Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A26453
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Advice to freeholders, and others, concerning the choice of members to serve in Parliament and the qualifications that render a gentleman worthy or underserving so great a trust: with a list of non-associators.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing A647A; ESTC R215659
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15,301
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26
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Power and Influence of the Offenders but in this great and awful Senate before whom the haughtiest Criminals tremble and it has been observed that they scarce ever persecuted any tho never so great or highly in Favour at Court but sooner or latter they hit him and it proved his ruin Take a few Examples King Edw. II. dotes upon Piece Gravestone a French Gentleman he wasts the King's Treasures has undeserved Honour conferred on him affronts the ancient Nobility the Parliament in the beginning of the King 's 〈…〉 Reign complain of him he is banished into Ireland the King afterwards calls him home and marries him to the Earl of Gloucester's Sister The Lords complain again so effectually that the King not only consents to his second Banishment but that if ever he returned or were found in the Kingdom he should be held and proceeded against as an Enemy to the State yet back he comes and is receiv'd once more by the King as an Angel who carries him with him into the North and hearing the Lords were in Arms to bring the said Gravestone to Jutice plants him for safety in Scarborrough-Castle which being taken his Head was chopt off In K. Richard the 2d's time most of the Judges of England to gratify certain Corrupt and Pernicious Favourites about the King being sent for to Nottingham were by Perswasions and Menaces prevailed with to give false and illegal Resolutions to certain Questions proposed to them declaring certain Matters to be Treason which in truth were not so for which in the next Parliament they were called to account and attainted and Sir Robert Tresilian Lord Chief Justice of England was drawn from the Tower through London to Tyburn and there hang'd as likewise was Blake one of the King's Council and Vske the Under-sheriff of Middlesex who was to pack a Jury to serve the present turn against certain innocent Lords and others whom they intended to have had taken off and five more of the Judges were banished and their Goods forfeited And the Arch-Bishop of York the Duke of Ireland and the Earl of Suffolk three of the King 's evil Councillors were forced to fly and die miserable Fugatives in Foreign Parts In the beginning of King Henry the 8th's Reign Sir Richard Empsom Kt. Edmond Dudley one of the Barons of the Exchequer having by colour of an Act of Parliament to try People for several Offences without Juries committed great Oppressions were proceeded against in Parliament and lost their Heads In the 19th Year of King James's Reign at a Parliament holden at Westminster there were shewn saith Baker's Chron. Fol. 418. two great Examples of Justice which for future Terrour are not unfit to be here related one upon Sir Giles Mompesson a Gentleman otherwise of good parts but for practising sundry Abuses in erecting and setting up new Inns and Ale-houses and exacting great Sums of Money of People by pretence of Letter Pattents granted to him for that purpose was sentenced to be degraded from his Knight-hood and disabled to bear any Office in the Common-wealth tho he avoided the Execution by flying the Land But upon Sir Francis Mitchel a Justice of Peace in Middlesex and one of the chiefest Agents the Sentence of Degradation was executed and he made to ride with his Face to the Horses Tail thro the City of London The other Example was one Sir Fran. Bacon Viscount St. Albons Lord Chancellour of England who for Bribery was put from his place and committo the Tower In King Charles the First time most of the Judges that had given Opinions contrary to Law in the case of Ship-money were called to account and forced to fly for the same And in the 19th Year of K. Charles the Second the Earl of Clarenden Lord Chancellour of England being questioned in Parliament and retiring thereupon beyond the Seas was by a special Act banished and disabled In a word it was well and wisely said of that Excellent Statesman Sir William Cecil Lord Burleigh and High Treasurer of England that he knew not what an Act of Parliament might not do Which Apothegm was approved by King James and alledged as I remember in one of his published Speeches I shall give a few Instances besides those before mentioned of what the House of Commons hath done in former Ages 1. Anno. 20. Jacobi Dr. Harris Minister of Beechingly in Surry for misbehaving himself by Preaching and otherwise about Election of Members of Parliament upon complaint was called to the Bar of the House of Commons and there as a Delinquent on his Knees had Judgment to confess his Fault there and in the Country in the Pulpit of his Parish-Church on Sunday before Sermon 2. Anno. 21. Jacobi Ingrey Under-Sheriff of Cambridg-shire refusing the Pole upon the promise of Sir Tho. Steward to defend him therein kneeling at the Bar receiv'd his Judgment to stand committed to the Serjeant at Arms and to make Submission at the Bar and