Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	king_n	prince_n	subject_n	3,995	5	6.4954	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44619	The character of a trimmer his opinion of I. The laws and government, II. Protestant religion, III. The papists, IV. Foreign affairs / by ... Sir W.C.	Halifax, George Savile, Marquis of, 1633-1695.; Coventry, William, Sir, 1628?-1686.	1688 (1688)	Wing H296; ESTC R38783	43,501	48

is not only unnecessary but it may be unmannerly to say any more of it Our Trimmer therefore wisheth that since notwithstanding the Laws which deny Churches to say Mass in not only the Exercise but also the Ostentation of Popery is as well or better performed in the Chappels of so many Foreign Ministers where the English openly resort in spight of Proclamations and Orders of Council which are grown to be as harmless things to them as the Popes Bulls and Excommunications are to Hereticks who are out of his reach I say he could wish that by a seasonable as well as an equal piece of Justice there might be so much consideration had of the Protestant Dissenters as that there might be at sometimes and at some places a Veil thrown over an Innocent and retired Conventicle and that such an Indulgence might be practic'd with less prejudice to the Church or diminution to the Laws it might be done so as to look rather like a kind Omission to enqu●re too strictly than an allow'd Toleration of that which is against the Rule Established Such a skilful hand as this is very Necessary in our Circumstances and the Government by making Men entirely desperate doth not only secure it self from danger of any Wild or Villianous attempts but layeth such a Foundation for healing and uniting Laws when ever a Parliament shall meet that the Seeds of Differences and Animosities between the contending sides may Heaven consenting be for ever destroy'd The Trimmer's Opinion concerning the Papists TO speak of Popery leadeth me into such a Sea of Matter that it is not easie to forbear launching into it being invited by such a fruitful stream and by a variety never to be exhausted but to confine it to the present Subject I will only say a short word of the Religion it self of its Influences here at this time and of Trimmer's Opinion in Relation to our living with them If a Man would speak Maliciously of this Religion one might say it is like Diseases where as long as one drop of the infection remains there is still danger of having the whole Mass of Blood corrupted by it In Swedeland there was an absolute cure and nothing of Popery heard of till Queen Christiana whether mov'd with Arguments of this or the other World may not be good Manners to enquire thought fit to change her Religion and Country and to live at Rome where she might find better judges of her Vertues and less ungentle Censures of those Princely Liberties she was sometimes disposed to than she left at Stockholme where the good breeding is much inferior to that of Rome as well as the Civility of the Religion The Cardinals having rescued the Church from those Clownish Methods the Fisher-men had first introduc'd and mended that Pattern so effectually that a Man of that Age if he should now come into the World would not possibly know it In Denmark the Reformation was entire in some States of Germany as well as Geneva the Cure was universal but in the rest of the World where the Protestant Religion took place the Popish humour was too high to be totally expell'd and so it was in England tho' the Change was made with all the advantage imaginable to the Reformation it being Countenanc'd and introduc'd by Legal Authority and by that means might have been perhaps as perfect as in any other Place if the short Reign of Edward the 6th and the succession of a Popish Queen had not given such advantage to that Religion that it hath subsisted ever since under all the hardships that have been put upon it it hath been a strong Compact Body and made the more so by these Sufferings it was not strong enough to prevail but it was able with the help of Rome to carry on an Interest which gave the Crown trouble and to make a considerable not to say dangerous Figure in the Nation so much as this could not have been done without some hopes nor these hopes kept up without some reasonable grounds In Queen Elizabeth's time the Spanish Zeal for their Religion and the Revenge for 88 gave warmth for the Papists here and above all the sight of the Queen of Scots to succed while she lived sufficient to give a better prospect of their Affairs In King Jame's time the Spanish Match and his gentleness towards them which they were ready to interpret more in their own Favour than was either reasonable or became them so little tenderness they have even where it is most due if the Interest of their Religion cometh in competition with it As for the late King tho' he gave the most Glorious Evidence that ever Man did of his being a Protestant yet by the more than ordinary influence the Queen was thought to have over him and it so happening that the greatest part of his Anger was directed against the Puritans there was such an advantage to Men to suspect that they were ready to interpret it a leaning towards Popery without which handle it was Morally impossible that the ill-affected part of the Nation could ever have seduc'd the rest into a Rebellion That which help'd to confirm many well meaning Men in their Misapprehensions of the King was the long and unusual intermission of Parliaments so that every year that passed without one made up a new Argument to increase their Suspicion and made them presume that the Papists had a principal hand in keeping them off This raised such heats in Mens Minds to think that Men who are obnoxious to the Laws instead of being punished should have Credit enough to serve themselves even at the price of destroying the Fundamental Constitution that it broke out into a Flame which before it could be quenched had almost reduc'd the Nation to Ashes Amongst the miserable Effects of that unnatural War none hath been more fatal to us than the forcing our Princes to breathe in another air and to receive the early impressions of a Foreign Education the Barbarity of the English towards the King and the Royal Family might very well tempt him to think the better of every thing he found abroad and might naturally produce more gentleness at least towards a Religion by which he was hospitably receiv'd and the same time he was thrown off and persecuted by the Protestants tho' his own Subjects to aggravate the Offence The Queen Mother as generally Ladies do with age grew most devout and earnest in her Religion and besides the Temporal Rewards of getting larger Subsidies from the French Clergy she had Motives of another kind to perswade her to shew her Zeal and since by the Roman Dispensatory a Soul converted to the Church is a Soveraign Remedy and layeth up a mighty stock of merit she was solicitous to secure her self in all Events and therefore first set upon the Duke of Gloucester who depended so much upon her good will that she might for that reason believe the Conquest would not be difficult but it

