Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	call_v	church_n	time_n	3,316	5	3.5270	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42608	The general-excise consider'd		1692 (1692)	Wing G498; ESTC R218830	11,772	10

accompanied his Designs till then with the utmost Vigour Should he have made a Pill too big for them to swallow that Saviours of the Nation had baffled the Popish Plot and supported the Protestant one that by one Blow worthy of their Parts had struck at all t●● Liberties of England by the single Project 〈◊〉 the Chartres Should the Dose have been made such a● those Stomachs could not bear that could dige●t their Dinner in a place where Gibbe●● were erected and Men executed for their Entertainment Should they have been balk'd who tho' zealous Churchmen could nevertheless a●● Memb●rs of the high Commission Court suspend Bishops and disincorporate Colledges and for no other Crime than their unwillingness to promote the Designs of the Papists But the damn'd Project failing in the main had this unexpected and fatal consequence numbers of these Men made a full Stop foreseeing that Popery would spoil all and chusing rather to quit than to embarque in so mad a Game they became Martyrs to the late King and by that Merit are now let ●●so a Reforming Government that for it● foundation declares against all those Practice● their whole Lives have been engaged in th● consequence of which I n●ed not explain But as I was saying this Closetting w●● the most unlikely way could be thought o● to obtain what was aimed at by King Jame● Nothing so fatal to Authority as Contempt● and Princes of all things ought to avoid Denials It was highly impolitick to refuse to ●is artfull Knaves the pretence of Honesty ●hich such publick peremptory Summons to Obedience did do to such as could comply with them We saw how many he lost by it Ly●ns have their Jack calls to raise their Prey the Lords of Men should have theirs to spread their Notions This telling to one at a time his Mind was not a Majestick way proper for Monarchs to use who need not make their Subjects hear from their own Mouths but feel the Effects of not apprehending quickly and complying faster Though there are different ways used to the same Designs yet something at last will betray them to be alike We have seen Men lose their Emploiments and they have been told for what We have seen Men lose their Emploiments and no reason given why We have seen impudent Promisers and noisey Undertakers received with open Armes We have seen those in fashion who could silently obey and ask no Questions And can it be supposed these different Practices had the same View This doubtless makes it evident they had that no former Merits or Services could keep Men in the publick Stations they were in that they had this common Fate under the different Management the oldest Servants the most deserving Friends were forced to make way for a new Adoption and with Reason for in truth when a Project is once resolved on those must be found out that wi●l undertake it or at least will insignificantly sit still whilst others transact in it But as to the last Point the Corruption used in Parliaments it is not to be doubted that where Menaces are used Rewards are likewise offered to induce Men to comply but neither being necessary to persuade Men to their common Interests Threats and Preferments can never be made use of to Parliament Men for a good Design But good God! May we not say there has been a Trade amongst us as well known as any other that I mean of a Parliament Man and when shall we be happy enough to have it otherwise It was Masanissa's Expression of Rome Venalis esses si Emptorem inveniris I am sure there is no Man can sell his Countrey but there must be a Purchaser We happened once to know remarkably who bought who sold and what was paid It may often be perceived though seldom so luckily made out But to conclude with something positive and with agreeable Notions after so many ugly ones this being a time of great Expectation for Reformation we will determine that Government to be free from any Suspition of such Aims or Designs as have been spoken of When there are no particular Projects so hatch'd and prepar'd for Parliaments as that it is expected aforehand they should be comply'd with When they are not given out in an Athanasian Way whosoever does not doe thus and thus shall neither be thought Friend to King nor Kingdom When honest Men are not dispossest of their Places till some notorious Miscarriage makes the World sensible they are justly removed or some good Reason be given for it When Men of Integrity are not Projecthanged and their Places disposed of to any sort of Tools who are ready to serve the Government as they call it and must need in some time the Shelter of the Crown to defend them from Parliaments if they want it not already When notorious Offenders against the fundamental Constitution are punished or at least not countenanced When those in Places of Trust may be depended upon and that the Secrets and Fate of the Nation are not put into Mens hands by way of Experiment upon the ●efined Politicks of Making Friends When it is not thought more expedient to trust Complying Enemies than Plain-dealing Friend● especially when the one have the common Consent of Merit the other the Marks of publick Censure upon them When there is no Parliamentary Traffick a foot and that no Places are held in the capacity of able Men in the House of Commons to which they could no other ways be entituled When Men of steady Principles are not exposed to reproachful Titles by silly Flatterers and that Men always in communion with the Church of England are not called with as little reason Fanaticks as those that gave a Crown Commonwealthsmen Lastly When a Spade is called a Spade and not an ambitious Sta●esman the Support of the Church or a covetous old flattering Fanatick a Patriot for such miraculously have we seen in season at the same time But now that God has so miraculously blest our Arms in the Recovery of our own I hope he will make the Blessing complete by reconciling us amongst our selves I hope those that are to consult for our future Establishment are now out of danger of being swayed by vain Fears or influenced by any thing but Right Reason These three Years have made us acquainted with one another and are sufficient to let wise Men know what they have to expect The King is acquainted with his People the People with their King they know the Ha●ards he is willing to expose his Person to against the publick Enemy he I hope is so well satisfied of the Fidelity and Courage of his Subjects as to be convinced this is the proper time to lay that Tie and promis'd Obligation upon them of dismissing the foreign Troops according to his Declaration I expect with great hopes a happy Union of Parties on which I think our future Happiness depends since the great Point that first divided us was Regency or Election and

