Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	henry_n	king_n	mary_n	4,039	5	8.8071	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30455	Six papers by Gilbert Burnet.	Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1687 (1687)	Wing B5912; ESTC R26572	63,527	69

adhered to his Majesty even against a Pretender that declared for them And in the Session of Parliament which came after that they shewed their disposition to assist the King with new Supplies and were willing to Excuse and indemnifie all that was past only they desired with all possible Modesty that the Laws which His Majesty had both promised and at his Coronation had Sworn to maintain might be Ex●cuted Here is their Crime which has raised all this Out-cry They did not move for the Ex●cution of ●evere and penal Laws but were willing to let those sleep till it might appear by the Behaviour of the Papists whether they might deserve that there should be any Mitigation made of them in their Favour Since that time our Church-men have have been constant in mixing their Zeal for their Religion against Popery with a Zeal for Loyalty against Rebellions because they think these two are very well consistent one with another It is true they have generally expressed an unwillingness to part with the two Tests because they have no mind to trust the keeping of their Throats to those who they believe will cut them and they have seen nothing 〈◊〉 the conduct of the Papists either ●●thin or without the Kingdom to make them grow weary of the Laws for their sakes and the same principle of common sense which make it so hard for them to believe Transubstantiation makes them conclude that the Author of this Paper and his Friends are no other than what they hear and see and know them to be II. One instance in which the Church of England shewed her Submission to the Conrt was that as soon as the Nonconformists had drawn a new Storm upon themselves by their medling in the matter of Exclusion many of her Zealous Members went into that Prosecution of them which the Court set on foot with more Heat than was perhaps justifiable in it self or reasonable in those Circumstances but how censurable soever some angry men may be it is somewhat strane to see those of the Church of Rome blame us for it which has decreed some unrelenting Severities against all that differ from her and has enacted that not only in Parliaments but even in General Councils It must needs sound odly to hear the Sons of a Church that must destroy all others as soon as it can compass it yet complain of the Excesses of Fines and ●mprisonments that have been of late among ●s But if this Reproach seems a little strange when it is in the Mouth of a Papist it is much more provoking when it comes from any of the Court. Were not all the Orders 〈◊〉 late Severity sent from thence Did not the Judges in every Circuit and the Favourite Justices of Peace in every Sessions imploy all their Eloquence on this Subject The Directions that were given to the Justices and the Grand Iuries were all repeated Aggravations of this Matter and a little Ordinary Lawyer without any other Visible Merit but an Outragious Fury in those Matters on which he has chiefly valued himself was of a sudden taken in his Majesties special Favour and raised up to the Highest Posts of the Law All these things led s●me of our Obedient Clergy to look on it as a piece of their Duty to the King to encourage that Severity of which the Court seemed so fond that almost all people thought they had set it up for a Maxime from which they would never depart I will not pretend to excuse all that has been done of late Years but it is certain that the most crying Seve●ities have been acted by persons that were raised up to be Judges and Magistrates for that very end they were Instructed Tr●sted and Rewarded for it both in the last and under the p●esent Reign Church-preferments were distinguished rather as Recompences of this devouring Zeal than of a real Merit and men of more mode ate Tempers were not only ill lookt at but ill used So that it is in it self very unreasonable to throw the load of the late Rigour on the Church of England without distinction but it is worse than in good manners it is fit to call it if this Reproach comes from the Court. And it is somewhat unbecoming to see that which was set on at one time disowned at another while yet he that was the chief Instrument in it is still in so high a post and begins now to treat the men of the Church of England with the same Brutal Excesses that he bestowed so lately and so liberally on the Dissenters as if his design were to render himself equally odious to all Mankind III. The Church of England may justly expostulate when she is treated as Seditinus after she has rendred the highest Services to the Civil Authority that any Church now on Earth has done She has beaten down all the Principles of Rebellon with more Force and Learning than any Body of men has yet done and has run the hazard of Enraging her Enemies and losing her Friends even for those from whom the more learned of her Members knew well what they might expect And since our Author likes the figure of a Snake in ones Bosom so well I could tell him that according to the Apo●ogue we took up and sheltred an Interest that was almost Dead and by that warmth gave it Life which yet now with the Snake in the Bosom is like to bite us to Death We do not say that we are the only Church that has the Principles of Loyalty but this we may say that we are the Church in the World that carries them the highest as we know a Church that of all others sinks them the lowest We do not pretend that we are inerrable in this Point but acknowledge that some of our Clergy miscarried in it upon King Edwards Death Yet at the same time others of our Communion adhered more ftedily to their Loyalty in favour of Q. Mary that She did to the Promises that she made to them Upon this Subject our Aurhor by his false Quotation of History forces me to set the Reader right which if it proves to the Disadvantage of his Cause his Friends may thank him for it I will not enter into so tedious a Digression as the justifying Queen Elizabeths being Legitimate and the throwing the Bastardy on Queen Mary must carry me to this I will only say that it was made out that according to the best sort of Arguments used by the Church of Rome I mean the constant Tradition of all Ages King Henry the Eighth marrying with Queen Catherine was Inces●uous and by consequence Q. Mary was the Bastard ●●d Queen Elizabeth was the Legitimate Issue But our Author not satisfied with defaming Queen Elizabeth tells us that the Church of England was no sooner set up by her than She Enacted those Bloody Cannibal Laws to Hang Draw and Quarter the Priests of the Living God But since these Laws disturb him so much what does he