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	popery_n	4,964	5	10.7046	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66892	The associators cashier'd proving by undeniable arguments, as well as by the testimony of their own mouthes, that the late endeavours of some restless spirits were, 1. to enervate monarchy, 2. to subvert the institution of English-parliaments, and usher in the power of the sword.	Womock, Laurence, 1612-1685.	1683 (1683)	Wing W3337; ESTC R20240	17,046	33

't will be hard if you will not allow them to imitate something of their Practice The Body of this Monster has already been most accurately dissected by skilful hands and ingenious Lectures read upon every Member Vein and Muscle of it If you think there may be something yet in the Belly of this Trojan Horse that is worthy of your notice at your command I shall venture in to search it We the Knights They were influenced it seems by one of the other House in whose Custody this Instrument was found if he were not rather the crafty Contriver of it A person so well known there 's no need of any new Character to describe him How he has play'd fast and loose both with King and Subject needs no other instance to demonstrate than the shutting up of the Exchequer Having been at the head of so many Seditious Juncto's Trayterous Cabals Councils of State usurped and Tyrannical Jurisdictions you may very well conclude though he hath learn'd the Art of shifting sides he is not over-stockt with Loyalty If any insolency in his carriage has made him jealous that he is obnoxious to a high displeasure no wonder the discontents arising from such Reflections should prompt him to the courses he has taken 'T is natural for the wounded Deer to run into the common Herd for shelter And such is the Spirit of our little Heroe whatever stands in the way of his Ambition he 'll leave nothing unattempted to remove it Let Religion sink or swim among the States General Delenda Carthago is his Motto But let 's proceed We the Knights c. This c. is a fatal Character if we can remember that Et caetera-Oath which made such a hideous noise in the year 40. Thou art the curled lock of Antichrist Rubbish of Babel for who will not say Tongues are confounded in Et caetera Who views it well with the same eye beholds The old false Serpent in his numerous folds The Banes are ask'd and now the times give way Betwixt Smectymnus and Et caetera Something certainly is involved in the subtile twirl of this Dragons Tayl If they be True Protestants in the sense of these Associates they must be such as Protest against the present Church of England the Succession of the Crown and the Brittish Monarchy Here we have the very Spawn of the Presbyterian fruitfulness Independents Ranters Quakers with the rest of the Fanaticks which proceed from the Presbyterian by an equivocal Generation and without all doubt are comprehended within the bowels of this prodigious Character all Schismaticks Rebels Traytors Regicides Tyrants and Usurpers who by their own proper Names and Titles were by no means fit to be dignified or distinguished in such a Pious and Politick Association were cunningly and closely tyed up together with those Knights in the Gordian Knot of this c. And they say Finding to the grief of our Hearts the Popish Priests and Iesuites with the Papists and their Adherents and Abettors have for several years last past pursued a most pernicious and Hellish Plot to root out the True Protestant Religion as a pestilent Heresie to take away the life of our Gracious King to subvert our Laws and Liberties and to set up Arbitrary Power and Popery Here we have a Mask of zeal made up of a double pretence Pro and Con 1. For The Protestant Religion with the preservation of the Kings Life our Laws and Liberties 2. Against The Popish party and their Abettors But that we may not be perpetually bewitcht with these delusions it has been made apparent by a person of unquestionable knowledge and integrity * A short view of the Troubles c. 44. p. 588. That these great pretended Champions for the Protestant Religion the Laws of the Land the liberty of the Subject and priviledges of Parliament for these are taken in too in this Association made use of those specious pretences for no other end than to captivate the People and by that means get the power of the Sword into their own merciless hands And as that Worthy Author expostulates were not there certain Propositions read in their House of Commons P. 590. where this Association was first spawn'd which were found in Mr. Saltmarsh his Trunk near Hull First That all means should be used to keep the King and his People from a sudden Union Secondly To cherish the War under the notion of Popery as the surest means to engage the People Thirdly If the King would not grant their demands then to root him out of the Royal line and collate the Crown upon some body else So that they served themselves of Popery for a pretence and made the Priests and Jesuites but their stalking Horse while they aim'd at other Game If the Popish Priests and Jesuites have a Design to retrieve what has been taken from the Pope and that