Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	common_a	lord_n	sir_n	7,718	5	6.9735	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77352	A discourse concerning Ireland and the different interests thereof, in answer to the Exon and Barnstaple petitions shewing, that if a law were enacted to prevent the exportation of woollen-manufactures from Ireland to foreign parts, what the consequences thereof would be both to England and Ireland.	Brewster, Francis, Sir, d. 1704.	1698 (1698)	Wing B4433; ESTC R232233	49,829	76

only say further that both the Irish and they have so lately that we cannot yet forget it given us evident Demonstrations how they would deal with us if we lay at their Mercy and this they did at the same time with this only difference that the latter did their Work more effectually than the others the Irish did theirs in the time of VVar and Tyranny and were themselves and their pretended Act of Parliament soon kick'd out of doors But the Scotch taking the advantge of a time when England was not at leisure to take notice of their Proceedings ruin'd the Church of Scotland by a Law which is like to prove but too firm and lasting which leads me Thirdly To a third Consequence and one that I think doth necessarily and evidently follow from what has been now said and that is that if the High Court of Parliament should pass such a Law as afore-mentioned and either the Irish or Scotch become Masters of Ireland the Church which is now established there must inevitably be ruined which indeed is the main Consideration that engaged me in this Undertaking I heard the Question proposed since I came to London What the Church had to do with Trade or how a Law concerning the Woollen Manufacture could affect it as if the whole Body of the People were not of the Church nor the Clergy Members of the Commonwealth but their Interests were different and did not stand upon the same Basis with the establish'd English Laws of that Kingdom And I think it might as well have been ask'd What it concern'd the Church of England if the grand Fleet had been burnt by the French in the late War or the Church of Spain if the Galleons had been taken by Monsieur Ponty But because it may not be thought a good way to answer one Question by proposing others I shall in few words give a direct answer to it I have already shewn how far this Statute must affect the Laity of the established Church of Ireland and shall now endeavour to shew how far the Ecclesiasticks or the Church strictly so called must be concern'd in this matter Tho' methinks 't is needless to tell the World that if the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of that or any other Nation be reduced to a low Ebb of Fortune the Clergy must by necessary consequence bear a part in the common Sufferings except that part of the World where the Church hath engrossed all to herself and made the Country poor and miserable and it is not long since we have by fatal Experience found this to be true in Ireland But for greater Evidence sake I shall endeavour to shew the Methods by which that Church was ruined to that Degree that the Clergy who lived in those Parts of the Country where the Irish principally inhabited had for two Years before the War little more than the Name of Livings for they must either have set their Tythes c. to the Irish at what Rates they thought fit to offer or they would pay little or none in kind for the most expeditious means which the Clergy of that Kingdom had or indeed have now for the recovery of their dues is a Statute passed in England in the Twenty Seventh of Henry VIII which mentions Ireland as well as England and ordains that if any Person being cited in a Decimary Cause to the Ecclesiastical Court refused to appear that then two Justices of the Peace whereof one to be of the Quorum shall upon the Receipt of a Certificate under the Seal of that Court signifying his Contumacy issue their Warrant against the Party so offending and if he refuse to enter sufficient Security that he will appear at a prefix'd time and pay what by the said Court shall be adjudged against him that then he shall be committed to safe Custody till he make Satisfaction which Law was commonly put in execution in several Diocesses of that Kingdom and met with no opposition while Protestant Judges sat on the Bench but they were no sooner thrust out and Popish Judges appointed but that Practice was declared illegal and that Statute to be of no force in Ireland and several Justices of the Peace discarded for having issued their Warrants pursuant thereto By another Statute which was made in Ireland in the Three and Thirtieth Year of Henry VIII it is enacted That if the Party summoned for Detention or Substraction of Tythes shall enter his appearance in the Ecclesiastical Court and Sentence shall pass there against him that then two Justices of the Peace qualified as aforesaid shall at the request of the said Court imprison the said Offender without Bail or Main-prize till he fulfil the Sentence so pronounced against him But the intent of this Law was in those days easily deseated for the Irish throughout the Kingdom were advised by their Lawyers to take no notice of any Citations issued out of the Ecclesiastical Courts So that the only Method which then remained of proceeding against Offenders of that kind was to prosecute them to Excommunication and to take Writs de Excommunicat capient out of the High Court of Chancery which by reason of the great Charge of those Writs is not to be done but upon extraordinary occasions and where the matter contested is considerable however to prevent even this Practice as well as to obstruct the common Course of Justice in all Cases where a Protestant was concern'd against a Papist the Lord Chancellor Sir Charles Porter who was a true Friend to the establish'd Church and the English Interest was displaced to make room for a profess'd malicious Papist who utterly refused the Clergy the Benefit of the Law in cases of that kind and left the Laity of what Communion soever to pay their Ministers what they thought convenient so that 't is plain that if either the Irish or Scotch have that one Minister of Justice on their side that shall be no Friend to the establish'd Church but shall discountenance the Proceedings of the Ecclesiastical Courts he may himself singly go a great way towards the ruin of the Protestant Episcopal Clergy of that Nation And indeed it happened very well for them that those Writs were not granted them by that Popish Lord Chancellor for he by the Direction of the Lord Tyrconnel had made Irish High Sheriffs in most of the Counties of Ireland who would execute neither Writ nor Decree on any Papist either for Clergy-man or Lay-man I think likewise that I have laid down sufficient Reasons to make us believe that if the Scotch Presbyterians had the Estates of Ireland and consequently the Magistracy and Power in their Hands they would serve the Episcopal Clergy and such as should adhere to them after the same manner The Question therefore that remains is whether it be not probable that the Irish and they whose Interests seem now to be so opposite to each other might upon occasion of ruining the Episcopal Protestant Church should they

