Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n
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A25358
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Religion and loyalty maintained against all modern opposers in a treatise on the 29th of May 1681, being Trinity-Sunday and anniversary day of His Majesties happy birth and King and kingdoms restauration / by Henry Anderson.
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Anderson, Henry.
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1684
(1684)
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Wing A3092; ESTC R27731
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74,714
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137
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RELIGION AND LOYALTY MAINTAINED Against all Modern Opposers IN A TREATISE ON The 29th of May 1681. being Trinity-Sunday and Anniversary Day of His Majesties happy Birth and King and Kingdoms Restauration By HENRY ANDERSON M.A. Vicar of Kingsumborne in Hampshire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fear God Honour the King 1 Pet. 2.17 LONDON Printed by J. M. for Will. Abington near the Wonder-Tavern in Ludgate-street and Will. Clark Book-seller in Winchester 1684. TO THE High and Mighty MONARCH CHARLES II. By the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith Most Dread Soveraign AMongst the multitude of Sacrifices which daily offer themselves to your Sacred Majesty of the richer sort if this mean Oblation of a Turtle find your Royal Aspect speaks only the Grandeur and Heroick Greatness of England's Monarch who darts the diffusive beams of your Goodness throughout your Realms on your Liege People by your auspicious and most gentle Government being cherish'd by the gracious Rays of Soveraign Power as the obscure parts of the Earth are by the radiations of the Sun These happy Influences like the Dew of Hermon descend upon all that are not guilty of Disloyalty and trample not on Regal Power in abstracting their Allegiance for such are no longer Subjects but Rebels that despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities contemning the bright and splendid Crown of Soveraignty Sacred and Divine is Royal Majesty as it is a reflection of that above and it is the Glory thereof to protect things Sacred therefore it looks so high and prefixes so mighty a Name which can give a sufficient value to things in themselves both mean and worthless however imperfect your favour is able to supply and give it life if the production be not unworthy you Royal Patronage yet it is not improper to lay it at the feet of Majesty because the Holy Trinity that Theological Mystery is the Article of our Creed and it can't take a more rever'd Sanctuary for its safety than the Defender of the Faith whose prudent and Princely Conduct crowns all our Felicities with a calm Tranquillity in Church and State therefore let us serve the Lord our God and Charles our King whom he hath raised up unto us Long long may you flourish with a Crown of Glory on your head and a Scepter of Triumph in your hand bathing your feet in the blood of your Enemies and live to be as you are the delight and glory of your People and we trust under your shadow being not only to Moses a Protection but to all the Tribe of Levi that wait at the Altar and the great Argosie the Ship Royal of the Church would have dash'd against the rocks and been swallowed up by the quick Sands or by the malignity of cross and contrary Winds of a pretended Religious Crew who delight in Blood and Treason unless your Sacred Majesty who as a Guardian Angel that sits at the Stern by some propitious gales from Heaven had guided and conducted her to the fair Havens of Peace As Protection so it humbly craves Acceptance because goodness is the honour of Greatness and that Persian Monarch was not more famous for accepting a little water from the hand of a loving Subject than your Sacred Majesty is renown'd through Britain's Orb for your gracious Clemency to all and particularly to the Offerings of the Sons of Aaron though this Piece blushes at the confidence of its Dedication as not worthy the approach of Royal Presence or Majesty's judicious Eye being like the straw and brick of Egypt very inconsiderable in regard of the polishing carving and Cedar-work of the Temple performed by a Bezaleel and Aholiab that can curiously work in Gold yet I contribute my Mite and cast my little into the Treasury but with such humility presented as speaks Loyalty and not presumption shewing the World in all expressions of a grateful mind and emanations of the greatest affection where Duty binds me to pay the Fealty and Homage of my Obedience Celebrating the Memory of this Day * May 29. with ebullitions of Joy and Satisfaction as it carries the propitious Star of Royal Birth with a Constellation of Blessings to the Kingdom in a happy and peaceable Restauration Almighty Goodness setled us on our old Basis and by a Miracle of Providence restored to us our Prince Religion and Government for which Mercy we magnifie the Glorious and Eternal Trinity humbly beseeching the Father Son and Holy Ghost to continue to your Regal Majesty a long and prosperous Reign over us with an affluence of Health and Wealth Triumphs and Conquests here and when you shall put off the Glories of a Temporal Soveraignty and lay down your mortal Diadem you may exchange it for an immortal Crown eternal in the Heavens being incircled with the Rays of Glory and Happiness in a Life that never pays Tribute to Death So prays Your Majesty's most humble obedient and Loyal Subject Henry Anderson THE HOLY TRINITY ASSERTED AND MONARCHY MAINTAINED Against all disloyal