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	law_n	people_n	9,348	5	5.3251	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A40973	Fast and loose, or, The armies figgaries being some animadversions upon their late declaration, 1659.		1659 (1659)	Wing F539; ESTC R5038	5,866	11

Commissions there They say the Parliament was dissolv'd before if so by what Law can any company of Rascals make them whole or capable of acting as a Parliament nay the King could not properly make a Parliament without the Peoples choice how much lesse can these do it who have no power no authority but force and fraud so that they must needs be no lesse then Usurpers and Tyrants in the highest degree and one of the greatest plagues that ever befell the English and we may hope that when we are sufficiently humbled for all our impieties and provocations with which we have offended God he may destroy those Locusts from amongst us But further if no Parliament what benefit could they expect to receive by any Act of Indempnity which was to be or might have been made by them therefore it seems in this sence they were willing to lay hold upon every twig and to imbrace any thing that had but an appearance of Authority more then appearance it must not be a true reall authority legally deducted can be at no more agreement with them then light with darknesse true English hate and scorn to do such drudgery for them as these Gown-men have done yet all wo'nt please 'em and why should the people be thus deluded or baffled with more this day the Parliament of the Common-wealth of England to be maintained against all Opposers the next day an appearance of Authority a Kickshaw or the Armies Puppets One would think the receiving Commissions at their hands had been obligation enough but where the Sword is rampant nothing can resist especially when those that use it know no conscience but ●heir pay In some other following pages they declare what injury was offered to Lambert and some other Officers of the Army by voting them out of Commission for nothing for say they If he had offended why not call'd to answer for himselfe Me thinks in this Declaration and some late actions of theirs they speak aloud that they will rule it were well that they had put off their Visors sooner and appear'd in their colours as at this day and have cloak'd all their villainy under Religious pretences for by that means they have the Lords offerings to stink in the nostrils of the people and have rendred themselves guilty of notorious dissimulations Rebellions and perjuries exceeding any parallel even among the Heathen this last charge hath as little of truth or reason as any the rest for this Army did acknowledge those men a Parliament in their Declaration of the 6. of May last and by receiving Commissions immediately from them did acknowledge that they were the supream Authority of the Nation at least to them now there can be no injury where there is no right the Parliament did not legally nor upon any account whatsoever owe to Lambert or the rest such and such places but were at their free liberty to choose whom they thought most fit and convenient and upon that account though they did owne him to day and reject him to morrow though for no crime yet had he no wrong for if I or any man take a Servant I injure no man whom I take not because the liberty of choosing is of right my own but then wrong is done when a servant is put upon me whom I desire not for some reasons to imploy any longer and you may be sure that Bottomlesse John as Oliver used to call him was not turn'd out of Commission for nothing They declare further that the Parliament made an Act that no person or persons whatsoever should raise money without consent of the People in Parliament and therefore do declare all their Acts and Orders since the tenth of October null and void I wish some Conjurer Astrologer or some of our hair-brain'd Prophets were able to let us know what is the extent of these mens mindes 't is incerted in most of their Proposals towards a settlement and hath been laid down as one thing chiefly fought for What this pretended Parliament have done in this case they have both one and the other declared it to be right and just viz. that no money ought to be raised without the Peoples consent in Parliament but indeed that is most right that best suits with the Armies exigencies the government which they exercise being wholly arbitrary and Tyrannicall though they have oft-times abused the people with specious pretences the better to cloak their treasonable practises for when it comes to the touchstone what they professe to build they demolish and intend nothing lesse then what they speak But we may not think there is so much as the least show of reason that the Army should declare Acts and Ordinances of Parliament void yet not all their last Acts but only some few which cross'd the humors and designes of these Gamesters this O England is one of thy priviledges that those bands ties and obligations which have been binding universally are cut asunder by that Sword which was drawn for thy defence and a Viper bred in thine own bowels will lay thine honour in the dust and make thee a laughing stock to all the Nations round about Let it be considered that Acts and Orders of Parliament once past cannot be made void by all the Armies I mean not legally but to the present businesse these persons were as is noted before sufficiently acknowledged a Parliament by the Soldiers and therefore it must be treason to act after such a rate as this but if we suppose as they affirm at the beginning of their Declaration that they are only an appearance of Authority I say if this be admitted that they were no Parliament because of their interruption what basenesse was it in the Army to obtrude them upon the People as a Parliament besides if they were not then is the Army disbanded for they have no Commissions but what was granted from them which are in no wise valid they having no power to give or bestow any such thing and whosoever act by vertue of such pretended Commissions are guilty of all the blood they shed and of the highest Treasons against the welfare of the Nation for they might as well have call'd to Westminster such as are now made Preachers some from the Loom and others from the Coblers Stall Lastly they declare that their earnest desire is to assure a liberty to all the free born People of these Nations as men as Christians to maintain a painfull Gospel-preaching Ministery by a lesse vexatious way than Tithes that they have no aim to set up an arbitrary or millitary government but have provided that the civill and executive part of Government shall be lodg'd in a Committee of safety and they oblig'd in a short time to prepare a forme of Government comporting with a Free State without King or House of Lords and to regulate the Law I could never be satisfied with my best observation why p Free State or the government of these Nations as a Common-wealth should be cried up as a thing so much tending to our peace and liberty we have all along beene accustomed to Monarchy all our Lawes Customs and Constitutions are framed accordingly and questionlesse all things considered there can be no other reason given for it but this that a Common-wealth is so opposite to the mindes of the major part that it necessarily requires an Army to uphold it which indeed is the only way to continue the profits Authorities and greatnesse of the Officers and make the Army to survive the everlasting Parliament whereas if the Peoples Representatives were suffered to be freely chosen and to act without force put upon them or he admitted whose undoubted right it is a general tranquility would ensue and every man might sit down under his own Vine with safety The liberty of the People is so manifestly trampled upon that 't is no small wonder these men dare use the word the saying of Samuel if it be inverted may serve as a good character of these men read them thus Whose Oxe have I not taken or whese Asse have I not taken and to whom have I not done wrong The removing of Tithes and regulation of the Laws are things easier to be spoken of then effected to be sure not to be better'd by these great Pretenders Who ever knew Thieves help true men to their purses unlesse when they were empty but these fair promises must be as a Net spread to take all sorts of fish to please as well the Anabaptist as the Presbyter the one with hopes of overthrowing Tithes the other with confidence of a bountifull stipend The Law and Lawyers are like to suffer deeply at this turn and no wonder for these men know full well what a severe censure the Law would passe upon their irregularities how sadly it would disperse and divide that monstrous body between Tiburn and Tower-hill But if our grave Senators in former times have by long experience found our Lawes to be most fit what can we expect from such Reformers as these but that as Tinkers in mending one hole they should make ten To conclude Oliver Cromwels Tyranny was but as a few heat-drops if compared to those floods and showres of Calamity poured upon us by these insatiate and blood-thirsty Wretches enough to arme the hand of every man against them and truly we hope they will in Gods due time meet with their reward and as they have exercised an arbitrary power contrary to all Law they may be cut off without any formality of Law In a word they have destroyed the King and his posterity and now contend who shall be chiefe The Lion Lamb they slue and now begin The Lord be prais'd to quarrel for his Skin FINIS