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A38391
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England's glory begun in I. Restoring our religion. II. Rectifying our coin. To be compleat in III. Reforming our manners.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing E2967; ESTC R215027
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8,884
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22
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ENGLAND'S GLORY Begun in I. Restoring our Religion II. Rectifying our Coin To be Compleat in III. Reforming our Manners Tit. II. 14. Who gave himself for us that he might Redeem us from all Iniquity and Purge us to be a Peculiar People Zealous of Good Works LONDON Printed for Rich Baldwin at the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane 1698. TO THE Two Honourable Houses WHEN in good Repair as at this present you are the Object Britannia's Eyes are most intently fixt upon beholding with Joy and Admiration With Joy because she can make her Addresses with so much ease and freedom With Admiration because you can perform your Undertakings The Third House comprising both as the Heav'ns the Terraqueous Globe is the Royal Pallace of the British Monarch whose Master conveying Life and Lustre from the King of Kings compleats our England's Glory And unto this your Access is as free as ours is unto you Britannia thus lives and moves the Almighty God having given her so excellent a being And here 's a most happy Union of all the Three composing that Noble Body the King and his Subjects Barons and Commons The good Constitution of health in this Body has been very illustrious now of late unto this Age as much or more than to our Ancestors tho they have seen several happy Reigns Therefore are the Eyes of all Europe upon our Britannia as a Body of the finest Fabrick and most Curious Composure Even Majesty it self making long Voyages to see a Solomon As the Queen of the South came from far unto Jerusalem so the Emperor of the North is come to London The Queen of Sheba came to see that Prince who built the first Temple The second Tabernacle then which now is building deserves certainly the most Royal hand and the most Wise hearted amongst the Princes of the Earth being so much more Excellent than the first as unseen are more than seen things Spiritual more than Temporal Glory an house not made with hands more than the stateliest Pile of Building upon Earth the Gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. It is not Temples made with hands which delight the Holy one of Israel But those of Mens Spirits and Bodys cleansed by the Holy Ghost and prepar'd Typified by our Lords sweeping out the Defilements of Jerusalems Temple Therefore the CHVRCH OF ENGLAND before she saith Take not thy Holy Spirit from us Begs that God will make clean our Hearts within us Plainly evincing that an unclean heart does no more then bable in that Petition for the Spirits residence Now if these three houses wherein dwells the Government do begin to make such Preparation The Countrey will also certainly be made sensible of their Duty And then we shall hear that blessed Proclamation Prepare to meet thy God O Israel The Essentials of a Leet seem to be such as by the Romans were called Fasti where the Praetor might keep a Court which was not done without these three words spoken Do Dico Addico Do I give way to Actions Dico I speak the Law Addico I Judge matters and Men. Now in this method of Governing the Poor the Power of a Governing Leet is Restor'd to the Decenners or Freeholders c. Viz. Dico upon VIEW I speak directing and advising to Industry Addico I appoint such a daily Task to he performed Do give Information to the Magistrate of the Poors Carriage and Behaviour England's Glory c. ENglands Peace calls for Englands Gratitude If that be not forthcoming her Peace can't be lasting If we go to Individuals too many are against the Nations Peace And therein against their own and the Peace of their posterity But when People willfully Impair their own sight it 's but just with God to strike them with a Total Blindness If we can't perswade yet we may Pray for our Enemies as our Master did Lord forgive them for they know not what they do It is but sad in some places if we go to Individuals therefore we rejoyce in our Representatives the Honourable House of Commons in our Nobility the upper House of Parliament in our King the Happy head of that Fair and Beautiful Body To the Bon Repos whereof it 's every Subjects Duty and Interest to contribute For hereunto the Almighty hath brought us by the Councel of a Wise and Faithful Parliament and the Conduct of a just and Valliant King Not only stiled so but upon Tryal found so And is not this indeed He that never Broke his Word I can't be of their Opinion therefore who would have us like none of our Friends and Neighbours But that whilst they are keeping strong Guards we must Disband ours Would not this in us look more Vain after the Worlds experience of thousands or years then if it had been done by our Fore-Fathers who lived when Moats and Castles were first invented This truely I do believe that as we are the very Conduct of Common prudence is sufficient to secure us against any hand but that which is above us And that is the only Hand to be fear'd now we have Peace with us and time before us should we neglect Reformation of that Evil habit of Idleness in the Poor which like Tares has been sown and coming up whilst England has been sleeping And that too in the day time after the Debauches of her Revelling Nights Negligent Masters do but rarely meet with Industrious Servants But now that God hath blest us with a Prince that delights in the Noblest things TO DO GOOD TO MANKIND And not like those narrow Souls who tho they leave the rest of the World in darkness would be drawing all the very Sun-Beams to their side of the Globe without Pity or Commiseration unto others every true Englishman surely will consider how the very Heavens now smile upon Great Britain and Ireland c. Ay and more then any other Parts of the World tho some others have a great share as presaging that these Beloved Isles who have been Honour'd and own'd more then other places both in the first spreading of Christianity and in every Reformation since shall now again lead the Van When the greatest Reformation of all is approaching And this brings to mind that Prophetick Poem upon occasion of the Death of the Earl of E x and which hath its Prediction as followeth His l ed Acts thy Freedoms Birth shall Cause Secure Religion produce wholesom Laws No more the Poor the Rich one shall devour No more shall right yeild to oppressive Power No more shall Rapine make the Countrey Groan Nor Civil Wars shall Reign within the Town The Iron Scepter and the Tyrants Hand Shall cease henceforth to bruise thy happy Land Rome's Hocus pocus Ministers no more Shall cause Mankind their Jugling Priests adore Thy Learned Clergy shall confound them all And they like Ely 's Sons unpitied fall Dark mists of Errors then must fly away And Hells Delusions shrink from the bright Day Truths sacred Light
