Selected quad for the lemma: country_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
country_n	great_a	king_n	prince_n	10,054	5	5.4599	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93863	To Sir Richard Cocks.	Stephens, Edward, d. 1706.; Cocks, Richard, Sir, ca. 1658-1726.	1699 (1699)	Wing S5444C; ESTC R184629	2,809	3

To Sir Richard Cocks Sir Richard AS I am a Commoner of England it is as I told you before my Right and my Duty to take notice and complain to the House of Commons of all or any such matters of publick concern as are proper for the Inquiry or Consideration of that House And as I am a Christian I am much more obliged to use that Right and discharge that Duty when they are such as do affront or do Contempt to the Christian Religion which is the Religion of the Nation and so Essential a part of this Constitution that it is one of the Fundamental Principles of our Laws that what-ever Laws are enacted in any thing contrary to this Religion they are so far void and null This is the common Right and Duty of every Commoner of England But besides all this I have been for some Years by the special Providence of Almighty God ingaged in his more immediate Service and without limitation to any special Charge so that where-ever I have opportunity for his Service I am obliged faithfully to discharge it And besides all this I am obliged by Oath to be faithful to the present King which I intend by the Grace of God faithfully to perform tho for special and I think good reasons I refuse to take it again These are great Obligations and such as I cannot discharge without taking notice and complaining of what I observe greatly amiss in both Houses of Parliament And I shall do it first to you as my proper Representative and by you desire it may be represented to the House as you will answer it to your Country for which you serve In your House I observe such abominable Impiety and Contempt of Religion as greater hath rarely been known I have heard it complained of by Members of the House that a Man can hardly mention any thing of God or Religion there but he shall be in danger to be ridicul'd or laught at And when I have asked why no body moved the House that some of them might be called to the Bar and made Examples the common Answer hath been It would be to no purpose Which is the Shame of the whole Ho●se and notorious Evidence of their Impudence and Ignorance of what becomes such Assemblies in one part of them and of such Baseness as makes them unworthy of the Name of Christians in the rest as if the generous Discharge of so great and noble a Duty was not of it self a thing to great purpose as if the Fearful or such as are ashamed of Christ or his Words are not to have their part with Infidels and Unbelievers that is with such as the rest of their Fellow-Members of whom they complain as if their Baseness might not reasonably be imputed by the others to Infidelity and Disbelief of the Religion which they profess to the Scandal of Religion and Hardening those poor Creatures in their Impiety It is no wonder if the whole Nation abound in Infidelity and all kind of Wickedness when there is no more Religion in those who should correct it among the Commons and the Latitudinarian Bishops among the Lords And now I appeal to the Consciencies of all who have any Sense of Religion and to the dreadful Tribunal of Almighty God whether these things be not true and whether there be not more danger to the Nation from such a House of Commons and such Bishops than from Popery and from all the Priests and Jesuites in the Nation if they were as many more as they are And where there is no more Fear of God it is no wonder if there be not that Honour and Respect for the King that there ought to be Freedom of Debates in Parliament is undoubtedly the Right of the Subject but if under pretence of Freedom of Debates any Members shall do acts of Insolence and Disrespect to the King that is no part of their Right but a Violation of Duty to the King and tending to the Dissolution of the Government and ought to be corrected That your late Votes grounded upon a false and foolish Letter to a Member of Parliament was such is believed by many to get an advantage against the King and to prevent that 't is likely many did comply in their Votes who did not see any other reason for it and the Choice of the Chairman for that Committee a Person who was turn'd out of her Service by the late good Queen hath declared openly in your Lobby to my self that he thought Vice ought to be incouraged and is reported to have expressed no little disrespect to the King in your House before now is a considerable Aggravation of the Indignity How such things can be consistent either with Conscience and Religion Civil Duty to our Country and one of the best Governments in the World or their Oaths of Fidelity to the King I do not understand nor so much as 〈◊〉 common Prudence for themselves and their own Rights The King hath shewed himself a Prince of great Courage and of as great Prudence and Conduct Almighty God has by him as his Instrument in Confederacy with divers of the chief Catholick Princes vouchsafed us a happy Peace if we have the Discretion to use it as we ought and as becomes Persons sensible of his Goodness and of the respect they ought to have for his Instuments in it But I doubt these Polititians do but egregiously befool themselves with a vain Conceit and Presumption of having the Purse of the Nation For certainly the King hath as little need of them as they have of him and by such Politicks they do but provoke the just Indignation not only of a wise Prince but of all honest and faithful Subjects and most of all of those Confederates who if this King should die as he must one day may by the just Judgment of God enter into a Confederacy of themselves to correct their Ingratitude and Folly Nay should the King but dissolve this Parliament and in a Declaration set out such Reasons as he may for that and for Calling of another their little Politicks with themselves might probably be soon in the dirt The Pretence of the * There are other more proper natural and effectual Means to remove all Fear of Popery than such Violence of Factions of which the King cannot but know something Growth of Popery hath been made use of to so ill purpose heretofore hath so little ground at this time more than what proceeds from the Negligence of the Clergy in assisting condemned Persons and visiting the Sick and the Obstinacy and Unconcernedness of a Party of Prudential Latitudinarian Bishops for what does more properly belong to their Charge and particularly for mending their Cause and making that sound which is indefensible at present and is raised I believe so unseasonably to serve and support a lame and tottering Cause that it 's like to prove the Shame and Confusion both of it and of those who make use of such indirect Means for that purpose Let me but know who were the Composers of that Letter and had the Impudence and Folly to call me as it is commonly understood Mad-man Convert two Lyes at once and I do not doubt but to give you such Account of the whole matter as will sufficiently satisfie both the House and all honest and wise Men in the Nation What I have more to say I shall reserve till I see what Use is made of this I hope the House will consider what is to be done both to expiate that provoking Wickedness against God and to correct as they deserve all Indignities done to the King and you shall always find me ready in what belongs to me to serve both and my Country in the best manner I can Your Humble Servant Edward Stephens