Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A30547
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A testimony against a great idolatry committed and a true mourning of the Lords servant upon the many considerations of his heart upon that occasion ... / by E.B.
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Burrough, Edward, 1634-1662.
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1658
(1658)
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Wing B6032; ESTC R29163
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6,433
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10
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A TESTIMONY Against a Great IDOLATRY COMMITTED And a true MOURNING OF THE LORDS SERVANT UPON The many Considerations of his heart upon that occasion of the great stir about an Image made and carryed from on◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another happening the 23. day of the ninth Month. By E. B. LONDON Printed for Thomas Simmons at the Bull and Mouth neer Aldersgate 1658. A Testimony against a great Idolatry committed c. IT came to passe and happened that being at Kingston upon Thames the 22. day of the ninth Month it was ordered the next morning that I came from thence to London and as I entred in at Charing-Cross I beheld a very great multitude of people gathering together and thronging and pressing exceedingly and the whole streets were filled from one side to another upwards and downwards so far as I could see with abundance gazing forth at every Window and upon the Belconies and house tops and the glasse was pulled down for people to look out into the streets and an exceeding number of people there was all the streets so thronged that I thought it could not be possible that any more could throng in or pass by and there was Guards of Soldiers both of Horse and Foot and they stayed me and stopped my Horse and said I might not pass that way neither indeed could I well by reason of the throng of people and I stayed a very little but presently passed back another way in a kind of wondering at this great stir I found in my way 〈…〉 I beheld all spirits of people were up in a wonderment and admiration and gazing they were and hurrying as if some marvelous and great thing had happened to them or were to be seen by them I felt the spirits of men women and children were all on fire and they were in an admiring frame and in a condition not usual And as I passed along I turned in my mind to see of the Lord what this thing might be and what might be the end of it and why was this gathering and running and thronging of multitudes in this manner and in this frame and presently upon consideration I perceived that a dead Image and invented picture would be carryed that way and that all this pressing and stir and the gathering of this great multitude was onely to see and behold a dead Image without life or breath and then my spirit was grieved and my soul was vexed within me and it run through me Vanity vanity folly and madness What is all this setting of Guards gathering of people in such thronging multitudes and pulling down the Glass and gazing of men women and children high and low rich and poor people of all sorts that were come together Is all this wondering of people and inflaming of spirits in this admiring mood Is all this said I but to see a dead invented Image of Wood or Wax arrayed and decked with some foolish inventions Said my spirit Oh abominable Oh Idolatry Oh folly and vanity and my life was grieved What is all this preparation of people in this wondering frame but to behold an Image carryed and to see simple foolish people following after it in their Idolatrous Robes and gestures such who had invented it and been at cost with it and then my spirit was burthened and the very smell of Idolatry and abomination entred upon me and the weight of all this iniquity came into me and vexed the righteous and the very sence of this abomination seised upon my life and I felt the burthen of their so great wickedness the making the Image I felt a burthen and all the foolish circumstances about it for many days and the peoples folly and madness that so gathered and pressed to behold it and so wondered after it was a burthen to me and they that carryed it in their foolish gestures all this is iniquity and abomination said my spirit and I was loaden therewith and said Certainly the judgements of God will meet with this Work and the Lord will be avenged because of it and their souls should once feel the burthen of it with terror as mine at this present it came into me It might be some would be wounded or pressed to death or some wickedness would come out of this wickedness that the anger of the Lord might break forth and smite such as were the foundation of this sinful abomination and my spirit had a deep sence of the greatness and sinfulness of this high and mighty Idolatry and it wounded me and made me sad but immediately from that temper on a very sudden my spirit was changed and I was filled with the indignation of the Lord God against this Image and this stir about it his plagues and fury and fire run through me to cry Plagues Plagues and Vengeance against them because of this abomination and I found my spirit set on fire with the very power of God rising in me against this Idolatry that if I had been moved to it and it been possible to have done it I could have ridden through the Guards and over the multitude to have founded the judgements of God and his woes amongst them and through them and I could then have engaged the loss of my life that the Lord might have been revenged upon this Image and Image-makers and Image-followers and Image-wonderers after that my soul might be freed from its present burthen through this grievous wickedness Said I What silly foolish blind ignorant people are these What a power hath the Devil over them And how are they led captive at his will What an influence hath the fight of a dead Image upon their dead hearts and carnal minds Was ever the like said I Is there greater abomination at Rome What blindness and sencelesness is over the hearts of this people And after this manner for a good season after my spirit within me aggravated and unfolded this great abomination tumbling it over and over in my own breast with a secret pitty for their souls which were ensnared and captivated through all this Wickedness But further I considered that all this abomination sinful Idolatry is about the Funeral of the late Oliver Cromwel then said I What for him Alas for him who was once a great Instrument in the hand of the Lord to break down many Idolatrous Images and grievous Idols and did not the Lord once stir up his heart against all such things And did not once his Children Officers and his brave Soldiers and Army pull down all the Images and Crosses and all such like Popish stuff where ever they met with it And said my spirit What grievous and abominable Work is this Have they now made a costly Image of him and are such as were once his Soldiers now guarding it and watching over it and his Children and Officers following it and multitudes of the Inhabitants of London wondering and gazing after an Image of him This is sad said I and great pitty What a
