Selected quad for the lemma: prince_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prince_n	france_n	king_n	wales_n	3,897	5	10.1972	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93137	A a [sic] letter to a friend, concerning a French invasion, to restore the late King James to his throne And what may be expected from him, should he be successful in it. Published by authority.	Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.	1692 (1692)	Wing S3296; ESTC R232295	16,807	14

least for all the Con●●derates while he has found other employment for the Imperial English Forces but ●anks be to God the K. of Engl. the English Forces are novv at leisure to attend his Motions those Forces which beat him at the Boyn at Athlone at Agrim at Lymerick in a word which beat him out of Ireland and have now got a habit of beating the French And it is no wonder that he is not fond of such company in Flanders but endeavours to find some new work for them at home And if he can but send them home again and embroil us in a Civil War that is one great point gained but if he proves successeful in his Attempt he makes England his own and will turn their Arms upon the Confederats and what can them stand in the way What should hinder him from being the sole and absolute Monarch of the West And then it is easie to read the Fate Protestants Thus Sir I have freely told you what I apprehend will be the necessary and unavoidable effects of a French Conquest I pretend not to prophesie nor to demonstration in such cases but what I have said has all the appearances of probability all the degrees of moral certainty that any thing of this nature can have and this is the only Rule in the matters by which wise men are to judge and act And this has appeared a plain and easie Answer to your Second Question what English Subjects are bound in Conscience to do in case the late King should Land in England with French Forces to demand his Crown Now there are two sorts of persons concerned in this question 1. Those who have not sworn Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary but account the late King James as much their King as he was when he sat upon the Throne and that their obligations to him are the same now that ever they were 2. Those who have sworn Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary And there are two parts of this Question 1. Whether they are bound in conscience to assist the late King if he return 2. Whether it be lawful for them to oppose him and fight against him As for the first part of this Question and as far as it concerns the Non-swearers I shal ask them two or three Questions and leave them to answer them themselves 1. The first question is Whether they can think themselves bound in Conscience upon any pretence whatever to fight for Popery against the Protestant Faith and Worship that is as they must confesse if they are Protestants to fight for Heresie and Idolatry against the true Faith and Worship of Christ or to fight for Antichrist and against Christ Can any consideration make this lawful If nothing can as I wil● venture to take it for granted that nothing can then whatever duty they may fancy they still owe to their Abdicated Prince it cannot be their Duty to fight for him whe● they cannot fight for him without fighting against Christ and his Religion though they must not fight against their Prince for Christ because Christ in such cases require his Disciples to suffer not to fight for him yet it does not follow that they must fight for their Prince against Christ to bring a Persecution upon his faithful Disciples and to contribute what they can to extirpate the Name and the Religion of Protestants out o● Europe Do they think themselves bound in Conscience to fight for their Prince against th● Laws and Liberties of their Countrey as well as against the Faith and Worship o● Christ Let the Rights of Princes be never so Sacred have the rest of mankind no Rights but only Princes Is there no such thing as Justice due to our selves ●or to our Fellow● Subjects have the Free-born Subjects of England no Natural no Legal Rights And is there any Law of God or man to fight for our Prince against the Laws and Liberties of our Countrey which are the Measures and boundaries of ●hat Duty which we ow● to Princes that is to fight for our Prince against the rule of our duty and obedience to Princes when our Prince and the Laws and Liberties of our Countrey are on contrary sides tho we should grant them according to their own Principles that we must not fight against our Prince for our Laws and Liberties yet no more must we fight for our Prince against our Laws and Liberties It is abundantly enough to be Passive in such cases but a Nation which fights against its own Laws and Liberties is Felo de se guilty of the worst kind of Self-Murder Can any English man whatever opinion he has of the late King 's Right think himself bound in conscience to maintain his Right by giving up his Countrey to France To make him King and all his Subjects French Slaves For can any Prince have more Right to be King of England than the Kingdom of England has to be England Is it not an unaccountable tendernesse scrupulosity of Conscience to be so concerned for any one Prince's Right as to sacrifice the Rights and Liberties of all the Princes in Europe to his To set him upon the Throne to drive all other Princes from theirs We are Citizens of the World as well as Subjects of England have our Obligations to Mankind to other Princes as well as to our own though our obligation to no one other Prince is so great as to our own yet the publick good of mankind or of a great part of the world is a more sacred obligation than the particular Interest of our own Prince or Countrey much lesse then can the Right of any particular Prince be it what it will stand in competition with the Rights and Liberties of our own Countrey and of all Europe besides It is no more purpose to dispute with men who do not feel the Force of this Argument at the first hearing than to reason with blind men about Colours they have no sense left nothing but a stupid and slavish Loyalty all things tho never so sacred must give place to this the care of Religion the love of the Countrey their Justice and Charity to all mankind must vail to their senselesse mistake of the true meaning of this word Loyalty by which they will needs understand an Absolute Obedience without Limitation or Reserve when most certainly it signifies no more than Obedience according to Law 2. I would ask them What they would think themselves bound to do in such cases were the late K. upon the Throne again Unlesse they have chang'd their minds then they are not so steady to Principles as they pretend to be we may very reasonably guesse what they would do by what they did while he was upon the Throne It is certain they so much dislik'd his open designs of Popery Arbitrary Power that they opposed him as far as they durst would not Fight for him to keep him on the Throne

