Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	earth_n	hand_n	lord_n	2,385	5	3.7503	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38645	Essayes upon several subjects not unworthy consideration in these times communicated by letters to private friends and at their request to the publick.		1651 (1651)	Wing E3303; ESTC R214416	20,887	42

Policy and government the preservation of Justice and good men that should be protected thereby And looking upon the King as having forfeited all his interest by his carrying on the War to the utmost of his power in his continued application to those persons and counsells which have been so destructive to the Nation and that he was so far from giving any satisfaction to God or them for those Rivers of blood which had overflowed the three Kingdomes which must either be put upon His or the Parliaments account that they could not perceive any reasonable security for the future but that the restoring of him to his power would be the reducing of the Nation to us former or worse miseries they thought it just having him in their power to proceed against him as they did and to exclude his posterity for that forfeiture he had made And because neither they nor others could subsist or hope to bee protected in their lives and properties without the benefit of the Laws and an established government submitted unto by all that hope for protection thereby they declare for such a constitution as they conceive the times most capable of I cannot but admire the providence of God in the whole progresse of our affairs in crossing the designs and expectation of the most wise and Politick and though we are told that miracles are ceased yet sure he does wonders every day No doubt but the courses that have been took to avoid ruin and destruction seemed the only way to incur it to those that thought themselves the quickest sighted in State affairs both at home and abroad The opposition was not small which was threatned here at home but the difficulties that were to be encountred with in Ireland and in all probability in Scotland seemed insuperable though other Nations would be perswaded to look on which yet in reason could not be expected And to speak truly I should rather desire to spend my thoughts in contemplation of those great changes God hath wrought amongst us and in the acknowledgment of his great mercies that we are not consumed by them then adventure to justifie all that hath been done in order thereunto however I am not to condemn all that I cannot justifie nor dare I presume to intrude upon the censure of those things that are above my sphere If I had contributed my endeavours to this great change God hath wrought amongst us I would produce my reasons for my acting therein but seeing it hath been carryed on by others notwithstanding all the opposition to the contrary hitherto I had rather calmly debate with my self how I might conscientiously enter into the Engagement then by my own frowardnes give occasion to others to destroy me Not to insist therefore upon that which some object viz. former Oathes and Engagements wherein they seem not so serious as they ought to be in such pretences the interest of those they alledge them for requiring more of the hand then tongue at this time since their power and Kingdome is of this world those that would be thought to be so much their servants ought now if ever in all likelyhood to fight for them that which you seem most to desire is that you might be forbore for being called upon to act with the present power which you conceive the Engagement implyes though you seem to promise to act nothing against it It were to bee wisht that all acts of policy were so tempered with piety that they might command obedience from good men rather by their equity then penalty and that the necessity of this change might appear so evident and the equality and justice of the government such that there might bee no place left for gainsaying But we seem to be faln so far into the dregs of vice that we are not capable of the best constitution we must not expect to be governed by angells in this world though we were better men then we are What if things be not so well as we could wish wee cannot make them better by doing nothing it may be they had been worse if most had had their desires If the prima mobilia of government be so violently whirl'd about the inferiour orbs can have little rest Nor can we expect unlesse we prepare to live in some hermitage but as we are sharers in the Publique interest lesse or more so to act likewise some part therein Those that are possest of the power will tell us that if we are not for them we are or intend to be against them and wee are able to tell our selves that we cannot be Members of any civill association but wee must needs acknowledge a head If wee judg the power that is now claimed by those that are over us to be usurped and unjust why doe not we endeavour to re-instate those we conceive to be the right owners but if that be beyond our power sure no one can judg himself obliged to an impossibility nor can any one think those subjects disloyall who having made all posble resistance yeeld at last to the stronger That power seems to be ceased and consequently all Engagements to it that hath no ability to protect those it claimes alleagiance from nor they any means left to defend it they are the powers in being we are commanded to obey Nor doe those that doe the most willingly comply with the present power alledge any thing more rationally for their engagement to it then their protection by it I have not time strictly to examin what the more angry sort of men object against the matter of the Engagement their chiefest strength seems to lie in this that they suppose the acquisition thereof to be unjust and consequently they that engage to it own that injustice and are guilty of the wrongs thereby done to others If that before hinted be not sufficient to answer this objection let us consider that upon this ground it will bee hard to submit to any power whatever since seldome any enter into power but by the dispossessing of others and the losers wil stil have some cause to complain Besides we are not competent Judges herein nor are there any Courts erected to try such titles if wee have a mind to dispute this it must be rather with arms them arguments wee can expect to receive no other answer to such objections then to bee made sensible they doe not bear the sword in vain 'T is the exercise of the government not the title of the Governors that most concerns us that are Subjects they are to answer this to a higher power not to those that are below them Briefly though the Government bee not such as we could desire or as we have promised to make it yet since the Kingdoms of the earth are the Lords and he giveth them to whom he pleaseth and that our vows or Engagements cannot prescribe to the Almighties providence let us submit to his over-ruling hand and unlesse wee desire to live alone in the world

