Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n
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B20784
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An essay for the conversion of the Irish shewing that 'tis their duty and interest to become Protestants : in a letter to themselves.
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Cox, Richard, Sir, 1650-1733.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing C6721
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30,538
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48
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Inhanc'd upon him as his Necessities increas'd and when the Peace of 1646. was made it was within three weeks after Perfidiously Broken by Publick Edict of the Clergy at Waterford Those that did observe it were Excommunicated by the Nuntio and the Kings Heralds that went to proclaim it were basely Affronted both at Waterford and Limrick to the great hazard of their Lives and contrary to Allegiance Good Manners and the Law of Nations Sect 13. Nor were they more dutiful in His Majesties Extremities for they delayed the Peace of 1648 until a Fortnight before his Death and even then Forc'd Conditions upon Him that Hastned his Fate And this Peace also was perfidiously violated as well as the former not only because Limrick Waterford and other great Towns would not obey the Lord Lieutenant Ormond according to Stipulation but also because they Persecuted him with a Thousand Affronts and Indignities and at last Drove him out of the Kingdom even whilst he was Cloathed with the Royal Authority And they were no less Undutiful to the Lord Deputy Clanrickard tho he was of their Own Religion so that they had no other Quarrel to him but that he was the King of England's Deputy and yet without his Concurrence or Knowledge they sent Agents to Offer the Kingdom to the Pope the French King the Duke of Lorain or indeed any Body that would take it from the English Sect 15. As to the Reign of King Charles II. they lived in too much Hopes to plunge themselves into Open Rebellion However they gave this Demonstration of their Inclinations That in a National Synod held by Extraordinary Favour at Dublin Anno 1666. They refused to let the People take an Oath of Allegiance which their own Procurator-General P. W. had fram'd for them but on the contrary Persecuted him and his Adherents for endeavouring to Bind them to a Heretick Government by so strict an Oath and they also refused to beg Pardon for the Rebellion of 1641. one of their Bishops publickly averring That he knew none at all guilty of any Crime for any thing done in the War Sect 16. And as for King James II. You must allow that your Partiality was to his Popery and not to his Person or his Title and that you valued him as your Popish Friend and not as an English King since you paid him no more Respect or Loyalty than your Own Interest required and when that varied you shewed little Respect to Him or His Interest but on the contrary us'd him very ill in many things and particularly in the Instances following Sect. 17. First Whereas nothing could more Prejudice or Disoblige the People of England or Defeat King James's hopes of being Restor'd there than the ill Usage of the Protestants especially Clergy-men in Ireland yet did you Barbarously and Ungratefully abuse the English in all parts of the Kingdom you Assaulted and Wounded some of the Clergy and forc'd from them several of their Churches contrary to Law and contrary to King James's Express Command whom you Aw'd to that degreee That thô he issued a Proclamation to prevent seizing any More Chnrches yet he did not think fit to insert a Clause for the Restitution of those that were illegally taken before Sect 18. Secondly Contrary to King James's Interest and Inclination and to the Fundamental and Inherent Right of the Crown of England you made This Kingdom Independent of That You forc'd him to call a Parliament Unseasonably when he had need of the Members to promote the Siege of Derry You baffled Poyning's Law and Repeal'd the Act of Settlement and Prohibited Appeals and Writs of Error from hence to England Sect 19. Thirdly Whereas you had Cried Up and Asserted King James's Dispensing Power in England and therefore should have done so in Ireland that we might have thought you in Earnest yet you were so far from this that by your Severe Bill of Attainder whereby you endeavour'd to Ruine Women and Children some that were never in Ireland and more that had never done you any harm you took away the King's Power to Pardon which is the Inherent Right of the Crown Sect 20. Fourthly Thô the Chancellorship and Treasurership