Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	bishop_n	great_a	time_n	1,465	5	3.3468	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50337	A letter out of the country to a member of this present Parliament occasioned by a late letter to a member of the House of Commons, concerning the bishops lately in the Tower and now under suspension.	Maurice, Henry, 1648-1691.	1689 (1689)	Wing M1365; ESTC R34531	14,805	20

A LETTER Out of the COUNTRY To a MEMBER of this present PARLIAMENT OCCASIONED By a late LETTER to a Member of the House of Commons Concerning the BISHOPS lately in the Tower and now under SUSPENSION Licensed Nov. 7. 1689. J. F. LONDON Printed for Awnsham Churchill at the Black Swan near Amen-Corner 1689. A LETTER to a Member of the House of Commons c. SIR THE concern which in your last to me you were pleas'd to express for those good Bishops now under Suspension for not taking the Oaths and your earnest Enquiry after some Expedient to prevent their utter Destitution do well become that Character of Goodness and Generosity by which you are known no less than by your Name It is some comfort to see that a Person of your Understanding and Practice in the World doth not yet despair nor give up these Excellent but Unfortunate Persons as lost beyond possibility of recovery Some begin to bewail their Fall already as a thing unavoidable and others may be casting lots for the Garments there is nothing that the Church of England in general desires more than the Preservation of these bright and shining Lights that direct and adorn her and cannot think with any patience that they should be extinguished in Dishonour They have the Compassion and the good Wishes of the People which if they have not always Effect yet may serve for a good Omen and portend something better than what now appears But after all there can be no ground of Hopes but by a Parliament for the Act has left no other Remedy and we cannot expect that the Dispensing Power should now revive to save those from whom it received its mortal Wound in the last Reign Now Providence has so far favour'd their Cause that a Parliament is assembled within the Time assign'd for taking the Oaths and before the last Severities are to fall upon the Refusers and who can tell but it may be with a Design to give that great Assembly an opportunity to find some Relief for these Reverend Bishops who have deserv'd so well of this Church and Kingdom and whose absolute Ruine cannot but be dishonourable and invidious I do not pretend to justifie their Refusal of taking the Oaths but wish with all my heart they would yet take them and bring their Conscience to go along with the Stream of the Publick Judgment that they would consider what allowance is to be made for the real Necessities of a Kingdom and whether the Safety of a People must not be preferr'd to all ordinary humane Rule We of the Church of England have the greatest reason in the World to wish this for we cannot but account it one of the greatest Calamities that can befall us to see the chiefest and best of our Guides divided from the major part and general Consent of the Nation But our Affliction will be insupportable if we must see our selves deprived of such Men under whose Conduct we have found Safety and Honour in the most difficult Times and see them whom we reverence and love as Fathers disgrac'd and depos'd and undone because they boggle in a kind of moot Point of Conscience and cannot satisfie their Minds about the Oaths now enjoyn'd Nor can I much wonder that several of the Clergy have their Scruples upon this occasion for Men of Retirement and Study are not so quick in a Change as Statesmen and those who have the Experience and Practice of the World. As those who keep within doors are not so soon sensible of alteration of Weather as those who are abroad and live in the open Air. Besides the Arguments for the maintenance of our rightful Liberties and just Defence and all the grounds of our Common and Necessary preservation have been so miserably abus'd by restless and seditious Men that they have lost a great deal of their Operation They have been so often pretended without reason that when the real Case of Necessity happens many may be apt to suspect it for Counterfeit and meer Pretence as those who have been too often abus'd with false Alarms may not so readily be brought to arm and prepare upon a real one The Parliament therefore that made this Actt enjoyning these Oaths could not but foresee that several of the Clergy might probably be under great difficulties upon this Occasion and upon this Prospect thought fit to exempt Twelve Persons from some part of the Penalties of the Statute so far as to leave them at the King's Discretion for a third Part of their Revenues which shews that in the Opinion of this very Parliament there might be some Refusers not unworthy of Favour But it is possible they might not foresee al that happen'd nor think that the Rigour and Severity of that Act should in a manner wholly fall upon such Persons who are the Chief for Merits as well as Authority in our Church and that they only should feel the Extremities of that Law who had deserv'd another kind of acknowledgment and return from the Nation for that unparallell'd Zeal for the Protestant Religion and for the Priviledges and Liberty of the Subject which in so signal a manner they shew'd in the last Reign It is little more than a year since most of the Bishops who are now so unfortunate as not to be able to reconcile their Consciences to the Oaths were hurried into Prison for their opposition to Popery and Slavery The Zeal and Courage which they made appear upon that occasion cannot so soon be forgot for who cannot but have yet a lively remembrance how sensible the whole Nation was affected with their Sufferings and Enlargements how all sorts of People were concern'd as if the Fate of the Kingdom had been ty'd to theirs and all must have been ruin'd or preserv'd with them I might mention the Malice and Virulence of their Prosecution and how near Treason it was then thought by some to oppose King James his Arbitrary Power But I do not now call the Sufferings of these great Men in remembrance with any design to render the Instruments of them odious But to let you see how strange a thing it will appear to the present Age and to Posterity that those Prelates who had escap'd the fury of Papists and had made so glorious a Confession for Protestant Religion and English Liberties should in so little a compass of time come to be disgrac'd and depos'd and ruin'd under a Protestant Government without any high Crime laid to their Charge but only because they cannot prevail with their Consciences to take the Oaths which tho' I think to be just and necessary yet cannot but acknowledge to have some Circumstances that are unusual and extraordinary It might be expected upon the Deliverance of this Nation from Popery and Tyranny that those who had stood in the gap and distinguish'd themselves by the check and stop which they gave to the Progress of those spreading plagues might have been proportionably distinguish'd by the

