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	england_n	rome_n	5,202	5	6.8819	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65414	An answer to the late K. James's last declaration, dated at St. Germains, April 17. s.n. 1693	Welwood, James, 1652-1727.; Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731.	1693 (1693)	Wing W1302; ESTC R204539	18,776	44

fail'd us so often before We also declare We will with all earnestness recommend to that Parliament such an impartial Liberty of Conscience as they shall think necessary for the Happiness of these Nations We have not altogether forgot what kind of Liberty of Conscience the Late King always aim'd at a Liberty fatal to and inconsistent with the safety of the Protestant Religion and infallibly destructive to the Church of England A Liberty that was to end in the exalting the Romish Religion to a pitch in England that was not even the interest of wise Roman-Catholicks themselves to wish But why recommend to a Parliament Liberty of Conscience Might not the Dispensing Power supply all defects as it did before And if the Late King has an unquestion'd right to emit a Declaration for Liberty of Conscience when and how he pleaseth which was Treason in effect to Controvert some years ago then it 's altogether a piece of folly to trouble a Parliament with it This one Engine was like Goliah's Sword has none like to it and it would indeed be a disparagement to use any other when that is so ready at hand on all occasions But alas the word Impartial Liberty has unluckily slip'd in in the Declaration How came any body to dream that an Impartial Liberty of Conscience would ever please the Protestants of England An impartial Liberty is a Liberty of equal extent to all And does King Iames think the people of England would be willing there should be a Liberty of Conscience granted to the Roman Catholicks equal to what the Laws have already secured in favour of the Protestants In this sence all the Bishopricks and Livings of England must be divided Impartially into equal parts we must have one Roman-Catholick Archbishop and the other a Protestant and thus it must be with the rest of the Dignities and Livings of the Church The truth is when King Iames comes back we shall be heartily content with this division and think we well escape too if he takes no more than one half But who shall be security to us we shall lose no more We further declare We will not dispense with or violate the Test. And as for the dispensing power in other matters we leave it to be explained and limited by that Parliament A very Gracious Promise and a mighty Condescention He will not dispense with the Test as he did before tho still he has a Right so to do if he pleases for we were often told in the last Reign That this Dispensing Power was one of the brightest Iewels of the Crown and in a Royal Declaration for Liberty of Conscience to the Neighbouring Kingdom he told them plainly he dispensed with all Laws to the contrary by virtue of that Absolute Power every body was obliged to obey without reserve So that here is indeed no more than a simple Promise not to make use of that Power to dispense with the Test which he has an undoubted Right to still whereas the Law and the People of England say there is no such Power lodg'd any where and nothing but an Act of Parliament can suspend or make void an Act of Parliament in this case But pray how does this Promise Not to violate the Test agree with the Notion the late King always express'd he had of it He was pleas'd in his Closettings of Gentlemen constantly to inculcate into them the unjustness of the Test in it self how contradictory it was to that Christian Charity which ought to be among his Subjects how contrary to the very Law of Nature it self that any body should be incapacitated to serve their Countrey upon the account of their Religion These were the Common Places the late King had constant recourse to in all his Arguments for taking off the Test And in a great many Papers publish'd at that time by Publick Authority the same frightful Ideas were again and again represented If this Test then be such an unjust thing in it self if it be so contradictory to the Rules of Charity and the Law of Nature how comes it about now that he is resolv'd not to violate that which according to his Principles he is indeed obliged to abolish But Promises cost nothing especially when the Performance is never intended We declare also That we will give our Royal Assent to all such Bills as are necessary to secure the frequent calling and holding of Parliaments The free Elections and fair Returns of Members And provide for impartial Trials And that we will ratifie and confirm all such Laws made under the present Vsurpation as shall be tendred to us by that Parliament Here is a very comprehensive Paragraph and deserves well to be taken into consideration by pieces He will give his Royal Assent to all such Bills as are necessary to secure the frequent Calling and Sitting of Parliaments We all know the reason of putting in this Clause at this time But instead of frequent Parliaments if King Iames were once again upon the Throne we would rather there were none at all Since nothing can be of more dangerous consequence to England than the sitting of such kind of Parliaments as that which King Iames always aim'd at Doubtless we should then have a Representative Body to give it in his own Words that would render all Representations of the People in Parliament for the time to come utterly needless We might expect to see our Liberties and Laws given up to the Will of a Prince all at once and all the struggles between the Prerogative and Rights of the Subject put an end to at one blow in the entire resigning up all Pretences to these last for ever So far then would the calling of Parliaments be a terror to us that ev'ry Session of them would be but so many new Links added to our Chain till all remaining impressions of our former Liberty were intirely swallowed up in an irrecoverable Slavery The Freedom of Election and fair Returns of Members are two things diametrically opposite to the late King 's former Measures And he does or at least may know the Temper of this Nation better than to hope to succeed in his Designs by the means of a Parliament freely constituted of true Englishmen Slavery is a Pill will never go down with them And it 's only to a pack't House of Commons that those of King Iames's Religion can ever owe their long experienced Triumphs That he will provide for Impartial Trials we do not at all doubt if he mean Trials without favour or prospect of mercy for of those the last Reign was but one continued Instance and indeed no body can blame the late King for not executing Justice to the full But this is not all There are yet greater Blessings in store for us He will Ratify and Confirm all such Laws made under the present Vsurpation as shall be tender'd him by that Parliament Good God! where have we been all this time with

