Evil Men. For how hath God preserv'd His Anointed from the Spite and Malice of Men and Devils and from the Raging of the Seas And I hope He will Preserve Him still that He may Glorifie Him that neither Men nor Devils may prevent Him from doing His Liege Duty to God for it is He alone hath Preserv'd Him and kept Him hitherto and I hope He will for ever and ever And that He may not forget who Destroyed His Grandfather Henry IV. of France For They are the Snakes that will sting to Death And for the LAWS they shall stand to Whip such as You that would Destroy both King and Government I know you would Unthrone my Soveraign for to make your selves Lords and Princes ower us but I hope God will never suffer it for I know you are like the Wheadling Dissenters that would not Trust the King with His own Power but pretended they would Employ it and make Him a Glorious Prince but it was to Destroy Him so You would Wheadle the Church to take away Her Power and then you think to do well enough with my Soveraign when you have got the Power and then you 'll shew your Loyalty but I hope the King will keep His Power and Trust to none of you for you will all prove Treacherous if you can but make any Advantage of it for you cannot but know the sinking Condition of your Kingdom and that makes you so Busie therefore you don't care who sinks so you swim But what is it that can hinder Gods Intentions but Repentance and Amendment of Life for that is the Glory that God desires for that end Christ came into the World that God might be All in All and these is no doubt but God makes the Angels Ministring Spirits but they cannot do any thing of themselves for they continually Wait upon the Almighty for when He moves they flee and what Injury can it be to you to pray to God that moves all Things I think it is the greatest Favour that can be given to Mortals but you say You are not Worthy and pray what is the Reason of that For did not Christ Die for all that would lay hold