Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	church_n	doctrine_n	england_n	6,989	5	6.3346	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63490	A True copy of the journal of the High Court of Justice for the tryal of K. Charles I as it was read in the House of Commons and attested under the hand of Phelps, clerk to that infamous court / taken by J. Nalson Jan. 4, 1683 : with a large introduction.	Charles I, King of England, 1600-1649, defendant.; Phelps, John, fl. 1636-1666.; Nalson, John, 1638?-1686.	1684 (1684)	Wing T2645; ESTC R5636	141,696	216

the Marshal General of the Army One Mr. Nelson and Mr. Evans were likewise brought before the Court upon an Information Exhibited against them of a Practice and Design that they were Engaged in against this Court and John Minshaw Mary Minshaw John White and John Haydon Clerk were Sworn and gave Evidence against them Ordered That the said Evans and Nelson be committed to the Custody of the Marshal General of the Army and Col. Moore is desired to acquaint the House herewith The Lord President moved the Court That in regard the Courts Commission is now determining care may be likewise taken for a sufficient Remuneration for the Guards that have so freely and chearfully attended the Lord President and the Court. Col. Titchbourne Reports from the Committee appointed for that purpose That the said Committee have considered of a Gratuity to be given unto the respective Officers and Attendants of this Court of which Allowances this Court doth approve and desire Col. Harrison to move the House for Moneys to satisfie the same and all other Charges of this Court Mr. Garland Mr. Lisle Sir Hardress Waller Mr. Say Commissary Gen. Ireton Mr. Marten Mr. Scott The aforesaid Members of this Court or any three of them are Ordered on the behalf of this Court to peruse and consider the Substance of the Proceedings of this Court and prepare the same to be presented to the House of Commons and Mr. Say is Ordered to present it By the Expiration of the Month in the Act mentioned the Commission determined Attested per John Phelpes Clerk to the said Court Examined and Attested to be a True Copy from the Original By me John Nalson THE CONCLUSION THus fell the most Glorious Monarch and most Admirable Monarchy of the whole Universe By these Hands were the Manacles of Slavery and the Yoke of the most Arbitrary Servitude put upon the Neck and Hands of the English Nation and the same Blow which severed that Royal Head and Body cut the very Nerves and Ligaments of the English Liberty and even those men who begun that detestable Rebellion upon the most Solemn Pretences of freeing the Nation from the imminent Dangers of Popery and Arbitrary Power erected the most unbounded Tyranny and gave the greatest Advantages to Popery and the most mortal Wound to the Reformed Catholick Religion that ever it received since Rome first left us because we left her unwarrantable unsound and unprimitive Practices and Doctrines some of which have such a Treasonable Conformity with those of our bloody Regicides as if there were nothing else were sufficient to excuse the Church of Englands Departure from Rome from the imputation of Schism These were the men who to amuse the People and animate them to Rebellion made such horrid Exclamations against Priests and Jesuits and yet themselves Acted what the very worst men of those Orders had ever written who reduced those Fatal Doctrines of the Lawfulness of Resisting even by Armed Force of Deposing and Murdering Crowned Heads from the dull Theory whereof they so clamorously accused the Papists into the execrable Act and Practice these were the glorious Founders Promoters and Encouragers of the Separation who scorning the little Villanies of a Clement or a Ravailac or the more secret Methods of murdering Princes made the very Sun blush to behold their Triumphant and Daring Wickedness being resolved to eternize themselves for the most Renowned Villains by surpassing all that ever went before them and to outdo even Cassius and ingrateful Brutus with the sneaking three and twenty Daggers of the Roman Senators who to recover their Commonwealth-Liberty murdered Caesar by solemnly murdering a most Lawful Sovereign whereas the others wretchedly enough took away only the Life of a bold Vsurper These are the Principles which lead men insensibly from Conscientious Disobedience to a Rebellious Conscience and by the false Pretences of Religious Zeal to commit such Impieties as modest Heathens nay even some Atheists would blush at and be ashamed to be guilty of Nor is it for one transient Act that we accuse them but it is the eternal inseparable Mischiefs and Consequences of these Principles of Separation which we are for ever to dread for assoon shall the Ocean quit its treacherous instability and forget to Rage and Foam and overthrow all its Banks upon the Summons of every impetuous Tempest as these Turbulent Principles cease to be dangerous to the Peace and Repose of Mankind or the safety of Government Assoon nay sooner shall we see Lyons and Tygers Wolves and Panthers become as tame harmless and serviceable as our domestick Animals