Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	king_n	parliament_n	void_a	3,949	5	9.2539	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A94235	A scandalous, libellous, and seditious pamphlet entituled, The valley of Baca: or, The armies interest pleaded, the purchasors seconded, the danger of the nation demonstrated in 34 quæries, answered. And the present state of affaires briefly vindicated. By a true lover to the peace and wellfare of his countrey.		1660 (1660)	Wing S815; Thomason E1034_16; ESTC R203483	12,863	16

A Scandalous Libellous and Seditious PAMPHLET Entituled The Valley of Baca OR The Armies Interest pleaded the Purchasors seconded the danger of the Nation demonstrated in 34 QUAERIES ANSWERED And the present state of Affaires briefly vindicated By a True Lover to the Peace and Wellfare of his Countrey LONDON Printed in the Year 1660. THE Valley of BACA Answered 1. VVHe●her seeing it was the Parli●ments Army that brought in his Majesty when his own Party and Armies could not do it They deserve not all due respect and tenderness And whether proportionable encouragement ought not to be given t● such who shall be found to merit it according to his Ma●esties late Declarations Answ His Ma esty hath given assurance to confer a Character of Favour upon those Person of the Army who were Instrumental in his Restauration and in order thereunto there is Care taken that those Lands purchased by them or Received for Service in their possession to be secured to ●hem and their Posterity 2. Whe●her it can be call'd tenderness or encouragement to turn out so many of the old Officers ●nd Souldiers of the Army and Garrisons contrary to the known Laws Martial and contrary to his Ma esties Royal Promise and Engagement not paying ●heir Arrears before disbanding nor letting them know any cause for which they are Outed onely to make way for such who have been known Enemies to Parliament and Army not having left above one Comm●ssioned-Officer in many Regiments And whether the rest of the Army who engaged for the Parliament are not like speedily to follow if not prevented And whether the Nations are not insensibly brought hereby to ruine and slavery before they see it Answ To the Second Let the Querist inform himself aright and he shall find tho●e onely of the old Army divested of their Imploymen●s that have been Instrumen●s actively or passively under all Changes and are person tempered fit for the swallowing down of any Change whatsoever And those Continued are either Persons that have given Testimony of their dislike of those Grand Inconveniencies that were daily practised upon these Nations by a Giddy Unconstant Proud Insolent Ignorant and unprincipled Generation Or else such who were wearied out with the often Changes abhorred to be Instruments longer in using their Arms to defend Faction and therefore they did readily adhere to that Noble Northern Conductor The Querist in these words viz. Turning out many of the Officers of the Army to make way for known Enemies discovereth his spirit to be turbulent and factious to keep up distinctions of Parties A thing Dangerous and Unprofitable and not permitted by any Wise Princes or States But as the Case now standeth it is the most wise and adviseable course that can be taken to put Arms in the Hands of such Persons of both Parties as really desire Settlement If the Arms of the Nation were not so disposed of there would be new Matter for Jealousie which is endeavoured to be fomented by the Author of these Queries 3. Whether the Justice of the Long Parliaments Cause hath not been sufficiently owned by the late King his concessions at the Isle of Wight And by the Solemn Covenant and Declaration of this King made and taken at his Coronation in Scotland Answ No doubt but ●hat Publike or Sacred Act or Thing was done either by his late Majestie or his now Majesty due respect will be had thereunto However the Scene of Affairs are altered his late Majesty was under Restraint and a powerful Army in being his Majesty present had a Crown offered him upon Terms it is not to be believed or supposed otherwise then Enviously that what His Father did or what He did Himself will be by Him disowned although peradventure not in the sense of the Author of these Queries His Majesty now was called in out of a perfect necessity to bring the Nation to some kind of Settlement and the security the Nation hath is his own Interest that is it is his Interest to do all or more than what justly or legally could have been expected by the Undertakers of the late War It is evident for that by any thing his Majesty hath already done and will be led by his Principles of just preserving Policy his deep Judgment and Skill in Government that he will be a King of Vertue a Rectifier of Abuses a Ballance to Justice a Prevention of Exorbitancies in Ministers of State and Justice an Expeller of bad and grievous Lawes a Discountenancer of Debauchery and Vice an Encourager of those that do well by which he will find Favour of God and Man 4. Whether this Convention now sitting are not like to endanger the Cause of the Long Parliament our Religion and Liberties by bringing the guilt of the blood shed in the late War upon their heads and all who adhered to them if the bold and saucy incroachments of Prelatical and other intruders be not timely prevented Answ I shall answer this Quaere with another whether that the Long Parliament did not suffer their Cause to be overthrown by Cromwel the Usurper and his Acomplices in the secluding of Members putting to Death of the King and other Actions that made the Nation to loath them and weeded them out of an