Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	church_n	england_n	reform_a	4,212	5	9.5265	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49257	The strange and wonderful predictions of Mr. Christopher Love, minister of the Gospel at Laurence Jury, London who was beheaded on Tower-hill, in the time of Oliver Cromwell's government of England. Giving an account of Babylon's fall, and in that glorious event, a general reformation over all the world. With a most extraordinary prophecy, of the late revolution in France, and the downfall of the antichristian kingdom, in that country. By M. Peter Jurieu. Also, Nixon's Chesire prophecy.	Love, Christopher, 1618-1651.; Jurieu, Pierre, 1637-1713.; Ussher, James, 1581-1656.; Grey, Jane, Lady, 1537-1554.; Wallace, Lady, fl. 1651.; Nixon, Robert, fl. 1620? Nixon's Cheshire prophecy at large.	1651 (1651)	Wing L3177A; ESTC R217305	41,319	88

which remain unfulfilled so when they come to pass some other circumstances may be added which are not convenient to be told now for private reasons but will shortly appear If I had a mind to look into the antiquities of this county I might ●ind that Prodigies and Prophecies are no unusual things there Cambden tells us that at Brereton not many miles from Vale Royal which gave name to a famous antient numerous and knightly family there is a thing as strange as the perching Eagle or the falling of the wall which he says was attested to him by many persons and was commonly believed that before any heir of this family dies there are s●en in a lake adjoining the bodies of trees swimming upon the water for several days together He likewise adds that near the Abbey of St. Maurice in Burgundy there is a fish-pond in which a number of fishes are put equal to the number of Monks of that place and if any one of them happens to be sick there is a fish seen floating on the water and in case the fit of sickness proves fatal to the Monk the fish foretells it by its own death some days before This the learned Cambden relates in his description of Cheshire and the opinion of the trees swimming in the lake near Brereton prevails all about the country to this day only with this difference that some say 't is one log that swims and some say many J. OLDMIXON Strange and Remarkable Prophecies and Predictions Of the Holy Learned and Excellent JAMES USHER Late Lord Bishop of ARMAGH And Lord Primate of IRELAND Giving an Account of his Foretelling I. The Rebellion in Ireland forty Years before it came to pass II. The Confusions and Miseries of England in Church and State III. The Death of King Charles the First IV. His own Poverty and Want V. The Divisions in England in Matters of Religion Lastly of great and terrible Persecutions which shall fall upon the Reformed Churches by the Papists wherein the Pope should be chiefly concerned Written by the Person who heard it from this excellent Man 's own Mouth and now published e●rnestly to persuade us to that Repentance and Reformation which can only prevent our ruin and Destruction And the Lord said Shall I hide from Abraham the Thing which I do Gen. xviii 17. Strange and Remarkable PREDICTIONS Of that Holy Learned and Excellent Bishop JAMES USHER Late Lord Primate of IRELAND THE Author of the Life of this excellent and worthy Primate and Archbishop gives an Account that among other extraordinary Gifts and Graces which it pleased the Almighty to bestow upon him he was wonderfully endued with a Spirit of Prophecy whereby he gave out several true Predictions and Prophecies of Things a great while before they came to pass whereof some we have seen fulfilled and others remain y●t to be accomplished And though he was one that abhorred Enthusiastic Notions being too learn●d rational and knowing to admit of such idle Freaks and Whimsies Yet he professed That several Times in his Life he had many Things impressed upon his Mind concerning future Events with so much Warmness and Importunity that he was not able to keep them secret but lay under an unavoidable Necessity to make them known From which Spirit he foretold the Irish Rebellion forty Years before it came to pass with the very Time when it should break forth in a Sermon preached