Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	bishop_n	emperor_n	king_n	2,890	5	4.1642	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51901	The seventh volume of letters writ by a Turkish spy who lived five and forty years undiscover'd at Paris : giving an impartial account to the Divan at Constantinople of the most remarkable transactions of Europe, and discovering several intrigues and secrets of the Christian courts (especially of that of France) continued from the year 1642 to the year 1682 / written originally in Arabick, translated into Italian, and from thence into English, by the translator of the first volume.	Marana, Giovanni Paolo, 1642-1693.; Bradshaw, William, fl. 1700.; Midgley, Robert, 1655?-1723.	1694 (1694)	Wing M565DC; ESTC R35023	159,469	386

Publick Good of Christendom These Popes seem to inherit the Authority and Honour of the Ancient Pontifex Maximus or High-Priest of the Romans in the Time of Paganism Nay they assume a far more Ample and Uncontroulable Power For those Gentile Prelates always submitted to the Imperial Authority from which they receiv'd Protection and Maintenance But these Christian Fathers acknowledge no Superiour on Earth Kings and Emperours do Homage to them and perform the meanest Services as to hold the Bason whilst the Pope washes his hands to hold the Stirrop whilst he mounts or alights from off his Mule Sometimes Great Princes lead his Horse by the Bridle whilst 〈◊〉 another Season they carry him on their Shoulders 'T is Recorded that Eumenes King 〈◊〉 Pergamus came to Rome and pulling off his Turbant humbly laid it on the Ground before the Senate confessing he receiv'd his Liberty from them And Prusias King of Bithynia us'd to style himself the Roman Senate's Slave and bow down to the Earth before them But this is nothing to the Reverence which Greatest Monarchs pay the Pope when crawling on their Hands and Knees they kiss the Sandal on his Foot He can make and depose Kings at Pleasure absolve Subjects from their Allegiance bind and remit Sins open and shut the Gates of Paradise Purgatory and Hell or at least he endeavours to make the World believe so He has Seventy Cardinals for his Assistants and Counsellors all equal to Princes A Hundred and Thirty Archbishops under his Obedience A Thousand and Seventeen Bishops A Hundred and Forty Four Thousand Monasteries and Religious Houses Three Hundred Thousand Parishes obeying his Will and yielding Homage to him So that if he were resolv'd to carry on some lasting War he need only lay an Impost of Six Crowns a Year on every Monastery and Fifty Two on every Parish and it would amount to Sixteen Millions of Crowns yearly Income And if out of every Monastery he chose out Ten Men he wou'd have an Army of Fourteen Hundred and Forty Thousand Men Which is more than any Potentate in the World can do beside Thou wilt say 't is a Wonder then he does not put this in Practice and so wage War with the Grand Signior who has fleec'd him of so many flourishing Countries formerly under his Obedience O Sacred Oracle of the Mussulmans God has tied up his Hand he cannot do it These are but Empty Speculations Impracticable Projects Phantastick Chimaera's The mighty Train of his Archbishops Bishops Parish-Priests with Jesuits Monks and Friars though never so willing to obey his Orders in such a Case yet cannot stir a Foot without the Leave of their Respective Sovereigns For they are dispers'd through divers Kingdoms States and Principalities where they are subject to the Laws and Government in Force So that unless he cou'd unite the Hearts of all the Christian Princes one with another and with his own to undertake so grand an Expedition it is impossible ever to effect his Will Each Nation has an Interest of its own to pursue which makes 'em deaf to such Proposals as may embarass if not ruine them No Peter of the Desart rambling up and down from Court to Court with his Religious Harangue will e'er again prevail to raise another Crusade That Zeal is out of Fashion now in Christendom Kings in these later Ages have not half the Attach and Veneration for the Pope they had in former Times When Pope Boniface VIII claim'd a Temporal Jurisdiction in France Philip the Fair being then King sent him this short Answer Let thy Great Sottishness know That in Temporals we are subject to none but God alone And a French Embassador at Rome speaking something boldly to the Pope the Prelate reproach'd him That his Father was burnt for a Heretick whereupon the Embassador gave him such a Box o' th' Ear that he fell down as dead But it was a tart Message indeed which the Eastern Bishops sent to Pope John III. who claim'd an Universal Authority over all the Churches in the World For said they We firmly believe