Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	anger_n	zeal_n	zealous_a	23	3	9.9109	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60582	Remarks upon the manners, religion and government of the Turks together with a survey of the seven churches of Asia, as they now lye in their ruines, and a brief description of Constantinople / by Tho. Smith ...; Epistolae duae. English	Smith, Thomas, 1638-1710.	1678 (1678)	Wing S4246; ESTC R4103	118,462	352

a blockish and stupid people wrought upon by his wiles and artifices to deny themselves this satisfaction though their taste could not but be affected with the pleasantness and sweetness and refreshing qualities of Wine and even force their very natures and inclinations to a submission I expected to have found them as abstemious as they have been fam'd to be and that no such thing as drunkenness was to be seen among them or but rarely at least this being the peculiar vice wherewith they used to upbraid the Christians and Jews but I quickly found that riot and the love of Wine were too strong for their first belief and education and that the inclinations of Sense had beaten down the commands of Religion that generally all not only the Renegados but natural Turks Citizens and Souldiers were excessively given to it except the Priests and old men and such as had been at Mecca whose age and profession and manner of life rendred them averse from doing a thing so indecent and scandalous and that a man could not do a Turk a greater civility and kindness or more oblige them than by giving them Wine For the sake of this they would visit the houses of Christians and not be satisfied without it They are for the pure blood of the grape and wonder at our spoiling the Wine by our mixtutes of water and think they have not drank enough till they are able to drink no more The late Vizir himself was not free from this vice of excessive drinking For being perswaded much about the time of the taking of Candia by his Physician a little to transgress the law of his Prophet for his health sake he no sooner had tasted the sweetness of Wine for till that time he was utterly ignorant whether it were sweet or bitter but he loved it ever after and was almost angry with his Prophet for forbidding a liquor so grateful to the palate as I believe he was with himself for living in ignorance so long it being his constant practice upon his return from that Island to indulge himself in it in the afternoon when he had dispatched the weighty affairs of the Empire relying I suppose upon the strength of a Proverb that holds as true in Turkey as in Christendom That he who is a wise man in the day will not be accounted a fool at night This defection was so gross general and notorious that it alarm'd the Church-men and filled them with anger and zeal which broke out in bitter invectives they thunder out of their Pulpits that their Religion and Empire were both like to be at an end speedily that the violation portended nothing but ruine and desolation that the crime grew to that excess and height that it seemed almost to be above expiation But the Janizaries no way moved with their zeal drink on still At last a certain Priest one Vani Ephendi famous for his eloquence and who had gained a mighty opinion in the Court for his pretensions to extraordinary piety consisstent by the practice and law of the Countrey with a multitude of women which he kept upon Mahomet's birth-day took the liberty in an harangue before the Emperor to put him in mind of the quarrels of the Janizaries occasioned by this devillish liquor almost in his very sight and near his Tent that this was of evil Omen to the Government that the state of affairs were in an ill condition that God and Mahomet were highly angry and offended at the practice of so much lewdness which was universally tolerated and that their holy Religion was in great danger of being lost by such prophanation He very tragically and passionately laments the miscarriage then entreats and beseeches with mighty earnestness and zeal the Emperour to think of a fit remedy that may put a stop to this growing evil and for fear his perswasions might be ineffectual he tells him he shall never enter into Paradise and thereatens him with everlasting punishment in the other World unless he removes this grievous Scandal The Grand Signior was then at Adrianople who commands immediately the Taverns of the poor Greeks to be shut up and the Casks of Wine the occasion of this great disorder to be staved in the open streets and issues forth his Royal command that no more Wine should be drank all the Empire over I cannot but remember with what horrour the Greeks of Constantinople received the news how amazed and disheartned and how they lamented and deplored the misfortune being ready to act the Desperadoes but their trouble and solicitude are to no purpose the Emperour commands and he must be obeyed The Turks enter the Cellars of the publick houses and spoil all the Vessels they light upon where the Greeks and Armenians had not prevented them by their over hast for fear they should be thought to have disliked or disobeyed the Edict for that was universal and took in Jews and Christians as well as Turks For they for the future must abstain from Wine out of respect to the Emperour's command as the Turks out of respect to Mahomet The Turks are always guilty of Extreams when once they have determined upon a thing though never so rashly and without the due examination of circumstances or the mischiefs that may follow they presently proceed to execution Whatsoever they do they do it with so much impetuosity and fury that equity and clemency and civility are wholly laid aside To add geater force and authority to the command and to strike a terror into the people a severe penalty is threatned to be inflicted upon the transgressor the fear of which made them forbear drinking Wine in private lest their very breath should betray them The Christians who were less careful herein suffered the punishment of their own folly For I knew several of them faulty herein seized upon in the streets and condemned to the Galleys Our Drugger-men would never venture to drink a glass of Wine whensoever they crossed the waters and went as they had occasion for the business of my Lord Ambassador and the Nation to the Caimaicam's house for this had been an affront and consequently an aggravation of their fault for a Christian reeking with Wine to breath in a Bassa's face In the mean while the Christian Ambassadors were concerned lest they and their Families if there were no Vintage the following Autumn should be involved under the same Inconveniencies for the Greeks out of despair left off cultivating their Vineyards not thinking the bare Grapes whereof there is such plenty worth the labour and cost and time and it was justly to be feared lest the Customers in the Sea-port Towns would prove froward and troublesom and not permit any Vessels of Wine sent for Presents out of Christendom to be carried to their Palaces The Cadyes too were very fierce in the execution of this Order some out of zeal to Religion others out of a principle of obstinacy and ill will to the

