Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	kingdom_n	law_n	parliament_n	3,975	5	6.2994	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59869	A second letter to a friend, concerning the French invasion in which the declaration lately dispersed under the title of His Majesty's most gracious declaration to all his loving subjects, commanding their assistance against the P. of Orange and his adherents, is entirely and exactly published, according to the dispersed copies : with some short observations upon it.	Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.; James II, King of England, 1633-1701. His Majesty's most gracious declaration, to all his loving subjects.	1692 (1692)	Wing S3339; ESTC R8008	19,657	35

great danger and could not but know that he had given them too just occasion for such Jealousies and Fears and it is wonderful that he should think of publishing a Declaration and not think fit to give the least satisfaction about these matters not to say one word about Popery and Arbitrary Power nor to give any express promise that he would remove these fears The only thing he appeals to is the justice of his Cause and does not think himself obliged to say any thing more upon this occasion than that he comes to assert his own just Rights c But this was not the Controversy between Him and his People they did not dispute then his Right to the Crown tho they have some Reason to do it now and yet were willing to part with him when he thought fit to leave them and if he knew what made them so and hoped to return again by their Assistance and with their good-liking any one but those of his own Council would have thought him obliged to say something of it The Prince of Orange's Declaration put him in mind of this which he says cheated his Subjects into the late Revolution and it had been much more to the purpose to have discovered the cheat of that Declaration or to have said nothing of it than to affirm without any proof that now it appears to be notoriously false in all the parts of it for English Protestants know nothing to this day but that it is all true still Were there not in the late Reign open and bold attempts made against the Laws the Liberties and the Religion of these Kingdoms Was not the Dispensing Power set on foot for those purposes Were not the Iudges tamper'd with to obtain a sentence in favour of the Dispensing Power and placed and displaced till they could find fit Tools for that Work men who would sacrifice the Laws and Religion of their Countrey to the Will of their Prince or to their own Covetousness and Ambition Were not the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and the Test Dispensed with upon this pretence and men unqualified by Law put into Ecclesiastical Civil and Military Preferments to the apparent danger both of Church and State Was there no Ecclesiastical Commission set up no Popish Chappels Monasterys and Convents erected and endowed contrary to Law Were not the Nobility and Gentry Closeted and Examined about the repeal of the Test and those disgraced and turned out of all Offices and Employments who would not comply Were not the Bishops sent to the Tower and Tried in Westminster-Hall for their Humble Petition to him against reading the Declaration Was not the Administration of Justice and the greatest Military Trusts put into the hands of Papists Were not the Charters of Cities Towns and Corporations seized into the King's hands and so new-modelled that the King might chuse what Burgesses he pleased and have a House of Commons of his own Creatures Were there not visible grounds of suspition concerning the Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales And has there been sufficient satisfaction given the Nation about it to this day These are the Grievances complain'd of in the Prince's Declaration which were believed then not upon the Authority of the Declaration but because they were seen and felt and are believed still because they are still remembred by those who saw and felt them and how they have since been evidently disprov'd I cannot guess But if such things as these are not thought fit to be owned as mistakes in Government if it was not thought fit to promise the redress of any one of them no not in his Declaration whereby he commands and invites his Subjects to Assist him in recovering his Kingdoms I can easily guess that they will not be thought faults much less be redress'd if he should return They must be his very Loving Subjects indeed that can be thus imposed upon DECLARATION And therefore to take the matter from the beginning it cannot be forgotten That as soon as We had certain Notice of the Prince of Orange's unnatural design of Invading Our Kingdoms with the whole Power of the United Provinces We first took the best care We could to provide for Our Defence which We seem'd effectually to have done when We had put Our Fleet and Army into such a condition that tho his most Christian Majesty who well saw the bottom of the Design against Us against Himself and indeed against the Peace of Europe offered Us considerable Succours both by Land and Sea We did not think it at all necessary to accept them at that time as resolving to cast Our selves wholly next to the Divine Protection upon the Courage and Fidelity of Our English Army which had been with so much care and tenderness form'd and obliged by Us. And having thus prepared to oppose Force to Force We did in the next place apply Our selves to give all reasonable satisfaction to the minds of Our good Subjects by endeavouring to undeceive them and to let them see be times and whilst the mischief might easily have been prevented how fatal a Ruin they must bring upon their Countrey if they suffered themselves to be seduc'd by the vain pretences of the Prince of Orange's Invasion However so great was the infatuation of that time that We were not believ'd till it was too late But when he was oblig'd to throw off the Mask by degrees and that it began to appear plainly that it was not the reformation of the Government which yet was a matter that did not at all belong to him to meddle with but the Subversion of it that he aim'd at that so he might build his own Ambitions designs upon the Ruins of the English Nation And when the Poyson had insinuated it self into the vital Parts of the Kingdom When it had spread over our whole Army and so far got into Our Court and Family as not only to corrupt some of Our Servants that were nearest Our Person and had been most highly obliged by us but not even to leave Our own Children at that time uninfected When Our Army daily Deserted on the one hand and on the other hand Tumults and Disorders increased in all Parts of the Kingdom And especially when shortly after the Revolution came on so fast that We found Our selves wholly in Our Enemies Power being at first confin'd by them in our Own Palace and afterwards rudely forced out of it under a Guard of Foreigners We could not then but be admonished by the Fate of some of Our Predecessors in the like circumstances of the danger We were in and that it was high time to provide for the security of Our Person which was happily effected by Our getting from the Guard that was set upon us at Rochester and Our arrival in France the only Part in Europe to which We could retire with safety that so We might preserve Our selves for better times and for a more happy opportunity such as is that

