Selected quad for the lemma: prince_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prince_n	ordinance_n	power_n	resist_v	2,543	5	10.0817	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77459	A briefe relation of the present troubles in England: vvritten from London the 22. of Ianuary 1644. to a minister of one of the reformed churches in France. VVherein, is clearely set downe who are the authours of them, and whereto the innovations both in church and state there doe tend. Faithfully translated out of the French.; Letter concerning the present troubles in England.	Tully, T. (Thomas), 1620-1676.	1645 (1645)	Wing B4630; Thomason E303_1; ESTC R200287	52,984	69

horrible thing that they should plot the destruction of Her soule and endeavour to extend the fruits of their Rebellion against Her in another world Will you not say it had beene enough to persecute Her in thi● but I have not yet told you all They have also basely and insolently stained Her Reputation and in a way which all honest men will account no better then parricide attempted to murther a Princesse a Daughter of France to whom the winds and the sea had shewed more pitty but an houre before And yet forsooth they must needs have all the Reformed Churches to make them their Precedent inviting us whom they ranke among such as groane under the yoake of Anti Christian Tyranny to The expresse words of the Covenant joine with them in the same or like Association and Covenant and to use our utmost endeavours for the recovery of Peace and quiet in every part of Christendome What is this but to sollicite us to shake off the yoake of Soveraignty to deny all subjection to our Princes and at once to destroy both their Authority and their Persons For all which they pretend the Advancement of the Kingdome of Christ 'T is indeed mightily advanced since these men who call themselves his Disciples have subverted all secular Authority amongst them scattering abroad such positions as ought to render them odious to us in as much as they convince them before all the Powers of God's establisHing to be sowers of sedition Libertinisme and Rebellion But granting them that all this combustion they make in the world is to advance the Kingdome of Christ Have they any warrant from the example of the Primitive Christians to pursue that ●nd by such meanes no it was never in their thoughts to arme themselves so much as against those Pagan Monsters whose calmest d●meanour towards them farre surpassed in rigour and cruelty all the outrage and persecution which we can be imagined to have s●ffered from any of our Princes for above five hundred yeares together Saint Peter was reprov'd for presuming to defend his Master with the sword This example l'me sure is authentique nor is that of the Christians under the Emperour Julia● much inferiour to it Their number was great and their power formidable but their Religion restrained them from employing it against their Prince though in their owne defence Please you to call to minde the Theban Legion Doubtlesse they had all heard and weighed that injunction of our Saviour But I say unto you that ye resist not evill They had learned also that the Powers are ordained of God and that whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the ordinance of God Not as if that prohibition to resist Princes implyed a Command of obeying them against Conscience All that can be deduced thence is this That in case they shall persecute their Subjects out of any considerations whatsoever whether sacred or civill it were better to endure a thousand deaths then to lift up a hand against them The crime of these men will appeare farre more horrid if notice be taken that the King against whom the combination is made did never attempt the least innovation either in Religion or Liberty I speake onely of England As for Scotland I am not ignorant what hath passed there of which I intend to give you a particular relation They cannot produce any innovation here Indeed the a It is to be presumed that the Author being a stranger was too faire transported with the vulgar outcryes against this worthy Prelate whose many pious actions the sincerity of whose intentions had he truly known he would readily have given another character of him And when he shall understand and consider his constant perseverance to Death in the same resolutions of zeale for the true Protestant Religion and exemplary loyalty to his King for which he became a willing sacrifice no doubt but he ●ill be as ready to retract this rash censure as we to admonish Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was shrewdly suspected to have beene contriving some That weake ill-temperd and fondly ambitious soule would perhaps have presumed to be tampering had he continued longer in place which is therefore now the principall charge against him But as for the King what signall demonstrations hath he not ever given the world of an extreame a version from Popery How many Protestations hath he made of sticking close to the Protestant Religion How carefull is he to performe all those duties to which the Faith he professeth obligeth him He hath filled the Churches and Sees with men whose piety knowledge and conversation are patternes worthy the imitation of the most Orthodox Christians His house hath ever abounded with men of Learning