Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	according_a	great_a	king_n	5,046	5	3.6170	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37436	Reasons humbly offer'd for a law to enact the castration of popish ecclesiastics, as the best way to prevent the growth of popery in England	Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731.	1700 (1700)	Wing D843; ESTC R7912	12,802	28

is sufficient to discover the bad State of the Protestant Interest abroad If we consider the posture of Affairs at home it 's evident from a late printed Letter said to be wrote by a worthy Bishop and dedicated to a Member of Parliament that Popery comes in upon us like a Flood It is not to be denied that there 's a Party in the three Nations who favour the Title of an Abdicated Popish Prince and his pretended Succession against the present Government and the Succession establish'd by Law It is not to be forgot that their Interest was so strong as to advance a Popish King to our Throne and tho they could not keep him there because he dismounted himself by a furious Career yet they have endanger'd us since by repeated Plots against his present Majesty's Life and endeavouring to bring in a French Invasion upon us It is also known that there are mighty discontents fomented and nourish'd in all the three Nations in relation to Trade Parties and different Pretensions and that this gives the Popish Clergy an opportunity of adding fewel to our Flames which makes it likewise evident that the Protestant Interest is in danger at home This is further demonstrable from the Trouble the Papists have from time to time given and continue to give to our Government and Parliaments what 's the meaning else of those Proclamations formerly and lately emitted commanding Papists to retire from London c. What else is the meaning of those Bills brought in to prevent their disinheriting their Protestant Heirs and to hinder their sending Children abroad to foreign Seminaries to be bred up in Idolatry or made Priests Monks and Nuns This besides the danger that accrues thereby to our Religion and Libertys takes vast Sums of Money out of the Kingdom yearly They likewise give trouble to our Parliaments by bringing in Bills for discovering Estates and Money given to superstitious Uses which is every way mighty prejudical to the Kingdom and enables the Papists to breed Vipers in our Bowels in order to rend us in pieces Then since it is undeniable that we are in danger from the Papists whether we consider the State of Affairs at home or abroad and that the Laws hitherto enacted have not been able to prevent the recourse of Popish Priests c. nor the growth of Popery in this Kingdom what should hinder us from trying new Methods and particularly this Law of Castration It would certainly be a Punishment very proper for them and might make them read their Sin in their Judgment since it 's evident that by their own personal Villany and their loose Doctrine of Pardons c. which incourages People in Licentiousness they make more Proselytes than by any other Method Those who perhaps would scruple to be any ways Instrumental in taking these Priests when the Penalty inflicted upon them by Law is Death would not have reason to be so scrupulous to take and discover them when the Punishment is only Castration and therefore would be more diligent to put the Laws in Execution upon them It must also be reckon'd a deserved Punishment since under the Seal of Confession they commit Uncleanness with those they have the Trust of as Ghostly Fathers so that it is a sort of spiritual Incest and a destroying People with Arms that make no Report both which Crimes are capital in all well govern'd States and therefore the Punishment of Castration in such a Case must needs be accounted mild If it be objected that tho some of the Romish Clergy be guilty of Incontinence yet all of them are not so and therefore such only are to be punish'd in that manner as are convicted of the Crime It 's easy to answer That it is equally true that all of them are not guilty of Conspiring against the Government nor is it possible to convict all of 'em of perverting the Subjects yet the 27 th of Elizabeth makes it Treason for any Popish Priest bred up beyond Sea to be here or to return into England without submitting to the Government and taking the Oath of Supremacy And indeed it is but reasonable it should be so for their being here supposes their Design and therefore there 's as much reason to punish them tho we cannot prove the Overt Acts upon them as there is to punish Thieves for coming into our Houses in an illegal manner tho we cannot prove that they have robb'd us or stole any thing If we find a Wolf or other Beast of Prey among our Flocks we take their design of destroying them for granted and treat them accordingly tho we don't see the Limbs of our Cattle in their mouths And therefore since the Practices and Principles of the Romish Clergy are so well known their being found in the Nation ought to be sufficient Conviction It still remains a Question how they shall be discovered But the Answer is at hand Let a competent and certain Reward be propos'd for such as shall do it and the like Reward and a Pardon to any of their own Number that shall discover the rest or