as see their savage Principles permit those who come to be bewitched with them continue to be Innocent longer then they are Impotent For Rebellion with its portentous Retinue is as naturally included in Separation as Fire in a Flint and though it may sleep there so as to deceive the Ignorant who never beleive there is fire but when their fingers are burnt it will alwayes be ready upon the Summons of Steel to shew it self and the Tinder Conscience of Dissenters is as obedient as Gunpowder to catch every Spark of Rebellion that falls into it and improve it into a Combustion and Conflagration both of Church and State Now though Sovereign Princes have the greatest Stake in this World their Crowns and Scepters their Dignity Lives and Honour all which are manifestly in hazzard where these Principles prevail and therefore it would be a foolish presumption to think they do not know their own Interest and most insufferable Arrogance and Vanity to pretend to inform and instruct them yet since they can never suffer alone and that Private persons of all Ranks Degrees and Qualities have Life Liberty and Estates which if their Possessors be Loyal cannot avoid running the same course with the fortune of their Prince Nay even those who propose to themselves the greatest advantages in Rebellion should it prove successful in the Conclusion are like to be the greatest Losers the gains which they shall make by such Godliness being the loss of their Souls and Bodies Heaven and Eternal Happiness Certainly it is the True interest of all English-Men even for their own security and preservation to endeavour to suppress the further growth and progress of their pernicious Principles of Separation Nor is it less the interest of the Dissenters themselves to abandon those Disloyal and Ruinous Doctrines Practices and Opinions which are so destructive of the Peace Happiness and Prosperity of this Nation and by a timely repentance to attone Heaven for the former Guilt and most especially that of the Blood of this Royal Martyr which as it evidently lies at their Door so it cryes aloud in the Ears of the Almighty Avenger of Blood for Vengance and let them be assured that though hand joyn in hand it shall not go unpunished if they continue obstinately impenitent Nay their Confederacies and Common Union against the King and the Church will be their ruine and

Both then are they certainly within the danger of this Terrible Sentence Let the Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists c. therefore shew us a Dispensation as Authentick as this Command to tolerate Them and their Disciples to raise Seditions to defame their King and his Government to cancel the Obligations of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to contemn the Laws to disobey the lawful Commands of their Superiors and at the last if they have strength and opportunity to take up Arms and Rebel and if they prevail to shake off the Yoke of Subjection and due Obedience Imprison and Murder their King dis-inherit his Lawful Heirs and Successors to all which their Principles have led them and Naturally and Eternally will lead them and then indeed they may as they presumptuously do promise Heaven to Themselves and Followers But till they are able so to do and to produce a New Gospel with a Patent of Indulgence from Christ and his Apostles to supersede the Obligation of his former Commands and to change not only the Names but the Nature of things by turning Rebellion into Religion and violating the Laws of God and Man into Obedience they will remain under the unavoidable danger of the intolerable Penalty annexed to Resisting the Higher Powers and in conclusion will most assuredly find a Hell instead of a Heaven and Damnation in the place of that Happiness which the Heads of the Separation do as confidently promise to their Followers as they vainly expect from their Teachers Whether it have proceeded from mistaken Charity or which is much worse from a Cowardly Timorousness of falling under the Indignation of the Dissenters and consequently of most severe Revenge if ever they have power to execute it I cannot tell but truly in my Opinion the not pressing of these necessary Truths upon the People of the unlawfulness of Rebellion upon any pretence whatsoever and their danger of Damnation in following these Hellish Principles of Popular Soveraignty Reformation by Blood Tumults and the Power of the Sword of the Lawfulness of Deposing Judging and inflicting Capital Punishments upon Soveraign Princes and the want of exposing the necessary Consequences of these and such like Fatal Opinions and shewing them the horrible Influences they have formerly had upon the Peace and Happiness of the Nation it is to be feared hath contributed too much to the increase of the Vulgar part of the Faction And truly this necessary work is so easie to be done from plain matters of undeniable Fact that there need be no recourse to Rhetorical Amplifications or Hyperbolical Expressions to move not only the Passions but the Reason of all Mankind to the utmost degrees of Hatred and Abhorrence against such dreadful Principles The Treasons Conspiracies the