Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	read_v	see_v	time_n	3,254	5	3.4751	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59475	A letter from a person of quality to his friend in the country	Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of, 1621-1683.; Locke, John, 1632-1704.	1675 (1675)	Wing S2897; ESTC R3320	30,815	37

A LETTER From a Person of QUALITY To His FRIEND In the COUNTRY Printed in Year 1675. A Letter from a Person of Quality to His Friend in the Country SIR THis Session being ended and the Bill of the Test neer finished at the Committee of the whole House I can now give you a perfect Account of this STATE MASTER-PIECE It was first hatch't as almost all the Mischiefs of the World have hitherto been amongst the Great Church Men and is a Project of several Years standing but found not Ministers bold enough to go through with it un●il these new ones who wanting a better Bottom to support them be●ook themselves wholly to this which is no small Undertaking if you consider it in its whole Extent First to make a distinct Party from the rest of the Nation of the High Episcopal Man and the Old Cavalier who are to swallow the hopes of enjoying all the Power and Office of the Kingdom being also tempted by the advantage they may recieve from overthrowing the Act of Oblivion and not a little rejoycing to think how valiant they should prove if they could get any to fight the Old Quarrel over again Now they are possest of the Arms Fo●ts and Ammunition of the Nation Next they design to have the Government of the Church Sworne to as Vnalterable and so Tacitely owned to be of Divine Right which though inconsistent with the Oath of Supremacy yet the Church Men easily break through all Obligations whatsoever to attain this Station the advantage of which the Prelate of Rome hath sufficiently taught the World Then in requital to the Crown they declare the Government absolute and Arbitrary and allow Monarchy as well as Episcopacy to be Iure Divino and not to be bounded or limited by humane Laws And to secure all this they resolve to take away the Power and opportunity of Parliaments to alter any thing in Church or State only leave them as an instrument to raise Money and to pass such Laws as the Court and Church shall have a mind to The Attempt of any other how necessary soever must be no less a Crime then Perjury And as the topstone of the whole Fabrique a pretence shall be taken from the Jealousies they themselves have raised and a real necessi●y from the smallness of their Partie to encrease and keep up a standing Army and then in due time the Cavalier and Church-man will be made greater fools but as errant Slaves as the rest of the Nation In order to this The first step was made in the Act for Regulating Corporations wisely beginning that in those lesser Governments whi●h they meant afterwards to introduce upon the Govern●ent of the Nation and making them Swear to a Declaration and beleif of such propositions as themselves afterwards upon debate were enforced to alter and could not justifie in those words so that many of the Wealthyest Worthyest and Soberest Men are still kept out of the Magistracy of those places The next step was in the Act of the Militia which went for most of the cheifest Nobility and Gentry being obliged as Lord-Lieutenants Deputy-Lieutenants c. to Swear to the same Declaration and Belief with the addition only of these words In persuance of such Military Commissions which makes the Matter rather worse then better Yet this went down smoothly as an Oath in fashion a testimony of Loyalty and none adventuring freely to debate the matter the humor of the Age like a strong Tide carries Wise and good Men down before it This Act is of a piece for it establisheth a standing Army by a Law and swears Us into a Military Government Immediately after this Followeth the Act of Vniformity by which all the Clergy of England are obliged to subscribe and declare what the Corporations Nobility and Gentry had before Sworn but with this additional clause of the Militia Act omitted This the Clergy readily complyed with for you know That sort of Men are taught rather to obey then understand and to use that Learning they have to justify not to examine what their Superiors command And yet that Bartholomew day was fatal to our Church and Religion in throwing out a very great Number of Whorthy Learned Pious and Orthodox Divines who could not come up to this and other things in that Act And it is an Oath upon this occasion wor●h your knowledg that so great was the Zeal in carrying on this Church affair and so blind was the Obedience required that if you compute the time of the passing this Act with the time allowed for the Clergy to subscribe the Book of Common Prayer thereby established you shall plainly find it could not be Printed and distributed so as one Man in forty could have seen and read the Book they did so perfectly Assent and Consent to But this Matter was not compleat until the Five Mile Act passed at Oxford wherein they take an opportunity to introduce the Oath in the terms they would have it This was then strongly opposed by the L. Treasurer Southampton Lord Wharton L. Ashley and others not only in the Concern of those poor Ministers that were so severely handled but as it was in it Self a most Unlawful and Unjustifyable Oath however the Zeal of that time against All Nonconformists easily passed the Act. This Act was seconded the same Sessions at Oxford by another Bill in the House of Commons to have imposed that Oath on the whole Nation and the Providence by which it was thrown out was very remarquable for Mr. Peregrine Bertie being newly chosen was that morning introduced into the House by his Brother the now Earl of Lindsey and Sir Tho. Osborn now L. Treasurer who all Three gave their Votes against that Bill and the Numbers were so even upon the division that their three Votes carried the Question against it But we owe that Right to the Earl of Lindsey and the Lord Treasurer as to acknowledg t●at they have since made ample Satisfaction for whatever offence they gave either the Church or Court in that Vote Thus our Church became Triumphant and continued so for divers years the dissenting Protestant being the only Enemy and therefore only persecuted whilest the Papists remained undisturbed being by the Court t●ought Loyal and by our Great Bishops not dangerous they differing only in Doctrine and Fundamentalls but as to the Government of the Church that was in their Religion in its highest Exaltation This Dominion continued unto them untill the L. Clifford a Man of a daring and ambitious spirit made his way to the cheif Ministery of Affairs by other and far different measures and took the opportunity of the War with Holland the King was then engaged in to propose the Declaration of Indulgence that the Dissenters of all sorts as well Protestants as Papists might be at rest and so vast a number of People not be made desperate at Home while the King was engaged with so potent an Enemy abroad This was no