Selected quad for the lemma: rest_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
rest_n	day_n	great_a	sabbath_n	4,057	5	9.6615	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59752	A discourse of the rise & power of parliaments, of law's, of courts of judicature, of liberty, property, and religion, of the interest of England in reference to the desines of France, of taxes and of trade in a letter from a gentleman in the country to a member in Parliament.	Sheridan, Thomas, 1646-ca. 1688.	1677 (1677)	Wing S3225; ESTC R16270	94,234	304

Name than that of Christians for indeed as such they al agree that is in the Fundamentals of Religion as for the disputed things they are already shewn not certain therfore not necessary consequently to us impertinent which of the assertions be true and only differ by the considerations of Pride or interest as they are Trinitarians or Antitrinitarians Arians Socinians Papists or Protestants Remonstrants or Antiremonstrants Iansenists or Molinists Franciscans or Dominicans Lutherans or Calvinists Presbyterians or Independants c. But for my own part I am of opinion That we shal never arrive at the tru state of Christianity either by Disputing without Toleration or by Toleration with Disputing i. e. we shal not come to live Righteously Soberly and Godly in this present World For disputing destroys al and Toleration alone wil not take away those wrong Notions with which the present Age is prepossess'd tho some of the prejudices may be lessen'd by softness and gentleness by Love and Perswasions this Iconfess wil not do in al because al have not understanding and such as want it must inevitably run into Error For whatever the Philsophers Dispute whether the Wil and the Understanding be distinct Faculties or distinct Operations of the same Soul it plainly appears in al our actions that we wil or nil things according to our Understandings which as wel or il inform'd make us do things good or evil so that til our Notions are rectifi'd we are to be pityed and instructed not hated or condemned When by an excellent Education and a good Example we are taught not only to know but to practise our Duty it wil then be almost morally impossible for us to offend wheras on the contrary while both are now neglected 't is a wonder we are not worse Pursuant to this Salomon gives a wise Direction Train up a Child in the way thou woud'st have him to go and when he is old he wil not depart from it The great Business then not only to asswage the pain which in the present Circumstances cannot be don without Toleration but wholly to remove the Distemper is to introduce such a fixt Method of Education as may imprint on our Minds tru and early Notions of Virtu and Religion The Parliament have lately begun to look into the Practice of Piety and to prevent or lessen Prophanation and Debaucheries have enacted That Hackney-Coaches it had bin more equal if al had bin under the Penalty shal after the Iewish manner of Sabbath rest from Labor I wish they woud now be pleased to take care the People keep the christian-Christian-Sabbath as they ought Not so much in a Rest from bodily Labor as from Sin the greater toyl of the Soul to which they are oblig'd by every days Duty The use of the Seventh above the rest seeming to be set apart for returning Thanks for Blessings and for Exhortations effective of Holiness and a good Life The Duty of that day is not fulfil●d by hearing a quaint-Man preach himself not Christ Policy not Morality confute the Pope the Calvinist or the Arminian the Presbyterian or the Episcopal Such Discourses engender nothing but Strife and tend not to Edification they are the vain Traditions of Men in which we shoud quicly find did we but seriously consider that there was nothing of that Faith without which we cannot please nor of that Holyness without which no man shal see God And since the Parliament by that last mention'd Act have begun to tythe Mint and Commin t is to be hoped they wil go on and not leave the weightier things of the Law undon that their Wisdoms and their Zeal wil be more imploy'd about the Power than the form of Godliness which may for ever be establisht by the following Method or such other as they shal think more agreeable viz. To make new Divisions of Parishes which may with more convenience to the People be don than as at present they stand by limiting every Parish to the compass of about three Miles Square and building a Church in the central place to hold about a thousand and to apportion the Parishes in Cities at least to the like number of People This wil reduce the Parishes from about ten to a little more than four Thousand To erect Schools in every Parish where al the Children shal be instructed in Reading Writing and the first Elements of Arithmetic and Geometry without charge to the Parents Whence to the greater Schools to be erected in the Dioceses Counties or Hundreds after the manner of Westminster Eaton or Winchester so many of the ripest and best Capacitated as shal suffice for the supply of al Callings that make Learning a Trade as Divinity Physic and Law may be yearly elected to be train'd up in the further necessary Parts of Learning and from