The Bishop of Worcester's letter to his reverend clergy within the county and diocess of Worcester with some short and genuine animadversions upon it.

The Bishop of Worcester's letter to his reverend clergy within the county and diocess of Worcester with some short and genuine animadversions upon it.

Table of contents

The Biſhop of Worceſter's LETTER To his Reverend Clergy within the County and Dioceſs of Worceſter. VVith ſome ſhort and genuine Animadverſions vpon it.

The Biſhop of Worceſter's LETTER To his Reverend Clergy within the County and Dioceſs of Worceſter.
VVith ſome ſhort and genuine Animadverſions vpon it.

[Page]

HAving received in a Letter from a Perſon of Eminent Quality in the County of Worceſter, who is pleas'd to Honour me with his particular Friendſhip and eſteem, That of this Right Reverend Biſhop; and being aſſured from him, upon the Teſtimony of a Clergyman of that Dioceſs, who has one of the Originals, (for it ſeems there were ſeveral of them ſent abroad) that it was an exact Copy, I was mightily pleaſed with his great kindneſs in it, and upon reading it ſeveral times over, I thought it very well worthy of many good Animadverſions.

Indeed I could have wiſhed this Labour had been ſaved me by a more Ingenious and habile Pen; for then not only I my ſelf ſhould have got conſiderable Improvement by the learned remarks that muſt needs have been made on it, but the publick would no doubt have teſtifyed greater acknowledgments, and have given their juſt applauſes, according to Cicero's opinion, Habet enim juſtam venerationem quicquid excellit.

But having waited thus long, and finding none ſo generouſly inclined as to beſtow his ſerious thoughts this way for common good and benefit; I conceived it would not be altogether ungrateful to the world if I ſhould venture at it; and, rather than have all loſt, preſent you with my ſhort and natural Reflections upon the Letter that followes.

To the Rectors, Vicars, and others within the County and Dioceſs of Worceſter, James by Divine permiſſion Biſhop of Worceſter, ſendeth greeting.

WHereas the Knights and Principal Gentlemen of the County, (in purſuance of his Majeſties Writ for calling and holding a Parliament at VVeſtminſter upon the 17th of October next coming) have met together and reſolved and pitched upon Collonel Samuel Sands, to ſtand as a Candidate to be elected for one of the Knights of the Shire to ſerve in the ſaid Parliament; We taking into Conſideration his conſtant, known, and ſteady affection, loyalty, and fidelity to the Crown and Church of England, do recommend him to You as a Perſon that will be firm and faithful to the Intereſt of the King, the true Proteſtant Religion, and the Common good of the People of this Realm; And we do earneſtly deſire You to give your ſuffrages for him, and to ingage ſuch as are qualified in your Pariſhes to do the like, upon VVedneſday next, being the third of September; and thus leaving You wholly to your freedom in the other part of your choice, but [Page] confiding in your filial and hearty compliance in this, we recommend You to God's Holy Protection, and remain,

Your Affectionate Friend and Brother James Biſhop of Worceſter.

THis is the Letter Verbatim as it came to my hands; and how kindly it is written for advancing the Intereſt, or but maintaining the natural liberty and property of the more inferiour Commons, you ſhall in part ſee by and by.

But before I come to take notice of the Letter it ſelf, I think it will not be very improper here by the way to obſerve, how much that diſſenting party from the Church of England, I mean, the Presbyterians, is taxed for going (as they ſay like Satan) to and fro in the Earth, and for walking up and down in it to make their parties for Elections; what tricks and Inſinuations they uſe to gain Proſelites; and eſpecially in this late Election for our Metropolis, the City of London, where they ſaid, as I my ſelf heard it, there were three of their chiefeſt Miniſters particularly, but whom they would not name, that made it their great buſineſs to run from houſe to houſe to ſecure Votes for a Worthy member and Patriot of it, whom another party, under the Vizar and Maſquerade of Church of England men, would fain have ſet beſide the Cuſhion; when as, for I have made as particular an Inquiry into it as poſſibly I could, not one of them has ſtirred in it any further than perchance accidental common Converſation has brought them on; but, as I believe the party who affirm'd it only vapoured, and would fain have blackened them, if his ſilly word would have been credited; ſo, on the other hand, put the caſe it had been ſo, they had done nothing but what they could have produced a very good preſident for, from this Letter, which was a long time Antecedent to the Election here, and I hope none will be ſo ſpiteful as to hit their own ſelves a box o'th' ear in blaming them for their Conformity to the Church, but will be rather glad to ſee that they will in any thing come over to it, and take their Meaſures from it.

