Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A31512
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A vindication of the true Episcopal religion as it was planted and set forth by our Saviour Christ ... / by W.C., student in divinity.
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W. C., Student in divinity.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing C173A; ESTC R15221
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10,285
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16
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quite against the Word of God They command Angel worship and the Angel tells John See thou do it not I am thy fellow-servant worship God St. Paul tells the Thessalonians 2 Thess 2.3 Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling awry first and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God and so on and then at ver 12. he concludes with these words For this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness The Mystery of Iniquity began to work in the time of Gregory the Great the second Bishop of Rome before Boniface the first Antichristian Bishop The said Gregory writing to the Bishop of Constantinople sharply reprehends him in the words before quoted and he saith also Whosoever shall call himself Universal Bishop or desire so to be called in the pride of his heart is the fore-runner of Antichrist I may by no means omit again to remember you what St. Paul writes to the Thessalonians in the place before cited from ver 1. to 12. of that Chapter upon which St. Austin in his Book de Civitate Dei hath these words This Scripture saith he doubtless is meant of Antichrist And again Truly saith he I am utterly ignorant what others Conjectures are hereof but I will not be silent Some say St. Paul spake of the state of Rome and would not be plainer lest he should incur a slander that he wished Romes Empine an evil Fortune The same Father hath given his opinion That these Words He that withholdeth shall let till he be taken out of the way and then the wicked man shall be revealed are meant of Antichrist No man doubteth saith he that this may not unfitly be understood of Rome As if he had said He that now reigneth shall reign until he be taken away This may be meant of those good Emperors that should be taken away by death and then that wicked Man was revealed Phocas the Emperour of Rome who was the Father of Antichrist and created Boniface the Third Bishop of Rome an Universal Bishop of the Christian World He opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God I shall give you a Definition of the God here spoken of Temporal and Spiritual and first of the Temporal God Moses in one of his Books speaking of the Temporal Gods says I have said you are Gods but you shall die like Men ye Princes shall fall like others Here God is pleased to call Emperors Kings and Princes Gods because they execute Gods Will upon Earth Here the Man of Sin exalteth himself above the Temporal Gods in placing and displacing them at his pleasure he maketh them believe that he can put them into the state of Damnation or absolve them at his pleasure whereas for the first 600 years more than sixty Bishops were subject to their Emperours and Kings and many of them Ordained and Instituted by their Order till Boniface the Third and Phocas that wicked Emperour Again He exalteth himself above the great God of Heaven and Earth Christ refused to be called Good and told them There was none good but God but the Man of Sin the Pope thinks it not a sufficient Honour to be called Good or Holy but Most Holy a Title due to none but the Great God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Here in this very Particular he exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped Again He is so uncharitable as shews he is nothing of a true Christian for he will Excommunicate the Reformed Churches from the highest to the lowest tho he never knew any of them nor their Doctrine or Manners and does his endeavour to send them to Hell tho we know his Power is nothing against our Church Whereas the Great God saith As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner but that all should come to repent and be saved And the said Pope the Man of Sin hath Excommunicated all God's Vicegerents of this Land from Queen Elizabeth to our gracious King that now is Here the Luciserian Bishop shews how he exalts himself above all that is called God in Excommunicating Gods Vicegerents when no doubt but many of them may belong to the Election written in the Lambs Book of Life before the Foundation of the World Here the Man of Sin toucheth the Wisdom of the Godhead in putting into the state of Damnation those whom God hath elected for saith the Apostle Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect It is God that justifieth In this he exalteth himself above all that is called God so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God But you will say That the Temple of God was at Jerusalem St. Austustine in his Book de Civitate Dei gives you his Judgment in that In Templum Deum saith he In some Temple of God And he adds It could not be meant of the Temple at Jerusalem because Titus Vespasian had destroyed and sacked it so that there was not left one stone upon another which was not thrown down nor of an Heathenish Idols Temple for that was no Temple of God but he must sit in some Christian Temple which may not unfitly be applied to Rome So he Now St. Augustine and many of the Learned do conclude That St. Paul meant this of that great Cathedral St. Peters Church in Rome which may not unfitly be called the Temple of God because for the first 600 years after Christ Religion did slow plentifully from thence into many Parts of the World as St. Paul speaks in Rom. 1. that their faith was spoken of thorow the whole world And there was Constantine the first Christian Emperour converted to the Faith in whose Reign Arius broached his Heresie in Africa whereof when Constantine heard he said There was no true serving of God without Vnity and Love and thereupon he made a Decree and Sealed it with his own Seal in these VVords I straightly charge and command more than 300 Bishops that you go into Africa and summon Arius and examine his Doctrine whether it be according to the Word of God or no and if not to brand him for an Heretick that it proceed no further as Eusebins saith in his Ecclesiastical History VVhere was St. Peter's Successor the Pope of Rome when Constantine executed his Ecclesiastical Power which Authority has been claimed and exercised by the Bishop of Rome but since Phocas the Emperour and Boniface the Third who was made by that wicked
