Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	absolute_a	law_n	power_n	2,756	5	5.3176	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A94165	An anatomy of Lievt. Col. John Lilburn's spirit and pamphlets. Or, A vindication of these two honorable patriots Oliver Cromwel, Ld Governor of Ireland, and Sir Arthur Haslerig, Knight baronet, from the unworthy and false aspersions by him cast on them in two libels; the one intituled, An impeachment of high treason against Oliver Cromwel, &c. The other, A preparative to a hue and cry against Sir Arthur Haslerig: wherein the said Lilburn is demonstratively proved to be a common lyar, and unworthy of civil converse.	Sydenham, Cuthbert, 1622-1654.; T. M.	1649 (1649)	Wing S6290; Thomason E575_21; ESTC R204578	18,441	24

more to be credited And Horace observing the same Law and Sentence Intestabilis dixit pro detestabili a man detestible and to be abominated by all men of any honesty or integrity and that the world may further see the hainousness of this Crime the Graecians as Budeus observes in his Commentaries were wont to call the same men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 velut fortunis omnibus aversi civilia jura non retinebant men forsaken of all fortunes that keep to no civil Rule or Law as banished and dissolute men that enjoy nothing and care to live by no rule but their lust presidii legum exortes out of protection of Law and Justice and yet he gives a further description in the same place of those men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicti fuerunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men of dishonour that act wickedly and talk wickedly to whom no respect nor esteem is to be given on any terms You see how libelling was resented among the wisest and best governed States and Kingdoms and doubtless the Laws of England are not defective as to this offence Murther and slander seem of a like hainous nature yea slander to an ingenious and raised spirit seems the greater misery many would rather choose to dye then to live basely Murther to an honest man is rather the sin of the murtherer then the hurt of the person he being better provided for but slander kills the man while he lives and without any hope of reparation the death it self of the libeller cannot make up the loss for when he is gone the man that lives under that reproach suffers a dayly Martyrdom and lives as a forlorn and dead man without love or respect telluris inutile pondus as the burthen and misery of the earth What a sentence then of Condemnation would be past on this man if he had his due How will his name rot to posterity who hath so unchristianlike and unworthily slandered these two Gentlemen As I dare say never any were by the most horrid and wretched tongue in the world yea the very language of Bedlam and Billingsgate is smooth and comely to his expressions But I cannot wonder that his rage is so much against them seeing the very Churches of Christ those sacred Bodies and Pillars of Glory are the butt of his fury calling Mr John Goodwins Congregation A knavish Conspiracy and in other Pamphlets doing the like to other Churches What will this man come unto Where will his malice centre Will it not at last end in trampling on the Gospel and the Name of Iesus Christ who doubtless stands in diametrical opposition to his spirit and actions And that he may prove himself to be a perfect Ishmaelite to have his hand against every man and satisfie his envy at once he slanders the whole Parliament Councel of State Army calling them Col Prides Iunto a mock Parliament a company of Theeves Robbers with a thousand such like Monsters and which is intolerable glories in this his shame never was any State so publikely affronted by such a pedantique Pamphleter and yet so patient and indulgent to him yet though he denies their Authority and professeth contempt against them as no Parliament this Gentleman upon an Agreement of the People that grant Idol of the Levellers though it were but of the thousand part of them and consisting only of a few Apprentices and Bankrupts and men of inconsiderable interest in the Commonwealth could be contented not only to purge but dissolve this Parliament and choose whom they pleased and have put the stamp of the Supream Authority of this Nation on it It 's well known that there are far more of all sorts that have heartily and freely consented to this present Authority then ever would have done on such an Agreement of the People according to his model in which there was such Popular Principles such a loose and licentious Liberty to be given to all sorts of wicked Blasphemies and Opinions that all godly and consciencious men abominate if the Army would have agreed with him and two or three more Mechanick Levellers though neither Presbyterian nor Independent neither one party nor other but themselves had consented to it they would have if they had power subjected all mens judgments and consciences to it and have cry'd it up for the first Parliament of Freedom Liberty that ever England enjoyed And had that party prevailed against the Army which mutinied of late and gathered a Head at Burford and Oxford we should have soon seen what a Parliament and Councel of State we should have been blessed with And this very Parliament in its illegal estate yea the Councel of State it self if it had but Iohn Lilburns hands layd on it should be the Supream Authority in a moment But what need all this spending of paper and words on him who is resolved to dy a royal death with the King and end his days like a Malignant denying the authority of these who found a just power of condemning him The Government is now happily changed both by the Principles of Reason Necessity and Conveniency If guilty persons hate the Authority by which they must be condemned I shall not wonder For Iohn Lilburn I know his nature is onely disposed to opposition and no Government whatever shall be