Selected quad for the lemma: life_n
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A46622
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Mrs. James's vindication of the Church of England in an answer to a pamphlet entituled A new test of the Church of England's loyalty.
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James, Elinor.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing J423; ESTC R36027
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14,362
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13
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He might know in what State His Kingdom stood in and though I never saw them afterwards yet I do not question but there was endeavours used to blind Him but if it had pleased God that His Majesty had Liâ—ed a little longer I do not doubt but he would have taken New Measures That you should never have had cause to Boast that you made him a Preselite And as for my Soveraign that now is he is as Sweet and Precious a Pâ—ince as the World can afford and it is pity you should Abuse Him for He is a King of Great Experience and hath Suffered as much as any Prince in the World which doth teach His Majesty such Wisdom that it is His whole Caâ—e to keep His Kingdoms in Peace and to have His People to Flourish and will not disturb the Peace thereof upon any Condition whatsoever and God be Thanked the King hath no need to distrust us for is not His God our God and we acknowledge Him to be a Christian King who Belives in the Almighty who made the Heavens and the Earth and he doth believe that Jesus Christ is His Son and that he came into the World to Save Sinners and I doubt not but that His whole Trust is in His Merits and we all hold and own the same so that we lack nothing but a Holy Life agreeable to the Life of Jesus but I find you are Mettlesome Spirits and want Employ therefore I would desire you to go to the Turks and Infidels and Convert them and in so doing you might expect your Reward and I should like it well but for you to think that you can Convert People when they are Converted already is meer Nonsense for it is Perverting and undoing what the Blessed Spirit hath done which will be a Sin of such a Nature that I would not be guilty of it for all the World. I know you will be Angry but I do not value it for I must discharge my Conscience toward all and if you would have me to be your Friend you must take New Measures and Learn of Christ for he did Good to all and hurt to none and if you would not have me to speak against you you must not give me the Occasion I am sure my Soveraign will not allow you to Villifie and Abuse us for He is a Prince of Justice as well as Mercy and hath promis'd That He will Defend us and not only so but will venture as far as any in our Vindication and the King was satisfied with our Loyalty and declared it to the World and how dare you condemn the Kings Judgment and Scandalize the Church for all that knows Her knows Her to be the only Church for Loyalty for doth any of you own the King to be Supream Head and Governour but She And for your part all the World knows what you own so that my Soveraign cannot be your Supream Governour and therefore there is no Comparison to be made I my self can Weigh you all down for Loyalty and if I can do so much for that am but one what shall we all do Therefore I know the King will not be Angry with me if I Vindicate the Church of England for in Vindicating of Her I Vindicate His Majesty which I have always done for when the Peers Speech Abused my Soveraign I Answered it for I hate Rebellion and the Church doth not hinder any one from that Singular Gift of Loyalty for Her Desire is That all should Fear God and Honour the King and She is the Spouse of Christ and He will own Her for His Mystical Body and every one that truly believes in Christ is a Member of that Body and all the Members makes the Whole and Her Doctrine is Holy I wish those that own Her would Live according to Her Doctrines for then they would be Safe and Happy She hath been Infallible in Her Duty to Her King which Her Discontented Brethren knows full well for that was the only thing that they laid to Her Charge That She would not be Treacherous to Her Prince nor Side with His Enemies for if She had you would not have been so great as you are now tho She was not for Popery as some thought for indeed She hath always been the Bulwark against it and that makes you Envy Her so for you think if you can but bring Her down you shall do well enough with the Brats whom you Begot tho your Infallible Belief in them may deceive you for though you made them Enemies to the Church of England yet I find they will prove no Friends to the Church of Rome for indeed every Good Soul will rather endure any thing than to be inslaved with Popery And as for the Church of England She never Lived under the Slavish Fear of it as the Dissenters did but doth Trust God with all and desires nothing else but to Serve God Truly and the King Rightly And as for Her Revelations as you say is Peculiar to Her Self is a clear Mistake and yet Her Lord and Head hath promised That the gates of Hell shall not prevail against Her And what is the Gates of Hell But all those things that lead us to Darkness and Ignorance and to fling down Gods Holy Will and to set up the Will of Men and secretly makes us to be an Enemy to Christ and a Friend to Anti-Christ But Christ is able to Save HIS OWN and that you shall know for He hath His Chosen People amongst all and I really do believe He hath His Saints and Servants in the Church of Rome as well as any other and I hope our of His Infinite Mercy He will Reconcile our Differences and make us Happy And as for those that envies our Happiness They shall not be able to stand before the Almighty in the Day of His Anger for His Power is able to disperse them and to blow them away in a Minute as his Divine Power did the Locusts Therefore I would Advise all the Enemies of the Church of England to be Quiet and Amend for the time to come for while we are Contriving the Ruin of one another God may justly destroy us all and bring in the Heathens who may bring forth better Fruits than we And for your Allowing our Loyalty to King Charles I. I do not thank you for it is well known or else you would not have owned it For that Destruction of Three Kingdoms and the Death of the Best of Princes is Writ in Gods Book and who shall be called to an Account for it God Almighty knows but I am sure You cannot be Acquitted For was it not the Fear of Popery with your Pride that caused the Difference when you Compelled the Queen to go bare-foot and in the mean time such as you Rid in Her Coach to the great Hazard of Her Life For as I was told She Miscarried who did you learn it of I am sure not of Christ nor His Disciples
