Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	subject_n	zeal_n	zealous_a	19	3	8.3198	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50007	The history of the reign of Lewis the Great till the general peace concluded at Reswick in the year 1697 by Mr. Le Gendre ; made English from the third edition of the French.; Essai de l'histoire du regne de Louis le Grand jusques à la paix générale 1697. English	Le Gendre, Louis, 1655-1733.	1699 (1699)	Wing L944; ESTC R12498	179,772	352

inhabited by the last and that a good number of Prudent and Zealous Missionaries should be sent among them who by their Instructions and good Examples might bring back these lost Sheep to the Sheep-fold To back their Zeal and Endeavours by his Royal Authority he promised ample Rewards Honours and Privileges to such of his Subjects as would return into the bosom of the Church and to punish those that remain'd obstinate he not only excluded them from his Household and all other employments of Honour or Profit but order'd also that Soldiers should be quarter'd in their Houses till such time that they might be prevail'd upon to change their Opinion In such a case as this it is not sufficient to give good and wholesome Instructions there being a certain benummedness as it may be said in Mankind which oweing its Off-spring to a long Custom makes them look with too much indifferency after the means of their Salvation unless they be spurr'd on by fear Most Men are so prepossessed with prejudices especially if degenerated into a habit of carelesness that they think it scarce ever worth their while to make a due search after Truth unless they be forc'd thereunto by the apprehensions of danger and the desire of living in quiet The King order'd all the Courts of Justice erected by vertue of the Edict of Nantes to be abolish'd and in lieu of them made several Laws in favour of the Catholick Religion which debarr'd them from that pernicious liberty of abjuring the true Religion and those of the Protestants who had embrac'd it to return to their former Errors and Heresie under severe punishments to shut up all such Churches as receive them and to forbid the Ministerial Function to their Preachers But these were too fond of maintaining and encouraging their Faction to give ear to the King's Commands who to punish their disobedience order'd many of their Churches to be pull'd down and laid level with the ground especially in such places where the had exercis'd their Divine Worship contrary even to those Edicts which were made in their behalf It is in this place that with all the reason in the World may be apply'd this saying That there are certain Truths which appear so little probable that they resemble more a Fable than Truth it self Will it not appear incredible to Posterity when they shall read that we have seen in our times so strong a Faction dwindle away to nothing without any violence or commotion For in four or five Years time whole Cities were re-united to the Obedience of the Church who had this comfort to see by the conduct of her eldest Son Two Millions of her Children return into her Bosom Thus the King in the Year 1685 on the 22th of October annull'd the Edicts of Nantes and Nismes their Churches were all laid level with the Ground their Ministers banish'd the Kingdom and Calvinism was entirely rooted out without the least commotion As by these so many and great Actions the love which the People bore to the King encreased more and more every Day so it is scarce to be express'd with what a general consternation the whole Kingdom was seiz'd when about a Year after his Life was in danger For seven or eighth Months before In Decem. 1678. he had been much out of order having at several times been seized either with a Fever or some other Distemper till at last it breaking out into an Ulcer an incision was judg'd the only remedy against the Evil which being applied accordingly prov'd so dangerous that he could not possibly have escaped with his Life if the Fever had return'd But the cause of it is attributed by many to the excess of fear which seizes the faint hearted Patient in such an operation so the King having born it without the least commotion he scarce found any alteration having receiv'd the visits of many the same Day appear'd in Council the next and during the whole time he was afflicted with this Evil which lasted above five Weeks he manag'd all State-Affairs and dispatch'd his Orders with the same activity as he was us'd to do before As long as he was judg'd to be in danger the whole Kingdom offer'd up their Vows for his recovery Nothing was more frequent than to see the Handycrafts Men leave their Employments and to run in prodigious numbers to the Churches which were always full from Morning till Night the People flocking in vast numbers to Pray for the King's Health But as they had given most evident proofs of their sorrow and grief hitherto so they strove to out-do one another in their demonstrations of Joy at his Recovery the rejoycings made upon this Occasion being risen to that degree of extravagancy that it was judged convenient to put a stop to them by publick Authority But if his recovery fill'd all his Subjects with joy and satisfaction his Enemies jealous of his greatness were the more surprised when they found themselves deceiv'd in their expectation It was above a Year since the Prince of Orange the Ministers of the Emperor and the Duke of Neuburgh had fomented the jealousie which the other Princes of Europe had conceived at our King's Prosperity The Duke of Neuburgh especially being a very active Prince and a great Politician who never miss'd the least opportunity of promoting his own Interests had made many Cabals against France especially in Germany and Spain where by his perswasions he animated these Princes to enter into a League against us insinuating to them the danger that threatned them sm●e the conclusion of the Truce made at Ratisbonne in the Year 1684 which he represented to them more disgraceful than the Peace it self made at Nimeguen and that therefore it would be more for their Interest to take up Arms for the recovery of their Losses and Reputation an open War being less dangerous than to suffer France to bid defiance to them in the midst of Peace that they could scarce hope for a more favourable juncture than this the present greatness of France being owing to their King whose health being now impaired to that degree as not to be able to get on Horseback and to animate his Subjects by his Presence These insinuations and intrigues were at last so prevailing that in the Year 1686 in July an Alliance was concluded at Augsburgh against France betwixt the Emperor the King of Spain the States-General of the United Provinces the Elector Palatin and the Electors of Brandenburgh and Saxony many Catholick and generally all the Protestant Princes of Germany After the taking of Luxemburgh and the conclusion of the Truce the King had shewn more inclin●… than ever to maintain the Peace of Christendom he had let the Emperor gain several Battles and Conquer a whole Kingdom without any opposition or making the least Diversion which might in all probability have prevented the Imperialists from extending their Conquests and ruining the Ottoman Empire which seem'd at that time to

