Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	church_n	discipline_n	doctrine_n	4,176	5	6.2312	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46088	An impartial account of the arraignment trial & condemnation of Thomas late Earl of Strafford, and Lord Lievtanant of Ireland before the Parliament at Wesminster, Anno Dom, 1641.	Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, Earl of, 1593-1641, defendant.	1679 (1679)	Wing I68; ESTC R11824	83,221	54

the Oath and Law-giver is the party only some have observed two remarkable things upon this First Some think it strange that seeing the House of Commons have lately fined the Convocation House upon this ground especially that they enjoyned an oath which is a Legislative power say they and only due to Parliaments how they at this time as if all the Legislative power were in them without the advice of the Lords I say not of the Church though in matters Ecclesiastical or approbation of the King which is conceived to be a mighty encroachment upon his Prerogative should offer either to prescribe or subscribe such an Oath as if it were essential to our Reformation ever to be done by the people without Authority of the Superiour Powers and yet before it pass into a Statute it must come in by a Bill ●steron proteron but perhaps it is hoped that by this Anti-dated subscription they shall find out the more easy passage for the Bill when it comes to be propounded Secondly That the House of Commons were four hours pleading upon that one expression in the Protestation The true reformed Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England Some who were more tender toward the Church and desiring that the word Discipline might be adjoyned to the word Doctrine but others mainly opposed that reasoning that no Discipline could be admitted but all to be esteemed as Popish that was not conteined in the Doctrine that is in the word of God which party at the last did prevail though the other affirmed that there was more express warrant in the word of God for Bishops than for ruling Elders but if some Hint be not there intended against the Deans and Chapters the Lyturgies and Ceremonies yea the very Bishops of the Church of England let any man judge and of what dangerous consequence that may be if those who pretend to have authority in all Church Affaires may be permitted to give Sentence is not difficult to determin This day the people met again but in smaller numbers they have threatned to come to morrow with all their main forces and not to des●●t till the Lieutenant be executed and their other petitions obteined The Oath was likewise presented to the Lords and some say all of them except the eight Recusant Lords and four of the Bishops have signed the same but others say they have only admitted the Bill which is more likely I think it is Luca● tells us the tale That when the 100 handed Gyant Briareus whom the Mithologizers of Poems use as a Type of the multitude was first brought into the world his Father Jupiter desired Mercury to set his Scheme and calculate the Stars of his Nativity no Father said Mercury that is needless a little time will shew his disposition for so many hands cannot belong Idle A very lively Idea of this business now in Agitation Your self may make the application by the events Upon Saturday May the eighth the Bill against the Lord Strafford past the Lords there were forty five present of which nineteen voiced for him and twenty six against him the greatest part of his friends absented themselves upon pretence whether true or suppositious that they feared the multitude otherwise his Suffrages had more than counterpoised the Voters for his death In the Bill he is condemned of Treason and all his English Lands the other part of the Coat is left for those in Ireland forfeited with an especial Proviso that this Act shall in no wayes he forceable against others than if it never had been made which to his friends of Judgment smells strongly of a particular hatred against him as if the same common way of Justice should not equally strike against all which it should do in true Justice but that Crimes did differ in their Subjects Two ways there were to have proceeded against him by a Legislative or by a Judiciary power both did strike home alike at his life and his Estate both alike ready both sure by reason of the proofs the Difference only this this might have been done without the King that only by him because this is a Sentence that a Statute A man would think the Judiciary way had been the more sure and that the King would rather have connived and not exercised his Prerogative by a Reprival than to have Intressed himself in the Legislative proceedings by consenting to the Act against him in whom the world conceived for by past and future services he had so great an Interrest But they it seems notwithstanding his Majesties late Attestation of the Gentlemans Innocency in point of Treason were more confident of his gracious Inclination to Justifie their own Act and more desirous too that he should demonstrate his willingness in punishing such transgressors and therefore