when the Men in black had made Learning such a sin in the Laity that for fear of offending they made a Conscience of being able to read but now the World is grown sawcy and do expect Reasons and good ones too before they give up their own Opinions to other Mens Dictates tho' never so Magisterially deliver'd to them Our Trimmer is far from approving the Hypocrisie which seemeth to be the reigning Voice amongst some of the Dissenting Clergy he thinketh it the most provoking sin Men can be guilty of in Relation to Heaven and yet which may seem strange that very sin which shall destroy the Soul of the Man who preaches may help to save those of the Company that hear him and even those who are cheated by the false Ostentation of his strictness of life may by that Pattern be encouraged to the real Practice of those Christian Vertues which he doth so deceitfully profess so that the detestation of this fault may possibly be carry'd on too far by our own Orthodox Divines if they think it cannot be enough expres'd without bending the Stick another way a dangerous Method and a worse Extream for Men of that Character who by going to the outward line of Christian Liberty will certainly encourage others to go beyond it No Man doth less approve the ill-bred Methods of some of the Dissenters in rebuking Authority who behave themselves as if they thought ill manners necessary to Salvation yet he cannot but distinguish and desire a Mean between the sawcyness of some of the Scotch Apostles and the undecent Courtship of some of the Silken Divines who one would think do practice to bow at the Altar only to learn to make the better Legs at Court. Our Trimmer approveth the Principles of our Church that Dominion is not founded in Grace and that our Obedience is to be given to a Popish King in other things at the same time that our Compliance with him in his Religion is to be deny'd yet he cannot but think it an extraordinary thing if a Protestant Church should by a voluntary Election chuse a Papist for their Guardian and receive Directions for supporting our Religion from one who must believe it a Mortal Sin not to endeavout to destroy it such a refined piece of Breeding would not seem to be very well plac'd in the Clergy who will hardly find presidents to justify such an extravagant piece of Courtship and which is so unlike the Primitive Methods which ought to be our Pattern he hath nc such unreasonable tenderness for any sorts of Men as to expect their faults should not be impartially laid open as often as they give occasion for it and yet he cannot but smile to see the same Man who setteth up all the Sails of his Rhetorick to fall upon Dissenters when Popery is to be handled he doth it so gingerly that he looketh like an Ass mumbling of Thistles so afraid he is of letting himself loose upon a Subject where he may be in danger of letting his Duty get she better of his Discretion Our Trimmer is far from relishing the impertinent Wandrings of those who pour out long Prayers upon the Congregation and all from their own Stock which God knows for the most part is a barren Soil which produceth Weeds instead of Flowers and by this means they expose Religion it self rather than promote Mens Devotions On the other side there may be too great Restraint put upon Men whom God and Nature hath distinguished from their Fellow-Labourers by blessing them with a happier Talent and by giving them not only good Sense but a powerful Utteranee too hath enabled them to gust out upon the attentive Auditory with a mighty Stream of Devout and unaffected Eloquence when a Man qualified endued with Learning too and above that adorn'd with a good Life breaks out into a warm and well-deliver'd Prayer before his Sermon it hath the appearance of a Divine Rapture he raiseth and leadeth the Hearts of the Assembly in another manner than the most Compos'd or best Studied Form of Set Words can ever do and the Pray-wees who serve up all the Sermon with the same Garnishing would look like so many Statues or Men of Scraw in the Pulpit compar'd with those who speak with such a Powerful Zeal that Men are tempted at the moment to believe Heaven it self hath directed their Words to them Our Trimmer is not so unreasonably indulgent to the Dissenters as to excuse the Irregularities of their Complaints and to approve their threatning Stiles which is so ill-suited to their Circumstances as well as to their Duty he would have them to shew their Grief and not their Anger to the Government and by such a Submission to Authority as becomes them if they cannot acquiesce in what is imposed let them deserve a Legislative Remedy to their Sufferings there being no other way to give them perfect redress and either to seek it or pretend to give it by any other Method would not only be vain but Criminal too in those that go about it yet with all this there may in the mean time be a prudential Latitude left as to the manner of preventing the Laws now in force against them The Government is in some degree answerable for such an Administration of them as may be free from the Censure of Impartial Judges and in order to that it would be necessary that one of these Methods be pursued either to let loose the Laws to their utmost extent without any Moderation or Restraint in which at least the Equality of the Government would be without Objection the Penalties being exacted without Remission from the Dissenters of all kinds or if that will not be done and indeed there is no reason it should there is a necessity of some Connivance to the Protestant Dissenters to execute that which in Humanity must be allowed to the Papists even without any leaning towards them which must be supposed in those who are or shall be in the administration of publick Business and it will follow that according to our Circumstances the distinction of such connivance must be made in such manner that the greatest part of it may fall on the Protestant side or else the Objections will be so strong and the Inferences so clear that the Friends as well as the Enemies of the Crown will be sure to take hold of them It will not be sufficient to say the Papists may be conniv'd at because they be good Subjects but not the Protestant Dissenters because they are ill ones these general Maxims will not convince discerning Men neither will any late Instances make them forget what hath passed at other times in the World both sides have had their Turns of being good and ill Subjects therefore 't is easie to imagine what suspicions would arise in the present conjuncture if such a partial Argument as this should be impos'd upon us the truth is the Matter speaketh so much of it self that it