Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A34093
|
A retrospect into the Kings certain revenue annexed to the crown under the survey of His Majesties court exchequer : with the proceedings upon two sevral petitions presented to His Majesty, concerning the chauntry rents, &c. and the first fruits, and tenths of the clergy ... / by George Carew.
|
Carew, George, Esq.
|
1661
(1661)
|
Wing C550; ESTC R24253
|
43,859
|
25
|
inducts He then claiming a free liberty to perswade the People by Preaching to Faith and repentance obedience to Princes and love one to another which is the fulfilling of the Law and by the ordinance of God and man he so becomes intitutled to Tythes as his free-hold for Administring the word and Sacraments to the People Yet the unworthiness of Ministers doth not make the word unprofitable or the ordinances uneffectuall they may convert others yet be themselves Reprobates and by Coveting more then their owne they have lost a great part of that which was their due by Divine right What Kings have endowed the Bishops and Dignitaries of the Church withall they receive in a double Capacity both as Spiritual and Temporal persons substituted to govern and rule under the King over the rest contrary to the Doctrines and erronious opinions of Rome The Orthodox man blushes for the Generation that are not ashamed of themselves for abusing the World under a colour of Religion making in a wrong sense Godliness their greatest gain He stands amazed at another sort of men Libertines that were Proud Malicious and Covetous who struck at the very root giving the greatest blow to the Church that ever was given by any that profest themselves Christians They were Emperick States-men ignorant of Natural Philosophy destroyed mutual societies for want of Learning and Knowledg they descovered their own weakness and followed an Ignis Fatuus shewing they were as unskilfull to Govern as unwilling to obey those were the Men that obstructed the payment of the Kings Debts to Orphans and Widows They received the Kings Revenue and built large Houses upon Church-Land and made other improvements to Ministers with the Creditors Money what is come to the Hand of the Clergy out of such improvements beyond the ordinary and usuall Tenths Fines and ancient Rents being divided between the King and these poor Creditors or at least his own just proportion out of the improved value according to Law would give a great satisfaction to all moderate Men otherwise people will say That Covetousness is great Idolatry and if it be in the House of God what will not the Wicked do those Examples being brought in to Presidents If some Tenants have forfeited their right of improvement for want of Allegiance to the King or that they have under a force purchased to preserve their Possession or otherwise justly offended God and displeased the Clergy and lost their Tenant-right these poor Creditors that Petition the King for part of that improved Revenue which in charity belongs to them c. and have not been guilty of any misdemeanour against his MAJESTY ought in Justice to be considered which hitherto have been wholly neglected and dealt unkindly withall by the Clergy about Leases all which is left to their own Considerations And whether it was the intent of the Donors that improvements made by Violence and Rapine should go to the Church or the Exchequer is left to Divines and Lawyers to Judg and whether they that detain the Kings Rights and Revenues which should go towards the payment of His Debts be not as guilty of Opression and Cruelty as those Violators of Religion and Law were of Sacriledge and injustice is left to the World to Judge SEVERAL CONSIDERATIONS Of the CREDITORS OFFERED To the Lords and Commons Assembled in PARLIAMENT Concerning the KING'S Revenue and the Debts OF THE CROWN 1. A Business wherein all men are equally concerned seldom any man makes it his particular care to follow which hath been the cause that so often good purposes fall to the ground most men minding their own private interest before the publick good of their Counâ—â—ry for which they are chosen and trusted 2. Many Men of abstruce learning and great abilitiâ—â— do rather please themselves with their own speculations then look into the other concernmeâ—ts of the World by managing those affairs which may advantage the King in his revennue or the people in their trade 3. When the Kings present wants are considered the greatness of his debts and the complaints of so many grants it may not be unseasonable to enquire if some men were not executors in their own wrong and that divers have built upon other mens Foundations to the great grievance of these which have suffered through Violence and Oppression 4. Those riches and honours fall not out of the clouds but are acquired by honest art ingenuity and fidelity to the Crown which are permanent yet 〈◊〉 she Crown be indebted those persons are deficient that do obstruct the paiment of the Kings debt by keeping back 〈◊〉 proportion of money which should contribute towards the discharge of the Kings obligations 5. Antiently the Nobility and Gentry brought in the chief revenue to the King holding most of the Lands in their possessions by Knights service and 〈…〉 which yielded Wards Marriages Reliefs and several services to the Crown the trade of the 〈…〉 improved the Lands from 5 shillings an aâ—re to 15. The Barons and antient Gentry have parted with 〈…〉 Merchants and others that have raised their Families by industry thirst and such like enterprisâ—s 〈◊〉 those purchasers were abated considerably in regard of the tenures which upon the foundations of law yielded 〈◊〉 advantages to the King And the Creditors parted with large sums of money upon assignments of the proâ—â—â— of that Court which cannot now be considered but out of the improvements in the Exchequer or the several 〈…〉 hold the Lands which reape the great benefits by taking away the Court of Wards and Purveiances 6. Formerly the Kings of England conâ—erred great offices of trust upon the Clergy and called them to the Council table for their Wâ—sdom 〈…〉 Religion and experience And they gave them charge of the great Seal Treasury c. yet some of them were defective and put upon the Kings mercy by Parliaments for wasting the revenue of the Crown The Lords temporal have likewise been often censured for procuring large proportions of the Crown Lands to themselves and their relations 7. There hath been Laws in force that the mover of any gift or the procurer of any grant should be fined the double value until the Kings debâ—s were paid And in the Lord Burleighs time a Customer of London was fined a considerable sum of money for farming part of the Queens revenue at an undervalue to the prejudice of the Crown and the damage of the people 8. When the debts of the Crown were not so great nor the wants so many an Ordinance was made pro hospitio Regis in the 3. Year of Edward the 2. and Cardinal Walsey afterwards amended the Books of orders called Aulae Regis The motive whereof was Al Honneur de dieu a Hâ—nneur profit de saint Eglise al hâ—nneur de Roy a son profit au profit de son peuple c. Henry the 4. caused his Son the Prince and the rest of his Councel to