thence yearly sent to the Universities from the Universities upon al vacancies Schoolmasters and Ministers to be chosen the first not under five and twenty years the later not under Thirty the age allow'd among the Iews for Doctors or Teachers and at which our Savior began to Preach and both to be Masters of Art before the one be Licensed or the other Ordain'd by the Bishop and none to be Ordain'd before they are secur'd of being Noble Mens Chaplains or elected to Parishes That the Bishoprics be also divided according to Convenience and the number of Parishes That the Ministers and School-masters be Celibats not under a vow as in the Church of Rome but on condition of quitting their Benefices upon Marriage and returning to a Lay-life For that of the priests being jure Divino being disputed is therefore to say no more to our Salvation not necessary to be believed For unless they demonstrat the contrary by Scripture the sufficient Rule of Faith or by Miracles men wil be apt to believe the Story of an indelible Character to be a Relic of Popery invented to aggrandize the Honor and Power of the Church turn'd into a Court of Rome But be it what it wil 't is plain they can't be greater than St Paul who did not only for Convenience of the Church avoid leading about a Wife or a Sister but wrought at his Trade after he had Received the Holy-Ghost of which it were to be wisht al Divines shew'd themselves possest by a Life conformable to that of the Holy Iesus But without doubt there wil be enuff found to undertake this calling on these terms tho seemingly difficult By this course there is a provision made for the Incontinency of such of the Priests as find themselves Flesh and Blood which if don in the Church of Rome woud free it from great Scandal That a book of Homilies be compil'd for varietie four for every Sunday and two for each festival or holy day That nothing be inserted but Dehortations from Vice and Exhortations to Virtu neither Controversies nor State Affairs so much as oblicly glanc'd upon That a Catechism adapted to the meanest Capacity be

because the tending of this work wou'd take up a considerable portion of their time they allowed Salaries to these public Officers out of the common stock In those days of Innocence when Art was not interwoven with Religion nor Knavery with Policy it was an easy matter to be pious and just And if the higher Powers were pleas'd to remove these two we shou'd soon again see that golden Age The Duty of both Tables was comprised in few Articles That to their Neighbors consisted as now in doing as you would be don unto That towards God of whose Being they were convinced by the strongest of Demonstations the consideration of the visible things of the World in Thanksgivings and Adorations the effect of Gratitude to the Author of their being and of all good things in believing the Immortality of the Soul and of its being susceptible of Rewards and Punishments in another Life and in the consequence That Sin is to be repented of These were their common sentiments the Dictates of Nature The substance of which was acknowledg'd by al even the most barbarous of Nations And therefore cou'd not be the inventions of Policy the Dreams of melancholy men or the Effects of Education These are the Opinions of the unthinking and therefore wild and loose and were the wishes formerly of the few debauch'd But the great sober and wise Philosophers of all Ages upon the exactest Scrutiny finding them to be the Impresses of Nature as essential to our Being as light to the Sun pronounced the speculative Atheist an impossible thing And because they were sencible that a Lyer as destrustive of the very being of human Society ought to be banished the Commonwealth the first of their Laws and the Cement of the rest was That every man shou'd not only speak Truth to his Neighbor but stand firm to his Promises And knowing that Laws tho never so good wou'd prove insignificant if not duly observed And that som men wou'd never be wise that is wou'd never consider and consequently wou'd not easily be restraind from folly from offending to deter the slavish and inconsiderat they did not only annex certain Penalties to the breach of the Laws but unalterably decreed That no Offender tho never so powerful shou'd escape the punishment These Penalties were Pecuniary Mucts loss of Liberty bodily Labor to the Public or Banishment The power of Life and Death they wou'd not give because they cou'd not transfer that to another which was wanting in them selves the taking away of Life was peculiarly reserv'd by Nature as its own indispensible right as most reasonable because she alone coud give it They consider`d That Terrors are but affrightments to Duty That Corrections are for Amendment not Destruction which course shou'd they have pursu'd they might accidentally have run themselves into a state of War Since Nature had told them it was not only lawful but necessary if they coud not otherwise preserve their own to take away the beings of any that attempted theirs That it wou'd be against the End of Society mutual Happiness This rendering the sufferer uncapable of all to which therefore he neither cou'd nor wou'd have