Church that depends upon him are not these Associators equally intent and zealous to make a spoyl and booty of those Church Revenues which are left Is not their Religion and keenest zeal fed upon the Church-lands which they have got into their possession And why do they stickle so earnestly against the Pope but to maintain that interest If you could secure their fears and jealousies in this point assure your self for the most part of them their Consciences are not so squeamish but the Mass would go down with them as easily as the Directory 'T is very well observed That the Rule for Doctrine Worship and Discipline in the Church of England at the Reformation A Vindication of the Primitive Church p. 275. was at first received with universal joy and approbation none but Papists opposing it But some time after some few discontented men under pretence of zeal against Popery took the part of the Papists against this Rule and it is observable saith that Author that as one faction grew up and gathered strength so did the other that ones right and left hand can hardly grow in evener proportion so that one would fancy that either they advanced by some secret Consent or were nourished from the same common Stomach It may be saith he from him that Ratavicini calls the Stomach as well as the Head of the Church the Pope Have not these pretended Protestants and Et caetera's been eager even to Sedition and Blood to throw down the Enclosure to Repeal those Laws and subvert that Church-Government which have kept out Popery ever since the Reformation Have they not given their Emissaries advantage by their Projected Toleration and Indulgence and shelter'd the Priests and Jesuites whom they pretend to Associate against in their own Conventicles Nay to come home to the business have not these men Rivall'd the Papists in their Treasons Have they not emulated them in their practices of Conspiracy and taken the Hellish work of Destruction out of their Hands and subverted both Church and State while they pretended the Popish party did pursue it For if

we put in Fanaticism instead of Popery and change the Popish Priests and Jesuites into Presbyterians and Independents with their Adherents and Abettors the design they set on foot has not only been for several years pursued but effectually performed and really executed as we very well remember by sad and woful experience For did they not root out the True Protestant Religion establisht here by the Authority of pious Princes as well as the Blood of Holy Martyrs Did they not take away the Life of our most Gracious King the most incomparable Prince of Christendome Did they not subvert our Laws and Liberties and set up Arbitrary Power amongst us All this they did most accursedly accomplish to the astonishment of all Christendome And yet we have reason to believe that such of these Associators as were ingaged in it and perhaps they were not a few never lookt upon 't as such a pernicious and Hellish Plot nor were toucht with such Remorse and grief of Heart for that actual Guilt and Notorious Crime as they pretend to have upon the account of this which is but their own jealousie and surmise That the most prudent and faithful Ministers of State cannot escape their Malicious Insinuations we are not at all to wonder at 'T is the frequent practice of all Malecontents when they become Seditious For though it be the Majesty of the Government they aim at yet they think they can no way wound That with so much safety and to so great effect as through the sides of such Worthy Ministers To traduce the Duke is the main Design of this Association And indeed if we well observe it 't is an unusual strain of Modesty in them that they do not positively as well as by implication impute it to the Devilish Malice and desire of Revenge in his Royal Highness that his Majesty is in continual hazard of being Murdered to make way for his own advancement to the Crown For they say expressly That by his Influence Mercenary forces have been levied and kept on foot for his secret Designs Which it seems are not so secret but they can if not penetrate yet conjecture and imagine them But as the King is most concerned herein so hath he best opportunity to examine it and find it out if there were any truth in 't or colour for it Whereas it is suggested that the levying of those Forces was unaccountable their Disbanding difficult and at the Kingdoms great expence There 's not a little Malice coucht in that allegation To what purpose those Forces were raised is not unknown to such as have a mind to understand and the Service which some of them perform'd was not secret but in the open Field and so eminent that Foreign States and Princes will remember it to their Honour But let them ask themselves this question were Cromwel's Forces Levied or kept up or Disbanded without the Kingdoms great expence Or will the Forces design'd by these Associators be raised without money and will not their Officers and Conductors expect their Pay and at whose charge must all this be and how shall they be Disbanded do they Promise and Vow here that They will never Separate themselves from this