appointed without that wherein he might be Supream but he would cry it down as illegal and tyrannical But if he thinks to dye a Martyr in opposing this present Government I shall not envy him the glory to be canoniz'd with King Charls in the Malignant and Popish Kalender I shall say no more as to this but leave him to the righteous execution of their Power whom he denies to have Authority And whereas he still pleads to be tryed by the known Laws of the Land you may see he is put to his shifts when he fought against the King he could finde a distinction between the sence of the Law and intent of it and the letter and now he is come to be tryed by the Parliament he flies to the letter of these Laws by which he could not without Treason fight against the King but any thing to scape the Gallows Had he stood to every Statute Law formerly where had John Lilburn been Nay did not John Lilburn justly deserve all those whips and scourges by the letter of some Laws then in force Particular Laws are made according to particular occasions conveniencies and bind not ad semper especially no occasional Statutes can binde up the hands of the Legislators the Parliament being the Representative of the People are the Supream Authority and what they enact or do in the time of their Session is to be accounted as absolute a Law at least as long as they shall think fit to continue it as any other Law made by former Parliaments and to tye the Supream Authority to former presidents is all one as to give Laws to the Legislators And whereas John Lilburn

pounds In answer to that the Order of Parliament commanded That all Delinquents Rents not excepted from Pardon and Papists should be stayed in the Tenants hands till the first of September last and this Letter of Lilburns bears date the 18. of August So that then both Bellinghams Bowes and Gibbs Rents were all stayd by Authority of Parliament and not by Sir Arthurs arbitrary tyrannical will and power But to obey Orders of Parliament is Felony in John Lilburns Law And for Lilburns estate seized by Sir Arthur in the hands of Sir Henry Bellingham and Thomas Bowes they have both made their Compositions the Moyety of Bowes Fine came to Two hundred pounds which was payd into the Treasury the Moyety of Sir Henry Bellinghams Composition for his Lands in Bishoprick which did onely concern John Lilburn was about One pound and his chief Estate being in Westmerland Mr Richard Lilburn Father to John and one of the Committee gave his free consent and was very well contented that the Committee of Westmerland should receive that first Moyety due to his Son John and that Sir Henry Bellingham should pay the Moyety of his whole Fine to the Committee of Westmerland for the speedy disbanding of their Horse So that there was but onely Thomas Bowes Two hundred pounds either of Rent or Composition-money due to John Lilburn that came into the Treasury and Mr Richard Lilburn complaining to the Committee of his Sons great wants and necessities and desiring maintenance for him being in prison and relating his sad affliction by the sickness of his Wife and death of some of his Children and infection amongst the rest the Committee gave an Order to his Father for the receiving of that Two hundred pounds which accordingly was payd him and no doubt John Lilburn received it long since the Order being granted before his Letter bears date And thus you see not one penny either of Rents or Composition-moneys belonging to John Lilburn was before the 18. of August remaining in the Treasury neither is there as yet one penny of his money payd in Let all honest men therefore judg whether Sir Arthur Haslerig has robbed John Lilburn of between Twenty four and Twenty five hundred pounds and whether Sir Arthur Haslerig deserves or as John Lilburn prints may or ought to be knocked in the head as a Polecat Fox Wolf What humor and desperate fury possest the man that he thus foams out his own shame You see he hath perfectly learnt Machiavils great Principle of wickedness Calumniare audacter aliquid haerebit Slander to purpose something will stick But enough of that For the proofs of Lilburns second Charge of Sir Arthur bribing false witnesses to take away his life and to murther him it is in pag. 7. because he was one of his unjust Judges that for nothing committed him This needs no large Answer It is notoriously known the Parliament committed him for High Treason and his Pamphlets do sufficiently declare their grounds and surely such stuff was never written and published against any State or Supream Authority of any Nation and the Author most audaciously to justifie it For his second proof he prints a story of one William Blank this William Blank about the 13. of April last came to the door where the Councel of State then sate and delivered a Paper to Mr Frost the Secretary wherein he informed That one Sir Peter Rocket a Frenchman was in London and contriving a most dangerous Design against the Publique and that the said Sir Peter Rocket had been in London the year before stirring up the Citizens to rise in arms about the time of the siege at Colchester and that divers Citizens and Apprentices were combined with him After the Information was read the Councel of State appointed Lievt General Cromwel and Sir Arthur Haslerig to speak with Blank from time to time for discovery of that design and before that day Sir Arthur never saw him nor heard of him Blank thereupon went to the Lievt Generals house and finding his employments so great that he could not often speak with him went to Sir Arthur Haslerig and told him that two of Mr Rushworths the Lord Generals Secretaries servants were in the Plot against the State and named divers Merchants of quality in the City and told of their Meetings Debates and Resolutions in several places both in City and Country and that himself was present at their Meetings and heard their Debates and saw such such men at those Meetings and at last