against his Authority for which reason he sent no other Answer to the Letter written to him in the Name of the Assembly but a thundring Brief in which he had annull'd all what had been done by them in this case The Clergy finding him more exasperated than ever to put some bounds to his Zeal and to make him sensible that his Power was not unlimitted publish'd their Opinions in which they represented to the People that they ought to pay all due respect to the Authority of the Vicar of Jesus Christ but that they ought not to stand in fear of his Power and threats if they transgress'd their due bounds It was at that time that the Clergy of France publish'd these following Propositions Propositi made in the Assmbly of the French Clergy That the Pope nor Church it self have any absolute or indirect power over Kings in temporal Affairs that they can neither be deposed nor their Subjects Absolv'd from their Oath of Allegiance That the General Councils are above the Pope That the Pope's Power ought to be limitted and regulated according to the Canons prescrib'd by the Church and that his decisions are not infallible unless with the approbation of the Church These Propositions met with a very different reception in Foreign Countries Some oppos'd them with all their might and even in opposition to their Sovereigns condemn'd them as containing a new broach'd Doctrine But there were also many others who being of a contrary sentiment maintain'd in their Writings that this Doctrine was so far from being new fram'd that it had been always taught and practis'd in the Church before the eleventh Century They represented to the World that Pope Gregory VIII upheld by the vast Treasures of the Countess Mathilde had been the first who had been so bold as to pretend to depose an Emperor laying hold of the opportunity that offer'd to encrease his Power by the Intestine Divisions and Civil Wars which at that time had reduc'd the German Empire to the brink of destruction That for the first thousand Years the Popes had always submitted themselves to the Authority of the General Councils and that by their own confession they had acknowledg'd themselves to be under a more strict obligation than others to observe their Canons and Decrees There were others also who look'd upon this Declaration of the Assembly of the French Clergy as very seasonable at a time when the Court of Rome in all outward appearance had no other difference with the King but only to maintain the Privileges of some of the French Churches To be short every one judg'd of the matter according to his Passion it being no new thing that Interest is for the most part the fundcmental Rule of any Doctrine But certain it is that the Pope was so incens'd at the Declaration of the French Clergy that when the King afterwards had nominated some of the Members of the Assembly to supply the vacant Bishops Sees the Pope refus'd to approve of them alledging that they had given their consent without sufficiently weighing the matter to a Doctrine directly opposite to the Rights and Prerogatives of the Papal Chair It was represented to him that these contests were no Articles of Faith but in vain for without being mov'd at our Remonstrances he left above thirty Churches vacant in France rather than he would grant his Bulls to any of those that had been Members of the Assembly The Pope's refusal was look'd upon as very unseasonable at a time when most of the Churches in France stood more than ever in need of the presence of their Bishops the King applied all his care to root out Calvinism in his Dominions Calvinism rooted out in France A most surprising undertaking both in respect of the greatness of the design and the many difficulties that were to be surmounted before it could be put in execution This Sect began first under the Reign of Francis I. neither appear'd they very considerable in the time of Henry II. but under the Reigns of his Children they began to be so formidable that they seiz'd upon many Cities demolish'd the Churches beat down the Altars and broke the Images committing such unheard of outrages in all places where they were Masters that they did even not spare the grave of the Dead After above a Million of brave Men who were destroy'd in the Massacre in four pitch'd Battles in the Sieges and Defence of several hundred places and in above three hundred Engagements they remain'd yet so Potent at the time of Henry IV. that to restore Tranquillity to the Kingdom he was forc'd to grant them liberty of Conscience many Churches in all parts of France Judges of their own Perswasion and besides a free access to all places of Honour and Dignities to give them great sums of Money to pay off their Troops and an hundred places as pledges of their future security and to settle certain Funds to maintain both their Preachers and Garrisons King Lewis XIII having after a most bloody War which lasted seven Years taken from them and destroy'd these Sanctuaries the publick Nurseries of Sedition and Rebellion they were ever since without any places of Refuge or Head being divested of all their Troops and strong holds nevertheless they encreas'd daily in number so that at the time of the King's accession to the Throne they were computed to exceed two Millions The King immediately after he had taken the management of Affairs into his own Hands prompted by a most laudable Zeal for the true Religion and taking into serious consideration their many revolts their dangerous correspondence with Foreign Princes the several Conspiracies fomented by them within the Realm the Cruelties executed by them in former Reigns had at that time taken a firm Resolution to root out that Faction But the first Years of his Reign being for the most part taken up with the reformation of the State and the heavy Wars he was afterwards oblig'd to carry on against his Neighbours that were grown jealous of his prosperity had made him to lay aside this design or at least till a happy Peace should furnish him with a more favourable opportunity After a Sect has once got sure footing in a State the most violent must serve only to make them the more inveterate as too much lenity makes them on the other Hand the more bold and encroaching The best way to humble them and to make them dwindle away to nothing is a prudent mixture of severity and indulgence according to the different circumstances of time the greatest part of Mankind being more inclin'd to be govern'd by fear than the dictates of right Reason The King being willing to make use of all possible means to suppress this Heresie without much noise and trouble exhorted the French Bishops to take care that the points in Controversie betwixt the Catholicks and Calvinists should be fundamentally treated of in the Pulpits especially in those places that were mostly