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	resist_v	2,184	5	9.6676	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58226	Reasons against petitioning the King for restoring the deprived bishops without repentance by a divine of the Church of England.	A. B.	1690 (1690)	Wing R474; ESTC R14464	9,255	8

and protecteth his Subjects in their Civil Rights and in the free exercise of their Religion and it cannot be proved that he is an Usurper All that can be alledged is but Conjecture and uncertain Opinion and doubtful Disputation which in a Point of this nature signifies nothing at all For unless it be plain and clear as the Sun at Noon-day that he is not rightful Possessor of the Throne if the Evidence be not so clear and plain as fully to convince the Consciences of all impartial Men sincerely studious of their Duty to God and the King if there be twenty Reasons for and as many Reasons against King William the Consciences of all in the Nation are bound to own and submit to him as rightful King and to renounce and disclaim Allegiance to the late King James as having no Right at all to the Throne 11. The Nation hath not deposed the late King but he hath deposed himself and abdicated himself from the Government by invading the Fundamental Laws of the Nation whereby the mutual Rights of Prince and People do consist particularly by going about to impose on three Kindoms a suppo 〈…〉 〈…〉 ce of Wales in order to bring in the Papacy and subjecting them to a Foreign Ju 〈…〉 ction as to Ecclesiastical Causes and enslaving them as to their Civil Rights and excluding the right Heir Against this Invasion of the Fundamental Laws and Rights of the Nation the Nation having no other Remedy did by the Prince of Orange their Head and Chieftain whom it principally concerned in right of his Princess justly appeal to God the supream Judg with their Swords in their Hands and God received their Appeal gave Sentence for them in wonderful manner and made the late King by real Abdication to quit all Right to the Throne and the whole Nation unanimously by their Representatives lawfully and peaceably assembled to fill the Throne with their present Majesties Not they who fight for but they who fight against the Fundamental Laws of the Nation by which the mutual Rights of Prince and People do con●ist are to be esteemed and judged Fighters against God's Ordinance and just Authority 12. Earthly Kingdoms and Monarchies are an Image and Resemblance of God's Kingdom over all Now God claims no Allegiance and Subjection from any Man but in consideration of those Benefits and Favours which he affordeth in common to all Men as their Creator and Upholder and to all elect Men in special as their gracious God in Christ and if he shall not perform his Oath and Covenant to all Men in general to all elect Men in special he is contented that we esteem him no God and renounce all Subjection and Allegiance to him and he makes our own Consciences Judges between him and us Isa 5. 3. Gen. 9. 8 9 c. and 18. 23 24 25. Heb. 11. 6. 1 Joh. 1. 9. There is therefore a mutual Covenant tacit or express in every legal Monarchy whereby the mutual Rights of Prince and People consist which Covenant being broken and made void in the substantial Branches of it the innocent Party hath ground of Appeal to God the supream Judg and Disposer of Crowns and Kingdoms in whose Decision all Sides and Parties are to acquiesce But where this Appeal cannot be made by the Sword without ruine of the State and doing more hurt than good it is not to be attempted no Remedy can be eligible which is worse than the Disease 13. This is the true Mean between the Doctrine of resisting Authority supream and subordinate and the Doctrine of not resisting those who pretend Authority but really have none but are Cut-throats Murderers Assassins and Invaders of just and lawful Rights having no Authority so to do To resist Authority supream and subordinate is not to resist Man but God and they who resist him are guilty of Folly and Impiety and can look for nothing but Damnation Not to resist those who pretend Authority but really have none when we are sufficiently able to resist them and to save our selves from their unjust Violence is not to be Martyrs but Fools unworthy of God and those Blessings and good things he doth be●rust us with which he will call us to account for and damn us if we have not been w●se and faithful Stewards thereof Now the Undertaking of the Prince of Orang● and his Adheren●s was not a resisting of Authority but a just V●●dication of those Rights which the late King James without all Authority did seek by Force and Fraud to deprive them of For the Question between the late King on one side and the Prince of Orange and his Adherents on the other side being plainly this Whether the supposed Prince of Wales was really born of the Queen or not Here it is evident that the late King was not Judg but a Party And it is unreasonable and against all Laws of God and Man for any Man yea for the Emperor himself to be Judg in his own Cause as ●p Vsher grants in his Book of the Power of the Prince pag. 162. The late King being no Judg as to this Point he could have no Authority his refusal to give the Nation just and reasonable Satisfaction was a refusal of common Right contrary to the Law of Nations and to the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom whereby the Throne is upheld and upon which as a Foundation the Crown stands which F 〈…〉 tion falling the Crown must needs fall with it and the Conscience of the Subject ●● discharged from all Ties and Bonds of Allegiance 14. Admitting the Prince of Wales to be feigned the Consciences of the late King and all his Partakers both Foreign and Domestick will compel them to yield that it was a Complication of horrible Crimes against all Law both Divine and Human that all the Subjects of these three Nations and Kingdoms were bound in their several places all that in them lay to withstand and hinder such a Villany and Injustice from taking effect and that all who fight and take up Arms in defence thereof are Fighters against God against common Honesty against those Fundamental Laws of the Nation which secure the mutual Rights of Prince and People and which the late King was sworn to observe inviolate and that they who fight against the Authors and Abettors of this Villany under the Conduct of the Prince of Orange in right of his Princess and the next Heir to the Crown are fighters for God and for common Honesty and have Law and Conscience on their side Now the late King refused to give the Nation just and reasonable Satisfaction and put himself upon trial and decision of his Cause by the Sword and sinking in his Undertaking withdrew himself left the Throne and the Nation to shift for it self and see to its own Safety which accordingly it did by placing their Majesties in the Throne and thereby securing publick Peace and laying a sure Foundation for future Peace and

