Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	king_n	law_n	person_n	8,134	5	5.4280	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64805	Venn and his mermydons, or, The linen=draper capotted being a serious and seasonable advice to the citizens of London, occasioned by the indirect practices used in the late election of sheriffs / written by a citizen of London.	Citizen of London.	1679 (1679)	Wing V193; ESTC R38482	7,600	15

Instances of Tumultuary Proposals and Applications that fell little short of the old Story of Venn with his Mermydons as his late Majesty was pleased to express it which was onely an Essay of the strength of that Party that cast us formerly into Confusion But they were seasonably checkt both by the authority and good affections of the City to the Confusion of their Hopes and Designs Is not this like Absalom in the Gate Is not this the way to amuse and fright men from their Trade and Business and in effect to cry as of old To your Tents O Israel It is a dangerous thing to affect Popularity and to talk of Papists in Masquerade But unless we had better marks whereby to distinguish those sort of men it can onely serve as an odious term to be fixt upon whom himself and his Party pleases and when time serves expose them to the fury of an untutoured Zeal and to be used as Malignant Delinquent and Popishly affected were of late which had no other effect but sequestring the Estates and ruining the Families of persons so stigmatized though indeed they onely were the true Lovers of the Protestant Religion their King and Country We are not to account a Vote of the House of Commons to have the Authority of a Law as some would have a late Vote to be when as the Parliament being dissolved it signifies just nothing as to the matter of Law though it was an honest and excellent testimony of their Zeal for the preservation of his Majesties person and the Protestant Religion for which the whole Nation is bound to give them thanks but I hope we shall never live to see a Vote no nor an Ordinance neither pass for a Law and I believe this did not speak the sense of the House and as little did the late out-cry speak the sense of the City as appears in this that there are not ten men to be found that will own the action Beside that the Faction was over-born by a majority of honest men I have no purpose to reflect upon any mans person My design is onely to caution my Fellow-Citizens not to have a hand in any action that looks like Faction and Disorder for from little sparks many times are kindled mighty flames and Solomon bids us Shun the appearance of evil Frailty and Imperfection is justly inscribed on all things sublunary Yet if we could suppose a System of Rules and Laws infallible even this could not free the Government from miscarriages it being morally impossible among such a multitude of subordinate Officers of necessity to be used that all should be furnished with Wisdom and Integrity sufficient for discharge of their duty so that there will always be cause of complaint but no man can say that such things will discharge the Subjects from their duty As to the Constitution of our Government it hath been reckoned the best in the World and for the Administration I dare appeal to any man whether there is not more rigour and severity heavier Taxes and Impositions laid upon the People in the most flourishing Christian Kingdom in the World by three parts in four than ever we have yet met with unless in the late Times of Defection Is any thing imposed upon us which to remedy will make amends for Tumult and Disorder or any danger threatned or like to befall us that can equal the mischief and inconvenience of a Civil War Consider this Fellow-Citizens and let not ambitious men purchase their advancement with the price of your Bloud and Treasure They may contrive with their heads till their hearts ake but without help of your hands all their project will fall to the ground I beseech you therefore stand fast in your duty to God allegiance to the King and the Government established by Law To the first you are obliged by Nature and Religion to the second by Religion and Oath to the last by Prudence and Interest It may be said by the Dissenters from the Church of England that they are willing to obey his Majesty and observe the Law in all Civil Matters but in Ecclesiastical Affairs and Episcopacy they will not they cannot yield obedience My business is not to dispute the point but to persuade to peace and to warn you of such men as are like to disturb it Let it be considered that Episcopacy hath received the same Civil Sanction with those Laws that concern Liberty and Property It is adapted into the Constitution of the Government Would they have his Majesty abolish Episcopacy by his own power Surely this would be to exalt Prerogative with a witness and as themselves would say in other cases contrary to Magna Charta If not let them cease