let Provision be made for some of every English Seminary beyond Sea that turn Protestants plant some of them in the several Ports of the Kingdom and let some of each of those Seminarys be likewise constantly in London to assist in Searches and view those that are taken up on Suspicion And at the same time let provision be made for such as will inform of all the Popish Clergy that haunt the great Families of that Opinion in England and we need not doubt of an effectual discovery in a little time for besides the influence that the hopes of a Reward will have those Goatish Fellows the Romish Clergy do many times disoblige Familys of their own way by attempting to debauch their Wives Children or Servants some of whom have so much Virtue as to reject the Temptation and to hate the Tempters and many times their blind Zeal occasions them likewise to take indiscreet Methods to pervert Protestant Servants who would not be wanting in case of such provision as above-mention'd to discover those dangerous Fellows To inflict this Punishment of Castration upon them is so much the less to be thought cruel or unreasonable since it is so ordinary in Italy and other Popish Countries for the meaner sort of People to geld their own Sons that they may make the better market of them for singing Boys and Musicians or to be Catamites to Cardinals and other Dignitaries of the Romish Church In those hot Countries the Roman Clergy are much addicted to that damnable and unnatural Crime and such of them as are not keep lewd Women almost avowedly they are indeed more upon the Reserve and live according to the Maxim of Cauté tho not Casté in such Countries where the Government is Reformed or where the Protestants are numerous but then they are under the greater Temptation to perpetrate their Villanies on the pretext of

Confessing Women therefore there 's the more Reason to enact a Law of Castration against them in this Kingdom We have the more ground to think that such a Law duly executed would have a good Effect because the Lust of the Flesh is so bewitching and natural to the greatest part of Mankind and continues to have a predominancy in them for so great a part of their Lives that it hath occasion'd and does occasion more disorders and is apter to engage Men over whom it obtains the ascendant in more desperate Undertakings than any other passion whatever Histories are full of Examples of Princes and great Men that have ruin'd themselves and their Countries in the pursuit of their irregular Amours We have no need to turn over foreign Stories or to go out of our own Nation for Proofs of this It is not so long ago as to be forgot since we had the chief Affairs of State manag'd and Parliaments dissolv'd c. at the beck of Courtisans The Interest of Popery and Tyranny in the late Reigns was chiefly advanc'd by such Do not we find even in private Persons of all Ranks that where that Passion is not kept in due bounds or cur'd by the proper Remedies of a sutable Match that Honour Health and Estates nay Life it self is many times sacrific'd to the pleasure of the Flesh and therefore the Apostle had Reason as well as Revelation on his side when he rank'd all that is in the World under the three Heads of the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life and gave that of the Flesh the preference It is plain from Experience that the other two are made generally subservient to it as is visible every day from that excess in Jewels Apparel and Household Furniture and the vast Expence which the Gallants of both Sexes put themselves to in one or all of these in order to obtain the Favour of their Paramours From all which we may make this Inference that if the Romish Clergy were made uncapable by a Law of enjoying that which they account the greatest pleasure of Life they would avoid those Countrys where such Laws are put in execution as they would avoid the Plague 'T would be happy if by this means we could deliver our Posterity from those Conspiracies Civil Wars Dreadful Fires Massacres Assassinations of Princes and other Mischiefs which these Kingdoms have been liable to from the Papists and against which all our other Laws have hitherto signified but little to preserve us We have also found by sad experience that they have had so much influence as to get the Ascendant over some of our Princes by tempting them as they have done the French King with the hopes of an Absolute Sway and we know not what Visionary Empires By this means they prevail'd with them to overthrow our Laws the recovery of which hath cost the Nation so much Blood and Treasure that after Ages are like to feel the smart of it Tho they have run one of our Princes off the Stage and have well-nigh ruin'd their great Champion beyond Sea as they did formerly the Spanish Monarchy by spurring on those Princes to persecute Protestants and establish Despotical Government They will never give over that Game but inspire all Princes to whom they can have access either by themselves or others with one or both of those Designs and therefore it is the Interest of England to use all possible means to secure the Nation against those Romish Clergymen for which Castration is humbly conceiv'd to be the properest Method and is so far from being cruely that it may well