Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A49130
|
A review of Mr. Richard Baxter's life wherein many mistakes are rectified, some false relations detected, some omissions supplyed out of his other books, with remarks on several material passages / by Thomas Long ...
|
Long, Thomas, 1621-1707.
|
1697
(1697)
|
Wing L2981; ESTC R32486
|
148,854
|
314
|
the said Dr. Ker further declares That he was very near the said Sir Phelim when he was upon the Ladder at his Execution and that one Marshal Peak and another Marshal before the said Sir Phelim was cast off came riding towards the place in great haste and cried aloud Stop a little and having passed the Throng of Spectators one of them whispered with the said Sir Phelim and the said Sir Phelim answered in the hearing of several hundreds of whom I was one I thank the Lieutenant-General for his intended mercy but I declare before God and his holy Angels and all you that hear me that I never had any Commission from the King for what I have done in Levying or Prosecution of this War and do heartily beg your pardon c. To the Testimony whereof the said Dr. Ker did subscribe his Seal Febr. 28. Anno Dom. 1681. Sir Henry Vane's Letter to the Lords Justices concerning some Informations of Danger in Ireland Right Honourable HIS Majesty hath commanded me to acquaint your Lordships with an Advice given him from abroad and confirmed by his Ministers in Spain and elsewhere which in this Distempered Time and Conjuncture of Affairs deserves to be seriously considered and an especial Care and Watchfulness to be had therein which is That of late there have passed from Spain and the like may well have been from other parts an unspeakable number of Irish Church-men for England and Ireland and some good old Soldiers under pretext of asking leave to raise Men for the King of Spain whereas it is observed among the Irish Friars there a Whisper runs as if they expected a Rebellion in Ireland and particularly in Connaught Wherefore his Majesty thought sit to give your Lordships this Notice that in your Wisdoms you might manage the same with that dexterity and secresie as to discover and prevent so pernicious a Design if any such there should be and to have a watchful Eye on the Proceedings and Actions of those who come thither from abroad on what pretext soever And so herewith I rest Your Lordships most humble Servant Henry Vane Whitehall March 16. 1640. The Original Letter was found among the Papers of Sir John Parsons one of the Lords Justices Moreover Archbishop Vsher saw a Letter of the King 's own Writing to the Lords Justices to the same purpose about the same time as he affirm'd to Bp. Hacket who relates the thing in the Life of Archbishop Williams part 2. p. 19. So that there can be no colour of his Majesty's designing such an Insurrection against which he often repeated his Solemn Protestations published Declarations and made many Overtures to the Parliament of England for the Suppression of that Rebellion concerning which his Meditations in the Twelfth Chapter of his Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he says enough to satisfie any but an Infidel as first That the Sea of Blood which had been there barbarously and cruelly shed was enough to drown any Man in eternal infamy and misery whom God should find the malicious Author or Instigator of its effusion and that there was nothing that could be more abhorring to him being so full of sin against God disloyalty to himself and destructive to his Subjects Yet some Men saith he took it very ill not to be believed that what the Irish Rebels did was by my privity at least if not by my Commission But these knew too well that it is no news for some of my Subjects to fight not only without my Commission but against my Command and Person too and yet to pretend they fight by my Authority and for my Safety But as I have no Judge but God above me so I can have comfort to appeal to his Omniscience Which he doth with this Imprecation in a Soliloquy immediately following in these words If I have desired or delighted in the woful day of my Kingdoms Calamities if I have not earnestly studied and faithfully endeavoured the preventing and composing of these bloody Distractions then let thy hand be against me and my Father's house And the Restoration of his Son in so wonderful a manner seems strongly to assert the Father's Innocency The beginning and progress of that barbarous Massacre will appear in divers Authentick Papers in Mr. Nalson's Collection part 2. p. 543. But I need mention no more concerning the King 's obstinate aversion to Popery then what he says in the following Letter to the Heads of the Popish Party A Letter by the King's Order to the Lord Muskerry c. HE tells the Rebels Your Party it seems is not satisfied with the utmost that his Majesty can grant in Matters of Religion that is the taking away the Penal Laws against Roman Catholicks in that Kingdom and his Majesty hears that you insist upon the Demands of Churches for the Publick Exercise of your Religion which is the occasion that his Majesty hath commanded me to write thus frankly unto you and to tell you That he cannot believe it possible that rational and prudent Men had there been no Professions made to the contrary can insist upon that which must needs be so destructive to his Majesty at the present and to your selves in the consequences of his Ruin Wherefore my Lords and Gentlemen to disabuse you I am commanded by his Majesty to declare unto you That were the condition of his Affairs much more desperate than it is he would never redeem them by any Concession of so much wrong both to his Honour and Conscience It is for the defence of Religion principally that he hath undergone the Extremities of War here and he will never redeem his Crown by sacrificing it there So that to deal clearly with you as you may be happy your selves and be happy Instruments of his Majesty's Restoring if you will be contented with Reason and give him that speedy assistance which you well may so if nothing will content you but what must wound his Honour and Conscience you must expect that how low soever his Condition is and how detestable soever the Rebels of this Kingdom are to him he will in that point joyn with them the Scots or any of the Protestant profession rather than do the least act that may hazard that Religion in which and for which he will live and die Having said thus much by his Majesty's command I have no more to add but that I shall think my self very happy if this take any such effect as may tend to the Peace of that Kingdom and make me Your affectionate humble Servant Cardiff Aug. 1. 1845. This Lord also at the time of his Execution did most solemnly as he hoped for Salvation declare the Kings Innocency as to that War When the Reader hath seriously considered the import of this Letter I earnestly intreat him to read the second Meditation of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 relating to the Death of the Earl of Strafford and I dare appeal to his Conscience of what quality soever he