the Bill went on by the Statute The same day another Bill passed both the Houses that because of the important business of the Kingdom the Parliament should not be broken up by the King without the special advise and consent of both the Houses till all their grievances were redressed and their safety provided for which space of time for any thing I know may last till dooms day some would have had the prefinition of 5 some 7 some 9 years put to it others replyed that this would be both odious and dangerous odious in that it should seem so long a Parliament dangerous in that the time may happen out possible to be longer some think it an honour I rather ● fatality or to sweeten the word a Providence that both their Bills should pass at once as if Generatio ●nius were Corruptio alterius And this new Government should take life from the death of the Earl of Strafford In the afternoon the House of Commons desired access to the King in the Banqueting House and having stayed there an hour for his coming in three words they propounded these two great Bills desiring that he would give his Royal Assent to them both Quod si non prosint singula Juncta Jubant Withall humbly shewing that the present danger of the Kingdom could admit of no delayes The King told them they should expect an answer on Monday Morning The Court at this time was surcharged with a confluence of People quasi Civitas tota sedibus suis mota as if the whole City was come to petition for Justice a Government indeed worse than a Democracy where the people do not rule but play the Tyrants If there were no Monarchy there needs no conscience to obey it But where it is and cannot protect it self the good subject must either forget himself or his loyalty A two edged sword killing either the body or the soul nor in this are men in better case than the winged Fishes that our Southern Mariners tell us of which if they swim beneath the water are catch'd by Dolphins if they fly above for refuge snatch'd away by the hungry Ravenous souls Lord help then the

my Guilt If your Lordships will conceive of my Defences as they are in themselves without reference to either and I shall endeavour so to present them I hope to go away from hence as clearly justified as I am now in the testimony of a good conscience by my self My Lords I have all along my Charge watched to see that poysoned Arrow of Treason that some men would sain have to be feathered in my Heart and that deadly Cup of Wine that hath so intoxicated some petty misalleaged Errors as to put them in the Elevation of High Treason but in truth it hath not been my quickness to discern any such Monster yet within my Breast though now perhaps by a sinistrous Information sticking to my Clothes They tell me of a two-fold Treason one against the Statute another by the Common-Law this direct that consecutive this individual that accumulative this in it self that by way of construction For the first I must and do acknowledge that if I had the least suspicion of my own guilt I would spare your Lordships the pains cast the first Stone at my self and pass Sentence of condemnation against my self And whether it be so or not I refer my self to your Lordships Ju●gment and Declaration You and only you under the favour and protection of my gracious Master are my Judges under favour none of the Commons are my Peers nor can they be my Judges I shall ever celebrate the Providence and Wisdom of your noble Ancestors who have put the Keys of Life and Death so far as concerns you and your Posterity into your own hands not into the hands of your inferiours None but your own selves know the rate of your noble Blood none but your selves must hold the Ballance in dispensing the same I shall proceed in repeating my Defences as they are reduceable to these two main points of Treason and for Treason against the Statute which is the only Treason in effect nothing is alleaged for that but the fifteenth two and twentieth and twenty seventh Articles Here he brought the sum of all his Replies made to these three Articles before and almost in the same words as before only that testimony of Sir Henry Vane's because it seemed pressing he stood upon it and alleaged five Reasons for the nullifying thereof First That it was but a single testimony and would not make Faith in a matter of Debt much less in a matter of Life and Death yea that it was expresly against the Statute to impeach much less to condemn him upon High Treason under the testimony of two famous Witnesses Secondly That he was dubious in it and exprest it with an as I do remember and such or such like Words Thirdly That all the Councel of eight except himself disclaim the words as if by a singular providence they had taken hold of his Ears only Fourthly That at that time the King had levied no Forces in Ireland and therefore he could not be possibly so impudent as to say to the King that he had an Army there which he might imploy for the reducing this Kingdom Fifthly That he had proved by Witnesses beyond all exceptions Marquess Hamilton the Lord Treasurer the Earl of Northumberland Lord Cottington Sir William Pennyman