Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A63246
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The speech of Charles Trinder, recorder of Gloucester at his entrance upon that office, January the 8th, 1687/8.
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Trinder, Charles.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing T2283; ESTC R37902
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12,670
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19
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White-Hall January 21st 1687 / 8. This may be Printed SVNDERLAND P. THE SPEECH OF Charles Trinder Esq RECORDER OF GLOUCESTER AT HIS Entrance upon that Office JANVARY the 8th 1687 / 8. LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall 1687 / 8. THE SPEECH OF Charles Trinder Esq Gentlemen IT has pleased His Sacred Majesty to send His Royal Mandate hither in obedience to which I have had the Honour to be Elected Admitted and Sworn Recorder of this City Gentlemen I am very sensible of those many Defects which may seem to others as well as to my self to render me unqualified for so weighty an Office. But I shall not here loose time either in extenuating or excusing the same None here are ignorant of those many invincible Obstacles as to all sorts of Learning and Knowledge which have been laid in the way to Persons of my Character and Religion To mention no more then the very Oaths which we could not take and for the not taking of which till of late there was no Dispensation to be had These I say alone were a too sufficient cause of discouragement and hindrance from any close pursuit of Study or Conversation in such Knowledge and Practice as are requisit to an accomplish'd Lawyer But our Comfort is that in the present state of Affairs not so much profoundness of Skill as sincerity of Heart not the great Understanding but the good Will are the most indispensable Necessaries for His Majesty's Service not only in this but in most other Stations and Employments And for these I may without vanity challenge them to my self and I hope being no Stranger to most of you here present you will easily believe and acknowledge the same and that if on the one side you regard His Majesty's Affairs and on the other side the circumstances of my Life and Profession it would have been perhaps difficult to have found any One in this County more entirely at His Majesty's Service then my self And let this suffice to justifie His Majesty's Choice and notwithstanding my own avowed Defectiveness and Incapacity in other respects my submission to it Mean while I am not to be put in mind that even these beloved Oualities which I seem to glory in of Zeal and Fidelity in His Majesty's Service and which I plead as an Atonement for my other Unworthinesses that even these alone I say are enough to blast me in the Opinion of some men who will never hope for any good from One so disposed and declared The distractions and differences of Opinions have caused such disaffections of Heart that Mens Fancies are fill'd with Fears and Jealousies against the most innocent and laudable Purposes and Protestations of this nature even before they are reduced into Act. Hence it comes to pass that a Man can no sooner make profession of his Duty and Zeal to His Majesty's Service but some discontented and ill-affected Worldling who knows little and loves less besides what concerns his own self-interest represents him to himself and others as one of the Court-Party no Friend to his Country One ready to sacrifice his own and all other Mens Liberties and Properties to the Arbitrary Will and Pleasure of the Prince Neither does this happen in matters which relate to the Service of the King only or upon Temporal accounts alone but also in all Endeavours and good Desires for the welfare of our fellow-Subjects too and that in things which are Spiritual and concern the Conscience only Hence it comes to pass that a man cannot compassionate the heavy Sufferings of his innocent Neighbours for matters of meer Religion but he is presently maligned by some Bigot or other as an Enemy and Underminer of the Church of England as I my self was in this very place for this only cause in the late heats at the Quarter-Sessions for this County publickly traduced and branded as One that did more mischief then any other Man in the County But let such Worldlings and Bigots give me leave to tell them That they know not what Spirit they are of The first of them seem to trace back the Practices of those Times in which it was neither sufficient nor safe for a man to declare for the King but he must be for the King and Parliament too till at last he must upon his peril disclaim both King and Parliament Whereas in reality Loyalty to the King and Justice to the People are in their very Essence so united together that they are incapable of separation The second sort seem to have forgotten or even deserted the so-much boasted Principle of their own Church which they use to say is not of a Persecuting Genius or Spirit unless peradventure they mean by a Distinction that it is so in its Articles but not in its Members But Gentlemen that we may spare both these sorts of Spirits and calm them too I will say no more of either but only this That I am sent hither to serve a Prince who makes it His business to content both who to all His Subjects however affected is a Mirrour of Justice and Clemency And as I cannot serve so neither can I please Him better then by using my best endeavours as by God's Grace I ever shall in what-ever comes before me that the effects of these two God-like Attributes in Him may be equally distributed to all without regard to Fear or Favour But because I told you in the beginning of this Discourse that the cause of all these Jealousies and Disaffections was that great distraction in Opinion and Judgment wherewith this Age has been divided and perplex'd while each one endeavours to maintain and promote his own sometimes one prevailing and sometimes another and all equally labouring if not for Power at least for Ease and Security Give me leave to entertain you a little with the cause of those Distractions in Opinions which are the cause of these Disaffections I hope the Remarks which I shall make will prove no mis-expence of time either to you or me This great and famous Kingdom of England being many Ages past as again now at present highly blest with Kings enrich'd with a most sublime Wisdom as well as other Princely Vertues The Government of it was many hundred years since founded on such Rocks of Prudence and Justice as might in all humane prospect have secured it unshaken to the Worlds end It is that of Monarchy which has for its pattern the Great Monarch of Heaven and of all created Beings A Monarchy by Descent which secures us from all those dismal Factions and Wars which commonly attends the Election of Kings to the great weakning and oft-times final destruction of the Government and People A Monarchy wherein the King has all the Power the Nobility all the Honour and the People all the Security which the Hearts of men truly Rational can wish or aspire to How often and with what great Solemnity hath the great Charter of the