Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
friend_n	army_n	enemy_n	great_a	1,068	5	2.8750	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93137	A a [sic] letter to a friend, concerning a French invasion, to restore the late King James to his throne And what may be expected from him, should he be successful in it. Published by authority.	Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.	1692 (1692)	Wing S3296; ESTC R232295	16,807	14

will by natural instinct learn more Loyalty and others will be taught it as Gideon once taught the men of Succoth with Briars and Thorns And there never was such an opportunity since the Reformation for a plentiful Harvest of Converts as this would be like to prove And who can bear the thoughts of this who has any Compassion for the Souls of Men any Zeal for the Church of England or any concern to preserve and propagate the true Faith and Worship of Christ to posterity All this is upon a supposition of the late King's return which I declare to you I am not afraid of though it is fit to mind those men who are so fond of it what they may reasonably expect if he should return which possibly may abate their zeal in this cause and that may prevent the mischiefs of an attempt for without a hopeful Conspiracy in England the French King is too wary to make such an Attempt But if they have any love to their Countrey any pity left in them for the lives and fortunes of English Protestants I beseech them to consider what the Calamities and Desolations of Civil War will be for that it must end in if there be an Invasion from abroad strengthned with a powerful Conspiracy at home King William as I said before will not Desert or Abdicate for I never heard of a Prince who had ventured so much to rescue a Kingdom out of so great a danger that would so easily expose it again to the same or a greater danger And surely the late King does no● expect he should for he knows him too well So that if they look for such another Revolution to turn King William out as brought him in they will in all probability be mistaken There are too many Persons of Honour and Fortune engaged in this Cause who know the late King too well to take his Word and were it possible to wheedle men of Fortune and Sense the genius and spirit of the Nation is against them And that which could make the late Revolution will probably be able to prevent this It must then come to Blows if an attempt be made and the fortune of one Battel may not decide it and those who are too young to remember the desolations which the late Civil Wars in England made lee them look into Ireland and see to what a heap of rubbish a flourishing and fruitful Countrey is reduced by being the scene of a Three Years War It is made a popular pretence to raise discontents and to make people disaffected to the present Government that the Taxes for maintaining this War are grown so intolerable and there is no prospect of an end of them Now I must confess that the Taxes fall very heavy upon some and am sorry that the present posture of our Affairs does require it and that there can be no easier ways found to supply the plain and pressing necessities of the State But we ought to consider that still all this is infinitely easier than Popery and French Slavery if we regard only our Estates The Annual exactions of the Church of Rome besides all the cheating ways their Priests had to get Money while Popery was the Religion of England used to be complained of as a National Grievance and a heavier Tax upon the Subject than all the King's Revenues And if those who ●omplain of our Taxes were but one month in France to see the Poverty and Misery which the French Government has brought upon them they could come home very well contented to pay Taxes and to fight against the French too We are Free Sub●ects not Slaves we are taxed by our own Representatives who tax themselves as well ●s us and this not by the Arbitrary Will of the Prince We pay for our own Defence ●nd Preservation as all people ought to do and while we do not pay near so much as ●ur Religion and Lives and Liberties are worth and have left wherewithal to main●●in our selves we have no such great reason to complain But how heavy soever Taxes are are they like a Civil War Like the dread and terrors 〈◊〉 an Enemies Army or of our own Are they like having our Houses filled with ●oldiers or which is worse burnt or plundered Are they like losing our Friends our Fathers Husbands or Children by whose kindness or labours we subsisted in a word Are they like the Spoyl● of Harvest or the Desolation of a whole Countrey And can we be contented to see England again the Seat of War It is certain in our present circumstances it canot be made so unless we our selves please France has too many Enemies to think of Conquering England without factions at home and were ●t not for them we need not fear its united Force and I hope considering men of what ●erswasion soever they be will not think it worth the while to ruine their Countrey by a Civil War to purchase a French Slavery and Popery two very dear things could we ●urchase them never so cheap What I have said hitherto concerns only England but it becomes us to look a little ●broad and consider what a fatal Influence a French Conquest of England will have ●pon the Affairs of all Europe That it is not mere Justice and Honour that makes the French King espouse the Cause of the late Ling James his Encroachments and Usurpa●ions on his Neighbours will witness He has no scruples of Conscience about the Rights ●f other Princes all he can get is his own But England was formerly a Friend and Confederate at least not an Enemy and now the Power of England which the French have never had reason to despise is in the hands of a K●ng who ows the French King a good turn and will not I hope die in his debt This checks his ambitious ●esigns gives life and spirit to the Confederacy threatens to make him restore what he ●as taken and what he keeps by meer force and violence and to reduce him within his ●ncient Bounds and to the Ancient Constitution of the French Government and he ●nows while King William possesses the English Throne and keeps up the Confederacy ●e must not expect to get much more and may be in constant danger of losing what he ●as gotten This makes the French King so concerned to restore the late King James to the Throne ●f England to get r●d of a Formidable Enemy and to strengthen himself with the Alli●nce of a Powerful Friend for England will probably turn the scales on which side so●ver i● happens to be And there is no doub● but the Arms of England must be devoted ●o the service of France if a French Power should place the late K. in hi● Throne again 〈◊〉 let any English Protestant who can think coolly of things consider what a malignant ●spect this would have upon the Liberties of Europe and on the whole Protestant Interest The Arms or the Money of Fr. has hitherto been an equal Match at