Emperour Universal Bishop And without doubt as St. Augustine saith Rome is that Temple of God where Antichrist and the Man of Sin should sit according to St. Paul so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God But you may say How doth he shew himself that he is God I aswer thus Here he sits in his great magnificent Throne in his rich Robes his Triple Crown on his Head and in his pretended Peters Chair where he shews himself that he is God in blessing whom he pleases but not without Money and cursing whom he pleaseth Here he makes his unlawful Decrees to be believed and honoured equal with the Scripture upon pain of his Curse if they do not Here they must kiss his Feet give him his Godhead Title Most Holy which is due to none but God Here he delivers Souls out of Purgatory makes Indulgences and Pardons for Sins past and to come Here they buy their Sins and the Man of Sin sells their Sins but non of these without great Sums of Money In all these things he shews that he is God because he can put whom he pleaseth into the State of Salvation and whom he will into the State of Damnation nation and for Money forgive them their Sins past and to come I have hear shewn you that that wicked man is revealed the man of Sin whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his mouth and with the brightness of his coming whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders For this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lye that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness Beloved Brethren I beseech you in the Lord Jesus Christ that you do not adhere to the Man of Sin nor believe his deceivable lying Doctrine that you have no part with those of whom St. Paul speaks who believe lies and believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness Again the Man of Sin stiles himself the Vicar of Christ and Head of the Church but follows not Christ neither by Example not Doctrine Christ was humble meek and lowly and taught us to pray for them that hate us The Man of Sin contrary to Christ's Doctrine curses them that hate him and many of them that love him if they displease him The Apostles told our Saviour he should command strange Fires to consume his Enemies he told them they knew not what Spirit they were of he came not to destroy Men but to save them The Man of Sin contrary to this Doctrine by his Persecution burns many of Christ's Servants by Fires as in the time of Queen Mary The Apostles asked Christ who should be greatest Christ told them That he that would be greatest should be as him that serves or Servant to all The Man of Sin maketh himself greatest and above his fellow-Bishops yea above all that is called God contrary to Christs Doctrine You see how he proves himself to be the Man of Sin St. Paul speaketh of to the Thessalonians by his Wicked Practise as in tolerating Perjury Rebellion Treason and Murder in this late Plot against our Sovereign Lord the King and his Loyal Subjects to destroy the Government head of Church and State Now the Lord bless our Sovereign Lord the King the Duke of York and all the Loyal Subjects of England The Lord keep us all from any adherence with the Man of Sin and that we believe not his deceivable lying Doctrine lest we should come into the state of the Damned which St. Paul speaketh on And Lord we thank thy gracious Majesty that thou hast delivered us out of the hands of the Man of Sin and of his Wicked Designs and from all the Plots our Enemies have had ever since we have been a Church O Lord I beseech thee to continue thy good hand of Providence over us thy unworthy Servants in preserving us from all dangers that may fall upon us by reason of our Sins O Lord give every one of us such a measure of Grace as thou shalt think fit that we may hate Sin and every false way which hinders thy Blessings from us The Lord grant that our Sovereign Lord the King and his Successor may take such care over this present Church that as God shall deliver the Enemies of this Church into his hand they may have Justice done according to the Will of God that so he may truly be called The Defender of the Faith in Heaven as well as on Earth And all this we beg for Jesus Christ's sake our Blessed Redeemer Presbyterian Government defective in breaking the Vnity of the Church of England FIrst they brake their Oath of Allegiance with their King then the Ministers broke their Oath of Canonical Obedience with their Bishop which are both Perjury Then they raised an Army against their King both in Scotland and in England which is Rebellion which is as the sin of Witchcraft then they Fought against the Kings Person which is Treason a crying sin then they turned out their Bishops out of their Spiritual Office and sold the Church Lands and took away the Discipline of the Church and Common Prayer which was composed by Martyrs and robbed Gods Church which is Sacrilege then they pursued the King with their Armies and took him and murdered him which is Treason in the highest degree And all this as they pretended was for a Reformation which in the end proved a Deformation of the Church of England Judge in your selves what Reformation could be when all their Actions determined in sins and of a deep Dye as Perjury and Rebellion Sacriledge Treason and Murder All which proceed from the Spiritual Man of sin the Devil who is the cause of all Sin and Division Hear what St. Paul saith Mark those that cause Division and avoid them for they serve not the Lord Jesus Who then must they serve but the Devil From the Presbyterians after they had broke the Unity of the Church of England I say from that evil Root sprung the Independant Anabaptist and the Quaker and all these are divided within themselves in Judgment of their Religion There is the Presbyterian against the Independant and Anababtist and the Anabaptist against the Independant and the Presbyterian and the Quaker against them all and all these against the true Episcopal Church as I told them upon a Dispute there was Ephraim against Manasse and Manasse against Ephraim and both against Juda. If they were Gods Disciples they would love one another but I fear they are not because they have not Charity one towards another St. John in Epistle 1. Chap. 2. ver 10. saith They went out from us because they were not of us for if they had bin of us they would no doubt have kept with us Now for all those crying Sins I have repeated I wish from my heart they are not guilty of them and what I have written is not out of any malice but as they were Brethren once to inform them of their Error and Sin wishing their Repentance might be their Punishment for I believe that many of them are civil honest-meaning Men but they erre not knowing the true meaning of the Scripture Now I beseech the Lord God of Peace and Love That he would give those Dissenters such a measure of Grace that they may see their Errors and repent and come into the true Episcopal Church they went out of which hath been proved a true Church by Fire and Sword as Gamaliel told the Jews That if the work were of God they could not overthrow it lest they were found fighters against God Therefore have a care that you speak no evil nor Fight no more against this Church lest you be found Fighters against God Now the Lord grant that these Dissenters may come into the true Church they went out of and conform to the Government of the Church which is allowed by God and the King and there they may exercise their Spiritual Parts God hath given them that they together with us may serve God with one Heart and with one Mind holding the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace and Love without which no Man shall see the Lord Which the Lord grant of his mercy through the Merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. FINIS