Selected quad for the lemma: prince_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prince_n	king_n	sir_n	wales_n	2,207	5	10.0351	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48238	A letter to the three absolvers, Mr. Cook, Mr. Collier and Mr. Snett being reflections on the papers delivered by Sir John Friend, and Sir William Parkyns, to the sheriffs of London and Middlesex, at Tyburn, the place of execution, April 3, 1696, which said papers are printed at length, and answered paragraph by paragraph.	Friend, John, Sir, d. 1696.; Parkyns, William, Sir, 1649?-1696.	1696 (1696)	Wing L1751; ESTC R4716	20,332	16

Forswear the Cause of his Sufferings before the Court at his Trial How is it possible then that he should have so shamefully denied it for fear of Suffering if he had really found so much Satisfaction in his Sufferings as here you make him express Or is it supposable if it had been so that the very remembrance of his having so unworthily Disown'd the Cause of his Sufferings wherein he had found so much Satisfaction should not have melted him into Tears and Contrition and made him Glorifie God and Redeem the Honour of the Cause by testifying a Publick Sorrow for his Weakness in Denying it Sure I am Gentlemen this was St. Peter's Practice who made his Repentance as Publick as his Denial of his Master and seeing St. John says That his Cause was that of God and Religion his denial of it was as gross as that of St. Peter's but you don't make it appear that Sir John's Repentance was any thing like that Blessed Apostles God knows whether these be the Words of your Martyr or not but supposing they are we can look upon them as no other than the effect of those Delusions with which you had possest his Soul and that they were put into his Mouth on purpose to strengthen your declining Cause In the belief of which I am the more confirm'd by the assurance I have that one of your number told him with an unwarrantable Confidence when he mounted from the Sledge to the Cart That the next step was to Heaven which Gentlemen if you do really believe to be so it s a loss to the Nations as well as to your selves that there are so many of your Party who have not yet taken the first Step. PAPER And so O Lord into thy Hands I commend my Spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of Truth And I do heartily and humbly beseech Thee Almighty God and my most Gracious Father to forgive and bless this Sinful Nation Deliver it from the Guilt of Rebellion Blood and Perjury that is now on all sides more than ever and from all those other hainous Sins which cry aloud Preserve and Bless this Church Comfort our Distressed King Restore him to his Right and his Misled Subjects to their Allegiance Bless also his Royal Consort our Gracious Queen Mary his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales That he may grow in Stature and in Favour with God and Man Support and Strengthen all those that suffer in any kind for a good Cause give them Patience under all their Afflictions and a happy Deliverance out of them Forgive all mine Enemies Pardon my former neglect and remissness in Religious Worship and holy Duties and all the Sins I have been guilty of to this very moment Consider my Contrition Accept my Tears And now Thou art pleased to take me hence take me into thy Favour and grant that my Soul may be without spot presented unto Thee through the Merits of thy most dearly Beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen ANSWER Gentlemen We have heard of those who Fast for Strife and Debate and I think it may be said without breath of Charity that this Paper was Penn'd and put into the Hands of the poor Criminal for no other end You had taught him Lies in the Name of God and now you put Lies in his Mouth for a Prayer to the Almighty Is it possible that you can hold up your Faces to God and call that a Rebellion which all the Protestants of Europe besides your own inconsiderable Crew do look upon as a Lawful War pour out their Prayers daily to the God of Heaven for its Success and Blessed be his Name not without gracious Returns Have you so little observed the Course of Providence as to accuse that Prince as an Usurper on whose Family Heaven seems to have Entail'd it to be the Champions of the Protestant Religion and the Liberties of Europe Do you think your selves better Casuists then all other Reform'd Divines who do universally approve his procedure as agreeable to the Laws of God And is your Judgment in State Matters so great that you will venture to tell Heaven that this is a Rebellion which most of the Soveraigns in Europe and their Counsels do approve as agreeable to the Laws of Nations In short Gentlemen your peevish Ecclesiasticks have assumed a Power to themselves as great as ever was claim'd by the Pope and his Conclave For you can Absolve Men from their Sins without Repentance and Bind that upon the Consciences of your Disciples as Law and Gospel which is directly contrary to the Tenor of both But to return to your Prayer Is it not enough that you Arraign your Country as Rebels at the Bar of Heav'n but you must also pray for the Establishment of a Succession of Popish Princes which must needs