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
A61188	A true account and declaration of the horrid conspiracy against the late King, his present Majesty, and the government as it was order'd to be published by His late Majesty.	Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713.; Oliver, John, 1616-1701, engraver.; England and Wales. Sovereign (1685-1688 : James II)	1685 (1685)	Wing S5068AA; ESTC R221757	86,115	235

effectual Course to provide for the future Peace and Stability of the Government yet it had like to have proved a present Occasion of its utter Ruine For when so many guilty Persons found that the great Point of the Sheriffs was resetled on its Antient Bottom and the City-Charter it self in hazard of being speedily vacated so that now there would be no farther evasion for them by any pretence of Law to escape unpunish'd Then they concluded it was high time to bring their Devilish Purposes to a quicker issue and once for all to strike boldly at the Heart of the KING and Kingdom Particularly the Earl of Shaftsbury being conscious to himself of the blackness of his Crimes and of the Iniquity of the Verdict by which he had for that time escaped and finding he was now within the compass of the Justice he had so lately frustrated and contemn'd thenceforth gave over all his quieter and more plausible Arts of Sedition whereby he proudly bragg'd he should in time as his Expression was Leisurely walk his Majesty out of his Dominions and on a sudden betook himself to more precipitate Enterprises Alarming his Companions with a prospect of their common danger thence inflaming some to Insurrections others to Assassinations supposing now there was no way left for him or them to justifie their former Misdemeanors and Treasons but by attempting and succeeding in greater Mischiefs This was found by evident Proof to have been the principal rise and occasion of ripening the Horrid Conspiracy in the Kingdom of England Nor could there possibly have happen'd a stronger Justification of His Majesties Counsels in attempting to rectifie the City-Juries and Elections since it is apparent his principal Enemies laid so much stress on the unjust Power they had therein usurp'd that being once fairly driven from that Strength they immediately resolv'd nothing less than a barefac'd and avow'd Rebellion could repair the Loss their Party sustain'd by so great a Blow As for His Majesties Kingdom of Scotland it is notorious there has been long shelter'd in it a desperate Faction of furious Zealots that under the old Professions of the Cause of Christ and a purer way of Gospel-Worship has grown up by degrees to a Violation at last not only of all the Rules and Institutions of true Religion but of common Humanity For does not the whole Christian World at this day behold with Horror that the most Villa nous Tenets of the fiercest Scottish Covenanters and even of their Remonstrators have been out-done by their Successors and Disciples in the Field-Meetings and Armed Conventicles Have they not thence proceeded to all the Execrable Rage of Rapine and Violence In so much that some of them have lived and died glorying in the most barbarous Murders and basest Cruelties refusing obstinately with their last Breath so much as to pray for His Majesty or to say God save the King though by an unexampled Mercy they had their Pardons assur'd to them at the very place and moment of their Execution upon that single Condition And besides the remains of those Bloody Enthusiasts whose Principles are not yet entirely extinguish'd though their force has been twice vanquish'd in open Field by Gods Providence prospering His Majesties Arms It is certain also the Peace of that Kingdom has of late been much indanger'd by other great Numbers of Factious and Seditious Spirits who though at first they would not venture to incourage publickly the others declared Treasons yet stuck not secretly to favour and foment their Cause and as the event infallibly proves would soon have Own'd and Headed their Fury had it prosper'd Wherefore the wise care of former Sessions of Parliament there having sufficiently provided by a due severity of Good Laws against the dreadful Consequences of continuing the Field-Meetings for the farther securing the Reformed Religion and the Antient Rights of the Crown and the Royal Family in that Kingdom it was judg'd adviseable by the Wisdom of His Majesties great Council the last Session of Parliament to appoint and Authorise a Solemn Test to be taken by all Persons in place of publick Trust or Power In that Session the Test was soon pass'd into an Act of State without any considerable opposition Though there were not wanting some turbulent Men in the Assembly who took that occasion of shewing how ill they were affected to the establish'd Government of their Country Which they could have no other inducement to be but either a desire of Commotions by reason of the desperate State of their own ill-spent Fortunes or Envy at the better Condition of Honester Men or some inveterate Contagion of Treason derived down to them from the last unhappy Age of Confusions Of that unquiet and seditious Party the chief and declared Head was the late Earl of Argyle who during the very sitting of the Parliament had by many indirect