Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	great_a	king_n	parliament_n	3,205	5	6.3516	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61098	The case of our affaires in law, religion, and other circumstances examined and presented to the conscience	Spelman, John, Sir, 1594-1643.	1643 (1643)	Wing S4935; ESTC R26250	27,975	42

those that sent them And then the remainder of the Peeres and Commons which are scarce a fourth part of them call themselves the Parliament and all the known rights of Soveraignitie does this Epitome of Parliament assume unto themselves and exercise yea the House of Commons alone notwithstanding their Protestation to God for the Defence of the Lawes and Libertie of the Subject by warrant under their Speakers hand beyond all Law and example imprison Subjects that were never Members of their House and deny them their Habeas Corpus And not onely invade the Libertie of the Commons but presse upon the House of Lords the voting of things which in a full House they had before upon mature advice orderly rejected They seconded a tumultuous Petition that demanded the names of the Lords that had dissented from the Commons House though the dissenters were the major part of the House of Lords This Epitome of Parliament hath taught that which never Parliament knew before That their Members may not without the Order of their House be restrained no not for Treason And professing tender care of the Kings Honour and safetie hath authorised Bookes wherein His Soveraignitie is made subject to the Representative of His Subiects and wherein the deposing of our English Kings by their Subiects is declared warrantable and upon the authoritie and warrant of this Parliament must the poor Christian Subiect that is under their power against his Conscience act and give aide to the Armie which against the Kings expresse Command and Proclamations they have levied when though conscious horrour and shame will not suffer it to be acknowledged to be raised against the King yet are their Souldiers sure they shall meet with no other opposite than with their rightfull Soveraigne and His Followers arming for the safetie of His Person for defence of the iust rights of the Crown for the due Priviledges of the first of the three Orders of Parliament and for the necessary power wherewith He is to protect Religion Lawes and Subiects of His Kingdom Who that makes conscience of what he does as one that must make account for it before the great Tribunal where a little integritie though now despised and a little innocence of cause shall bring one more support than either King on the one side or Parliament on the other or Armie on either side who I say thereof mindfull can against the thousand witnesses of his conscience recede from the dutie which all his life till now hath both by Law and Christian Religion been inculcate to him and reiecting all cast himselfe soule bodie and fortunes wholly upon the new-found warrant of strangely conditioned apparition of Parliament These and other particulars that may be instanced in take off the confidence and repose that one would otherwise have in the two Houses especially when they setting on foot claimes and pretences not agreeing with the dutie that men from their youth have found their consciences ever bound unto go not the faire and open way of satisfaction to have in so high concernments the Parliament Rolls as freely and fully searched on the Kings behalfe as on the Parliaments and to have their new and strange learning as freely argued by the Kings Councell and by the Judges as by the instruments of the Parliament but as the Papacie in invading the Soveraignitie of the Church Voted her selfe into the Supremacie and then suppressed all examination of the Truth by damning all Writings to the contrary and branding the Authours and users of them with the name of Heretickes So we invading the Soveraignitie of our own State Vote our selves into it brand with the name of Malignants all that concurre not with us in it interdict them the freedome of search and discoverie of the Truth and damne their Writings as scandalous and seditious Pamphlets and so making them Vote-convicted State Heretickes We thenceforth hold no Faith nor Truth to be kept toward them but prosecute them as Enemies to the State for no other offence but because we have made them Malignants popishly affected dissolute desperate blood-sucking Cavaliers and plunderers Yet truly if we consider the qualitie of them that adhere unto His Maiestie and to His Cause do now lie under that censure we shall finde them the flower and greater part of our Nobilitie and Gentrie of the Kingdome the greater part of His Majesties Honourable Privie Counsell yea and of His Great Councell too even of the Peeres and Commons the chiefe of the Judges and with them the opinion of the residue even of that whole Profession the spirits and prayers of the farre greatest part of the Clergie and the hearts of the greater part of the most substantiall men of the Commonaltie whose soule and conscience presented with the consideration of these things would not shrinke with inward horrour to thinke he should either attempt or give aide to the cutting off not like David of a lap of his Soveraignes ordinary garment but of this lively apparrell-politique of his Soveraigne wherewith for safetie as well as ornament His Majestie is now begirt nay to cut off the very limbes of his Civill bodie and not without eminent danger to His Sacred Person how loud and frightfull would the spirit of David crie in the eares of his guilty conscience The Lord forbid I should do this thing to lift up my hand against the Lords Anointed O but Religion is now at stake and it is not to be believed that popishly affected Counsellours and Commanders with the helpe of a popish Armie should so much forsake their own ends as to fight for Establishment of the true Protestant Religion truly it is sincerely confessed it is not likely and therefore I shall never believe that the Designe of Reforming our Religion by the hands of Brownists Anabaptists and Sectaries which by a constant and credible report is believed to have been so much fostered and advanced by the Cardinall Richelieu and the late French Embassadour as that Chambers the Cardinals Secretarie was on purpose sent into the Scotish Armie here in England was ever with intent of Establishing the true Protestant Religion or that for the Protestant Religions sake the death of the Cardinall was by some of our active Parliament men in our hearing lamented as of a great friend of the Parliament or that the great correspondence and intercourse observed to be between the late French Embassadour and Master Pym was for the advancement of the Protestant Religion But where is any popish Armie under the conduct of popish Commanders that according to the Designe of popish Counsellours is likely to oppresse the Protestants and advance Poperie Certainly both his Maiestie and his Protestant Followers are well assured that not any part of the Warre is managed by the Designe of persons that are so affected but who knowes not the ground of calumnie The King must either denie his Subiects that are Papists the protection of his Armie and refuse their aide and service or

