Selected quad for the lemma: act_n
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A63488
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A True copy of the instrument of association that the Protestants of England entred into, in the 27th year of Queen Elizabeth, against a popish conspiracy with an act made upon the same, for the security of the Queen's Most Royal Person.
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England and Wales. Parliament.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing T2644; ESTC R222385
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5,563
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9
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A TRUE COPY Of the Instrument of ASSOCIATION That the Protestants of England entred into in the 27th Year of Queen Elizabeth against a Popish Conspiracy With an Act made upon the same for the security of the Queen 's Most Royal Person FOrasmuch as Almighty God hath Ordained Kings Queens and Princes to have Dominion and Rule over all their Subjects and to preserve them in the Possession and Observation of the true Christian Religion according to his Holy Word and Commandment And in like sort That all Subjects should Love Fear and Obey their Sovereign Princes being Kings or Queens to the utmost of their Power at all times to Withstand Pursue and Suppress all manner of Persons that shall by any means intend and attempt any thing dangerous or hurtful to the Honor States or Persons of their Sovereigns Therefore we whose Names are or shall be Subscribed to this Writing being Natural-born Subjects of this Realm of England and having so Gracious a Lady our Sovereign Elizabeth by the Ordinance of God our most Rightful Queen Reigning over us these many Years with great Felicity to our Inestimable Comfort And finding lately by divers Depositions Confessions and sundry Advertisements out of Foreign parts from Credible Persons well known to Her Majesties Council and to divers others that for the furtherance and advancement of some pretended Title to the Crown it hath been manifested that the Life of our Gracious Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth hath been most dangerously exposed to the Peril of Her Person if Almighty God Her perpetual Defender of his Mercy had not revealed and withstood the same By whose Life we and all other Her Majesties True and Loyal Subjects do enjoy an Inestimable Benefit of Peace in this Land do for the Reasons and Causes before alledged not only acknowledg our selves most justly bound with our Lives and Goods for her Defence in her safety to persecute suppress and withstand all such Pretenders and all other her Enemies of what Nation Condition and Degree whatsoever they shall be or by what Council or Title they shall pretend to be her Enemies or to attempt any harm upon her Person but do further think it our Bounden Duties for the great benefit of Peace and Wealth and Godly Government we have more plentifully received these many Years under Her Majesties Government than any of our Fore-fathers have done in any longer time of any other Progenitors Kings of this Realm Do declare and by this Writing make manifest our Bounden Duties to our said Sovereign Lady for her Safety And to that end we and every of us first calling to Witness the Name of Almighty God do voluntarily and most willingly bind our selves every one of us to the other jointly and severally in the Band of one firm and Loyal Society and do hereby Vow and Promise by the MAJESTY of ALMIGHTY GOD that with our whole Powers Bodies Lives and Goods and with our Children and Servants we and every of us will faithfully serve and humbly obey our said Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth against all States Dignities and earthly Powers whatsoever and will as well with our joynt and particular Forces during our Lives withstand offend and pursue as well by Forces of Arms as by all other means of Revenge all manner of Persons of what State soever they shall be and their Abettors that shall attempt any Act Council or Consent to any thing that shall tend to the harm of Her Majesties Royal Person and will never desist from all manner of forcible pursuit against such Persons to the utter Extermination of them their Counsellors Aiders and Abetters And if any such wicked Attempt against her most Royal Person shall be taken in hand and procured whereby any that have may or shall pretend Title to come to this Crown by the untimely death of her Majesty so wickedly procured which God for his mercy sake forbid may be avenged We do not only bind our selves both joyntly and severally never to allow accept or favour any such pretended Successor by whom or for whom any such detestable Act shall be attempted or committed as unworthy of all Government in any Christian Realm or Civil State But do also further Vow and Protest as we are most bound and that in the Presence of the Eternal and Everlasting God to Prosecute such Person and Persons to Death with our joynt or practical Forces and to ask the utmost Revenge upon them that by any means we or any of us can devise and do or cause to be devised and done for their utter overthrow and Extirpation And to the better Corroboration of this our Royal Band and Association we do also testifie by this Writing that we do confirm the Contents hereof by our Oaths Corporally taken upon the Holy Evangelists with this express