in full abundance shall Vpon thy Teachers and thy People fall So when th' Eternal Son was Born to die For all the World the lesser Gods did flye His Bright appearance struck their Prophets down And Death-like silence did their Gods Intomb The Tuneful spheres with Hallelujahs Rung Heavens mighty Host with Man one Chorus Sung Ne'r fading Glory unto God above Peace upon Earth to Men Eternal Love Thus the Creation shouted with one Voice Thus Heaven and Earth did at his Birth Rejoyce And thus shall all Repeat this Song again When upon Earth he shall begin to Reign This Belov'd Isle shall be the chosen place Here shall the King of Kings begin his Race Judea was his Cradle and his Tomb Britain shall be his Throne in time to come Now if Heaven smile upon our Nation we are no better then Putrify'd Corrupt Members if we promote not her Happiness to our Power Nay those that have but bare Mite ought here to cast in with me into the English Treasury And those that have Talents give accordingly as our great Men God be thanked now incline to do very freely The very Stars that in their Courses fought against Sisera are now in a blessed Confederacy have blessed the Confederate Princes to prepare all things for the King of Peace and Glory Rejoycing at the approaching of that Kingdom we and our Fore-Fathers have pray'd might come The next mercy to the Restauration of our Religion was the Rectifying of our Coin The next in Course is the Reformation of our manners And here the cryes of the Poor being the loudest seem to call for the first Relief And so our Government may think sit to begin with the Idle Poor because in General speaking they are 1. The most undutiful to God 2. The most burdensome to the Rich. 3. The most Cruel to their needy Brethren 1. The most undutiful to God Now this is a main thing We as Christians pretend to take care of our Children by bringing them to Church c Why do we not so with the Poor If England must be as an Israel to God we know God hath appointed that the Poor shall never cease They shall be always with us for the constant exercise of Love and Charity That we may not think we were Born for our selves or those of our Houshold only This would be the ready way to forget God utterly the Poor being as sure our Lords Representatives in this present World as the Knights Citizens and Burgesses are ours in this present Parliament And as what these do is our Act so what the Poor has given them is our Lords Receipt Nay he is pleas'd to call it a Loan unto himself If the Lord will have the Poor in his Israel receive Food for their Bodys a fortiori then for their Souls being the more Noble part The Poor are thus to be with us and thus to receive from us to keep alive warm at least our Love unto God since we are fallen such a distance from him And here 's the force of the Argument if we love not our Brother whom we have seen How shall we Love God whom we have not seen The Poor then are to be as our Children with no difference only the Quantum we are to give unto each But why bring we not the Poor to Church They can't be allowed the excuses Children sometimes make that they have not Cloaths good enough to go in The nearer the Poor live to us the more we ought to be concern'd for them And indeed much of our Poor are not only our Brethren Relative as Christians and Natives but really as our Flesh and Blood also And certainly those of us whose Families have been with or before King William the First must have of Poor Relations in a near or more Remote Degree of Consanguity And I think the Ancient Gentry are as free in owning them as the New But if our Children were no better lookt after then our more remote Relations that are Poor our Children might soon become as Rude and Wild as our Poor Relations Let us then consider if for want of Discipline we be not guilty before God almost as far as Old Ely and let us but put these Queries to our selves if wee are not Guilty of 1. Their breaking of the Sabbath 2. Their Sloath and Idleness 3. Shall we do well in putting those to Death our â—â—lves have Conniv'd at in the Looseness of their Life 2. The Idle Poor are most burdensome to the Rich specially the meaner sort that Pay the Poors Tax with â—he sweat of their Brows and hard Labour And here â—he Poet 's in the right Who 's in the Fault It 's easy â—o know which The Idle Poor do Rob The Labouring Rich. And indeed Labouring Families can't provide so comâ—ortably for their own as otherwise they might a great discouragement to Dilligence and Industry Besides how easily would Taxes be paid for Defence or otherwise in a just War should half or more of the Poors Tax be abated By any happy thought amongst us And is not the sharping and disingenuous dealing of many Men in their Trade and Callings occasioned by the Burden of the Poors Idleness and that in respect of First the want of those hands that lye Idle which otherwise would bring Commodities more plentiful work being done at easier Rates Secondly in respect of the great burden of the Tax to these that are needers and might be helpers Lastly The Idle Poor are Cruel to their Impotent Brethren the Sick Lame Aged c. Who are not relieved like Christian Poor the Idle snatching their Meat out of their Mouths by their dissembling Clamours and Idle outcrys And all this hardship too whilst we pay near a Tenth to the Poor besides that to the Parson How are the Impotent honest Poor in London every day Robb'd by Mumpers and Canting Beggars which might and ought to be better discover'd and understood Now let the remainder of this Poor Discourse for order sake be wrapt up within these four following Considerations 1. The cause of Decay in our English Industry 2. The present mischiefs by Idle Poor 3 The remedy Propos'd 4 The method of proceeding therein For the first Consideration the cause of Decay in English Industry seems to have been 1. A Connivance at the Poors Tipling Drunkenness and Idling 2. The laying aside of that which prevented all the Evil the Laudable English Law of View of Franc-pledge For the first It is plain the Poor took Encouragement to do ill from the very Charity of the Government as bad Children from their Parents tenderness I mean the Stat. of 43 Eliz. touching the Poor For the Poor finding they had as good a Freehold in the Lands of England as the Free-holders themselves whose Lands must pay to the Poor tho themselves wanted the Free holders had but an old Song for their Money Hang Sorrow cast away Care The Parish is bound to find us Now Inferior Magistrates that