that the Resolution was the surprizing the General the taking of the President of the Councel of State the Speaker of the Parliament L. Gen. Cromwel divers of the chief Officers of the Army and to destroy them and others And that this way was carryed on by a Committee half of John Lilburns party and half of the Kings party and that they were all under an engagement by oath and named some members of one Mr Lambs Church and then told the appointed day when it should be put in execution which was about the 24 of April Blank spoke not a word to Sir Arthur but he made him to set it down with his own hand and put his name to it and kept a Diary of all his Informations from the time he came first to the Councel of State to the 24. of April the time when the Plot should have been acted and Blank gave the reason why that 24. day should be the day because that then such Officers were to be both at the Lord Generals house and upon the Guards as were privy to the Designs Then Sir Arthur with the advice of the Lievt General acquainted Commissary General Ireton with it the day growing very neer when the Plot should be effected and that very night as Blank informed the Malignants should rise upon the winding of a Horn. Sir Arthur carryed Blank to Commissary General Ireton at S. James's and He and Colonel Pride and some other Officers marvelling at Blanks confident speeches concerning the Design and examining him in all his Papers he affirming that these things were true they presently apprehended two of Mr Rushworths Servants and they were brought to S. James's face to face before Blank they denyed their ever seeing him or being at any such place as he mentioned and he affirmed and they denyed Commissary General Ireton and Colonel Pride then took care of the chief Officers of the Guard and sent some Officers with Blank to apprehend some of the Citizens viz. George Almoner William Seubal John Arrowsmith James Eddington whom they found in their houses and in bed and they brought them about one a clock in the night to S. Iames's when they came it appeared they were the Parliaments very good friends and all the Informations that Blank had given were all false and had not the least colour or shadow of truth in them and Blank did before their faces acknowledg that what he had set under his hand was false

will have the Parliament both now and formerly to follow the form of every common Statute in making an Order for his imprisonment it is as much as to say that the Parliament hath not power to repeal or as they see occasion to suspend the execution or alter the form of any Statute or that their Orders in the time of their Session though but occasionally made and pro tempore according as they see necessity or conveniency are not as legal and just and to be obeyed as these Statutes which other Parliaments made on the sight of the same convenience or reason But there is no doubt but they have Laws enough to prove John Lilburn a Traytor and a man which deserves the last punishment But if there should be a defect of any express President or Law whereby he may be punished it 's because he hath gone beyond the common strain of former offendors and is without president and example in his miscarriages and no Parliament could ever imagine there would any man be so quite destitute of the Law of Nature as to abuse himself and affront Authority so impudently as he hath done But new sins must have new punishments Some must be made examples now as well as others formerly It was the Earl of Straffords plea there was no Law and president for his censure who acted it better then John Lilburn and yet Iohn was one of the Apprentices that cried out for Justice which was legally executed then And the King denyed the Authority of the High Court of Iustice and yet justly lost his Head Let Iohn Lilburn take heed next The Parliament hath made a Law and it 's published That who ever shall speak against the present Government or for the title of Prince Charls to the Crown shall be punished as a Traytor How far the Gentleman hath sin'd against this known Law he may shortly know I have now done with his terrible and hyperbolical Charges though it seems he means never to have done for he stiles his last Pamphlet but A Preparative to a Hue and Cry and in the latter end of his Preparative calls for more fuel to the fire commanding his Uncle as if he were the god of this world to send up to him intelligence what Sir Arthur Haslerig doth and Let me know saith he if he do not this and that professing he will not abate him an ace be it true or false which he can but scrape out of any Malignant Letters concerning him But I hope by this time all sober and honest men know what use to put his Pamphlets unto hereafter And to those that have a minde to buy a shillingworth of lyes to carry in their pockets against they shall finde use of them or would learn the art of railing and slandering most exactly I shall commend the buying of Lievt Col. John Lilburns Pamphlets and reading of them with the most care and diligence that they can afford For my part my stomack is full I shall onely desire these two Gentlemen that are thus the objects of his revenge That though your Names and Honors are untainted and shine clear through the cloud of his Calumnies yet you would make this advantage of it and so honestly cheat him of his hopes to spur you on to more gallant and brave actions and to improve your Interest for the advancing Religion and the Power of Godliness in this Nation as well as Civil Freedom and Liberty then shall your names be written in Brass or Marble to posterity as they are and will be in the hearts of godly and consciencious men when John Lilburns shall be written in the dust I expect another Hue and Cry after me shortly But I intend to foul my hands no more with him but leave the discreet Reader to judg and bestow what Faith and Charity he hath to spare upon his former and ensuing Pamphlets FINIS