nay by their Examples Counsels they had so influenced the Army that they would not Fight for him neither so possessed the Countrey that the Nobility and Gentry took Arm● declared for the P. of Orange which they thought they might very well do when the Bishops would not declare against him This was then thought consistent enough with the High-Tory-Loyalty yet if they were not then bound to Fight for him to keep him on his Throne I am at a great losse to know how it comes to be their duty now to Fight for him to restore him to it He was certainly their K. then and yet they would not Fight for him no not to defend his Person Crown and Dignity And tho they call him their K. still it is certain he is not K. of England whatever right they may think he has to be so therefore to fight for him now is not to fight for the K but to fight to make him K again But to let that passe suppose him to be their K since they will have him so How do they come to b● more obliged to fight for him now he is out of the Throne than they were to fight for him while he was in it If they think it their duty to fight for their K. against the Religion the Laws the Liberties of their Countrey it was their duty to have fought for him then if they do not think this it cannot be their duty to fight for him now But they did not expect what followed they desired to have their Law Liberties secured but not that he should lose his Crown I believe very few did then expect what followed no more than they do now consider what will follow But since he would leave his Crown Who could help it For no body took it from him 3. Let me then ask them another question Whether they would think themselves bound in Conscience to fight for him did they verily believe that if he recovered his Throne he would as zealously promote Popery and Arbitrary Power as he did before If they say they would not they have been at their non putarem once already a second oversight in the same kind would be worse than the first If they say they would I give them over as professed Enemies to the true Religion and the Liberties of Mankind This I hope may satisfy the Non-swearers if they will coolly and seriously consider it that they are not bound in Conscience to fight for the late K nay that they are as much bound in Conscience not to fight for him as they are bound not to fight against the Protestant Religion and Civil Liberties not only of England but of all Europe 2. As for those who have Sworn Allegiance to K. William Q. Mary besides all the former considerations they are under the obligations of an Oath not to fight against their present Majesties whose Sworn Subjects Leigemen they are For let them expound Faith True Allegiance to as low a sense as possibly they can the least that they ever could make of it is to live quietly peaceably under their Government not to attempt any thing against their Persons or Crowns to hold any Correspondence with nor to give any Assistance to their Enemie● therefore to countenance a French Invasion or to assist the late K in recovering the Throne which Their Majesties so well fill and which they have Sworn not to dispossesse them of must be downright Perjury If they be sure that their Oaths to the late K. still oblige them that indeed would make void the obligation of this Second Oath but then they must be guilty of Perjury in taking it and by the breaking of it will declare to all the world that they deliberately wilfully Perjured themselves when they took it let them remember this when they take Arms against Their Majesties and let them expect that recompence which they deserve Those who took this only as a Temporary Oath which obliged them no longer than till the late K. should return into England again to demand his Crown are guilty of Perjury if they keep it no longer than till they have a promising opportunity to break it For this is to mock God to deceive the Government by their Oaths For no man can think that the meaning of the Oath was no more but this I do Promise Swear to bear Faith true Allgiance to K. Wil. Q. Mary till I have Power Opportunity by the return of K. James with a French Army to joyn his Forces and to Assist him to recover his Throne Those who will take and keep Oaths at this rate we must leave to God But nothing is more plain and certain than that the New Oath of Allegiance obliges all who have taken it under the guilt of Perjury at least not to fight for the late King against King William and Queen Mary And here I may very fairly conclude without entering into any longer dispute about the lawfulnesse of fighting against a Foreign Army though the late K. were at the Head of it for were those who scruple this satisfyed that they ought not to fight for him their present Majesties have Friends enow who are very well satisfyed to fight against him especially bringing along with him the greatest Enemies both to the Protestant Religon and to the Civil Liberties not only of the English Nation but of all the Kingdoms and States of Europe France it self not excepted However this Letter is large enough already and if I find you desire further satisfaction in this matter especially about the late K. James's Declaration which is lately come to my hands you may expect a speedy account of it in a Second Letter from Sir Yours