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	papist_n	protestant_n	3,430	5	8.0447	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51160	The spirit of calumny and slander, examin'd, chastis'd, and expos'd, in a letter to a malicious libeller more particularly address'd to Mr. George Ridpath, newsmonger, near St. Martins in the Fields : containing some animadversions on his scurrilous pamphlets, published by him against the kings, Parliaments, laws, nobility and clergy of Scotland : together with a short account of Presbyterian principles and consequential practices.	Monro, Alexander, d. 1715?; S. W.	1693 (1693)	Wing M2446; ESTC R4040	71,379	106

had its constant Praeses without whose Authority nothing of any moment was transacted How often do you meet in the Old Testament the Jewish Clergy dichotomized into Priests and Levites Will it therefore follow that there was no High-priest among them to govern the whole Society you seem to have no other Notion of a Presbyter than what you meet with in your late Pamphlets but it was an honourable Appellative bestowed in the Apostolick times upon all Orders of Ecclesiasticks above a Deacon Let us know where this Superiority and Jurisdiction of one Presbyter above another is forbidden It was established by God himself in the Old Testament let us see it repealed in the New I think we may leave this Dispute to other Combatants who may have occasion to discourse of it more fully when the Mortar pieces are shot that you threaten us with Only be mindful to let us see those Epistles of St. Augustine to St. Jerom wherein you say that Episcopacy is proved to be of humane Appointment Your next contains a lamentable Catalogue of Crueltiess that you say the Presbyterians in the West did undergo under the former Reigns viz. that some were roasted before Fires c. I thank God I never heard any such thing before and if it had been true all Christendom would have heard of it and tho you had the Aauthority of the General Assembly to vouch it you must excuse me if I continue in my former Unbelief All your Bauble about the Cameronians is neither to your Purpose nor mine their Practices can never be condemned by Presbyterian Principles and they may be the Standard of Presbytery as much as the Ministers you name in that Paragraph The Protesters were not so numerous as the Resolutioners yet you must acknowledge they were the only orthodox Presbyterians for the Resolutioners were rotten-hearted Malignants and the Protesters are the present visible Church of the Presbyterians and if they had stood upon the Plurality of Votes they had yielded to the General Assembly against whom they protested And this is the fatal and fundamental Error of your Party that they have no principles of Unity but such as a plausible Protestation seconded by the Rabble can shake your Ecclesiastical Authority upon all occasions according to the Original Maxim of Mr. Andrew Melvil Vota sunt ponderanda non numeranda Your Argumentum ad hominem taken from the Viscount of Dundee's Practices proves no more than your thick and palpable Ignorance in the first Principles of Logick Nothing can be improved as an Argumentum ad hominem against any Man but such Practices as naturally overthrow his own Principles and do you think that my Lord Dundee own'd any true and indisputable Right in them against whom he sought and if upon his Hypothesis there was no Title pray what becomes of your Argumentum ad hominem My humble Advice is that some one or other of your Friends may teach you the Vocabula Artis before you write so magisterially and you 'll find this to be but a friendly Advice before I have done with you and whatever Proficiency you have made in Grammar your Logicks are but of about two Months standing Your Parallel between the Practices of the Church of England towards King James and those of the Scotch Presbyterians towards King Charles 11. is a true Specimen of your Skill We know no such Practices of the Church of England nor are we to learn her Doctrines from Scurrilous Pamphlets but from her Articles Homilies Liturgy and Canons That the Presbyterian Cruelty towards the Episcopalians after the Year 1637. were unparallel'd in History remains still a Truth because they suffered from Men who declared themselves to be of the same Religion with their Neighbours the Cruelties of Papists towards Protestants and of Infidels towards Christians and of Pagans towards them who worship one God cannot make up an exact parallel because the Rebels by whom our people were persecuted pretended to be of the same Communion But since you name the Massacre at Paris you may call to mind that in the Year 1645 the Presbyterians under the Command of General Leslie cut in pieces some hundreds of the Marquess of Montross his Infantry in cold blood after quarter given when the Marquess was betrayed and that he was forc'd to retire a considerable body of his Army surrendred their Arms upon Articles and stood as they were directed by the Covenanters in a plain open Field having nothing to defend themselves with but their Nails then it was time for the Presbyterians to discover their true Intentions and to let the world see that no Promises no Capitulations could bind up the hands of Covenanters when it was in their power to do Mischief and you are to remember that this horrid Tragedy was acted at the special Instigation of the godly Ministers in the Army for Souldiers know no such Villanies But the Enthusiastick Zealot who preached thought that the Blood of so many innocent people was a good beginning of a through Reformation He chose his Text 1 Sam. 15. 