in Dublin in 1601 where from Ezek. iv 6 discoursing concerning the Prophets bearing the Iniquity of Iudah forty Days the Lord therein appointed a Day for a Year He made this direct Application in relation to the Connivance at Popery at that Time From this Year says he will I reckon the Sin of Ireland that those whom you now embrace shall be your R●in and you shall bear this ●niquity Which Prediction proved exactly true for from that Time 1601 to the Year 1641 was just forty Years in which it is notoriously known that the Rebellion and Destruction of Ireland happened which was acted by those Popish Priests and other Papists which were then connived at And of this Sermon the Bishop reserved the Notes and put a Note thereof in the Margin of his Bible and for twenty years before he still lived in the Expectation of the fulfilling thereof and the nearer the Time was the more confident he was that it was near Accomplishment though there was no visible Appearance of any such Thing and says Dr. Bernard the Year before the Rebellion broke forth the Bishop taking his Leave of me being then going from Ireland to England he advised me to a serious Preparation for I should see heavy Sorrows and Miseries before I saw him again which he delivered with as great Confidence as if he had seen it with his Eyes which seems to verify that of the Prophet Amos iii. 7. Surely the Lord will do nothing but he will reveal it to his Servants the Prophets From this Spirit of Prophecy he foresaw the Changes and Miseries of England in Church and State for having in one of his Books called De Prim. Eccl. Brit. given a large Account of the Destruction of the Church and State of the Britons by the Saxons about ●50 Years after Christ He gives this among ●ther Reasons why he insisted so largely upon 〈◊〉 that he foresaw that a like Judgment was ●●et behind if timely Repentance and Reforma●●on did not prevent it and he would often ●ourn upon the Foresight of this long before it ●ame From this Spirit he gave mournful Intima●●ons of the Death of our Sovereign Charles the 〈◊〉 of whom he would be often speaking 〈◊〉 Fear and Trembling even when the King 〈◊〉 the greatest Success and would therefore 〈◊〉 pray and gave all Advice possible 〈◊〉 prevent any such Thing From this Spirit he foresaw his own Poverty in worldly Things and this he would often speak 〈◊〉 with Admiration to the Hearers when he was in his greatest Prosperity which the Event did most certainly verify From this Spirit he predicted the Divisions and Con●usions in England in Matters of Religion and the sad Consequences thereof some of which we have seen fulfilled and I pray God the rest which he feared may not also be accomplished upon us Lastly From this Spirit he foretold That the grea●●st Stroke upon the Reformed Church●s was yet to come and that the Time of the utter Ruin of the See of Rome should be whe● she thought herself most secure And as to thi● last I shall add a brief Account 〈◊〉 the Person 's own Hand who was concerned therein which followeth in these Words The Year before this Learned and Holy Primate Archbishop Usher died I went to him an● earnestly desired him to give me in Writing his Apprehensions concerning Justification an Sancti●ication by Christ because I had for merly heard ●im preach upon those Point● wherein he seemed to make those great Mysteries more intelligible to my mean Capacity tha● any thing which I had

S●viour commanded to all his disciples vested all with equal powers piety moderation and priva●●on ma●ked their lives and there never was me●tion m●de of any superior power being invested in the bishop of Rome till the days of Constantine the 〈…〉 new mode●●ed the empire and gave the 〈…〉 power of regulating all religious disputes 〈◊〉 church rites and re●orms but always re●erving to the emperor the power of au●horizing or a●●ulling the decisions of the bishop This power ●he e●npero●s continued to exercise without any bishop having ever hinted that by divine authority he poss●ss●d any superiority over the other bishops or over the government of his own country far less in that of his ●eighbours At the period when civil discord and foreign wars so convul●ed and dis●embered the empire