be reckoned as great a piece of Clemency to Romish Priests as Transportation is instead of the Gallows to other condemned Criminals In short it will be so far from being a real diskindness to the Popish Laics of this Nation that it will be the greatest piece of Friendship to them imaginable this we hope they will be the more readily convinc'd of if their Wives Daughters and Maid-servants cry out against this Law for then to be sure they have some particular concern in the matter We hope that our Popish Laics in England are Men of as good Observation as those in other Countrys and particularly in France and Italy where their very Proverbs are sufficient to demonstrate that they have no great Opinion of their Clergymens Chastity It is not possible to expose those goatish Fellows with more severity and contempt than the Italians do by saying fate Lui Coronna by way of sarcasm of a Stallion that they don't think performs his part alluding to the Priests shaven Crowns as if that Sacerdotal Character were sufficient even to invigorate a Horse Their other Proverb of fate lo Prete let 's make him a Priest when they have any ungovernable Wanton in a Family that overruns all their Females is akin to the other and their covering their Stone-horses with a Monk's Frock when they find them indifferent for a Mare in season is a scandalous Reproof of those brutish Clergymen Answerable to these is the French Proverb Qui veut tenir nette Maison Qu'il n'y souffre ni pretre in Moin ni pigeon Comparing the Popish Clergy to the Pigeons for their venereous Inclinations and may be Englished thus They that would keep their Houses Chast and Neat From thence must Priests Monks Nuns and Pigeons beat As all Proverbs of that sort are founded upon something universally known or conceiv'd to be true it is not at all for the Honour of the Popish Clergy that their Chastity should be thus reflected upon in Countrys where they are the sole Directors of Conscience and have their Religion established by Law But that which fixes it yet more upon them is that in the Pope's Chancery the Tax for eating Eggs in Lent is greater than that for Sodomy and the Penalty upon a Priest that marrys is greater than upon those that commit that monstrous and unnatural Villany just now mention'd From all which it is manifest that they did not speak at random who inform'd us that the Celibacy of such an innumerable multitude of Popish Ecclesiastics is the maximum Arcanum dominationis Papalis and that the Priests Testicles are the greatest Promoters of the Pope's Empire This will appear yet more plain that it is of the highest Importance to them since the Church of Rome maintains that Marriage is a Sacrament and that all Sacraments confer Grace and yet denys it to her Clergy a manifest Indication that they have their graceless Designs to promote by it especially since at the same time the want of those Parts which they will not allow them to make use of in a regular way renders them uncapable of being Priests according to their Canons but yet they are so kind to their gelded Martyrs as to allow it to be sufficient if they have them about them in Pouder or any other way These things confirm in a literal sense the odious Characters given the Church of Rome in the Revelations Chap. 17 18 c. As the great Whore with whom the Kings and Inhabitants of the Earth have committed Fornication the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth having a golden Cup in her hand full of Abominations and of the Filthiness of her Fornications c. Then since by the Testimony of God and Man the Romish Clergy is such an impure and lascivious Crew it makes a Law of Castration a just and adequate Punishment for them To conclude Since our King and Parliament have both testified their Zeal and Forwardness to suppress Immorality and Profaneness it follows naturally that such a Law as this deserves their serious Thoughts for it is impossible to suppress reigning Vice so long as those goatish Fellows are suffered to swarm among us They not only corrupt the Morals of People themselves by such Practices and Principles as above-mention'd but bring over and encourage others to do it particularly those Italians c. who sell and print Aretin's Postures and in order to debauch the Minds of Women and to make them guilty of nnnatural Crims invent and sell 'em such things as Modesty forbids to name 'T is evident that as Popery advanc'd upon us in the late Reigns Debauchery gain'd ground at the same time for they naturally make way for one another and therefore we can never suppress Immorality without securing our selves effectually against Popery If this should be attempted by a Law of Castration against Romish Priests it must be own'd that it would be more charitable and humane to save our selves from Popish Superstition and all its mischievous Consequences by that Method alone than to practise it together with other Punishments upon such of those Wretches as come to the Gibbet for Treason the cutting off their Privities in such Cases and throwing 'em in the Fire just before they be totally bereft of Life can be of no manner of use whereas Castration alone beforehand might have sav'd us from the danger of their Plots and prevented themselves from coming to the Gallows FINIS