of that Kingdom such of them as live in the plain and fertile parts of the Country are generally Slaves to the English or to their Irish Landlords and live by their daily Labour working for 3 d. and in some places 4 d. a Day and their Dinner their Stock is generally a Cow or two some Goats and perhaps six or eight small Irish Sheep which they clip twice a Year and convert the Wool into coarse Frize to cover their Nakedness the same Cloaths serving them commonly both for wearing by Day and for Bed cloaths by Night when the Lambs of their few Sheep do fall they preserve some small part of them to keep up their Number and those they half starve for lucre of the Milk the rest they sell in the Markets at 6 d. or 8 d. a piece and this is what is known to all those who have had the least abode or acquaintance in those Parts of the Kingdom where the greatest Numbers of the Irish Inhabit The only considerable Manufacture that I have seen or heard of among them are those great quantities of coarse Linnen Yarn which are transported into Bristol Biddiford Liverpoole and other Parts of England Now a Law of this kind would be so far from being a Discouragement to that People of which I am treating viz. the vulgar Irish that it would be a very great Obligation laid upon them For before the late War in that Kingdom the Flocks were grown so numerous in all the plain Parts of the Country that the vulgar Irish were driven for the most part into the mountainous and woody Parts of the Kingdom except such as were necessary for some Services in which the English for want of others were forced to imploy them Insomuch that I have my self very frequently heard them curse the English Sheep with all the bitterness and rancor imaginable and pray to God That he would send a Rot or a Plague among the Sheep that the poor of the Country might have greater scopes of Ground for tillage c. And this was the true Reason that in the beginning of the late War they made such barbarous Havock of that kind of Cattel more than any other killing hundreds of them in the Fields when they had occasion for the Flesh but of a very few which did not a little contribute in two or three Years time to occasion so great a Scarcity in that plentiful Kingdom that if the Irish Army especially when driven over the Shannon had not been plentifully reliev'd from France a great many of the Country must have inevitably perished by Famine So that 't is a grand mistake to think that the Generality of them are Richer now than ever there were undoubtedly a great many particular Persons among them who by being more eminent Rapparees than others and being concern'd in seizing the Protestants Goods have made considerable Fortunes in the late Troubles some of which have Transported themselves and their Effects into France and others under the subterfuge of the Articles of Lymerick Galway c. have sheltered themselves from common Justice and live splendidly and securely upon the Spoils of ruined Protestants But the Irish in general are a kind of People that cannot keep Riches by them for tho' the Gentry of them had ever so great Rents coming into them they do usually spend their half Year's income in less than three Months running partly in Debt for the remainder of the time and partly spunging on their Neighbours and Tenants which latter was look'd upon to be so heavy a Burden to the Commonalty that there has been an Act of Parliament passed against Cosherers or Smell-Feasts in that Kingdom and indeed their extravagance and ill management are the true Reasons why the Wine-Merchants and other Traders among them have either purchased or lent Money on the Estates of most of the antient Irish Families And as for the universal Plunder which the Irish Army the Rapparees c. took from the Protestants before and in the late War they were no sooner Masters of any part of it but it was immediately destroyed when they drove away an Herd of Cattel which was common with them they never ceased slaughtering both Fat and Lean till they had consumed all neglecting their Potato's and other ordinary Food to which they had been accustom'd when they plundered a House they shaked the Feathers out of the Beds into the Streets or High ways and made Sacks of the Ticking to carry away the other Goods they cut the Curtains Hangings Linnen c. into Cloaths both Men and Women neglecting all manner of Work and living upon Spoil and Rapine which was the means by which that Country was reduced to that miserable Condition in which the English Army found it when they reduced it and yet I doubt not but if the Lands of the English of Ireland were to be sold the Irish might soon be furnished with Money from abroad to purchase them Secondly In order to make good my general Assertion That the English of Ireland are like to be the only Sufferers by the passing a Law pursuant to the Exon. Petition I cannot avoid saying something of another sort of People that Inhabit great part of that Kingdom their Interest Commerce and Dependance and these are the Scotch Dissenters or Presbyterians as they call Themselves of that Nation as in conjunction with that Party in Scotland who have lately run down Episcopacy there For I must here declare to the World that I intend no general national Reflection knowing that thô the Kirk of Scotland be now Triumphant yet there are still both there and in Ireland the remains of the Church of Scots which I hope God will in his own good Time repair and beautifie and that there are a great many Men of Learning and VVisdom Honour and Bravery of that Nation concerned in all manner of Stations in these three Kingdoms in the Church the Army and the Commonwealth between whom and our selves I do not think it reasonable nor fair to make any distinction since we profess the same Faith have been all along embarqued in the same common Cause and Thanks be to God have to very good purpose co-operated towards the attainment of the same End which is the security of our Religion and Properties and that both may be Established upon Firm and Lasting Foundations in opposition to all manner of Enemies according to the Antient and known Laws of these His Majesty's Dominions And because 't is usual with that Party to interpret all things which are said upon any occasion whatsoever disobliging to them as Reflections upon the Reformed Churches abroad I do here solemnly profess that I have a very great esteem for those Churches and have not the least intention of saying any thing that may give them the least Offence being very sensible that they are so far from having an ill opinion of the Church of England that they are very well satisfied with her Doctrines