be attended with the Ruine of our Religion And will no other terms serve you to pray for our Counterfeit Prince of Wales without Profaning what was said of the Blessed Child Jesus Is that the Reverence which you pay to his Name But it s true Gentlemen you make your Criminal act like himself He own'd at his Trial that he us'd to mock Heaven in his life time by praying for K. William when he thought K. James's Cause to be the Cause of God and now you make him also to mock Heaven at his Death by praying that God would Establish a Race of Prince's amongst us whom the Poor Man confess'd must by their Principles think they merit Heaven by destroying Protestants God preserve these Nations from such a Generation of Scribes Pharisees and Hypocrites as are the Tribe of Absolvers One thing I had almost forgotten to observe viz. That Sir John by his own Confession to the Committee of both Houses of Parliament made void his Exception as to the Truth of the Evidence given in against him by the Roman Catholick Witnesses and hath made it appear that whatever Latitude they may allow themselves in their Evidence against Protestants as such that yet they may be very good Witnesses against those who take Indirect Methods to support a Popish Cause whether they be Papists or Protestants and as it was well replied by the Kings Council to Sir John their being Evidence in such a Case will be one of the last things that the Priests will Absolve them for Sir WILLIAM PARKYNS's Paper IT hath not been my custom to use many words and I shall not be long upon this Occasion having Business of much greater Consequence to employ my thoughts upon I thank God I am now in a full disposition to Charity and therefore shall make no Complaints either of the Hardships of my Trial or any other Rigours put upon me However one circumstance I think my self obliged to mention it was Sworn against me by Mr. Porter That I had own'd to him that I had Seen and Read a Commission from the King to Levy War upon the Person of the Prince of Orange Now

I must declare That the Tenour of the King's Commission which I saw was general and directed to all his Loving Subjects to Raise and Levy War against the Prince of Orange and his Adherents and to Seize all Forts Castles c. which I suppose may be a customary Form of giving Authority to make War but I must confess I am not much acquainted with Matters of that nature But as for any Commission particularly levelled against the Person of the Prince of Orange I neither saw nor heard of any such ANSWER There 's no Reason to doubt that this Paper was Sir Williams own Composure his Education and the defence he made at his Trial do neither of them give it the lie nor is there any thing in it which Savours of the Canting Bigotry of the other So that I shall only consider what 's material for our purpose in it He pretends to a full disposition to Charity and yet complains of Hardships and Rigours put upon him at his Trial which is not very consistent with Charity I was present at his Trial and cannot imagine what ground he had for this Complaint if it was not that the Court declin'd to put off the Trial any Longer and that he was not allowed the benefit of the New Act for Regulating Trials in cases of high Treason As to the former if the Government did not think fit to allow it Sir William had no just Reason of Complaint he had sufficient time allowed him to prepare himself and was treated with that Moderation and Calmness which former Reigns were strangers to The Crime he was indicted for was one of the blackest that is to be met with in any Record and God knows that he and the rest of the Assassins did not intend to allow our Gracious Soveraign any time to prepare for Death I Remember indeed that Sir William alledged he wanted some Material Witnesses but his Confession of the Crimes with which he was charged make it evident that his design in that was to elude Justice And as to his being denied the benefit of the New Act the Bench gave him a very good Reason for it viz. That it had not then taken place and that they were to govern themselves by Law and not to make Law and if the equity of the thing be considered there seems no great Reason that they who are guilty of this horrid design before the making of the said Act should have the benefit of it tho the mildness of the present Government hath ordered it otherwise and therefore Sir Williams Complaint of Rigour and Hardship was but ill founded and may justly be imputed to some bitterness of Spirit As to his declaring that the Tenour of the Kings Commission which he saw was General and directed to all his loving Subjects to levy War c. against the Prince of Orange and his Adherents and that he neither Saw nor heard of any Commission particularly Levell'd against the person of the Prince of Orange It does not at all affect Capt. Porters Evidence nor deny that he inform'd the Captain so which proves that Sir William was a very ill Man to have put such a Gloss on the late Kings Commission both to the Capt. and Charnock in order to perswade them to the Assassination if he did not believe that to be the Real meaning of it however it may have been worded And it argues the Absolvers