Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	king_n	kingdom_n	law_n	7,454	5	4.9748	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60834	Some reasons why a learned and reverend divine hath lately taken the oaths to their Majesties King William and Queen Mary, in a letter to a friend		1690 (1690)	Wing S4581; ESTC R17991	4,876	5

Some Reasons why a Learned and Reverend Divine hath lately taken the Oaths to their Majesties King William and Queen Mary In a Letter to a Friend SIR I Thank you for the favour of Communicating the grateful tho I cannot say unexpected News of an eminent Divine of our Church who has a long time scrupled the Oaths to their present Majesties has now at last answered all his Doubts and reconciled his Judgment to the Interest of the Protestant Religion by affording his Talent to the support of their present Majesties who under God are now the Defenders of it not only here but all Europe over I wish your next Letter might bring me the much to be wished for Account of all our Worthy Prelates and Divines who have laboured long under that Difficulty obtaining the like Victory And whereas you at the same time give me to know the Discourses of several Men who are no great Lovers of our Church about it as if this great Man seemed to be ruled by Interest in this Affair because he has stood out so long and now as they think all of a sudden taken it I shall beg the Liberty of briefly giving you my Sentiments about it And first All own that an Oath is a Sacred thing and therefore requires the greatest Deliberation in the World before it be taken An inconsiderate Man may rashly venture upon an Oath but a thinking and an honest constant Man will be loath to engage himself by any Oath till he has fully considered all that may follow upon it which must needs cost a Man some time But especially when Scruples arise that the Oath imposed upon interferes with another Oath formerly taken then it must needs cause great Wrestlings in the Mind of a truly honest Man which cannot be easily appeased which was the Case of this Famous Divine It 's to be fear'd there are too many who have taken the Oath with little or no Deliberation who are more to be Censured than he who rather than he would take it with the minutest scruple would run the hazzard of Temporal Inconveniencies And in the next place when the Oath imposed seems to contradict former Opinions it must needs render a person very averse from taking of it and take up a great deal of time before he can divest himself of those Principles You and all Men know sufficiently that it has been the Opinion of many of the Clergy of England that an Oath taken to a Prince obliges the Subject to him for his Life-time if he were the greatest Oppressor that ever lived And therefore it must needs be supposed That this Reverend Person could not easily and in a short time get free of this difficulty Those Persons ought rather to rejoyce that those Tenets that have been foisted into our Church no less prejudicial to the King than the Subjects as late Experience demonstrates beyond all contradiction are now justly repudiated as the principal Causes of all the Miseries we have met with than to vent their Spleen against a Learned Gentleman for not having his Conscience at their Beck I may likewise add That such is the Nature of Man that even in the best of Men there is a Vanity of retaining their former Opinions lest by changing them however prejudicial otherwise they may be they should undergo the Imputation of Changlings I do not say this is the Case of any but even a good Man may even be Byast with this and it may be a long time before this may be overcome I shall here add some few of those many weighty Reasons or Considerations which I humbly conceive have prevailed with this Reverend Person to take the Oaths Reason I. Because it is evident That no Rule or Form of Government is prescribed by the Law of God and Nature for that then they would be both immutable and the self-same in all Countries but Almighty God concurreth or permitteth such particular Forms which the Common-wealth appoints Can any Man say That God did not concur as well with Italy when it had but one Prince as now when it hath so many and the like with Germany and also with Switzerland which was once one Common-wealth under the Dukes of Austria England also was first a Monarchy under the Brittains and then a Province under the Romans and after that divided into Seven Kingdoms at once under the Saxons and after them of the Danes and then the Normans and then the French and now a Monarchy again under the English and all this by God's Providence and Permission who suffered his own peculiar People the Jews to be under divers manner of Governments at divers times as first under the Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob then under Captains as Moses Ioshua and the like then under Judges as Othoniel c. then under High-Priests as Eli and Samuel then under Kings as Saul David and so on until the Government was lastly taken from them and they brought under the Power of the Romans And last of all That God does concur with what Magistrate or Magistrates the Community thinks fit to appoint is plain by the Testimony of Holy Scripture as when God said to Solomon By me Kings Rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the Earth Prov. 8.16 that is by His Permission they Govern tho' Chosen by the People And St. Paul to the Romans avoucheth that Authority is not but of God and therefore he that resisteth Authority resisteth God Rom. 13. which is to be understood of Authority Power and Jurisdiction in it self according to the Laws of every Country Reason II. Because Allegiance is nothing but Obedience according to Law which when the Prince violates he has no right to Obedience there being a mutual Obligation between the King and People which whether it be only Civil or Natural tacit or in express Words can be taken away by no Agreements violated by no Law rescinded by no Force for a Kingdom is nothing else but the mutual Stipulation between the People and their Kings The Supream Authority of a Nation belonging to those who have the Legislative Authority reserved to them but not to those who have only the Executive which is plainly a Trust when it is separated from the Legislative Power and all Trusts by their nature import That those to whom they are given are accountable tho' no such condition is specified If the Subject may in no case Resist then there can be no Law but the Will and Pleasure of the Prince for whosoever must be opposed in nothing may do every thing If the King Sue by pretence of Law and endeavour to take away my Money my House or my Land I may defend them by the Law but if he comes Armed to take away my Liberty Life and Religion which are mine by the Laws of God and Man may I not secure them with a good Conscience for most certain every Man has a right to preserve himself his Rights and Priviledges against him who