Wars the Rapines the Hypocrisies Perjuries and Sacrileges the Butcheries Oppressions Murders and those Rivers of Innocent Blood and which surpasseth all the Blood of their King through which these Separatists have waded to obtain by the Power of Rebellion and the Force of the Sword an usurped Soveraignty and unlimited Arbitary Dominion over the People of these Nations thereby to render the freest People of the World the vilest Slaves in the Universe are certainly such undeniable Truths which are justly chargeable upon them as are sufficient to set such an Eternal Brand of Infamy upon those who have been guilty of them as would render it impossible for them to deceive the People by their other Arts and pretended Sanctity and truly their making Religion stoop to their base Designs and thereby prostituting that which is most Sacred to the most unhallowed Actions and most unparallel'd Wickedness would be so far from doing them any advantage that to all honest virtuous and religious Minds it would make them appear more horrible and odious because becoming thereby more mischievous and dangerous for the Devil transformed into the shape of an Angel of Light is no less a Devil for his stoln brightness and the very stealing of that Glorious Shape ought rather to make him be esteemed of the worst sort of those Infernal Spirits because he only takes it upon him to be thereby inabled to do the more Mischief to Mankind and to cheat them out of Happiness by pretending to make them Happy And if the Embasing Washing and Counterfeiting of Money be such a deceipt as hath merited Capital Punishment and hath rendred the Offenders Infamous and Odious to all men because it robs them of some part of their share of the Riches of this World how much more Odious and Capital an offence is it against God and Man to Embase and Counterfeit Religion and to cheat men of their Souls and Bodies by stamping the Impress and Superscription of Heaven upon the Metal of Hell and putting off this false Coyn for Good Currant and Eternal Treasure Now let the Dissenting Separatists disclaim and disavow this Imposture with never so much Scorn or Confidence and make the wonted boasts of their Sanctity and Purity reprobating all others besides themselves yet if the Apostle St. James have any Authority with them let him be the Judge and Umpire of the difference He affirms that the Wisdom or Religion for Religion is the only Wisdom which is from above is not only Pure but Peaceable Gentle Easie to be intreated full of Mercy and good Fruits unturbulent and without Hypocrisie and that the Religion which produces Strife Envying Confusion and every evil Work is so far from being of Divine Original and descending from above that it is earthly sensual and devilish This is the Criterion the Touch-stone which we challenge the shining Chymical Religion of the Separatists to indure the Assay by and I am assured if we must try the truth of their Faith by the standard of their own Works and this Apostolical Rule it will be utterly impossible for them to make out their Title to that true Religion which they they do so arrogantly boast of and so wholly appropriate to Themselves and Party that though Heaven be capacious enough to entertain the Inhabitants of a thousand Earths yet can they not allow one inch to any besides those of their Perswasion And 't is no wonder if their own narrow Souls perswade them they are only in the narrow way but the Pharisees their Predecessors in Principles and Pretensions were never the nearer to entring into the Glorious Gates of Eternity for their being so busie in framing Bolts and Locks to exclude all others from entring into those Blessed Regions And not to pass over even the Narrow Seas and there to trace these Turbulent Men and their Principles through all the Paths of Mischief which they have beaten in Forreign Countries whereby they have forfeited all Right to St. James's Character of the true Religion which is peaceable as well as pure our own dear England our Cities or Towns our Villages our prophaned Temples and our Holy Altars thrown down as Idolatrous our blushing Fields and our bleeding Laws our

will clear me of it I will not I am in Charity God forbid that I should lay it on the Two Houses of Parliament there is no necessity of either I hope they are free of this Guilt For I do believe that ill Instruments between them and me have been the chief Cause of all this Bloodshed So that by way of speaking as I find my self clear of this I hope and pray God that they may too Yet for all this God forbid that I should be so ill a Christian as not to say that God's Judgments are just upon me many times he does pay Justice by an unjust Sentence that is ordinary I will only say this That an unjust Sentence that I suffered to take effect is punished now by an unjust Sentence upon me That is So far I have said to shew you that I am an Innocent Man Now for to shew you that I am a good Christian I hope there is a good Man that will bear me witness that I have forgiven all the World and even those in particular that have been the chief causers of my Death Who they are God knows I do not desire to