Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	king_n	law_n	parliament_n	3,046	5	6.8040	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91444	The Parliament justified in their late proceedings against Charls Stuart, or a brief discourse concerning the nature and rise of government, together with the abuse of it in tyranny, and the peoples reserve. As also an answer to a certain paper, entituled, The humble advice of the lecturers of Banbury in the county of Oxon, and Brackley in the county of Northampton. / By J: Fidoe, T: Jeanes, W: Shaw, students in Trinity-Colledge in Cambridge.	Fidoe, John, b. 1625 or 6.; Jeanes, Thomas, d. 1668.; Shaw, William, student in Trinity College, Cambridge.	1649 (1649)	Wing P502; Thomason E545_14; ESTC R203138	12,113	21

in holy Writ of asking counsel of God and of doing nothing without him Secondly those that had their Magistrates and their Laws from God their Government is of God But the Jews had their Magistrates Judges and Kings from God yea their Laws which are so often called The Book of the Law of the Lord. Now the Constitution of a Common-wealth being nothing but Heads and Laws it followeth that they who had those two from God and could not Enact Laws or Establish Governors by a Power seated in themselves had the Fundamental Constitution of their Republique from God Although it be otherwise in other Nations A digression concerning the end of Magistracy in which we suppose the Power is fundamentally seated in the People as will be said for whose good it was first instituted For when Res Publica comes to be Res Privata it ceases to be a Commonwealth and is then Tyranny The judgment of the Israelites was to be without Magistrates or else to have foolish Magistrates who knew no good but their own whereas they should be common Parents consulting not for themselves but for their People wherefore they are compared to Shepherds And those that feed Israel in Scripture are as well Magistrates as Ministers Plato in his Repub in divers places keeps this similitude A Shepherd he saith speaking of Governors cares for nothing but that he may keep what is committed to his care the same saith all Government quatenus Government commands us to take care for no other thing but what is committed to our charge And therefore Plutarch saith That it behoveth a Prince first to govern himself and then to govern his Subjects for he that knows no order cannot order others the same would have them to consider that they themselves are subject to Command Not like the King of Persia who made all Slaves but his Wife and therefore the Law is to be his rule the King of men and gods saith Pindar Not so much that written in Books or Tables but viva in corderatio always dwelling always watching with him and therefore the King was to have the Law continually read to him And it may be the cause why so much sin in Israel was because the Law was lost and not found or at least not used till Josiah at which time there was great joy for the finding of it and the King read in it from Morning until Evening Not much unlike this is that of the Persian King who had one to come to him every Morning with these words Rise O King Care for those things which Oromasdes would have you care for They are called Ministers of God yea gods to preserve mens Estate and what nature hath bestowed upon them to distribute it and preserve it And therefore at first the Romans had onely their Senatus which consisted of old men best able to judge of things being experienced in the affairs of this world Concerning this Plutarch hath wrote a Book in which is elegantly discussed who are fitter for the Commonwealth youths or old men for we know that Rehoboams yong men made the Tribes fall off The yoke of Tyranny being insufferable and therefore upon due consideration and power to be cast off for who is ignorant that the first Power entrusted was but small and no more then if a blinde man should entrust a seeing friend with his leading and he contrary to his Trust should either attempt a murther or else a throw from some preoipice we say that if this man should receive his sight he may then cast him off for that he desired him to lead him not to throw him down Now having said something of Government in general as also of the declination of it we shall proceed to that which indeed is nothing else but the abuse of it and that is Tyranny or an unlimited and usurped Power by which one man or more without an Appeal to the Law of Nature written in the heart of every man or to that Divine written Law of God entrench upon by freely exercising the Natural or Political Rights of others according to their own pleasure It is a Power meerly Arbitrary which is so far from coming under the notion of Jus Divinum as it is altogether Repugnant to the Law of Reason and Nature neither of them allowing the private Interest of a part to exalt it self above the common good of the whole whence comes the ruine of a body Natural but from the superabounding unlimited and Tyrannical Power of some one of the Malignant humors As Sampsons strength lay in his Locks so that of a State lies in the Complication of an universal Interest common unto all we shall speak of Tyranny under a twofold account 1. There may be Tyranny by Conquest as those that know any thing in History know that the foundation upon which the first four Monarchies was built was an usurped Power got by the Sword For indeed the world being enlarged and the estate of the people confused it was then a fit time for Tyranny to take its original every one being a Law to himself and Interpreter of his own Actions no marvel that the strongest governed all the rest at his own will If this principle of Tyranny be good other men may not onely free themselves from slavery as soon as they can but also exercise power when its put into their hands against Tyrants their former oppressors it will amount but to Lex talionis to pay them home in their own Coyn from their own Principles 2. Tyranny may be by Male-Administration or by abusing and going beyond the Trust reposed in a man by a Kingdom or State The present age in which we live presents before our eyes an example most fresh and lively That our late King Charls Stuart was not a Tyrant in the first sence is confessed by all witness his Oath at his Coronation as also his claiming Interest in the Crown by a lineal descent from William the Conquerer who thought the choice or Election of the People a better and surer Title then Conquest But to free him from Tyranny in the latter sence who can unless spirits wilfully prejudiced against the Honorable Parliament and the High and Supreme Court of Justice for that he was entrusted by the People with his power is clear it being irrational to think that our Ancestors gave any such absolute unlimitted Power unto our late Kings Predecessors as that they might use them how they pleased and notwithstanding that no reserve left in people when as the exercise of Government the bestowing it upon one or many is founded in the consent and mutual agreement of the whole body or society of men in a State-Government or Magistracy is indeed a power ordained of God and upon no pretence to be resisted but when a man through depraved Principles of Tyranny and Oppression usurps over the Conscience in things Spiritual and Divine above the reach or determination of the Spirit of a man