14. What meaneth then this bleating c. infinuating that they could not be said to obey God as long as they left any alivethat were not Covenanters and when General Leslie contrary to his own Inclination Honour and Authority yielded to their Fury he asked this Sanguinary Enthusiast Mas John ha not you Blood enough now Compare all Circumstances and match this in History if you can not to mention now the throwing so many Women and Children over the Bridge of Lithgow without either Form or Process for no other Crime but that they followed their Husbands and Relations to Montrose his Army And the former instance is by so much the more remarkable that the poor people who were murdered in cold bloud contrary to the Laws of Nations the faith of mankind and the ancient honour of the Scots were all of them Protestants and laid down their Arms upon capitulation for their full freedom and safety to embrew their hands in the bloud of their Countrymen contrary to the solemnity of Promises was a thing that could only be acted by Covenanters so that your instances of the Massacre at Paris and the Duke of Alva's butchery in the Netherlands are indeed sad abuses of Supreme Authority and lasting Monuments of cruelty but that which I just now named adds to cruelty perfidious treachery such as blows up the foundations of humane Society But Mr. Ridpath you ask if ever you put the Prelatists in Dungeons to be eaten up of Toads and Serpents and if not you think you may conclude that you fall short of the cruelty of the Inquisitors I answer whether there are Toads and Serpents in the lower Vaults of the Tolbooth of Edinburg I cannot tell but I am very sure the Reverend Bishop Wiseheart was almost eaten up of Vermin in that Dungeon and bore the marks of the Covenanters cruelty as well as the

Episcopacy nor to the meaning of the Prescriber or his own either being contrary to the Explanation of the sovereign Judge competent Thus far the Covenanters Now Mr. Ridpath name any one Proposition more knavish hypocritical and damnable than this is that the Swearer is neither bound to the meaning of the Imposer nor to his own meaning who takes the Oath but to the reality of the thing sworn as it shall be afterwards explained by the competent Judge which in their meaning was none else than the General Assembly Did you ever read any thing worse in the Casuistick Writings of the Jesuits But it may be that your Curiosity reaches not so far as the moral Theology of Escobar Filiucius or Emanuel Sa. Did ever the transcendent Power of Rome go higher If Oaths neither oblige sensu dant is nor jurant is but in the sense of the Kirk then we are obliged without any further Enquiries to submit our Necks to the infallible Decrees of the Assembly tho we neither know what is in them nor never intended to oblige our selves by them I cite a very authentick Paper being under the hand of Mr. Archibald Johnston Clerk of the Assembly So that the Mother Kirk can evacuate the force of all Oaths Promises and Subscriptions to the End of the World for they do not oblige in the sense of the first Imposer nor according to the meaning of him that swore but according to the Commentary and Interpretation of the General Assembly and so the next General Assembly may pronounce that by the Test against which they objected so many sad Stories we are obliged to maintain and support Presbytery tho we swore it with quite contrary Intentions and indeed there is not any thing to be met amongst the Jesuits more subversive of all Religion and true Morality than that memorable Position that I named from the Authentick Records of the Covenanters Some grave Men have been displeased that the Presbyterian Fooleries have been exposed to laughter and for my part I was not of their Council who first assaulted them in that manner yet those Gentlemen who accuse the Episcopal Clergy of Scotland as if they had exposed Religion it self by publishing some of the impertinent and ridiculons Bauble of Presbyterians must consider that the learnedest and gravest Divines in this as well as other Nations have treated Enthusiasts in no other manner I have no room to insert Monsieur Paschal's excellent Letter to the Jesuits wherein he proves from the Example of God himself our Saviour Jesus Christ the Prophets the Fathers of the Christian Church and the holy Men of all Ages that it is ordinary just and lawful to ridicule such as profane and pervert Religion by visionary and fantastick Glosses or such as deprave its Morals by loose and scandalous Interpretations of God's most holy Law Must we be said to laugh at Religion if we smile when we hear a Man gravely telling us that Abraham left the Land of Chaldea for Debt No we are as far removed from that profane humour as this Commentary is from the Gravity and Authority of the Holy Scriptures 't is one thing to laugh at Religion and another thing to laugh at them who profane it by their extravagant Opinions and they ought to remember that the Friendly Debate treated them in as familiar a manner as some of our Party have done nay the most leading Men among the Presbyterians in their most publick Appearances had always something or other to provoke the People to laughter I instance in Dr. Burgess's Sermon before the House of Commons 1640. the fifth Motive by which he persuaded them to take the Covenant was that the Devil himself will have a Covenant from all his Vassals that expect any extraordinary Matters from him there is