their murmurs till some Parliament comes that will pull down that and set up a better if they can tell where to find it I confess if any man purely out of conscience refuseth to Conform and the Laws against it rigorously executed his Circumstances are hard But is that our Case Is not every man suffered to be as good as he will Doth not the clemency of our King admit every man to hear and preach where they please to follow their own Pastors and their own Discipline And after all this do you hear men cry out against the Government the Bishops and the Clergy men of honour and dignity in the Church persons against whom they have no exceptions but their Office and Revenues persecuting them with the most vile and unsavoury Language their malice can invent And is this out of Conscience too Can any man think he that shuns a Surplice but can easily swallow a Lie that exclaims against the Common-Prayer yet is full of Envy and hatred is uncharitable to his Neighbour and constantly replenished with scurrilous and immoral expressions against every one that treads not in his path that this is the effect of a Tender Conscience Fly then the Society of this sort of men for whatsoever their specious pretences may be their thirst is after Domination and Plunder Those that trampled upon the Mitre overthrew the Crown Monarchy and Episcopacy both fell by the same hand therefore it is not amiss to mind you once more of Solomons advice Fear God Honour the King and meddle not with those that are given to change When you reflect upon the Methods taken in the beginning of the late Wars by an ill-spirited sort of men whose delight was in Disorder and aimed at gainful Fishing if they could but once trouble the Waters that their first endeavour was to raise a dislike against the Person and Government of the best of Kings and how the Grand Engineers stirred up the Citizeus and Apprentices to popular Tumults whereby his Majesty was invaded and through fear and force banished from his Palaces Cities his Consort his Royal Children and Family and at last himself most barbarously murthered What contrivance and by whom carried on Broils raised in Scotland the better to distress his Majesty and after all this and much more not to be mentioned without the extreamest horror and detestation How the Actors thereof were unmasked their persons and designs discovered their several Governments under their most politick Establishment shaken to pieces as frequently as formed and at last both the one and the other not by humane prudence but by the meer hand of God destroyed and confounded In all which mutations this City felt most constant pains and afflictions and the whole Nation after all the vast expence of Blood and Treasure had purchased to themselves nothing but Chains and Fetters When I say you reflect upon these things it must needs excite your singular care to preserve your selves from a subjection to the designs of such men as may have hopes to lead us again into the like Defection and Inconvenience and to be afraid of any thing that hath a tendency that way FINIS

VENN AND HIS MERMYDONS OR THE Linen-Draper Capotted BEING A Serious and Seasonable Advice To the CITIZENS OF LONDON Occasioned by the Indirect Practices used in the late ELECTION of SHERIFFS Written by a Citizen of London LONDON Printed in the Year 1679. Serious and Seasonable ADVICE To the CITIZENS of LONDON c. Friends and Fellow-Citizens THe End of these few Lines is to persuade Peace which every man pretends to covet but the end is not attainable without the use means and avoiding that which is of a contrary Importance Some few things are here pointed at which have occasioned disturbance in Families hatred and animosity among Neighbours disorders in the City oppression and violence in the Nation That such things may not happen amongst us any more is the design of this Paper and shall be the constant and hearty Prayers of the Author It behooves every good Citizen to have a watchful Eye toward such Persons and Actions as would cast Scorn and Contempt upon the meanest Instrument of Government It is rare if any man be made desperately wicked at once Evil is propagated by degrees Hard thoughts of our Superiour are often followed with Hatred and after with Sedition and Rebellion great things taking their rise from small and insensible beginnings A Cloud of the bigness of a Hand spreads the face of the Heavens Thus a disobedient Servant proves a bad Master and a worse Citizen If we slacken in the least the Chain of our Duty the Devil quickly takes advantage Some men who at first detested Rebellion have laughed and talked themselves into Disobedience for which perhaps being worthily punished hath so exasperated their minds so as nothing wanted for revenge but an opportunity Others there be whose great felicity lies in hearing and telling News These are a sort of Busie-bodies and men for the most part of small imployment