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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
word_n	church_n	congregation_n	visible_a	3,462	5	9.1990	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63959	The Dying speeches, letters and prayers &c. of those eminent Protestants who suffered in the west of England (and elsewhere) under the cruel sentence of the late Lord Chancellour, then Lord Chief Justice Jefferys : with an account of their undaunted courage at the barr, and afterwards : with the most remarkable circumstances that attended their execution : never before published.		1689 (1689)	Wing T3372A; Wing D2956_CANCELLED; ESTC R42261	33,759	40

his present Majesty for I was in the East Country when the Duke Landed and from thence I went directly to him when he was at Shipton-Mallet not one Man accompanying me from thence But hitherto as I lived so now I dye owning and professing the true Reformed Christian commonly called the Protestant Religion which is founded on the pure written Word of God only and which I acknowledge likewise to be comprehended in the Articles of the Doctrine of the Church this Religion I have made a reasonable and free Choice of and have heartily embraced not only as it protests against all Pagan and Mahometan Religion but against the Corruption of the Christian and I humbly and earnestly Pray to God that by his Infinite Wisdom and Almighty Power he will prevent not only the utter extirpation but diminition thereof by the heighth and influence of what is contrary thereto and for that end the Lord make the Professors of it to live up more to its Principles and Rules and bring their Hearts and Conversations more under the Governme●t and Power of the same I dye also owning my Ministry Non-conformity for which I have suffer'd so much and which doth now obstruct the Kings Grace and Mercy to be manifested and extended to me For as I chose it not constrainedly so I appeal to God as a dying Man not moved from sullenness or humour or factious temper or erroneous Principles of Education or from secular Interests or worldly advantages but clearly from the Dictates of my own Conscience and as I judged it to be the Cause of God and to have more of Divine Truth in it than that which is contrary thereto so now I see no Cause to repent of it nor to recede from it not questioning but God will own it at the last Judgment-day If no more had been required after the late King's Restauration to qualifie Ministers for publick Preaching than was after the first Restauration from the time of Charles the first probably I might have satisfied my self therewith and not scrupled Conformity thereto but the Terms and Conditions thereof by a particular Law made in 1662. being not only new but so strict and severe that I could never have satisfaction in my own Conscience after all endeavours used for a Complyance therewith and a Conformity thereto to say nothing of the Covenant which I never took but the giving my Assent and Consent have been too difficult and hard for me to comply with And I very well remember that about fourteen years agoe entring into a Discourse with Mr. Patrick Heldore and Irish-man who was Contemporary with me in Dublin concerning Conformity which he much endeavour'd to perswade me to I urg'd the severity of the forementioned Conditions against it and after some Debates and Reasons with him I told him I did believe they were contrived and designed on purpose to prevent our publick Preaching and to keep us out of the Church to which he ingenuously reply'd he judged it was so For said he a Bishop in Ireland whose Name I have forgot told me the very same But though I could not wade through and conquer this Difficulty yet I censure not those that did it and I believe after all the hottest Disputes and most vehement Debates and violent Contests between Conformist and Non-conformist there are of both Parties will be glorified in Heaven hereafter According to the 29th Article of the Church of England a visible Church is a Congregation of faithful Men in the which the pure Word of God is Preached the Sacraments of the Lord duly administred according to Christ's Ordinance and all those things that of necessity are requisite and necessary to salvation so with such a Church I have held the most intimate Communion and with such did I live could hold it I would not therefore be so Incorporated with any Church as to exclude me from and render me uncapable of holding Communion with other Churches I was never strongly bound up to any form of Ecclesiastical Government but that under which a pure and undefiled Religion doth flourish and that which contains and really practises Holiness and advances the Kingdom of God in the World that can I approve of and submit to and willingly live under were I to live I did approve of the ancient and present form of Civil Government English Monarchy I am fully satisfied with and do also declare that it is not warrantable for any Subject to take up Arms against and resist their lawful Soveraigns and rightful Princes And therefore had I not been covinced by several things that I have read and heard to believe that the late Duke of Monmouth was the Legitimate Son of his Father Charles the second I had never gone into his Army judging that without this I could not be freed from the guilt of Rebellion which I always resolved to keep my self clear from And tho his Father denyed that he was marryed to his Mother I thought it might be answered with this That Kings and Princes for State-reasons often cannot be fathomed by their Subjects affirming and denying things which otherwise they would not do and make even their natural Affections to truckle and stoop thereto I exhort all to abhorr all treasonable Plots and pretences of all Rebellion with the highest Detestation and to take the plain Text of sacred Scripture to walk by in honouring and obeying and living in Subjection to rightful Kings and not readily to Receive or suddenly to be Impress'd with evil Reports and Defamations of them also not Rashly to be propagators of the same I desire God to forgive all mine Enemies and to give me an heart to forgive them which are many some mighty and all most malicious Particularly Barter of Lisnel who betrayed me and proved such a Traytor to James D. of M. his old and intimate Friend I am grievously afflicted that I should prove the occasion of the great sufferings of so many Persons and Families But this hath fallen under the Just and wise ordering of Divine Providence as Davids going to Abimelech when he proved the occasion of the Death of all the Persons Men Women and Children in the City But who shall say unto God What dost thou The care of my most dear Wife and a great many Children I cast upon God who I hope will be better than the best of Husbands unto her and the best of Fathers unto them God knows how Just and Legal Right my Wife hath unto her Estate to him therefore I commit her to defend her from the violence and oppression of men particularly from a most inhumane and unnatural Brother But no wonder if he will lay violent hands upon his Sisters Estate that hath so often laid them on his own Father I dye a deeply humbled self-judging and self-condemning Sinner loathing and abhorring my many and great Iniquities and my self for them earnestly desiring full Redemption from the bonds of Corruption under which I have groaned so many