Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	ordinance_n	power_n	resist_v	1,861	5	9.7674	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A55056	The present state of New-England impartially considered in a letter to the clergy.	Palmer, John, 1650-1700?; F. L.	1689 (1689)	Wing P247; ESTC W19307	40,586	47

otherwise without the danger of being resisted And therefore it is added in that place of Samuel before cited That when the people should at any time be thus oppressed by their Kings as if there were no Remedy to be expected from men they should invoke His help who is the Supream Judge of the whole Earth So that whatsoever a King doth tho' the same done by an inferior person would be an Injury yet being done by him is Right As a Judge is said Jus reddere to do Right though the 〈◊〉 he gives be unrighteous 4. By the G●s 〈◊〉 When Christ in the New-Testament Commanded to give Caes●r his due doubtless he intended that his Disciples should yield ●s great if not a greater Obedience as well active a● passive unto the higher power than what was due from the Jews to their Kings which St. Paul who was be●● able to interpret his Masters Words expounding Romans 13. doth at large describe theduty of Subjects Charging those that resist the power of Kings with no less Crime than Rebellion against God's Ordinance and with a Judgment as great as their Sin For saith he They that do so resist shall receive unto themsel●●s damnation And a little aser he urgeth the Necessity of our Subjection Not altogether for fear but for conscience as knowing that he is the 〈◊〉 of God for our Good. Now if there be a necessity of our Subjection then there is the same necessity for our not resisting because he that resists is not subject Neither did the Apostle mean such a necessity of subjection as ●ris●th from an apprehension of same worse inconvenience that might follow upon our resistance but such as proceeds from the sense of some benefit that we receive by it whereby we stand obliged in duty not unto man onely but unto God So that He that Resists the power of the sapream Magistrate incurrs a double Punishment saith Plato First from God for breaking that good Order which he hath constituted amongst men And Secondly From the Common Wealth whose righteous Laws made for the preservation of the publick peace are by Resistance Weakned and the Common-Wealth thereby 〈◊〉 For canst thou believe saith Plato that any City or Kingdom can long stand when the publick Decrees of the Senate shall be wi●fully 〈◊〉 and trampled upon by the over-swelling power of some private men who i● 〈◊〉 against the Execution of the Laws do as much as in them lies d ssolve 〈◊〉 Common-wealth consequntly bring all into confusion The Apostle therefore sortisies this Necessity of publick Subjection to Princes with 2 main Reasons First because God had constituted and approved of this order of Commanding and Obeying and that not only under the Jewish but under the Christian Law Wherefore the powers that are set over us are to be Observed not servilely superstitiously or out of Fear but with free rational generous Spirits tanquam a Diis aa●ae as being given by the Gods saith Plato or as St. Paul tanquam a Deo ordina●ae as if ordained by God himself Which Order as it is Originally God's so by giving it a Civil Sanction it becoms ours also For thereby we add as much Authority to it as we can give The other Reason is drawn ab utsli from Profit because this Order is constituted for our good and therefore in Conscience is to be obeyed and not resisted But here some men may say That to bear injuries is not at all profitable unto us whereunto some men haply more truly than aposi●ely to the meaning of the Apostle give this Answer That patiently to bear Injuries conduceth much to our Benefit because it entitles us to a Reward far transcending our Sufferings as St. Paul testisies But though this also be true yet it is not as I conceive the proper and genuine sense of the Apostles words which doubtless have Respect to that Universal Good whereunto this Order was first instituted as to its proper end which was the publick peace wherein every particular man is as much concerned if not much more than in his Private for what Protection can good Laws give if Subjects may refuse to yield their obedience to them whereas by the Constant observance of good Laws all Estates both publick and private do grow up and flourish together Plato And certainly these are the good Fruits that we receive from the supream Powers for which in Conscience we owe them Obedience For no man did ever yet wish ill to himself But he that resists the power of the Magistrate and willfully violates the Laws established doth in effect as far as in him is dissolve his Countrey 's peace and will in the end bury himself also in the ruins of it Plato Besides the Glory of Kings consists in the prosperity of their Subjects When Sylla had by his Cruelty almost depopulated not Rome only but all Italy one seasonably admonisht him Sinendos esse aliquos vivere ut essent quibus imperet That some should be permitted to live over whom he might rule as a King. Floras Aug. de civ Dei. Lib. 3. cap. 28. It was a common Proverb among the Hebrews Nisi Potestas publica esset alter alterum vivum deglutiret Were it not for the Soveraign Powers every Kingdom would be like a great Pond wherein the greater Fish would alwaies devour the Lesser Agreeable whereunto is that of Chrysostome Vnless there were a power over us to restrain our inordinate Lusts Men would be more sierce cruel than Lions Tygers not only biting but eating devouring one another Take away Tribunals of Justice and you take away all Right Property and Dominion No man can say this is mine House this my Land these my Goods or my Servants but Omnia erunt Fortiorum the longest Sword would take all Chrys de statuis 6. ad Eph. The mighty man could be no longer secure of his estate than until a mightier than he came to dispossess him The weaker must alwaies give place to the Stronger and where the strength was equal the loss would be so too and this would at length introduce a general Ataxy which would be far more perilous than a perfect Slavery Wherefore seeing that God hath Established and humane Reason upon Tryal approved of Soveveraign Empire as the best Preservative of humane Societies that every m●n should yield Obedience thereunto is most rational For without Subje● ion there can be no Proctection Obj●ct But here it will he objected That The Commands of P●irces do not 〈…〉 to the Publique Good and therefore when they 〈◊〉 from that ●nd for which they were ordained they ought not to be obeyed To which I answer That though the Supream Magistrate doth sometimes either through Fear Anger ●●st Coveteousness or such like inordinate 〈…〉 the ordinary p●●h of Justice and Equity yet are these 〈…〉 but seldome ● to be passed over as personal blemishes which a● Tacitus rightly observes are abundantly recompensed by the more frequent