and Sir Arthur Terringham that there was never the least intention to land those Forces in England He went on So much for the Articles that concern Individual Treason To make up the Constructive Treason or Treason by way of Accumulation many Articles are brought against me as if in a heap of Felonies or Misdemeanors for in their conceit they reach no higher some prolifical seed apt to produce what is treasonable could lurk Here I am charged to have designed the ruin and overthrow both of Religion and State The first seemeth rather to have been used to make me odious than guilty for there is not the least Proof alleaged concerning my confederacy with the Popish-faction nor could there be any indeed never a Servant in Authority beneath the King my Master was ever more hated and maligned by those men than my self and that for an Impartial and strict executing of the Laws against them Here your Lordships may observe that the greater number of the Witnesses used against me either from Ireland or from York-shire were men of that Religion But for my own Resolution I thank God I am ready every hour of the day to Seal my disaffection to the Church of Rome with my dearest Blood But my Lords give me leave here to pour forth the grief of my Soul before you these proceedings against me seem to be exceeding rigorous and to have more of prejudice than equity that upon a supposed Charge of my Hypocrisie or Errors in Religion I should be made so monstrously odious to three Kingdoms a great many thousand Eyes have seen my Accusations whose Ears shall never hear that when it came to the upshot I was never accused of them Is this fair dealing amongst Christians But I have lost nothing by that Popular applause was ever nothing in my conceit the uprightness and integrity of a good Conscience was and ever shall be my continual Feast and if I can be justified in your Lordships judgments from this grand imputation as I hope now I am seeing these Gentlemen have thrown down the Bucklers I shall account my self justified by the whole Kingdom because by you who are the Epitomy the better part yea the very Soul and Life of the Kingdom As for my Design against the State I dare plead as much Innocency here as in matter of my Religion I have ever admired the wisdom of our Ancestors who have so fixed the pillars of this Monarchy that each of them keep a due proportion and measure with other and have so handsomly tied up the Nerves and Sinews of the State that the straining of any one may bring danger and sorrow to the whole Oeconomy The Prerogative of the Crown and the Propriety of the Subject have such mutual Relations this takes protection from that that foundation and nourishment from this And as on the Lute if any one string be too high or too lowly wound up you have lost the Harmony so here the excess of a Prerogative is oppression of pretended Liberty in the Subject Disorder and Anarchy The Prerogative must be used as God doth his Omnipotency upon extraordinary Occasions the Laws answerable to that potentia ligata in Creaturis must have place at other times And yet there must be a Prerogative if there must be extraordinary occasions the Propriety of the Subject is ever to be maintained if it go in equal pace with this They are fellows and Companions that have and ever must be inseparable in a well governed Kingdom and no way so fitting so natural to nourish and entertain both as the frequent use of Parliaments By those a commerce and acquaintance is kept betwixt the King and Subject These thoughts have gone along with me these fourteen

times or help our patience and Resolutions give us either redress in thee or confidence in thee The wiser sort conceived these two Bills too big for them to desire at once and that both of them together might procure a flat denial but the more couragious knew the readier way by far having often had experience of his Majesties readiness to grant just desires resolving that he that expects to lose the day is beaten at his own diffidence and it is the quality of some men to swallow Camels upon a sudden who if you give them leisure will perchance strain at a Gnat. Their Resolutions may aim at this but despair to remedy that Nature gives the reason Omne agens se exercet intra spharam Activitatis Dangers if they come but stragling upon us we may collect our spirits well enough and easily resist them but if they come by whole troops Amazment and Fear admits of no consultation for the future but only intends to decline the present and pressing hazard whereon the ancient Ga●ls made their first on-sets with valour beyond the courage of men and with feareful cryings and shouts belying their own Animosity to stupify and quell that of the enemy Sunday All the day the King was resolute never to give way to the Bill against the Lord Strafford telling them withal that it seemed strange to him that the man could not dy unless he and he only by giving Sentence the Kings Legislative way should condemn him The Lord Pembrook brought the King a piece of Scripture 2 Sam. 19. from the 5 to the 9 verse the words indeed became a Joab rather than himself till