and Honesty Besides what would it advantage him to reestablish Popery Is he weary of being a free Monarch Would he do homage againe to Rome and acknowledge a Soveraignty above his owne The Interests of his Crowne as well as those of his Conscience would not suffer him to entertaine such a thought But this is not all he would have cause to feare a farre greater mischeife from Scotland which all the advantages he could hope for from all the Papists in the world would never be able to counterpoise He must further shake off them of the Palatinate and in doing that forfeit all his reputation in Germany He must breake with Denmarke Nay he must not entertaine any commerce either with his nearest allyes or his dearest freinds The marrying of his Daughter to the Prince of Orange's Sonne is a pregnant evidence of his affection to the Protestant Religion But to make good their Calumny they accuse him of favouring Papists and yet who knowes not that the exchequer was never fuller with their composition-money then now In the Reignes of King Edward Queene Elizabeth and King James they were not used with halfe the rigour When this King shewed them most favour it came short of what they have done But I pray by what principle of Christianity are we bound to destroy such as are of a different Religion There is no forceing of any man's beleife none that can subdue the Liberty of the soule God onely excepted Our French Kings are well instructed in this point they might with a like equity destroy or banish us as here they do Papists did they not know that the conscience neither can nor ought to be forced Most true it is that the Protestants in France never attempted any thing upon the persons of their Princes what violence soever hath beene practic'd upon them by such as abused their Authority on the contrary for all their sufferings they have made it legible to the world that they would rather part with all the bloud in their veines in their defence then hazard the least drop to be revenged of them even then when some strange counsells had prevailed with them to signe their destruction A very pressing consideration wherewith to refute all pretended interests of Religion and to procure

●●atter not any rebellious Doctrine a thing very familiar with such as have had their breeding at Rome in Spaine or in any Schooles of the Jesuites Had they their education at home they would breath nothing but affection to the place of their nativity and the liberty which would be indulged them among their Parents and kindred without the least jealousie of suffering for any differences in opinions would nourish respect in them towards their King and all other their Superiours whereas rigour doth but harden them the more and imbolden them to redeeme themselves at any rate from that irkesome necessity which is commonly imposed on them to beleeve otherwise then they will and perhaps too then they can Let me but adde a word of the Liberties they talke of and for which they make so much noyse in the world I am not altogether ignorant what they be as having seene a great part of the Lawes and Customes of that Kingdome Certainely those gentlemen may with much credit charge their King with the violation of them who have themselves so insolently trampled upon whatsoever hath the face either of Publique or private right I shall attend an opportunity to give you a distinct information of their basenesse in this particular For the present I shall onely assure you thus much in generall that their complaints are most groundlesse as flowing from the same spirit by whose instigation they have slandered the religion and piety of their Prince Did he ever during that peaceable part of his reigne over them endeavour to stretch his prerog●tive or to protect any of his Creatures that encroached I will not say upon the Lawes of the Realme but even upon the propriety of the meanest Subject Was there ever in any Kings Reigne knowne fewer escheats except those from Recusants or fewer proscriptions and banishments fewer executions lesse disorder and violence lesse repining fewer impositions in a word fewer Innovations And therefore it concerned them to fancy as they have done a thousand illegall and tyrannicall actions in that Prince that so they might more easily delude the People and in the issue engage them as in their owne defence to a resolution of making head against him either wholly to devest him of all rule or to reigne a while in his stead or at least to have a constant share with him in the government That blinde unruly Beast is never more servilely tame then when abused with lyes ever repining and ready to mutine at any extraordinary imposition though never so reasonable and advantagious You may lead it whither you please with a specious pretence so willing at this time to sacrifice it selfe to the ambition of some factious spirits intoxicated by their oaths and protestations that they aime at nothing but the good of the People In like manner have the Pesantry of France sometimes inconsiderately engaged themselves in the service of a King of Navarr● a Duke of Normandy and another of Burgogne who having in effect no other designe then to advance their owne greatnesse would notwithstanding have nothing more in their mouthes then the publique liberty of which to speake truth they were the most