Selected quad for the lemma: prince_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prince_n	able_a	complain_v	great_a	41	3	2.1206	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95370	A sermon preached before Sir P.W. Anno 1681. With additions: to which are annexed three digressional exercitations; I. Concerning the true time of our Saviour's Passover. II. Concerning the prohibition of the Hebrew canon to the ancient Jews. III. Concerning the Jewish Tetragrammaton, and the Pythagorick Tetractys. / By John Turner, late fellow of Christ's College in Cambridge.	Turner, John, b. 1649 or 50.	1684 (1684)	Wing T3318AB; ESTC R185793	233,498	453

as I suppose appointed by the Congregation de propaganda side the Committee that manage the interest of the Faction to buz in my ears as an argument to discourage me from publishing what I had spoken that my Sermon would have the honour of being translated into French for the use of Monsieur Barillon that a complaint would be made by the French Ambassadour in a memorial on set purpose that I had broken the Peace between the two Nations and that a Fellow of a College that had not so much as a Pupil to take his part had presumed barely with the assistance of his Sizar a worthy Squire to so redoubted a Knight to levy actual War upon the most potent and formidable Prince that these latter Ages of the World have seen though I was not sensible that I had said any more than they themselves who made use of this advantage against me are every day speaking among one another with a bitterness of Language peculiar to the men that use it though for this perhaps the French King is to thank them that they take no more liberty with him than they do with their own rightfull Sovereign and natural liege Lord the one for subverting the Protestant Religion and the other for maintaining it which shews them to be a People so very hard to be pleased that I am resolved never to be a servant to such difficult Masters for as Aristophanes saith rightly in the entrance into his Plutus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither indeed when all comes to all have I said any more than what most of the Princes and States of Christendom have publickly complained of by their Ambassadours and Agents in the Court of France and what is sufficiently justified by that excellent Person Dr. George Hickes a great ornament of Learning and as able a Champion for the established Religion as ever the field of controversie hath afforded hath verified to a tittle in his judicious Sermon concerning the True Notion of Persecution a Discourse which I wish with all my heart those of the Separation would take the pains to reade that complain so much but so unjustly of the subject of it So that I think upon the whole matter Sorbiere's case and mine are very different from one another though that were the example that was used to fright me for I have not spoken contemptibly of the French Nation which I have always accounted of as a gallant People valiant in War and always excelling in all the arts of Peace much less have I dared to vilifie the awfull Majesty of so great a King whose Sovereign Power I do as much acknowledge to be an image of the divine inviolable sacred and never to be mentioned without reverence and honour as I do that of our Royal Master himself the best of Princes the Father of his Country the delight of Mankind the wonder of this Age and the inimitable Example of all that are to come but yet I think it to be such an image as it would be inexcusable Idolatry in me who am an English Subject to fall down and worship And as my case is very different from that of Sorbiere so are my circumstances too for he they tell me for the indignities he put upon the English Nation the bravest people that the Sun beholds was deservedly turned out of all but I am humbly bold to tell Your Lordship and the rest of my Superiours that I have nothing out of which to be turned and that I should think my self comparatively happy in respect of what I am now if I could be placed in his circumstances without the crime that occasion'd them and as I am a stranger to his circumstances and his crime so I thank God I am as far removed from his Principles too for he and his two friends Mersennus and Gassendi were of the Religion of Malmsbury if they had any at all as appears by their joint admiration of the Book De Cive the Latin Leviathan that sports himself in foreign waters as the English one does upon the British Coast but I own no principles that destroy the very nature and being of obligation and are by consequence enemies to Mankind But it is easie to discern that all I have yet said is by no means a satisfactory answer to Your Lordship's question why the edition of this Sermon hath been so long delayed for the Additions to it are not so considerable that the twentieth part of all this time need to have been taken up about them and though indeed when I am brought to this pinch I cannot give a good account of such a slow and dilatory proceeding yet a true one I will be sure to give and it is this that when I had written and printed off ten sheets of this discourse which is as much as I now publish I launched out I know not how or why into things merely Philological and foreign to the subject and as it is usually when men are got into a Labyrinth they do but lose themselves the more for endeavouring to get out so one digression bringing on another I found I had wander'd so far out of my way that the subjects I now employ'd my thoughts upon began to speak another Language from that in which the former part of my discourse was written They that have a Talent at censuring will be apt to say that this proceeded out of nothing else but a certain vanity and affectation of appearing learned and it may be this was indeed the very cause since it will be difficult to assign a better though I am not sensible of it and so far as I know any thing of my self but how few are there that do understand themselves I have no such thing as pride or affectation in my nature and in truth it would be very inexcufable in me to be proud of any thing or to appear as if I were so and much more to resolve industriously in spite of the Subject or the Company I am in to be talking of matters in which neither are concerned because this is an humour so tawdry and impertinent and touches my imagination with so satyrical impressions upon it self that of all things in the World it would appear the most despicable to me if it did not make me sick as it always does and no man can properly be said to despise that which he fears But whatsoever were the true reason of so extravagant a ramble from the subject and the Text whether it proceeded out of vanity and foolish ostentation or whether it were onely what some that know me will be apt to plead in my behalf that I am naturally inclined by my constitution to digress from every such Subject which I undertake which I believe to be a true account of the business for I scarce ever set upon any thing in my life but I was always pestered with a multiplicity of thoughts as perfect strangers to the Subject and to one