ways attempted to hinder His Majesties Service the said Earl and the then President of the Session and their Complices taking their opportunity in wording the Test to add thereto all the very same Clauses that have since giver any Colour of scruple to themseves But when all his crafts for obstructing the Bill were defeated by the far greater Number of well disposed Members the Loyal Voters for it being at least Ten to one of the disaffected then no sooner was the Parliament adjourn'd but the said Earl of Argyle first at Edenburgh next in traversing several Shires did make it his Chief Business to insinuate every where into the minds of the Clergy and Laity the most malicious prejudices imaginable against the whole Tenour of the Test And afterwards on his return to Edenburgh he often presumptuously declared he would either not take it at all or take it only with a reserve of his own explanation which he put in Writing and dispers'd the contrivance of it being such as dissolves all the Obligations of the Oath and makes his own present Fancy and private Opinion the only Standard whereby he meant to be guided in all the publick Duties of his Loyalty and Allegiance At length His Majesties High Commissioner the Duke and the Privy Council of that Kingdom having been well inform'd of the said Earls seditious Carriage in City and Country and being fully confirm'd in their Judgments and Confidences of his Trayterous Purposes in that fallacious and equivocating Paraphrase on the Test which he own'd in their presence perverting thereby the sound sense and eluding the force of His Majesties Laws in order to set the Subjects loose from their Obedience and to perpetuate Schism in the Church and Faction in the State Upon these Grounds he was most deservedly Prosecuted by His Majesties Advocate before the Soveraign Justice-Court according to the known Laws of his Country and after a full and equal Tryal he was found guilty of Treason by the Learned Judges and a Jury hot only of his Peers but also many of them his own nearest Relations Soon after Judgment given

albeit the King was far from any thought of taking away his Life and that no farther prejudice was design'd against him but the forfeiture of some Jurisdictions and Superiorities which he and his Predecessors had surreptitiously acquired and most tyrannically exercis'd besides the disposal of part of his Estate to pay his just Creditors and some few moderate Donatives to those whom he and his Father had formerly ruin'd for their Fidelity to His Majesty the Surplusage being intended entirely to return and descend to his Family yet the said Earl abusing the great Freedom indulg'd him in Prison which he enjoy'd as largely after his Condemnation as before fled from His Majesties Mercy the knowledge of his own Guilt not suffering him to venture on that Clemency whereof he had before participated so plentifully when he was under the like Sentence of Condemnation The King however notwithstanding this new Provocation still retain'd the same benign thoughts of favouring his Wife and Children And before it was known that the said Earl had more Debt on his Estate than the full value of it amounted to which really was his Case His Majesty was graciously pleas'd in one Royal Largess to give thrice more of the Inheritance to his Posterity than their Father could lawfully have done had it never been forfeited But how ill he deserved or requited so many Acts of Grace and Bounty will appear by the sequel of his Behaviour after his Escape For in stead of doing what his Complices and Dependants gave out he intended that he would humbly cast himself at His Majesties Feet and implore his Pardon which he of all Men living had no reason to think desperate he is no where to be found but associating with His Majesties implacable Enemies in the Head of new Machinations of Treason employs his Liberty abroad in maintaining Traiterous Correspondences at Home with restless Malice exciting the wicked Conspirators of both Kingdoms to a fatal Union against the Life Government and Family of his Liege Soveraign and Benefactor And all this is to be proved upon him by Arguments as clear as the Sun by the Credit of his own Authentick Letters and by the plain Depositions of his principal Messengers and Agents in the whole Villany By this brief Recollection of the troubled State of Affairs and the Tumultuous Temper of ill Mens Minds in His Majesties Kingdoms of England and Scotland about the time when this treasonable Conspiracy was in agitation the impartial World may perceive from what destructive feeds of Sedition private Passions and Animosities under the disguise of Religion and the publick Interest so Monstrous a Birth was produced In the wonderful Discovery of which detestable Confederacy and in the happy Prevention of its dire Effects as all who have heard of it must acknowledge that a signal care of Gods Providence has appear'd for His Majesties and these Nations Preservation So His Majesty gives the Sacred Word and Protestation of a King that nothing has been done on his part but what was agreeable to that Royal Benignity and Natural Candor of his whole Life whereof all the World even his Enemies have had such undoubted Experience The Evidence was most of it deliver'd in His Majesties