Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	ecclesiastical_a	king_n	supreme_a	3,134	5	8.5794	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28308	Some remarks upon government, and particularly upon the establishment of the English monarchy relating to this present juncture in two letters / written by and to a member of the great convention, holden at Westminster the 22nd of January, 1689.	A. B.; N. T.	1689 (1689)	Wing B31; ESTC R2761	23,032	29

Some REMARKS upon GOVERNMENT And particularly upon the ESTABLISHMENT Of the English MONARCHY Relating to this present Juncture In Two LETTERS Written by and to a Member of the Great CONVENTION holden at Westminster the 22d of January 1688 / 9. SIR YOU have been highly Obliging in the frequent Accounts you sent me of Affairs in this Great and Extraordinary Revolution I was once very diffident and could scarcely conceive that the States of Holland or Prince of Orange could have attempted so Expensive and so Hazardous an Undertaking out of pure Generosity meerly for our Sakes and for the Re-establishment of our Laws and Religion which did both equally Labour under the Pressures of an Ill Administration and seem'd to draw towards their last Periods I knew the States had the Character of preferring their own before any other Interest whatsoever and the Prince had the Reputation of setting a duo Value upon That which creates and proportions the Value of all things else The Enterprize I lookt upon as very Expensive in its Methods and Uncertain in its Accomplishment which made me proue to believe that something more lay coucht in this Vast Undertaking than was exprest in the Prince's Declaration But since His arrival and coming to London I perceive He has upon all Occasions carry'd Himself with that wonderful Modesty with such an unparallel'd Care and Tenderness of our Laws Liberties and Religion and adheres so Resolutely to every Particular in His Declaration that I cannot but esteem these to be His Noblest Trophies And that which crowns those Successes which have crown'd His Generous and Pious Undertakings His persisting to referr all to the Impartial Decisions of a Free Parliament to Do and Establish such Matters either in His their Own or the Kings behalf as they shall think fit even then when Honor and Power spread their Perswasives before Him to do otherwise is so great a Thing that it exceeds all His other Glories and strikes the Beholders with nothing less than Amazement I do more rejoyce than wonder at the Unanimous Concurrence which has hitherto been maintain'd between the Lords and Commons Assembled in Councel and indeed in the Wishes Desires of all the People in General It is what this Juncture does highly require and what the Prince's Conduct does Oblige We are very busie here in the Countrey in Electing Members for the Great Convention which is to sit in January and I think the Lot will fall on me to serve for my Neighbouring Borough You know I was never fond of Business or Trouble and truly Age seems now to have sign'd my Writ of Ease I also always cherisht some Cynical Notions which made me very much slight and disregard the Honours and Flatulencies of a giddy World But the thoughts of being one of the Great Planters of a Government which shall last for Ages and perhaps till Time has run out its last Minutes is no Ordinary thing This thought alone has envigorated my Age and baffled my Philosophy so that you may expect to see me in London about the 22d of January next and in the mean time if you will favour me with your Thoughts and Opinion of Affairs and what Understanding Men do think will or ought to be the Issue and Consequence of this great Revolution you will very considerably add to the many Kindnesse conferred upon SIR Your assured Friend and humble Servant A. B. The Answer YOurs thô it bore and early Date yet came not to my hands till last Friday I am very glad that my slender Services have prov'd upon any account acceptable to you I never thought my self qualified to pry into the Recesses of Government or the privacies of a King What I acquainted you with was little more than what was publickly discours'd of in Coffee-Houses But indeed such was the Management of Affairs during our late King's Supremacy That his most private Councels prov'd generally the next days Table-talk for as they were shallow so was the bottom of them discoverable to every common Eye The Prince has perhaps with more Courage than Caution and a great Zeal for the Protestant Interest then Care of His own particular Concerns undertaken mighty Things for us and run such Risques in the Accomplishing of them which Story can scarcely parallel But what the sequel of this will be I must leave to Astrology 'T is true the people seem to be Unanimous to a wonder and yet there are a Sett of Men in this Nation whom nothing will satisfie but to Lord it over their Brethren These do still labour under some Discomposures and although in no respect disoblig'd yet fearing they may receive a Crush in this great Turn do by their Sourness and Discontent rather assist and further their fate than anticipate and prevent it The Protestant Dissenters are not esteem'd by Computations which have been formerly made to amount to more than a 25th part of the Nation the Church of England receiving all the rest This I do believe to be true if the Church of England be taken in the most large and comprehensive Sense by including all such as frequent the publick Service But if we might suppose them in the same Circumstances that Dissenters were in at the time of this Computation made under the Frowns of the Court and the power of the Laws which like so many Billows beat in against them if thus we might be admitted to view them in Reverse I do believe their Numbers would not exceed or Scarcely equal those of the Dissenting party There are but very few in the Nation would undergo Fines and Imprisonment for the sake of the Surplice or Common-Prayer The prevailing Opinion now in England is Latitudinarian Most Men are so far improv'd in their Judgments as to believe that Heaven is not entail'd upon any particular Opinion and that either an Episcopal or Presbyterial way of Worship together with a due observation of the Rules of Morality may serve well enough to carry them to Heaven the only Byass which enclines them to the one side or the other being the Laws Be subject to the Higher Powers not for Wrath but Conscience sways the Scale and gives the casting Vote in such Things as are thought indifferent This is it which crowds the Church otherwise the Sarsnet Hood and Lawn Sleeves might be as destitute of Votaries as the Long Cloak and Collar Band. Which may the succeeding Government will lean I dare not determine but it is more than probable That Episcopacy in that strictness in which it has of late Years excercis'd ow'd its Continuance as well as Originally its Being to the King His power and His purse has been liberally imploy'd in favour of the Church and they as plentifully requited His Kindness by their Doctrines of Jure Divino-ship and Passive Obedience So long as the King continued thus their Servant He was in all Causes Civil and Ecclesiastical their Supreme Head and Governour But when the King became of another