of Christ-Church Dublin were founded by Queen Mary and the Namination to those Dignities reserved to her and her Successors yet did the Titular Archbishop of Dublin clandestinely obtain Bulls from Rome and put in two Priests into those Places against King James's Will and thô he offer'd them Equivalents yet they Contested the matter so Obstinately with him that he was forc'd to pronounce the Bulls Surreptitious and to write to Rome to Justifie himself in a long Letter wherein he complains heavily of this Undutiful Attempt upon his Undoubted Right lamenting that the Clergy were not satisfied to Invade his Prerogative in other matters without Intruding even into his Chappel-Royal Sect 21. So that 't is manifest that the Pretended Loyalty of Superstitious and Bigotted Papists especially Clergy-men is appropriated to the Court of Rome and not to the Crown of England And if you will consider that you in Ireland who believe the Supremacy and Infallibility of the Pope whenever the Pope Excommunicates the King as Paul III. did Henry VIII and Pius V. did Queen Elizabeth must either renounce your Allegiance or your Religion and turn either Protestants or Rebels and if you will likewise consider Father John Talbot the Jesuit's Assertion That it is to no purpose to Exact an Oath of Allegiance from Papists because 't is lawful in Point of Conscience to break that Oath the next hour provided you follow the Doctrine of Probabilities and understand that any one Doctor is of that Opinion You will perhaps be of my Sentiment That 't is difficult for one that is Govern'd by a Popish Priest to be a Good Subject to a Protestant King And this may lead you to Examine and consequently to Detest and shake off a Religion so Inconsistent with True Loyalty Sect 22. My next Enquiry should be Whether you are good Christians or can be so whilst you are wrap'd up in so much Superstition and Ignorance Pray consider whether your Religion does not consist too much in Outward Shew and Pageantry without the Power of Godliness in your Hearts How formal and vain is your Devotion that is satisfied with the Number of Prayers without regarding the Words or understanding the Meaning and without any Intention or Attention of the Mind How hypocritical are your Mortifications whilst they are perform'd sometimes by Deputy and sometimes in a Trivial and Ridiculous Pennance Is it not a Mockery to pretend to Fast upon the best Fish Fruit White-meats and Wine that can be got In a word Do not you place your Piety in being of a Party and make Vnity and Communion with the Pope the Sum and Substance of Christian Religion and expect your Salvation from meer Chimerical Notions such as the Treasures of the Church the Indulgence of the Pope the Absolution of
like Faith in the Church Sect 101. Nevertheless I allow an Orthodox Church to be a great Help and good Guide in Explaining Scripture but how will you choose this Church but by the Notes and Characters of it in Scripture wherein the Church till you are of it can give you no Assistance To what purpose do you publish Notes of the Church and Arguments for it but to convince our Judgments You may as well propose them to a Horse as to a Man if he may not use his Understanding to distinguish If then we must trust our Iudgments in choosing what Church we will be of we may as well trust them in Points less material Sect. 102. I said An Orthodox Church is a good Guide But how shall we find it Even by this Mark That its Doctrine is consonant to the Holy Scriptures and its main design is the Glory of GOD and the Salvation of Souls It does not countenance Unjustifiable Means of gaining Proselytes nor Encourage Evil that Good may come of it On the contrary the Church of Rome uses a Thousand Artifices and Pious Frauds Sometimes frightning you with Superstitious Bugbears otherwhiles raising your Hopes upon false Notions and groundless Expectations and where her Subtilty fails her Cruelty supplies a Merciless Inquisition to force Those she cannot otherwise perswade to submit to her Tyranny and promote her Grandeur Sect 103. Let 's try her Sincerity in the Topicks made use of to deceive you and keep you in her Communion 1st They say you are an Irishman and ought manfully to support a National Quarrel 2dly That your Interest and Hopes of Recovering your lost Estate should render you inseparable from Popery 3dly That your Loyalty to K. James should oblige you 4thly That Popery is the Ancient Religion 5thly That 't is the Religion of your Forefathers 6thly That there is but One Faith and One Church which is that of Rome 7thly That Popery is the Safer Religion And 8thly That 't is not Honourable to change your Religion All