Opponents in a Treatise on the 29th of May 1681. being Trinity-Sunday and Anniversary Day of His Majesties happy Birth and King and Kingdoms Restauration Psal 73. vers 25. Whom have I in Heaven but thee And there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee COntentment is the universal Center to which all the thoughts actions and contrivances of Men tend the point to which they are all directed is satisfaction This is the great spring to all the various motions of Mankind and however distant and contrary their ways and courses their inclinations and constitutions are yet here they all meet and concenter in this one reconciling object Contentment and satisfaction is that which the Learned seeks to obtain in his industrious quest after Knowledge This Jewel the Merchant seeks in his dangerous Voyages the ambitious in his passionate pursuit of Honour the covetous in his unwearied heaping up of Treasure the wanton in his pleasing Charms of Beauty the Conquerour in his earnest desires of Victory and the Politician in his deep Designs But alas the misery of Man is That he would find that in the variety of the Creatures which is no where to be found but in the unity of the Creator the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost For absolute content dwells not here below It is not in Granaries fill'd with plenty in ambitious Haman's state and grandeur in Samson's lovely Dalilah's in Nebuchadnezzar's Rule over the World it must arise from no other spring but God the Holy Trinity alone who is the only Principal of Being and Fountain of true content And King David draws a right line to the immoveable Center and directs the Soul to the true Zenith of happiness God himself Whom have I Heaven but thee God alone is the purest Truth the chiefest Good and final End of intelligent Beings which speaks the excellency of Christianity in reference to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or sublimity
our charity and unity but can't discern those greater lines of Duty Subjection and Loyalty And as the Scribes and Pharisees of old cry'd up every where The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord so we have many such now a-days who are seemingly great Champions for the Church and take great care of the Duties of the first Table and yet can freely indulge themselves in the violation of the second proving annoyances to the State by seditious Insurrections though the Christian Religion doth firmly oblige men to peace obedience and due submission unto Secular Governours there are many persons that owne that Name and yet entertain Positions wholly inconsistent with the Precepts of that Religion and the safety of Princes and their Kingdoms swallowing REBELLION * There was a time which is a precaution to posterity when men pretended a Call from God to do the work of the Devil viz. rebelling and then murdering the best of Kings erecting him a Scaffold for a Throne and for a Diadem of Gold gave him a Crown of Thorns and instead of a glorious Prince made him a glorious Martyr without regret which opens the floud-gates of impiety and lets in upon us a Chaos of Anarchy Libertinism and popular Confusion bringing a kind of present damnation on the World They that are Authors or Abetters of Sedition saith S. Chrysostome can neither avoid shame on Earth nor escape eternal Damnation Though God the great Judge do sometimes permit Rebels in his Justice to prevail against Kings for the contempt of the Law of the highest and neglect of their own duty the reward of Rebellion shall be no better than the recompence of Satan who is the Instrument of the Lords wrath for the punishment of all disobedience The Kings Power is from God and for any private person or any Club of Subjects to wrest it out is a double Usurpation First They invade Gods Soveraignty Rom. 12.19 who saith Vengeance is mine Secondly The Princes Prerogative whose Office is to protect and punish to defend the innocent and correct the Spirit of Contumacy and Rebellion relieve the oppressed and support the vertuous rewards to Merit as well as punishment to Sin and Vice are dispensed A terrour to evil doers 1 Pet. 2.14 saith the Text and praise to them that do well Therefore honour the King Secondly As the goodness of Heaven shines in the preservation of our Royal Soveraign from the Usurpation of cruel Enemies at home so likewise Divine Providence hath guarded him from Foreign Attempts of unreasonable men abroad and made the Plots and Conspiracies of these worse than Heathens of none effect and deliver'd our King and our Princes our Nobles and the Heads of our Tribes the Governours of our Church and Judges of our Land nay the whole Commons of this Realm from a fearful destruction that would have swallowed them up For when the Ax is laid to the root of the Tree to cut off Soveraignty and destroy the Lord 's Anointed the rest of the people who are the Branches must expect lopping The restless Emissaries of the Church of Rome whether Priests Jesuits or Colledge of Cardinals give daily proof of their inveterate malice against the King the Government and Protestant Religion thinking that new Massacres are the most effectual course to stop the cry of the old and that the readiest way to silence their Adversaries is to make them instances of the Truth of the Accusation If the great God of Heaven who refrains the Spirits of men that delight in Blood had not been gracious to our King and Kingdom you had not this Day been Auditors nor I Speaker of this Theme but all of us miserable Spectators of the contrary And the Pope's Triple Crown would have been set with many red Roses of great Triumphs in a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing less