Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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B06596
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Sherlock against Sherlock. The master of the temple's reasons for his late taking the oath to their Majesties, answered, / by the rector of St. George Botolph-Lane. With modest remarks on the doctors celebrated notions of allegiance to soveraign powers.
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Wagstaffe, Thomas, 1645-1712.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing W216A; ESTC R186142
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12,557
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24
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in the making of Laws as to make his consent necessary to the being of all Future Laws was it not thus when the two houses were Erected and endowed with the like Power notwithstanding the Doctors says pag. 196. That the Law has no Authority nor can give any but what it receivs from the King For the Laws are made Authoritate Parliamenti which is by the Authority of the King Lords and Commons But to lay aside Bracton and Fortescue let us a little reason the Matter This Personal Authority of the King antecedent to all the Laws of the Land independent on them and superiour to them whence is it has be a Throne like God Is he of Himself and for Himself Or has he a Personal Authority from God antecedent to Laws to be a King Then shew a Revelation from God where he is named Or has he the Natural Authority of a Father to Govern his Children Then it must be proved That he has begotten his three Kingdoms and all the People in all other His Majesties Dominions Or has he a Personal Patriarchal Authority which is set up as a shadow of the Authority of a Father whereby the Eldest Son is his Father by Representation Then it must be proved That the King is the Eldest Son of the Eldest House of all the Families of the Earth Or were mankind made in the day of their Creation by Nations and Created Prince and People as they were Created Male and Female but if none of these things can be said then it remains That a Civil Authority that is a mutual Consent and Contract of the Parties first Founded this Civil Relation of King and Subject as we see it every day does of Master and Servant which is another Civil Relation and that the Consent of a Community or Society is a Law and the Foundation of all Civil Laws whatsoever is proved beyond all contradiction by Mr. Hooker Eccl Pol. Li 〈◊〉 1 chap. 10. Another Reason which the Doctor gives why the King is Irresistible in all Cases is Because he is Soveraign and it is essential to Soveraignty to be irresistible in all Cases Which is false For the King of Polland 〈◊〉 Soveraign he Coins Money with his own Image and Superscription upon it which according to the Doctor pag. 50 Is a certain Mark of Soveraignty and pag. 51. By the very Impression on their Money it is evident That he is their Soveraign Lord He stiles himself by the same Grace of God with any King in Christendom and wears the like Crown He Assembles Diets he disposes of all Offices he judges the Palatines themselves and is full of the Marks of Soveraignty And yet he that shall take a Polish Penny and make such work with it as the Doctor does with the Roman Tribute Money and out of it read Lectures either of Active or Passive Obedience in all Cases will read amiss For in case he breake his Coronation Oath they owe him no Obedience at all of any kind for this is one Clause in it Quod si Sacramentum meum violavero Incolae Regni nullam nobis obedientiam praestare tenebuntur So that in case he violate his Oath his Irresistibility departs from him and he becomes like other Men. I come now to the Doctor 's Second Case which is resolv'd under the covert and Countenance of the former That as well inferior Magistrats as others imployed by a Popish Tyrannical Prince in the most Illegal and Outragious Acts of Violence such as Cutting of Throats c. are as Irresistible as the Prince himself under pretence of having the Prince's Authority to do these Acts and must be submitted to under pain of Hell and Eternal Damnation Now to shew the Authority which we are bound to submit to not in Laws but in Persons who Act contrary to Law he has brought the following Argument which is the most laboured of any in his Book Nay it is very false and absurd to say That every Illegal Is an Vnauthoritative Act which carrie no Objection with it This is contrary to the practice of all Judicatures and the daily Experience of Men who suffer in their Lives Bodies and Estates by an unjust and Illegal Sentence For the most illegal Judgment is Valid till it be reversed by some Superior Court which most illegal but Authoritative Judgment derives its Authority not from the Law but the but the Person of him whose Judgment it is Case of Obed. Pag. 193.194.195 Now to use his own words this is very