Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	church_n	doctrine_n	homily_n	2,580	5	12.0475	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52759	Honesty's best policy, or, Penitence the sum of prudence being a brief discourse, in honour of the Right Honourable Anthony, Earl of Shaftsbury's humble acknowledgment and submission for his offences ... on the 25th of Febr. 1677 : together with the several proceedings of the said Right Honourable House ...	Nedham, Marchamont, 1620-1678.	1677 (1677)	Wing N390; ESTC R20017	20,550	16

to serve it self by new Elections doubted not but so plausible a Plea as a New Parliament would easily take place and afford every one the advantages they hoped for by a Change His Majesty and His Conncil and the Parliament soon smelt out the desperate meaning of this Privy Conspiracy under cover of so publick a Plea and the Faction was soon made to understand that their Plot was understood and that Crafty Tricks with Loud Popular Clamors and Long Speeches of their Correspondents in Parliament with other Machinations under the Sacred shelter and Claim of Free speaking and Priviledge was no honest English way to bring on New Parliaments the Law having left it wholly to the Judgment and Power of the King who hath at all times had a willingness to call one as soon as the Publick work lying before this Parliament can be finished and the Heats high Cants and Traiterous designs of Factions to make an uproar can be evaporated The working of all these Evils was plainly seen so soon as in this April-Session of 75. to be the wretched effect of those Principles and Doctrines of State which by the care of the Conspirators had been most industriously spread in Prints and otherwise for Poysoning the Opinion of City and Countrey about the King and His Parliament and the Government all exposed for a subversion Some Noble Lords at that Season reflecting on their own Allegiance and Obligation to prevent this brought into the House of Peers a Bill in which was that Oath so much clamour'd at called the Oath of Test or Tryal conceiving it would be a good security to Church and State if men thereby renewed their Allegiance It seems the Plot after the Rate of 1641. was so forward that the Masters of it were touched to the quick and feared this Oath would touch too home also upon their Proselytes who by it were to swear down the Principles and Doctrines of 41. which were now again to be made use of such as allowed of taking Arms against the King upon Parliamentary pretences and by His Authority against His Person and of making Alterations without Him in Church and State If the Book called A Letter from a Person of Quality to his Friend in the Countrey published this year 75. be of any Credit it hath these words in page 9. That the Earl of Shaftsbury was the man in the House that opened at large the Mischievous and ill Designs as he calls it and Consequences of the Bill and convinced many other Lords into a humour of Protesting against the Bill Now the design was bare-faced And because the Church was to have been alter'd as well as State therefore he who will believe that Book may if he please when as in 20. and 21. and 22 pages it saith That his Lordship spake things in disgrace of those old repositories of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England the 39 Articles the Liturgy the Catechism the Homilies and the Canons And I am sure the same Book which condemned these and vilified the Bishops too bestows very high commendations of his Lordships Parts Pains and Labour about these matters which to the praise of his and some other mens Lungs took up the House of Lords with a debate of Sixteen or Seventeen whole days together the House sitting many times till Eight or Nine a clock at night and sometimes till midnight However they could not save the Book which makes report of this Noble Prize from being by Order of the Peers burnt by the hand of the Hangman And indeed it well deserved so because it charged the main stress of the Debate upon the shoulders of his Lordship though the Author wrote as if he had been his Friend by reason of the immoderate Praises that he loads him with in divers places 'T is an unhappy thing and looks ill that his Lordship should have such dangerous Friends as deserve Execution by the Hangman for what praise soever the fore-going Author may have fallen short in another Author endeavours to make up who seems a Friend too of his Lordship by an excess of praising him for the opposing of that Oath as may be seen in pages 17 58 59 69. and 61 62 of that Author whom a little before we named the Record-Keeper or Recorder of the Faction that is more plainly the Author of that most Villainous Book Entitulep An Account c. in the 61 page whereof are these very words It might be injurious where all of them did so excillently well to attribute more to any one of those Lords than to another unless because the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Shaftsbury have been the more reproached for this brave Action it being requisite by a double