thy Absolute Authority over thy own Subjects but we who are not subject to thee cannot bear thy Pride nor are we able to satiate thy Avarice The Devil be with thee and God with us In a Word All Denmark Swedeland Norway Holland England Scotland Geneva Ireland half the Empire and half Suisserland are fallen off from their Obedience to the Pope within these Two Hundred Years And those Kingdoms and States which yet continue under the Yoke are ready to shake it off at every Turn when they are never so little gaul'd and vex'd France Spain and Venice often huff the Pope into Compliance with their Demands Nor dares he to resist but winks and puts up all like an old decrepid Father for whom his Sons are grown too strong Holy Successor of the Prophet and Messengers of God Thou art th' Infallible Interpreter of the Law and Judge of Equity yet dost not arrogate a Power above thy Commission The Grana Signior honours thy Wisdom and Sanctity And thou obey'st with humble Submission the Imperial Edicts He is thy Lord and thou his Guide and Tutor in the Way to Paradise May God encrease thy Illuminations with thy Years and inspire me and all the True Faithful with sincere Loyalty to our Sovereign and devout Obedience to thee without the least Alloy of Treachery or Superstition Paris 2d of the 11th Moon of the Year 1667. LETTER XVI To Nathan Ben Saddi a Jew at Vienna NOW thou seest I am a truer Prophet than thy New Messias that Impostor Sabbati Sevi And yet though I 'm so in Effect I do not aspire at the Title I claim no Character above that of a Mortal who has not quite forfeited his Sence and Reason However if thou wilt yet retain some Veneration for his Person shew it by imitating his Example and embrace the Mussulman Faith as he has done At least he Outwardly professes it and had the Honour to do so first in Presence of the Sultan I know not whether thou hast heard of this or no. Thy Brethren perhaps may be unwilling to disperse the News of a Conversion bringing so much Infamy to all Your Race 'T is possible they are asham'd to own or publish to the World the Tidings of their own Egregious Folly in giving up their Faith to such a Cheat as this A Cheat as one wou'd think grown stale and fetid enough to make a man that had the smallest Grain of Sence recoil considering how oft your Fathers have been bubbl'd before by such Upstart Messiasses such Spucious Prophets as this I commend the Wit of Sabbati Sevi in that he would not stand the Brunt of the Grand Signiors Archers or by a vain Presumption hope for Miracles from Heaven to skreen his Naked Body from a Show'r of Fatal Shafts Had he been so rash I should esteem him the Greatest Miracle of Stupidity that e'er was extant on the Earth

Careless Queries by Degrees And all her Answers still confirm'd me as to Time and Place with other Circumstances That he must be the Man I murder'd in my own Defence so long agoe I kept this Secret lock'd up in my Breast nor cou'd my doting Fondness melt me into such a soft and easy Temper as to betray my self to her But I took inward Pleasure at the Thoughts of my Deliverance from that sudden violent Death and from my After Cares and Fears by this Discovery Henceforward I 'll suspect no Mussulman though my Enemy Nor shall I be so fearful of my Sicilian Master No Pannick Terrours shall confine me to my Chamber and make me spend my Days in fretting and consuming Melancholy I will not be surpriz'd when Strangers knock at the Gate or when I hear the Blustering Voices of the Parish Officers below or the Collectors of the King's Revenues Yet these before were dreadful as the Sultan's Attescheriff or Fatal Warrant when he demands a Bassa's Head So forcible is Jealousy and suspended Thoughtfulness so black the Influence even of mis-grounded Apprehension and mistaken Guilt My Dgnet This Mortal Life is a dark Labyrinth of cross Events Bewilder'd Man gropes up and down he often trips and stumbles at Contingencies he strays about in Thorny Rugged Paths not knowing where he is or which Way to turn himself Sometimes an Ignis Fatuus with its deceitful Light mis-guides him into Miry Places Fens and Bogs where he 's in Danger of being swallow'd up or leads him to the Brink of an high Precipice where if he advance but one Step more he 's gone beyond Recovery He falls and dashes himself to pieces on under-growing Rocks Reason is the only Clew that can conduct us safe through all the Windings of the perillous Maze Heaven grant that thou and I may ne'er let go our Hold of this so necessary Faculty untill it has conducted us to Paradise Paris the 15th of the 12th Moon of the Year 1667. LETTER XVIII To the Kaimacham LAst Year I gave thee an Account of the Birth of a young Princess of France Now I shall inform thee That