false and absurd all over For first Legal and Authorative are all one and Illegal Authority is in England unlawful lawful Power Secondly It is not true That an Illegal Judgment is valid till it be revers'd For the Judgment of a Man to Death in an Arbitrary way either contrary to the Verdict of his Jury or without a Jury is not Authorative or Valid at all no not for an hour But I suppose by illegal Judgments the Doctors means legal Judgments which have Error in them and if these should not be Valid and stand good till that Errour be found in some Higher Court there could not be legal nor Illegal nor any Judgments at all but all humane Judicatures must come to an end For if Judgment cannot be given till we have Judges who are not subject to Errour the Laws must ly by and rust and there can be no administration of Justice Thirdly The Authority of a Judgment which is Erroneous is not from the Judges Personal Authority above the Law nor from his Mistakes beside the Law but from that Jurisdiction and Authority which the Law has given to Courts and Judicial Proceedings which if they be in due course of Law are legal and are presumed to be every way right and as they should be and free from Errour till the contrary appears in some Higher Court. But if the Judges in Westminster-Hall should use a Personal Authority superior to Law in Judging Men to Death without a Jury or in condemning a Man when his Jury acquit him or the like the Law having given no Authority to any such proceedings these Judgments would be illegal and void and have no Authority at all Secondly Another Reason why we must submit to Illegal Violence is this Because though they have no legal Authority for it yet we have no legal Authority to defend our selves against it pag 192 But he himself has given as full an answer to this as can be desired in these words For no Man can want Authority to defend his Life against him that has no Authority to take it away pag. 59. Thirdly We must submit to Illegal Violence because the People cannot call inferiour Magistrates to an Account pag 191. But sure the People may defend themselves against the Murderous Attempts of inferiour Magistrates without pretending to call them to an account or sitting in Judgment upon them And when they themselves are called to an account for this Defence they may give
a very good account of it by the 28. H. 8. cap. 5. Fourthly We must not defend our selves when we are Persecuted to Death for our Religion contrary to the Laws of England because we must not defend our selves when we are thus persecuted contrary to the Laws of God and Nature which are as Sacred and inviolable as the Laws of our Country Case of Alleg p 200. Answer I grant that the Laws God and Nature are more sacred and Inviolable than the Laws of our Country but they give us no Civil Rights and Liberties as the Laws of England have done Every Leige Subject of England has a legal Property in his Life Liberty and Estate in the free Exercise of the Protestant Religion established amongst us and a legal Possession may be legally defended Now the Laws of England in Queen Mary's Time were against the Protestants and stript them of this unvaluable Blessing and therefore tho' they chose rather to observe the Laws of God and Nature than those of their Country which at that time violated both the other yet withal they submitted to the Laws of their Country which alone 〈◊〉 and take away all legal Rights and Titles and when all is said are 〈◊〉 only Measures of Civil Obedience Fifthly Men must not defend their Lives against a lawless 〈◊〉 Persecution when they are Condemned by no Law becauâ—â— the 〈◊〉 defend their Lives when they are Condemned by a Wicked Persecuting Popish Law For such lawless Persecution has as much Authority as such a Wicked Persecuting Law pag. 202. This is manifestly false For a lawless Popish Persecution has no Authority at all but has all the Authority of Heaven and Earth against it whereas a wicked Popish Persecuting Law tho' as it is wicked it cannot Command our Obedience yet as it is a Law it may dispose of our Civil Rights If Queen Mary's Laws were no Laws because they were wicked Persecuting Laws why were they Repealed why were they not declared to be null from the beginning Sixthly That Non Resistance of Illegal Violence is the best way to secure the publick Peace and Tranquility and the best way for every Man 's private Defence for self-defence may involve many others in Blood and besides exposes a Man's self pag. 205 206. That is to say when the publick Peace is violated in an high manner the best way to secure is quietly to suffer it still to be broken farther a Man's best defence is to Die patiently for fear of being Killed And when 〈◊〉 are broke loose the only way to prevent the effusion of more Christian Blood is to let them alone Now in opposition to this Doctrine I shall only remember the Doctor That if there had not been a Defence made against the Irish