England which will be a great Favour indeed from him if he should return with a French Power But the Church of England is protected already by Princes who think it their Duty to do it And we think our selves much safer in the Inclinations of a Protestant King and Quen than we can be in all the Promises of a zealous Papist And therefore this can be no argument in our case because it offers us a worse security for our Protection than what we already have for it is always great odds on Nature's side And yet this Promise to the Church of England seems fainter and cooler than some he has formerly made which is all the reason we have to expect it will be better kept especially there being not the least Intimation of the Breach of his former Promises nor any excuse made for it And it is fit to be observed that whereas he promises that upon all Vacancies of Bishopricks and other Dignities and Benifites within our Disposal care shall be taken to have them filled with the most Worthy of their own Communion there is not one word said of Universities and Colledges though the Case of Magdalen Colledge is so very notorious and so fresh in every Man's Memory that there is hardly a Roman or Artificer in the Nation that has not a lively Remembrance of it Church of England men then shall at present have the Churches and Papists the Colledges to breed up a Roman Catholick Succession of honest Obediah's DECLARATION And whereas more Tumults and Rebellions have been rais'd in all Nations upon the Account of Religion then on all other pretences put together and more in England then in all the rest of the World besides That therefore Men of all Opinions in Matters of Religion may be reconciled to the Government that they may no longer look upon it as their Enemy but may therefore think themselves equally concern'd in the Preservation of it with the rest of their Fellow subjects because they are equally well treated by it and being convinc'd in our Iudgment that Liberty of Conscience is most agreeable to the Laws and the Spirit of the Christian Religion and most conducing to the Wealth and Prosperity of our Kingdoms by encouraging Men of all Countries and Perswasions to come and Trade with us and settle amongst us For these Reasons we are resolved most earnestly to recommend to Our Parliament the settling Liberty of Conscience in so Beneficial a manner that it may remain a lasting Blessing to this Kingdom OBSERVATIONS In this Paragraph for the Peace of the Nation and for the Advancement of Trade he promises earnestly to recommend to the Parliament the settling Liberty of Conscience But this is no Argument to the Dissenters to help forward another Revolution because they have it already in as full and ample a manner as it can be given them All that he can add to this is Liberty of Conscience for Papists and the Repeal of the Test which cost him so much Closetting to no purpose and now is promis'd as a Favour What Protestant Dissenters will think of it I leave them to consider But when he says We are convinc'd in our Iudgment that Liberty of Conscience is most agreeable to the Laws and to the Spirit of the Christian Religion me-thinks these two Kings treat one another with great Freedom For what handsomer Complement could have been made to the most Christian King then to intimate that his Persecution of his Protestant Subjects is not at all agreeable to the Laws or to the Spirit of the Christian Religion This is Plain-dealing if the French King can bear it But I suppose they are agreed that K. I. shall declare as is most fit for his purpose and the French King do what is most convenient for his own DECLARATION Lastly It shall be our great Care by the Advice and Assistance of our Parliament to repair the Breaches and heal the Wounds of the late Distractions to restore Trade by putting the Act of Navigation in effectual Execution which has been so much violated of late in favour of Strangers to put our Navy and Stores into as good a Condition as we left them to find the best ways of bringing back Wealth and Bullion to the Kingdom which of late has been so much exhausted and generally we shall delight to spend the Remainder of our Reign as we have always design'd since our coming to the Crown in studying to do every thing that may contribute to the Re-establishment of the Greatness of the English Monarchy upon its old and true Foundation the united Interest and Affection of the People OBSERVATIONS What these Breaches and Wounds of the late Distractions are he does not tell us and therefore we must suppose they are such as are here mentioned As for restoring Trade it has not been lost yet the Custom house does not complain of it which is commonly the first that feels it The Navy is in a much better Condition than he left it if we may guess at that by its late Exploits But if he be so well skilled in restoring Navies he ought both in Charity and Gratitude now to stay a little longer in France As for his bringing back Wealth and Bullion into the Nation I believe the Nation would have been better pleased if he would have promised to send none out And as for his Concluding promise in these words And generally we shall delight to spend the Remainder of our Reign as we have always design'd since our coming to the Crown in studying to do every thing that may contribute to the Re-establishment of the Greatness of the English Monarchy upon its old and true Foundations the united Interest and Affection of the People This is Plain-dealing and surest to be made good of any thing in the Declaration And if he does this now as he always designed to do it for he could not then do all that he designed to do here is a renewed Promise of popery and Arbitrary Power And those are unpardonable Infidels who will not take his word for it DECLARATION Thus having endeavored to answer all Objections and give all the Satisfaction we can think of to all Parties and Degrees of Men We cannot want our selves the Satisfaction of having done all that can be done on our part whatever the Event shall be the Disposal of which we commit with great Resignation and Dependance to that God who judges Right And on the other side if any of our Subjects after all this shall remain so obstinate as to appear in Arms against us as they must needs fall unpitied under the Severity of our Iustice after having refused such gracious offers of Mercy so they must be answerable to Almighty God for all the Blood that shall be spilt and all the Miseries and Confusions in which these Kingdoms may happen to be involved by their desperate and unreasonable Opposition Given at Our Court at St. Germains this present 20th of April 1692. in the Eighth Year of our Reign Per ipsum Regem manu propriâ