acted in the illegal Collection of those Duties ceasing to be due by Law if they would have had us believe at any time that such a sufficient Provision once in a way of being Collected should ever cease But I have other Reasons to make me conclude this Tax once established would never dye I remember those Verses in Hudibrass But when the date of was Nock out Off drop'd the sympathetick Snout When the date of this Tax were out so many sympathising Officers would be set a drift again That I dare Answer for it the diligence these Excise Men would use for their own Preservation would not fail to procure an Excise Parliament the influence they have is well known in their Management of one Branch and how they make use of it and the certain succession that would inevitably ensue no doubt would prove a great Blessing to the Nation This Excise would beget such a number of Officers such Officers would procure such Parliament Men such Parliament Men would give such Votes such Votes would deserve such Pentions such Pentions would be so well paid upon such a Fund that who can doubt of its continuance But whenever this Tax is vehemently insisted upon it may justly raise great Suspicions that it is not a publick or immediate Necessity that makes it so prest but some other Reason In the utmost Necessity Can that be a fit Tax to be given which must cost near a fourth part in Collecting And that for a present Occasion which is wholly uncertain and neither to be modelled or guess'd at in some few Years But what gives just Jealousies to thinking Men is That they are sure the Government cannot be so wrongfully inform'd as not to know that a General-Excise is little other than a Tax upon Land accompanied with most dangerous Circumstances to the Constitution and uneafie to the People If an Excise be laid upon every Thing which a Man of Necessity must buy Is not that in Proportion to that Excise so much out of his Money which comes out of his Land If a Man can conceive it as easie to pay by so many two Pences and Groats in a Day in Excise what otherwise he must pay by so many Crowns a Month out of his Estate I have nothing to say But were it as some conceive that all People paying a kind of Proportion the Landed Men are eased If this were true it were most unadvisable in our present Circumstances should we bring a Tax upon the common People who never felt the weight of one before especially when we depend upon their inclinations and steadiness to our Interest But alas the common Man of England must have his Proportion of Meat of Ale and his time to loiter God forbid we should alter the Heart and Constitution of them and starve them into French Men if they must pay more for what they have they will have ways in Proportion to that Expence so that besides what is tax'd in every Excise and expressed in the Law the Landed Man must pay three Pence or a Groat extraordinary to every Labourer they employ by the Day and two or three Pounds a Year more to those they give Wages to by the Year Would not any Man rather justly compute and give knowingly and chearfully what is necessary for the publick Support than have his Pockets thus pick'd by his own Consent not being as was said by one of our Kings able to part with a Summ when he either saw or knew what it was This alone has some colour of Reason in it that Merchants and Money'd Men who are not touched in Land Taxes would contribute something this way but sure for this there might be found more effectual Means I shall only Answer that the Contribution of such Men in Excise would be very inconsiderable and in no Proportion they that get most Money spend least And I would have it but enquired into if a certain Knight well known in Westminster would pay in Excises for Meat Drink and Equipage proportionably to 200000l Estate But as for the Necessity pretended which give me leave by the bye to observe sometimes is made so great you would suppose we were almost doom'd to certain Destruction and then nothing but a General Excise can support us when at another time to doubt of the success of any Thing humanely impossible is a capital Offence What then are the present Difficulties we labour under A War with France and a Title to which there are other Pretenders The Disputes betweem the House of York and Lancaster are not yet forgotten and Wars abroad we had during those Disputes no doubt those Parliaments which met under those different Titles had as much mind to secure themselves against the opposite Party as we can have against King James and as great a desire to support the Honour of the Nation as we can have yet never was there such Difficulties pretended or such Dangers as could give them the Confidence to offer at or propose a General Excise The same Providence that has supported us thus long without this Expedient I doubt not will continue to do so but I think nothing less than a Miracle can preserve this Constitution if that be once granted For Heavens sake What were they less than Mad in King Charles's Time who were always pressing that Prince to a War with France and giving declared Supplies for that purpose Were they not perfectly Distracted that were so impatient to draw such an unreasonable Power upon themselves since now at a time when the Emperour so many German Princes Spain Holland and part of Italy are in Wars with France they are yet so formidable that nothing but a General-Excise can save us or support us in this War against that Enemy which we have so lately con●●ded against at Sea with the Dutch on our 〈◊〉 What can so extreamly alter the Case It must be a mismanagement of our Strength ●●d Wealth I shall not say how much France might have been annoyed with less Expence ●●d Force rightly employ'd nor how little ●eason we have to boast of a part of our own Dominion reduced by the hand of God and a series of Miracles which we owe to our ●●n Negligence that we ever disputed for I shall not speak of our Disgraces at Sea our Interest in that Point has been so betray'd in ●●e last Reigns that it ought doubly to be ●●ok'd after in this But my great fear is ●●e War is forc'd into a wrong Channel by ●●me that are Strangers to the true Interest ●●d proper Glory of the Nation However I shall wave these retrospects and ●●ke the Matter of Fact as it is for our pre●●nt Consideration Ireland reduc'd Scotland sufficiently secu●●d by the late Treaties a Peace as good as ●●cluded between the Emperour and the ●urk the French drove out of Italy and ●●●dmont and brought upon the Defensive in Dauphine and Flanders Are we not in evident Dangers And can any Thing