most delighted in and used to go in when he was old his name is writ with that colour in the Alcoran However this animosity might begin upon a Religious account yet it is mightily supported by interest and managed with a great deal of dexterity and cunning by the Turks who cherish these evil opinions and prejudices in the minds of the people and Souldiers especially against both Christian and Persian the two extremes of their Empire confining upon their Territories and so easily either find or take frequent occasion to quarrel and war with both By these arts they work upon the minds of the Souldiers to a greater willingness of undergoing the hardships of war With this politick Engine they thrust them upon any design though never so unlikely or desperate For who is so cowardly and faint-hearted or so much in love with life as not to venture the loss of it in the cause of Religion when the true Faith either is in danger or is to be propagated when they take up Arms to chastize and punish Hereticks and Apostates when they fight for God and the advancement of his cause against the profest Enemies of it This perswasion inspires them with desperate and brutish valour when they turn their faces upon Christendom as I shall have occasion to shew hereafter And the same argument they use as successfully when reason of State or ambition oblige them to make a War in Asia a famous instance of which we have in the taking of Bagdat in the year of Christ 1638 by that warlike Emperor Morat who was present there in person and not long after died of excessive drinking of Wine to the great joy of Poland which he threatned to invade with his well-disciplin'd Troops full flesh'd with blood enraged to revenge the affront and disgrace of his Brother Osman For as soon as an expedition into Persia was resolv'd upon and determin'd in the Seraglio the Church-men had orders to sound the alarum in their Pulpits for the better animating and encouraging the Janizaries who otherwise would have had no very great mind to it And they performed their part mighty well by their popular and furious preachments telling them over and over that the Persians had made a defection from the true Faith that they had perverted the sense of the Divine Law by their wicked and false interpretations and glosses and how highly they would deserve of the great God of Heaven and Earth of Mahomet his Prophet and Apostle and of the whole Musulman Religion if they would fight stoutly Every Mosch rung with zealous exhortations to fight for the cause of God and the Souldiers longed to be at it before the time And to keep firm their good resolutions the Mufti whose sentence and determination they revere as most sacred and binding and little less than infallible having orders from Court so to do sends forth his Brief all the Empire over a Copy of which in the original language I have laid up in that great Repository of all curious as well as useful and necessary Learning the most famous Bodleian Library at Oxon wherein he thunders upon the heads of the poor Persians charging them with Apostacy He makes them guilty of damnable Heresies and Errors which he endeavours to shew in several branches and particularities he solemnly pronounces them accursed of God and not worthy to live upon Earth assures them that it is a meritorious work and what will be rewarded in Paradise to root them out and more meritorious than if they destroyed the Christians and not contented with this peremptory sentence as bloody and cruel as it is but as if it were too mild he condemns them to the pit of Hell and very devoutly prays God that there they may serve for Asses and be condemned to the drudgery of carrying the Jews upon their backs not being able to wish them a more vile or more disgraceful employment Thus extreme violent and deadly is their hatred of Sects and I would to God the false Religion of Mahomet only afforded instances of it This contempt and disesteem of all others is the natural result of the over-weening conceit and false valuation they have of themselves they proudly stile their Port the Refuge of the World and fancy the glory and majesty of the Roman and Greek Empire to be devolved upon them by a most just right and that other Princes stand in awe of them and are no better than Tributaries and do them homage because they judg it their interest to send their Ambassadors and Ministers to reside among them custom that had its beginning from the too forward compliance and condescension of those who courted the favour of the Grand Signor this way passing into right that no Ambassador can in the least assure himself of a civil reception except he bring his presents along with him upon his arrival at the Imperial City The chief ground of this their arrogance is a mighty confidence and persuasion that they are the chosen of God to whom he has revealed his Will and his Law by Mahomet the Seal of the Prophets as they stile him that they are in the right way which leads to Paradise while others wander in by-paths of error and consequently are the only true Believers for so Musulman signifies which is become the general name by which they distinguish themselves as Mahometans of such a particular denomination from all other Religions in the world They are ashamed of their Scythian original it does not comport with their present grandeur to look back and remember what poor vagabond lives their Ancestors lead upon Mount Imaus how they wander'd to and fro with their Goats and Kids and how not being able or willing to support their poverty by their labour and industry they betook themselves to the more gainful trade of spoil and robbery For the old name of Turk is altogether laid aside and despised by them as ominous and of an evil sound as if an alteration of condition had made them quite another Nation and they seem desirous to forget it and therefore never mention it themselves and take it amiss and are very angry and look upon it as an affront if any Christian call them by it Such as depend immediately on the Emperor and are enrolled in his service and receive his pay for distinction and for honour assume to themselves the title of Osmanli out of respect to the name and memory of Osman to whose valour and prudence they owe the first beginning of their Empire and to shew their duty to the Ottoman Family whose Slaves they glory themselves to be but the name of Musulman which Religion bestows on them and equally respects all is that they are most pleased with and desire chiefly to be known by They say as well as the Jews we have Abraham to our Father all the Prophets are theirs Moses Samuel David and the rest A Jew thinking to put a trick