And for your Loyalty to King Charles I. was it not for your own Protection For the wrath of God was so upon you for you Sins and Iniquities that you might very well have the Fear of Cain upon you And as for the Liturgy and Discipline what made it so hateful but because we had Complied as near as we could to you for Unities sake And the Occasion of the War and of that Good Prince losing His Life and Crown might be for ought I know for Sheltering such Unfortunate Men as you are for you were not so Sensible nor so Honest as Jonah was for he declared the Truth That he was the Man that had Offended and by his Counsel the Ship was Sav'd but you are of a contrary Nature for you do not care if you perish your Selves so others perish with you but the Saints and Servants of God are not of that Nature as Abraham Moses David and Christ Himself for He undertook Death that we might Live and Poverty that through Him we might be made Rich but You are an Enemy for you would have none Rich but your selves thinking thereby to enslave us and triumph over us Therefore I find you have the Nature of Cain who Envied his Brother because his own Deeds were Evil. For my part I can call God to Witness I have been always for the Peace of the King and Kingdom and there is nothing in the World that is dearer to me than the Kings Life and Happiness and if I had a Thousand Lives I could Sacrifice them all in Vindication of His Sacred Majesty without the hope of Rewards or Gain and there is none of my Enemies can Object any thing against me but being over Zealous for my Soveraign Lord For my Blessed Saviour hath Taught me That I cannot serve Two Masters and the Primitive Christians were always olig'd to be for the Interest of the Prince in whose Dominions they Lived so that it is our Christian Duty to Love and Pray for our own Prince but we have nothing to do with any other and whoever is for the Interest of another cannot be a True Subject to their own Therefore my Resolution iâ— That I will be True to my God my King and my Countrey and I am resolv'd by the Blessing of Almighty God never to Change if I were to suffer a Thousand Deaths because God hath Instructed me in that Way from my Infancy and I find it most agreeable to the Word of God and my Temper for I am naturally Inclin'd to Love Kingly Auâ—hority And as for my Faith it is to Believe Sincerely in Christ and there is no other Faith whereby any one can be Saved for I am sure He is the Infallible Rock and I have always kept to that from the beginning â—â—d I hope I will continue so to the end And as for The Changes of Relâ—gious â—orship that is not any thing as to Matter of Faith for Prayer may 〈…〉 according to Peoples Occasions for they were never design'd to be Infaâ—â—â—◠〈…〉 if the Common Prayer hath been Altered I did not care if it had been Altered again and again rather than it should be a stumbling Block to any thâ—â—here is not any thing but what I like and love and I think There is no Good Christian but may say Amen to them and I could Wish our Hearts were as Holy as the Prayers are good then I am sure there is no Body would be weary of them But hath not such as you put the people out of Love with them in saying They came out of your Mass Book and this you did to Wound the Church of England for Her Good Will towards you but you may see how the people Love you for they will not accept of any thing from you tho never so good and if they will not accept of that they may I hope they will not accept of that which they may not for if they do they will not deserve the name of Men and how much less then will they be worthy of the name of Christians for if they do not own Christ now they shall not be own'd hereafter Sir I wonder how you dare Condemn the Church of England I mean that part of it which is for the King Common Prayer and Bishops for Her Faith Teaches Her Piety to Her God and Loyalty to Her Prince therefore She may appropriate to Her Self alone The Principles of True Loyalty above all for Her Doctrine is True and Exhorts all to Repentance and Good Works and Teaches a True Faith in Christ and doth not Judge any Hereticks that differs with Her but owns that whoever truly believes in Christ and Works Righteousness may be in a State of Salvation and She is Christs Beloved Spouse and He will own Her and I doubt not but Her Faith is great enough with Gods Help to stand against all Her Opposers for Christ will Beautifie Her for His Words sake for tho She doth not Teach us that Presumption as to think that any Man is Infallible yet She owns Gods Word to be Infallible and Eternal and a Perfect Guide to Salvation I wonder how any one can be Her Enemy but why should I Was it not so from the beginning for was not Cain Envious against Abel and was not brave and renowned Men in their Generations Enemies to Moses and did not the High Priests Plot against my Blessed Saviour And did not Christ tell his Disciples That the time would come that they should think they did God good Service to destroy them They were not Heathens that did it but those Mistaken Christians that thought they should Merit by it for I find all along that Satan hath made use of those that ought to be the greatest Friends to be the most Inveterate Enemies as when he made use of a Disciple to betray his Lord and that great Disciple that declar'd most Love to his Lord was the first that disown'd Him. This is the Spite of our Spiritual Adversary and the Wisdom of God suffered it so to be that we should not Trust in any thing but in the most High God that always takes care of them that Trust in Him and none can prevent the Providential care that God takes of His and Christs Church must look to be Persecuted by the Enemies of Her Lord but through Him She shall be more than a Conquerer Who is he that is so Presumptions to Brand her with Killing of Kings She Abhors such Doctrines for She is a Preserver of Kings and Princes and makes more of Her Word than the Enemies doth of their Infallible Promise and I doubt not but it will pass currant Hath not you been Angry with her Kings for Her sake and for what Reason only because She owned the Word of God in Sincerity And out of Envy you sent Men to divide Her Members and destroy Her Government and have you not been Contriving Her Ruin all along and Tranâ—forming your selves into all Shapes to