consented This or somthing not unlike it was I perswade my self the form substance of the first Commonwealths which if you narrowly look into you may perhaps find som Lines that drawn out fully might be no il Model for any Common-wealth And to come nearer home It has some resemblance to what for several past Ages this Kingdom did and does now enjoy To omit the Brittish times of which we have but very thin gleanings of the Druids their Oracles of Learning Law and Religion And to skip over that of the Romans who were never able perfectly to introduce their manner of Commonwealth We shal find that in the time of the Saxons a people of Westfrizland so called from the shape of their Sword a kind of Cymeter and in that of the Danes the manner of Goverment was as now in substance the not in form or name by King and Parliament But whether the Commons were called to this great Assemby or no I cannot find from the imperfect Registers of Elder times One may guess they were originally Members of it because the same people in Westfrizland from whence they descended do at this day continu a Form of Government different from all the rest of the Provinces not unlike this There are sufficient proofs that the Peers that is the chief of the Clergy and best estated Gentry were as often as the King pleas'd for it was originally Edicto Principis Summon'd to consult with him of the great affairs of State Which Council was before the Conquerors time call'd by several Names as Concilium absolutely sometimes the Epithets of Magnum Generale or Commune were added It was often known by the name of Curca Magna and others and was compos'd ex Episcopis Abbatibus Ducibus Satrapis Sapientibus Regni among which if any wil say the Commons had place I will not dispute because in those times when Titles of Honor were not the Arguments of good Fortune or the mark 's of the Prince's favor the King cal'd to this great Council such as large Possessions Courage or Wisdom recommended as fit For we find that the Fathers having sat there gave no Right to such Sons as did not with their Estates inherit their Vertues It appears farther that the great Council in the later end of the Saxons Reign and til the beginning of King Iohns had by the grace of Kings accustomed themselves without any summons to meet thrice every year at Christmas Easter and Whitsontide which course was not interrupted by any particular Summons but when in other seasons of the year the public occasions required their meeting The long continuance of the Barons Wars made the before stated meetings of the great Council return to the uncertain pleasure of the Prince What ever the power of the Commons was before the Conquest it plainly appears that for somtim afterward their Advice was seldom desired and as things were then ordered their Consent was not thought necessary being always included in that of the Lords For the Conqueror having subjected the Natives to an intire vassalage seiz'd upon all their Possessions reserved to the Crown larg proportions in every County gave part to the Church in Francalmoine and the residu to his fellow adventurers in the War to be held by Knight servic● These subdivided part of theirs to their Followers on such conditions as render'd them perfect Slaves to their Masters rather than their Lords By the possession of so much Power these Barons or Freeholders for theword signifi'd no more did what they pleas'd with their vassals became very terrible to the Conqueror and his Successors To curb whose Extravagance tho all were willing King Iohn was the first that made the attempt but by his over hastiness he gave birth to the lasting broyles of the Barons Wars He

with desine to suppress the too great power of the Lords in the sixth year of his Reign about a War with France call'd for the Commons Advice and Council with the Lords which had bin don above one hundred years before by Henry the first who in his Reign summon'd them twice at his Coronation and in his eighteenth year The next time after King Iohn that we find them summoned was in the forty ninth year of Henry the thirds Reign whose Summons appears upon Record So that he may be said to have perfected what Henry the first and King Iohn desin'd making the Commons a part of that great Iudicature which they have ever since continu'd and for some time after in one and the same House It was usual in those days to mention in the Writ the Cause of assembling this Council In a Summons of Edward the first a wise just and therefore a fortunate Prince concerning a War with France in the seventh year of his Reign these words are observable Lex justissima providâ circumspectione stabilita ut quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbetur much better sense than ` Latin Succeding Kings have bin pleased to consult in I arliament of all the high and great Concerns of the State of what nature or kind soever The consulting thus with the wholeBody of the People was first the grace Pollicy of Kings the practise was always succesful to those that us'd it as the contrary prov'd destructive for the Kings having by this course gaind their Subjects Hearts found it easy to command their Purses and their Hands This