own presence The Examinations were taken by Men of unquestionable Reputation and Honour The whole Proceeding has been managed with all imaginable Integrity There has been no straining or extorting of Accusations to blemish the Fame of the Innocent No Temptation of Rewards proposed No Pardon assured before-hand for discovering or aggravating the Crimes of the Guilty Some Witnesses who offer'd themselves of whom there might have been any colourable Suspicion His Majesty wholly rejected Lest it should once again happen that the Wasted Credit or needy Condition or profligate Lives of the Persons deposing should derogate from the strength of their Depositions and administer any the least doubt of Subornation Those Witnesses His Majesty admitted had been generally Men strongly prepossess'd in Conscience Zeal and Interest for that Party Men whose former avow'd Hatred of the Government was reason sufficient to gain them an absolute trust with any who studied to overthrow it They were not of desperate Fortunes Nor despicable Men. For the most part they separately and singly brought in their Discoveries Divers of them had little or no Conversation or Familiarity one with another There was no shadow or possibility of a combination between them all to discover yet such is the prevalence of Self-conviction and so great the Power of Truth that all their several Discoveries did perfectly agree with themselves and with each other in all material parts and circumstances It was therefore in the Summer of the Year 1683 a time when all His Majesties Dominions injoyed a setled Peace and profound security whilst the greatest part of the Neighbouring World was involved in Wars and Combustions that His Majesty and his Council were suddenly awaken'd with the surprizing Knowledge of this dreadful Conspiracy which had been laying very deep and broad for many Months before The Man whom God chose to make the first Discoverer was Josiah Keeling Citizen and Salter of London A Person of good Credit in the common Business of his Calling but otherwise a most perverse Fanatick so fiercely addicted to their Cause that he had been one of the busiest Sticklers in all the late Publick Oppositions against the Government Particularly he was the very Man who undertook and perform'd the most insolent Assault upon Authoriy that perhaps the Party ever attempted in full Peace which was the Arresting the Lord Mayor in open Day in the midst of the City of London for refuting to admit the pretended Sheriffs who had been chosen by those Meetings of the Factious in and about the City that the Law has since condemn'd as Unlawful and Riotous However by so eminent and bold a piece of Service together with his former approved Activity and Violence for the discontented Interest was Keeling judg'd by the chief Conspirators fitly qualifi'd to be admitted into their most private Consultations And accordingly thereafter they trusted him as one of their surest Confidents In so much that he was invited to make one of the Forty Miscreants whose proper part it was to Assassinate His Majesties and his Royal Highnesses Persons Of which Number after he had freely consented to be and had met and acted jointly with the rest for some time to prepare the cursed Work for a speedy Execution it pleased the Divine Goodness so to touch his Soul with the Horrour of so amazing a Crime that he could not rest Day nor Night till after much conflict in his Mind he had fully determin'd to discharge his Conscience of the Hellish Secret Wherefore having first Communicated some part of his burden to one Mr. Peckam his private Friend who had often before warn'd him in general of the dangerous course he was in by so deeply ingaging in all the former Seditious Intrigues he was by him directed

inforce all he had said but it could not be express'd at that distance That something more was to be done to prevent the Designs of the Enemies which he dares not now mention lest it should put them on their Guard That he has a considerable Direction in his Head but all is in Gods Hands This is a faithful and impartial Abstract of the Mystical Letter than which how could there have been express'd by words a more compleat Deduction of the said Earl's part in the design'd Insurrection Immediately after the Cyphers this follows in words at large The Total Sum is 128 Guilders and 8 Stivers that will be paid you by Mr. B. Which last Clause was the Rule whereby Mr. Gray found out and Spence discover'd the Decyphering of the whole Letter and it was accordingly done by each of them apart by making eight Columns and placing 128 words in each Column descending as upon view of the Authentick Printed Copies will appear to any Man beyond all Contradiction In short this Letter of the late Earl of Argyle's was known by many of the Privy Council thereto be his Hand and his own Lady upon Oath deposed She knew it to be his though she did not know the Contents of it And such is the Account that is to be given of the said Earl of Argyle's Loyalty which he had desir'd might be the only Standard in what sense he would take the Test Hitherto he had been by Inheritance Lord High Admiral and Justice General of Argyle Tarbat and the Isles and Great Master of the Houshold He was by His Majesty put into Places of