Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A34269
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A Confutation of sundry errors in Dr. Sherlock's book concerning allegiance
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1691
(1691)
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Wing C5812; ESTC R20781
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14,713
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16
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they have chosen it is not in their Power to undo what they have done they have bound themselves by Oath and Covenant Explicit or Implicit to their King to be his Liege-men and Loyal Subjects and a necessity lies upon them of keeping it if they do not they are persidious The Wife by her own Act and free Consent gives Power to the Husband over her own Body and to be her Head and yet she cannot unmarry her self and recal what she hath done Bishops as Causes instrumental under Christ ordain Presbyters and give them Ministerial Authority yet can they not therefore take it away at their pleasure The French Kingdom is Hereditary and not Elective and yet the Constitution thereof is such that Daughters cannot succeed to the Throne if the French King should go about to alter this Constitution without Consent of the People Would they think it any Injustice or Rebellion to resist the invasion of this their Fundamental Constitution While the King upholds the Government according to the Original Contract and Covenant between Him and the Nation he may in no wise be resisted tho he have his Authority from the People as God's Instruments but if he go about to enslave and ruin the Nation contrary to the original Contract and Covenant it is no unlawful Resistance for the Nation by Force of Arms to save it self and to withstand the Invader and Destroyer of its Liberty Rights and Interest For this is no resisting of Authority but a just vindication of National Rights against an Illegal Monarch who pretends Authority but really hath none neither from God nor Man For neither God nor Man gave him Authority to be perfidious and to enslave and ruin the Nation contrary to the Fundamental Oath and Covenant between Him and the People It is this which is the Measure of his Authority and this being extinguished by his own perfidious violation of it his Authority as the necessary Consequent thereof must needs die and be extinct with it Tho an Hereditary and Successive Kingdom be not Elective yet it is not a new Monarchy but a continuation of the Old which began by mutual Covenant Tacit or Express between Prince and People and when this Foundation falls the Government is dissolved and is no longer a just and legal Monarchy but an Usurpation and illegal Invasion Error 6. An Usurper by long continuance may out-live those who formerly wore the Crown but does it give Right to him who has none that he out-lives those who had the Right For though no Body else has any Right to the Crown how does this make him a rightful King who has no Right p. 24. Confut. It is allowed by all as a sure Maxim In aequali jure melior est conditio possident is He who is in possession of the Crown hath sufficient Right to it when no one living hath better Right to it than he If I find a Thing and no one claims it nor can the right Owner be found it becomes mine by right of Occupation He that was an Usurper ceases to be so by the decease of the right owner He is to repent in his own Breast and Bosom privately of his wrongful Intrusion but the right Owner being dead and all that claim under or by him he is no longer an Usurper but rightful Proprietor Error 7. The Revolutions of Government are not the Subjects Duty but God's Prerogative p. 43. Confut. There is no inconsistency between God's Prerogative and Subjects Duty in all Revolutions and Changes of Government but Harmony and Concurrence There was a great Revolution of Government in Israel when they ceased to be governed by Judges and the Order of Kings began and yet in this famous Change God as Principal and the People as Instrumental did concur in the Institution of Saul for their first King After his Death there was another great Revolution though David by Divine Designation was immediately to have been King over all the Twelve Tribes yet for seven Years the far greater part adhered to the House of Saul until God moved the Hearts of all the People unanimously to chuse and submit to David as their King When the Lady Jane who had the weaker Title was proclaimed Queen of England after the Death of King Edward and was in possession of the Throne the Protestants in Suffock out of conscientious Loyalty adhered to the Lady Mary tho a Papist and by their Means as God's Instruments she acquired the Throne and her Title prevailed as being most rightful After the Death of Henry the Third the French King there was a concurrence of God's Providence and the Subjects Duty in setting the King of Navarr in the Throne though the greatest part of the Nation had been against him and had proclaimed another King and bound themselves in a solemn League not to admit the King of Navarr yet it being his Right at last it prevailed Error 8. There are but three Ways whereby God gives Kingly Power and Authority to any Persons Either by Nature or by an express Nomination or by the Disposals of Providence p. 11. Confut. Nature by it self without Morality to rule and guide it is a Beast or Machine and therefore it can have no hand at all in the Institution of Just and Law ful Kings Nature and Morality differ as the Horse and the Rider as the Pen and the Writer Nature indeed led guided and instructed by Morality doth subserve God the Governour of the World in the Institution uphold and continuation of every Just and Legal Monarchy but without it Nature is blind and brutish in Things concerning Order and Government both Divine and Humane and therefore there never was nor can be a Lawful King by meer Nature distinct from Morality Now all Morality is founded in Free-will and Rational Election Choice and Consent And consequently every Just Monarchy is founded in mutual Covenant Tacit or Express between the Prince on one part and the People or Community on the other part agreeably to the general Rules of God's Word for the mutual Good of Prince and People Ruler and Ruled God's express nomination of this or that Man to be King obligeth all the People to own and submit to him as their King and him to consent to be King over them but till there be a mutual Consent the Kingdom is not founded it is but in preparation if the major part consent all the rest are concluded and are to be esteemed Subjects of the Kingdom and though the major part dissent yet having God's Word and express nomination on his side all the rest owe Consent and may be compelled to it Error 9. Whether their present Majesties have Legal Right to the Throne is certainly needless in this Cause to dispute and serves only to confound it by carrying Men into such dark Labyrinths of Law and History c. as very few know how to find their way out again p. 2. Confut. It is certainly necessary for