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A45672 Nahash redivivus in a letter from the Parliament of Scotland, directed to the Honorable William Lenthal, Speaker of the House of Commons examined and answered by John Harrison. Harrison, John, of the Inner Temple. 1649 (1649) Wing H894; ESTC R9915 17,406 24

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turnes nor carry on their Interest but the Invasion was generally liked and promoted by their boutefeu Priests till they saw they were out-witted by the Fox Hamilton and when they saw the enemies of their Kirk-Government in power in the Army then indeed the Engagement was unlawful because it might have proved Prelaticall but had it been Orthodox it had been lawful enough They may take notice that it is not their Protestation that will build again the houses they fired store with plenty the Countyes they wasted restore to honor violated Chastity or recover the lives lost in resisting their Covenanting Invasion and therefore notwithstanding their Protestation the breach was National and so must the satisfaction be and the Common-wealth of England will expect a better then that which universally expiates all things there the wawling humiliations in the Stool of hypocrisie But besides they say that they continued in Arms till the Garrisons of Barwick and Carlisle were delivered and therefore they did more then protest It is true indeed they did but that they were able to do so let them thank that Honorable Lieut. General who like a good disciple of the best Master had learned to forgive his Enemies and to render them good for their evil who had a wretched Countrey justly forfeited by their wicked invasion wholly at his mercy as were also all that dissembling crew that then cried little less then Hosanna to him and who have since appeared again what they then were and what his Honor was then told they then were and what he would after finde them viz. Scots though the excess of his own candor and the melting flowings of his Christian spirit would neither suffer him to believe what he could not chuse but know nor act as became their provocations but let that pass perhaps the coals of fire he then heaped upon their heads may be a more lasting torment to them then the execution of his Sword They say the Lieut. General represented the wrongs and injuries committed against England in that Engagement He did not then revenge them or take reparation he might have done the one as well as the other or as well as he gave that subsistence they have Those forces who had beaten their numerous Army in England might without great difficulty have gathered their gleanings of men and consumed all the heapes of their Harvest the time of year was proper to have distroyed it had his horse stayed there to have eaten their Oates their men must have starved for want of food For what they granted or repealed which they boast in this Paragraph they may thank him who gave them a capacity to do it and which they will finde they will not be able to maintain without some help more merciful to their necessities then any that will be solicited for them by either Montross or Forth or Cochram or that shall be brought them by their so hastily embraced Charls the Second the fates of whose house they have seemed with great affection to espouse and think with their bladders to Buoy up his sinking ship For the Garrisons of Barwick and Carlisle we shall not thank them for delivery of them they would have cost them more to keep then the pay of the souldiers in those towns there were English forces among them which they were desirous might depart lest their longer stay there might further discover their weakness and poverty and increase it and besides perhaps they might have sowne among them some Tares of Error Heresie and Schism which have troubled the Presbytery to weede out of the Kirk a thing which they fear more then all the prophaness in the Nation for that they have a Cathobian the blessed stool but for this other the Doctors are not yet agreed upon a Recipe And for their compliance with the Lieut. Generals demands that none who had been in that Engagement should have any employment in any publick place or trust it adds nothing to their merit an obligation upon them by that demand in establishing thereby their subsistence they had not been without that act of his the compliance wherewith they would have now so fain believed was an effect of their own ingenuity and gratitude dispositions perhaps which they are no more able to bring into act then their whole wretched Countrey is to give just satisfaction to the wrong which this Nation hath within these ten years suffered by them Paragraph 3. If the Bonds of Religion Loyalty to the King and mutual Amity and Friendship betwixt the Kingdoms be impartially considered according to the Solemn League and Covenant and the Professions and Declarations of both Kingdoms The Estates of Parliament think that they have just cause to complain of the late proceeddings in England in reference to Religion the taking away of the Kings life and the changing the Fundamental Government of that Kingdom against which this Kirk and Kingdom and their Commissioners have protested and given testimony whereunto they do still adhere IF the principles of the Common-Freedom and Justice the Rules and Laws of Nations and of mutual Amity and Friendship with one another be considered the Common wealth of England may think they have just cause to complain of the Scots not onely for invading this Nation with an Army but usurping with a ridiculous impudence a power paramount to the Supream Power of England assembled in Parliament upon all occasions taking upon them not onely to direct what they are to do with the King and in the Government but they will needs make a Religion and impose that too What State-Religion is which for political respects is almost every where imposed upon the people this is not a place to examine But it would deserve their weightiest consideration whether some thing be not done herein by way of usurpation of the incommunicable Throne And while men cry out of prophaneness and justly too perhaps it never more abounded commit the most horrible that ever was in compelling Religion to dress it self in Forms to serve their secular Interests but hindering all they can the progress of it in Purity and Power to the promoting of it in that way which needs not their help Have we not the Scriptures in England and in English too and are not they the rule of all things that are to be believed and all things to be done May not we expect the Divine Discoveries and Assistance to such as humbly and duly seek to know the Will and Minde of God as well as they of Scotland May we not keep a Smith in Israel Do we offer to impose ought upon them Did not they think it an intolerable burthen when their late Tyrant by the Councel of his Priests would obtrude upon them a Rule of Worship and State of Government Ecclesiastical And is it so sweet to do what they thought too hard to suffer as it put them to the hazard of all to avoid it But perhaps they will say That was a corrupt Form of