Interest to back them in carrying on of what they undert●ok 5. Whether the Old Parliament may not yet have another Resurrection seeing they could not be d●ssolved without the joynt consent of both Houses which hitherto hath not been done according to the Legal intent of the Act for that purpose Answ To the first part I answer yes 19000 years hence if the Doctrine of that Philosopher be true that once in 19000 years all Beeings shall Act the same part over again they have already Acted hereupon Earth In this Age it is not likely they shall have a Resurrection in regard they preserved not their Authority free from those Violations and Alterations that passed upon them To the other or last part of this Quaere I answer As the Saylor cannot Sayl by the Compass in a Storm and that it is convenient to restrain the Sick from Food and to give him Physick Laws that are made to respect such and such Reasons of State are in force as long as the occasion lasteth Affairs have changed themselves into many forms and shapes since insomuch that that Act will not at all fit or sort with Affairs now it is become Null and Void of it self If they had con●inued without those Vicissitudes and Changes and the same Reasons of State on foot and the same Interest able to support it self in that Case the Act had been pleadable Bracton Fleta Horn and Littleton agree That if the Lord shall fail to protect his Vassal the Vassal's Oath 's dissolved for that the Law intendeth a Condition and the Law freeth him from his Obedience Even so is it that Parliament seased to be a Parliament by being not able to protect the People from those frequent

Violations Out-rages Irregularities and Disorders that were daily committed upon the Sub●ect and as the Vassals service in the aforementioned Case and the like Cases might be atturned and assigned to another Lord So doubtlesse the Subject may be atturned and assigned to sit under the Council and determination of another Parliament 6. Whether seeing there is like to be so great a difference in the Complexion of Parliaments one being ready to give away that which the other hath obtained by Conquest and the next succeeding ready to condemn the former for so doing it be not most safe for his Majesty and this Convention to grant and confirm his Fathers Concessions in the Isle of Wight Answ To this let the Authour look back and he shall find that Parliaments speak the language of the Interest of State that is most Predominate at the time of their Sitting If the Factions of the People be Predominate it speaketh lowdest in their behalf and so of the Prince the like of the Nobility or Clergy So that if it were necessary for the beginning of the Long Parliament to adhere to the People it is now more necessary for this Parliament to adhere to his Majesty to ballance the extremity of the Humor of State that did swell it self up to Inconsistency on the behalf of the People insomuch that nothing but Ruine and Confusion could have been expected Who is it that doth not see that if this Parliament should out of their Affections to his Ma esty give away all the People Righ●s Tha● hi● Majesty himself out of his Wisdom and Justness and Noblenes of mind will be a good allay he knowing like a good Physitian of State that it is necessary in the constitution of a Body to keep the Hun ors equal by proportion that one do not predominate over the other wh ch produceth a healthy Constitution the contrary Diseases as for hi granting of the Concessions of the Isle of Wight as the Case now standeth it would not be safe to Posterity to insist upon that but rather as is said before to account it sufficient to receive no other security than what his Majesty's Interest will produce the which by the operations of time will reduce all other Interests to a condition of Security 7. Whether any thing done by this Convention can be obleiging to the Nation seeing they have not the right Constitution of a Parliament according to the Fundamentall Laws of the Kingdom And whether any Parliament can be so called for the future till the Long Parliament consisting of Lords and Commons be actually dissolved by ●oint consent Answ That which they do is obliging to the Nation If the Nation submit to it a part discontented in the Nation i● not to be taken for the Nation but the Interest that is uppermost is to be taken for the Nation So it i● where there is Factions in States as in Italy the Gulses and Gibeleons If one State should have two Factions in it another State sendeth Embassage they send to the uppermost who are able to give Lawes and not to that which must receive Lawes Beside what this Parliament doth must needs oblige because what they do suiteth and agreeth with the Minds of most of the Nation And as Sir Edward Cook saith Part 4. Instit Chap. of High Co●r●s of Parliament That in some Cases the Members may answer That they must go and consult with their Counties for which they serve The Original of all Law and Power rise from the People Actively or Passively let them be just or Unjust A good Prince that is absolute respects what will best Suit Secure and Content the People A Tyrant Consults what he may having opportunity inforce upon them If these three Nations should be Consulted there would no doubt be three to one to give their Approbation of what is done therefore it must be oldging to the Nation In such Times Rule by Mode and Figure cannot be observed You cannot sail by the Compass in a storm as is laid before For Dissolution of the Long Parliament by Joynt Consent that need not to be unless that the Long Parliament had kept their Interest themselvs in the same form without