example is that of David Saul was a wicked apostate King from whom The Spirit of God the inward anointing was departed Saul reiected from raigning over Israel So by God himselfe declared David in his stead by God provided to be King and to that end by Gods command anointed by all which David's priviledge then was more above the priviledge of all Subjects now than Saul's priviledge of that time was above the priviledge of Kings at this day and yet David for all those circumstances so much authorising him and dis-authorising Saul did not know Who could lay his hands upon the Lords Anointed and be guiltlesse Nay he did but lay his hand upon Saul's garment to cut off the lap for a testimonie of his loyaltie and innocent intention toward Saul and yet even for that saith the Text his heart smote him that he cried out The Lord forbid I should do that thing to my Master to lay mine hand upon the Lords Anointed his reason we may know in the other words of his The Lord shall smite him or his day shall come to die or he shall descend into battaile and perish the Lord keep me from laying mine hand upon him plainly inferring that to call Princes to account belongs onely to God that God hath time and wayes of his own to do it in and will do it and that therefore man must not meddle with the doing of it for if anointed David might not intermeddle with rejected Saul much lesse may common Subjects meddle with their unrejected Soveraignes Sufficiently therefore do these examples shew the heinousnesse of Subiects lifting up themselves and resisting the person of their Soveraigne upon what pretence soever Now while the severitie of these examples and other passages of Scripture iustly striking terrour into every soule does make us wonder what great straight of humane affaires could be so violent an impulsive with us as to make Christian Subiects contrary to sworne Faith to Law and to Religion not onely disobey their Soveraigne but resist invade the soveraigne rights and imploy their Soveraignes Militia Shippes Forts Armes Treasure yea and his own sworne Subiects too against Him truly all that the most searching thought can finde to secure his conscience with against the horrour of so foule a guilt is that otherwise we feare or pretend to feare that His Maiestie seduced by evill Counsellours by popishly affected Prelates Courtiers and Cavaliers should destroy our Law our Parliaments our established Forme of Government and change them into tyrannnie and the true Protestant Religion into Poperie This this Feare or pretence of Fear alone is all the warrant we can finde for our unparallelled proceedings against our Soveraigne And if this before the Tribunall of God and of our own Lawes be not sufficient for our excuse then have we nothing to discharge us of the guilt of publique violence robberie murder periurie treason resistance of the Ordinance of God and of forcing others against their consciences by act or aid to resist with us Now all these evils are universally committed all over the Kingdome and all these evils upon no other warrant done than that the good of Reformation as is pretended may come thereon So make we the Word of God of none effect while we entertain and preferre the Jesuitique tradition before it and maintain that what is for the good of the Church must be done notwithstanding any bonds of dutie of Faith or Oath whatsoever to the contrary And if we examine the grounds of this Feare and what iust suspition and probabilitie of such an innovation as is pretended to be feared is given We see for our assurance to the contrary that His Maiestie after once He was truly informed of our grievances condescended not onely to give us ease of them but to make His Acts of Grace in them at once exceed the Acts of all His Predecessours since the granting of our Magna Charta and did not onely in present relieve our sufferings but often invoking the Sacred Maiestie of God as a severe Witnesse of His purpose for the time to come tie Himselfe for ever to settle matters of Religion according to the purest times of the Protestant Church of England with such ease for tender Consciences as by a lawfull iudgement of the Clergie should be iudged fit and to governe according to the known Lawes of the Land Here is little signe of one led by evill counsaile or of a minde that would subdue Law Religion to the satisfaction of His private will This shewes our Fear to be both groundles and wicked and indeed after this if iealousie it selfe could yet make scruple of any thing how easie were it for the wisdome of the Bodie Representative by preparing a Law of severitie against the instruments of innovation exposing their persons and fortunes to certain ruine nullifying the innovations themselves and discharging the Subiect from all obedience and conformitie unto them to have secured the Kingdom against all manner of fear in that kinde when as His Majestie freely offers His Gracious assent to any Act that should in that behalfe be necessary But if what cause what ground what reason of dutie soever we finde though constantly and universally received for true both by the judgement of our Law and by the authoritie of our Religion we must notwithstanding reject all to believe the all concluding judgement of the Bodie Representative whom we never knew to have such Supremacie of iudgement till it selfe bearing witnesse of it selfe did tell us so it cannot yet but make much to the satisfaction of the conscience to examine how well the two Houses now sitting do attain the condition of a full and free Assemblie of the two Houses of Parliament that pretend to have such iudgement And first it is known that the House of Commons now sitting however elected was never yet perfected by a right determination of Elections but that some set as Members there that ought not to have been returned and some are not received that yet were rightly chosen some are excluded for having hands in Monopolies and proiects and others as much interessed in them for their assured affection reteined the greatest part of both Houses by meanes of popular menacings tumults poasting up of names branding men with the name of Malignants things never known before in Parliaments and again undeserved expellings from the House or imprisonings have been so over-awed that they have been forced to suppresse their Votes to give them contrary to their iudgements to hide themselves or to flie from the Houses the residue of both Houses and among them the Knights and Burgesses which the Countries sent to reside in Parliament that there the whole Representative advising together might with the more safetie Vote and consent for us they make over their Countries trust to a few Committees of their own and wholly betake themselves to martiall Offices and imployments exercising in them a new found arbitrary power over