she was baptiz'd on the 21st of this Moon Baptism with the Nazarenes is Equivalent to our Circumcision Nay 't is something more Divine if we may believe them They call it the Sacrament of Initiation the First Mystery of Christian Faith But when 't is apply'd to Children of Royal Extraction the Sons or Daughters of Kings it looks more like a Ceremony of State than a Mystery of Religion However be it what it will 't is perform'd with Abundance of Pomp and Magnificence And at this Ceremony it is that every Christian receives his Name which is given by the Godfathers and Godmothers that is Persons who stand Sureties for the Child's Education in the Christian Religion This Princess was nam'd Maria Theresa by the Dutchess Dowager of Orleans and by the Duke of Enguien On the same Day the Cardinal Duke of Vendosme had Audience of the King and Queen in Quality of Legate de Latere from the Pope It seems the King of France had desir'd the Pope to stand Godfather to the Dauphin which the good Prelate accepting sent this Cardinal as his Deputy and Representative to perform the Charge He is to give the Dauphin his Name In the mean while he stands much upon Punctilio's requires vast Respects and Submissions from the French Bishops and carries himself with as much State as if he were a God or an Angel looking as big as if he were the Emperour of the Vniverse And well he may since during his Legation he has as much Power as the Pope himself that Sovereign Prelate having invested him with all his own Paternal full Authority Which he wou'd make the World believe is greater than that of Earthly Kings and Emperours And yet he styles-himself the Servant of the Servants of God A fine Piece of Ecclesiastick Hypocrisie The Ways of these Infidels are double Their Practice runs counter to their Profession They wou'd fain appear as Saints when in Effect they are little better than Devils There has been a great Alteration lately made in Portugal the Estates of that Nation having compell'd their King to renounce his Government and conferr it on Dom Pedro his Brother The Spaniard laughs at this privately hoping from their Intestine Animosities to draw Occasions of advancing his own Interest and of recovering that Crown again Accomplish'd Minister There is Nothing New under the Moon but a perpetual Circle of the same Events What we admire at in this Age as a Novelty has been acted o'er and o'er in former Times Peace follows War and War treads close upon the Heels of Peace Faith Perfidy Sedition Obedience Vertue and Vice are the Reciprocal Off spring of each other There 's nothing fix'd or stable but the World turns round upon Eternal Vicissitudes Paris 30th of the 1st Moon of the Year 1668. LETTER XIX To Abdel Melec Muli Omar President of the College of Sciences at Fez. I Receiv'd thy Invaluable Dispatch containing Marvellous Things Revelations of a Sublime Rank Mysteries heretofore undiscover'd Yet I was not much surpriz'd having all along presag'd some Vast Improvement of Learning from thy accomplish'd Spirit O thou Terrestrial Star of the First Magnitude Chief in the Constellations of the South Glory be to God who from Infinite Darkness started the Eternal Bright Idea's of the Universe and on the Womb of Everlasting Silence begat the WORD by which he formed all Things Doubtless there is no Blemish in his Works No Botches Knobs or disproportionable Unevennesses The World 's a perfect Beauty Were Ptolomy alive thy System of the Heavens wou'd put him to the Blush And Tycho Brahe wou'd sneak out of his Planetary Frame by some wild and more than Eccentrick motion asham'd that he had been such a Botcher in Astronomy Copernicus himself wou'd sink under the Burden of the Moon which the overloaded Earth wou'd in Revenge let fall upon him for his Unnatural Cruelty to his Aged Mother in burdening her so long And all the World wou'd celebrate thy Praise who hast thus happily rescu'd Heaven and Earth from their Embarassments Thy Thoughts are high and elevated to the Heaven of Heavens yet thy Humility stoops to the Center of the Earth But all Mankind wou'd be oblig'd to thee afresh if thou wou'd'st vouchsafe to take the Middle Path and survey with thy accustom'd Accuracy the Surface of this Globe whereon we Mortals tread Geography being already sensible of her Elder Sister's Happiness in thy Correction and Amendments of the former Astronomick Schemes languishes also for thy Supervisal of her own Defects and Blemishes Those that have measur'd the Earth cannot agree in stating her Circumference And there were few in former Times who did believe th' Antipodes The Mussulmans of India do assert that th' Earth's supported by Eight Mighty Elephants And those of Turky say it rests upon the Horns of a Great Bull.