Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A61435
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Old English loyalty & policy agreeable to primitive Christianity. The first part by the author of The beginning and progress of a needfull and hopefull reformation.
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Stephens, Edward, d. 1706.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing S5433; ESTC R32555
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31,683
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49
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Admirable Religion and no less imprudence and indiscretion than Impiety to do otherwise But there are two Temptations to which a Prince naturally Magnanimous and Prudent may be obnoxious which would certainly make his Government of such a People very uneasie and therefore ought to be avoided with great Caution and a pious and prudent Resolution The one is an Obstinate Wilfulness which often runs and especially by opposition into a Gygantick Insolence without due regard to Reason Justice or Religion that is without due regard either to God or Man Which is not true Magnanimity for that is apt to exert it self on all occasions in a generous and Free Submission to Reason Justice and Moderation and rather to part with its own than usurp upon another's Right But the other is a mere Brutish Resolution odious both to God and Man as inconsistent with Prudence as different from true Magnanimity and ordinarily of most pernicious Consequence of which England in this last Age hath had very remarkable Examples And for this purpose it is absolutely necessary to beware of Flattarers and Parasites and abandon them or keep them at a great distance when they are once perceived for ever after as most dangerous and pernicious Persons The other is a Subtil Craft which often imposeth upon Men under the appearance of Prudence but in truth is as far different from genuine Prudence as it is inconsistent with true Generosity of Mind This likewise is very odious both to God and Man and however it may prevail for sometime yet usually proves of pernicious Consequence at last as by Experience in the last Race of our Kings is easily observable in these Nations Nothing is more necessary to a good Accord between a Prince and People and for the Prosperity of both than Mutual Confidence And nothing doth more destroy or debilitate such a mutual Confidence than such crafty Projects and Practices which are the more carefully to be avoided by how much the more they have been practised here and with such unhappy Success And no less are the Instruments thereof to be avoided and abandoned Both these as they are carefully to be avoided by a truly Magnanimous and Prudent Prince upon the General Considerations aforesaid so are they much more upon this special Consideration of their Contrariety and Disagreement with the natural Genious of this People Such violent and unnatural Means can never produce any durable Effect of Prosperity and Happiness but sooner or later will be disappointed and make the Memory of those who use them odious and dishonourable with all Posterity And besides all this there is a farther special Consideration of great moment in relation to the Prince hmiself upon their Inconsistence with his own Declaration and the Gratitude I will be bold to say it which he oweth the People of these Nations though I deny not in the least his Merit for the Honour they have done him And upon this occasion I cannot but take notice of that late Emblem at the Hague of a Balance with a Sword preponderating Three Crowns and Praemia non aequant for a Motto as a piece of mean pedantick Flattery below the Gravity and Prudence of such a State and too light a Complement for real Worth and Merit As it is our Happiness to have a Prince so agreeable to our narural Genius so it s some Vnhappiness to him to meet with so many among us so much degenerated from it But then nothing can make him a more Glorious Instrument than to restore us to our ancient Vertue nor any thing give him greater Advantage for farther Honour And this being so Fundamental a Matter both for the Honour of the King and the Good and Happiness of the Nation besides that it is a principal End of Government no Man who is well affected to either can be offended if I consider it with that Freedom and Plainness which a Matter of such Importance doth deserve But if any be I suppose he will think it too great an Evidence against himself that he is not such to discover it This certainly is no more than necessary since so subtil and powerful is the Venom of this Corruption that there is danger otherwise lest it should invade even the Prince himself e'r he be aware and hath already approach'd him with very evil Effects It began apparently soon after the Decease of Q. Elizabeth by her supposed wise but in truth weak Successor who being a timorous Person and as is natural to such addicted much to Craft wherein he gloried though it often failed him and indeed fool'd him attracted most of that Temper to him and tainted others And Prince Henry who was of another Spirit being unhappily taken off by an untimely Death this kind or Courtiers and Politicians most easily insinuated themselves into the naturaly disposed Humour of his Successor who had he been directed by Persons of the right English Genius might have been more happy The same Spirit though cast out for a while returned again and with greater Force possess'd his next Successor and from thence hath this sort of Policy greatly prevailed but with such Issue as the World hath seen Nor is it yet extinct but offers fair to re assume its former Place and Power So that were not this King a Person of more Generosity and Vertue he would certainly be carried away with the Stream of our degenerate Politicks But besides those Vertues natural to him he hath had Three years Experience of notorious Disappointments to warn him of the Danger of their Counsels Only having been so little resident amongst us it cannot be expected he should presently be sensible of the secret Causes of his Disappointments or the pernicious Effects of their Counsels and therefore no greater Service can be done him and by Consequence to the whole Kingdom than by laying these things as plain and naked before him as possible and to detect or sufficiently point out the principal Agents For it concerns him little less to beware of this Generation and their Policies than it did the Israelites to avoid the Canaanites and their Manners But first it may be fit to explain the Nature of this Degeneracy and of the Humours by which it is fed and nourished Which are plainly a Composition of Atheism Infidelity Covetousness and Ambition with some other such kind of Ingredients which make up that Corrupt and Diabolical Humour called Self the very Sperm and Spirit of the Serpent The Propensions and Motions of all things in Nature as hath been well observed by that great Philosopher Sir Fra. Bacon are more strong and vigorous to the Common Good than to the Private Good of Self And it is apparent that no Sect Religion or Philosophy of Men doth so much exalt the Common Good above the Private Good of particular Men as the Christian Whence as that subtile observant Philosopher doth well infer it plainly appears that it was the same Author who so wisely and powerfully ordered