proportion of praise to set them two on equal terms with the best of their Companions in Honour And in page 62. He glorieth in these words concern●ng the Issue of these doings That by this means the Test Dyed and the Matter in conclusion was so Husbanded betwixt this business and the business of Dr. Shirly and Sir John Fagg that any longer converse between the two Houses grew impracticable so that His Majesty was necessitated to Prorogue them till the 13th of October 1675. following Let the World judge then to what height of Crime such mens behaviour doth tend when it must puzzle the most exquisite Politician to distinguish in point of Treason betwixt a Frustrator and a Subverter of the Meetings of Parliament And so you have seen what Friends his Lordship hath and if their Prints are to be believed you see what he did and how he did and how he bestirred himself during that April-Session of the year 1675 Now we pass on to October-Session of the same year and in this it will appear how the work of publick Disturbance and of Frustrating this Meeting of Parliament likewise proceeded for it also came to nothing but by whose means let the Reader judge by what followeth in short The Parliament being met the first Artifice of some was to set on Foot again the late Quarrel betwixt both Houses about their Priviledges In which Master-piece if we may credit a Speech Printed in the name of the Earl of Shaftsbury his Lordship acted a principal part and it was improved from being a private Cause between Shirly and Fagg to become a cause of too much concern to the King the whole Parliament and Kingdom Therefore divers Lords argued in their House to lay aside for a while that Cause as a matter that would revive their Contest with the Commons and thereby hinder the Kingdoms business of preparing a Navy and other pressing Affairs and Occasions and so most of the Lords spake for adjourning that Cause for six weeks But saith the printed Speech in my Lord Shaftsbury's name Take heed what you do and argued these Particulars following That then the Money-Bill for the King to build Ships would be passed Oh take heed of that for though in a

complaining in our Streets So that a man can hardly know there is a War Let God be blessed that he hath given this King signally the Hearts of his People and most particularly of this Parliament who in their Affections and Loyalty to their Prince have exceeded all their Predecessors A Parliament with whom the King hath lived many years with all the Garesses of a happy Marriage Has the Kings had a Concern you have wedded it Has his Majesty wanted Supplyes you have readily chearfully and fully provided for them you have relyed upon the Wisdom and Conduct of His Majesty in all His Affairs So that you have never attempted to exceed your Bounds or to impose upon him On the other side He hath been so tender of you that He hath upon his own Revenue and Credit endeavour'd to support even Forein Wars lest he might become uneasie to you or burdensome to His People I can assure you 't is as impossible for the King to part with this Parliament as it is for you to depart from that Loyalty Affection and Dutiful behaviour you have hitherto shewed towards him Let us bless the King for taking away all ur Fears and leaving no room for Jealiasies for those Assurances and Promises he hath made us Let us bless God and the King our Religion is safe That the Church of England is the Care of our Prince and that Parliaments are safe What more hath a good Englishman to ask but that this King may long Reign and that the Triple Alliance of King Parliament and People may never be Dissolved What more eloquently and truly could have been said than was said here in short by our noble Penitent to set forth the happy peaceful Estate and Condition of this Kingdom But note the time it was in the year 1672 that all was well that the King had the hearts of his Parliament and People So that they were like Man and Wife it was impossible to part or Dissolve them that the Parliament kept within their Bounds meddled not with the Affairs of his Prerogative nor imposed upon him being confident of his Wisdom and Conduct and not ●apt out of Tune with Fears and Jealousies Religion Church Parliaments Properties Liberties all was safe in that Golden Year 72. And his Lordship having thus generously done the King all that Right had reason to believe himself safe too II. Having seen in what a peaceful happy state all things were before the Earl of Shaftsbury's Offending 't is meet that in the next place you should see what the Offences were when they began the tendency and dangerous Consequences of them that others may be Converted who through had Doctrine have been corrupted and the like be avoided for the future Ingenious men use to have quick Motions and Emotions of mind into Acts and by this means oftentimes a sudden Turn of their Minds and Fortunes even to the tossing of all things Topsie-turvy in a fit of ill humour It was you see but in 72. That his Lordship had nothing to find fault with at Court how it hapned