Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A48018
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A letter from a member of this House of Commons to his friend in the country
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Member of the House of Commons.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing L1412; ESTC R223658
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3,696
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2
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Beso ted wee could wee think it a likely matter that hee would go less when hee was King of England and depend on Parliaments And then wee find by experience that the same courses are taken here which have enslaved Holland those chosen into all employments who are blindly devoted to him and all others excluded promises to corrupt one and threats to frighten another and the art of ridding those out of the â—…y whose free spirits will not bend and sweeping away all â—hat resist him Nothing can keep the vast projects of his irregular ambiâ—…on within compass Religion is but an usefull tool to work â—pon the fools which will be cheated and wee shall quickly â—ee ours destroy'd by his hands who in his Letters his Declarations and even in his flags has declared him self the Proector of it The oath of Supremacy which acknowledgd Kings â—o bee the supreme Governors of the English Church is alâ—eady gone Ceremonys and the Music in Whitehall Chappel 〈◊〉 thing in use in our Churches sent packing Prayers changed very ancient Rites abolisht and all this upon pretext of uniteing Episcopacy and Presbytery but in reality to bring the Episcopall party over to the Presbyterians Not that hee troubles him self much with either Religion but the fidelity of Bishops to powers lawfully establisht by God is not for the turn of usurpers Calvinist or Independent Principles do much better when one has a mind to fly at all Principles by the which every one may beleive as is most for his purpose break oaths made to lawfull Princes without scrupule acknowledge no subordination whither in Church or state This suits a great deal better both with his own present interest and that of Protestant Princes of whose assistance hee thinks hee may have occasion Let that interest change hee will change too and follow it wherever it go whether to Head or Member of the Church and Episcopall Presbyterian Independent or Quaking Member Stateholder in Holland or King in England but Tirant by whatever 〈◊〉 or title dignify'd The frights in to which our abdicating King and his popery put us were nothing to this Tis-true hee would need employ Papists and dispense with conscience laws But for destroying the Religion establisht by law in England hee neither had the will nor the means a lawfull Parliament without which hee could do nothing would alwais have been in a condition to oppose and redress what bad Counsell might suggest amiss That releif is now out of doâ—es The Parliament is a pack of his creatures slavishly obedient to the pleasure of our new King and those who in their hearts preserve the love of their Religion and laws so cruelly â—…ken are bridled by the fear of a Prince who stands 〈◊〉 upon dispatching a man who opposes him without 〈◊〉 ado out of the way and has a forreign army at hand ready to execute whatever order he gives them In a word our Laws are already overturned our Religion totters and will not long stand and to this state of â—iâ—lence our credulous weakness has reduc't us t is time I think to wake out of our swound to acknowledge the hand of God upon us for deserting our lawfull Prince and return to him Hee who sets up the standard of liberty any where is sure of crouds of helping hands flocking in to him from all parts and the fidelity which wee ow to the true interests of the Nation cannot fail to be crowned with success and immortall glory I remain c.