pernicious if not the onely enemies Just so it is here now They that have undertaken the protection of Priviledge possessing their abettours and Disciples with the hopes of securing their liberties thinke of nothing lesse then the interests of others and that very thing which they pretend to appeare in the feild for hath beene more violated and infringed by them then ever it was by all the Kings of England And yet they have so varnisht over their actions that by this trick they have got the estates the lives the hearts nay and the consciences to boot of the People here wholly into their owne disposall It may be those unfortunate Wretches will be one day sensible of the Imposture and perceive at last how they have approved and engaged themselves to what will be their destruction if they repent not For those that flatter them with the hopes of liberty will either get the upper hand and so 〈◊〉 them their vassals or else plunge them into a condition farre more intolerable then the most irksome slavery were it not for that Anabaptisticall venime which hath intermixed it selfe with the naturall propension of this people to Libertinisme there might be some hopes of remedy But there have been the like disorders here to fore in this Kingdom And a man would thinke that the soules of the Earle of Leicester and the Duke of Gloucester had by a kind of transmigration possessed the ring-leaders of this present Rebellion But the former were so much the more excusable in that they made not Religion the screene to their Ambition which sooner put on end to those troubles That you may the better remember the cheife circumstances of that History give me leave to acquaint you how in the reigne of King Henry the third there was a Parliament held at Oxford which Posterity justly branded with an infamous name calling it The mad Parliament except me but the generall superstition of those times and it will mervailously resemble that at Westminster At which time the Lords and Commons fore'd that King to consent to the nominating of certaine persons amongst them whom they stiled Commissioners and G●●rdi●●s of the Peace Whereupon under pretence of that extraordinary power and by vertue not onely of an Ordinance of the two Houses but of a compleate Act of Parliament they rose up in Armes against their Prince and molested him with a long and bloudy Warre like this After the various successe of which insolent attempt and the severall innovations which distracted the Kingdome the review of the whole businesse was committed to a free Parliament in which the Authors and Promoters of that warre were condemned of High Treason and all the Rebels Estates by a solemne Act confiscate But the extent of the crime abated of the punishment lest otherwise the greatest part of England should have beene made a desolation And certainly were there any hopes of a free Parliament now the trai●●●ous attempt of those who make up that shadow of a Parliament would be proceeded against with all rigour and the example of that at Oxford be renewed seeing they have dared to renew the cri●● And were the punishment proportion'd to the offence these men should be used with more severity then the other they have so 〈◊〉 out-done them For their attempt was onely against their owne Prince but the designe of these against all the Princes in the World They were contented to be Rebe●● themselves but these must have all the Protestants in Christendome to be so likewise They medl●● not with Religion nor thought to disquiet the Church these h●●● violated Religion and torne the Church in peeces They offered 〈◊〉 violence to any of the three States in Parliament suppressing onely the votes of some particular persons which crossed their designe These have outed the

Elizabeth and certainly those Princes had more to feare for the Rights of their Crowne which they rescued from the Romish Subjection then the People at this day can possibly have for their liberties and Priviledges Their Religion then bound them to what in all probability was very prejudiciall to the Rights of their Kings nothing doth now oblig● them to the least disadvantage of the People Then they swore obedience to the Bishop of Rome now they do it to none but to God himselfe Then the discipline of the Church had well-nigh suffered a totall subversion and England after the example of Poland might have conceived that the Nobility alone without Bishops were intrusted with the Reformation of the Church and that there was no more need of Prelates for Counsellors of State that is to sit in Parliament Notwithstanding neither did that Example nor these considerations prove prejudiciall to the Bishops The Fundamentall law of the Realme by which they are established together with the necessity of maintainin● them and besides that sundry the most eminent amongst them had couragiously sacrificed their lives in behalfe of Christianity o●●poysed all other considerations whatsoever And the law which first seated them in Parliament expects them there still now especially when God 〈◊〉 leased to make use of Publicke votes for the government of the Church they are of more importance then eve● They are in England as in our Assemblies of State or as the Clergy in our highest Courts of Justice Which of our Kings who are absolute Monarchs without sharing their Power either