Association or fail in the prosecution thereof during their lives And if they were once in Arms we might believe them though they were not engag'd upon such Temporal and Eternal pain as is due to Perjur'd persons This Party hath sometimes been very earnest to embroil his Majesty in a War with the French King but without any fond or considerable Subsidy to maintain it To what end this was projected wise men will judge but I shall forbear to mention But because they cannot so easily embroil his Majesty abroad they resolve to do it at home To this effect several Plots have been set a foot and they have made their utmost advantage of them And because the great obstacle which is their greatest Grievance too is The Militia in the Kings hand They design very dutifully no doubt to seize it without his leave that they may have it once again in their Power to set up Committees of Publicans in every County to make Delinquents and then to Tax Decimate and Sequester or make them Compound for their own Estates at their pleasure And what will follow but a High Court of Justice to bring whom they please to what they please to call Condign punishment and at last to extinguish as much as in them lyes the Royal Family and the Church of England root and branch And this shall be voted the Defence of the Protestant Religion and our Liberties without our Properties the Laws and Government against the encroachments of an Arbitrary Power Yea and the Janizaries they employ shall not wear the name of Mercenary Souldiers but be rewarded as Cromwel's were for their good service and be honour'd with the Character and Title of English Freemen and the Godly Party These are the Priviledges of the Saints But we use to say The Burnt Child dreads the Fire And I hope this Generous and Manly Nation is not grown too stupid to be taught by Proverbs nor yet become so infatuated as to forget so fresh and chargeable an experiment But they take it for granted 'T is notorious that the Popish Priests and Jesuits with the Papists and their Adherents have been highly encouraged by the Countenance and Protection given and procured for them by J. D. of Y. and that He has publickly profess'd and own'd the Popish Religion This they peremptorily averr but it can hardly be imagined that Any free Prince at this time of day should be so fast asleep or ill advised as to make himself the Pope's Vassal to admit a Supremacy into his Realm paramount to his own To have his own Royal Authority confronted by the Check of foreign Bulls from Rome or the Treasure of his Kingdoms exhausted by such Engines of Extortion as can serve him to no other end but to endanger impoverish and inthrall him Consider but the Sense of the Greek Church who will not brook that pretended Supremacy in the lowest state of their Declination or the present Posture and Resentments of the French who seem so weary of the Pope's Inchroachments and Usurpation that they kick and wince as if they were in pain and Travel to throw his Holiness out of the Saddle in those Dominions As for his Royal Highness perhaps he may disdain to have his Integrity questioned by a common Test many times Great Spirits are irritated by such Attempts which are therefore for the most part better let alone than put in practice they will not be forced by such Screwed Engines to gratifie their Adversaries with an open profession of that which notwithstanding in their Hearts they may most stedfastly believe Yet we cannot take it for a wonder if his Royal Magnanimity and the deep Resentments he has for his Blessed Father's Sufferings under the bloody hands of seditious Schismaticks will not suffer

him to be hector'd by them into an Approbation of their Fanatical Delusions But his Royal Highness is so well satisfied with the Church of England as by Law established that he professeth a great Kindness and Veneration for it for the very Loyalty remarkable in her Religion above all others and for that Reason upon all occasions he declares his Readiness to preserve and support it Nor have we only his Highness's bare Word or Resolution to relye upon his eminent Deeds are such a signal Exemplification hereof in Scotland that the Bishops of that Kingdom have made their Profession to my Lords Grace of Canterbury in these Words We should prove very defective in Duty and Gratitude if upon this occasion we should forget to acknowledge to your Grace how much this poor Church and our Order do owe to his Princely Care and Goodness Edenburgh March 9. 