presently after this that he was commanded to render up the Great Seal and Office of Chancellor is not here to be discoursed let it sussice to know That it was in the very next year 1673 that it was done and his Lordship laid aside and 't is no part of my business to meddle with the Faults that occasioned it because my desire is rather to cherish him in his Repentance having often long'd to find him in so good a humour It is for me only to give a few Observations about the Affairs which preceeded his Lordships departure from Court while he was a prime Man in the Counsels of His Majesty which have since been made the Subject of many a loud Clamor by the Factious Party Some Observations also I shall make of divers particulars pointing out to you how as soon as his Lordship went out the World also it self was troubled and began to grow out of Order Perhaps it hapned so because his Lordship went out of Office his great Wisdom and Conduct not being any longer at the Helm A Poet of our own fancies the Frame of the World to be bolted together with a smal Pin or two if that be put out all falls to pieces therefore when he brings in Catiline in the Third Act in a great chase because himself was rejected and Cicero chosen Consul he makes him thus vent himself in a lofty Rant Repulse upon Repulse Oh that I could reach the Axel where the Pins are Which bolt this Frame that I might pull them out And pluck all into Chaos with my self So that you see if but a Pin or so be out all falls into Confusion if there be any Truth in Poetry And it may be this was our Case Who can tell For Poets have unlucky Hits many times as well as Polititians So have Historians too For the Record-keeper or Recorder of the Faction I mean the Author of the New Directory for Petty States-men that is to say The Account of the growth of Popery and Arbitrary Government c. Reporteth to us that the present Lord Chancellor another Cicero came in his Lordships Place before the end of 1673 as the former Cicero came into that which was aim'd at by Catiline And then the Golden times before and in 72. being gon the Iron age came on But I must return where I left As to my Observations about the Affairs preceeding his Lordships voidance from Court I find the aforesaid Recorder hath been very punctual to record them and one may well think he is not like to say any thing in prejudice of his Lordship because I perceive in page 44. of his Pamphlet he seems as if he would speak like a Friend of his and says the Parliament having met the 5th of February 1672. prepared an Act by which the Papists were obliged to pass through a new State-Purgatory to become capable of any publick Employment and that the Earl of Shaftsbury then Lord Chancellor of England Engaged so far in Defence of that Act and of the Protestant Religion that it cost him his Place and that it was upon this occasion that he was laid aside My Lord being now a Penitent I would not upon any terms say ought in prejudice to him by telling what the Occasions and Causes were that he was laid aside But appearing against Popery could not be the Cause because 't is known there had been many years before as great an out-cry among the Factious Party against Popery and Popish Counsellers and yet it never appeared all along those times that ever his Lordship appeared against or thought of any such matter for had there been any Cause for it can we think that a Lord so Pious and Zealous of Religion would be guilty of concealing it and have stood still and look't on while it grew up in the fair Sun-shine of all his good Offices Sure it could not be

and the Recorder-keeper in this instead of being a Friend to him speaks worse than an Enemy Besides you may remember his Lordship himself in his fore-cited Speech to both Houses gives him the lye having therein told them and all the World on the same 5th of February 1672. That we were to bless God and the King that the Church of England was then the Kings Care and that our Religion was safe by consequence then what needed his Lordships Defence of it by a New Act Or how can it be thought the King would turn him out for Defending what His Majesty Himself had under Care to preserve These things do not hang together And yet the Recorder in his following words in the same page will needs become his Lordships Friend again and says that his Lordships Defence of that Act c. did not only cost him his Place but was the Moving Cause of all those Misadventures and obloquy which His Lordship afterwards lay ABOVE not Under I will not say Dignum patellâ Operculum What a lucky Defender and Advocate is this for his Lordship I mean rather an unlucky That he who in a Treasonous Libellous Pamphlet industriously now spred and dispersed into all hands about the Kingdom to rail down both Houses of Parliament his Royal Highness all the High Officers of State the Kings Privy Council the Principal Secretaries all the Judges all other Officers of the Government and the Court it self and then concludes all with a vile Jeering Caress of His Majesty Himself should in the same Book