know I pray God forgive them But this is not all my Charity must go further I wish that they may repent for indeed they have committed a great Sin in that Particular I pray God with St. Stephen that this be not laid to their Charge Nay not only so but that they may take the right way to the Peace of the Kingdom For my Charity commands me not only to forgive particular men but my Charity commands me to endeavour to the last gasp the Peace of the Kingdom So Sirs I do wish with all my Soul and I do hope there is some here will carry it further that they may endeavour the Peace of the Kingdom Now Sirs I must shew you both how you are out of the way and will put you in a way First You are out of the way For certainly all the way you ever have had yet as I could find by any thing is in the way of Conquest Certainly this is an ill way for Conquest Sir in my opinion is never just except there be a good just Cause either for matter of wrong or just Title and then if you go beyond it the first Quarrel that you have to it that makes it unjust at the end that was just at the first But if it be only matter of Conquest then it is a great Robbery as a Pyrate said to Alexander the Great That he was the great Robber he was but a petty Robber And so Sir I do think the way that you are in is much out of the way Now Sir for to put you in the way believe it you will never do right nor God will never prosper you until you give God his Due the King his Due that is My Successors and the People their Due I am as much for Them as any of you You must give God his Due by Regulating rightly his Church according to his Scripture which is now out of Order For to set you in a way particularly now I cannot but only this a National Synod freely Called freely Debating among themselves must settle this when that every Opinion is freely and clearly heard For the King indeed I will not Then turning to a Gentleman that touched the Axe he said Hurt not the Axe that may hurt me For the King The Laws of the Land will clearly instruct you for that therefore because it concerns my own Particular I only give you a Touch of it For the People And truly I desire their Liberty and Freedom as much as any body whomsoever but I must tell you that their Liberty and Freedom consists in having of Government those Laws by which their Life and their Goods may be most their own It is not for having share in Government Sir that is nothing pertaining to them a Subject and a Sovereign are clear different things And therefore until they do that I mean that you do put the People in that Liberty as I say certainly they will never enjoy themselves Sirs it was for this that now I am come here If I would have given way to an Arbitrary way for to have all Laws changed according to the power of the Sword I needed not to have come here and therefore I tell you and I pray God it be not laid to your Charge that I am the MARTYR of the People In troth Sirs I shall not hold you much longer for I will only say this to you That in truth I could have desired some little time longer because that I would have put this that I have said in little more order and a little better digested than I have done and therefore I hope you will excuse me I have delivered my Conscience I pray God that you do take those courses that are best for the good of the Kingdom and your own Salvation Then the Bishop said Though it be very well known what your Majesties Affections are to the Protestant Religion yet it may be expected that You should say somewhat for the Worlds satisfaction in that Particular Whereupon the King replied I thank you very heartily My Lord for that I had almost forgotten it In troth Sirs My Conscience in Religion I think is very well known to all the World and therefore I declare before you all That I die a Christian according to the Profession of the Church of England as I found it left me by my Father and this honest man I think will witness it Then turning to the Officers He said Sirs Excuse me for this same I have a good Cause and I have a gracious God I will say no more Then to Col. Hacker he said Take care that they do not put me to pain And Sir this and it please you But a Gentleman coming near the Axe the King said Take heed of the Axe pray take heed of the Axe And to the Executioner he said I shall say but very short Prayers and when I thrust out my hands Then he called to the Bishop for his Cap and having put it on asked the Executioner Does my Hair trouble you Who desired him to put it all under his Cap which as he was doing by the help of the Bishop and the Executioner he turned to the Bishop and said I have a good Cause and a gracious God on my side The Bishop said There is but one Stage more which though turbulent and troublesome yet it is a very short one you may consider it will soon carry you a very great way it will carry you from Earth to Heaven and there you shall find to your great Joy the Prize you hasten to a Crown of Glory The King adjoyns I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown where no disturbance can be no disturbance in the world Bishop You are exchanged from a Temporal to an Eternal Crown A good