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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	judge_n	king_n	law_n	5,155	5	5.2571	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25519	An Answer to a late pamphlet intituled, The judgement and doctrine of the clergy of the Church of England concerning one special branch of the King's prerogative, viz, in dispensing with the penal-laws shewing that this is not affected by the Most Reverend Fathers in God, the Lords Arch-Bishops, Bancroft, Laud and Usher ... the Lord Bishop Sanderson ... the Reverend Doctors, Dr. Hevlin, Dr. Barrow, Dr. Sherlock ... Dr. Hicks, Dr. Nalson, Dr. Puller, so far as appears from their words cited in this pamphlet : in a letter to a friend.		1687 (1687)	Wing A3309; ESTC R15256	30,429	41

Now I am not concern'd to enquire what Dr. Hicks believes about the Dispensing Power but what he has said and our Author has not produced one word out of his Book about it and therefore I suppose he could not for his own words had been a better Authority in this case than Sir Robert Pointz I am sure where he particularly states and enumerates the Rights of Soveraignty he takes no notice of it for as he reckons them up they are these Jovian or an Answer to Julian the Apostate chap. 10. p. 201. Ed. 1. 1. To be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accountable to none except God 2. To have the sole Power and disposal of the Sword 3. To be free from all Coercive and vindicative Power 4. Not to be withstood or resisted by force upon any pretence whatsoever Lastly To have the Legislative Power that makes any form of words a Law The Soveraign Power may indeed be limited as to the exercise of this Power which may be confined to Bills and Writings prepared by others but still it is the Soveraign Authority who gives Life and Soul to the dead Letter of them Here is nothing at all about this Dispensing Power when there was a fair occasion for it Possibly this was an Omission which at that time he did not think of that not being the matter of Dispute or it may be he was not so well instructed and did not think this essential to the notion of all Soveraign Power as seems probable from his two sorts of Imperial Power either of which make an Imperial Soveraign such as is limited by the Laws of God and nature only or such as is limited by the Laws of God and nature and Civil Laws and Pactions too The Power in both sorts of Soveraigns is Imperial full perfect absolute and entire but the exercise of it is differently bounded and regulated one by the Laws of God and Nature and the other by human positive Laws and the latter limitation doth no more destroy the fulness and perfection and Supremacy of the Power than the former because the Soveraign who is under Political limitations as to the exercise of his Power hath his Power nevertheless as absolutely fully and entirely in himself as he that is only under the limitation of Divine and natural Laws De laudibus legum Angliae C. 9. Rex Angliae principatu nedum Regali sed Politico suo populo dominatur Regnum sic institui ut Rex non libere valeat populum tyrannide gubernare quod solum fit dum potestas regia lege politica cohibetur Thus the learned Chancellor Fortescue grants the King of England to have Regal or Imperial Power though it be under the restraint and regulation of the Power political as to the exercise thereof and as a Fountain that hath Channels and Pipes made for it within which its waters are bounded in their passage and through which they are to flow is nevertheless as perfect a Fountain and hath its waters as fully and entirely within it self as any other Fountain whose waters flow from it at liberty without any such regulation so a King whose Imperial Power is limited by human Constitutions in the exercise of it is nevertheless as compleat a Soveraign and hath the Soveraign Power as fully and entirely within himself as he who is at liberty to exercise his Authority as he will To be arbitrary is no more of the Essence of an Imperial Soveraign than to be free in the course of its waters is of the Essence of a Fountain but as the Fountain of an Aqueduct for example is as perfect in its kind and generally more beneficial and useful to mankind than a free flowing spring so limited Soveraigns are as perfect and essential Soveraigns as the purely arbitrary and despotick and generally more beneficial and salutary to the world A great deal more the Reader may find to this purpose in the same place which possibly may be the reason why he did not mention this absolute Dispensing Power among the Essential Rights of Soveraignty because he might imagine that this might not be essential to all Soveraigns not to those the exercise of whose Soveraign Power is regulated by Civil and Political Laws who yet are as perfect Soveraigns as the most arbitrary and despotick Princes But I do not love to guess at other mens thoughts nor shall I undertake to justifie or condemn this Notion of his but I think the Reader by this time sees what little reason there was to appeal to the Dean of Worcester to justifie the dispensing Power His next Authority is Arch-bishop Bancroft who it seems asserted That the Judges are but the Kings Delegates and that the King may take what causes he shall please to determine from the determination of the Judges and determine them himself which the Archbishop said was clear in Divinity that such Authority belongs to the King by the Word of God in Scripture Now I wonder this Writer would produce this and that for these two Reasons 1. Because at that very time in the Presence of King James my Lord Chief Justice Coke contradicted the Arch-bishop and told the King he could not do it and gave him his Reasons why he could not as the Ch. Justice himself reports it in that place to which this Writer refers 12 Co. Fol. 64. 