Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	act_n	king_n	parliament_n	3,024	5	6.5132	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57288	The Scots episcopal innocence, or, The juggling of that party with the late King, His present Majesty, the Church of England, and the Church of Scotland demonstrated together with a catalogue of the Scots Episcopal clergy turn'd out for their disloyalty ... since the revolution : and a postscript with reflections on a late malicious pamphlet entituled The spirit of malice and slander ... / by Will. Laick.	Ridpath, George, d. 1726.	1694 (1694)	Wing R1465; ESTC R28104	55,845	73

THE Scots Episcopal Innocence OR The Juggling of that Party with the late King his present Majesty the Church of England and the Church of Scotland demonstrated Together with a Catalogue of the Scots Episcopal Clergy turn'd out for their Disloyalty and other Enormities since the Revolution And a Postscript with Reflections on a late malicious Pamphlet entituled The Spirit of Malice and Slander Particularly addressed to Dr. Monroe and his Journeymen Mr. Simon Wild Mr. Andrew Iohnston c. near Thieving-lane Westminster Rampantur Ilia Codri By WILL. LAICK Impavidum feriunt Ruinae London Printed in the Year 1694. To the Right Honourable and Right Reverend the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Right Honourable Reverend and Worthy IT is not from any Opinion that the Author has of himself or what he can do that he presumes upon such a Dedication but only as a true Son of the Church of Scotland he finds himself oblig'd to espouse her Cause and obviate the false Calumnies which those of our own Nation do so industriously spread Abroad not only to the Disparagement of your Government and Discipline but even of your Doctrine and Morals And therefore he begs that what is well design'd may not be ill taken but that you would be pleased to accept of these weak Indeavours as a Testimony of his Zeal and Affection for his Mother-Church with that same Benignity that that Great Prince accepted of the poor Man's handful of Water which was offered him amongst a Crowd of more valuable Presents He is sensible that neither the Matter nor the Manner deserve the Patronage of such a grave Assembly but he hopes that you may thence be convinc'd of the Necessity there is that you should take such Measures as your Wisdom shall suggest to provide Antidotes for those poysonous Libels which fly abroad here against you in such Numbers by the United Endeavours of your Enemies You cannot readily imagine how much you lose by a Neglect herein and it 's not easy to express the Grief of your Well-wishers to hear the Church of Scotland made the Song of the Drunkard and the Ridiculous blasphemous Stories printed here against Her to be the common Entertainment of Debauchees who triumph in all publick Places over your silence May the great Shepherd of his Church whose Servants you are inspire you with such Counsels that as the Church of Scotland had formerly Nomen inter caeteras Celebre upon the Account of her singular Unity She may also be famous in Time to come clear as the Sun fair as the Moon and terrible like an Army with Banners to the Conviction of all those who oppose her upon the Account of the Purity of her Doctrine and Strictness of her Discipline And blessed be God who has not left her without this Testimony that her greatest and most avow'd Enemies are generally the most Vicious and debauch'd and visibly embark'd with an Interest altogether destructive to the Protestant Religion and the common Liberties of Europe The Scots Episcopal Innocence c. PART I. IT being undoubtedly his Majesty's Design as well as Interest to manifest a fatherly Concern for the Welfare of all his Subjects in General it 's unaccountable that there should not be found a sutable Disposition in them to concur with his Royal Intentions and be ambitious to out-do one another in their returns of Love and Zeal for his generous and impartial Administration by which like the Sun he dispenses the Rays of his benign Influence towards all Men whereof his admirable Temperament towards his Church of England and Dissenting Subjects are undeniable Demonstrations and do so clearly evince that Justice and Equability have the Ascendent in his Soul that it can be hid from none but those whose Interest and Passion blind their Eyes But my Thoughts being at present confin'd to his Government in Scotland I shall endeavour to keep within my Limits though I must confess it puts a Violence upon my Inclination when I have so large a Field wherein I could expatiate with delight From the sense of the Calamities under which that Kingdom hath for a long time groan'd upon account of their Differences in Church-matters it might have been reasonably expected that both Parties should have