Condition that no one of us shall for any respect of Persons or Causes or for Fear or Reward separate our selves from this ASSOCIATION or fail in the Prosecution thereof during our Lives upon Pain of being by the rest of us Prosecuted and Suppressed as Perjured Persons and Publick Enemies to God Our Queen and to our Native Country To which Punishments and Pains we do voluntarily submit our selves and every of us without benefit of any Colour and Pretence In Witness of all which promises to be inviolably kept we do to this Writing put our Hands and Seals and shall be most ready to accept and admit any others hereafter to this Society and Association An Act for Provision to be made for the surety of the Queen's Majesties most Royal Person and the continuance of the Realm in Peace Enacted in the 27th Year of the Reign of Q. Elizabeth FOrasmuch as the Good Felicity and Comfort of the whole Estate oâ— this Realm consisteth only next under God in the Surety and Preservation of the Queen 's Most Excellent Majesty And for that it hath manifestly appeared that Sundry wicked Plots and means have of latâ— been devised and laid as well in Foreign Parts beyond the Seas as also within this Realm to the great endangering of her Highness's Most Royal Person and to the utter Ruine of the whole Common-wealth if by God's Merciful Providence the same had not been Revealed Therefore for preventing of such great Perils as might hereafter otherwise grow by the like detestable and devilish Practices at the humble Suite and earnest Petition and desire of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this Present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same Parliament Be it Enacted and Ordained if aâ— any time after the end of this Present Session of Parliament any opeâ— Invasion or Rebellion shall be had or made into or within any of Her Majesties Realms or Dominions or any Act attempted tending to the Hurâ— of Her Majesties Most Royal Person by or for any Person that shall oâ— may pretend any Title to the Crown of this Realm after Her Majesties Decease Or if any thing shall be
Compassed or Imagined tending t◠the hurt of Her Majesties Royal Person by any Person or with the Privity of any Person that shall or may Pretend Title to the Crown of thi◠Realm That then by Her Majesties Commission under Her Great Sea◠the Lords and others of Her Highnesses Privy Council and such other Lords of Parliament to be named by Her Majesties as with the said Privy Council shall make up the number of Twenty four at the least having with them for their Assistance in that behalf such of the Judges o◠the Courts of Record at Westminster as Her Highness shall for that purpose Assign and Appoint or the more part of the same Council Lord and Judges shall by Virtue of this Act have Authority to Examin all and every the Offences aforesaid and all Circumstances thereof and thereupon to give Sentence or Judgments as upon good Proof the Matter shall appear unto them And that after such Sentence or Judgment given and Declaration thereof made and Published by Her Majesties Proclamation under the Great Seal of England all Persons against whom such Sentence or Judgment shall be so given and Published shall be Excluded and Disabled for ever to have or Claim or to pretend to have or Claim the Crown of this Realm or any of Her Majesties Dominions any former Law or Statute whatsoever to the Contrary in any wise notwithstanding And that thereupon all Her Highnesses Subjects shall and may Lawfully by Virtue of this Act and Her Majesties Direction in that behalf by all Forcible and Possible Means pursue to Death every such Wicked Persons by whom or by whose means Assent or Privity any such Invasion or Rebellion shall be in Form aforesaid denounced to have been made or such Wicked Act Attempted or other thing compassed or imagined against Her Majesties Person and all their Aiders Comfortors and Abettors And if any such detestable Act shall be Executed against Her Highness most Royal Person whereby Her Majesties Life shall be taken away which God of his great Mercy forbid that then every such Person by or for whom any such Act shall be Executed and their Issues being any wise Assenting or Privy to the same shall by vertue of this Act be excluded and disabled for ever to have or claim or to pretend to have or claim the said Crown of this Realm or of any other Her Highness Dominions any former Law or Statute whatsoever to the contrary in any wise nonwithstanding And that all the Subjects of this Realm and all other her Majesties Dominions shall and may Lawfully by vertue of this Act by all forcible and possible means pursue to death every such wicked Person by whom or by whose means any such detestable Fact shall be in form hereafter expressed denounced to have been Committed and also their Issues being any way assenting or privy to the same and all their Aiders Comforters and Abbetters in that behalf And to the end that the intension of this Law may be effectually Executed if Her Majesties Life shall be taken away by any violent or unnatural means which God desend Be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid that the Lords and others which shall be of Her Majesties Privy Council at the time of such her decease or the more part of the same Council joyning unto them for their better Assistance five other Earls and seven other Lords of Parliament at the least foreseeing that none of the said