those that intruded and disseized the said Sir William and his servants of the said Island and plantations About five Years after Sir William Courten died and left several Factories in the East Indies to William Courten his onely son and heir and his sole Executor who took upon him the execution of his Fathers Will and joyning with Mr. Thomas Kennistone and others sent several ships with Merchandizes to the East-Indies for supplies to the rest and in the Year 1642 the good ship Bona Esperanza of London being fraughted by the said William Courten and his Compartners making a trading Voiage between Goa in the East-Indies and Macco in China in the month of June 1643 the said ship was set upon by two Dutch-men belonging to the states of the low Countrys and the East-India company of Holland and after the loss of the said Master of the said ship and several seamen slain out-right with eleven more wounded in the defence thereof the said ship with all her Merchandize was then taken and disposed of by the said two Dutch-ships of Amsterdam whereby the said William Courten c. were damnified to the value of threescore and fifteen thousand pounds and upwards besides the great loss and utter ruin of several men women and children whose husbands and Fathers were killed in the said service all which is sufficiently proved upon record under several testimonies of authentick witnesses taken upon Oath in the Court of Admiralty since which time there hath been applications made to the East-India Company of Holland for satisfaction but they being so powerful in their own Courts and by their influences in others that there hath been no restitution as yet made for the loss and dammages of the ship Life or goods to the said W. Courten or his Compartners aforesaid And for as much as Sir Paul Pinder and two other Persons of Honour became bound for the said William Courten for 126000 pounds and furnished him with several considerable sums of money to keep up his credit and expected certain returns also from the East-Indies for their satisfaction having his partes assigned to them for Counter-security which are wholly disappointed whereby it is evident by this and diverse other former sad examples that many of this Nation have been distroyed by such like attempts of the Dutch The premises considered and for as much as Sir William Courten and Sir Paul Pinder were such memorable Merchants so good servants and Subjects to the Crown of England so great Benefactours to the Church and such instruments in the Common-Wealth and that it hath been already a great reflection upon the Honour of the Nation and a great discouragment to others in following their Examples for being so slighted it is therefore the humble request of all the Creditors that since these and other sad misfortunes have befallen the Heirs and Executors of Sir William Courten and Sir Paul Pinder by the violence of these last 20 Years at home and their great losses sustained by Violence abroad besides the Debts due from the Crown that for the relief of many hundred poor Men Women and Children Your Majesty would be greciously pleased to take the same into your most pious consideration that a select Committee of twelve Lords and Commons in Parliament may be appointed to examine the whole matters of fact and make a report thereof to Your Majesty and Your mâ—st honourable Privy-Council to determine what in Justice the said Causes may both from the said Planters of Barbados and the Dutch East-India Company according to the Laws of Nations and the common protection due from Soveraignes to their Loyal Subjects be reasonably required EPILOGUE TO reflect upon the late Distractions of the Nation The great Debts of the Crown or the sadsufferings of the Creditors were to Arraign all mens Actions that transgressed the rules of Law and Equity In the English Monarchy a Government comming the nearest to Perfection in this Transitory World The KING in his Politick Capacity is not improperly likened to God for Justice and Immortality it s observed therefore that he neither dies nor does any Wrong and that from the KING the Fountain of Honour and Justice the Laws like Streams are conducted by the Judges and dispersed to the people and the sacred Ordinances by the Ministers of the Church to their several Cures so essentially springing from that Bottom the two main Pillars of good Government Religion and Law the two inseparable supporters of Regal Authority The Currents were stopt by defect in the Pipes The Fountain was not dry nor the Streams but the aquaducts failing when they plunged themselves and others into a Deluge of Miseries and disorders living upon the spoils of the Crown with so many hundred hands in the Kings Purse that minded not the support of his royal Estate nor the ordinary protection of the People which brought those Persons into extream wants that supplyed the King with Money for his necessary occasions The Wits and Inventions of other Men were chiefly taken up about riches and Possessions ef the World streaching some things beyond their latitude and depressing others from their Force and Power which caused the Oppression of ehe Kings Creditors which now lies under Considerations of Parliament either to be satisfied by a general Contribution of the Nation or by improvement of what they have Proposed to the King or by the revennue in the Exchequer chargeable with their Debts KING CHARLES the first of ever blessed Memory asserted the due Honour of the Clergy the Rites and Government of the Church and his other praerogatives also which were not granted by the People that were reserved to himself when the positive Law of Nations was first Established he maintained with Zeal and Constancy to the last Affirming that no Man could be exempted from Obedience and Subjection under the Government of Kings any more then Children from the Obedience they owed to their Parents by the Laws of God and Nature And that in the Estimation of right understanding Men. They are very vnworthy and vngrateful to their Prince that seeks to defraud him in any perquisite or revennue of the Crown who studies daily at Court how to preserve them in Peace and Prosperity from Enemies at home and abroad He that takes the value of a shilling from any Mans person upon the Road dies without Mercy and he that Counterfeits a single Penny suffers Death by the Law yet he that robs God and the King his Vice-gerent goes unpunished for Offences of Fraud and Sacrilege which hath brought all the sad Calamities both upon Church and State If by this indigested Discourse being straitned of Time I have incurred the Displeasure of some or the hard Censure of others I can justly answer them both that it was neither prejudice nor intrest that engaged me but Zeal to my King and Countrey and the miserable deplored Condition of several Orphans and Widdows that daily called upon me as administrator to seek some