Cut-Throats in Forty One though they had the Impudence to pretend the King's Commission there had hardly been Protestant left but the Prestilent Northern Heresie had been throughâ—â— extirpated in that Kingdom Seventhly Another Reason is Because Non Resistance is certainly the best way to prevent the change of a Limited into an Absolute Monarchy pag. 212. Now this is so far from being true that on the other hand absolute Non Resistance even of the most illegal Violence 〈◊〉 actually change the Government and sets up an Absolute and Arbitrary Power in the shortest way and by the surer side For a Prince whom the Laws themselves have made Absolute has thereby no more than a Right and Title to an Absolute Subjection but Non Resistance puts him into the actual Possession of it The Doctor himself has made this 〈◊〉 beyond all contradiction for he says That Non-Resistance is as perfect Subjection as can be paid to Soveraign Princes pag. 44. and 11â— he calls it The only perfect and absolute Subjection we owe to Princes Now the most perfect and absolute Subjection that can be paid erects the most absolute Government that can be devised For these words are of Eternal Truth which we read in pag. 64. of this Book For Authority and Subjection are Correlates they have mutual respect to each other and therefore they must stand and fall together There is no Authority where there is no Subjection due and there is no Subjection due where there is no Authority And is not this as bright and as evident a Truth There is no absolute Authority where there is no absolute Subjection due and there can be no absolute Subjection due where there is no absolute Authority I shall now produce some Reasons to prove the Lawfulness of Defending our selves against Illegal Violence which is a Truth so obvious and so agreeable to the common sense of Mankind that even those Men who set themselves to oppose it do often times assert it unawares and gave unanswerable Reasons for it I shall therefore first set down those Concessions which the force of Truth hath Extorted from the Doctor and secondly add some other Arguments to them First No Man wants Authority to defend his Life against him who has no Authority to take it way pag. 69. But no Man whatsoever has any just and legal Authority that is any Authority at all to take it away contrary to Law pag. 191. And from these premises it is easie for any Man to infer the Conclusion Secondly He that Resists the Vsurpations of Men does not Resist the Ordinance of God which alone is forbidden to be Resisted But Acts of Arbitrary and Illegal Violence are the Vsurpations of Men. These again are the Doctors Doctrines the former pag. 128. the other pag 211 212. he acknowledges that the assuming of an Absolute and Arbitrary Power in this Kingdom would be Usurpation though he says at the same time That no Prince in this Kingdom ever Vsurped such a Power which is notoriously false for Richard the Second by Name did not to mention any other Thirdly The Doctor pag 126. has these words Every Man has the Right of Self-Preservation as intiâ—e under Civil Government as he had in a State of Nature Vnder what Government soever I live I may still kill another Man when I have no other way to preserve my life from unjust Violence by private Hands Now the Hands of Subordinate Magistrates Imploy'd in Acts of Illegal Violence are private Hands and Armed with no manner of Authority at all of which this is a most convincing Proof That they may be Hanged by Law for such Acts which no Man can or ought to Suffer for what he doth by Authority They are no Officers at all in such Acts for Illegal Violence is no part of their Office Now after the Doctor has answered his own Arguments I shall desire him to do as much for these which follow First No Man can Authorize himself But in Acts of Illegal Violence if a Subordinate Magistrate have any Authority at all he must Authorize himself For it is a contradiction to say The Law Authorize him to do an Illegal Act as the Doctor well observes pag. 195. And it is false to say That the King who can do no wrong can Authorize another to do it In the great Conference of the Lords and Commons 3 Caroli concerning the Contents of the Petition of Right the Law was held to be That if the King Command a Man to do Injury to another the Command is void and the Actor of it Author and the Actor becomes the Wrong doer that is he Acts of his own Head and Authorizes himself Secondly The Illegal Violence of Subordinate Magistrates cannot be more Irresistible only by being more Criminal than it is in other Men for that would be to make a Mans Crime to be his Protection 〈◊〉 Illegal Violence done by subordinate Magistrates is not only as inauthoritative as if it were committed by private Persons but likewise more Criminal as being done with a face and colour of Authority and under pretence of Law making that partaker of their Crime violatiâ—â— and blemshing the Law at once FINIS