Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A54198
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The Protestants remonstrance against Pope and Presbyter in an impartial essay upon the times or plea for moderation / by Philanglus.
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Penn, William, 1644-1718.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing P1345; ESTC R26869
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28,935
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38
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his Royal Fathers Condescention to let the Parliament sit during their own pleasure who never quitted their own Reign till they had ended his So dangerous is it for a Prince to fulfil the unsatisfied desires of a Craving Mobile Who being without doors have it not in the Orb of their understandings to Comprehend or Judge aright of the proceedings of a King and Parliament These are the Fomenters of the Common people Who though a moveable Body like the Ocean yet never swell but when blown upon by such intemperate winds or like the Swine in the Gospel are more furiously agitated by the discontented Spirits of others than their own They are like Esop's Trumpeter who set people together by the ears with their Libels or false News and therefore of all others the least deserve Quarter And as heretofore by the names of Roundhead and Cavalier so now again they distinguish and mark out for destruction His Majesty's Subjects by those Factious Epithites of Whig and Tory which like Rogue Rascal and other Opprobrious terms do rarely pass over without a bloudy Nose Like ill Servants betwixt Husband and Wife they endeavour to breed a Jealousy and mis-understanding between King and People hoping to advantage themselves by the quarrel and accordingly use their utmost endeavours to mis-represent his mildest Actions to his People As for instance if His Maiesty grants Liberty of Conscience to the Nonconformists they possess the people it is done in favour of the Papists and on the contrary if he suppresses them then they say he is perswaded to it by the Popish Councels So uncapable are they of being satisfied Again whilst he desists to prosecute the Papists they call him a favourer of them and when he puts out his Proclamation against them then they presently say it is Sugar-plums for the Parliament so humoursom are these men Such Enemies are they to Monarchy that they hate Addresses for the same reason they love Petitions opposition to the King That Petitioning for a Parliament is lawful I do not oppose but to Petition so often for one and the same thing and that too after his Majesty has shew'd his dislike of it is I am sure uncivil and shews as if hereby they would either publish to the World their distrust of his Majesties single Government or else render themselves and their Party formidable to the Royal Authority by the counterfeit number of their Petitioners That the power of Calling and Dissolving Parliaments is solely in the King their very Act of Petitioning confesses and yet if his Majesty complies not with them at a minutes warning they presently complain of Injustice Again for Addresses they are absolute Abhorrers of them as thinking it lawful to give our thanks to any one but the King the Parliaments themselves have often expressed their gratitude and Loyalty to the King Voting him thanks for many of his Speeches and promising to stand by him with their Lives and Fortunes against all his Enemies whatsoever Nay the City of London and many other Corporations Burroughs and Counties have done as much even to their own single Members of Parliament Voting them their thanks and promising to stand by them and yet these men would deny his Majesty tha◠small respect which is so commonly paid to his Subjects and which as well to Foreigners as Natives will make known his Majesties Interest in the hearts of his Subjects then which nothing can be more for the honour of the English Nation to publish the Kings Grandeur and Peoples Loyalty Moreover they are highly offended with his Majesty for dissolving Parliaments but not so much at that as because his Majesty would shew a Reason why he dissolved them for they would have had the People gone away with the opinion that it was an Arbitrary unjust Action and their dissolution purely in favour of Popery and nothing else Whereas his Majesty in a Gracious and voluntary manner comes and appeals to his own People how just his proceeding was in that as in all other things that observing the differences between the two Houses he had reason to fear the ill consequence thereof and therefore to allay those heats was forced to send them home yet was not out of love with Parliaments but would nevertheless call them frequently c. Which reason being satisfactory to all his loving Subjects was therefore the more disapproved of by the Factious who by this means were perhaps disappointed of their intended Tumult and Insurrection so confidently expected by Mr. Colledge The same Factious Party do likewise accuse his Majesty of having a design both to render himself Absolute and to introduce Popery and this is the present Doctrine that they preach in all their Cabals Libels and Pamphlets Now for his design of rendring himself Absolute let any rational man but consider how improbable a thing it is that the King whom his very Enemies accuse of being a too great lover of his ease even in his youth should now when he grows into years attempt a thing of that great trouble and hazard At his first Restauration might he not then have had any thing of his people were not his Subjects at that time so tired out with the late Civil War that he might have fettered them as he pleased himself 〈…〉 and has he not since had a Parliament tha◠supplied him with Monies at his pleasure nay were as ready to grant as he to ask and did the King let go all these opportunities do you think to undertake it now Surely no man of sence can harbour a thought so ridiculous and void of Reason Besides his Majesty as all men know is of so mild and peaceable a disposition that no person upon Earth can be more averse to such a Tyrannical and bloudy undertaking than himself What one Act of severity or cruelty can his greatest Enemy charge him with throughout his Reign nay in his whole life-time Alas 't is our too great ignorance of other Neighbouring Princes makes us not enough esteem our own No English Monarch even King James or Queen Elizabeth her self were ever more tender of and careful to preserve the Rights and Priviledges of the People then King Charles the Second now is Parliaments themselves were never handled with that love tenderness and caution by any Prince as by him whose chief and only care is not to violate their Priviledges contrary to the proceedings of many of his Predecessors As for instance in the 23. year of Queen Elizabeth Mr. Paul Wentworth moved in the House for a publick Fast and for a Sermon every morning at seven of the clock before the House sate and it was ordered accordingly But the Queen being informed hereof sent this Message to the House by her Vice Chamberlain That Her Highness much admired the Rashness of the House in committing such an apparent Contempt of her express Command as to put in execution such an Innovation without her privity or pleasure first known Whereupon the