Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A25576
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An Answer to the Bishop of Rochester's second letter to the Earl of Dorset &c. by an English-man.
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Englishman.; Charlton, Mr.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing A3390; ESTC R31265
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19,150
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70
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And so very Unseasonable that if I had been in the Place of such preliminary Consultation I should humbly have Offered That my Lords the Bishops would please to refer his Majesty to his Popish Councils by which he had for so many Years been conducted rather than so late have thought it any Service to the Protestant Religion and Interest voluntarily to inform him how he might Amuse the People with more vain Promises Unspirit their Hopes and Disappoint the Expedition Leaving Us a Reproach to our own sense a Certain Prey to our Mortal Enemies and the Disdain if not the Danger of Christendom And if I had found your Lordship in the Advice who had so often Exercised your Parts for Them before notwithstanding your Letter to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners should readily have thought It proceeded from your Lordship as One rather Willing to Compound for a present Safety upon Imaginary Conditions than venture Calling to Account in a Manlike Reformation which can never be without some Stroaks and more Marks of Impartial Justice For my Lord tho' Moderation is Healing yet the Body having been grievously Wounded and Unable to discharge the Offices of a Political Life when the Physicians with regard to the Constitution have taken care to obviate the danger of Feaver or other Distemper the First Applications are Corrosive Laying open and Probing of Wounds by declaring Crimes and designing Persons is necessary Proud Flesh must be taken off whether by Fine Degradation or Confiscation and Gangrene prevented by Death Banishment or other Disability according to the wisdom of Parliament In the beginning of a Persecution an Honest Man in a Lawful Employment may with Anxiety submit to a Rash Action in hopes to hinder worse but he must quickly repair by a Good one or withdraw not presuming to go on under Colour to Mitigate the Violence of Times For his Early Departure may Nip a Conspiracy in the Bud Stagger the Design and save a Nation Whereas if he Continues among them the Plot gathers Strength while his Reputation is a Snare to the Weaker He that remains in a Station of Evil pretending to keep out a Worse Man than himself greatly aggravates his Crime Apology is gone in the very Capacity to Distinguish for he makes his Judgment Stoop to his will and Honesty Slave to Ambition But your Streamer my Lord is an Admirable Spark He that God help him was in the middle of the Stream poor wretch when the Tide turn'd so Violently against Our Establisht Church and State No warning for he never heard of the name of Admiral parted with rather than take one Test and a Proviso obtained to secure Passage to the House of Lords in another but was driven down by Chance I Know not How Lower than he expected The Turn was so Sudden before he could resist the Current or get to Shore otherwise we had been Sure of him for all the World Knows his Heart was with Us. That Man has nothing to do but Apologise for a Stream He got off as soon as he Could thinks to be at rest under an Act of Oblivion and it may be Fifty thousand Pounds or such a Trifling Sum from half a Crown to dry himself with If that will pass for an Apology upon my word my Lord one Streamer shall Outlive Five hundred Porpoises and a Stemmer of Tides is a Goose to him It is so far from being well that so many forsook not the True Interest of the Nation 't is a Shame that so many Did but when I consider again that true Protestant was a mark of Reproach I wonder we have so many Left. It is happy so many preserv'd their Integrity and wretched so many Betra'yd it That so many Stood Unmov'd by the Importunity of their King whom they were Bred up to Honour and in all things Else to Obey and Pity their Honour was not Sooner Consulted in their Obedience In Sense of Humane Frailty many Infirmities are to be Overlook'd but Ignorance is no Common Plea for Those who are Known to be Able nor Chance and Surprise where the Province is Care If it be a great Crime in a Centinel to Sleep at his Post 't is Unpardonable to take Opiate and True only to Preferment Stupify all the Rest of his Qualifications False Steps are to be Considered Heat of Spirit may carry the Undiscerning Loyalty of Youth out of the way for a while Or a Dazle from the Sun may intoxicate him but Temper is expected in Ripeness of Judgment and Firmeness of Wisdom from Age. It may be thought some kind of Merit or some Degree of Innocence not to make more False Steps in a Slippery Ground that is Where Arbitrary Dominion has gained the Point and from general Consent as to a Conqueror ready Obedience is Yielded to the Inconstant Motions of Unlimited Power But when the Prerogative is labouring to break in up-upon the Fences of Known and Written Laws he is an Ill Husband that does not Endeavour to transmit that most Sacred part of his Inheritance the Rights and Liberties of his Countrey to Posterity Free from Incumbrance as the Sweat the Honesty and the Blood of his Ancestors Secured and left to him And if he that Assists the Betraying those Rights who with Ignorance and Chance Sets up for Innocence Merit or Thanks Imputes all to Slippery Ground and 't is well 't is no worse Gentlemen Take it as you find it be contented and mend for the Future if he be Excusable with such an Apology there may be Room for our Enemies to dispute our Deliverances and Our Friends to question the Just Sense we have of it Compliance looks very well meaning because All are not Inflexible and Allowance may be given to Better Understanding But he that Complies in all Times and Causes Or he that Complies with many Bad Causes Or the many Labours of one Bad Cause if Great or Learned in the Eyes of the People is a Dangerous Creature for the Powerful Argument of Private Advantage with such an Example draws in the Numbers The First is neither True nor of Reputation to Any Cause and the Last makes a Good One Suspicious unless some Extraordinary Act of Purgation assures him and much more is required than Breaking Loose from Ecclesiastical Commissioners at the last Minute when they were Ready to part by Consent and the Conspirators behind the Curtain only directed them like Generals to draw up seemingly to Face the whole Body of the Clergy to secure an Orderly Retreat in the Shape of Adjournment with no more intent to meet again the Fourth of December than they designed to Establish Liberty of Conscience by a Religious Magna Charta or than they were so vain as to think tho' the Dissenters accepted a Liberty of Worship they would ever consent to Repeal the Tests or were able to Compass it Effectually for them if they were so Ill inclined but as I have said in my