Worship and Government but this of theirs is the best Reformed They should say The best that they know and then we will desire them to give leave to us to be free that are not perhaps so fully perswaded of it To beg the thing in Question is no good Logick and may we not think it possible they may miss it in their Theologie too For that of the Kings life the Parliament of England hath published to all the world the Causes of their so proceeding with the late King of England If he be a Tyrant oppress his people against the Laws which he tramples under foot and puts his will in the place levy War and seek to make a Conquest of the people and God gives the people a victory against him he falls into their hands they propound him terms for their future safety he refuseth what they judg necessary they thereupon bring him to judgment and condemn and execute him as a Tyrant What hath Scotland to do with this Because the King of Scotland will tyrannize England therefore England must not secure it self because Scotland will not give it leave How long hath this dependence been They cannot but remember it was wont to lie on the other side why was there so much care had else in penning the Preface to the large Treaty the breaking whereof by their invasion hath put things as they were As to the change of the Fundamental Government as they are pleased to call it who made them so well able to judg what Fundamental Government is with us that they can so magisterially pronounce of it But what hath their Kirk to do with it Are they set up over Nations to pluck up and to plant Where is the jus divinum for it And how far doth their jurisdiction extend It may be it is as boundless as the Sea We are sure the Sea bounds it not for they practise at that rate in Ireland as they pronounce here and perhaps if it should get a little more strength it would shew its impudence further But it doth well for its time it hath not been long a growing it made a good stop last yeer to put it self out of pupilage and Commenced Independent it was more then the old one could ever do in the height of her pride and Ruff. Their protest herein hath given sufficient testimony to all that observe that they are not much troubled with blushing that they are very forward to meddle with that they have nothing to do with and are heterogenial to that sort of people who are of that Kingdom which is said not to be of this world they love so much to be espousing all secular Interests and mixing and immerging themselves in them and there is the less hope they will mend for the future because they still at present do so constantly adhere But it is not impossible they may change their mindes there is one way to effect it Paragraph 4. And since it is apparent there hath been of late in England a backsliding and departure from the grounds and principles wherein the two Kingdoms were engaged the Parliament of this Kingdom doth propound That the late proceedings there against Covenant and Treaties may be disclaimed and disavowed as the prosecution of the late unlawful Engagement against England and their former Professions may return to the same Vpon which grounds they are content to authorise Commissioners on behalf of this Kingdom to Treat with Commissioners from both Houses of the Parliament of England sitting in freedom concerning all matters of just complaint which either Nation may have against the other and for redress and reparation thereof and to do every thing that may further conduce for continuing the happy Peace and Vnion betwixt the Kingdoms which can never be setled upon so sure a foundation as the former Treaties and the Solemn League and Covenant From which as no alteration or revolution of Affairs can absolve either Kingdom so we trust in God that no success whether good or bad shall be able to divert us But as it hath been our care in time past it shall be still our real endevor for the future to keep our selves free of all compliance with or inclining to the Popish Prelatical and Malignant party upon the one hand or to those that are enemies to the Fundamental Government by King and Parliament and countenance and maintain Error Heresie and Schism upon the other I have no other thing in command from the Parliament of this Kingdom but to take notice that there is no Answer returned to their Letter of the fifth of March last and so rests MAny things may be apparent to you which are not true nor will appear so to those who have their souls exercised to discern good and evil or who lie not under the pre-occupations of prejudice It is not to us apparent that stand nearer that there is any such back-sliding and departure from the grounds and principles wherein the two Nations were engaged of which if they would convince they should do well to enumerate what those grounds and principles were that upon agreement in matter of fact we might descend to the consideration of whether they be principles and then whether or no they be deserted before they accuse of Apostacy and deserting of Principles If we consider what it was that stirred up either or both the Nations to engage in the war that hath been made against the late King it will appear it was the sense of the present tyranny and oppression and a just fear of greater That which was propounded by them in that Engagement can be no other but the good of the Nations in their just Liberty which being the ultimate end propounded must needs be the first principle of motion and onely that can deserve the name of a principle and every thing else is a superstructure and can onely stand in the relation and Category of a means to that end and every means is to be made use of onely so far as it is conducible to the end and to be departed from when it deviates and to be left behinde and others taken up when the former fall short In the beginning it was hoped it was wished That the King might have seen and owned and mended his Errors and that the good of the people might have consisted with the continuance of the King and there wanted not many addresses for it and long expectations of it nor overtures of such dangerous condescention as we have cause forever to bless God whose watchful providence kept us in hiding from his eyes the means of our ruine which were by our idolatry of Kingship put into his hands and at last discovering to us how incommensurable that means was to our just end and that there was an incompossibility of a coexistence of Kingship and the Nations happiness and the saedifragous invasion of England by the Nation of Scotland was not the worst Colyriam for clearing our eyes in