change is this in so short a time Was it but a few years since that he and his Army and his Servants and Children and Officers were so zealous to overthrow Images Pictures and Idols that they could not endure the sight and worshipping of them and have they now made an Image of him which his Officers Children and Kindred are carrying from place to place and following it and multitudes caused to wonder after it What a change is this said I Oh sad Are people running after Images again as in the time of Popery And have they made an Image and deckt it with costly array and set it up for people to visit a long time and then haling it from place to place Are they doing this in London as they do at Rome amongst Papists This is pittiful but how comes it to pass I began to consider and said I knew the man when he was living and had the knowledge of his spirit and I was perswaded if it had been asked him in his life time if such work should be acted about him such an Image made like him and laid for so long time in a sumptuous place and manner and then carryed by his Friends and Children and Kindred and Army and then set up in such a place and be removed from place to place I say I believe he would have denyed it and said It shall not be thus for me when I am dead I suppose he would not have suffered it thus to have been he was more wise I thought he would have said Nay What to make an Image of me and deck it diversly from one form to another and visit it and then carry it from place to place up and down this will be a shame to my children and a disgrace to my Kindred and a reproach to my Officers and whole Army and all the Nation will mock and be offended and they may say These are they that were once enemies to all Images and dead Idols and pull'd them down and broke them down and are these now making an Image and setting it up and wondering after it from place to place Nay might he have said if thus it be done they at Rome may laugh us to scorn and the Papists may say we have learned of them and put their persons from among us and banished and kill'd them and set up their practices Sure he would have said thus or I 'm certain the Witness of God in his conscience might truly have said it because it is truth But upon another consideration I said this is come to pass after this manner though he was once zealous against all popery yet he did too much forgett that good cause and too much sought the greatness and honor of the World and loved the praise of men and took flattering titles and vain respects of deceitful men and many great abominations were upheld through him as tythes and old mass-houses and ordaining of ministers by mans will and the false worships and sprinkling of infants and such like popish stuff first invented at Româ— and he suffered the servants of the Lord to be persecuted and imprisoned for denying and crying against such things as were popish and which himself sometime seemed to deny and because of this said I this may justly be come to pass that an Idolatrous Image and Picture should be made of him when he is dead and decked and laid in a sumptuous manner and visited and then carried from place to place as was usuall in the time of popery for multitudes of foolish people to gaze upon and wonder after and admire and praise that all men might see the first cause is lost and that zeale which his kindred and army had once in their hearts against popery is extinguished and people are turned again to gaze after Images which is popish for such practises that day between Somersett-house and Westminster were first ordained at Rome and practised by the papists and he that suffered many to be imprisoned for denying and crying against such worships and practises as were in themselves Popish and which he himself once fought against it 's happened now when he is dead and it s suffered that they should make a fool of him in a popish way and manner for such practises is no other then foolery and foolishness tending to the dishoner of a good man but in the midest of my considerations a pitty struck through me for once noble Oliver that is now dead and his place no more found and I was greived he should be thus abused being dead by such stir about an Image made of him for many weeks together as hath been and I began to recall my former acquaintance with him and the former dealings of God towards him and what a gallant instrument for the Lord he once was and how many glorious and noble victories God once gave him and what good parts and what a gallant spirit there was in him and how once he shewed me and declared what the former dealings of the Lord had been upon his soul and how he was troubled in conscience formerly and my spirit run through many such things with a great deal of seriousness pitty then said I alas alas is it ended all in this all his former good service for God and the nations all his victories and his goood actions and his beating down of superstition is this the end of it all the making of an Image and carrying it from place to place is it ended all here what formerly he hath been and what he hath done how hath this cloud of folly cast a stink and darkness upon his former brightness and glory and nobleness and is this the end and finall farewell of once noble Oliver what only the sight of an Image carryed and set up hath the City of London and the nations no better Memento of him but oh had he been faithfull to the end to God he would have left a more lively and heavenly character to have bin read for his sake then an Image of him and such idolatrous practises and my life could have sorrowed upon some considerations passing through me about this business and for some hours my spirit could not rest and in the very time it lay upon me to write this and after all this said my spirit where is all the old priests now and his ancient teachers whom once had a great zeal against all these things and against all such practises Where are they now are they blind also said I that they cannot see this abominable idolatry and cry against it had they any hand in it or were they consenters to these things what is become of them is their zeal for the Lord and against idolatry quite gone thought I they might have prevented this disgrace to their old master who hath served them well and set them in great places and put them in large Benefices and they might have done somthing for him when he is dead and