great representative of the Commonwealth the Parliament consisting of three Estates viz. the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons with the King at Head you wil with me easily conclude may do any thing within the reach of Human Power You must pardon me if I wave Anatomizing the distinct Powers of the several parts of this great Body whosoever first attempted that desin'd the overthrow of the best constituted Goverment in the World where the King wants no Ensines of Monarchy or Majesty where the People have not only al the Freedom Liberty and Power that in reason can be wished but more than any of their Neighbors enjoy even than those in the so much more cry'd up but little understood Commonwealth of Holland where they have liberty in name but in reality are very Slaves and beasts of Burden Now whether the way of convening Parliaments might not be alter'd into the this following or som other more equal than the present seems to be I leave to themselves to determin viz. That every Parish Freeholders and others if they please shoud meet and choose Two honest knowing men on whom their power of Electing Members shoud be devolved This don in every Parish the several Two's to meet and choose Two for the Hundred That agreed the respective Two's of every Hundred at the time and place appointed to choose the Members out of such as are resident in the Country both Knights and Burgesses Nor does it seem very reasonable that the later shoud exceed the former especially considering that many of the antient Burrow's are decay'd and yet the number rays'd by the additions of new ones beyond what it was before But by this manner of Election that inconvenience if any will not be considerable To every two Members a sides-man to be chosen who shoud duly attend at the place of Sessions and that he might be prepar'd in the absence of both or either of the Members they shoud make him master of al that pass'd from time to time in the House And that every person Elected might serve the public without privat consideration the Electors or a Iustice of Peace in their presence to administer an Oath fram'd to this Effect That in al proceedings they endeavor to inform themselves fully of the state of the matter and therein Act according to Conscience without particular interest or desine That directly or indirectly on the account of their Vote or serving they shal not receive by themselves or others any Reward or Gratuity whatsoever On breach of this Oath to be lyable to al the Penalties of Perjury It is not to be doubted but the honor of promoting their Countries good That giving a sort of Immortality which al men covet wil invite Gentlemen enow sufficiently qualified to undertake this work on these conditions how hard soever they appear 'T is not reasonable that Parliament Men shoud be maintained or rewarded unless in Praise and Statues at the Countries charge To do it gratis is al the real good they do the Commonwealth in which as privat men their Interest and consequently their Gain is greater than that of the meaner sort The Elections to be by the Ballotting box to avoid heat and secret grudges Nor woud it be useless to ad That al things be carried fairly and openly in the House That the Debate of any thing proposed be adjourned to the next days Meeting For in the time of Rest upon our Bed Our nights sleep does change our Knowledge and qualify the Effect or cause of Passion Inconsideration That every Member by himself or Sides-Man be constantly present under severe penalties to the Public That nothing be put to the vote but in a ful House not of Forty who cannot be the Major part of above Four Hundred and therefore at first was sure a trick but of al the Members nor then carried by Majority til the reasons of every single Dissenter be examined the dissenting person convinc'd and in case of obstinacy after Conviction of which in so wise an Assembly none can be suppos'd guilty expell'd the House The question not to be reassum'd til after the Election of a new Member unless his Sides-Man be of a contrary opinion in the Debate 'T is possible the swaying argument was at first but one Man 's whose credit and authority might prevail upon the rest without examining his Reasons which makes it prudent to weigh the force of what is offered against it By the contrary course they may by this they cannot suffer since Reason or Truth is always one and the same and however disguis'd by the sophistry of Wit it must at last overcom Thus by proving al things and holding fast that which is best they wil acquit themselves to the present and succeeding Ages Such manner of proceeding woud silence al murmurings and clamors That the Parliament is divided into Factions a Court and a Country Party Tho the interest of the one be not directly opposit to that of the other Yet the members for ends of their own Honor or Rewards do make them so of this they are convinc'd by seeing som turn Cat in Pan appearing strongly in one Session for that which in a former they as vigorously oppos'd And by observing others to compass Elections by Faction and Interest by Purchase or covinous Freeholds That contrary to several Acts of Parliament Members living