Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A47885
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A modest plea both for the caveat, and the author of it with some notes upon Mr. James Howell, and his sober inspections / by Roger L'Estrange.
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L'Estrange, Roger, Sir, 1616-1704.
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1661
(1661)
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Wing L1272; ESTC R37601
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15,257
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50
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in this Caveat or in the Writer of it and yet upon the search of every Period in it and every Corner of my Soul I should be still at so great a Losse where to find it Nay more then that the further and the longer I enquire into my self the stronger is the Testimony my Conscience bears of my Integrity But to approve my Heart in this particular as well as to Man as I blesse Heaven I can and do to God we 'l look into the Coherence of This Section The professed Drift of it is This. Having in the Foregoing Section soberly proposed by Information to give His Majesty a clear and naked view of Men and Actions for prevention of such mistakes as probably might arise from false representations I passe forward to a Caution lest we might mistake his MAIESTY where the First Page and half is a discourse upon the Authority of Kings and the Duty of Subjects stating the Power as large as Majesty it self can wish and tying up the Subject by the most strict and conscientious bonds of Duty applying all at last to the very Person of our King and to his Party Toward the bottome of the Page mention is made of the Kings Proclamation against Prophane and dissolute persons which I advise may not be understood as any sharpness from the King upon his Party but as a pious and prudential zeal against the vice of blasphemy and distemper Yet we know very well what art is used to blast the Royal Party with that Character and that his Majesty can onely by report take notice of those liberties which no man is so shameless as to practise in his Presence I come now to that passage which were I given to Boast should be my Glory but as 't is toss'd upon the tongue of fame t is that which I would rather be a Beast then be the Author of In the Language of mistake it sounds thus much That I should undertake to question the Kings Bounties and tax his Sacred Majesty with giving away forty threescore thousand pounds in a morning while his friends starve With respect to the first Promoter of this Calumny I shall be bold to blow it off and lay before you the ground of this reproch and thus it runs in Paraphrase There are say I a sort a people that stop the hungry Royalists mouths with telling us 't is not time yet 'T is time enough for them to beg though not for us even before the King himself is served which is a little preposterous Again I say they beg I do not say Obtain great sums that is the Equivalence which if the King should grant 't is as I say a little higher but the unquestionable Prerogative of his own freedom so I presume not to restrain his Royal goodness Nay yet again it may fall out so that the thing they beg may prove worth five times more then they pretend it is then is the Kings gift but a fift part of what they get But to finish In this connexion of discourse the question is not what the King gives nor what they get nor is his Majesty accountable for their importunities But do they deal fairly with us or no That 's the point Is it not time for us as well as them Not that we murmur but they trifle us When we want bread we will starve honourable because the Publick weale will have it so yet still we shall subject our selves to virtue not to delusions At last 't is said we shall have something too but have a care of that for when the Nation is drawn low a heavy tax upon the people would do the King more hurt then our relief is worth Wherefore though our necessities are great yet still our Loyalty ought to surmount our wants Let us not rob the King of his peoples affections to fill our own bellies Rather say I let us resolve to suffer any thing for his Majesty then cause him to suffer in the least for us P. 29. This foregoing Caution not to mistake his MAJESTY or in effect our selves is follow'd with an enquiry into the designs and workings of the Kings enemies wherein the necessity of restitution or else of damnation is offered to the judgment of the learned and I do now upon my honour engage my self to become Presbyterian if in that most important point no less then Heaven or Hell The Casuists of the Consistory will but vouchsafe me the honour of a confutation The next and last Chapter treats how necessary it is for a Prince to oblige the generality of the people and of the arts the Faction uses to put his Majesty and his Party upon necessities to do the contrary concluding with a saying of Barclay in his Euphornio Voenalis hominum vita est et licitatores eapitum nostrorum publicè regnant I was my self Sold by Thomas Leman of Linn Regis in Norfolk a Renegado from our own Party and now living One of the Contractors for my Head for virtually he was so Doctor Mills that sentenced me to Death without a Hearing is now Chancellor to the Bishop of Norwich After my condemnation I threw a Paper among them and told them that was my defence since they would not hear it they might read it One of the Committee takes the Paper and against the sence of the Court burns it Sir Edward Baynton knows whether this be so or no Now to my Post-script what can be more conducing to the King's safety then the discovery of those of whom his Majesty stands most in danger That is first such as have actually betray'd his Majesties Counsels and Designs Secondly such as have received monyes possibly for the Kings relief and never accounted for them These people are upon a double account exceeding dangerous First they are cast out of Protection and in hourly fear to be Detected which makes them desperate Next they have farther opportunities of doing mischief They appear among us as friends and act against us as enemies It is in short but this the enemy is in our Quarters and has got the Woâ—d Let me look back now or let any man now answer me where is that syllable to which an honest man may not set his Name Many there are to which a wise man would not but want of skill may be born with where there 's good meaning If reverence to the King's Authority hnmble affection to his Person If absolute submission to all his Actions be an offence then am I guilty My fault is only the putting those Points by which otherwise would wound the King because perhaps they prick some of his Enemies where is the man that presses Loyalty that streins the knot of Duty harder then I do And to conclude where have I practis'd other then I preach Yet truly were the subject in it self not altogether blameless the occasion and my first fault might excuse me I did not lead the Dance I. H. would needs be