that then environ'd him forc'd from him indeed a faint kind of Compliance with their desire at first he made a show of Issuing out Writs for calling a Free Parliament but so strong was his Inclination to have none but such a pack'd House of Commons as might serve the Great Turn he had so long aim'd at that before half the Writs were sealed all the Scheme was altered in a moment and things went on in the old channel again Here was a demonstration with a witness how far the late King was inclin'd to call together the Representative Body of the Kingdom And he that could not be brought to it at so pinching a juncture as that was can never in reason be thought a hearty Friend to Free Parliaments Upon calling this Representative Body he will inform himself what are the United Interests and Inclinations of his people Sure he cannot be yet to learn what those are and he has had too many and too remarkable occasions not to be ignorant of them He could not but be so much acquainted with the Interests and Inclinations of the People of England as to see a rooted Principle of Liberty in opposition to Slavery predominant in every English breast and yet all that did not hinder him from a form'd Design of overturning the very fundamental Constitution that rendred that Principle of theirs warrantable He could not but know that the Inclinations of the Generality of the People of England were averse to the Religion of Rome and that their Interests were quite opposite to that Hierarchy Yet this did not dissuade him from making more steps in four years time towards the reconciling this Nation as the then Court-Phrase was to the Church of Rome than was made in France it self from the Death of Henry 4th till about three years before the Edict of Nants was revok'd for good and all But with the Concurrence of this Representative-Body he will be ready to redress all Grievances and give all those Securities of which we shall stand in need There was a time when scarce one single step was made in the Government but what deserv'd well the name of a Grievance and how well these Grievances were redress'd is worthy of our Enquiry The late King was not warm in the Throne when he ventur'd fairly to give us a taste of what he was afterwards to do He order'd a part of the Revenue that expired with his Brother's Death to be levied for his own use and that by virtue of his own Edict without an Act of Parliament A little after this he would needs send a solemn Ambassy to Rome to lay his Crown and Kingdoms at the Pope's Feet A Compliment few Kings ever made lest it should be taken in good earnest The Slights his Ambassador met with there were not able to mortify his Zeal in the least degree As he had sent a Splendid Ambassy to the Pope so he could not rest till he obtained the Glory of seeing a Nuncio sent hither whom he not only caressed himself but made it a Crime even in the greatest Peers of the Kingdom to refuse to attend at his Publick Entry a Minister whose Character was in it self High-Treason by the Law of England After the Storm rais'd by Monmouth was over he plainly tells the Parliament then sitting That he will employ Roman Catholicks in his Army that was as much in plain English as if he had said Gentlemen I judge it fit to tell you I think not my self obliged to govern any longer according to Law now that by your kind Assistance I am rid of a Competitor in the Throne After this we were not to expect any fair Weather all that followed was Thunder and Lightning The Penal Laws and Test must be taken off and the Dissenters cajol'd to consent to what at last was to ruin them as well as the Church of England Till a packt Parliament could be got to do this Job a Dispensing Power was set up that upon the matter was to supply the place of an Act of Parliament This devouring Monster altogether unknown to our Ancestors was not only to swallow up all Laws that stood in the late King's way towards the Grand Design but was to have the Force of a Law in it self as strong as any ever made by King Lords and Commons It was this Paramount All devouring Power claim'd by King Iames that produc'd afterwards the Ecclesiastical Commission the Suspension of the first Bishop of England the dashing in pieces the Ancient Rights of Magdalen College the Imprisonment of the Bishops in the Tower and a great many other things too long to be mention'd here All these were Grievances of a deep dye and yet neither Prayers nor Tears Submissions nor remonstrances could prevail with him to mitigate the weight of any of these blows They were heavy Grievances and he knew and was told every day they were so And how ready he was to redress them the whole course of that Reign testifies In the same sence he is willing to redress our grievances he may perhaps be willing to give us those securities we stand in need off Thanks to his love for what we do not want We know no better nor more natural securities than our Laws are they are the only sence next to Providence we trust in and while they are not violated we are safe But had not we those Securities before and did not the Late King break through them Could any Law in the world be exprest in more positive terms than that of the Test And yet this well-twisted rope like that of Sampson's of old prov'd but a thred of towe when the fury of King James 's Zeal came to touch it We likewise declare upon our Royal Word that We will protect and defend the Church of England as it is now established by Law And secure to the Members of it all the Churches Universities Colledges and Schools together with their Immunities Rights and Priviledges This is not the first time the Late King has promis'd all this and done quite otherwise King Charles the 2d was scarce yet cold clay when in the speech he made to his New Councel He told them He would make it his endeavours to preserve the Government both in Church and State as it was then established by Law And afterwards adds That he shall always defend and support the Church of England and the Members of it I cannot see how larger promises could have been made And this last is but a repetition of the former Yet how well they were kept we have number'd up instances enough already Thanks to Heaven and to the Laws already made the Church of England and the Members of it are much better secured than King Iames's Royal word can possibly do it though he had never given us ground to call the truth of it in question Having so strong Barriers already we were errant fools to trust our safety to so weak props that have