Heathens when Hercules had subdued Tyrants they numbred him among the gods And in our Neighbor Nation of Scotland the Lord President of the High Court of Judicature hath given a very large example and therefore we shall pass that by But if we had had no president either Domestick or Forraign yet the very Law of Reason and Nature were sufficient to clear them in it As for the Laws of the Land they are all subordinate unto this of Reason and must give place to it And seeing kings have always had a Negative Voyce which they have kept up by usurpation it is not to be expected the letter of the Law should so fully speak to their particulars Therefore we cannot but acknowledge that we are abundantly satisfied in the justness of their proceedings in the Tryal Condemnation and Execution of Charls Stuart Now seeing Government is so necessary as we have already declared and Tyranny taken away by Gods blessing and the endeavors of our Honorable Parliament and Renowned Army Our earnest desire is That God would direct and enable them to settle a Government that all men especially those that are in places of Trust as well in Universities as elsewhere may be compelled to acknowledge the Supreme Power of Parliament which they have received and are entrusted with by the people of England that we may have cause to rejoyce in them and to bless God for them and as long as they shall thus Act according to their Trust we shall not cease to be their faithful and affectionate Servants to the utmost of our powers AN ANSWER TO A BOOK ENTITULED The humble Advice of certain Preachers of Banbury in the county of Oxon and Brackley in Northamptonshire WE had thought that such had been the Equity of our Parliaments proceedings and so manifest to all the seeing world that even Envy her self would have been silenced but we had delivered to us a Paper Entituled as is mentioned which Paper though it came to our hands like an old Almanack bearing date from before the death of him whom you stiled Your Dread Soveraign yet we could not pass it over without shewing you how far you have out stript-your Classical bounds As for the particulars in the Book having perused it we finde neither good Reason nor good Arguing yet nevertheless we will single out two or three to which we will briefly Answer Whereas you instance in the prophanation of your Covenant and Oathes we Demand 1. How far Oathes and Covenants are obligatory 2. We ask what you meant by entring into Oathes and Covenants of Restoring Charls Stauart and Reforming Religion As to the first we say That some Oathes and Covenants are not to be made and if inconsideratey made consideratey broken for we know that more then forty of the Jews bound themselves by Oath Not to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul As to the second we make some Quaeres 1. Whether the Covenant to restore the King was without any condition If so it was unlawful for to instance in a Simile Suppose a man should ingage himself to another to defend and protect him from all violence put case that person violate the Laws of the Land and is therefore condemned to dye that mans Oath bindes him not yea cannot to protect him 2. If your Covenant had a condition whether to restore the King to his Throne without reference to the peoples Liberty if so it s all one as if you should engage your selves in slavery and your actions differed nothing from the Cavaliers whose ultimate end it was to restore the King unto his Throne without any satisfaction 3. What you meant by the Reformation according to the Word of God whether the imposal of an outward Form to which all men should be forced to give an assent if so you drive at nothing else but the Popish and Prelatical Conformity 4. Whether all have equal light or see with the same eyes if not while should any be compelled outwardly to profess that which inwardly they never knew 5. Whether the Reformation of Religion be not rather Internal and Spiritual then the imposing of any External Form of Government 6. Whether Christ is not the alone King of the Common-wealth of Israel if so then the Reformation is wholly carried on by his Spirit 7 Whether the Magistrate as a Subordinate Reformer hath any thing to do with the Church but to preserve them from injuries as men 8. What is the Toleration which you say is no way consonant to the Word of God if Christian liberty we dissent 9. We demand whether you hold perfection in this life if so why speak you and write contrary to your principles if not why account you all erroneous that dissent from you 10. Whether the Results of any Assembly in matters of Faith and Conscience are obligatory if so they must be infallible and then we demand whence they had their infallibility 11. Whether the interpretations of Scripture made by any Assembly hath as much Jus Divinum as the Scripture it self To all which Quaeres we should gladly receive particular satisfaction We likewise finde you in your Paper urging Statute Law we thought you had been Dispencers of the Gospel and not Expounders of the Law Lecturers not Barristers Countrey Ministers not Inns of Court Gentlemen You say you are informed by Law that the King could do no wrong surely it was out of some of Judge Ienkins his Papers as for your reading it in Parliament Declarations we conceive it was in Mecurius Aulicus whom you took for the Moderate Intelligencer We likewise finde you too much intrenching upon the Authority of the Magistrates advising his Excellency not to meddle without direction from the Assembly Unless we are mistaken this borders upon Popery which commands nothing to be done in State without the Assent of Ecclesiastique persons For your better satisfaction we will give you the Popes own words as we finde them in a Bull written to Philip the fair King of France mentioned in the French History the words are these Boniface Bishop Servant of the Servants of God to Philip King of Frenchmen Fear God observe his Commandments we will thee to understand That thou art subject to us both in Spiritual and Temporal things We likewise finde you stiling your selves Watchmen and Seers If Watchmen we advise you to have a care that you give us no more false Alarums for fear of Martial Law and as you are Seers we desire you to keep in minde That the Seers of Israel have oftentimes been blinde FINIS