Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A54973
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Plain dealing is a jewel and honesty the best policy both set forth in an answer to a letter received by a gentleman in London, from his friend in the countrey : wherein is planly demonstrated the grounds and reasons of our present distractions and methods proposed for preventing the same for the future / by a lover of truth and a hearty well-wisher to the prosperity of the King and his three kingdoms.
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Lover of truth and a hearty well-wisher to the prosperity of the king and his three kingdoms.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing P2352; ESTC R8001
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28,621
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25
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thoughts of Revenge against all Mankind let not difference in Opinion in matters of Religion beget difference in Affection especially amongst Protestants but Unite in Love bear and forbear with and hide the Infirmities of each other Be easie to believe and make known what good you hear of any man whom you have reason to Judg honest though of a different perswasion from you and as hard to believe ill unless you know it and more of discovering it except to himself least it prove false Give not Credit to all you hear neither Devulge all you know take care not to invent and spread abroad any false Stories to the Defamation of any person whatsoever especially of those that are set in Authority over you and to whom you are obliged to be Subject whereby their Honour Reputation or good Name may be called in question or prejudiced or their Persons and Government rendered low or contemptable this is abominable worse then Murder Reputation to a man of Honour being dearer then Life it self Lay aside and give over all names of Distinction such as Tory Whig Phanatick Tantivy-men Bruminghams Masquerade-Papists Masquerade-Protestants Church-Whigs Church-Papists and all provoking scurrulous Speaking Writing and Printing against each other these are publick Mischiefs tending to the Destruction rather then the Advancement of our Government or the Protestant Religion and proceeds from the Spirit of the Devil rather then from that of our Blessed Saviour whose Example we are commanded to Imitate Be Just follow Truth pursue Righteousness execute Justice Impartially Relieve the Oppressed Cloath the Naked Feed the Hungry Visit the Sick Release the Imprisoned be a Husband to the Widow and a Father to the Fatherless always goe about doing good and no hurt avoid all Frauds and Deceits deal fairly and above Board with all Mankind abhor all Tricks and little Cheats they will never last long or doe any man good God will Discover and Detect them to the Scorn and Contempt of whoever uses them either of one side or the other be the pretence what it will for so doing there being nothing that he who is the God of Truth more Abhors then such base and false Practices If every man would make it his Business to Observe these few Directions and submit as commanded to the Powers that are over him as being of God pay the King the Honour and Duty due to him as his Sovereign and prefer as he ought the publick good and welfare of the Kingdom before his own private Interests which now too much Governs most men in our Age. And if the People of England when they shall next Elect Members to serve them in Parliament would chuse such Persons to Represent them as shall when they come together to Consult of and Provide for their Interests and Security in their Religion and Property carry on their Debates with calm and serene Spirits lay aside all Passion Prejudice and Prepossession Act with Moderation Wisdom and Prudence and behave themselves with that Loyal and Dutiful Respect to the King which becomes them and is their Duty as they are his Subjects His Majesty would then soon perceive and easily be brought to believe that he need not fear them and with confidence I will presume to say The King is not in such a Condition as that his Subjects need to fear him there being more Danger of a Common-Wealth then of Absolute Monarchy where the People Set up for Reformers By this way of Proceedings the King who is of a most Excellent Temper and Disposition ready to pass by and forgive whatever has been amiss so amendment be made for the future would quickly be gained by his People and as he is our Sovereign give me leave to say He ought to be thus Treated Hereby the Kingdom may obtain reasonable Laws for their Security against all their present Fears and Jealousies and future Dangers so as such Laws be pursued with becoming Humility and Duty and without Heats and Passions however if by this Method of Proceeding the Parliament should not arrive at those both reasonable and perhaps necessary Laws they so pursue yet will they have Peace and Satisfaction in their own Minds remain quiet in their Consciences and be Justified before God and Man for having done their Duty both to their King and Countrey On the other hand devise what good Laws you can for the Nations Security though you should get them past yet if they be pursued in Parliament with Heat Violence or any unhandsome or unmannerly way of Proceeding such Procedure I am sure cannot be Justified either before God or Man let the Pretences for so doing be never so Specious and give me leave to say That the most Just and Reasonable things in the World may justly be Denyed if demanded or pursued in a Method that is Unjustifiable Nor does it become so Great and Venerable an Assembly as the Parliament of England when met together to advise the making Laws for preservation of the Nation in Peace and Tranquility to be themselves Froward Restless or Pievish wherefore I shall comfort my self at present with the hopes of seeing our next Parliament come together with all the Qualifications of Wisdome becoming the Greatest and Freest Assembly in the Universe and proceeding with Temper Moderation and Prudence of which there never was more need than now and if they so doe I doubt not but that they may effect that Good they hope for seem to desire and ought to pursue for their Countrey if they doe their Duty and perform the Trust reposed in them So may they gain Glory to themselves and be Eternally Stiled The Happy and Healing Parliament and the Generations to come will have Cause to call them Blessed for having healed our Devisions reconciled out Differences made up our Breaches United the King and his People restored to us the Paths of Peace and transmitted Happiness to us and our Posterities and to the Generations that shall come after them FINIS