acknowledg his Offence there and to make a further Submission openly at the Quarter Sessions and there also to acknowledg his Fault 3. Anno 22. Jacobi the Mayor of Arundel for misbehaving himself in an Election by putting the Town to a great deal of charge not giving a due and general warning but packing a number of Electors was sent for by Warrant and after order'd to pay all the Charges and the House appointed certain Persons to adjust the Charges 4. Anno 3. Car. 1. Sir Williaw Wray and others deputed Lieutenants of Cornwal for assuming to themselves a Power to make whom they pleased Knights and defaming those Gentlemen that then stood to be chosen sending up and down the Country Letters for the Trained-Bands to appear at the Day of Election and Menacing the Country under the Title of his Majesties Pleasure had Judgment given upon 'em to be committed to the Tower 2. To make Recognition of their Offence at the Bar of of the House upon their Knees which was done 3. To make a Recognition and Submission at the Assizes in Cornwal in a Form drawn by a Committee 5. But most remarkable were the Proceedings in the same Parliament Anno. 1628 against Dr. Manwaring who being there charged with Preaching and Publishing offensive Sermons and the same being referred to a Committee they brought in their Reports which was delivered to the House with this Speech as I find in Dr. Fuller's Church-History L. 11. Fol. 129. Mr. Speaker I am to deliver from the Sub-Committee a Charge against Mr. Manwaring a Preacher and Dr. of Divinity but a Man so Criminous that he hath turned his Titles into Accusations for the better they are the worse is he that hath dishonoured 'em here is a great Charge that lies upon him it is great in it its self and great because it hath many great Charges in it Serpens qui serpentem Dovorat fit Draco his Charge having digested many Charges into it is become a Monster of Charges The main and great one
is this a Plot and a Policy to alter and subvert the Frame and Fabrick of this State and Common-wealth This is the great one and it hath others in it that gains it more Greatness For to this end he labours to infuse into the Conscience of His Majesty the perswasion of a Power not bounding it self with Laws which King James of Famous Memory calls in his Speech in Parliament 1618. Tyranny yea Tyranny accompanied with Perjury 2. He endeavours to perswade the Consciences of the Subjects that they are bound to obey illegal Commands yea he damns them for not obeying ' em 3. He robs the Subjects of the property of their Goods 4. He brands 'em that will not loose their property with most scandalous and odious Titles to make 'em hateful both to Prince People so to set a division between Head and Members and between the Members themselves To this end not much unlike Faux and his Fellows he seeks to blow up Parliaments and Parliamentary Power Therefore being duly viewed will make up the main and great Charge a Mischievious Plot to alter and subvert the Frame and Government of this State and Common-wealth And now that you may besure that Mr. Manwaring tho he leave us no Property in our Goods yet he hath an absolute Propriety in his Charge Audite ipsam belluam here Mr. Manwaring by his own words making up his own Charge Here he produced the Books particularly insisting on P. 19 29 and 30. in the first Sermon P. 35 46 and 47. in the second Sermon All which Passages he hightened with much Elequence and Acrimony thus concluding his 〈◊〉 I have shewed you an Evil Tree 〈…〉 forth evil Fruit and now it rests 〈◊〉 you to determin whether the folloâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 shall follow Cut it down and cast it into the Fire Four Days after the Parliament proceeded to his Censure consisting of eight particulars it being order'd by the House of Lords against him as followeth 1. To be Imprisoned during the Pleasure of the House 2. To be Fined a Thousand Pounds 3. To make his Submission at the Bar of this House and in the House of Commons at the Bar there in verbis conceptis a set Form of Words framed by a Committee of this House 4. To be Suspended from his Ministerial Function three Years and in the mean time a sufficient Preaching-Man to be provided out of the profits of his Living and this to be left to be performed by the Ecclesiastical Court 5. To be Disabled for ever hereafter from Preaching at Court 6. To be for ever Disabled of having any Ecclesiastical Dignity in the Church of England 7. To be uncapable of any Secular Office or Preferment 8. That his Books are worthy to be burnt and that His Majesty to be moved that it may be to in London and both the Universities And accordingly he made his humble Submission at both the Bars in Parliament on the 23d of June following and on his Knees before both Houses submitted himself with outward Expressions of Sorrow as followeth I do here in all Sorrow of Heart and true Repentance acknowledg these many Errors and Indiscretions which I have committed in Preaching and Publishing the two Sermons of mine which I called Religion and Allegiance and my great Fault in falling upon this Theam again and handling the same rashly scandalously and unadvisedly in my own Parish-Church in St. Giles's in the Fields the 4th of May last past I humbly acknowledg these three Sermons to have been full of dangerous Passages and Inferences and Scandalous Aspersions in most part