5. Jac. Now methinks here he loses more than he gets for if he have got a great Church-man he has lost a very great Lawyer whose Judgment is more considerable in such matters for as the Arch-Bishop could tell him what hath been done in Scripture-times under the Jewish Common-wealth that Moses and David and Solomon and other Kings of Israel administred Justice in their own Persons So the Ch. Justice could tell him what the Constitutions of this Kingdom and the regular form of Law will admit which is more to our purpose 2. I wonder a little more how he can prove the dispensing Power from this The King may judg what causes he pleases himself Ergo He can dispense with all Laws when he pleases Does the Power of hearing and trying causes and expounding and interpreting Laws include in it a power of dispensing with Laws Then it seems every Judg is by his Office a Dispenser with Laws If the King have Power of determining causes in his own person must he judg with or without Law If he judg according to the Laws how does this prove his Power of Dispensing with Laws Surely this is a Power which can result only from a Supreme absolute and unlimited Soveraignty not from a mere power of hearing and judging causes according to the true meaning and interpretation of Laws so little does this Writer understand what he writes about and it is great pity there is no more care taken that the Kings Prerogative do not suffer by such unskilful Scriblers His next man is a very great one indeed not only an Archbishop but a Martyr for

themselves when he found it conducing to the Weal-Publick Now I do not see one Word in this but what is the undoubted Right of the Supream executive Power For it is impossible any Nation should be well and happily governed where this Power is not And that for this Reason which the Arch-Bishop gives Because Human Laws are imperfect and therefore there must be a living Authority to supply their Defects and to temper their Severities and to pity and relieve Subjects when the case is truly pitiable But then there are some natural Limitations of the exercise of this Power in the most absolute and despotick Princes and there may be Political Limitations of it by the consent of Soveraign Princes themselves according to the Laws and Constitutions of several Kingdoms For tho the Imperial Crown can be divested of no part of Soveraign Power yet the exercise of it may be directed and limited by publick Laws as we heard before from Bishop Sanderson This last the Arch-Bishop takes no notice of it not being his design as you heard before to adjust the Rights of Princes by Political Laws but only to consider in general what are the essential Rights of Soveraign Power without examining how the exercise of it is diversly limited in different Countries And therefore let us only consider what those natural Bounds and Limits are which he has set to this dispensing and suspending Power And they are included in the reason of this Power because all Human Laws are imperfect and therefore there wants a Soveraign Power which is so far Superior to all Laws that it can correct their Faults and supply their Defects and temper them to such particular Emergencies and Cases as could not be foreseen when the Laws were made For if human Laws could be so exactly framed as to fit all possible cases if the Law were for the good of the Common-wealth the dispensing with or suspending the execution of such Laws would be a publick mischief And a Power which could serve no good end could be no Prerogative of Soveraignty And therefore the very Dispensation must be for the publick good or else it is the abuse not the natural Right of Soveraign Power To which purpose he mentions the Opinion of John of Sarisbury P. 79. I do not take away the dispensing with the Law out of the Hands of the Powers but such Precepts or Prohibitions as have a perpetual Right are not as I think to be subjected to their Will and Pleasure In those things only that are mutable the Dispensation with the Letter of the Law is to be admitted yet so as by the compensation of Honesty or Vtility the Intention of the Law may be intirely preserved So that according to this Rule the natural Instances of this dispensing Power seem to be these When a Law is made and is for the Publick Good but happens to fall very severely upon some particular Persons without their own fault only because such particular Cases were not and could not be considered in making