A LETTER FROM A MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS TO HIS FRIEND IN THE COUNTRY THe coffy house and street news Sir is but too true Our new King continues intirely an Hollander still and means our purses shall pay his gratitude to the States Generall for the suceour which he squeesed out of them That forward zeal for Protestant Religion with which the Hollanders cloathed their manifest and those desinteressed succours which they gave in alms to England for the reestablissement of our liberty have cheated many a man but so much generosity is not the vertue of merchants who sacrifice all to their interest They have now declared that they never intended the ships and Soldiers lent the Prince of Orange for his entreprise should be at their charge They swell the account to 600000. l. and urge payment we must allow the account as they give it in on their word and may be sure interest and the hazard of their mony is not forgotten They have made the Prince of Orange their Factor and he prowes zealously faithfull He never serv'd them so well when he was their subject as now we have made him our King. Hee set on his emissarys to tamper with all his wel affected members before the motion was made to the house and we proving a little slow in taking a motion so unexpected and so unresonable into consideration hee plyed us with message after message and at last got Mr. Hamden to undertake the business and report the account to the house In the time of our past liberty you yourself can witnes how matters past in debates of free and lawfull Parliaments and with what freedom every one deliverd his opinion of what he judge'd expedient or prejudiciall to the nation But 't is not now as it has been We are no longer the same Englishmen who knew not what fear meant as often as our rights and priviledges came in question and who were so unshakably unanimous against impositions contrary to the good and advantage of the Nation We have got traitors among us wholy devoted to their private interests and their new master and these so fright the honest men with their threats that we are grown spiritles in our own defense fear ty's up our toungs and with as much indignation as most of us heard a motion made to enrich forreigners with our mony and send so vast a sum out of the kingdom no body durst open his mouth The house was struck dumb and forc't to adjourn the debate to the next day I was one of the first that left the house with the grief of a true Englishman stung to the quick with the unhappy condition to which wee are reduc't *** and *** and some more who yet in their hearts preserve a love for their lost liberty followd me home where we found ourselvs all of a mind very desirous to withdraw and avoyd at least the reproach of being complices in what passes against our liberty and laws but K Williane being it seems secure that those whom threats and promises have made sure to him will alwais carry it in Parliament will needs force us tarry in the house and make it a punishable matter to take the air in the country T is for this reason his creatures have got an order to oblige absent Members to return by a day prefixt so that they are not content to impose upon us the yoke of a new tyranny but bart us the poor comfort of not being witnesses to what is don against us and if we will not concurr with our consent make us in spite of our teeth concurr at least by our presence This is the result of our seducing hopes when we came into the house They told us the Prince of Orange was the defender of our liberty and desired a Convention only to set due bounds to Royalty secure Protestant Religion against the attempts of the Papists and by excluding the groundles pretence of dispensing power for ever reanimate the laws with a fresh vigour They told us that coming purely for the good of the English he would trust wholy to them and send back his forreign soldiers to Holland of whom he had no need and that looking upon the restoration of our liberty as his own work he would bee the Protector and Defender of it We believed him upon his word and this credulyty will be the source of all our misfortunes We know his false dealing his boundles ambition and insatiable avarice But what remedy and what way left to avoyd taking his will for law when against all law he keeps his forreigners to authorize his doings and enslave us at at pleasure so that till God put in a helping hand and cure us of our blindnes he will do here what ever he has a mind to His 600000 l. motion to gratify the Hollander will certainly take We know well enough there is no justice in it we know the Hollanders declared in their manifest of 28. October past that being advertised that the Kings of France and England hand made a league to pull down and quite destroy their state they had consented to the enterprise of the Prince of Orange and resolved to assist him with men and ships They themselvs therefore own that they acted for themselvs and their own interest and yet wee shall give them what they ask never the less for that Nay I expect the Members who are of the Privy Counsell shall be order'd to cary his Majesty the thankes of the house for his Goodness and love to the English in contenting himself with so small a summe for the Hollanders I see our Nation heretofore so jealous of its liberty accustom's it self now to kiss the iron rod which scourges them and those who formerly would have layd down their lives to purchase a Common Wealth drive furiously on for a despotik power such as is known no where but in Asia The truth is he carrys it yet with us in appareance with some moderation What a noyse did his releasing chimny money make and what trumpetting was there of his tenderness and liberality Alas he means we shall pay dear for that small ease and make up his petty loss with gain to the purpose T is already insinuated that the reduction of Ireland will cost considerably and a Warr at home and abroad ask a great deal of money and these insinuations will quickly become votes and Acts. Wee have no will of our own left we are goeing to be over whelmed with tax upon tax Our laws already undermined are upon the point of falling and if God give us not courage enough to resolve to maintain them farewel to our estates and liberty for ever Wee might have taken warning by our Neighbours and by what hee has done in Holland certainly known what he would do in England Hee was born a subject to the Hollanders yet found means to become their Master and engross a soveraign power over them without the title