Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
kingdom_n lord_n parliament_n time_n 3,250 5 3.6307 3 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A44827 A seasonable addresse to both Houses of Parliament, concerning the succession the fears of popery, and arbitrary government. By a true Protestant and hearty lover of his countrey. Halifax, George Savile, Marquis of, 1633-1695. 1681 (1681) Wing H320A; ESTC R215862 18,491 17

There are 2 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

as false and damnable But 't is justified both by Books and Practice of the whole Presbyterian party 't is so plain and fresh in our memories I need not instance in the Authors St. Peter's Chair is not more Infallible than that of an Assembly of Presbyters in a National Classis or Synod Men of these Antichristian Principles stirr'd up the Late Rebellion and being active and diligent drew in many unwary honest men beyond the power of retreating Did not the Faction here tamper in Scotland where the promoters of the Covenant that Godly instrument apply'd to the Crown of France for protection as appears by the Letter found with the Lord Lowden therefore sent to the Tower But what was the issue of this Contrivance but Confusion and Misery through the three Kingdoms the Presbyterian party over-power'd by the Independents and these again by the Army a Commonwealth set up and soon after turn'd into a perfect Tyranny under Oliver Cromvel after more money had been illegally squeez'd from the Subjects by Ordinances and Loans Sequestrations and Decimations Excise and other Impositions than was ever known before or since The people weary call home their Prince who by an excess of mercy and clemency sparing to root up men of these Principles gave way to their infecting others with the same humour of discontent 'T is to be observ'd that the year 1535. is remarkable for the Geneva Reformation and the spawning of the Jesuits Order and that our unlucky home-bred Divisions were fomented if not first set on foot under hand by directions from the Court of France as well as from Rome the Interest of that State as well as of the Church depending on our Distractions to which end Richlieu that great Minister imploy'd many Pensioners into Scotland as did after his Successor Mazarine in England And therefore there is nothing more inconsiderate than to think we are not now acting and promoting French-Designs 't is their businesse to divide us and yet so to manage the Ballance that they let neither the King nor Parliament have the better or ever come to a Right understanding They can no otherwise obtain the Western Empire and 't is directly against their Interest ever to suffer England to be either a perfect Monarchy or an absolute Common-wealth Those that roar most against French Councils and Measures under-hand-bargains and agreements between both the Kings know they bely their own Conscience and that the French have us in the last degree of contempt This the E. of D. printed in his own vindication perhaps not ignorant that some of their Ministers did in the year 1677. and 78. before the breaking forth of the Plot declare That Monsieur L. had greater Interest and more Friends in England than the D. of Y. That the K. had need be on his Guard for he was in great danger of running the same risque with his Father when it was likewise enquir'd What Interest among the People two great Peers had who have since the Plot been the great Pillars of the Protestant Religion tho neither was ever reputed to have any were Ministers and Advisers in 1670. and 71. very good Friends to France and Popery Enemies to the Triple Alliance and to Holland c. It was also said That 300000 l. a year bestow'd in Scotland and England among the Factious and Discontented wou'd better serve the Interest of France than any Bargain they cou'd drive with the Ministers 'T is too well known that the greatest of these two Noblemen made a secret journey into France some weeks before the Plot after some private Transactions here with others among whom were Sir E. L. fam'd for Religion for Morality Major W. and H. N. as notorious for the same perfections and their love of Monarchy and hatred of a Commonwealth nor did A. S. want his Share in the Consultation a stout assessor of Prerogative witness'd by his and others living out of this Kingdom ever since the Kings Restauration untill they saw some likelyhood of a change the one returning about the time the D. of B. and the other Lords were in the Tower and the other a few months before the breaking forth of the Popish Conspiracy which no sooner came before the Parliament than some of the great Lords of the Committee for the Examination of the Plot kept their Consultations and manag'd much of that affair at Wallingford-House Major W. their Secretary where they concluded to take hold of this opportunity for the carrying on some long-hatched Designs of their own Nor is it to be forgotten that in June before a Letter was writ by an eminent person of the Faction and can be now produced That very shortly somewhat wou'd be discover'd that wou'd prevent our much longer walking in the dark and that one of the greatest Lords sent to an Astrologer to know whether he was not in a short while to be in the head of 60000 men The methods agreed upon in France and pursu'd here were to make a Court and Countrey-party to sow and disperse Jealousies between both and widen the Gap with all possible Devices which resolutions some here were the sooner induc'd to embrace upon this consideertion That they should not live to see the issue and were unconcern'd for what shou'd come after But yet I am too charitable to think if we have any French Agents at home they are impos'd upon by their own unwariness and the others cunning to act rather against than with their knowledge a part so much contrary to the Interest of England and the Duty of a Christian But however it be I am morally assur'd we are doing their work and if we are not Knaves and Pensioners we are Block-heads or Fools that are blind and besorted like men prepar'd for Destruction Quos Jupiter perdere v●lt hos dementat If any one talk thus he is presently call'd a Papist and a Tory every true Son of the Church of England and Loyal Subject is Branded with Nick-names and run down by Noise and Faction and he that opposes Popery if he defends not Presbytry is but a Protestant in Masquerade if he commends Monarchy and our Legal Constitutions to the discredit of a Commonwealth he is a Rascal a Villian and a dangerous person not considering that we are made Tools and Instruments for French purposes betray'd by their Cunning and Adresse to forward and act with our own hands our Slavery and Ruine Shall we be still blind and deaf to reason and demonstration Can we not reflect upon the French double-dealing in our late Civil Distractions and remember what the Lord Keeper Puckering tells the Parliament in Q Elizabeth's days That the Puritans even at the time of the Spanish preparations for Invasion were urging and pressing intestine Commotions where he largely sets forth their being as dangerous to the Crown and Mitre as the others and therefore that both were to be equally suppress'd Papists and Puritans I cannot find that either have since