that no 〈◊〉 could take upon him the government of the 〈◊〉 the emperor invested the bishops as his agents and they assumed af●erwards this power as their right in the fourth century and no emperor afterwards was powerful enough to re-assume his rights Upon the popes becoming ve●ted with the civil government their luxury and v●ces became scandalous They were followed by ●l●ves and mistress●s in the streets in the greatest pomp and from their riches and power they were able to usu●p that superiority over the other bishops which they some time a●●er a●●empted to m●ke their credulous adherents believe they had been impowered by Christ to assume The high 〈◊〉 and affluence bestowed by Constantine upon the s●e of Rome made all the 〈◊〉 bishops anxiou● to succeed to it and ●●storia●s tell us that the sa●e co●●up●ion and in●rigue were u●●d in those days as there is now to make a pope In 378. the emperor Gratian formed a spiritual court which confisted of the bishop of Rome and seven ●●her bishops to judge finally of all church 〈◊〉 and he 〈◊〉 that all his subjects should ●ddp● the belief of the Trinity and become of the Christian church whi●● proved that he who was bec●me a Christian was head of the Church and supreme in power and this was frequently shewn by the emp●rors making the monks serve as soldiers and the bishops of Rome as ambassadors one of the popes Sylverius was starved to death when on an embassy ●Till the eighth century we 〈◊〉 the popes power no greater than that o● our archbi●hops after that 〈◊〉 the imbeci●●●y superstition and often the poverty and difficulties of the emperors tempted them to give the popes sovereign power over provinces titles a●d homage to gain 〈◊〉 or pardon of their 〈◊〉 So soon as 〈…〉 were declared head of the. church they 〈…〉 those Pagans who had turned 〈◊〉 Christianity to 〈◊〉 same ideas to them that they had to their 〈◊〉 Druids that the per●on who was exc●mmunicated by them was degraded and deprived of the common 〈◊〉 of the people and thu● 〈◊〉 began first to 〈◊〉 damnation on nations and king who devia●ed from 〈◊〉 politics In this same century Pep●● in 〈◊〉 finding his sovereign Childeric a weak p●ince ●o 〈◊〉 the ambitious scheme of 〈◊〉 him and 〈◊〉 his throne which pope Z●cheria encouraged him 〈◊〉 do knowing that if Pepin succeeded he could not do without the influence of the church over the minds of the people as well as the riches of its treasury for which Pepin promised to aid him with his arms and every art to establish his power and after Pepin by these means had completed his 〈◊〉 the pope was attacked by Allulph a Lomb●rd prince when Pepin hastened to his succour and forced 〈…〉 totally to give●up to the pope the 〈◊〉 of Rome In the time of pope Adrian who succeeded Zacheria Charlemagne who succeeded Pepin again rep●l●ed the Lombard princes who wi●hed to reduce the ●avished power of the papal splendor Char●emagne ●ound the Pope a ve●y powerful friend from the bigotry the natural produce of ignorance which reigned in those day● the princes and people impover●shed themselves to make presents to the pope whom they believed to be endowed with su●ernatural powers from the miracles and 〈◊〉 they daily 〈◊〉 by their know●edge in 〈◊〉 and chemistry which knowledge was 〈◊〉 confined to the priesthood Thus by reading history you will 〈◊〉 by what almost imperceptible degrees the church of Rome emerged from all the simplicity and 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 doct●ines of Christ to e●joy that splendour and corruption which have 〈…〉 many ages distinguished it Surely the leading 〈◊〉 to become a traitor and a 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 ●o the doc●rines of our Saviour One of the pope● causes of the great success of the 〈◊〉 was that 〈◊〉 were elected they were 〈◊〉 always men of ●ho●en abilities and a●ts 〈◊〉 to the study of enr●ching and agrandizing the 〈◊〉 if any pope turned out a man of a different cast the cardinals lost no time to murder or depo●e him whereas the princes who succeeded their 〈◊〉 were either fools or wise men as the chance of fortune directed The popes under pretence of managing the 〈◊〉 of the church and the con●ciences of kings were a●ways fending men to