Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	think_v	time_n	write_v	3,105	5	5.0991	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37421	An argument shewing, that a standing army, with consent of Parliament, is not inconsistent with a free government, &c.	Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731.	1698 (1698)	Wing D828; ESTC R20142	15,613	32

AN ARGUMENT Shewing That a Standing Army With Consent of PARLIAMENT Is not Inconsistent with a Free Government c. 2 Chron. 9. 25. And King Solomon had four thousand Stalls for Horses and Chariots and twelve thousand Horsemen whom he bestowed in the Chariot-Cities and with the King at Jerusalem LONDON Printed for E. Whitlock near Stationers 1698. THE PREFACE THE Present Pen and Ink War rais'd against a Standing Army has more ill Consequences in it than are at first Sight to be Discern'd The Pretence is specious and the cry of Liberty is very pleasing but the Principle is Mortally Contagious and Destructive of the Essential Safety of the Kingdom Liberty and Property are the Glorious Attributes of the English Nation and the dearer they are to us the less Danger we are in of Loosing them but I cou'd never yet see it prov'd that the danger of loosing them by a small Army was such as we shou'd expose our selves to all the World for it Some People talk so big of our own Strength that they think England able to Defend it self against all the World I presume such talk without Book I think the prudentest Course is to prevent the Trial and that is only to hold the Ballance of Europe as the King now does and if there be a War to keep it abroad How these Gentlemen will do that with a Militia I shou'd be glad to see Proposed 't is not the King of England alone but the Sword of England in the Hand of the King that gives Laws of Peace and War now to Europe And those who would thus write the Sword out of his Hand in time of Peace bid the fairest of any Men in the World to renew the War The Arguments against an Army have been strongly urg'd and the Authors with an unusual Assurance Boast already of their Conquest tho' their Armour is not yet put off I think their Triumph goes before their Victory and if Books and Writing will not God be thanked the Parliament will Confute them by taking care to maintain such Forces and no more as they think needful for our safety abroad without danger at home and leaving it to time to make it appear that such an Army with Consent of Parliament is not inconsistent with a Free Government c. An ARGUMENT shewing that a Standing Army with Consent of Parliament is not Inconsistent with a Free Government c. IN the Great Debates about a Standing Army and in all the Arguments us'd on one side and 'tother in the Case it seems to me that both Parties are Guilty of running into the Extreams of the Controversie Some have taken up such terrible Notions of an Army that take it how you will call it what you will be it Rais'd Paid or Commanded by whom you will and let the Circumstances be alter'd never so much the Term is synonimous an Army is an Army and if they don't Enslave us the Thanks is not to our good Conduct for so many Soldiers so many Masters They may do it if they will and if they do not do it now they may do it in another Reign when a King shall arise who knows not Ioseph and therefore the Risque is not to be run by any means From hence they draw the Consequence That a Standing Army is Inconsistent with a Free Government c. which is the Title to the Argument This we find back'd by a Discourse of Militia's and by a Second part of the Argument c. and all these Three which seem to me to be wrote be the same Hand agree in this Point in General That the War being at an end no Forces at all are to be kept in Pay no Men to be Maintained whose Profession is bearing Arms whose Commission is to Kill and Slay as he has it in the Second Part but they must be Dismist as Men for whom there is no more Occasion against an Enemy and are dangerous to be kept up least they find Occasion against our selves The Advocates for the Necessity of a Standing Army seem to make light of all these Fears and Jealousies and Plead the Circumstances of the Kingdom with Relation to our Leagues and Confederacys abroad the Strength of our Neighbours a Pretender to the Crown in Being the Uncertainties of Leagues and the like as Arguments to prove an Army necessary I must own these are no Arguments any longer than those Circumstances continue and therefore can amount to no more than to argue the necessity of an Army for a time which time none of them has ventured to Assign nor to say how being once Establish'd we shall be sure to be rid of them in case a new King shou'd succeed before the time be expir'd who may not value our Liberty at the rate his present Majesty has done I desire calmly to consider both these Extreams and if it be possible to find out the safe Medium which may please us all If there be any Person who has an ill Design in pushing thus against the Soldery I am not to expect that less than a Disbanding the whole Army will satisfie him but such who have no other End than preserving our Liberties entire and leaving them so to Posterity will be satisfied with what they know is sufficient to that End for he who is not content with what will fully answer the End he proposes has some other End than that which he proposes I make no Reflections upon any Party but I propose to direct this Discourse to the Honest well meaning English Freeholder who has a share in the Terra firma and therefore is concern'd to preserve Freedom to the Inhabitant that loves his Liberty better than his Life and won't sell it for Money and this is the Man who has the most reason to fear a Standing Army for he has something to loose as he is most concern'd for the the Safety of a Ship who has a Cargo on her Botom This Man is the hardest to be made believe that he cannot be safe without an Army because he finds he is not easie with one To this Man all the sad Instances of the Slavery of Nations by Standing Armies stand as so many Buoys to warn him of the Rocks which other Free Nations have split upon and therefore 't is to this Man we are to speak And in order to state the Case right we are to distinguish first between England formerly and England now between a Standing Army able to enslave the Nation and a certain Body of Forces enough to make us safe England now is in sundry Circumstances different from England formerly with respect to the Manner of Fighting the Circumstances of our Neighbours and of our Selves and there are some Reasons why a Militia are not and perhaps I might make it out cannot be made fit for the Uses of the present Wars In the Ancient Times of England's Power we were for many years the Invaders of our Neighbours and quite out of