Tranquillity to all Generations As for those who think it is sufficient for the saving their Consciences if they swear Allegiance to King William as King de facto not de jure I do very much question it non tali auxilio nec defensoribus istis tempus eget this present Cause needs no such Advocates I see not how they can excuse and defend those of the Nobility Gentry Clergy and Commonalty who did invite the Prince of Orange over and hazard their All in his Cause after his landing Debile fundamentum fallit opus The Superstructure can be no stronger than the Foundation and if the Prince of Orange had no just ground for his Undertaking I see not how his Adherents can be justified I say not that the business of the Prince of Wales was the only ground for his now Majesties Undertaking but I think it was a principal one which considered in its Causes Concomitants and Effects is abundantly sufficient for Vindication of the present Settlement and for ever stopping the Mouths of all its Opposers I do not build the Justice of his Majesties Cause upon bare Success but yet a righteous Cause I hope is not the worse for being blessed by God with wonderful and astonishing Success 15. That which in my Observation makes the Enemies of the Government to bear ill-will to it is Hatred to impartial Godliness The Devil doth not use to envy Men Prosperity in Wickedness but the more they prosper in Wickedness the more he is pleased they may take their fill of it he will not disquiet them And if the present Settlement were only Prosperity in Evil Satan would not envy and he so much against it as it is visible he is by his Agents and Instruments King David once said ● am this day weak tho Anointed King and these Men the Sons of Zervi 〈…〉 〈◊〉 too hard for me 〈…〉 the Lord shall reward the Doer of Evil according to his Wickedness 2 Sam 3. 39. There have been among us and yet are Sons of Zerviah too hard for the Government but the comfort is the Government is like the House of David waxing stronger and stronger and these Sons of Zerviah the Doers of Evil wax weaker and weaker The Sons of Zerviah were those who adhered to David against the House of Saul and were Men of great Interest and Power they were a Combination and Faction in the State who took advantage of the Weakness and Infancy of the Government to the compassing of their own Ends and politick Designs against the general good of Prince and People The like we have among us at this day but the Lord shall reward the Doer of Evil according to his Wickedness 16. I see not how ●●y Man can be a good Man who is 〈◊〉 peaceable Man and I see not how a Man can be peaceable who governs himself ●● unpeaceable and seditious Principles Loyalty and Allegiance to the higher Powers is an essential Branch of the fifth Commandment comprized in our Baptismal Covenant and taught to Children in the common Catechism And tho many may be loyal to their King and Country who are void of holy Love and Loyalty towards God yet I see not how a Man can be truly holy and loyal towards God who is not a good Subject a good Common-wealths Man who is not zealous for the publick Good who governs himself by Principles destructive of human Society 17. Upon the same grounds that the Persons petitioned for scruple Allegiance to their present Majesties they might have scrupled Allegiance to those who were last in the Throne and the Subjects of any King now on Earth may scruple Allegiance to their Soveraign For I would ask them what better Right to the Throne had the late King James after his Brother's death than their present Majesties now have They will say The Right of Succession Very well Now all sides grant that a successive 〈◊〉 A certain Grand Jury were severely reproved by an emi●ent Judg for offe●ing this Petition which is a suffi●ient E 〈…〉 ce of the Illegality thereof Kingdom is no Inlargement of Right but a Continuation of what the Predecessor had For he that succeeds succeeds in universum jus defuncti into all the Right of the deceased Now because there cannot be processus in infinitum infinite proceeding therefore of necessity we must come to some first in whom the Monarchy began But no legal and just Monarchy can begin and be constituted without mutual Compact and Covenant tacit or express between Prince and People It were easy to shew this at large from Scripture Natural Reason the Custom of Nations and approved general Usage and the Concessions of Adversaries Now this Right their Majesties have as good as Will. the Conqueror had and as good as Henry the 7th had As for the grand Objection of a former Obligation to the late King the Answer is that he was as truly and as strongly bound to us as we to him and we did not first forsake him but he forsook us we did not resist lawful Authority but only those who pretended Authority but really had none For no Law whether Divine or Humane gave the late King Authority to impose upon the Consciences of all in three Kingdoms a feigned Prince of Wales to the Exc●u●ion of the right Heir and overthrowing the Right of Succession He by engaging in defence of this Villany did engage against God against the Law against common Honesty against the common Good and made himself no legal Monarch but a Subverter of the Legal Monarchy and so he did discharge us from all ties of Allegiance o him and it became our Duty by force of Arms to stand up for the legal Monarchy against its Enemies FINIS