undermine the polities of every cabinet either by encouraging the weaknesses of the leading men or by denouncing thunders which 〈◊〉 the weak minde● and 〈◊〉 and thus with the aid of all powerful gold 〈…〉 i●fluence There●ore it is 〈◊〉 to be wondered at that they should so long have kept all Europe in a state of blood barbari●m and bigotry which 〈◊〉 would have been i●s wretched 〈◊〉 had not England Swi●zerland and many of the German Principalities by the will of Providence re●o●med an● 〈◊〉 from the u●j●st vsurpa●ion of the Church of Rome Re●igion 〈◊〉 that period has ce●sed to be the 〈…〉 of state intrigues in those rival nations which gave laws to the world Should a general reform of that Church now h●ppen which is very probab●e the minds of its ad●e●ents seem ripe for revolt from their groaning severely under the tyranny of a corrupt avar●cious clergy and we may expect to see all Europe enjoy pe●manent peace ●ut the restless spirit of domination in the Romish Clergy will leave no attempt u●●ried to secu●e their power and it is only by a conflict which must produce va●ied 〈◊〉 of blo●d that they will submit to restore their usurped spoils we find that already many of them have kept the chair by ass●ssinations cruelty and treachery Sergiu● the Third made one of his numerous bas●ards Pope under the name of John the Eleventh John the Twel●th was also a bastard of Pope Agape●us for in those days 〈◊〉 those heroes willingly made the sacrifice to God of that generally troublesome appendage to a libe●●ine a wife yet the● could not dispense with a variety of mistresses Gregory the Se●ond profited the most by his amours for the Empr●ss Matilda and the daughter of the Duke of Tuscany left him large legacies Pascal the Second stirred up and supported Henry the Fifth to act so bad a part by his Father for it was those scan●●lous

whether 〈…〉 have I had a compassionate heart and 〈◊〉 hand to any in want 14 Have I especially done good to them who a●e of the 〈…〉 however 〈…〉 15. Did the C●●●ch of God 〈…〉 of Christ ●e near my heart Have I 〈…〉 the welfare of Christs Chu●ch and 〈◊〉 its desolations and 〈◊〉 Heav●n abo●e my 〈◊〉 Joy 16. Have I really set death before me and 〈◊〉 my life as a vapour if God should this ●ight clo●e my eyes in death how is it like to be with my soul 17. lo●●nceivably great glorious and terrible as the day of Judgment will be dare I meet Christ at his coming Will my graces bear the t●ial of that day Can I now with joy say even so Come 〈◊〉 Iesus Lady JANE GREY'S Letter TO HER SISTER The Evening before she was beheaded in the Towe● of London Translated from the Original Gre●k I HAVE sent you my dear fi●●er Catharine a book which though ●t be not exte●nal●y 〈◊〉 with gold or curious embroidery of nee●l● work ● internally of more value than a● the precious mines in the wide world my only dear and best beloved 〈◊〉 it is the book of the law of our great and dear Redeemer his testimony and last 〈◊〉 bequeathed to lead us to e●ernal happiness Read it with attention and an earnest de●ire to follow its precepts and it wi●●urely bring you to immo●tal and everlasting life teach you to live ●nd die win you to God e●dow you with happiness and glory Labour to live acco●ding to the rules it contains and you shall inherit su●h riches as the covetous cannot wi●hd●●w the thie● steal nor the moth corrupt My dear sister ask wisdom from above and de●ire with David to understand the law of the Lord our God 〈◊〉 on the 〈◊〉 of thy heart by divi●e love live still to die that through death you may obtain eternal life Let not your youth blind you from knowing that at all hours times and seasons are alike to the most high God when he 〈…〉 are they 〈◊〉 ●amps are 〈◊〉 when he comes the Lord is equall● glorified in the young as in the old my dear good si●ter 〈◊〉 to die deny the ●en 〈◊〉 of the wo●●d the 〈◊〉 and the D●vil and delight 〈…〉 in the Lo●d Jesus Christ be sorry for yo●r sins love God do●●e●lpair be strong in faith in Christ live and die him the dear Redeemer and with St. Paul wh● fi●led with the fulness of divine love you will 〈◊〉 to be d●ssolved to be with Christ wi●h whom 〈◊〉 love and life eternal be the good servant that wh●●eath steals on like a thief in the