Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	henry_n	john_n	sir_n	104,835	5	7.1202	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86752	Confusion confounded: or, A firm way of settlement settled and confirmed. Wherein is considered the reasons of the resignation of the late Parlament, and the establishment of a Lord Protector.	Hall, John, 1627-1656.	1654 (1654)	Wing H343A; Thomason E726_11; ESTC R204693	16,845	22

Confusion Confounded OR A firm way of SETTLEMENT settled and CONFIRMED WHEREIN Is Considered the REASONS of the Resignation of the late PARLAMENT AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A Lord Protector Qui Augustus cuncta discordiis civilibus fessa nomine principis sub imperium accepit Tacit. LONDON Printed by Henry Hills and are to be sold at his house at the sign of Sir John Old-Castle in Py-Corner 1654. Considerations upon the Resignation of the late PARLAMENT AND Establishing of the present Form of Government BY A LORD PROTECTOR c. THe former Parlament as it was the birth of abundance of pangs and throws of State so it sat down in such a time and was guided by such a spirit and encountred such accidents that it was easie to foresee that Providence had designed them to somewhat extraordinary And indeed it proved no otherwise for the secession of the King brought them upon extremity of Counsel and in the management of the unhappy war there wanted not either prudence or animosity which God was pleased to smile on with happy success and giving in the strength of the Nation into their hands to put them also in a capacity of setling our Liberty upon so right a foundation that it should not easily again be shaken But as it happens in all things humane to be corruptible so it fell out in this great Body and all Governments may well be said to be artificial men that though it rose as a Gyant in the morning and ran its race swiftly before noon yet sitting long after it grew Chatharrick and lazy nay diseased and troublesome Hence had it so many gripings in its own bowels two or three Phlebotomies were ineffectual and the last extremity and refuge was taken which caused at length the dissolution of this assembly which if you will either consider for the strange mutations within it self the grand enterprises that it happily undertook the wonderful alterations it hath brought in these Nations not to mention what influences it may have over all Europe a man may truly say it was one of the most famous fortunate wise Assemblies amidst so many difficulties and perplexities as ever was Their dissolution as it afforded much reason of thought to the speculative regret to those related to that Power and a kind of a bitter joy to the remnant of the malignant party so it proceeded from such reasons as might certainly in the safety and reason of State justifie the action For indeed though God was pleased to own their Counsels so far as to produce many glorious events from them yet their power at length like a standing water growing corrupt and they declining from their primitive vigour and purity and withall growing distasteful to the people who began to perceive with regret that they were unwilling to deliver up their Powers as they had declared and was expected there was an inevitable necessity of doing somewhat for the publick safety Adde to this that the Bill which they had prepared was circumstantiated so as gave but very little hopes of bettering the people by that provision and the greatness of Liberty that was left in Election could assure us of nothing else but hot confusion and a desperate revival of oppressed factions But these things were upon that occasion more fully handled by several pens who sufficiently cleared the necessity and justice of that great alteration which as it necessarily brought the Power immediately into the hands of the Lord General and the Army in whom it was effectively before so it put them to a considerable debate whither the exercise of this Power should be transferred They saw that the people things so standing were absolutely uncapable of that Power which was naturally theirs and that it had been but to put a sword into a mad-mans hand They were not willing to change the form of a Commonwealth which they had bought with so much blood and therefore after the fullest debate it was resolved to dispose the Power into the hands of such sufficient men and that for a time as might with godliness honesty and ability discharge the Supreme trust heal the distempers of the Nation amend the errors of their Predecessors and settle the Peace of the Nation upon such a Base as should not be shaken This number of men meeting together and being commissionated from the Lord General after a great many si famae creditur inconsiderable debates voted themselves a Parliament and so declared themselves and began to act accordingly But it was soon seen that those great expectations that brought them thither would prove abortive For Division which is the murtheress of Councils appeared very briskly in their very dawn and there was a party headed whom nothing could please but the wildest and most extravagant devastations possible The main pretence was Religion or according to their odd and fanatick Notions the setting up of the Kingdome of Jesus Christ a consideration which though it found acceptation with some grave and sober Inquirers yet must needs be of so different a nature from that which is expected from these men that there cannot be two things more disagreeing To say nothing that they not agreeing in the grounds of the notion or the wanner of it would certainly in their consequences arrive at the greatest Asustacies that it were impossible for the Christian Magistrate to support his sword in the midst of such confusion Not to mention that such notions as these proceeding from ill made brains and disturbed fancies strongly tinctured with an hypocondriack melancholy not bringing any assurance out of the word or any other sign that they proceed from the Spirit of light if they become once Magisterial oblige us to quit our Discourse our natural reason our experiences drawn even from common sense the means God hath ordained to direct us in civil matters and to follow those Wills-with-Wisps or ignes fatui of revelation and pretended spirit From hence I believe it rose though I cannot but conceive abundance of consciencious and discreet men joined with them upon other grounds that they voted none capable of place who was not Godly a word of that latitude that it signifies all things to all men different religions having brought men into such a high distemper that men do now accustome themselves to reckon it according to what themselves judge and opinion not according to the conversation and practice of another So it was easily perceivable that those Gentlemen that were so forward in it were not without design to seclude such other as were not of their Cloath But if we consider this a little more strictly we shall find that it was neither Politick nor indeed Rational Not Politick since all States of the world choose such Ministers as are the most fit though many times of different perswasions provided alwaies they had not some outward scandal and were qualified with such abilities as became their employments For it is not every raw and untutored head that is