1682. that his Majesty and the worthy Bishops of England may from you receive the just Accounts thereof Since his Royal Highness's coming to this Kingdom we find our Case much chang'd to the better and our Church and Order which through the cunning and power of their Adversaries were exposed to extream hazard and contempt sensibly relieved and rescued which next to the watchful Providence of God that mercifully superintends his Church we can ascribe to nothing so much as to his Royal Highness's gracious owning and vigilant protection of us Vpon all occasions he gives fresh Instances of his eminent Zeal against the most unreasonable Schism which by renting threatens the Subversion of our Church and Religion and concerns himself as a Patron to us in all our publick and even personal Interests so that all men take notice of his signal Kindness to us and observe that he looks upon the Enemies of the Church as Adversaries to the Monarchy it self nor did we ever propose or offer to his Royal Highness any Rational Expedient which might conduce for the Relief or Security of the Church which he did not readily embrace and effectuate If Officers have been named and appointed by his Royal Highness none can blame it but such as have an Ambition to get that Power into their own hands And if it were lodged in the hands of these Associates would the hazard of the King's Person or of our Religion and Government be any whit less or less apparent Nay we have learn'd by sad Experience that the danger would be greater if their Ruine would not be inevitable But they say his Highness has created many and great Dependents upon him by his bestowing Offices and Preferments both in Church and State A great Crime doubtless in a Person that stands in that Relation the D. has to his Majesty The Church and State would be well served if all Offices and Preferments were at their Disposal which is that their Avarice and Ambition thirst and aim at But we hope his Highness has created no Dependents that is neither made choice of any Servants for himself nor recommended any Officers to the King but such as are according to the Standard of his Wise and Renowned Grandfather who adviseth his Son thus Choose such as come of a true and honest Race and have not had the house whereof they are descended Basilicon Doron p. 47. to 49. infected with Falshood such as come of a good and vertuous kind For 't is most certain that Vertue or Vice will oftentimes with the Heretage be transferred from the Parents to the Posterity and run on a Blood as the Proverb is the Sickness of the Mind becoming as kindly to some Races as these Sicknesses of the body that infect in the Seed The King advises further See they be of a good Fame and without Blemish and endued with such honest Qualities as are meet for such Offices as ye ordain them to serve in that your Judgment may be known in employing every Man according to his Gifts But here I must not forget to remember and according to my Fatherly Authority to charge you to prefer specially to your Service so many as have truly served me and are able for it trusting and advancing those farthest whom I found faithfullest So shall ye not only be best served but ye shall kyth your thankful Memory of your Father and procure the Blessing of these old Servants in not missing their old Master in you And as I wish you to kyth your constant Love towards them that I loved so to kyth in the same measure your constant Hatred to them that I hated I mean bring not home nor restore not such as ye find standing banished or fore-faulted by me for how can they be true to the Son that were false to the Father I hope that both his Majesty and his Royal Highness may follow this grave and sage Advice in the Choice of their Officers and Dependents whether design'd to serve in Church or State and then I am well assured that few of these Associators will hereafter be Candidates for Court-Preferments We shall see the Duke's great Fault at last will be only this That he is wise and valiant just and well-beloved steady to his Word and faithful to his Adherents but that which is worst of all in the Opinion of these Associates is That he is Presumptive Heir to the Crown and will suffer no Republican to pick out the Jewels or pluck off the Feathers of it But so long as he has so high an Affection and Respect for the King's Person and gives Countenance and Encouragement to none but such as are truly loyal and serviceable to his Majesty I hope 't will be no Crime in His Royal Highness to make much of such as own and espouse his Hereditary Interest after the King's Example While these men boast of their continual Endeavours to deliver his Majesty from the Councils and out of the Power of the Duke they do but upbraid the King as they did his Father of ever Blessed Memory of Weakness as not able to discern what belongs to his own Interest and Safety nor to distinguish betwixt his Friends and Enemies Under favour this is but a course Complement to his Majesty the Wise Man hath taught us a better Lesson Prov. 16.10 That a Divine Sentence is in the Lips of the King and his Mouth erreth not in Judgment Had it not been for this Holy Oracle we should have been many times surprised at the celebrated Prudence of his Majesties Conduct when the Case has been most difficult in turning our Disappointments into a Satisfaction Has not his Wisdom appeared to Admiration in stemming the Tyde and checking the Waves of Popular Rage and Fury when they seemed to threaten us with an Inundation Has he not taken the Seditious in their own Craftiness and made their own Tongues and Pens to fall upon themselves till they have been glad to take Sanctuary in an Ignoramus Jury That Parliaments have been unreasonably Prorogued and Dissolved is another of their specious Allegations