For my part, I am ſo much a Lover of unity and peace, and ſo impatient of whatſoever looks like faction, or dividing Intereſts, that I ſhould be one of the firſt to caſt a ſtone at that man that ſets himſelf to make a party: for, if we are free-born, let's injoy our priviledg, and not ſuffer our ſelves to be cullied and ham-ſtring'd by every formal Fop that perhaps either has a hank upon us, or elſe has got the knack to talk more oylily than our ſelves. I would have my judgment my own, and would chooſe where I pleaſe, and not give another man the power to ſay he has got me in his pocket, and he can ſhake me like a Dog in a blanket. But now to my Subject.

And firſt of all I think it is very eaſy to remark, that the Knights and Principal Gentry of a County, when any Important Affair of the State is to be mannaged, (as is this of Electing Parliament-men) do meet together, and in their private Cabals, do conſult and reſolve among themſelves how the matter ſhall determine, and which way they will have things to go; and after this, then they pitch upon ſuch ways and means as they judg moſt [Page] proper to be conducive to thoſe Ends: and here in this caſe that we have before us, You ſee they take this courſe; ſo that by this mean, if any would have a particular faction or party, be it about buſineſs of either Church or State, carryed on; it is only to make your intereſts with theſe great Do [...]alls of their reſpective Shires or Districts, by bribes of Money, preferments to high places, or by getting honours to be conferred on them, &c. And when you have once brought them over to you, and made 'em your own, you may ſleep on, and take your reſt, as it is ſaid in another caſe, for they know how to do your work well enough without any further troubling them.

And when they have concluded the matter thus by themſelves, it is as obvious to any conſidering man as the former, that they then go, and acquaint the Right Reverend their Biſhop with what they have done, and pray in aid to him, that he would graciouſly pleaſe to inform the Clergy over whom he preſides, with their project; and by an expreſs to let them know, how agreeable it is to his Lordſhip, how good in it ſelf, and how honourable it will be for them to be ſeen in, and advance the cauſe; and not only that they themſelves would ſtir in it, but recommendations muſt be made to them, that they do all they can to ingage ſuch as are qualified in their Pariſhes, to lay their Shoulders to the work, and according to their power to influence all others of their acquaintance junctis viribus to do the like.

And therefore becauſe the Knights and principal Gentlemen in a County have pitched upon ſuch a one, (be he never ſo deſerving a perſon, or never ſo otherwiſe, that is nothing to the purpoſe) as for inſtance, to be a Member of Parliament, he muſt of neceſſity be the man: ſo that as I take it, (and I would not willingly miſtake the point) this is to exclude the Commonalty abſolutely to have a hand in the choice; for they muſt not dare to give a Negative Vote if they ſhould be injoined to ſtand up for ſuch or ſuch a particular perſon; and by this means they are caſhiered of that power and liberty, and that property that they have, to appear in the behalf of another perſon, whom they may think to be better qualified, or however, whom they may like better, and otherwiſe would chooſe, if they were not beforehand ſo ingaged.