the Church of England when they so vigorously opposed th● Bill of Exclusion and how he also rewarded them we all lately saw and felt An● shall Protestants after this think of obliging such Princes by their Merits They understand better that Merit is no Protestant Doctrine and that there can be none out o● the Church of Rome And why should any body expect that which cannot be Na● should the late King return again and be as much at the Devotion of his Non-swearin● Friends as they promise themselves he will be I very much doubt what the Church 〈◊〉 England will gain by this If we may guess at the Spirit of the Party by the bitt●● Zeal which inspires all their Writings I can expect nothing from them but as fierce Persecution of the Church of England as ever it suffered from Papists or Fanaticks excepting Smithfield Fires which possibly may be exchanged for Tyburn All who li●● in the Communion of the Church of England as now Establ●shed are in their accou●● and constant Language no better than Hereticks and Schismaticks and Perjured Apostates much greater Crimes than the Traditores were guilty of which was the onl● pretence for the Donatist Schism and Persecution They seem to comfort themselv●● under their present Sufferings more with the sweet hopes of Revenge than any gre●● expectations of future Rewards that they shall live to see the Swearin● Bishops and Priests Apol. for the new Separats the contempt of Princes and People for if th● 〈◊〉 B. of York who is particularly named cannot escape them I dou●● they will make but very few exceptions And is not this a great e●couragement to any who have complyed with the present Gov●rnment to help the● Men to Power again Must not the Nobility and Gentry expect their share of Ve●geance a● well as the Clergie And is not the Church of England then in a ●ope●● state which must be purged and reformed into Jacobite Principies and by a Jacobi●● Spirit These are all very sensible roots as ●ar as we can reason about such matters how ●●●tle good is to be expected from the return of the late King with a French Power He must return the lame Man he went and then Popery and Arbitary Povver must return ●vith him nay he must return much vvorse than he vvent because he must return ●ore a Vassal to France vvhich I suppose vvill not mend the Condition of English Subjects ●uring his Reign These things ought to be vvell considered for if his Government vvas so uneasie be●●re and gave us such a frightful prospect as made the Nation very vvilling to part vvith him when he thought fit to leave them it vvould seem very strange to by●anders should they novv grovv fond of his return vvhen it is certain if he does re●urn and returns by the Methods novv intended Popery and Arbitrary Povver must ●e more Triumphant than ever He vvanted nothing but povver to make himself Absolute and to make us all Papists ●r Martyrs or Refugees and that he will now have For if a French Power can Conquer us it will make him as Absolute as the French King will let him be or to ●peak properly it will make him though not an Absolute Prince yet an Absolute Vice-●oy and Minister of France He will Administer an Absolute Power and Government ●nder the influence and direction of French Councils and then we know what will become of the Liberties and Religion of England And have ●e so long disdained the ●houghts of subjection to France Has a French League been thought such a National Grievance Has the pretence of a War with France been found such an excellent ex●edient to get Money of English Parliaments Ha● the expectation of it fired English ●pirits and upon occasion filled our Armies and Navies without need of Pressing or ●eat of Drum Have we so detested the French Cruelties to Protestants And shall we ●ow so willingly stoop to the yoke and think it a great favour that they will vouchsafe ●o Conquer us Let us never complain hereafter that our Chains pinch and gall us when we our selves are ready with ●o much joy and thankfulness to put them on And whatever some fancy they will find it a very easy and natural think for the late King if he return by Force and Power to make himself Absolute by law Princes always gain new Powers by the ineffectual opposition of Subjects If they lose their Crowns and recover them again they receive them with an addition of some brighter Jewels and turn disputed Prerogatives into Legal and undoubted Rights Thus we know it was when King Ch. 2. Returned from a long Exile all the New Acts are Declarations were made in favour of the Crown and Subjects bound to their good Behaviour as fast as Laws could bind them for in all such Revolutions those who suffered with or for their Prince return with zeal and resentment and take care in the first place to establish all such Prerogatives of the Crown as were disputed before and to grant such new Powers as they think are wanting And others there are always forward to make their fortunes by Complementing the returning Prince and to expiate their former crimes by a forward and flaming Loyalty and the rest are over awed and frighted into a compliance and thus it is commonly seen that between zeal and Flattery and fear the King increases in Power and the People forfeit their Libert es and we must not expect that it should be otherwise now should the late King return The first Complement that must be made to him is a Jac●bite Parliament and God knows what such a Parliament will do Will they deny him a Toleration ●o● papists the repeal of the Test the forfeitures or surrenders of Charters and a new Regulation of Corporations Will they dispute nay will they not declare his Dispensi●g power and approve his Ecclesiastical Commissions Will they make any scruple to declare the Legitimacy of the Prince of Wales or to leave the manner of his Education to those who will certainly bre●d him up in Popery Will they not take care for new Jacobit● Tests to renounce and abhore all the several Hypotheses and Principles of Government● which have been urged to justify our Submission and Allegiance to their present Majesties And when they have done this How easy will it be for a down right Popish Parliament which will be the next step that will be made to do all the rest It is very evident what advantages the Priests and Jesuits will have in such a juncture to make Proselytes while the People are in a fright and grown giddy with such frequent Revolutions and those who in the late Reign were the great Advocate of the Protestant Cause are disgrac'd at Court threatned into silence their Authority weakned and their Persons reproach'd both by Papists and Jacobites Numbers of Conv●rts was their great want before and the press and the pulpit their great hindrance but Jacobites