which I shall endeavour to prove Fallacious or False Sect 104. The First is partly Answered Sect. 32. where it appears you are of English Extraction but 't will be a full Answer to say That we have no National Quarrel against you most of us having been born in this Nation nor do we look upon you when you come over to the English Interest and Religion to be other than Englishmen as you may see in the Noble Families of the Earls of Thomond and Insiquine and many others as Macguire Coughlan c. Between whom and those of English Extraction no manner of difference â—s made Sect 105. To the second I say It does not conâ—ern such of you as are Restor'd or in Possession â—or the Bulk of the common People who would get nothing but more Tyrannical Masters if the Old Irish were Restor'd nor the Merchants Lawyers Physicians and Gentlemen that lost no Estates why then should Tâ—ese suffer themselves â—o be us'd as the Cat 's Paw was by the Monkey â—n the Fable and let their own Fingers be burnt to â—ull Nuts out of the Fire of Rebellion for the Priest and the old Proprietor to eat 'T is certainâ—y therefore the Interest of all these to live in Peace and see Themselves and their Country prosper and flourish and to contribute to it by their Conformity to the Excellent Laws and Pure Religion therein Established Nay the Old Proprietor if he has any Grace Honesty or Bowels will rather delight to see his Country United and Settled in Peace and True Religion and seek for New Purchases by his Industry than endeavour to put it in a flame and hazard himself and his Friends upon vain and imaginary Hopes But as for the Priests I know them so well and their love of Gain that I have no hopes to convert them without a Pension Sect 106. As to the Third Loyalty to the late King James it has been partly touch'd upon before but I must add That Ireland was at first Conquer'd by the Blood and Treasure of England and thereby and by the repeated Oaths and Submissions of the Irish became part of the Dominions of England and and a Subordinate Kingdom to that Crown and since that by several Acts of Parliament Ireland has been Inseparably Vnited and Annexed to the Imperial Crown of England from whence it will follow That whosoever is King of England is ipso facto King of Ireland as much as he is of Berwick or the Isle of Wight and the consequence of that will be That when King James Abdicated England he deserted all its Dominions and among the rest Ireland And as soon as his Present Majesty was Declar'd King and had the Crown of England the same instant he became Lawful Rightful for I see no difference since Law is the Rule of Right King of Ireland and to conspire against him thenceforward was and is Treason and to levy War against him is open and actual Rebellion Sect 107. And this is proved not only by Reason and Constant Practice in all Ages but also by the greatest Authority the Law is Conusant of and that is the Opinion and Judgment of all the Judges in both Kingdoms and the Supream Authority of both Parliaments this is the Legislative Power for the King and Parliament cannot only Interpret but also Make Laws And they have both Authoritatively and Declaratively settled this Point so as to make it Binding both to the Iudgment and Consciences of all His Majesties Subjects From whence it follows That the pretended Loyalty your Priests encourage in you towards K. James is in Truth Notorious Disloyalty Undoubted Treason and Manifest Perjury and Breach of the Oath of Fidelity you have taken to King William But what care your Spiritual Guides for that if you would but help them to recover their Jurisdiction their Tythes and their Abby and Church-Lands Sect 108. As to the Fourth Antiquity 'T is no Constant Note of the Church for it had a Beginning the Churches of Jerusalem and Antioch are more Antient than that of Rome and yet have Apostatiz'd and the Greek Church is altogether as old and has had a constant Succession of Bishops But to give this a full Answer The Church of Rome has nothing Antient I mean Primitive but what we agree in Her New Creed shews that she has a New Religion as to the Points in difference which are already shewn to be Novelties introduced one after another as she had occasion and opportunity And therefore she declines to be tried by Scripture well knowing that is the Old Religion which was Revealed at first and is recorded in the holy Scriptures where Popery is not to be found Sect 109. As to the Fifth It follows from what has been said That Popery as now practis'd was not the Religion of your Forefathers Besides your Ancestors Renounced the Supremacy of the Pope by Indenture Anno 32 Heb. VIII And long before that by