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spirit_n ghost_n heaven_n holy_a 8,900 5 5.1551 4 false
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A47906 The reformed Catholique, or, The true Protestant L'Estrange, Roger, Sir, 1616-1704. 1679 (1679) Wing L1289; ESTC R20504 23,451 38

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that Stole Money and Plate under the pretence of Searching for Priests and for the Credit of the Exploit they Rob'd in Red Coats too that they might the better pass for some of his Majesties Guards The Similitude runs upon All Four for it was the very case of our pretended Protestants under colour of hunting for Priests they seized Money and Plate and committed Robberies in the very Livery of the Government This they did in Scotland under the Queen Regent and King James and in England under Queen Elizabeth and twice in Scotland again under the late King and after that in England Two actual Rebellions more in Scotland under this present King and now God Bless us from another at Home and all this from that sort of People that stil'd themselves Protestants The Principles the Methods and the Pretences the very same from one end to the other The Story of these Phanatical Conspiracies is almost as Nauseous as the thing it self is Detestable only this last in Scotland methinks seems to Crown the Infamy of all the rest For a Party that calls it self Protestant a Party in full Cry upon the scent of Popery a Popish Plot upon Oath too at the same time upon the Life of the King upon our Religion and Government and that Plot at that instant under a strict Examination the same Party at the same time also pressing for Justice upon the Conspirators nay and complaining of the remissness of the Prosecution notwithstanding the most exemplary Rigor in the Case that ever was known in this Nation For this Party I say under these Circumstances to flie in the face of the Government let the World judge if ever there was a more Consummated piece of Wickedness They raise a Rebellion and make Religion the Ground of it they declare a War against the King and the Church and yet write themselves Loyal Subjects and Protestants They cry out of the Danger of Popery and yet in the same breath draw their Swords upon their Prince in the very attempt of Crushing it and all these Aggravations complicated in one act Is it not high time then after an Imposture that has cost this Nation so dear to learn at last to distinguish betwixt a Religion and a Faction Betwixt what men are and what they call themselves Is a Renegado ever the less a Turk for putting out English Colours Are the Blessed Spirits ever the less Pure for the Devils transforming himself into an Angel of Light Is the Kings Broad Seal one jot the less Valuable for being Counterfeited So neither is our Profession And he that dishonours Religion or invades Authority under the Name of a Protestant is no more to any sober man than a Goth or a Vandal Judas his Betraying of his Master was a most ungrateful and abominable Sin but the doing of it with a Kiss made it by many degrees the more execrable And it was the height of the Prophet Davids Affliction the Circumstance of a Familiar Friend Where 's the harm now of saying Have a care of False Protestants The Author and the Finisher of our Faith is I hope of Authority sufficient to justifie that Caution Does not our Saviour himself tell us that there shall arise False Christs and False Prophets and why not False Protestants And does he not bid us take heed that no man deceive us for many says he shall come in my Name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many Does he not bid us beware of Woolves in Sheeps Cloathing And in his description of the Scribes and Pharisees give us the very Picture of our Impostors We have it upon the Credit of Dr. Tong and Dr. Oates that the Sedition of 1641. was totally contriv'd and carry'd on by Popish Counsels and that not only the Conventicles in that Bloody Revolution but all our Separate Meetings to this day and particularly the Scottish Commotions were and are Influenc'd by Priests and Jesuites under the Masque of Professors of those several Persuasions Have we not reason then to use all possible Circumspection that we may not be impos'd upon by such as these for Protestants No man has a greater Veneration for the memory of those Protestants that suffer'd Martyrdom for their Faith no man a greater Horrour for the Irish the Parisian and several other Massacres no man a higher Esteem or a more Ardent affection for Protestancy it self so far as the Profession of the Church of England is intended by it than I have But for those Turbulent Spirits that lay about them as if Heaven were to be taken by actual Violence whose Zeal outstrips Christianity it self imposing upon the World their own corrupt and impetuous passions instead of the Healing and Pacifique Motions of the Holy Ghost These are a dangerous sort of People and their ways are not only a Contradiction to the undeniable Principles of our Institution but to the common Interests of Mankind as well Individuals as Communities For if it be true that Charity is the great Lesson of the Gospel If it be true that Vnity in Faith and Vnanimity in the things of Civil Government would make up the most perfected Blessing that reasonable Nature is capable of in this Tabernacle of Flesh then must it necessarily follow that the nearer we approach to that Agreement the better Christians we are and the happier Men and the further we depart from it the more Wicked and the more Miserable we are This is either true or false If the former there 's no Treason in 't if the latter we may burn our Bibles Before I wade any further into this Controversie it may do well I think to give some Reason why upon this Subject and at this Time that the World may not take that for the Leaven of an Unquiet Humour which in great truth is only an act of Conscience in the discharge of a sober and a seasonable duty to my Prince and Country To the undertaking of this Office I have been induced by the Audacious Liberties of the Press in the matter of Religion and Government endeavouring to possess the Multitude with False and Pernicious Principles and Opinions and by Artificial Hints and Scandals to dispose them now toward the meeting of this next Parliament to a Partial and a Factious Choice So that my Business is only to encounter and lay open the Vanity and Weakness of those Libels and without confining my self to any one in particular to sum up the Malice of them all for so much as concerns our present purpose and to submit my self to the Reader in a fair and short Reply It is a Note worthy of Consideration that all the Papers here in question even to a single Sheet are the Work of Men exceedingly Byass'd against the Establish'd Government as Republicans Anabaptists and other sorts of Dissenters from the Church for the Publishers of these Papers are known every one of them and most of the Authors Now what advice toward the Honour and Safety