and as little discretion that receive all they hear especially such things as will please their Party without examining the probability of its being true or false and having heard some odd Story go big with it to the next Club where it is related with abundance of formality and if it be any thing relating to the Government it is ten to one but some Surmise or sad Descant as bad as Malice can invent is added over and above A ready way to introduce a disaffection toward those in Authority and prepare mens minds for Disobedience and Rebellion Therefore such Malapert Talkers who are always finding fault and like Flies are apt to dwell upon every Sore ought to be Brow-beaten scorned and opposed by every honest Citizen as the Bane of Society and Pests of the Commonwealth Let us all endeavour to live like Men and Christians and boldly reprove such as offer to put Affronts and Contempts upon Authority A far readier way to cure their itching Malady than by taking pleasure in their Fooleries and impertinencies Let every man in his station pursue those things that make for PEACE We are all Members of one City Subjects of one Kingdom all embarked in the same Vessel and if that suffers Shipwrack none can promise immunity to themselves In a word Let us fear God honour the King and not meddle with those that are given to change There is also another sort of men among us so well conceited as to think themselves fit to be sharers in the Government and are always complaining that something is amiss Men of petulant testy humours and factious Spirits never contented never pleased Is it not a shame to think what a foolish and ridiculous attempt was lately made to introduce an Officer among us Did they fansie the Government would be Trickt into a Sheriff What was the Man How qualified that such sinister and undue practices were used about his Election I believe but few men will bespeak him Master of any extraordinary measure of Reason Judgment or Piety As for his Estate that was granted deficient even by his own Faction as appears by their Subscriptions towards the upholding of his Grandeur Certainly They have need of a Bird that give a Great for an OWL What then Why the truth is though nothing can be more ridiculous than Empty Boldness yet this mans confident and seditious speaking which made him obnoxious to the Law hath advanced his Reputation with some men to an high rate who otherwise might have passed along unobserved Is this an Office to be carried on with Contribution Is it not one of the highest places of Trust in this great City Ought not he whoever is Elected to that dignity to be able to bear the charge without auxiliaries as well for his own security as the Cities honour For should he fail in that particular he must not onely be ruined but the Office fall lame by the way Yet this man till he saw his Party confounded offered without blushing to accept it It is an Office of that Trust as ought to be committed to the care of none but persons of known Integrity Religion and Honesty that in times of danger and disorder may keep the Peace and not encourage Sedition and Tumult one firm in his Allegiance to his Majesty and a true Protestant according to the Church of England What design these men had in offering their purses so freely toward setting up this Puppet Sheriff God and their own hearts onely know but certainly it hath an ill aspect for that during his Office he must have been Pensioner to the meanest Trades-man of his Party Some few Quakers afforded him their Votes but their frugality and principles I suppose would hardly allow them to club toward Feasting or Fine Clothes Whatsoever their end was they are not to be approved who seek to acquire good ends by bad means and in this Essay they shewed the Popish party a new device though they have already more tricks than are good by Subscriptions and Cabals to introduce some of their Favourites into places of Honour and Trust Consider the danger and inconvenience that ariseth from the multitude of Pamphlets that are published every day filled with Lies and Falshood to the dishonour of God and Religion containing base and unworthy reflections upon most men of the greatest Authority in the Nation not sparing at some turns though in cunning and canting terms the Person and Government of his Sacred Majesty Are not all publick Actions turned into Ridicule by these petty Scriblers who have hardly Bread to eat but what they receive for their Weekly Copy Do we not all know that not long since Poor Robins Intelligence was Weekly published where the Author took upon him to make a Laughing-stock of any person to whom he was prompted either by money or malice or to fill up an empty space in his Pamphlet And though he forbore to name the persons yet pointed at them by such Notes and Characters as they were easily known by any that were of the Neighbourhood to the great disturbance of Families and breach of Charity