Countenance and Favour of the next Settlement but the Ruine of such men under this Government will appear unaccountable when we consider what Lenity it has us'd to all sorts of Offenders when we see few or none of all those Perfidious Wretches who joyn'd in the Attempt of enslaving and undoing this Nation so much as call'd in question when the Prosecutors of the Bishops are not only receiv'd into mercy but into favour What can People think What can they say when they see the chief Champions for Protestant Religion and Liberty to be the only Men that are ruin'd by the Change What will foreign Nations think of us since even among them the Names of these Bishops are become venerable for their Reputation has reach'd as far as Protestant Religion does extend Those who have applauded them from far and acknowledg'd them as the chiefest and bravest Defenders of the common Cause what will they think when they come to hear that after the deliverance of the Kingdom those whom they admir'd at such a distance are cover'd with dishonour and depriv'd of every thing but the Reputation and Conscience of their Merits There will be but poor Encouragement for any hereafter to hazard themselves for the Publick good while they have before their Eyes such sad and frightful Recompenses as this Nay tho' there had been no provision at all made for any other scrupulous person in this case yet the signal merit of these Bishops might leave room for a Special Plea in their behalf But when Quakers are thought not unworthy of particular provision and tenderness a Sect who are known to this Kingdom by no good Office or usefulness but are fallen under the just displeasure and detestation of the Kingdom for their conjunction with King James when these come to be humour'd in their Nonsence excus'd from Oaths exempted from the Penalties of this Act while this stands in the very Body of our Law and is allowed throughout the whole Kingdom how can any one without indignation see the chief Bishops of our Church and the celebrated Patriots of our Liberties fall an unbecoming and miserable Sacrifice to this Act and endure its last Extremities from which such humorsom and sullen Impostors are exempted Now these Bishops Character and manner of Life dispose them to peace their proper business which is not of this World is not likely to give them leave to be overbusie in troubling the Affairs of it their Zeal for the Protestant Religion which is beyond dispute their Love of their Country and the Laws which appear'd sufficiently to the whole Kingdom these things in my judgment tho' they do not take the Oaths are much a better and more solid security than any Quakers Declaration can amount to Now as I cannot but think it reasonable that these worthy Bishops should have some relief in their present distress before it be too late so I am of opinion this may be more proper time to do it than when the Act was in making For then there might be good reason to make some shew of rigour for the Government was but new and requir'd that all sorts of Men should declare Allegiance to it but now the Act having operated sufficiently and the generality of the Clergy having taken the Oaths the Examples of these Bishops can have no ill influence and the favour that shall be shewed them will be only Personal and draw no consequence of danger after it for the Entrance of the Church is sufficiently secur'd since none can receive either Orders or Preferment without taking the Oaths And as it can be no prejudice to the Government to preserve these good Men so I am sure it will be very honourable and give it credit both at home and abroad You know as well as I that there cannot be any thing more acceptable to the generality of the Kingdom You can searce meet with any man that will not wish it were in his power to restore them I have spoken with several of your House and with some of the Lords and I find all well-wishers What then can hinder the effect of so universal an Inclination I have not the honour to be of your House at this time it was indifferent to me whether it should be you or I nay I am better satisfi'd that you are there since I know you wish as well as I can to this matter and have greater dexterity and credit in the House to bring it to pass They are much mistaken who fancy that the suspended Bishops have by their refusal of the Oaths forfeited all that credit which they got with the People in King James his time for as far as I can observe the People are rather sorry than angry with them for not complying and when they are once depos'd will be much more sensible of their suffering which is visible than of the reason of it which will not be so easily comprehended And even the Clergy who have taken the Oaths are so far from diminishing the Affection and Reverence they had for their Bishops that they rather increase from the consideration of their misfortune The Clergy look upon the Deprivation which without relief from this Parliament must shortly fall upon their Bishops to be more a punishment to the Dioceses than the Diocesans In proper speaking they are rather depriv'd of their Bishops than the Bishops of their Preferments and I dare say it there were any appearance of hope the respective Dioceses would quickly petition for the Restauration of their Governours and beseech you in the most render and passionate manner in the World that you would not leave them Orphans while their Fathers are alive and they are like to continue so while these Bishops are living since it can scarce be conceiv'd that any worthy Men will be forward to accept these Preferments and thereby shut the door against their Predecessors so as to make their return impossible For notwithstanding Deprivation as long as the Places are void the depriv'd Bishops are in a possibility of being restor'd but when the Seats are one fill'd there can be no remedy so that the Successors and not the Law will be look'd upon as the Deprivers And if the Ambition of any should be so prevalent as to despise the invidiousness of such Preferments they must consider that they will have but little authority over their Clergy or People and can do but little good where they are judg'd to intrude to the prejudice of the old Possessors for whom both Clergy and People have so great esteem and tho' they may have legal right and possession and be Bishops and Fathers in Law yet as long as their Predecessors are in being and in possession of the hearts of their People and look'd upon as depriv'd not for any Canonical Reasons but for their Misfortune rather than their Fault the New-comers can expect to be but sorrily belov'd and will have great difficulty to maintain the Peace and Unity of their