greedily embraced the opportunity of a Comprehension which his present Majesty hath done more to accomplish than he who coveted the Motto of Beati Pacifici or any other of his Successors had either Interest or Inclination to do but to the Amazement of all Good Men those who petition'd for it now when it is obtain'd stand aloof from it and as I hope to make it appear chiefly if not meerly because they are obliged to abjure all Interests which are opposite to his Majesty's who procured it which as I am confident there is no need of Rhetorick to perswade you is a piece of the blackest Ingratitude But to set this Matter in its true Light be pleased to read the following Address of the Scots Episcopal Party and then the Act of Parliament which his Majesty with no small Application hath obtain'd in Answer to their Request and I doubt not but you will discover that there is a Snake in the Grass To his Grace their Majesties Commissioner and the General Assembly met at Edinburgh We Vnder-subscribers for our Selves and our Constituents Ministers of the Gospel in Scotland Humbly shew THAT since Episcopacy is abolish'd and Presbyterian Government establish'd by Act of Parliament as it was establish'd in 1592 and we being desirous to exercise the Holy function wherewith we are invested in our several Stations for the Glory of God Advancement of Religion their Majesties Service and the Peace of the Nation Do therefore humbly desire that all Stops and Impediments may be taken off so that we may be permitted to Act as Presbyters in Presbyteries Synods and General Assemblies in concurrence with the Presbyterian Ministers in the Government of the Church as now by Law establish'd The TEST or Declaration to be Signed by all those who shall be assum'd I A. B. do sincerely declare and promise that I will submit to Presbyterian Government of the Church as it is now established in this Kingdom by their Majesties King William and Queen Mary by Presbyteries Provincial Synods and General Assemblies and that I will as becomes a Minister of the Gospel heartily concur with the said Government for suppressing of Sin and Wickedness promoting Piety and purging of the Church of all Erroneous and Scandalous Men. And I do further promise That I will subscribe the Confession of Faith and larger and shorter Catechism now Confirmed by Act of Parliament as containing the Doctrine of the Protestant Religion professed in this Kingdom ACT for setling the Quiet and Peace of the Church Edinburgh Iune the 12th 1693. OUR Soveraign Lord and Lady the King and Queens Majesties with Advice and Consent of the Estates of Parliament Ratify Approve and perpetually Confirm the Fifth Act of the

Second Session of this current Parliament Entituled Act Ratifying the Confession of Faith and settling Presbyterian Church-Government in the whole Heads Articles and Clauses thereof And do further Statute and Ordain That no Person be admitted or continued for hereafter to be a Minister or Preacher within this Church unless that he having first Taken and Subscribed the Oath of Allegiance and Subscribed the Assurance in manner appointed by another Act of this present Session of Parliament made thereanent do also Subscribe the Confession of Faith Ratified in the foresaid Fifth Act of the Second Session of this Parliament declaring the same to be the Confession of his Faith and that he owns the Doctrine therein contained to be the true Doctrine which he will constantly adhere to As likewise that he owns and acknowledges Presbyterian Church-Government as setled by the foresaid Fifth Act of the Second Session of this Parliament to be the only Government of this Church and that he will submit thereto and concur therewith and never endeavour directly or indirectly the Prejudice or Subversion thereof And their Majesties with Advice and Consent foresaid Statute and Ordain That Uniformity of Worship and of the Administration of all Publick Ordinances within this Church be observed by all the saids Ministers and Preachers as the famine are at present performed and allowed therein or shall be hereafter declared by the Authority of the same and that no Minister or Preacher be admitted or continued for hereafter unless that he subscribe to observe and do actually observe the foresaid Uniformity And for the more effectual setling the Quiet and Peace of this Church the Estates of Parliament do hereby make an humble Address to Their Majesties That they would be pleased to call a General Assembly for the ordering the Affairs of the Church and to the end that all the present Ministers possessing Churches not yet admitted to the exercise of the foresaid Church-Government conform to the said Act and who shall qualify themselves in manner foresaid and shall apply to the said Assembly or the other Church-Judicatures competent in an