of them and I do humbly acknowledg the just Proceedings of this Honourable House against me and the just Sentence and Judgment passed upon me for my great Offence And I do from the bottom of my Heart crave Pardon of God the King and this Honourable House and the Common-wealth in general and those worthy Persons adjudged to be reflected on by me in particular for these great Offences and Errors It is therefore the indispensible Interest and Duty of all true English-men to maintain these Priviledges conveyed from their Ancestors through so many Generations inviolable upon which all our Earthly and in a great measure our Spiritual Happiness Safety and Well-being depends Nor can any Man in his Senses but acknowledg that the only right way to attain that End is to look well to the Means and that is by taking due care what Persons they chuse for their Representatives with whom they must trust their Estates Lives and Liberties Now the Government of a Prince by and with Parliaments when ever the condition and necessities of the State require 'em however according to its Primitive Institution it was the best of all others Yet as well in that as in Christianity it self there hath been sound out ways of Corruption and that is when either they sit too long or too seldom or are too frequently dissolved Too frequent Dissolutions being no less dangerous to the Subject than too long Sessions nevertheless it may be in the Electors Power to avoid the Inconveniences of both and that is by making a good choice Whereas if the Country People will sell â—ll that they have for a little Boast Beef a Glass of Sack and a Pot of Ale chosing him that will give them most drink to day tho they know him to be a Person who will sell both their Religion Liberties and Fortunes to Morrow Then frequent Dissolutions we may expect which are as dangerous to the Subject as too long Sessions which will of necessity ruin us and utterly debauch this excellent Constitution For the honest Country Gentleman designs no other private advantage but the true Service of his King and Country hath no reason nor is lie able once in half a year to spend 4 or 500 pounds only to purchase a place full of Labour Charge Trouble and Danger without any profit to himself only to serve those who put him to such an unkind Expence And when honest Loyal Gentlemen are thus discouraged this sottish Humour amongst the Electors continue the Papists and their Faction or necessitous Persons of prostituted Consciences will carry their Votes for they can afford to buy them at large Rates being resolved to repay themselves tho with the ruin of the Nation This is not vain Surmise or idle Speculation but the very Truth of the Case and the meanest Countryman that hath Eyes in his Head and will use them cannot but see it For did you ever know a Coachman or Groom buy his Place unless he design'd to rob his Masters Bin Therefore whoever you put to charge in your Elections blame him not if he makes Money again of what he bought and lays out his Vote in the House not for your good and that of the Publick but that way as will best please the Ministers of State that so he himself may get a good Place or Preferment or Title of Honour by the Bargain I say tho he himself be a base Wretch for so doing yet you cannot blame him since you did not lend him your Trust but sold it him and what a Man hath purchased with his own Money he may lawfully sell again Therefore that Man who does wilfully 〈…〉 endeavour to ruin both his Country and Himself and his Posterity and to be as bad or worse than the Person he chuses and if the greater part of the 〈…〉 to be wiser or honester it 〈…〉 to him he did as much as he 〈…〉 it and therefore for his 〈…〉 one else were concern'd with him 〈…〉 matter if he were forthwith made a Slave and his Children perpetual Vassels The before-mentioned old Lord Treasurer Burleigh who is thought to have been the greatest Statesman that ever this Nation bred did frequently deliver as a Maxim or rather a Prophesy That England can hardly be ruined unless by her own Parliament undoubtedly foreseeing that other Oppressions as being wrought by Violence might perhaps by violence be in time shaken off again whereas when in a Parliamentary way we are undone by a Law that can never be revers'd but by a down-right Rebellion because the Parties advantaged by that Law will never agree to the repealing of it Such is the happy frame of your Government so prudently and so strong have your Ancestors secured Property and Liberty rescued by Inches out of the Hands of encroaching Violence that you cannot be enslaved but with Chains of your own making for as you are never undone till you are undone by Law so you can never be undone by a Law till you chuse the undoing Legislators and may not your Enemies add Scorn to their Cruelty and pretend Justice for both when they can plead they had never trampled on your Heads had not you laid them on the Ground From what has been said it evidently appears of what vast importance it is at all times when ever his Majesty shall be pleased to issue out his Writs for a Parliament to chuse as much as in us lies a good House of Commons as we tender our Religion Liberties Estates and Posterity Upon our well or ill chusing depends our well or ill being 'T is here as in Marriage or War there is no room for second Errors one Act may ruin a Nation beyond retriâ—â—â— FINIS