Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A25324
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Ananias and Saphira discovered, or, The true intent of a pamphlet called Omnia comest[a] a Belo in a letter by way of answer.
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1679
(1679)
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Wing A3048; ESTC R11808
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6,884
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18
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Ananias and Saphira discover'd Or The true intent of a PAMPHLET CALLED OMNIA COMESTA BELO IN A LETTER By way of ANSWER LAMENT iv 16. The anger of the Lord has divided them he will no more regard them they respected not the persons of the Priefts LONDON Printed by M. Clark for Henry Brome at the Gun in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1679. SIR I Have rceiv'd so many Libels and other Pamphlets from you that I am both asham'd of troubling you any farther and weary of Reading so many words with so little sense or common honesty But my great grief is to find it so much the humor to lessen the Credit and Reputation of Authority and by weakning the Government in alienating mens hearts from it to cut the Grass from underneath our own feet and whilst the Enemy is pushing sore at us our selves to shake if not remove the Foundations whereon we stand And in the midst of this wilful murder no wound seems to me so envenom'd and mortal as that which pierces the Soul and Conscience of the Nation the bitter words wherewith the Church is dayly slander'd Is it a time to strive among our selves for Reformation when Antichrist is at the Gates Is it a time to divide and scatter to pull and tear one another just when the common Enemy is upon our backs To mind our defence least when he is most at leisure to Assault us It must certainly be the Gall of bitterness that shall disturb and distract us at this time Amongst other ungracious Libels against the Church there is one called Omnia Comesta à Bello The Author intended Belo but hapned to be more right then he was aware of For the late unhappy Times plainly shew what the issues of War are like to be Then were the Rich and Wealthy the only marks of Violence and Oppression none but the Profligate and those that delighted in troubl'd waters became Rich then the worst of events befel us if the Proverb says true for Beggars were set on Thrones and mounted on Horsback whilst Princes went on Foot And if we consider the Original of this Book it was first Printed at the beinning of the Rebellion to Usher in the Covenant and so accessary as much as such a poor spiteful Pamphlet could be to all the bloud-shed and wickedness that then follow'd God be thanked the memory of those licentious days when no man could say ought was his is by woful experience so fresh now upon the minds of thousands that without most fatal Infatuation it will be impossible to be deluded into the same snare again And yet what endeavours there are to destroy us with the grievous wounds of Friends and under pretence of Regulation overwhelm us once more with the same Confusion What is Liberty when the multitude is made judg of it but an Inundation of Disorders and letting the wildness of Corrupt Nature loose to all extravagance And yet what courting of the people at this day to take the matter into their own hands Though God knows it is not that these Incendiaries care for the people but knowing that the reigns of Government must be placed in some hands they hope by getting them loose to catch hold of them themselves And as this is evidently the course the Pope or Devil himself wou'd advise to destroy us by Divisions so I shall shew you in the conclusion that this is their advise and that they do work together with the disturbers of our Peace and principally with those that strike at our Church First he charges the impoverishing the Nation ruin of Trade and general Consumption of Comfort Setlement and Content which as he says has brought the Nation to a mere Anatomy upon the Pride Luxury and Oppression of the Prelates To which may easily be answer'd 1. That the first assertion is false For never was there more mony in the Nation and if it be not so equally divided the Gentry and Nobility living so much at London are the great cause of it As for Trade it never run so high as of late years of which experience is so evident a judg that I can only wonder at the Confidence of the contrary declaration But then where the Consumption of Comfort c. lyes who can tell I am sure if a Prince detesting Bloud-shed and Oppression and for fear of being hard upon his people suffering his Prerogative to run lower than ever any Kings or Queens of England did before him would be a Comfort we have it in the highest degree If the Clergy have contributed to this Consumption let them shew the man and he shall be punisht But I see none but the envious and them that are given to change discontented and how you will please them I cannot tell And I fear the Nation is rather like Jeshurun than any of Pharaohs lean Kine if we observe truly Nay but the pride of the Prelates has done this thing which indeed is not done It must be a beggarly pride in many of them if they are proud and that can do mischief to none but to themselves However I would have this Learned Author shew who they are For general reflections are the most unjust and by Consequence the most Unchristian proceeding in the World The Innocent as well as Guilty are Condemn'd and know not how to kelp themselves But Luxury indeed is the wasting Vice and I would it were not so much in fashion as it is However there are not many Bishops that have wherewithal and those few that have are I make no doubt ready to give an account to the shame of their Accusers Where the Oppression lyes that I am to seek unless be such to punish injustice as wrongful dealing But of these particulars more hereafter 2. in the next Query there is as much falshood and ignorance put together as well could be comprehended in so few terms He tells you that all the Reform'd Churches in Europe cast off Episcopacy with Popery and why did not England England did not do it because it has been the Universal and constant Church-Government for the first fifteen hundred years deriv'd from the Apostles by as Authentick Testimony as any part of our Religion England did not do it because it is an Order that stands most in the Popes light and which therefore Rome has always oppos'd most eminently in the Council of Trent and most injuriously by exempt jurisdictions whereby to have creatures more immediately depending upon Rome the Government of the Church is broken and its Antient Constitutions and Canons violated And I wish this Rag of Popery were removed from us But lastly England did not do it because many of the Reformed Churches did not do it as Sueden Denmark the Protestant Church in Poland the Protestant Switzers the Lutherans in Germany besides the Greek Churches c. many that did it have acknowledg'd it to be out of pure necessity and the learnedst men among them have ever approved Episcopal Government