great Dignity and Trust he was made extraordinary Lord of the Session one of His Majesties Privy Council and one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury And after his Fathers Condemnation for the highest Crimes and his own Forfeiture of his Honour and Estate for Treasonable Expressions in a Letter of his he was restor'd to all his Father possess'd except the Title of Marquiss But notwithstanding all these and many more Obligations of the like nature which he had to His Majesty his fondness of esteem with the Factious People his aversion to Monarchy and hatred of the Royal Family particularly of the Duke of York led him to this height of Ingratitude This and divers other Letters of the like Traiterous importance all written with Argyle's own Hand being at one and the same time taken about Major Holmes the Person chiefly intruded by the said Earl to receive and convey all his Correspondences with England and Scotland it cannot be doubted but very many more Papers of the same dangerous Tenor had been this way interchang'd between him and the English and Scotch Conspirators during the whole progress of the Conspiracy Especially considering that in some of these the Earl of Argyle refers to some Expressions and Propositions which he says he had made in others and there are no such Expressions to be met with in all these Letters that are taken Besides that with the Letters themselves there were also seiz'd about Holmes several Alphabets and a Key of Words whereas of one of the Alphabets there has been as yet no use found in Decyphering and though in the Key there are Eighty new-coyn'd Words yet not above Six of them are made use of in all the parcel of the said Earl's Letters hitherto intercepted However by the Light these Letters gave so well agreeing with several other Intelligences receiv'd from many Hands His Majesties Council of Scotland were abundantly convinc'd that the Bloody Design had reach'd thither also and therefore immediately order'd the bottom of the Business to be search'd into by a Secret Committee Whereupon Warrants were issued out there to apprehend Walter Earl of Tarras Brother-in-Law to the Duke of Monmouth Sir Patrick Hume Laird of Polwart _____ Pringle Laird of Torwoodlie James Murray Laird of Philiphaugh and Hugh Scot Laird of Gallowshiels all of them being Persons named by Carstares and others as Partakers with Argyle in this Treason as they had been formerly most active with him in endeavouring to disturb the Loyal Proceedings of the Parliament for enacting the Test Of these the Laird of Polwart and Torwoodlie having been the most busie and so conscious of their greater guilt conceal'd themselves and have hitherto escaped the other three were taken and brought to Edenburgh where they freely confess'd upon Oath As did also Commissary Monroe who had been sent thither Prisoner out of England All which Depositions and Confessions they again repeated and confirm'd in the same solemn manner at the Tryal of Mr. William Baillie of Jerviswood The Earl of Tarras without either craving or receiving any security for himself did ingenuously confess That about the time when Sir John Cockran and Commissary Monroe got their Commission from the Carolina Company for London Mr. Baillie desir'd him to speak to Monroe that he might be added to the Commission Telling him that he was resolved to go to London however upon his own charges For that his and their going about the Carolina business was only a Pretence and a Blind but the true design was to push forward the People of England who did nothing but talk to go more effectually about their business That thereupon the said Baillie did settle a Correspondence with the Deponent whereby the one was to give an account what past between the Country Party in England and the Scotch Men there the other to write back what occurr'd in Scotland That the said Baillie told him the only way to secure the Protestant Religion was for the King to suffer the Parliament to sit and pass the Bill of Exclusion Which the King might be induc'd to do if the Parliament would take sharp and brisk Measures with him That after the said Baillie went to London he did give the Deponent account by Letters how things were in great disorder there but he hoped effectual courses were taking to remedy them That Mr. Robert Martin did come to Mr. Pringles of Torwoodlie in May 1683 and brought the Deponent a Letter from the said Baillie then at London That Martin told the Deponent things in England were in great disorder and like to come to a height but the Country Party were considering of Methods for securing the Protestant Religion That the Scotch-Men at London had ask'd 30000 Pounds but that Argyle was to have 10000 l. which Sum was to be sent by Baillie into Holland to buy Arms and then Argyle was to Land with those Arms in the West-Highlands of Scotland The Earl of Tarras deposed farther That Philiphaugh and he went to Gallowshiels House where they met with Polwart and Gallowshiels That there it was discours'd among them that in case the English should rise in Arms it was necessary so many as could be got on the Borders should be in readiness to deal with Straglers and Seize on Horses and thereafter joyn with those that were in Arms on the Borders of England That