n●gh● you b● not found in da●k●ess with the children of th● world who know not God and be not witho●● oil in your lamp like the foolish Virgins least yo● be re●used ad●it●ance to the marriage ●upper of th● Lamb or w●thou● the w●dding ga●ment least 〈◊〉 be cast into outer da●kness Rejoice in the Redeemer follow our great master Christ ●heerfully bear your cross or crosses lay a●l your sins on hi● shoul●ers and embrace him always Rejoice with me at my death my dearest sister that I shall be delivered from this body of corruption and clothed with the garment of incorruption for by 〈◊〉 this mortal life I shall obtain one immor●al joyful glorious and eve●lasting which I pray the Almighty God to give you when he shall please to call you hence and send you all sufficient grace ●o live in his love and fear and die in true Christian ●aith in Christ Jesus who redeemed us and all who love him and long for his coming a●d I now exhort you in the name of our Almighty Father neve● to swerve either from the hope of life or ●ear of death for if you deny his truth to prolong a we●ry and corrupt being Omniporence himself will 〈◊〉 you and cu● sho●● by his vengeance what 〈◊〉 were desirous of prolonging by the loss of your precious soul. Cleave to him and he will ex●end your days to a 〈◊〉 circumsribed to his own glory to which I 〈◊〉 God bring me now a●d you hereaf●er when it shall please him to call you Farewell once more my beloved 〈◊〉 put your whole ●ru●t in the great 〈◊〉 who alone ca● help you AMEN Your loving Sister J●NE DUDLEY She was a Lady of the m●st amiable person most engaging disposition and 〈◊〉 ●●c●mpl●shed parts She 〈…〉 greatest 〈◊〉 in acq●●●ing every part of poli●e Li●e●●●ure had a 〈◊〉 knowledge of the Ro●●a● and Greek languages 〈◊〉 modern tongues and the elega●● arts the best of wives to the most aff●cti●nate husband she re●u●ed being placed on the ●hrone till 〈◊〉 by her Father Father-in-law and H●sb●●d when she had been warned to prepare for death which she had long expected she received the dreadful news with jo● The Queen 's bigo●●ed zeal under colour of tender mercy to the prisoner's soul induced her to send Priests who tormented her wi●h perpetual disputations and ● 〈◊〉 was granted her on conditions that she would embrace the ●do●atrous wo●ship of the Church of Rome 〈◊〉 she he●d Death and Christ in greater esteem Lady Jane had presence of mind in them 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 circumstances to d●fend her religion with a christian for●itude supported from holy writ and also wrote a letter to her Sister in the ●reek ●angua●e exhorting her to maintain in every reve●se of fortune the like steady ●erse●erance On the da● of her execution she re●used to see her ●●sband Lord Guil●ord but sent him word that the ●e●derness of their ●arting might probab●● 〈…〉 〈…〉 from that co●●●ancy which their approaching end ●●qu●red of them Their separation would be only fo● a m●m●nt and would soon r●join each other in 〈◊〉 where their affections would be 〈…〉 and where death disappointments and 〈◊〉 co●ld no lo●ger have access to them 〈◊〉 break on their happin●●s Extracts relative to the Church of ROME By Lady Wallace TO be able to judge of the discontent which is now general in all Roman Catholic countries as well to draw natural conclu●ions from those com●●●tions which seem to be inevitable from the a●arice of the c●ergy you must go back to the infancy of Christianity and make you●self acquainted with the increase abuse and decrease of the power of the church of Rome which now even it s once most supe●stitious adherents begin to revolt against from the avarice and depravity of the clergy Begin from A D. 66 when we find the marty●●dom of Pe●er and Paul upon record and the appointment of St. Lin to be bishop of Rome happy for Ch●istianity the cruel 〈◊〉 which cru●hed and ha●assed the ens●●ved people rendered them greedy to adopt a doctrine which promised comfo●t to their sufferings eternal rest and blessings herea●●e● in proportion to their oppression and sufferings in this world In the three fi●st ages of the church the bishop of Rome in common wi●h the other ●ishops preached the ●●ctrine of Christianity in all tha● purity which ou●