as he is the prince of peace and the most powerfull preacher as well as the most perfect example of obedience From all which it follows unavoidably as to the third enquiry which is concerning the particular ceremonies or impositions that are excepted against that it is abundantly sufficient that there is a great deal to be said for them but nothing at all that can with any shew of reason be objected against them and to except against a ceremonie without giving some other reason than onely that a man cannot comply with it or because he is not satisfied with its lawfulness though he knows not why it should be unlawfull neither is an indefinite sort of exception that extends to one ceremonie as well as another and with as good reason may be applied to all humane impositions whatsoever wherefore unless the magistrate will utterly devest himself of all kind of power and authority whatsoever as all is included consequentially in this power of humane institutions in religious matters he must lay down this as an unalterable rule and measure of proceeding never to dispense with any thing that is enjoined merely because his subjects are troubled with the Mulligrubs because they know not what they a●l or what they would be at or why they would have what they complain of altered and dispensed with for this is to give up all into the hands of fancy and which is still more dangerous of design and it is the same thing as if a Phanatick or his wife should long for a Crown jewel not that they intend to make any use or advantage of it but onely it is a pretty thing and the good woman will miscarry if she have it not for it is certain if they be gratified in this request they will long for all the jewels one after another and at last for the Crown and the prerogative themselves I am very far My Lord from going about to detract from the great and worthy performances of those who have ransacked antiquity to vindicate and defend our church either against the Romanists on the one hand or the Separation on the other but yet it cannot be denied that this instead of ending the controversie hath but had the unhappiness to render it more perplext and difficult than before and to swell the dispute into so large a compass that it is no more consistent with an ordinary leizure than with an ordinary education and capacity to consider it however it is of absolute necessity that this be done that the onely pretences to antiquity may not lie on the wrong side notwithstanding that after we have done our best when the best parts and the most accurate endeavours have been employed men that are not Judges of these things for themselves will rather be cheated by their own writers than convinc'd by ours and the writings of Blondel Salmasius and Davilleé not to say any thing of that Kidderminster stuff which as course and as unfit for service as it is is the usual wear of the Schismaticks of our times will always be in better esteem among some men if there be no other expedient used to convince them than the most irrefragable and unanswerable demonstrations of the episcopal Divines who are either more able or more honest or both of them than they And though when antiquity does but confirm the true notion of things or rather is it self strengthened and confirmed by them it be in a manner needless yet when either the ancients themselves are on the wrong side of nature or are misapplied through ignorance inadvertency or design to serve a turn there is nothing so odious so distastfull to the palate and so disagreeable to the stomach of a wise man as to see a page groan under a heap of quotations and a margent as full fraught with testimonies to no purpose or to a very bad one as an Orange stuck with Cloves or a Pheasant larded with Bacon But where time and reason are both of them of a mind there indeed is it a double satisfaction to us to see that our ancestours before us were wise men and that we tread in their steps but the true reason why we ought to follow their example is not perfectly because they gave it and for nothing else for then we may follow bad examples as well as good ones but because their practice and ours is alike founded in the reason of things and the interest of mankind because nature is unchangeable and always the same and because experience cannot deceive us though antiquity may I have therefore chosen because I am satisfied the venture is very safe to put the stress of the whole controversie between the separatists and us upon this issue that we may stand or fall as nature shall determine and that we may proceed upon such principles as every man may judge and feel for himself whether they be true or no. If it be better for us to let loose the reins of Government without reason and without end as fast as any man that hath a brazen face or a weak understanding or a sinister design shall come and say My Conscience is tender and it is but fit that Conscience should be heard whether she can speak any thing for her self or no then let us let them loose to make an experiment what the event will be if former experiments will not resolve the case but if it be better to keep up an uniform and strict discipline if the interest of all be to be preferred before the humours of a few and those of the meanest of the people both for their quality and understanding if all the fault of episcopal government and of humane institutions is that they are not submitted to or obeyed as they should be if this be a fault not of the government or of the institutions themselves but of those that boggle at them and quarrel with them for no reason and if the same humour and itch of disobedience may be as good an argument against any government in the world and against all institutions whatsoever if the Episcopacy be the best fitted to secure obedience and to keep up discipline to preserve peace and to reward merit to make us happy and wise into the bargain Then it is but fit and necessary that we continue as we are and that without regarding peevish and unwarrantable scruples which can have no good influence and will admit of no bounds or limits to restrain them we encourage one another to stand to our old post and say to each other remembring the signaculum Crucis which we have received in token of our being souldiers under the sacred banner of the Cross as the Centurion said to his Ensign in Livy when the senate was deliberating whether or no they should remove to Veii Sta signifer statue signum hic manebimus optimé And this way of procedure I am the more satisfied with because it gives me a new assurance of the universal influence

