Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	church_n	government_n	great_a	2,613	5	2.9999	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37104	The duty of subjects reinforc't, especially in the choice of their representatives to sit in Parliament in a letter to a friend, occasioned by His Majesty's most gracious declaration in Council.		1685 (1685)	Wing D2913; ESTC R3198	2,941	5

The Duty of Subjects REINFORC'T Especially in the Choice of Their Representatives To Sit in PARLIAMENT IN A LETTER to a FRIEND Occasioned by His MAJESTY's Most Gracious Declaration in Council SIR I Have sent you a Present here inclos'd 't is of small Bulk but of great Importance Had such a one been sent you some Years since when the Peoples Ears were fill'd with nothing else but Popery and Exclusion and could you have had it well attested for Genuine and Authentick you would have entertain'd it with a hearty Welcome 'T is a Copy of His Majesty's most Gracious Declaration a Declaration so Mature and Seasonable so Full and Well-advis'd that we must not look upon it as the Crafty Artifice of a Politick Vsurper nor as the violent Extortion of the Passionate and Mistaken Faction that oppos'd him but as the Natural Emanation of His Princely Mind and Heroick Generosity condescending to obviate the affected Weakness of some and to cure that which was really so in others Herein his Majesty has done us the Honour to own our Affection to the Monarchy and our Zeal in contending for the Government as now establish'd in Church and State and he is pleas'd to remind us That in his own Practice to the utmost hazard of Life and Fortune he made himself our Grand Exemplar when he was in the Station of a Subject So that his Title to the Crown by Succession has been rarely embellish'd by his Merits And This the Gratitude of the Nation did once acknowledge But what is more eminently remarkable ev'n since the highest Providence has cloth'd him with the Sovereign Power he has prevented our Expectation and gone before us in protesting his Pious Resolutions to maintain those Interests of Religion and Property which we account the dearest to us Observe his own Words where after a most endearing Promise to follow his late Majesty's Example in Clemency and Tenderness to His People he goes on I have been reported to be a Man for Arbitrary Power but that is not the onely Story has been made of me And I shall make it my Endeavours to preserve this Government both in Church and State as it is now by Law Establish'd I know the Principles of the Church of England are for Monarchy and the Members of it have shewed themselves Good and Loyal Subjects therefore I shall always take Care to Defend and Support it I know too That the Laws of England are sufficient to make the King as Great a Monarch as I can wish And as I shall never depart from the Just Rights and Prerogative of the Crown so I shall never invade any Mans Property I have often heretofore ventured my Life in Defence of this Nation and I shall still go as far as any Man in preserving it in all its Just Rights and Liberties His inflexible Justice with the rare Complexion of his other Princely Vertues have worthily been admir'd with equal Love and Reverence and these have hitherto been the Support of our Just Confidence But now he has vouchsafed to give us his Royal Word which flowing from a Voluntary Inclination to be Gracious has hitherto had the Honour to be esteem'd Inviolable and Sacred We find that the most plausible Pretences of Jealousie in Men of honest Minds do vanish into Dream and meer Delusion and we cannot but in reason acquiesce in such Assurance with the Joy of a full and hearty Satisfaction We know the Suggestions of Designers had rais'd a Prejudice so strong in some Credulous and Well-meaning Persons that they grew too obstinate to be driv'n to their Duty but we doubt not such Encouragements as have been freely heap'd upon them will in a little time melt the most Obdurate and make them grow so tractable as to be won and easily led by the Attractive of such Great and Wise Examples In short We see Sir that the God of Peace and Order has been pleas'd to decide the great Point of Succession by his own good Providence according to his own standing Law and Ordinance Herein he never call'd upon his Royal Highness to enter a Caution for his Good Behaviour which seems to be a sufficient Baffle to the Wit and Malice of all fierce Excluders His Royal Highness has not been very forward to declare himself in the matter of this Debate and his Reservedness has been made a Riddle and subject to as many Readings and Descants as Mens Fancy or Humour can invent I shall only observe this in the Case Some Men have their private Sentiments which they will not generally be oblig'd to account for thô such Men be singular in their Carriage yet their Design may be very innocent and free from mischief That the Protestant Party is of some moment in swaying the Ballance of Christendom is no Secret and if the Church of England be of any advantage to His Majesty herein as no doubt it is when Matters are duely weigh'd we may be confident he will not part with an Interest of that Importance for Nothing Besides his great Experience tells him that the Gates of Hell stand in the way to Rome as well as to Churches of another Denomination and 't is not a blind Fate that can secure us from the Danger that threatens us from thence but our own Diligence and a prudent Conduct in the Duties of a Christian Conversation And we may take it for an infallible Maxim That his Magnanimity and the sense of his own Greatness will never suffer him to sink so low as to become a Vassal to his Holiness as their Canon-Law does make him What Measures the Dissenters intend to take we shall understand more certainly by their ensuing Election of Representatives for in such voluntary and equivocal Generations Men commonly follow the Fancy of their own Likeness and we may say of such as the Psalmist says of Idols They that make them are like unto them and so are all such as put their trust in them We are sure such as are well affected to the King and Church will not chuse their Enemies to vote in their Concerns they will not be guilty of such a Soloecism in their Practice And is it probable on the other side that such as have been in actual Rebellion against the Crown and have made a Spoil of all Sacred Establishments in the Church and embroyl'd their Native Country in a brutish Confusion is it probable that such Men should be fit Instruments to settle us in that Splendour and Tranquillity which so Ancient and Renown'd a Monarchy may justly challenge He that reflects upon the Havock such Men have lately made amongst us if he be well in his Wits can ne'r believe it I must not be understood of such as have seen their Errour and retracted it but of the hardy and unrelenting and you may assure your self such whose Fingers are still itching at Church-Lands and the Revenue of the Crown such as can serve God by none but a Model of their own conceiving and have Worldly Ends to serve by such Means they 'll still Sail as the Wind serves by the same Compass Indeed the Scheme of their Principles is so legible in the Commentaries which they have put upon them by their Practice and their Hypocrisie is so grosly betray'd by their Contradictions and their Persons so expos'd to the shame and scorn of all Loyal and Honest Men that in very Modesty at least for one whole Age they ought to retire behind the Curtain to furnish themselves with new habits of Disguise and dress up their Scenes of Sedition with fresh Pretences before they venture to act the same Part over a second time But if their Zeal does so far out-run their Wit and Policy that they must needs bring their old Actors upon the Stage to reherse the Bloody Tragedy and keep it still in memory or if they will be wheadling a fresh Set of Proselytes to espouse their Good Old Cause and set on their young Cubs to take the Scent of the late Rebellion and hunt upon 't dry-foot there 's little to be said to it 't is an evident Sign that the Republican Wheel is still in motion and their Mystery of Iniquity very earnest at work amongst us and our prudent and watchful Governours are highly concern'd to have an Eye open to observe it FINIS LONDON Printed for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in St. Paul's Church-yard 1685.