be against his Person and Government and contriv'd by Papists and among them as Bedlow has sworn none in England but have receiv'd the Sacrament upon 't and he be of the number he must joyn with others to cut his own throat stab shoot or poyson himself But here 's some mystery in this pretty Invention Charles Stewart conspires against the King this imitating the Long Parliament in his Fathers time who fought for the King for his politick capacitie against himself his Natural his Person But if he were a Papist wou'd he have pass'd into Laws every Bill tender'd him by both Houses as well before as since this Plot in their disfavour And yet we know one of the godly party was lately fin'd 500 l. for saying The Duke of York was a Papist and the King little better a saying no longer minc'd nor whisper'd but now loudly and plainly spoken every day Cou'd he have been wrought to change of Religion in time of his banishment he had not withstood the offers of forraign Princes and the solicitations of a fond Mother to reinstate him in his own Dominions with absolute arbitrary power But he was too much a Christian and too good a King not to prefer continuance in exile to the designs of enslaving his Subjects either in their souls or in their bodies Must he now in an Age desirous of rest and quiet be upbraided with such purposes that had resolv'd against them in the heat of his youth the great spur of ambition Now when to compasse this wicked and ridiculous project is as impossible as before it was the contrary when after his restoration besides foreign assistance offer'd at any rate and to any purpose he had an obsequious General a victorious Fleet and Army and a Parliament whose zeal and devotion seem'd in nothing to be bounded but by the limits of his own pleasure when to the immense treasure he was possest of bestow'd among his people with equal bounty as it was given he might have added vastly by the confiscations of more than half the Estates and Wealth of the Three Kingdoms But instead of this he often press'd his Parliament to expedit the Act of Oblivion disbanded his Army and enlarg'd the Fleet by making one Squadron of more value than all three in the time of Queen Eliz. disabl'd in all his Dominions without exception all Papists from bearing any office Civil or Military Has he not pass'd the Bill excluding for ever all Popish Lords out of the House to which his Father cou'd never be perswaded Has he not likewise curtayl'd the Royal power by two other Acts that of the Habeas Corpus and against Quartering of Souldiers Three Statutes for which he might have had as many Millions had he insisted on a bargain or known how to distinguish between his own private Interest and that of the Subject or the truckling way of Bartring when the good of his people was concern'd Why did he but for the sake of the Protestant Religion Refuse the Elder Daughter of the Crown to the Dauphin of France and marry her to the Prince of Orange And this without putting his Parliament to the charge of a Portion or a much greater Sum which they would have gladly given had he made the proposition And no other cou'd be the motives of recalling his Troups from France raising an Army for the defence of the Netherlands at the expence of above 200000 l. more than was given his prohibiting Trade with that Crown These things put a stop to the progress of that victorious King's Arms occasion'd his quitting Messina clapping up a general peace when he was just at the point of his propos'd Conquests If our Prince intended an arbitrary Government why besides his former neglecting the opportunity wou'd he disable himself for the future by parting with one of the greatest instruments for that purpose the Court of Wards Liveries Tenures in Capute and Knight-Service Purveyance c. And what did he receive for this excess of bounty for the chiefest and most useful flower of the Crown but a trifle a feather half the Excise not above a fourth of the others yearly value And after all this Knaves invent and Fools believe he is now setting up for Tyrrany and Popery when his years are past the heat of ambition his Coffers empty France disoblig'd and his own people alarm'd and bent against it with all imaginable resolutions of oppositions Can any man imagine that a person who disarms himself intends to fight Besides What one Illegal Arbitrary Act has he done in his twenty years Reign Whom has he desrauded of an Ox or an Ass of Lease or Possession where has he in any one instance invaded Magna Charta our Rights Properties or Liberties What Bill tender'd by Parliament for the security of our Lives or Fortunes has he rejected He pass'd all without exception As for the Bill for intrusting the Parliament with the Militia for a limited time reason then and experience since has prov'd it was a needless encroachment on the Royal prerogative without the least prospect of publick good and to have parted with that power but for a moment was for so long to unking and divest himself of a power he cou'd not be certain would be ever restor'd As he has freely pass'd all Laws has he not as chearfully offer'd to enact any thing that was agreeable to Justice and Reason for our further security in Religion Liberty and property From these considerations nothing will appear more vain and idle than our Fears and Jealousies our Factious and Seditious reflections on the Government I will not say without great caution but we may run into those very things we so much dread and wou'd avoid Popery and French Government or which is equally destructive of our Birth-rights and Happiness Presbytery and a Commonwealth This will be no groundless surmise if we look back and observe that the Leav'n against the establish'd Constitution both in Church and State has sowr'd almost the whole lump the poyson of Presbytery formerly known by the name of Puritanism hatch'd at Frankford and Geneva grown to a head in Scotland with the Reformation has infected the generality of the Kingdom the common Traders Dwellers in Cities and Corporation the unthinking and illiterate part of the Gentry with hatred against Monarchy and the Church of England This was certainly the invention of Rome to overthrow us by thus sowing Divisions they wel foresaw our Kingdom and Church in it self divided cou'd not long stand All the Antimonarchical Principles are the same in both the one as well as the other deny Supremacy in the King the Jesuit will have the Pope and the Presbyter Jesus his Head King-killing and Deposing Doctrine is disown'd by all honest Papists as the Author even of Plato Redivivus does confess tho two or three Jesuits have privately asserted the opinion as problematical for which themselves and writings were censur'd and condemn'd