alteration power to be able to give Lawe● together with the King as they did at the time of passing that Act. If that Parliament at the time of sitting down of this had undertaken to deal in the Government as formerly I pray what obedience would the Nation have given to them So that the Act in that case became void of it self There be many Acts of Parliament that become void by time and need no other repealing then that which they provide against growing up to use As for Example There is an Act yet unrepealed that no Ho s shall be Brewed in Beer another That no Sea-Coal shall be burned in London Is there any need of Repealing these Acts None surely The Case is the same in the Matter in hand for there is now no Interest that is able to strengthen is to be observed nor is there need to repeal it for that it is Repealed by severall Concurring accidents and affairs of State that are Considerable in opposition of that able to render it useless and void as it is 8. Whether if the King by his power can make this a Legal Parliament before such a Dissolution of the other his Father could not do the like And whether the Mungril Parliament which he chose at Oxford was not as ust and Legal as this Answ This Parliament had a Legal Being and Power from the People as is before expressed Their Election demonstrated the Peoples Consent and Approbation which is a sufficient stamp of Authority His Majestie 's Consent being added thereunto maketh it unquestionable If the King by his Arms and if that Parliament at Oxford by their Counsel had prevailed their Success had given it a sufficient Sanction for its Legality 9 Whether by the late Vo●e past by his Convention to dispossesse all Sould'ers and Purchasers of their Interests in Crown-La●d when they m ght by long Leases have secured his Ma estly sitle incre sel his Revenue beyond his Predecessors and have also satisfyed thousands of Families tha● are now undone it doth not evidently appear that they have designed and resolved to ruine and destroy all those that ever served and adhered to the Interest of the Long-Parliament Answ If the Counsel Arms o● Interest of the Possessors of these Lands had been able to have held them their Title had been made good by the same means they held it by so long it lasted but that sailing their Title is void and now it must be in his Majestie 's Royal Breast what he will do in that case No doubt but he will be moderate because he will not leave too great an Impression of Discontent upon so Considerable a part of the Nation Other then this the Purchasers of those Lands cannot in Justice expect as the

mentioned are not such to be warpt to any thing that is evil in hope of Preferment Nor is it his Majesty's design other than to be truly informed by them of the best and moderate wayes to Reconciliation which will be much better than for his Majesty to adhere to one party or to the other party for that his adhering to one party would not be safe also the keeping them in equal hopes and favour is not safe for that the keeping up of Factions in Church will produce Factions in State therefore the way his Majesty is now taking is the best to please God secure himself and for handing forth peace to his People 24. Whether two National constitutions can stand together and therefore whether the setling of the Prelatical Hierarchy doth not naturally predict the fall an● extirpation of Presbytery Answ That 't is true as before the countenancing and incouragement of the one is a detriment to the other therefore the extreams of both patries being lopt off they may be united and become one which will much renown the Church of England and render it more formidable against the Church of Rome whose practise it is to foment differences therefore it is the duty of every one to study and practise Reconciliation 25. Whether such Prelates who have been viewing the Altars of Damascus are like to have a peaceable entertainment here in their superstitious Popish fopperies when a new Generation of Youths are started up since their extirpation who never yet bowed the knee to Baal Answ That although the Presbyterian Interest be considerable yet the Episcopall are not inconsiderable if not as considerable and since that their difference in respect of Church-Government is not irreconcilable Union is to be endeavoured It is not my work here to prescribe a way I leave it to those whose work it is to do that my Task is to detect the Sophistry of the Author 26. Whether seeing his Ma esty hath Declared He will countenance godly Ministers it could be therefore intended when he made Dr. 〈◊〉 Dean of Westminster That the said Doctor should turn out all the Orthodox Ministers within the liberties of the said ●eana●y as he is endeavouring to do And whether the Prelaticall party do not abase his Majesty's cars by telling him they displace none but Phamticks Answ I know not whether it be true or false that the Dean of Westminster hath done any su●h thing peradventu●e all the Incu●bents of those Livings are alive or that some of them were not ordained by Bishops or Pre●byters in that case the Dean's Actions are legal 27. Whether there be not of the Presbyterian way a hundred good Preachers for one of the Prelaticall and whether that Government be not best for the Nation that hath most and best Preachers Answ There are godly and painful Preacher of bo●h so●ts that Government assuredly is best for the Nation that may reconcile these two grand Perswasions much better than that which shall keep up the Distinctions and consequently the Factions 28. Whether the re-instating of the Prelatical Hierarchy with the Appurtenances doth not in the