orderly Way each Man for himself be received to partake with them in the Government thereof Certifying such as shall not qualify themselves and apply to the said Assembly or other Judicatures within the space of thirty days after meeting of the said first Assembly in manner foresaid that they may be deposed by the Sentence of the said Assembly and other Judicatures tam ab Officio quam à Beneficio and withal declaring That if any of the saids Ministers who have not been hitherto received into the Government of the Church shall offer to qualify themselves and to apply in manner foresaid they shall have Their Majesties full Protection ay and while they shall be admitted and received in manner foresaid Providing always that this Act and the benefit thereof shall no ways be extended to such of the said Ministers as are Scandalous Erroneous Negligent or Insufficient and against whom the same shall be verified within the space of thirty Days after the said Application but these and all others in like manner guilty are hereby declared to be liable and subject to the Power and Censure of the Church as accords And to the effect that the Representation of this Church in its General Assemblies may be the more equal in all time coming Recommends it to the first Assembly that shall be called to appoint Ministers to be sent as Commissioners from every Presbytery not in equal numbers which is manifestly unequal where Presbyteries are so but in a due proportion to the Churches and Parochines within every Presbytery as they shall judg convenient And it is hereby declared That all School-Masters and Teachers of Youth in Schools are and shall be liable to the Trial Judgment and Censure of the Presbyteries of the Bounds for their Sufficiency Qualifications and Deportments in the said Office And lastly Their Majesties with advice and consent foresaid do hereby Statute and Ordain That the Lords of Their Majesties Privy-Council and all other Magistrates Judges and Officers of Justice give all due assistance for making the Sentences and Censures of the Church and Judicatures thereof to be obeyed or otherways effectual as accords Extracted forth of the Records of Parliament by Tarbat Cls. Regist. God save King William and Queen Mary By their Petition it 's easy to perceive that Presbyterian Government as now established in Scotland is none of the Stops and Impediments which they desire to be taken off seeing they promise a Submission to it and a Concurrence with it And therefore the Ratification of this Government in the Comprehension Act cannot be that which they scruple especially seeing it doth not enjoin them to own it submit to it and concur with it as the Government of the Church by Divine Institution but as the only Government of the Church of Scotland And if any should object That this may bear hard upon their Principles who may reasonably be supposed to think that Episcopacy still remains in Force I answer 1. The Petitioners can have no such Objection for they own in Terminis that Episcopacy is abolished So that this can be no Subterfuge except they have some such Jesuitical Equivocation or Mental Reservation couch'd under that Term as that late Distinction of a King de Iure and de Facto 2. If they do not believe the Abolition of Episcopacy de Iure they must be de Facto very bad Men to offer Submission and Concurrence with it seeing whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin and he that doubteth is damned if he eat 3. If they question the Legality of its Abolition then it 's plain they must disown the Authority of their Majesties and the Parliament which makes them justly unworthy of their Protection and liable to the Lash of the Law But 4. and lastly I am very well assured that the far greater part of the Scots Episcopal Clergy did always pretend to believe That no particular Species of Church-Government was of Divine Institution but that it was alterable according to the Pleasure and Conveniency of the State And this I have heard asserted by some of the most Learned of their Communion Then it remains that the subscribing the Confession of Faith as their own together with the Oaths of Allegiance and Assurance and their being enjoined to an Uniformity in Worship according to the present Administration and making Application to the General Assembly thirty Days after their meeting to be admitted upon the Conditions aforesaid must be what they scruple seeing these are all the other Terms required of them by the Act of Comprehension Then as to the subscribing of the Confession of Faith they offer it in their Petition But how Why truly as containing the Doctrine of the Protestant Religion professed in Scotland They have indeed laboured to perswade the World that the Scots Presbyterians were Fools And truly they would have had very good Reason for