the Law here the Equity of the Prince ought to releive such Sufferers according to his long Quotation out of AEneas Sylvius P. 91. which this Author has transcribed at large and we readily own When the Penalty annexed to the Law may in some particular cases be remitted without the publick Injury and may be thought very just and convenient with respect to the pittiable Circumstances or former Merits of the Person offending as the Archbishop observes and this Author from him P. 79. While the Laws do stand in force it is fit that sometimes the King's Clemency should be mingled with the Severity of them especially when by that means the Subjects may be freed from much detriment and damage Which belongs to the Regal not to the Ministerial Power the condition of the Magistrates whose Sentence is held corrupt if it be milder than the Laws being one thing the Power of Princes whom it becometh to qualify the sharpness of them a far different matter If any thing happens after the making of a Law which was not foreseen when it was made and which is besides or contrary to the original intention of the Law-makers and renders the execution of that Law manifestly and notoriously oppressive to the Publick the Prince may certainly suspend the Execution of such Laws till they be alter'd or repealed by the Power which made them or in the same regular Exercise of the Legislative Power as they were first made This dispensing and pardoning suspending Power is so necessary to the Publick Good that for my part I would not willingly live under any Government which wanted the Exercise of this Power And if this be all this Writer intended to prove by his long Quotations out of the Archbishop I am perfectly of his mind that the Archbishop was of his Opinion and so I believe is every Man who considers any thing For the Exercise of such a Power as this is no Injury to the Laws nor to the Legislative Authority For in this way the Prime and original Intention of the Law is always secure and can never be dispensed with the general Force and Vigor of the Law is maintained though it be remitted in some particular cases all Mens Rights and Properties are secure which are secured by the Law for the Laws can be dispensed with not for the hurt and damage but only for the Benefit of the Subject and therefore no legal Rights can be taken away by a Dispensation and more than that some Men may find Refuge and Sanctuary in the Clemency and Soveraign Power of the Prince from the Severities of the Law as far as is consistent with the Publick Good and Safety But any other dispensing Power than this the Archbishop says nothing of And this I think is answer enough to what he alledges out of Archbishop Vsher After these 3 Archbishops the next who follows is the humble patient and learned Dr. Robert Sanderson late Lord Bishop of Lincoln and were he living this Writer would exercise all the Humility and Patience he had without offering him any occasion to shew his Learning At the end of his 9 th Lecture concerning the final Cause of humane Laws Sect. 16. he comes to explain that Aphorism Salus Populi Suprema Lex The Safety of the People is the Supream Law which was expounded in those days to set up the Interest and Safety as they pretended of the People in opposition to the King which he does with so great Learning and Judgment as not only to confute but to shame all such Protences From the 18 th Sect. this Writer among others which are nothing to his purpose transcribes these Words which I suppose he thought were Non ita se voluisse Legum vinculis astringi A King that gives Laws and Statutes to his People will not or did not intend to be bound up by the Laws that it should not be lawful to him the Safety of the Common-Wealth

AN ANSWER to a late PAMPHLET INTITULED The Iudgment and Doctrine of the Clergy OF THE CHURCH of ENGLAND Concerning one Special Branch of the KING's PREROGATIVE VIZ. In dispensing with the Penal-Laws SHEWING That this is not asserted by The Most Reverend Fathers in God the Lords Arch-Bishops Bancroft Laud and Vsher The Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop Sanderson The Reverend Doctors Dr. Heylin Dr. Barrow Dr. Sherlock Master of the Temple Dr. Hicks Dr. Nalson Dr. Puller So far as appears from their words cited in THIS PAMPHLET In a LETTER to a Friend LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXXVII Imprimatur May 13. 