not a Witch that hath the Devil at her beek but she must seal a Covenant with him sometimes with her Blood Mr. Ridpath you are very angry when we charge the Presbyteterians with the odd and extravagant practices of the Cameronians as if such things were unagreeable to their Sentiments to tell you the truth I think the Cameronians are the most active and ingenuous Subdivision of the Presbyterians they are the Pioneers in your Camp whom you hug and embrace as your dearest Brethren when the roughest part of your Work is to be performed Upon the late Revolution they drove the Clergy out of the West and guarded the Convention and many other considerable Services they 'll tell you themselves they have done you and yet forsooth they must not be allowed to be Presbyterians The Act of the West-Kirk and the Remonstrance in the Year 1650. are better Evidences of Presbyterian Principles than all your little whiffling Excuses and Evasions Our People took care to publish an Epitome of the Hind let loose not because it was written by any of the Cameronians but rather because he that wrote it gathered together the Publick Papers Remonstrances Declarations and Wrestlings of that Party against the State in which they lived since the Reformation and therefore if any suffered hard things under the late Reigns they were the high-flown Presbyterians such of them as lived peaceably and modestly suffered nothing at all for our Laws never forbad any man to think but that Presbytery was preferable to Episcopacy if his Opinions and Education led him to think so but our Governours took care that the Principles of Presbyterians might not break out into Tumults and Insurrections such as formerly pulled down the Monarchy overthrew the Fundamental Constitution and turned our Nation into a Field of Blood We are very much obliged to your Wit and Invention for your Derivation of the word Enthusiasm you prove us Enthusiasts from two Arguments first because we are Drunkards and next because we use unscriptural Ceremonies I cannot deny but I was refreshed a little with this extraordinary Flight of your Fancy and I leave it to all impartial Men to judge whether this Witticism of yours or another which I am going to tell you be more coherent rapturous and gentile nay I think I may leave it to your own decision if you are but a little recovered from the career of your Passion the Story is this One of my Friends once persuaded me to go along with him to see that sad sight of Bethlehem Hospital as we entred the lower Apartments we drew near to the Cell of a little grave Man whom we found reading Ovid de Tristibus with great Application My Friend and I asked him several Questions all which he answered very pertinently so that we could not discover for a good while where his Madness lay at last I asked him if he understood the Book he read he told me he did and convinced me that what he said was true I asked him again how he came to have such a kindness for that Book beyond other Books at which he smiled with some appearance of Disdain pitying my Ignorance that

Attestations that they never said any such thing and that was all that you could do to prove your Negative and this might have been easily had especially from Mr. J. K. who lives at Edinburgh nor is there any of us so far exasperated against him as not to believe his own Testimony solemnly and seriously delivered And this is more Civility on our part than any of them will allow us at any time or upon any occasion If I were at Edinburgh I could prove the Affirmative and you must excuse me to continue just where I was notwithstanding of all the Informations you have received The following Paragraph hath in it more Impertinencies than there are Lines and yet it is probable that many of your Sect may think it seraphically witty The Author of the Postscript said that the absurd and ludicrous Sect metamorphos'd Religion and its solemn Excercises into Theatrical Scenes Another of the same Fraternity says that your Preachers were whining Fellows that drivelled at Mouth and Eyes And thus you make them contradicct one another and then you run away with a loud holla'a as if you were at the Head of the Rabble pulling down a Cathedral to see so many Curates slain with the Jaw bone of an Ass The word Theatrical Scenes does not determine whether your Preachers acted Comedies or Tragedies and a whining Scaramouchi may act his part in either and if so the many Words which you have gathered to no purpose discover your Ignorance and not any Contradiction amongst them whom you hate But Mr. Ridpath are you not in a strange Career when you can never hit upon the true nature of a Contradiction I am not surpriz'd that you do not know the Nature of a Comedy and Tragedy for you never read Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor none of the Commentators upon him either ancient or modern yet you might in two months time for so long I am told you was at the University have learned what a strict and formal Contradiction is That the Presbyterians were better at Libelling than their Neighbours is evident from all Records and therefore the Author of the Postscript had good Reason to say that Libelling was their Characteristick as that which they most practised and excelled all others in that in which they placed most of their Strength and Confidence and which they will never forbear if they happen to live where there is any to be accused But you say that your Enemies were the first Aggressors and their bold Attempts against the Godly justifies all