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	majesty_n	parliament_n	4,862	5	6.6563	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29573	An apologie of John, Earl of Bristol consisting of two tracts : in the first, he setteth down those motives and tyes of religion, oaths, laws, loyalty, and gratitude, which obliged him to adhere unto the King in the late unhappy wars in England : in the second, he vindicateth his honour and innocency from having in any kind deserved that injurious and merciless censure, of being excepted from pardon or mercy, either in life or fortunes.	Bristol, John Digby, Earl of, 1580-1654.	1657 (1657)	Wing B4789; ESTC R9292	74,883	107

if it should but so happen which God of his goodness avert That mutually Forces and Armies should be raised Jealousies and Fears would be so much increased thereby that an Accommodation would be rendred full of difficulty and length and the very charge of maintaining them whilst first a Cessation of Arms and then a general Accommodation were in treating the Wealth of the Kingdom would be consumed And of this we had lately a costly Example for in those unhappy Troubles betwixt us and Scotland after there was a stop made to any further Acts of Hostility and a desire of Peace expressed on both sides Commissioners nominated and all the Articles propounded yet the keeping of the Armies together for our several Securities whilst the Cessation at Rippon and the Peace at London where in treating cost this Kingdome not much lesse than a million of pounds And if two Armies be once on foot here in England either a suddain Encounter must destroy one of them or the keeping of them on foot must destroy the Kingdom I hope therefore we shall make it our endeavour by Moderation and Calmnesse yet to put a stay to our so near approaching miseries and that we shall hearken to the wise advice of our Brethren of Scotland in their late Answer to the King and Parliament wherein they earnestly entreat us That all means may be forborn which may make the Breach wider and the Wound deeper and that no place be given to the evill Spirit of Division which at such times worketh uncessantly and resteth not But that the fairest the most Christian and compendious way may be taken by so wise a King and Parliament as may against all Malice and Oppositions make his Majesty and Posterity more glorious and his Kingdom more happy than ever And in another place they say That since the Parliament hath thought meet to draw the Practice of the Parliament of Scotland into Example in point of Declaration They are confident that the Affection of the Parliaments will lead them also to the Practice of that Kingdom in composing the unhappy Differences betwixt his Majesty and them and so far as may consist with their Religion Liberties and Laws in giving his Majesty all satisfaction especially in their tender Care of his Royal Person and of his Princely Greatness and Authority Certainly MY LORDS this is wise and brotherly Advice and I doubt not but we are all desirous to follow it We must not then still dwell upon generals for generals produce nothing But we must put this Business into a certain way wherby particulars may be descended unto And the way that I shall offer with all humility is That there may be a select Committee of choise Persons of both Houses who may in the first place truely state and set down all things in difference betwixt the King and the Subject with the most probable way of reconciling them Secondly to descend unto the particulars which may be expected by each from other either in point of our supporting of him or his relieving of us And lastly how all these Conditions being agreed upon may be so secured as may stand with the Honor of his Majesty and the satisfaction of the Subject When such a Committee shall have drawn up the heads of the Propositions and the way of securing them they may be presented unto the Houses and so offered unto his Majesty by such a Way as the Parliament shall Iudge most probable to produce an Accommodation MY LORDS What I have said unto you hath been chiefly grounded upon the Apprehensions and Fears of our future Dangers I shall say something of the unhappiness of our present Estate which certainly standeth in as much need of Relief and Remedy as our Fears do of Prevention For although the King and People were fully united and that all men that now draw several waies should unanimously set their hand to the work yet they would find it no easie task to restore this Kingdom to a prosperous and comfortable Condition If we take into our Consideration the deplorable Estate of Ireland likely to drain this Kingdom of Men and Treasure if we consider the Debts and Necessity of the Crown the Ingagements of the Kingdom the great and unusual Contributions of the People the which although they may not be so much to their Discontent for that they have been legally raised yet the burthen hath not been much eased let us likewise consider the Distractions I may almost call them Confusions in point of Religion which of all other Distempers are most dangerous and destructive to the Peace of a State Besides these publique Calamities let every particular man consider the