this particular The Parliament of England therefore finding the former remedies not onely improper and invalid but dangerous and destructive which at best would but have wrought a palliate cure and induced a cicatrice upon the orifice of a Fistula in discharge of their duty they proceeded forward upon their first principle to a Fundamental Cure and not onely to cure the disease in the present and continuing cause but to eradicate the original cause it self and take away thereby all common possibility of recidivation And this hath not been to go backward but to go forward And if the Scots be angry at the distance they finde between us they may do well to inquire whether it proceeds not from their standing still and not pursuing their principle rather then from our Apostasie from it unless they will be ingenuous for once and confess that they proceeded not upon the same principle viz. The good of the people governed but rather looked at some Interest of the Governors and for so much they have done their share so as a King hath long been nominal onely among them having had nothing at all to do in their Legislative power hath had no Commissioners in their Parliament or Kirk assembly as formerly nor any thing to do with his little Revenue there only the Name was necessary to be continued there and nothing else but his full power in England how else should they hope for the great Offices at Court the opportunity of Bribery in the Bed-chamber the prodigal and accountless waste of the privy Purse for the relief of their Beggery unto which to compel their King they know the best of all men by their unblushing importunities But for the good of the governed it is not yet apparent they have done any thing for their release from a miserable slavery not much on this side that condition which our late Tyrant setting before him a wel known pattern had designed us unto They suffering their vassals for so they are pleased to honor their Tenants to be in a condition when their many chaldrons of Victual-Rent is once paid in little better condition then those whose Livery is a Canvas Suite and Wooden Shooes with this difference that for defect of Wood to make such Provision many there especially of the other Sex are forced to go bare-foot But to make these in any sort free were to abate their own greatness which hath no other foundation then the miserable oppression which themselves put upon the People for whose satisfaction and to give them some content their Ministers tell the Common people they are the happiest Souls and the purest Kirk under heaven for they are as perfectly freed from Popery and Prelacy as they are from all things that are comfortably fit either to eat or wear But the Letter saith Their Parliament doth propound that the late proceedings here against Covenant and Treaties may be disclaimed and disavowed as the late unlawful Engagement against England hath been disclaimed and disavowed there and that such as have departed from these principles and their former professions may return to the same upon which gounds they are content to authorise Commissioners to treat Where was this done was it in the Parliament House or in the Consistory Had they not been lately imposing some Pennance and now they cannot get out of that Stile The Parliament sent unto them to offer their resentments of the injuries this Nation received from them and demanded satisfaction for them and a way if they thought fit to embrace it for an amicable composure The Scots propound and obtrude previous conditions which the Parliament of England must yeild to or they will not treat In good time who are like to have most use of it worse termes then that of Nahash the right eyes would have served him yet that demand cost him dear but here nothing less then self-distruction We must return back to what we have left cease to be a free Common-wealth suffer a Scotish Presbytery to be set up amongst us submit to their King and then forsooth they will authorise Commissioners to treat with Commissioners from the Houses of the Parliament of England sitting in freedom and will embrace us again and be our DEAR Brethren and when this is done what shall we get by it but as much as they who hug a Begger and catch a Louse It seemes they account themselves very desirable they require such conditions but they consider not what was told them in the beginning of this Discourse they may be hereby instrumental to their own sufferings excluding all possibility of amicable composure and put themselves hereby into an incapacity to be otherwise treated then as enemies But before we proceed further we must aske their meaning of the word Freedom because they say their Treaty must be with the Houses of Parliament sitting in Freedom What want of freedom is there in this Parliament there is not two Houses what have they to do with that who have but one themselves and they may be silent of alterations all men know they have suffered alterations in their Parliament the removal of their Lords of the Articles was as material a step to the eclipsing of their Kings power and restoring their people to their just liberty as any alteration made with us in Parliament but that they will say was necessary and conducing to the good of the people there we will not deny but it might and will exercise no act of judgment upon it we say what we had done was also necessary and conducing to the peoples good and let them be desired to suspend their usurped Paramount power and not judg our actions nor interpose in that wherein they have nothing to do But the House sits not in freedom many Members are kept away by force and it sits under the power of the Sword so it hath done for seven years past as to the protection of it or else it had not sate at all it had fallen by the late Kings Sword if it had not protected it self by its own But let us ask how sits their Parliament is there not something of a Sword there Did not some of those now in power when their Army was destroyed in England raise an Army in Scotland and with it forced their then Parliament from Edenbrough and by the power of the Sword which they were inabled to keep in their hand by that part of our Army that marched into Scotland with the Honorable Lieut. Gen. a preserving favour which they could then own and give thanks for they called a new Parliament and gave Rules previous to election that none should be Members that had been in the late Engagement against England and upon this ground they still keep out what Lords as well as others they fear wil divest them of their Government This is all very lawful with them and the Parliament very free and it writes this Letter as believing it is so and yet can upbraid us