Compact with others 'T is certain that Nature thô She did provide for Mankind in its tender helpless and unexperienced years a natural Governour and Protector yet being withdrawn from that Power and Subjection it falls into a state of War which was the Condition of the World in those Times which Historians call Heroical When Nimrod obtained the Character of the stoutest Hunter and Hercules travelled to tame Monsters and Usurpers The Patriarchal Government being at an end and the People being now left in a state of War occasioned by the Universal Right that every man had to every thing the Government that succeeded was accordingly Martial and Warlike and their Governours were rather Generals than Kings and like them Arbitrary and Unlimited In this state the Chief Magistrate was properly and Originally called Tyrannus but Lust Ambition and Avarice being the usual attendants of absolute power did too far prevail to the prejudice of those in Subjection that both the Person and Title of such Governours in time became odious and contemptible It was for this reason that Plutarch in his life of Timoleon affirms that over a Tyrant every man is a Judge and may be an Executioner and Plato in his Common-wealth delineates a Tyrant amongst his Subjects by a Woolf amongst the Flock plac'd there rather to devour than preserve them But the World soon grew weary of this Course of Life and by experience found that Compact was more apt for the Coalition of Societies than mere Power which is the cause That in the more civiliz'd and cultivated parts of the Earth this sort of Government is very rare and unusual unless sent by the Supream Power of Heaven and Earth for the punishment of a People for some Sins committed that thereby they may be compell'd like the mute Fish in the Gospel to bring their Penny unto Caesar and after pay their Lives for Contribution And it is observable that it prevails principally and is no where else willingly allowed of but where Idolatry and Invincible Ignorance are the National Sins This Tyranical Government or State of War being found uneasie in many places and more intollerable than the Patriarchal Government in which they were first engaged and also finding that there is now no Father of the Country in a natural Sense The People as becoming Orphans choose One or More to be their Guardian which in several Countries goes under several Denominations Thus the People are in the state of Pupillage and as a Minor cannot make a Contract to his prejudice so we may conclude that the People may meliorate their Condition by Compact but cannot make it worse and therefore it may with much more reason be allowed that such Concessions which are made by them and which infringe or derogate from their natural Rights should be void than that what a Prince grants to his People out of his Prerogative tho' for their better Government and well Being for which alone Prerogative was first given and intended should be null and of no validity which some Presidents in our present Establishment seem to countenance and abet Thus all Governments in the same degrees that they differ from Patriarchal and Tyrannical must derive their Originals from Compact and the Governour must necessarily derive his Power from and by the mutual Consent of the People he governs unless God does himself immediately appoint a Magistrate and even then the People have usually confirm'd as in the case of Saul 1. Sam. 10. So of David 1 Sam. 16. 2 Sam. 2. I cannot but with Grotius believe that Salus populi est Suprema Lex Nor did Junius Brutus err in affirming that Imperii finis unicus est populi Utilitas But on the contrary to imagine the People to be made for their King and that a Million of Souls should be Born Slaves and Vassals to the Lust and Tyrrany of one Man who by nature is no more than their fellow Creature made of the same mold and standing upon the same level with themselves is nonsense and directly contradictory to the true notion of Government it self In all States and Kingdoms whose Government is by Compact the King cannot be supposed to be any thing more than an Officer elected and appointed by the People to preserve the Government and therefore the People must necessarily be supposed to have still a Reserve of Power in extraordinary Exigences above the King. Quicquid efficit Tale est magis tale Their Concessions cannot extend farther than for their own preservation and when that ceases the Grant determines Our General and Original Rights cannot totally be swallowed up by any Compact that can be made to settle Liberty and Property neither is all that was Natural now made Civil wherefore that old Law was but old Reason Quod populus postremum jubet id ratum esto Upon this Account the People in notorious cases do themselves become the Accuser Judge and Executioner it being but reason that in such Cases they should be allowed this priviledge for as every man is the best Judge of his own health and how such and such Meats and Medicines assists and helps the health and vigor of his Body so in the Body Politick the People must be Judge how this or that Governour or Law agrees with their Constitution and Contributes to their Health Peace and Welfare In the 17th of Deut. and the 14th v. God leaves the Election of a King absolutely to the People and puts it into their choice whether they will have a King or not and whosoever they pleased to set over them provided he were chosen from among their Brethren should be their King. Thus before Davids Inauguration The People made a league with him 2. Sam. 5.3 v. And by this they restrained and bound him up as they thought fit And he who in any settled legal Government arrogates to himself and other Supremacy over all or any part of his Brethren other than what is immediately appointed by God or claimed from the People breaks those Bonds and Limits which they have set and is as Civilians distinguish Tyrannus exercitio though not Titulo A Supream Absolute and Arbitrary Power is essentially necessary in all Governments whatsoever whether Monarchial Aristo-critical or Democritical in respect of which these three distinct Species differ no otherwise than as a Guinea from twenty Shillings or forty Sixpences which put together are equivalent one to the other Thus the Supream Acts of all Governments are the same for no State can go higher nor ought to descend lower than 1st to be able to redress a grievance by making or repealing a Law. 2ly to have the power of War and Peace 3ly to judge of Life and Death and 4ly to fix and Appeals in it self So also if a mixture be made of these three Governments yet it makes no change as to the product of a Supream Act for they who limit one another are yet Copartners and do the same thing together which one alone