distracted discomfortable estate of his own Condition for mine own part I must ingenuously profess unto your Lordships That I cannot find out under the different Commands of the King and the Parliament any such Course of Caution and Wariness by which I can promise to my self Security or Safety I could give your Lordships many instances of the Inconsistency and impossibility of obeying these Commands But I shall trouble you with only one or two The Ordinance of Parliament now in so great agitation commandeth all Persons in Authority to put it in execution all others to obey it according to the Fundamental Laws of the Land The King declareth it to be contrary to the Fundamental Laws against the Subject and Rights of Parliament And commandeth all his Subjects of what sort soever upon their Allegeance not to obey the said Ordinance as they will answer the contrary at their perils So likewise in point of the King commanding the Attendance of divers of us upon his Person whereunto we are obliged by several relations of our Services and Oaths in case we comply not with his Commands we are liable to his displeasure and the loss of those places of Honor and Trust which we hold under him if we obey his Commands without the leave of the Parliament which hath not been alwaies granted we are liable to the Censure of Parliament And of both these we want not fresh Examples So that certainly this cannot but be acknowledged to be an unhappy and uncomfortable Condition I am sure I bring with me a ready and obedient Heart to pay unto the King all those Duties of Loyalty Allegeance and Obedience which I owe unto him And I shall never be wanting towards the Parliament to pay unto it all those due Rights and that Obedience which we all owe unto it But in contrary Commands a Conformity or Obedience to both is hardly to be lighted on The Reconciliation must be in the Commanders and the Commands and not in the Obedience or the Person that is to obey And therfore untill it shall please God to bless us with a right understanding betwixt the King and Parliament and a Conformity in their Commands neither the Kingdom in publick nor particular men in private can be reduced to a safe or comfortable Condition I

besides he shutteth up himself to his Devotions Insomuch that it is known that upon particular Causes he hath constituted to himself some Fasts with that secrecy that those nearest ahout him have gotten no knowledge of it but by his Abstinence for God hath given him so good a Health that he neither needeth nor otherwise useth to forbear Meals It is likewise well known that he hath Composed excellent Prayers which he hath caused to be used suitable to the Occasions as particularly for the good success of the Treaty at Uxbridge Further I may testifie and do it in the presence of God that in Conference with me of great and private Trust concerning his present sad Condition he hath told me that although he could not but be sensible of his own Distress of that of the Queen and of his Children the Calamity of the Kingdom and very particularly of his Friends likely to be destroyed for their fidelity unto him yet that which most afflicted him was the Apprehension of the Ruine and Destruction of the Church of England and of the true Protestant Religion which he conceived had the least to be mended in it and most both in Doctrine and Discipline agreeing with the Primitive Times of any Church he knew in the World And I am of belief that it will be found of much difficulty to pull from him this Opinon unless his Conscience and Iudgement shall be convinced by some such learned and unanswerable Arguments as he hath not yet known For although it be very probable that temporal regar●s may make him condescend unto great inconveniences and great lessenings yet if I much mistake him not that have known him many years no sufferings or Dangers nor other worldly Considerations whatsoever will be of Power to cause him to make Shipwrack of his Conscience And although it be very true that the Queen his Wife be most dear unto him and in all other things of greatest Power with him yet in matter of Religion his Resolution to live in it and his Ability to defend it was so well known unto Her and to all about her that as they could not but think it bootless to Attempt any thing in that kind so they knew they could not essay it without Offence And although he hath alwaies indeavoured to breed up the Prince his Son in great Duty and Reverence to the Queen his Mother with a strict command unto him to be obedient to her in all things yet it hath alwaies been with this Restriction Except it be in point of Religion And upon my own knowledge I dare and do deliver this for a positive Truth So likewise the matching of his eldest Daughter to a Protestant Prince though not of the Rank of Kings may be judged as a great Argument of his love to the Reformed Religion Besides in the beginning of these troubles knowing this malicious suggestion cast upon him he set forth a publick Manifest unto the Protestant Churches to vindicate himself from that scandal and to assure the World of his Constancy and Resolution to live and die in the Reformed Religion And as for his Piety in this his Profession