only only way to a certain and perpetual Peace and Happiness He commends Richard Cromwel as one that inherited his Father's Vertue one that piously prudently and faithfully to his immortal Honour exercised the Government perswades all men to live in obedience to him and stiles himself in the Epistle to his Five Disputations desiring his favourable acceptance of the tendered Service of a faithful Subject to his Highness as an Officer of the Vniversal King R.B. Doth not this Man affirm notwithstanding all the Confusion that had covered the Land all the Blood that had been shed and all the Heresies and Blasphemies that had poisoned millions of Souls that he is one that rejoyceth in the present happiness of England and honoureth all the Providences of God by which we have been brought to what we are Epistle Dedic to Richard before his Key for Catholiks and in his Holy Commonwealth p. 487. Nor can I be so unthankful as to say for all the sins and miscarriages of Men since that we have not received much mercy from the Lord. And therefore he sets up his Stone of Remembrance with this Inscription in great Letters HITHERTO HATH THE LORD HELPED VS Is it possible that a Man who hath said and done such barbarous unnatural Deeds and stirred up many Thousands to do and say the same things with him should still deceive the meanest Christians Is it possible he should still persist in the same and yet retain the opinion of a Saint and be reputed the chiefest Guide of a Godly People Yet thus it is He is consulted as the Oracle of the Non-conformists All of them as a late Encomiast says do light their Fires at his Torch And he hath the forehead with the strange Woman to wipe his mouth and say What have I done You may guess by what he says I must profess that if I had taken up Arms in that War against the Parliament he says it p. 488. of Holy Commonwealth my Conscience tells me I had been a Traytor and guilty of resisting the Higher Powers And in his Key for Catholicks where the Legislative Power and highest Judicial Power is divided by Constitution of the Government between the Prince and Senate as he determines the English Monarchy to be he says modestly there many will think but he elsewhere delivers it as his own Sentiment That the Prince invading the Senates Right may justly be resisted and lose his Right p. 324. Yet this Man says Further than I was for the King I never was one year with the stronger side As if he had been always Loyal And p. 489. of Commonw If any of them i.e. his Accusers can prove that I was guilty of hurt to the Person or destruction to the Power of the King or of changing the Fundamental Constitution of the Commonwealth not the Kingdom taking down the House of Lords without consent of all three Estates that had a part in the Soveraignty I will never gain-say them if they call me a most perfidious Rebel and tell me that I am guilty of far greater sin than Murder Whoredom or Drunkenness And Anno 1680. he is not ashamed to say in his Preface to the second part of the Nonconformists Plea In all the times of Vsurpation and since I said and wrote that the King's Person is inviolable and to be judged by none either Peer or Parliament And the Book accused i.e. the Holy Commonw goeth on these Principles So that notwithstanding his pretence of recanting what was there said he still seems to justifie those Theses and adds The Book accused hath not a word meet to tempt a Man in his wits to such accusation Yet he says Thes 352. Though a Nation wrong their King and so quoad meritum Causae they are on the worser side yet may he not lawfully war against the Common Good i.e. the rebellious Party or on that account nor any help him in that War And Thes 374. If a Prince that hath not the whole Soveraignty which he says of our King be conquered by the Senate that hath the other part and that in a just defensive War as he thought the late War to be the Senate cannot assume the whole Soveraignty but supposeth that Government in specie to remain and therefore another King must be chosen This was pleasing Doctrine in the Protector 's time And Thes 137. If Providence i.e. Success in Rebellion statedly disable him that was the Soveraign from executing of Laws protecting the Just and other ends of Government it maketh him an uncapable Subject of the Power and so deposeth him And being so made uncapable of Government by Thes 146. Though he were unjustly dispossest it is not the duty of his Subjects to seek his Restitution The Reader hath heard of a famous Roman Saint called Ignatius who if compared with others of that Church we may say of him as one doth of Mr. Baxter That he exceeds them as much as a Flint doth a Freestone because out of him so many Fires have and may be kindled If such an Historian as Plutarch were now living how easily might he run a Parallel between these two Generals Both were famous tam Marte quam Mercurio but whether of them was the greater Souldier or the better Saint might occasion some dispute the reading whereof would not be altogether so sad as the restless endeavours of the Disciples of them both who however they seem to differ in other things joyn all their hands to pull down our Church Impiety being grown to such an height I should think it a thing impossible that it should proceed any farther the wickedness and shame of it being notwithstanding any pretence manifested to all Men and that upon the joyful tidings of his Majesty's most happy return in peace by a most miraculous and admirable Providence the Authours of such Opinions and Practices should seek where to hide their heads But we are told that Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft which seldom admits repentance and though they have power to do hurt yet they have none to do good Hence it is that this confident Man appears still with open face and pursues the same ungodly ends I know not how it came to pass but this same Man was admitted to preach a Fast Sermon to the House of Commons when they were consulting of inviting home the King to his Father's Throne and with great boasting he tells us often That the King was called home the next day after that Sermon of his as if it had not been done if he had not preached whereas it is very observable that in all the Sermon there was not one word that might be interpreted to promote that noble Design but many things that were intended to hinder it or clog it with very dishonourable terms He intimates the Supream Power to be still in the two Houses He tells us indeed that Rom. 13. is part of the Rule of his Religion and adds but unhappily there hath been