the rough Treatment that they have met with Mr. Ridpath there is one thing that I would entreat you to condescend to and it is in itself very just and reasonable and unless you yield to it we may fight to our last breath without satisfying one another or serving any good Design the thing is this when you accuse Persons and Parties you must be more express definite and particular in your Libels I am of the Opinion that it is not possible for Presbyterians to forbear Libelling especially upon all publick Turns and Revolutions their Libels against the Clergy both in England and in Scotland are still upon Record Did you never see the Centuries of scandalous Ministers accused before the Long-Parliament The General Libel against the Bishops of Scotland may be seen when you please in the King 's Large Manifesto and in the first Volume of Nalson's Collections and if you believe neither of these Books since they were both written by Malignants read the Acts of the General Assembly 1638 and there you have the very same Libels mentioned and there is no Presbyterian but knows that the Libels against the Bishops in the Year 1638 were read from all the Pulpits of the Nation where the Assembly's Authority was obeyed and what is said by the Author of the Postscript of their Behaviour towards Archbishop Spotswood is commonly attested by the oldest Men in that corner of the Country near St. Andrews Particularly this is more carefully preserved in the Family of Ballfour And the Bishop of O. and Mr. Sage of Glasgow had this very Story from the Laird of Ballfour's own mouth 'T is true that there is an Act of the General Assembly mentioning the Libels against the Bishops but there are also among the unprinted Acts Acts of Excommunication and Deposition against some Prelates and when those Acts are produced I offer to prove from their own Authentick Records many more steps of their Fraud and Artifice That there are such Acts as I last named unprinted vid. Index of the principal unprinted Acts of the Assembly at Glasgow 1638. And if they were not afraid of being discovered and exposed upon this very Head those Acts had been printed as well as the other Principal Acts nay the Act against Episcopacy it self was not printed because it could not but alarm all the Protestant Churches abroad against them when the Order of Episcopacy was condemned as simpliciter unlawful a thing unheard in the Christian Church until the mungrel Conventicle at Glasgow sat therefore the Act against Episcopacy was left unprinted as well as the Acts of Excommunication and Deposition against some Prelates And this is either altogether unknown to or dissembled by Mr. Gilb. Rule when he denies the Truth of that Story as related by the Author of the Five Letters And you are a Fool to think that in those days when Rebellion and Hypocrisie were triumphant they would have stuck at such little Punctilio's and not practise all Arts to delude the Populace I hope you do not deny what use they made of Margaret Mitchelson's Visions Raptures and Revelations by which they persuaded the People that the Covenant was authorised by immediate Revelations from Heaven as well as by the Popular Tumults at Edinburgh The Knavery against Archbishop Spotswood was an Injury done to him and the Church but the counterfeit Raptures of Margaret Mitchelson countenanced by your Party mocked and defied God's Justice and Providence no less than it ridicul'd and prophan'd all Religion Vid. King 's large Declaration Nay they procured Libels against the Clergy from most Counties in England and in those Counties where they had none to work upon of their own Gang they forged Libels and presented such counterfeit Petitions in the name of such Counties and dispersed their Forgeries for real Truths to make their Party appear numerous and the Clergy odious And Sir Thomas Aston petitioned the House of Lords against this villanous Practice but this was not welcome to those Lords who favoured the Faction and therefore Sir Thomas Aston was reprehended and the Forgerers gently rebuked And my Author truly observes that this was like to prove aglorious Reformation which was built upon such Foundations and advanced by such Arts and Methods So that if you mean the former Presbyterians they were the first Aggressors and if you mean the modern they practised this Trade of Libelling ever since the beginning of the

and promove their Success was to follow Providence Act. of Gen. Assem frequently And those who fought for the King fought against the Lord Jesus Christ Ibidem An. 45. 19. It is the Duty of the meanest Subject in his most private capacity nay they are indispensibly obliged to it to admonish and reprove the King when they observe any thing that they think contrary or disadvantageous to the Presbyterian Interest and Reformation Naph pag. 86. 20. The covenanted People of God adhering to the faithful Ministers of Christ that owned the Cause and Covenant and forsaking the Apostate Hirelings the many Conversions wrought upon them were infallible Marks that God did approve them in their Proceedings against wicked Rulers Cup of Cold Water 21. The Change made in the Church of Scotland at the King's Return from Presbytery to Episcopacy did naturally and in its just Consequence and Tendency overthrow the very Foundation of Religion and the change is no less than from the pure Worship of God to down right Idolatry Naph Pref. to the Reader pag. 4 and 5 Ibidem 84. 