with People or Parliaments as they do in other places which of them I say did ever entertaine a thought of debarring the Bishops this Priviledge We finde indeed in a certaine old Constitution that one of our Kings out of a zealous and pious intent making it seemes a conscience of diverting them from the service of God discharged the● all except the Abbat of Saint Denys from assisting at Parliamen●● and hearing criminall cases but we finde not that this Ordinan●● was ever put in execution but on the contrary that the weigh●ie● employments of those times were wholly devolved upon Church-men whose abilities and honesty won them such a generall repu●● that the custome then was for Princes to select among others two Bishops for the cheife of their retinue to be the 〈◊〉 of the Court and withall to see that justice were exactly and due 〈◊〉 administred They had likewise two Masters of Requests continually attending on them one of which was alwayes ● Clergy-m●● who gave present Justice And we finde in a certaine Constitutio● of one of our Philips that of five appointed to give answer 〈◊〉 such Petitions as were presented in Parliaments two were to be Lay-men and three Clerkes But what neede we go farther then England to warrant the equity of this custome debarre the Bishops their right of sitting in Parliament and what respect will a proud licentious People afford the Clergy you may assure your selfe none at all Let them use what meanes they can to make them their Synods or Councells of any esteeme with them they will conforme no further to them then they please themselves Indeed to disvote Bishops in such Assemblies is to bereave them of all Authority and to open a gap for any wilde Chrochers in point of Religion to enter in that Kingdome 'T is in a word to suppresse the Bishops themselves to throw downe the Pillars of the Church and so to render the conservation of Christian Purity impossible Perhaps Sir you may thinke I speake in this more then comes to my share being one who professe to have no portion in the corruptions of Rome and so much to abhorre the Superstition of embracing such things as some upon divers pretences either out of ignorance or malice have introduced into the world to the great prejudice and disquiet thereof and in derogation to the just liberty of Conscience But if you please to reflect a little upon that prodigious clashing of opinions which at this day divides England into so many severall sects you will certainely conclude with me that in case this Order be once abolished neither innocence of manners nor integrity of doctrine can any longer enjoy a place in that Church The reason 〈◊〉 obvious if it be but considered how since the discontinuing of Episcopall Power in that Kingdome those that owe obedience and should be accountable for their doctrines to the Bishops do now live in such a horrible fashion as I have allready inform'd you that we may safely beleeve the most of them are the spawne of such as were once disgorged out of the mouth of Hell and dispersed in the Church to stifle Christianity in her Cradle rather then the successors of those that have beene the constant assertors of truth and opposers of falshood Witnesse the severall impieties and heresies both ancient and moderne where with they empoyson the soules of that People who in the common confusion listen to them blindely swallowing downe under pretence of Reformation all sorts of fancies and doctrines indifferently The most absurd dreames of the old Chiliasts the most pernicious ertours of Origen the most infamous libertinisme of the Anabaptists and the most execrable impieties of the Soci●ians doe usually take up the greatest part of their Sermons the rest being designed either for inflaming the Auditours with the coales of sedition and setting both parties at an irreconcileable distance or else to embase all manners to the lowest degree of corruption Yet in this generall depravation God hath reserv'd for himselfe some well disposed persons and indued them with courage to enquire into their actions and to brand the crimes of the Age. They have stoutly express'd their dislike of what hath beene constantly delivered by many hundred Preachers in that Kingdome I will not present you with an exact list of all they have published Judge with your selfe if there be any impiety those men will make scruple of many of whom out of an extreame unheard of impudence have had the boldnesse to defame in the open pulpit some of the other sex whom they could not tempt to lewdnesse in their private Houses I am very credibly informed that their names were presented to the Parliament but could never heare o● any punishment so much as intended them this in my opinion was the 〈◊〉 crying sinne then that of the Ghostly Father who seduced a 〈◊〉 in time of confession There is in this an unparallel'd kind of scandall and such as you will find farre to surpasse the greatest crim●● which have ever beene charged upon any Hereticke in the World Such disorders were not to be heard of till 〈◊〉 Bishops were outed of their Jurisdiction and ill Church discipline robbed of it's force and vertue notwithstanding the naturall irregularity of that People Three yeares Anarchy and Independance in the Church have plunged that State into more confusion then all the Civill Wa●● th● case prosperity and long