have used all Freedom and Plainness necessary to have convinced him of his Fault nor had I well consulted the Honour of my Prince if I had done otherwise Much more is this allowable and a Duty in the Case of the Supreme Majesty though a King be concerned in it and doubly so when it is for his Safety and Advantage Besiedes it gives the King a Noble Opportunity both to exercise and to demonstrate his Virtue and to give Glory to God by accepting of a faithful Admonition from the meanest of his Subjects with all due Respect to the Supreme Majesty After all this if any be yet so inchanted with Vanity as not to be satisfied and yet believe a Deity that Reges in ipses Imperium est Jovis to speak to Infidels in the Language of Heathens For the Conviction of such I will here only say again in relation to that Paper what I had before said in the conclusion of another Possibly in the perusal of that Paper some who are most attentive to the Importance of the Matter may over-look other things and think it very good and honest But these must be Men who have some relish of such things But others who are not much affected with that will be apt the more to regard the Form and censure it for rude and insolent and that I am well pleased they should do and as severely as they will For I know no better way to convince them of a Fault of their own than to make them judge themselves in the Person of another For if I be rude by plain-dealing with my Fellow-Creatures for their Good who are perhaps but a little above me in some petty accidental transitory Advantage what are they who are not only more rude toward the State but impious against they Creater or can behold such Rudeness and Impiety without any Censure or Endeavour to restrain it Must I be censured for breaking the Laws of Man or but of Civility and out of a good Design And is it equal then that others shall be permitted in impudent Contempt of the Religion of the State and impious violation of the Laws of Almighty God Therefore thou art inexcusable O Man whosoever thou art that judgest for wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thy self And thinkest thou O Man that judgest and dost the same that thou shalt escape the Judgment of God And thus much for my Old English Loyalty which none who understand both can deny to be very agreeable to the genuine Primitive Christianity I come now to my Old English Policy A brave People they were who seated themselves here and they Found a Climate very agreeable to their own Genius Two Assaults they have received in their own Territories from their Neighbours of Normandy and France the first with their Arms the last with their Vices and Treachery Both prevailed upon degenerate and imprudent Princes and by that Means a little shog'd the People but they after the first soon return'd again to their own Genius and so I doubt not will again now though the Powers of Vice be more enslaving than that of Arms. But the Divine Power which nothing can withstand hath so far favour'd us as to raise us up a Prince according to our own Genius Only he hath been at first exposed to the Assaults of the Adverse Powers reigning in the dregs of the Corruptions of the late Reigns And though he hath suffered much thereby and perhaps lost those Advantages he can never regain yet hath he been preserved and gain'd though at a dear rate that Experience thereby which if well considered and improved may be of as great Advantage to him another way Nor will a Divine Power yet be wanting to assist him if he be not wanting to it and to himself I was at first brought to him by little less than a Miracle when the Week before I could hardly endure a Two Miles Journey in a Coach or to make a hasty step a-cross a Chanel yet the next Week was carried on with that Vigour and Spirit that I rode every day considerable Journeys for a whole Week together I then performed that little Service in which I was intrusted with all Fidelity and good Success only a Torrent of greater unexpected Success made it needless And I gave a true and impartial Account of all to one near him which I believe was never truly represented to him And now I am resolved by the Grace and Assistance of Almighty God to perform such a Service and make things so plain as shall have a good Effect or leave all that shall oppose or neglect it inexcusable even in the sight of Men if there be any true Manhood left in the Nation If there be such a thing as a secret Divine Designation of Men to certain Employments in this Life as is believed by wise and knowing Men certain I am that there is nothing in my Life that hath so much or any such Evidence of it as this hath And therefore I shall endeavour to keep back nothing that may be profitable to be observed but declare all that I think necessary without regard to any Person or Thing but the Service of God the King and my Countrey for which no good Man can be offended with me And for the Malice of Evil Men the Protection of them for whose Service I act is sufficient for me and I have Reason to expect it The greatest Emperor in the World in his own Nature is a poor weak Mortal as other Men are and subject to the like Infirmities All his Power which he hath more than others consists in the joint voluntary Subjection of other Men to him who are all like himself dependent Beings upon a far more excellent Being in whose Hand is their Breath and Life and who inspirits or dispirits and turns their Hearts as he pleaseth He who believes this indeed will easily perceive that his principal Concern and Wisdom is to secure first the Favour of that Supreme Being and next the Good Will and Affections of all those who being naturally his Equals may thereby become subject to him and so continue The former cannot be expected but by an entire Conformity and absolute Subjection of the Will Designs and Actions to the Will of that Supreme Being If therefore King William believes this and that he is indeed an Instrument raised up by that Excellent Majesty for his Special Service and by his Providence exalted to the Throne for that purpose This he must intend and preser above all things or else he must act like a Brute which follows its sensual or animal Propensions or like a Fool or a Madman not like a rational Creature upon good Deliberation and Judgment But first he must endeavour to know and be well acquainted with his Master and with his Will and to understand it by the least Intimation be precisely observant of it to follow it fully and very watchful against any the least Transgression knowing assuredly