Earls Lords or Council be known to be Persons that may make any Title to the Crown those Persons which were chief Justices of either Bench Master of the Roles and chief Baron of the Exchequer at the time of Her Majesties death or in default of the said Justices Master of the Roles and Chief Baron some other of those which were Justices of some of the Courts of Records at Westminster at the time of her Highness decease to supply their places or any twenty four or more of them whereof eight to be Lords of Parliament not being of the Privy Council shall to the uttermost of their power and skill examine the Cause and Manner of such Her Majesties death and what Persons shall be any way guilty thereof and all Circumstances concerning the same according to the true meaning of this Act and thereupon shall by open Parliament publish the same and without any delay by all forcible and possible means prosecute to death all such as shall be found to be Offenders therein and all their Aiders and Abetters And for the doing thereof and for the withstanding and suppressing of all such Power and Force as shall any way be Levy'd or stirred in disturbance of the due Execution of this Law shall by vertue of this Act have Power and Authority not only to raise and use such Force as shall in that behalf be needful and convenient But also to use all other means and things possible and necessary for the Maintenance of the same Force and Prosecution of the said Offenders And if any such Power and Force shall be Levied or stirred in disturbance of the due Execution of this Law by any Person that shall or may pretend any Title to the Crown of this Realm whereby this Law may not in all things be fully Executed according to the effect and true meaning of the same That then every Person shall by virtue of this Act be therefore excluded and disabled for ever to have or Claim or to pretend to have or Claim the Crown of this Realm or of any other her Highness Dominions any former Law or Statute whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid that all and every the Subjects of all Her Majesties Realms and Dominions shall to the uttermost of their Power aid and assist the said Counsel and all other the Lords and other Persons to be adjoyned unto them for Assistance as is aforesaid in all things to be done and executed according to the effect and intention of this Law And that no Subject of this Realm shall in any wise be Impeached in Body Lands or Goods at any time hereafter for any thing to be done or executed according to the Tenour of this Law any Law or Statute heretofore made to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And whereas of late many of Her Majesties good and faithfull Subjects have in the name of God and with the Testimony of good Consciences by one uniform manner of Writing under their hands and seals and by their several Oaths voluntaarily take joyned themselves together in one Bond and ASSOCIATION to withstand and revenge to the uttermost all such malicious Actions and Attempts against Her Majesties most Royal Person Now for the full explaining of all such Ambiguities and Questions as otherwise might happen to grow by reason of any Sinister or wrong Construction or Interpretation to be made or Inferred of or upon the words or meaning thereof be it declared and enacted by the Authority of this present Parliament that the same ASSOCIATION and every Article and Sentance therein contained as we concerning the disallowing excluding or disabling of any Person that may or shall pretend any Title to come to the Crown of this Realm as also for the pursuing and taking revenge of any Person for any such wicked Act or Attempt as is mentioned in the same ASSOCIATION shall and ought to be in all things expounded and adjudged according to the true Intent and Meaning of this Act and not otherwise nor against any other Person or Persons The Association drawn up and Signed by the High Court of Parliament now Assembled in the 24th of February 1695 6. WHereas there has been a Horrid and Detestable Conspiracy Formed and Carried on by Papists and other Wicked and Traiterous Persons for Assassinating His Majesty's Royal Person in Order to encourage an Invasion from France to subvert our Religion Laws and Liberty We whose Names are hereunto subscribed do heartily sincerely and solemnly Profess Testifie and Declare that His Present Majesty King William is Rightful and Lawful King of these Realms And we do mutually Promise and Engage to stand by and assist each other to the utmost of our Power in the Support and Defence of His Majesty's Most Sacred Person and Government against the Late King James and all his Adherents And in Case His Majesty come to any Violent or Untimely Death which God forbid We do hereby further Freely and Unanimously oblige our selves to Unite Associate and stand by each other in Revenging the same upon his Enemies and their Adherents and in supporting and defending the Succession of the Crown according to an Act made in the first Year of the Reign of King William and Queen Mary Intituled an Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and settling the Succession of the Crown ☞ In the 13th Year of the said Queen was Enacted Two excellent Acts viz. An Act whereby certain Offences were made Treason The 2d against Fugitives over the Sea Printed for John Everingham and Sold by E. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall 1695