the Scripture saith Shew me thy Faith by thy Works And what greater Argument of Religion and Piety can there be to man who cannot search into the Heart to God that only belongeth than a temperate sober good Life and Conversation What blood in his Reign hath been sacrificed to his Wrath or Revenge What Confiscations have enriched his Treasure What noble Family hath been dishonored by his Lust What Incouragement hath Vice Excess or Licentiousness received from his Example Nay I am perswaded that it will much trouble his Enemies yea Malice it self to find out the Vice wherewith to reproach his Life yet how many Shimei's have reviled the Lords Anointed of whom we are taught not to speak ill in our Bed-chambers And when Cause of speaking ill against him hath been wanting they have set him up as a But before them for their scurrilous Wits Libels and Hue and Cries c. I am far from charging the Houses for having a hand in these low and unworthy things only I shall say that it is possible for private Errors to become publique Faults non Committendo sed non Castigando It was Elies Case and Gods Iudgement followed it Besides this certain knowledge that I had of the Kings settledness in his Religion I was far from being satisfied in my Conscience that if the King should have changed his Religion and become a Papist it should have been lawfull to take Arms against him For as Moulins above saith in the name of the Church of France We ought not from the Religion of our Princes to take occasion of disobedience making Piety the Match whereby to kindle Rebellion c. And when Hen. 4. that great King of France did leave the Communion with the Reformed Churches and was reconciled to the Church of Rome and conformed himself to the Rights thereof by going to the Masse and performing all other Ceremonies and Worship established by it yet those of the Reformed Religion in France did not thereupon think it lawfull to withdraw their Obedience or take Arms against him but continued to serve him with all faith and Loyalty And such as made those detestable Assaults and that Paricide who committed that horrid and execrable murther upon his Royal Person took not their Incitements and Incouragements from the avowed Doctrine of the Reformed Churches but from the writings of some hotter-headed Papists to the great Scandal and Reproach of their Church And from the Tenents of our new Puritan Doctors who by those Maxims wherin they both agree have instead of the Eastern Assassinates brought in on both sides their Enthusiasts fitly prepared Instruments for Treasons and Murthers by whose hands so many Princes and Kings have fallen and by whose Doctrine so many States have been involved in Rebellions and Civil Wars So likewise upon the several Changes of Religion in England under Hen. 8. Edw. 6. Queen Ma. and Queen Eliz. The Protestants of the Reformed Religion declared against h●stile Resistance and exhorted to obedience and suffering and confirmed their Doctrine by their own Martyrdome as is before set down Besides the Precepts of Scripture of not resisting the Powers ordeined by God over us were to command obedience to Princes that were all Heathen Idolaters and Persecutors of Gods Church Our Saviours Precept was To give unto Caesar what belonged unto Caesar and what St. Paul and the Apostles injoyn was towards Nero Neither did the Christians take Arms against Iulian notwithstanding his Apostacy but continued to serve him and to sight against his Enemies with fidelity and courage And I conceive it is the general received Opinion of all moderate Christians That as Religion ought not or to speak more properly cannot though Dissimulation and Hypocrosie may be planted by force so Subjects may not withdraw their civil and natural Allegiance

untill these late unhappy interruptions We cannot but judge this Nation equally capable with any other of Honor Happiness and Plenty Now if instead of this happy condition in which we have been and might be upon a sober and impartial inquiry we shall find our selves to have been for some few years last past involved in so many troubles and distractions and at the present to be reduced to the very brink of miseries and calamities It is high time for us to consider by what means we have been brought into them and by what means it is most probable we may be brought out of them This Kingdom never enjoyed so universal a peace neither hath it any visible enemy in the whole World either Infidel or Christian Our Enemies are only of our own house such as our own dissentions jealousies and distractions have raised up and certainly where they are found especially betwixt a King and his People no other cause of the unhappiness and misery of a State need to be sought after For civill discord is a plentifull Sourse from whence all miseries and mischiefs flow into a Kingdom The Scripture telleth us of the strength of a little City united and of the instability of a Kingdom divided within it self So that upon a prudent inquiry we may assign our own jealousies and discords for the chief cause of our past and present troubles and of our future fears It must be confessed that by the counsel and conduct of evill Ministers the Subject had