deserve a better censure then the truth which others utter in proud and contemptuous language At least let us avoid all names of faction especially that odious name of Heretick which seems to declare an open war to those wee fixe that brand upon and alarums all their force to retort that dart upon the face of those that first cast it Thus pursuing the truth in love wee shall more easily convince the gainsayers then by all the anathema's and fulminations that are usually darted out upon them and if we cannot be so happy as hereby to convince the Papists and other declared enemies of our Church and State we shall at least by this our union prevent their designes and obtain that peace which we have so long expected and is most earnestly desired by SIR Your ESSAY V. SIR IT is no unusuall thing for those to complain of the times of whom the times have most just occasion to complain We cry out against those distempers which wee our selves have caus'd and doe much wonder that the times are so bad when we see men daily grow worse If this present age had brought forth no new monsters of iniquity of which it is too frutfull the acting over anew the transgressions of the former though under better names but many times in a worse manner might justly cause us to apprehend that the dregs of that cup of vengeance which hath already been poured out upon us are yet behind Amongst other synptoms of future calamity there is none seems to pretend more disaster then that emulation and hatred which yet reigns amongst all parties whilst many account their private envy part of the publick good and think they never prosecute Gods cause better then when they persecute each other So full are most of themselves that they are empty of all charity to others and think they never approach God neerer then when they keep their Brethren at the greatest distance Many are like him that would measure all his guests by himself and if they exceeded in stature would cut them shorter if they were lesse would stretch them upon the Tenters We are no lesse tyrannicall to mens opinions then he was to their persons wee arreign them all at the bar of our own judgments and passe a finall condemnation upon them according to the bare verdict of our own fancies Al is terra incognita that lies beyond the line of our discovery and whoever lives not in all points as we doe must bee accounted no lesse then a Barbarian If others vertues seem to outshine ours we endeavour by all means to obscure them and if their candle burns dimmer wee are not content till wee have quite put out their light What the Heathens were wont to say heretofore of the Christians See how they love each other most that passe for Christians may now more truly say of many of the Heathens in comparison of themselves How sweet is revenge to some mens taste how ingenuously wicked are they appearing then well-affected even when they are most malicious and thinking their particular condition too mean to repay their private grudges adventure to put them upon the publike score The diseases of this kind that reign among us wee may rather suspect to have been caused then ever hope to bee cured by the receipts of Machiavel his Divide impera as if the Kingdoms of this world were to be maintained as the Devill doth his by strife and division seems to weigh more in our practise then that of our Lord and Master which he makes the badge of his Disciples to love one another If we desire then truly to approve our selves to be Christians and we should be very angry at any that would censure us for other let us devest our selves of malice and detraction and put on the garment of charity which will cover the nakednesse of our former actions and make us comely in the eys of God and man What can we see in our selves that we should so much admire or in others that we should so much blame the best of men if we look upon the worst of their actions will appear something menstruous and the worst of men for ought we know are not so bad but they are stil capable of Gods grace and may be better by our loving assistance Where the Spirit of God reigns there is love and peace he descends in the shape of the Dove not of the Vulture and where his grace dwells it is most diffusive if it be not like that stone which converts all to gold we may be assured nothing shal bee defiled by its touch True Religion makes men more charitable not more censorious it confines not the free grace of God to any particular persons or factions nor endeavours to impale that Spirit in any one orbe or circuit that blowes where it listeth If we are commanded to love our enemies I know not any that we are permitted to hate And certainly love is the most noble revenge we can take even of our enemies By retaliation of wrongs we can but be their equalls in this we are stil their superiours and may hope not only to conquer but to indear them to us at last Nor is there any way so safe as this we have the security of heaven engaged for our protection and if we can but bring our spirits to this temper may bee assured that Gods angels wil pitch their tents about us And thus passing an Act of oblivion in our own brests for all the injuries we have received from others and overcoming of evil with good we shall make both our selves and others much better and with our own peace procure at least as much as in us lies the generall peace of the nation the establishment whereof he most zealously affects that is Sir Your ESSAY VI SIR IF custome did not pass for a law the lawes against many abused customes would more easily passe Those errors which can plead prescription are hardly reformed nor must we think a short time sufficient to remove the vices which have continued for many ages I doe not so much wonder at those who contend for the observation of Christmasse as we commonly call it and other usuall Festivalls as at their quicknesse that would blow them away with one breath Nature never introduceth the form but shee first prepares the matter If the minds of men were sufficiently molded for better impressions it would bee more easy to take away the old leaven but wee must expect to have that done by degrees when it shall please God by the gentle breathings of his Spirit to blow away that animosity and bitternesse which yet reigns in mens minds When the Athenian Law-giver was asked whether hee had given them the best laws he answered the best of those they were capable of And it was objected to Cato himself that he did many times more hurt then good by speaking in the Senate as if he had been rather in an imaginary Platonick