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	word_n	3,134	5	4.2980	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13731	The vanitee of this world	Thomas, William, Clerk of the Council to Edward VI.	1549 (1549)	STC 24023; ESTC S119757	25,185	74

men by flaterie and friendship trauailed for This kynde of requiring and receiuyng of offices and dignitees are commendable and woorthy wheras the more part of vs prouoked of our owne peruerse opinions entreate praie and almoste begge for it one while of the prince and an other of the people And many tymes the princes either for bribes or through affection geue those offices and dignitees not to theim that deserue and are woorthy of theim but to suche as are most agreable vnto theyr appetites like as the people who Plato compareth to a great beast furiously without discrecion grant their fauours here and there wherof it foloweth that oftentymes whan we thinke to be honoured and exalted with shame and reproche we finde our selfes ouerthrowen Yea and how many times haue the people dooen their best to put theim vnto rebuke that haue been woorthy men The histories declare euidently the repulses geuen by the people of Rome vnto the Tuberones to the Metelli the Emilii the Scipions the Marii and the Catones and not yet contented with those repulses howe manie of the moste noble citisins haue the wicked people ben accustomed to hate and persecute Did not the Romaines banisshe the great Camillus Didde they not expell Cicero father of theyr countrey and of eloquence Did not bothe the famous and worthy Scipions Nasica and Africanus die banished in exile And the Atheniens also were no lesse vncurteise towardes the rareste of theyr commen wealthe for they made the worthy Miltiades to die in prison and banisshed the wyse Themistocles the liberall Cimon and the iust Aristides out of theyr citee The like wherof hath happened in all other commen wealthes as well auncient as present And why shoulde they not hauing the examples of the grauest Romaines and of the best learned Atheniens before theim As for princes that exalte the vnwoorthy and suppresse the vertuouse because there are so many examples seen of it daily I shall not nede to reherse the auctoritee of the histories therunto but this woulle I saie that neither the princes nor yet the commen wealthes can dishonour the vertuouse by not exaltyng theim vnto the degrees of honour rather in not callyng theim thei dishonour theim selfes and the places also in whiche they create the vnwoorthy men For as Plato saieth he that is woorthie of an office or dignitee is officer and of dignitee in dede and not he whom fauour or fortune graunteth it vnto And therfore I saie vaine is their enterprise that in sekyng of dignitees and offices consume theyr lifes For if thei would consider what I haue saied and what the places of honour be and that the honour and reuerence whiche is vsed is dooen more to the place than to the person sittyng there in maner as the countrefaict dooeth in an enterlude perchaunce many there be that woulde eschewe the vanitee therof whiche now pursue it withall theyr power But this pestilence is so great that not the temporall but the spiritual haue ben tempted withall insomuche that Christ hym selfe hath been sued vnto for the sittyng on his right and lefte hande in his kyngdome and lyke as he answered ▪ that thei wist not what thei asked so maie we saie vnto our selfes that seekyng degrees and honors whiche can not long endure we seeke we wote not what ¶ That dominion ought not to be desired LOrdship surelie in apparaunce is a goodly thyng to the eie onely that seeth no more but the outward partes therof But he that woull penetrate further shall perchaunce see that within foorth it is all an other mattier And to treate iustlie therof it behoueth vs fyrst diligently to consider that there bee two kyndes of lordes the lawfull and the tyranne ¶ What a lawfull lorde is IF he be a lawfull lorde it behoueth him principallie to thinke that he is ordeyned of God ouer his people as his lieutenaunt to gouerne them and to kepe theim in lyke maner as he gouerneth and preserueth the whole worlde and ought to knowe that those people are none of his nor prepared for his profite but rather that he is geuen vnto theim as a minister as Paule saieth to the Romaines The prince is gods minister vnto men for their wealth and is a minister to auenge with wrath the ill workes of the wicked by reason wherof he ought not to haue regard vnto his owne interest but to the wealth and benefite of them that are cōmitted to his charge His office is to prouide that they maie well and honestly lyue He muste kepe them from the assault and violence of straungers It apperteigneth vnto him to kepe them in peace and concorde he ought to determine their causes with iustice seyng that eche man maie haue his owne with chastisyng the ill and rewardyng and honoryng the good he muste ordeine iudges and magistrates not for money for ambicion or for affection but accordyng to theyr woorthinesse and merites and ought to cōmitte that charge vnto euerie man that the appoincted man is moste apte to entreprise And wheather it be in peace or in warre openly or priuilie speakyng or doyng alwaies it shalbe necessarie for hym to folowe the lawes and not to departe from theim but to be an executour of them For as Plato saieth he that gouerneth accordyng to the lawes is trulie a kyng and a lawfull lorde And he that departeth from them as the same Plato affirmeth is a tyranne But admitte Plato were not a sufficient aucthor vnto this sentēce Moyses him selfe speaking of the institucion of a kynge saieth that he ought to be with the law and to reade in it all the daies of his life to the ende that he learne how to feare his lord God how to kepe the woordes of his law and the constitucion of the same and how to put it in execucion And besides that Samuel hauyng annoyncted Saul and made him kynge of Israell wrote the lawe that he ought to obserue in a boke and set it in the sight of God Nowe if this be the right office of a lorde wherof groweth this great desire of dominion seyng that the lorde ought to be subiect vnto them that seme subiectes vnto him and that for the great businesse thereof he can skarcely finde leysure to slepe Many times reasoning with my selfe about these thynges and callyng to remembrance Alexander whō the worlde hath surnamed the great and in whom by all likelihode there haue been diuers great giftes of actiuitee me seemeth he wanted the principallest condicion that belonged to a kyng Whiche is that he knew not what was the office of a king For whan he had vainely conceiued in his minde an opinion to conquere all the worlde he saied on a tyme Whan we haue gotten this worlde what shall we than dooe O vaine and foolishe Alexander ▪ what aduailed it the to haue had Aristotle to thy maister if thou haue not learned how to finde a dooe whan well thou were lorde of all the worlde what