cause to think their just liberties invaded And from thence have our former distempers grown For it is in the body politick of a Monarchy as in another Natural body the health whereof is defined to be Partium corporis aequa temperies an equal temper of the parts So likewise a State is well in health and well disposed when Soveraign Power and common right are equally ballanced and kept in an even temper by just and equitable rules And truely My LORDS by the goodness of His Majesty and by the prudent endeavour of the Parliament this State is almost reduced to that equal and even temper and our sickness is rather continued out of fancy and conceipt I mean fears and jealousies than out of any real distemper or defect I well remember that before the beginning of this Parliament some Noble Lords presented a Petition unto the King and in that Pettion did set down all or most of the Grievances and distempers of the Kingdom which then occurred to them To these as I conceive the Parliament have procured from his Majesty such redresses as are to their good satisfaction Many other things for the ease security and comfort of the subject have been by their great industry found and propounded and by his Majesties goodness condescended unto And now we are come so near the happiness of being the most free and most setled Nation in the Christian world Our dangers and miseries will grow greater and neerer unto us every day than other if they be not prevented The king on his part offereth to concurre with us in the setling of all the liberties and immunities either of the propriety of our Goods or liberty of our persons which we have received from our Ancestors or which himself hath granted unto us and what shall yet remain for the good and comfort of his Subjects He is willing to hearken to all our just and reasonable propositions and for the establishing of the true Protestant Religion he wooes us to it And the wisdome and industry of the Parliament hath now put it in a hopefull way The rule of his government he professeth shall be the Laws of the Kingdom And for the comforting and securing of us he offereth a more large and more general Pardon than hath been granted by any of his Predecessors And truly My LORDS This is all that ever was or can be pretended unto by us We on the other side make Profession That we intend to make his Majesty a glorious King to endeavour to support his Dignity and to pay unto him that Duty and Obedience which by our Allegiance several Oaths and late Protestations we owe unto him and to maintain all his just Regalities and Prerogatives which I conceive to be as much as his Majesty will expect from us So that My Lords we being both thus reciprocally agreed of that which in the general would make both the King and People happy shall be most unfortunate if we shall not bring both Inclinations and Indeavours so to propound and settle particulars as both King and People may know what will give them mutual Satisfaction which certainly must be the first Step to the setling a right understanding betwixt them And in this I should not conceave any great difficulty if it were once put into a way of preparation But the greatest difficulty may seem to be how that which may be settled and agreed upon may be secured This is commonly the last point in Treaties betwixt Princes of the greatest nicenesse But much more betwixt a King and his Subjects where that Confidence Belief which should be betwixt them is once lost And to speak clearly I fear that this may be our Case and herein may consist the chiefest difficulty of Accomodation For it is much easier to compose differences arising from Reason yea even from Wrongs than it is to satisfy Jealousies which arising out of Diffidence Distrust grow and are varyed upon every Occasion But My Lords if there be no endeavours to allay and remove them they will every day increase and gather strength Nay they are already grown to that height and the mutual replyes to those direct tearms of Opposition that if we make not a present stop it is to be feared it will speedily passe further than verbal Contestations I observe in some of his Majesties Answers a Civil War spoken of I confesse it is a word of Horrour to me who have been an eyewitness of those unexpressible Calamities that in a short time the most plentiful and flourishing Countries of Europe have been brought unto by an intestine War I furrher observe that his Majesty protesteth against the miseries that may ensue by a war and that he is clear of them It is true That a Protestation of that kind is no actual denouncing of War but it is the very next degree to it Vltima admonitio as the Civilians term it The last admonition So that we are upon the very brink of our miseries It is better keeping our of them than getting out of them And in a State the Wisdome of Prevention is infinitely beyond the Wisdome of Remedies If for the sins of this Nation these misunderstandings should produce the least Act of Hostility It is not almost to be believed how impossible it were to put any stay to our miseries For a Civil War admits of none of those Conditions or Quarter by which Cruelty and Blood are amongst other Enemies kept from Extremities Nay