Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	church_n	lord_n	word_n	4,134	5	3.9920	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64269	The devil turn'd casuist, or, The cheats of Rome laid open in the exorcism of a despairing devil, at the house of Thomas Pennington in Orrel in the parish of Wigan and county of Lancaster / by Zachary Taylor ...	Taylor, Zachary, 1653-1705.	1696 (1696)	Wing T595A; ESTC R39717	24,170	30

THE DEVIL TURN'D CASUIST OR THE Cheats of ROME Laid open in the Exorcism of a Despairing DEVIL At the House of Thomas Pennington in Orrel in the Parish of Wigan and County of Lancaster By Zachary Taylor M. A. Chaplin to the right reverend Father in God Nicholas Lord Bishop of Chester and Rector of Wigan Spectatum admissi Risum teneatis LONDON Prnited for Peter Buck near the Middle-Temple Gate in Fleet-street 1696. To the Right Reverend Father in God NICHOLAS Lord Bishop of CHESTER My truly Honoured Lord WHereas Dedications are generally intended to Express the Editors Acknowledgement unto the Patron that he doth Address yet this must beg your Lordships pardon for Prefixing your name to a Transaction that may seem too Light for the gravity of your Function to be interested in But besides the Presumption on your Lordships Condescention the Reasons moving me thereunto were these Your Lordship as a Father in the Church must needs be concerned for the Religion of it and it is a matter of Religion altho she and her Author be the Greatest Sufferers by it that is here pretended Now as we teach our Children to know Good Coin by acquainting them with what is Counterfeit so there is no better way to Ground weak persons in the full Assurance of Divine Truths than by Discovering to them the Juggles of Superstitious Bigots for God having settled All and Every Article of the Christian Faith on the Veracity of his own Vnerring Word and the Evidence of Vn●●●●ested Miracles there can be no Greater Argument of the Hellish Villany as well as Crafty Knavery of those that Tack and Super add any thing thereto th●n in Contradistinction to Gods word and works to have them Build the same on the Fanaticism of Vnwritten Tradition and the Sophistry of Lying Wonders For My Lord what Opinion must any sober Person 〈◊〉 of that Church who ●ndeavours to Prove the Truth and Confirm her Members in the Belief of the Fundamentals that she coin'd at Constance and at Trent from the Testimony of the Father of Lyes and one whom in her Exorcisms she labours what she can to perswade the Assembly that he is indeed the Devil This seems to me an Infatuation of that Size that I cannot apprehend it to be any thing else but that very Judgment that God hath Threatned to Deliver such Artificers up to 2 Thes 2.11 Your Lordship will meet with a deplorable Instance of this in the Following Pages where if you find any thing that shews an Air Lighter than these present Lines it is because the Subject will endure no other and Solomon must Apologize for me who hath made it a Rule To Answer a Fool according to his Folly Anoth●r Inducement to me was the Scene 's being Acted in your Lordships ●a●ish and the Great Trust you have been pleas'd to Commit to me there doth require that I should be Accountable to your Lordship for all Affairs of such a nature as this is as you are the Rector of the Parish as well as the Ordinary of the Diocess But that which to me is none of the least is what relates unto the Reader he is here to meet with such a Medley of ●opperies as will be hard to believe that any who call themselves Christians should be Guilty of for the Priests have so far over-acted each part of the Play that the plan Relation of it will appear more like Burlesque than Narrative It was necessary therefore that I should Court your Lordships Patronage that the Reader when he meets with all such passages may be convinced of the Rea●●y of the● Whilst he must conclude that I durst not presume to Abuse your Lordships Name by Prefixing it to what was only my own Invention and 〈◊〉 having plenty of Witnesses for the Protestants were Frankly invited 〈◊〉 the ●a●e-Show in hopes of a Good Harvest as the Narrative will inform 〈◊〉 I have been carefull to Assert Nothing but what I have Vndeniable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of and what hath been twice read over to those that gave me thy 〈…〉 the Operation Several Passages where I had not a Plura●●ty of Concurring Voices I have designedly left out that the rest might be Vnexcep●●●●●●le For instance When a Person whom they were afraid of loseing came into the Room the Demoniack seem'd to Laugh and the Priest ask'd him why he was so pleasant to which he replied he could not but Laugh to think If that she turned to ●er Husbands Religion She must certainly be his the Rest not taking notice of this passage I have omitted it The Priest also amongst on other Qu●●se● would needs know Whether Protestants were not Damned Which the Devil that is the Title and Language they gave the Demoniack and therefore I must use it wishing no doubt but that they all might avouched that they were this several will aver but because the Priest I hear denies it and thereby intimates as if he had some Charity left for Poor Protestants I am willing by way of Return to his Civility to pass it by with some others I know of what moment it is in order to satisfaction in matters of this nature to direct the Reader personally to the Deponerts themselves that by some Friend or other he may inquire of it from their Mouths I therefore once had design●d to have affixed to the Relation the names of those that gave me this account but considering what manner of Spirit the Romish Zealots their neighbours are of I siffered my self to be disswaded from it but if Curiosity on the one hand or Scepticism on the other lead any to be Inquisitive after it the Circumstances of time and Place when and where the Game was acted the names of the Parties concerned together with the Managers of it will direct him where he may find amplesatisfaction As for the order of it I have methodized it according to the Rules of their Proceedings at Exorcisms but I do not pretend to be responsible for the place that every passage is ranked in for in so tedious a Process as this was it must be above the Capacity of mean Persons to charge their Memory with every Punctilio It is difficient that there is Truth as to matter of Fact it is not at all necessary that there should be the Juncto's of exact order in the relation of it What the Papists design was in this Exploit is easily unsolded we are not Ignorant of there Devices nor the Artificies they make use of to cajose simple well meaning people to their Party It is not the first time nor I sear like to be the Last that they have had to do with the Devil on this score only according to Circumstances they play a different game and turn the Tables as obcasion offers Sometimes they chance to stumble on the opportunity of a natural Disease and that is their Great Advantage for Physical operations are not wanting to be ascribed to a miraculous Energy But generally the whole