generous ambition and Mr. Hobs saith somewhere excellently well nisi qui laudem amant pauci faciunt laudabilia so we may say with equal truth nisi qui ambiunt honores pauci faciunt quae sunt honoribus digna The Scripture it self bids us look to the recompence of reward and press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling and it is certain that no man will or can doe any thing with a steady purpose of mind wherein he does not propose some interest to himself The prospect of such advantages in future makes a man obedient as well as industrious for the present and by setting an example of submission to his superiours and of diligence in his station and emploiment he is in both respects an instrument of great honour and great service to the Church he is in the ready way to make a wise and excellent person and will be the more readily obeyed when he comes to govern for having shewed an example of obedience before But if there were not such honours and advantages to be met with in the Clergy then there would certainly these two notoririous inconveniences follow first that the governours of the church would lose very much of their authority and power which they cannot do without prejudice to the government it self and secondly that the want of due encouragement would produce in the inferiour Clergy a scorbutick idleness and inactivity a want of due concern either for the peace of the Church or for the honour of it it would subject them to the humours of the people from whose kindness they might in this case expect as great or greater secular advantages than they could propose to themselves in any other course so that instead of being the instruments of obedience they would by this means become the speaking trumpets of faction and so it was seen in the late disorderly times when the Episcopacy was demolisht and the dignitary lands were all of them confiscate men preach'd up rebellion for lecture contributions and I doubt not but many of them acted much against their consciences for no other reason but to please the rabble It is an old saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is not to be denied but there are some instances of very gallant men to be found in the reformed churches abroad and that too where they have not the benefit of episcopal government but I dare appeal to the dissenters themselves if they will speak their consciences whether ever there was so plentifull an harvest of wise and excellently learned men as are to be found at this day among the Clergy of the church of England and whether among themselves there be any such thing as learning to be met with whether both city and country are not now better furnished than in the late times with excellent preachers and men that can speak sense which is more than they can doe or whether the Universities are not better stored with men of great attainments on the one hand and great hopes on the other than in the days when humane learning and that abominable idol carnal reason were for the most part banish'd with the King and the Bishops the reason of which cannot possibly be referred to any other cause but onely the more ingenuous Principles that are now abroad and the greater encouragements men have now before them to study and take pains and deserve well of the world This is certain that the wisedom of Princes hath always been so sensible of the usefulness of ecclesiasticks to the service of the publick for the security honour and safety of their governments for the composing and calming the minds of their people into a peaceable and obedient temper that they have thought no honours and advantages too great to bestow upon them as a reward of their merit and to make their authority still greater in the eyes of the people and it was very wisely provided by our ancestours in such a government as this is where the people have so great a share in the making of those laws by which they are afterwards to be obliged that the Bishops should have a place allotted them in Parliament as well as the nobility or the commons have and that for their greater honour and to give them a right of suffrage in the house of Lords they should have Baronies annext to their respective sees For where the people have so great an interest in the enacting of their own laws there if the Clergy be totally excluded if there be none admitted into the assembly to look after the interest of the ecclesiastical state it will most certainly and unavoidably come to pass that by the envy or the ill designs of men the Clergy will be deprest and trampled on at some time or other which it can never be without detriment to the state upon supposition that they are at all advantagious or serviceable to it Nay if it be granted that they are of any use it must be granted likewise that they are the most usefull persons that do or can belong to a society and therefore ought to be the most highly honoured and esteemed for what greater blessing can there be than peace or what greater plague or calamity can befall a nation than to be embroiled in sedition enflamed with strife raging with opposite and eager passions what better instruments can there be in any state or kingdom than they whose business and whose study it is to exhort to peace and charity and obedience to submission to the government and love to one another Certainly if the Lawyers get so much and are so highly caressed and rewarded sometimes for ending controversies and sometimes for making them endless sometimes for setting men together by the ears and at others for parting the fray to the disadvantage of the true pretender the Divines are much more worthy to be honoured and rewarded whose business it is to prevent all strife and contention and who have perhaps determined as many controversies in a cheap and amicable way at home as ever the other decided at the bar to the ruine sometimes of both the parties concerned and always to the signal detriment and disadvantage of one I do not speak this to disparage or undervalue the learned Gentlemen of the long robe whose profession I acknowledge in every state to be not onely usefull but necessary to its peace and welfare so far as it is not abused by ill men or by tedious delays and by traversing of courts and actions to the infinite vexation and oppression of the subject But I say the prevention of all strife is a much more noble excellent and usefull thing than the deciding of controversies after they are actually begun as it is better to prevent an ague by a wholesome diet or by a regular course of life or by preventive medicaments before hand than to remove the fit or by degrees perhaps the disease it self by many repeated doses of the Jesuites powder which