than utter extirpation of us and Memorial from under Heaven The Rivers of Rome may seem to run smooth their Sea is Blood the extracted Spirits of things work more forcibly than concrete Bodies take heed of an Elixir an Extraction of Malice sublimated spiritualized into a Religion The cruel Massacres of Primitive Christians * If we reflect on ancient times and look back to the course of the World in general in the first Monarchy we find a fiery Furnace in the second a Den of Lions in the third the madness and fury of Antiochus when to believe in one God was to be put on the Rack and to abhor Idolatry involved the Votary in cruel Tortures In the fourth Monarchy the ten Persecutions more bloody and grievous than all that went before for not to sacrifice to Idols and to offer Incense to Heathen Gods was cause enough to be torn in pieces by wild Beasts and be exposed to all manner of terrible Torments when bloody Tumults affrighted Christ's Members and chased them from their Devotions when the Priest became the Sacrifice and his Books in disdain were made a Burnt-offering will teach us the price of our own happiness and the slaughter of our Forefathers may upbraid our unthankfulness with the benefits of our peace 'T were good that we their surviving Off-spring would learn to make use of their happy Martyrdom In their crimson steps we may trace the way to our Saviour's Cross and read in the living memory of their Torments the sad Tragedy of his Sufferings The World at this day is well mended with us we know not the meaning of Rack or Faggot of Sword and Gridiron the Instruments of Romish Cruelty Let three Kingdoms therefore bow themselves as the heart of one man and praise God for his mercy unto his Servants under the Protection of our gracious and religious King Charles Heaven hath preserved our Church from ruine and confusion from the spreadings and prevailings of Errours Heresies and Schisms Superstition and Idolatry which strive to oppress us and to eclipse the truth and purity of Doctrine which is our Churche's Glory and so much offends the Eyes of Rome and makes them clip wash and new-coyn the Gold of the Sanctuary Lastly As Divine Providence and Goodness did this Day bring into the World our gracious Soveraign and hath hitherto preserv'd him from all Enemies Domestick and Foreign So the same special grace and favour of God did this Day bring home and restore to us our King a Prince of so much Clemency and Mercy that he is inferiour to none that sways a Scepter or sits upon a Throne His Restauration was wonderful without any Effusion of Blood The Voice of War is changed into Proclamations of Peace the Clattering of Swords and Spears is turned into the sweet Melody of Harps and the harsh Tones of Death into a Psalm of Thanksgiving O Lord thou art become gracious unto thy Land and hast turn'd away the Captivity of Jacob Praise therefore waits on thee in Zion and unto thee shall the Vow be perform'd in Jerusalem We celebrate the Memory of this thy Mercy in restoring our King and with him the free Profession of true Religion and Worship What doth God require now both from Prince and People but the acknowledgment of his favour He that will not glorifie God as the Father of Mercies in the rigour of Justice God may glorifie himself in his eternal ruine If we prove not the Heralds of his Glory Examples shall we be of his just indignation All tasting Mercy all should be thankful and though all have not Frankincense yet every one mâ—y have Praise Let us praise God for his miraculous preservation of our King and Kingdom Church and People and let it sound so â—oud this day as it may reach Heavens gates and meet with Hallelujahs which the bright Morning-Stars in their Orbs pay to their Creator 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Angels Liturgy is singing of Hymns of Glory And shall not the Militant Church say We praise thee O God our Souls do magnifie the Lord The Stork pays Tribute of her young the Trees of their fruits the Earth of her flowers and shall we be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without natural affection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without God in the world not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 return blessing and praise to the Divine Majesty for his infinite Blessing unto us We praise God in his Sanctuary and in the Firmament of his Power for his mighty Acts and according to his excellent Greatness Praise him with the Sound of the Trumpet with Psaltery and Harp with stringed Instruments and Organs shew your selves joyful before the Lord the King Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Let us now direct our Prayers and Supplications to the Glorious and Eternal Trinity that all Blessings Divine and Humane Spiritual and Temporal like the precious Oyntment of Aaron's may be pour'd out on the Head of ouâ— Royal Soveraign length of days on hiâ— right hand on his left Riches and Honour that his Reign may be glorious and his Regal Vertues after this Life crowned with immortal Glory And we with the residue of God's holy Church may rise to that incomprehensible endless Felicity where the Blessings of the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity will gloriously shine upon our Souls for evermore Which God of his infinite Mercy vouchsafe unto us for the Mercies of his Eternal Son our blessed Saviour To whom with the Father and Holy Ghost three Persons one God be ascribed as most due is all Honour Glory Power Praise Might Majesty and Dominion the residue of our lives and for ever Amen FINIS ERRATA Pag. 56. line 13. for then read there p. 62. l. 10. fo Reershaba r. Beersheba p. 74. l. 16. for fair this read this fair