friend The Protestants are desired to attend that they I suppose may be informed of the truth of some new coin'd Articles of Faith from him that was the Author of them And because the Priest perceived some of them to be afraid at the Demoniacks roaring foaming slavering c. he bid them not to fear for the Devil should not hurt them He had him at command as they should see he would command him to kiss his foot it is a wonder that in conformity to his Masters Greatness it was not his Toe and he should obey By this passage one would think the Devil had lost his Pride and the Priest had found it Accordingly he gave the word of command and the Devil kist the shadow of his Shoe-tie and was not this a very humble Devil Then they proceeded to examine him as to his Creed as if they meant to know what Religion he was of and you need not in the least doubt but the Devil is a good Roman Catholick for they ask'd him if there were not a Purgatory Speak Devil I command thee saith the Priest is there not a Purgatory and the Devil inform'd him that there was Very well But is it not necessary to pray for souls that are in Purgatory Now had this Spark of Divinity consulted his own reason that would have told him that it was not proper to expect the truth of God from the mouth of the Devil or had he consulted his own School-men he might have learn'd that it was unlawful to adjure the Devil in order to learn somethings from him for Aquinas from Saint Chrysostom assures us that we ought not to believe the Devil though he deciare nothing but the truth Salutiferum nobis dogma datur ne credamus Doemonibus quantumcunque denuntient veritatem Aquin. 2da 2dae Qu. 90. Ar. 2. that they may be delivered thence And the Devil and Priest agreed that it was Thus understanding one another and agreeing in the Fundamental Articles of Faith for you read that the Devils believe Jam. 2.19 though it is an uncomfortable faith of theirs for it makes them tremble he proceeded to other matters of Doctrine and always had the satisfaction to find the Devil of his own opinion Amongst other Queries he demands to know whether it was not necessary to pray to Saints and Angels and adjured the Devil to tell the truth and because he found him sometimes sturdy and a naughty Boy he and his Partners would Box him about the Ears sometimes all four at once for the Devil being an haughty spirit cannot as we are told brook such affronts and the Devil thus chastis'd acknowledged that it was his curiosity then led him to inquire Now it is so long since the Devil was in that happy place where Saints and Angles are that a man may very reasonably suspect his information especially considering his fate which made him incapable to resolve the Question I wonder how the Church of Rome will requite the Devil for his kind vouching these Superstitious Doctrines whether Saints and Angels did not hear our Prayers And the Devil remembring very well that he himself was once an Angel in Heaven assured him that they did though he staid not so long there as to hear any They further inquired if it was not lawful to worship Pictures and Images And the Devil could discorn no hurt at all in a man's humbling himself before those pretty play things They then would know whether any Protestant Presbyterian c. could forgive sins and the Devil being a good Casuist told them they could not It was then demanded whether the Priests of the Church of Rome could not forgive sins And what cannot they do that can turn a Wafer into Flesh and Blood yes they could forgive sins And is not this a good Chatitable Devil that directs people whither to go for the Remission of their sins but at the same time he is a blockish Devil to betray such a secret as is enough to ruin his Kingdom But they proceed and the Devil must tell them whether the Priests of the Church of Rome have not power to east out Devils And to his sad grief and pain he felt they had Be it so they make but ill improvement of this Talent for the Devil as you will find was too hard for them and maugre their Exorcisms kept his Burrough Then they desired to know whether any Protestant or Presbyterian c. Minister could cast out Devils And if by casting out Devils they mean such juggling knacks as the Popish Exorcists are known to use the Devil here bad fairest at the Truth when he said they could not For the Clergy of the Church of England understand the nature of Christs Kingdom and the operation of his Grace which effectually doth cast Devils and all evil out of the hearts and souls of men far better than to expose God and Religion to the Buffoonry of Atheists by pretending to such Mountebank tricks as are an infamous scandal to both As for Dissenters let them answer for themselves for though their warm zeal betrays them too oft to a superstitious Credulity yet I think they are generally too wise to be engaged in such Artifices And though must confess I hear that some of them do intend to bless the world with the Narrative of a late Miracle of this nature which they wrought yet if the presence of a neighbouring Justice of Peace which as I hear struck their Affidavit-men dumb for that time hath not convinced them of their Vanity I wish them to consider what they are doing and save some of us the labour of spending time and Paper in Animadversions on their Folly But to return this was a tedious way of proceeding by particulars to compromize therefore all in one he fairly ask'd The Priests used to teach the people that they ought to believe as the Church believed but now it seems they have changed their note and would have them believe as the Devil belives whether Salvation was to be had in any Church but only that of Rome And the Devil very officiously told him there was not Right faith the Priest I know that as well as thou why then dist thou ask me saith the Devil Only saith the Priest that I might make the to satisfie these people of this truth And having made such powerful discoveries as these are by the Ingenious Confession of a knowing Devil Mr. Books desired that William Winstanl's Maid might be sent for which accordingly was done She is a Protestant but her Master is a Papist and when she came the Devil beat about him froth'd and foam'd and cryed out Art thou come Art thou come And then the same question was put again and met with the same answer as it was as oft as any Protestant or any that they suspected in danger of turning Protestants did appear For when another person came in whom not without reason they were jealous of as