22. Whoever is a sincere Seeker of God and truly Regenerate will immediatly discern upon his seeking of God ipso facto the profanity and wickedness of all that adhere to the Episcopal Church Naph pag. 11. 23. It was the peculiar Lot of the Church of Scotland more eminently than any other Church upon Earth to contend against the Powers of this World for the Scepter and Kingdom of Jesus Christ by their Protestations Petitions Remonstrances Declinators and all other Methods to advance Presbyterian Interest Naph Pref. to the Reader pag. 16. 24. Papacy and Prelacy have one and the same Original and their adherents are the Synagogue of Antichrist Naph Pref. to the Reader pag. 20. and pag. 154 and pag. 184. and pag. 53. 25. The People of God in these Nations ought to rest assur'd that their Enemies shall be ruin'd and destroy'd for the Lord hath said that the false Prophets shall pass out of the Land and all that Countenance them shall be asham'd and ought we not to believe what God himself hath said Naph Pref. and pag. 153. 26. No Ecclesiastick is oblig'd to give the King or his Council an account of any Doctrine Preached by him immediately and Prima instantia he is oblig'd to the Presbyterian Classis and if the King meddle with him or call him to an account immediatly he invades the Scepter of Jesus Christ and if he arrogate unto himself the power of Convocating National or Provincial Synods he confounds the Government of Jesus Christ with the Civil and invades his Authority therefore it is not safe nor Scriptural Dialect to say the King is Supreme Governour over all Persons and in all Causes Naph frequently and page 38 and 40. The Royal Prerogative in cognoscing upon the Doctrine of Ministers is the Devil 's great design to endear the Powers on Earth to the Prelates Ibidem 27. The Presbytry can Counter Act the Acts and Statutes of the Supreme Court of Parliament and can forbid all the Subjects to obey those Laws if imposed without their Consent July 28. Anno 1648. Act and Declaration against the Act of Parliament 28. No Man can enter lawfully to the Ministry but by the Call of the People but when the People are Malignant then the Presbytery may give them a Minister Act. Gen. Assem August 4. 1649. 29. When the Presbytry appointed a Fast upon King James his appointing of a Feast they did nothing but what they were oblig'd in Conscience to do Lex Rex Pref. to the Reader 30. If the King will not Reform Religion the Assembly of godly Pastors and People ought to Reform it and they may swear a covenant without the King and if he refuse to build the Lords House they may relieve and defend one another when they are opprest and hinder'd in the Work and Cause of God Lex Rex Pref. to the Reader 31. Inferiour Judges are no less essentially Judges and God's Vice-Gerents on Earth than the King himself Lex Rex pag. 159. 32. The King is under the Law as to its Coercive limitation and ought to be resisted by force of Arms. Lex Rex pag. 231. Duglas Coron Ser. pag. 22. and elsewhere frequently 33. The King is not the final and supreme Interpreter of the Law Lex Rex pag. 252. 34. The King's Pretogative Royal and the Oath of Supremacy are directly contrary to the Word of God and the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom Naph pag. 86. 35. To allow that the present graceless Hirelings and Curates had so much as an external Call to the Ministry were as much as to make the God of Order the Author of Confusion Naph pag. 104 105. And the true Zeal of God would inspire us to eradicate those Plants that our Heavenly Father never planted Ibidem pag. 108. And to bid the Covenanted People of God come to the Church is the height of Oppression and Rigour Ibidem pag. 109. 36. A King that transgresses the Law is degenerate into a Tyrant and ought to be ranked amongst such as destroy the Peace and Advantages of Human Societies because they transgress the limits and bounds of their Constitution therefore are they hateful to God and men and to be looked upon as no better than Wolves Tigers and Lions and the death of such ought to be rewarded by the whole People and every one of them De Jure Regni pag. 36. 37. The Oaths given by Intrants to their Bishops at their Ordination do not oblige at all because they bind us to those Constitutions that were not allowed by the Presbytery Act. Gen. Assem Decemb. 5. 1638. 38. The call of a clear and necessary Providence is enough for Christs Witnesses to resist and stand up against earthly Powers and to this they are indispensably obliged when they are in a probable capacity to act successfully although the Motive of Self-defence were not conjoin'd and all such Combinations for Just and Necessary ends are warranted before God and men notwithstanding of any pretended Law to the contrary and to affirm that the first and last Covenanters were acted by a Spirit of Rebellion is a sin the next degree to the sin against the Holy Ghost Naph pag. 7 8. 12. 16. 39. The great Law of Self-Preservation in its immediate and most natural Effects teach us and indispensably oblige us to resist Kings and all Superiour Powers when they command things contrary to the Word of God nay when the great ends of Government are perverted then the Bond thereof is dissolved and the People thus liberated therefrom do relaps into their Primeve Liberty and may upon the very same Principles Combine and Associate for their better defence that they first enter'd upon unto Society Naph pag. 147 148. 150. 40. When the faithful of the Land are destitute of the best and surest means to overthrow the present Government and wicked Governours they are still oblig'd to