to be Traitors both to God and their King pronouncing the absolution over Sir William before he had publickly begg'd pardon of that Prince whom he had injur'd and testify'd his Repentance for drawing Charnock and others to the Gibbet by that false Interpretation It hath been observed by another hand that this Commission which Sir William gives an account of Looks liker a Proclamation than a Commission but if it was only such a General Commission as he talks of what need was there of so much Secrecy why was it not seen by Capt. Porter and others who desired to see it and why was it all writ with King James's own hand It is plain from the depositions of the Witnesses at the Trial of Charnock c. that a Commission to attack the Prince of Orange in person and to carry him over to France at least was sent for which to all Men of Common sense must appear to be impracticable to have been done with such a small Number of Men. Besides when the Commission whatever it was arrived we find that all of them prepar'd to Assassinate the King and the design was chiefly managed by Sir Geo. Barclay who brought over the Commission and must necessarily be supposed to have understood the meaning of it best We find likewise that he brought over a Sub-brigadeer and 16 of King James's Guards with him and that they were subsisted privately in Town and ordered to be in a readiness for the horrid design so that let the Commission be couch'd in what Terms they please the meaning of it is plain enough and all their Art cannot vindicate the late King from being the unhappy Tool to promote that execrable Murder We all know what bloody designs against Protestants in General and some of his own nearest Relations in particular he has been formerly accus'd of Nor are we to suppose that one who makes his way to the Throne by the Death of a Brother would have any more tenderness for a Nephew or that he who gives way to the imposing of a Supposititious Son to exclude his own Daughters from their Right to the Crown will entertain any Scruple at the Murder of a Son-in-Law whom God and the Nation have set up in his stead and if I should venture to say that Sir William hath not been Ingenuous in his Confession there 's no reason to call it a breach of Charity considering that he hath not left the least Evidence of his Repentance for the Assassination behind him tho he own'd to the Committee of Parliament that it was a Crime PAPER It 's true I was privy to the Design upon the Prince but was not to act in it and am fully satisfied that very few or none knew of it but those who undertook to do it I freely acknowledge and think it for my Honour to say that I was entirely in the Interest of the King being always firmly perswaded of the Justice of his Cause and looked upon it as my Duty both as a Subject and an Englishmen to Assist him in the Recovery of his Throne which I believed him to be Depri●ed of contrary to all Right and Justice taking the Laws and Constitution of my Country for my Guide As for my Religion I dye in the Communion of the Church of England in which I was Educated And as I freely Forgive all the World so whoever I may any ways have Injured I heartily ask them Pardon ANSWER Here 's another Remarkable piece of disingenuity as if it were not all one for him to Act in it himself as to prompt others to do it and to furnish Men Horses and Arms for the Execution which was fully prov'd against him at his Trial tho he takes no notice of it here and does not at all deny it And we have very great reason to think that the Late King was one of the few that knew it besides these that undertook it and do verily believe that they design'd to let as few more know of it before-hand as possible and that in all probability was the reason why the Commission was kept up even from most of these who were to have been Actors in it In the next Paragraph he seems to justify himself by the supposed Justice of the late Kings Cause and values himself upon the Honour of having been always in his Interest and yet to preserve his place he took the Oaths to his present Majesty so that it seems the late King allows that practice in his Adherents and reckons them nothing the less intire to his Interest because they may thereby be the more Capable of doing him service and by this unhappy Gentlemans confession it would seem to be the Principles of the party to assist the late King in the Recovery of his Throne by all sorts of means how unlawful soever Nay even by abjuring him one day and Murdering his present Majesty the tother As for his pretence to justify himself by the Laws and Constitution of his Country enough has been said on that head already in Answer to Sir John Friend's Paper And whereas Sir John and he both pretends to die in the Communion of the Church of England it would seem necessary if the Governing part of the Church find it meet that an Authentick Explanation of the Churches Doctrine as to passive Obedience and Nonresistance should be publisht to the World that poor people may not be misled to their own ruine and the Nations involv'd in blood by those who pretend to justify their adherence to the late King by the Doctrine of the Church of England FINIS