But further, by leaving them to their freedom in the other part of their choice, (as is here mentioned) doth imply a Reſtraint upon them and that, deſpotically, or magiſterially, for the firſt; by which means, if commonly practiſed by other Biſhops, the Parliament may make an Act to exclude the Clergy from voting, as they did thoſe that had Leaſe-lands, nay Copy-holds of Inheritance; preſuming they would be byaſſed by their Lords of their Eſtates to vote which way they pleaſed, for fear of a black reckoning when they came to renew. Beſides, if they do reſtrain them for one, as here you ſee it is plainly proved de facto, why may they not by the ſame right and juſtice lay a reſtraint on them for both: And how can they then be ſaid indeed to be our repreſentatives, when poſſibly they may not be thoſe perſons whom we would have to repreſent us, but are ſuch as the [Page] Knights and principal Gentlemen of the County, together with the Biſhop and his Clergy, will impoſe upon us, and make us to ſtand by, for fear of worſe circumſtances to befal our ſelves.

Again, By his confiding in their filial and hearty compliance, he doth explain the reſtraint as to the firſt vote: That is, methinks, as much as to ſay, we will oblige you to chooſe one ſuch man as we would have you, and to be made a mouth of by us in that particular, and we will give you freedom in the other part of your choice; we will put the wheadle on you as for the other, you ſhall ſeem wholly to elect him, though he be fore▪ ordained to be the man, by our ſelves at our private Cabinet-board: for, to be ſure, if you are once ſo far prevailed upon as to yield to their Judgments in one, you tacitely do acknowledg that you have not underſtanding, and be not fit enough of your ſelves to make a wiſe and ſafe choice without their previous direction, and ſo conſequently will be eaſily led away to give your ſuffrage for any other, whom perhaps ſome of the ſlie pretenders to your party, (if that may be called ſo, which is only a diſintereſſed affection to ſerve you Country) may be their ſecret order and impulſe loudly bawle out for, and cry up; ſo that in one ſenſe there will be a reſtraint upon you as for both, though knowingly it ſhall appear but for one, and to that it plainly ſeems you muſt comply.

Moreover, which to me looks like a Paradox, for it is contradictio in adjecto; he expects from them a filial or ſon-like obedience, and yet he ſubſcribes himſelf their Brother; he would have them blindly to pay him the duty of Children, but he does not ſtile himſelf their Father: indeed he is their right Reverend Father in God to ſuperintend them in ſpiritual affairs, and in Divine Myſteries; but I do not very well underſtand, how it is his Province to charge them with the cares of State, how he can ingage them to run up and down after all ſuch as are qualified in their pariſhes, and get Votes for the beloved Candidate; but yet this they are obliged to do, if they mean to ſhow their filial reſpect to their honour'd elder Brother; for here's their Injunction; and, litera ſcripta manet, ſhould they prove obſtinate and reſtive, and offer to diſobey the precept, this hand-writing would no doubt riſe up in judgment againſt them, and render them inexcuſable.

This is by no means to reflect upon that Worthy Gentleman, whom this Letter has a relation to; for all perſons I can hear of, that have any acquaintance with him, give him deſervedly a moſt honourable mention; and I cannot in the leaſt imagine but that the qualified Electing perſons would voluntarily have given him their voice to be one of their Repreſentatives, without the Solicitations and ingagements of their Clergy to them. But this is to ſhow by what ways and artifices Men may get to be choſen, and to leave it upon a dubitatur in Lege, how far ſuch things are juſt and rightful.

FINIS.

Information about this book

Title statement

The Bishop of Worcester's letter to his reverend clergy within the county and diocess of Worcester with some short and genuine animadversions upon it.

Edition statement

1681

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2007-10 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A70049

ID [STC]

Wing F1242A

ID [STC]

ESTC R6831

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

12527811

ID [OCLC]

ocm 12527811

ID [VID]

62693

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A70049)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 62693)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 949:7 or 1669:40)

Source

— The Bishop of Worcester's letter to his reverend clergy within the county and diocess of Worcester with some short and genuine animadversions upon it., Fleetwood, James, 1603-1683..

Extent

4 p.

s.n.,. [S.l. :: 1681?]. (Item at reel 949:7 identified as T978 (number cancelled in Wing 2nd ed.).) (Reproduction of original in Huntington Library.) (Caption title.)

Creation

Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford.

Editorial practices

EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO.

EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org).

The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source.

Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data.

Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so.

Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor.

The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines.

Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements).

Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site.