consequence of it make null and void all Ordinations Sacraments and Marriages practised since their extirpation and whether the Nation hereby will not be brought into a strange and horrid Confusion Answ Those Persons that were ordained by Presbyters and are not upon those Livings w●ereof the Incumbents are living do still remain and are not nor are likely to be turned out but their Ordination is deemed good As for Marriages it is a publick Act and it receiveth its Being and Essence from the consent of the parties it cannot be made void by … ing administred by an improper Agent if it were all Judgments and Determinations in Law since these times would be made void It was the Opinion of the Judges in Henry the VII his time that the Judgments and proceedings in Law in Richard the III. his time were good although they were passed in the Usurper's time by whose Authority none could administer Justice but the necessity of doing Justice was such that the illegal Administration of it was dispensed with So the necessity of Marriage was such that the unusual performing of it doth not make it void because that the consent of the Parties maketh the Marriage the other is but the Solemnity of it and since there is a publick Record thereof it is therefore legal 29. Whether the best way therefore to set●le the Church and consequently the Nations and to prevent clamours to his Ma esty were not speedily to summon a Synod consisting of two Ministers out of each County to be chosen by the Presbytery of Ministers calling in the help of the best and most sober of the Episcopal but not Prelatical party which deligate from Scotland and other Protestant Churches giving due liberty to the soberly consciencious Answ These or much better Rules are intended by his Majesty to be pursued 30. Whether the pressing of the Oath of Supremacy be not of dangerous consequence to ensnare many thousands of Protestants who do conscienciously scruple it and generally all the Pre byterians of the three Nations And seeing the true intention of that Oath was to renounce the Pope's Supremacy whether it be not more consonant to a Protestant conscience to press an Oath upon all par●ies directly tending hereunto instead thereof 31. Whether pressing the Oath of Supremacy as it now stands doth not make null and void ●he solemn League and Covenant and whether it be not dangerous to enforce the Nations to forswear themselves seeing in the one they have directly covenanted and sworn against Prelates and in the other they swear to maintain all the Priviledges and Customs that ei●her now do or heretofore have appertained to the Crown Of which creating Bishops is one And whether the Convention taking such an Oath were not preobliged not only to establish Prelacy but also to turn out all Souldiers and Purchasers in any such Lands belonging to the Crown yea most unnaturally forcing men to swear so to do and consequently to starve their own Children Answ The Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy is not at all against the Solemn League and Covenant although it doth oblige those that take the Oath of Supremacy and Allegiance to defend and maintain his Ma●esty's Righ●s and Prerogative as in the creating of Bishops Suppose that his Ma esty should settle the Government of the Church without Bishops by some o●her Super-intendence ●o the content of the Episcop●l and Presbyterian p●rties because that is one of the Priviledges of the Crown it doth not oblige the party to contend for that which his Ma esty dischargeth him of by a publick ●ct of State As for example if a Lord shall upon condition from his Tenant or Vassal take his Oath for performance of several Services in Homage and Feal●y if the Lord shall discharge the Tenant of part or all the Tenant is so much or wholly discharged of his Oaths as the Lord shall dischage notwithstanding the Oath was peremptory In thi● case as also in that of Lands he th●t shall suggest to beget ●ealousies and fears of any thing but that his Majesty will de●l honourably justly and well with all his Sub●ects i● an Enemy to the peace and welfare of the People 32. Whether it be for the safety of the Nations to permit the Popish Lords to sit in the House before they have taken such an Oath 33. Whether his Ma esty this City and Kingdoms be not in da●ger of bloody Massacre by the confluence of those bloody Irish Papists to the number of many thousands about City and Court who withstanding his Ma●estie late Proclamation to the contrary who had a hand in the horrid massacre in Ireland and Savoy And whether countenance and respect from the Courtiers be not not a great Inducement to draw over many thousands more if not timely prevented 34. Whether his Majestie person at Court can be safe from danger when all places about are bought and sold Whether the Querist be not a Friend and Servant to his God his King and Country Answ I shall say nothing to these Quaeries I suppose they are malitiou scandalous and false Only thus much to the last Clause That the Querist is no Friend to God his King or Country in regard that he in a clandestine way hath published such a wicked Paper tending to beget and foment Fears and Jealousies in His Majestie 's Subjects by Reflecting upon Publike Actions to put all in a flame and disturbance out of which the Nations through the goodness of God lately have been delivered It had been his duty as well as it is all others duty to study healing and moderation uniting and composing of Differences He that doth otherwise Either by Action Word or Writing let him be of what Party soever he will is no other than an Enemy to God the King and his Country FINIS