he had scattered the force of the Kings not eldest Son yet eldest Daughter the Kingdom of Scotland here is some Analogy with Absalom and in nothing else for David was sorry for shedding the nocent they not sorry for shedding the Innocent blood though the Issue be not the same Four Bishops were sent for by the King the Primate of Ireland the Bishop of Durham Lincoln and Carlile Some say and I do rather believe it that the King was desirous the Bill should be voiced again and argued the Bishops had their suffrages in the admission though not in the approbation of the Bill others think in regard the Primate was there who had no Interest in this Kingdom it was to resolve the Kings Conscience for my part I see not how they should do this seeing the business was grounded upon a case in Law which none of them unless the Bishop of Lincoln had learned when he was Lord Keeper could possibly discuss for if the King was tender in it how could they persuade him to give way if not what needed their Resolution But it may be that they persuaded him that in conscience he might prefer the Opinion of the Judges before his own and that if though with some reluctation they thought upon their Oaths the Proceedings to be lawful he might give way to them This is not unlikely because the Judges were sent for the same time and it seems for the same Service and if it be so I admire and adore too the wonderful providence of God who in his preparatory Act to this unlawful Judgment which undoubtedly will follow suffers not only the King and the Country but the Church too as if her Cup were not yet full to be involved But could this be to the matter of Fact the King I am sure knew him to be free from any the least intention of subverting the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom and could the Bishops satisfie this scruple too it may be they are persuaded that the Proofs might be taken Implicitly from the House of Commons as the Law from the Judges It is reported indeed that they besought the King with many Tears to give way and that to prevent the ruin of the Kingdom which these Statesmen who will be ever content with the longest life for themselves 'till by piece-meal they be thrust from all did see would necessarily follow Well I dare Prophesie to them they shall not want their Reward neither from the King nor People for the next tumult of people shall be against their Liturgies Surplices and Church-Ornaments And seeing they have now over-persuaded the King in this if they can procure him then to protect themselves from those imminent dangers which hang over their heads they shall do a miracle Sed quos perdere vult Jupiter dementat Some body else will persuade the King that to satisfie the common People and to prevent the Ruin of the Kingdom Bishopricks Deans Prebends and all Cathedrals must down Sed omen avertat Deus optimus Sunday all day nothing sounded in the King's Ears but fears terrors and threatnings of worse and worse the noise of Drums and Trumpets were imagined to be heard of rebelling People from every corner of the Kingdom yea Apprentices Coblers and Fruiterers presented themselves as already running into the King's Bed-Chamber After they they had wrestled him breathless and as they do with great Fishes given him scope of Line wherein to spend his strength at last victus dedit manus being overcome with such uncessant Importunities he yielded up the Buckler And about Nine of the Clock at Night oh deplorable necessity of the times or rather oh the frailty of human Nature that can neither foresee nor sustain this necessity the King promised to Sign both the Bills the next Morning which was accordingly done and a Commission drawn up for his I do not care in what Relation you take the word Execution Ingentes Curae stupent loquuntur leves Though I had resolved with the Painter who could not express his Grief sufficiently in weeping for his Daughter here to have drawn the Curtain yet it will not be something must overflow Consider the Gentleman as a Man his Judgment Memory Eloquence real Perfections in this age of appearances consider him as a Subject his Loyalty his Courage his Integrity to King and Country in these disloyal and faint-hearted times consider him as a Christian his love to the Church his respect to Church-men in this prophane and over-weaning Generation let Worth Honesty and Religion weep his Funerals who suffers for all and yet by all yea as an Enemy to all these talk not hereafter to me of Justice Equity or Conscience they are but Names and those scornful and empty Names too It is Power Faction and Interest that are the managers of human Affairs and sways the times I defie all History to furnish us with the like Parallel of a man accused by his Country by reason of his noble and eager desires to maintain them in plenty and reputation convicted by the Church for his actual performance and serious intention to restore both the Dignities and Revenues thereof his Prince even forced to condemn him after his integrity to persuade due obedience and to protect Royal Authority Happy yea thrice happy he whose Innocence was wedded to