appear to be a Trumpeter of his Lordships Vindication and Praise It looks ugly but far be it from us to think that there is any understanding betwixt him and the Author 'T is only his Lordships ill luck that in divers other like Pamphlets the Knaves have been so bold as to commend him and who can help it And yet on the other side the Recorder to serve the Faction makes it part of his business to reckon up before 1673. while my Lord was interested in the Counsels at Whitehall as many Faults as he supposes in the Government as afterwards when his Lordship was gone This is indeed a great Fault in Mr. Recorder to let things drop that reflect upon so good a Patriot as well as upon Whitehall For besides Roman Idolatry and English Slavery he rails at Compliance with the French War with the Hollander breach of the Triple League Shutting up the Exchequer in the Counsels whereof before 73. my Lord Shaftsbury was no stranger and as forward as any man and he reaped the benefit as cleverly For they can tell at Sir Robert Viners who in probability it was that knew of that of the Excequer for asmuch as Sir Robert Servants remembred afterwards and smiled to think that his Lordship a few days before the Shutting it up was so wise as to call in 3 or 4000 l. out of their hands for his Lordship is wont to do all things with very good Consideration Besides he hath been so boldly generous as to justifie all the rest of the foregoing Particulars which are railed at by the Recorder For in his forementioned Speech on the 5th of Feb. 1672 to both Houses as Chancellor he told them that as to the point of Poperies having been designed it was a great Calumny His Majesty having so fully vindicated Himself from that Calumny concerning the Papists that no reasonable scruple can be made by any good man And the Church of England and all good Protestants have reason to rejoyce in such a Head and such a Defender He was born and bred up in it It was that his Father Dyed for We all know how great Temptations and Offers he resisted abroad when He was in His lowest condition and He thinks it the honour of His Reign that He hopes to leave it to posterity in greater Lustre and upon surer Grounds than our Ancestors ever saw it Those very words were a part of his Lordships 〈◊〉 ●peech in 72. and may serve for Answer to the Scandal of any design for Roman Idolatry Besides as to the Fear of Englands Slavery you had his Word and Engagement in the last page of the Speech That our Properties and Liberties are safe Then as to the breach of the Triple League the War ensuing with the Hollander and compliance with the French and the Black-heath Army which are the Scandals mightily bandied about by the Recorder and all the Factious ill willers to His Majesty hear also the Report of His Lordship the good Patriot while he was at the Helm and in at all the most intimate Passages of the Cabinet so that not a French Mouse could an wagged there without his knowledge to the hurt of England and he justifies all the Counsels to the height concerning those Matters For in several pages of that Speech of his viz. the 6 7 8 9 10 and 13. you will find things to have been thus He takes off the imputation of that War and of the breach of the Triple Alliance from the Counsels and Counsellers of the King and chargeth it wholly upon the Hollanders themselves that they brake first for that besides their denying His Majesty the Honour of the Flag at Sea they disputed His Title to it in all the Courts of Christendom and made great Offers to the French King if he would stand by them against Us. At this Season our King and his Ministers had a hard time of it and lay every day under new Obloquies Sometimes they were represented as selling all to France for money to make War Portsmouth Plymouth and Hull were to be given into the French hands for Caution The next day news came that France and Holland were agreed Then the Obloquy was turned from Treachery to Folly The Ministers were now Feels that some days before were thought Villains For if that Conjunction had taken effect then England had been in a far worse Case because the War had been turn'd upon Us. But both Kings knowing their own Interests resolved to joyn against them who were the common Enemies of all Monarchies and I may say especially to ours These are his own very words And as he charges that War and by consequence the breach of the Triple League upon the Hollander So he takes off the pretended Scandal of it from the King and his Ministers and lays it upon the Parliament also as well as the Dutch saying in the same Speech openly to both Houses You judged aright that at any Rate Delenda est Carthago that Carthage was to be dectroyed that is to say that the Dutch Government was to be brought down And therefore the King may well say to you 'T is your War He took his measures from you and they were just and right Ones And if after this you suffer them to get up again let this be remembred the States of Holland are Englands eternal Enemy both by Interest and Inclination By these words our Factions Ill-willers