such Danger they upon the opening of every Parliament or Session of Parliament would have put the several Members of the House of Commons as well as the Lords upon a right Course of preventing the Mischiefs they seemed to fear and delivering us from the Grievances they pretended the Kingdom suffered under but as if they had not believed what they reported they took the contrary Course and instead of perswading the Parliament to moderate sober Councils and Proceedings studied to put them into Heats and Passions and upon Exclaiming against particular Persons to whom they owed prejudice as being His Majesties Servants and Ministers These upon common Fame before heard or Witnesses examined against them must be Removed from the Kings Presence and Councils for Ever on Addresses from the House of Commons no Body knew for what save I ancies and Immaginations But some of them being too Great and their Integrities and Abilities for His Majesties Service better known to him then them His Majesty not thinking fit to Remove them Thereupon some of these worthy Patriots of their Countrey for several Sessions of Parliament made it their business to doe nothing save to contrive Differences between the Two Houses of Parliament for which purpose they questioned the Lords Jurisdiction in matters of Appeals particularly in the Cases of Sherly and Fag and others which Controvercy they carried so high that Sir John Fag and several Lawyers were Committed by the House of Commons to the Tower for only appearing before the Lords at their Bar and owning their Judicature in Cases of Appeals from Courts of Equity this single Point caused several Prorogations and rendred several Sessions Fruitless though the same was never before called in question since His Majesties Restauration Now if those Gentlemen who so highly concerned themselves in these matters had been of such publick Spirits as to spend their time in laying open the Dangers they apprehended we were in and the Grievances we suffered under with Design to have prevented those Dangers and redressed those Grievances They would certainly then have applied to the several Members of Parliament prest for Moderation desired them to avoid all Heats and Passions and to look into the Plot search it to the bottom Try the Lords in the Tower and examine the Truth of the several Grievances complained of and find means to prevent the Danger of the former and secure us for the Future against the latter in doing whereof they must necessarily have found who had occasioned both and after securing the Subjects then to have fallen on the Persons Guilty would have been more proper for if then these Persons had been too great for the Parliament and procured Prorogations and Dissolutions yet had the Parliament discharged their Consciences done their Duty preserved their Countrey and deserv'd Thanks and Honour from those they Represented But to fall upon particular Persons first and to doe nothing for our Security because they could not have their Ends against those Persons they had prejudice too give me leave to say for them to be perswaded to this method of Proceedings in my apprehension did not argue that either they themselves or those persons that informed them of the Grievances and Dangers the Nation was said to lie under believed the truth of either and if so then was it a Barbarous Act to amuse alarm and frighten the People from their Duty to their Prince with groundless Noise and Clamor If really there were at those times such Grievances and Dangers as Represented how could the Parliament have answered it to God and their Countrey if through their private Heats and Animosities the Mischiefs threatned and which the Nation seared had fallen upon us if they had then believed our Danger so great as they discoursed it to be and had not known that more Noise and Clamor was made then there was just occasion for I am of opinion they would for their own Honour as well as the publick Good have first endeavoured to have secured our future Happiness rather than hazarded the same out of some private Peak they had to particular Persons Again If these Gentlemen by the Endeavors they used to have obtained an Act for Secluding his Royal Highness from the Imperial Crown of England had designed to secure the Protestant Religion against a Popish Successor had that I say been their single Intention certainly they would have made the Act general to bar for the future all Persons of the Popish Religion from Inheriting or wearing the Imperial Crown of England but to bring in a Bill against James Duke of York alone by name and that whether he be Papist or Protestant at the time of the Kings Death provided he should happen to survive him this kind of procedure seems rather to be the effect of the Malice and Revenge of some particular persons against the Dukes Person who have gone so far as that they judg they cannot be safe if ever he Reigns than a Design to secure the Protestant Religion against a Popish Successor For First If such Bill was past and his Royal Highness should die before the King that Act dies with him Secondly If the Duke survive the King he being near as Old it cannot be expected he should live long after him so it would do little good nor will it be any great Security to the Kingdom to have him bar'd and no Body else Besides the offering of such Bill was unmannerly and put a hardship upon the King to Exclude by a Law his only Brother from Inheriting the Crown of England though he should be a Protestant and at the same time out of Zeal to the promotion and preservation of the Protestant Religion leave room for the King of Spain or any other Popish Successor except the Duke of York to Succeed our present King and bring in the Spanish Inquisition with him What savors this of or looks it like but a malicious Design of particular persons against the Duke of York I am sure I can find nothing of a real Design in it to Secure the Protestant Religion and Interest Whereas if the Bill had been made general to have barred all Popish Successors it would have been more excusable and might perhaps have been judged the effect of the Parliaments Care of the Protestant Interest and it may be would not have appeared so difficult for the King to have past if he had found reason to believe it for his Subjects Good and with tendency to the Security and Happiness of his Kingdoms Because in such Case His Majesty had done his Royal Brother no wrong only by advice of Parliament had past a general Law for the publick Good and Security of his Kingdoms That could neither hurt the Duke or bar him the Succession without his own consent by Declaring himself a Papist Besides if this Bill had past into an Act what would it have signified has not many of the like nature been past against several former Princes who