1687. GVIL. NEEDHAM An Answer to a late Pamphlet c. SIR I Have received the Book you sent me Intituled The Judgment and Doctrine of the Clergy of the Church of England concerning one special branch of the King's Prerogative viz. Dispensing with the Penal Laws Had I not now learnt to wonder at nothing it would a little have surprized me but now I shall only tell you that I have read it and do not like it And reserving one little reason for by and by viz. That it is not true I shall at present give you some other reasons of my dislike to prevent mistakes And first negatively Not because it is for the King 's dispensing Power For I never envy my King any Prerogative that belongs to his Crown And tho it may be this Branch of the Prerogative was not so well understood in former days yet it is certainly now the right of the Crown as much as the Opinion of the Judges can make it so and I never dispute against such an Authority And I think it is a disparagement to the judgment of the Reverend Judges to call in Clergy-men to help them out when he himself tells us p. 34. Vnto the Judges the people are bound lastly and finally to submit themselves for matter of Law Why then does he make any further dispute about the matter As if he distrusted the Judgment of the Judges or thought that people would rather believe Divines than Judges in matter of Law which would be a great scandal to that Reverend and Learned Bench. And therefore I confess I am very much offended with that priority he gives to the Judgment of Churchmen in this point before the Judgment of the Judges He says We could not resolve our selves in this great point of the Supreme Power inherent in and inseparably annexed to the Crown to dispense with Penal Laws but by these two ways 1. To see how far the Judgment of our Church-men appearing in their Doctrines which are for our edification doth warrant this Prerogative to be in the King 2. To see how far the Judges Resolutions in declaring their sence of the Law of the Land in this doubtful question do agree in such their Judgments and Doctrines Fie for shame First make the Clergy Judges of Law and Preach edifyingly about the Prerogative and then set them before the Judges themselves as a Rule and Pattern for them to follow and then as it naturally follows judg over the Judges judgment by its agreement with the judgment of Divines about Law and Prerogative If the Writer of this Letter was a Divine it argues a good Opinion of his own Profession but if he were a Lawyer or but a Justice of Peace I know what he deserves Secondly This brings me to the positive Reasons of my dislike of this way and they are comprehended in two 1. That I do not think fit to lay such stress upon the Judgment of Church-men in matters of Law and such sure this unlimited dispensing Power is a meer point of Law and that such an abstruse point too as not all Lawyers nay not all Judges have formerly been agreed about Now what does a Churchman's Judgment signify in matters of Law No man's Opinion is of any value but in such things wherein he is skilled now a Churchman does not signifie one who is skilled in Law but in Divinity And tho a Church-man should be a good Lawyer if he gives his Opinion in any point of Law his Opinion is not valuable as the Opinion of a Church-man but of a Lawyer for suppose a Church-man were skilled in Physick too would you value his Judgment in Physick ever the more because he is a Church-man Or think your self more safe in his hands than in a professed Physicians There are Interlopers indeed in all Professions but that any man's Judgment should be valued because being of one Profession himself he gives judgment in another is a Mystery to me And therefore this Writer should first have proved all those great Divines Arch-bishops Bishops Deans Doctors with whose names he hath so pompously filled his Title Page and to whose judgment he appeals about the King's Prerogative to haxe been great Lawyers as well as great Divines or else the Cause is Coram non judice and yet he makes no offer at this unless by the Title he gives Dr. Sherlock of Master of the Temple he would intimate his great skill in Law too but this will not do for his Book of Non-resistance was written before he liv'd within the infection of the Law-air So that it seems a very great injury to the Cause to appeal to such Judges as have no skill in the matter For what credit can the Opinion of Divines do it when it is not a point of Divinity but of Law that is in question For it is generally seen that those are very apt to mistake who guess at things out of their Ken and people are apt to suspect that such contemplative men who keep their Studies and seldom look abroad into the World may form fine Romantick Idea's of Government which will not suit the publick Constitutions of Kingdoms and Nations Secondly I think it is a very dangerous thing to put the Question upon such an issue as this The design of it I suppose is to recommend it to the Layety of the Church of England by such venerable Names but he should have considered that the Layety of the Church of England are not so Priest-ridden as they are at Rome and Geneva they have not an implicite Faith in their spiritual Guides and their Guides do not desire they should and therefore it is not their Names but their Arguments must prevail but if people are taught to rely on the opinion of their Ministers in such Prerogative Disputes the Popish Priests and Phanatick Ministers are great Politicians too but if they may be Judges Sovereign Princes will get nothing by it The Church of England indeed has always been addicted to the Service of the Crown but there are other Maxims of Government among other men Bellarmin and Suarez and Mr. Baxter's Common-wealth and the Dissenters Sayings not to take notice now of Julian the Apostate are not very favourable to the Prerogatives of Princes and I fear people are more