Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	great_a	know_v	life_n	7,935	5	4.3038	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95506	The resolver continued, or Satisfaction to some scruples about putting the late King to death. In a letter from a minister of the Gospel, to a Friend in London; together, with a word to the Parliament, the High Court of Justice, Malignants, discontented Friends, and the People of the Nation.	N. T.	1649 (1649)	Wing T39; Thomason E546_17; ESTC R206112	19,538	24

serious consideration these things and because I know you are wife I will rather speake words then dilate in sentences First the Covenant which was made and you mention was not an absolute but a conditionall Covenant It was not a Covenant of free grace such as God maketh with men but of his love mixed with Justice such as an Indulgent people make with a seduced Prince yet so as to be just unto the Nation while mercifull unto him Had we sworn hand over head as we use to say to preserve the Kings Person Perfas nefas in all cases whatsoever this had been a Covenant altogether of Free-grace unto him but not of Justice unto the Land And certainly such a Covenant as this had it passed the hands of some Minions of Monarchy could never have entered into the hearts of any that are Lovers of equity It is above my power to Covenant with my enraged parent who standeth ready to destroy me and my brethren that come what will I will preserve his life Suppose it were so that if I killed not him he would kill me Or suppose he should kill some of my brethren durst I or ought I to Covenant in that case his preservation Or if I were so weake as to make rashly were it not my wisdom to receede repentingly from such a Covenant Doubtlesse the civill obligation of a people unto Princes doth not amount higher if so high as the naturall tye of children unto parents Secondly the condition of the Covenant is cleare for it is expressy provided that the Kings person should be within the pale of the Rights and Priviledges of Parliament the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdom all the while the Covenant should bind any unto his preservation Though the life of the King were to be preserved as precious it was because it was bound up in the bundle of Religion Liberty and Priviledges if therefore it fell out of that bundle it lay but as a common thing It is true if in the preservation of the true Religion and Liberty of the people the Kings life could have been preserved he might have lived untill now for ought I know But sith his life would procure the danger of those greater things I see not why his death may not be called their preservation Whether the true Religion could be preserved in his preservation let Mr. Prinnes Royall Favourite informe you To prepare And let his Commissions unto Lish Papists for their Rebellion inable you to passe a censure And for the Priviledges of Parliament and Liberty of the People how inconsistent their preservation and his Person were together is needlesse to say much more needlesse to argue Thirdly neither was the Covenant be it such as you immagine eternall the Contents thereof were not for an everlasting Almanack or if it were we might in our old Latine call it Erra Pater it was a Covenant made in a time of War in Order unto an open and then potent enemies redusing unto tearmes of a just peace And as farre as I can judge that part which concerneth the Kings person was a summons sent unto a Town or Castle with Conditions which if accepted have power of a Covenant If the King had either first or last which he was many times intreated unto accepted of the Covenant it had been binding Though one party stretch forth his hand yet if the other do not strike it is rather a Covenant intended then made but the Kings first and continued refusall are and were our release Nay had he at all taken it and by his taking of it layd that part of the Covenant that concerned him as an obligation on us yet his actions were and have been so contrary unto the Covenant and the great things thereof As that he did totally nullifie and violate it and surely the violation of any Covenant so farre as it is conditionall by one party leaveth the other nnocent in case he observed it not When my Wife turneth adultresse my Covenant with her is broken And when my King turneth Tyrant and continueth so my Covenant with him also is broken Indeed it is a pretty note of one of the Rabbins upon the Proverbs 29.4 that the Holy-Ghost doth not vouchsafe to call him a King who doth oppose his people But Fourthly the end of that clause which concerneth the executed King it declareth that it was to let the world know we had no thought nor intention to deminish His Majesties just power and greatnesse Now clear it is that it is not the just power nor the just greatnesse of any King that ever was to be free from the Power and Authority of Justice and Majesty it self such a losing of a King Buckanan rather accounted the losing of a Monster then the losing of a man I may rather promise to maintain and preserve that which is the just power and the just greatnesse of any Prince or Person whatsoever in the world and yet notwithstanding I may without breach of promise judge the unjust actions of the said Person and bring him unto Justice too It hath ever been the unjust usurpation of Tyrannous Princes by the unlawfull claime of great Tyranny to plead an exemption from legall Tryall for illegall facts such an exemption were not a just greatnesse but a great injustice By this you may therefore guesse that all those scruples pretendedly built upon the Covenant have more of shew then of strength And such as in this pretend Religion do indeed affront reason The Covenant may and doth remain inviolable notwithstanding the Triall of Charles Stuart And humbly confident I am in the great day of Accompt it will never be charged upon either Authors or Approvers of the late Execution that they were Covenant-Breakers with the great God I confesse I dare not entertain such dishonourable thoughts either of the Composers or Imposers of that Covenant that it was their aime thereby so to insnare both themselves and others as that the receiving thereof should bind them in all cases up to such a prosecution of the Kings person as that the Law Religion Priviledges and Liberties should all rather sink and perish then he should suffer Justice What a meer mockery had been of the Almighty to enter into a Covenant the maine and sole end of which was Reformation And yet not to Covenant for but rather to Covenant against the Honourable just and necessary tryall of exorbitant and Tyrannous Princes and Governours by what Title soever Certainly the Reformation of the Arbitrary power of Princes which necessarily includeth a punishment of such as in that way hath deformed the beauty and almost destroyed the being of State is as great a peece of Reformation as ever the English or any State could or should set upon The true and righteous end of the Covenant so much urged I never did nor could ever take to be other then a holy righteous honourable and lasting Reformation and setling of all things amongst us

punished by that Lord against whom he hath offended who is the peoples and those that represent them I must be ingenious and confesse that Shickard seems to question whether the Jewes ever did put their Princes to death He saith they did not with every kind of punishment nor as he thinketh with Capitall punishment punnish any of their Princes But notwithstanding this opinion of Shickard I am no way moved to think but that both they might and did upon occasion put their Kings to death Surely he that may be whippped for a lesser may be hanged for a greater fault And if so be the Iewes might and did as Shickard himself acknowledgeth bring their Kings unto whipping why might they not upon the same reason bring them unto a greater punishment when deserved And to put it out of doubt that instance which I gave in my last out of the 2 Chro. 25.27 maketh it clear that they did put Amaziah King of Judah unto death Obj. But you will say that place is not clear because in some translations it is rendered they committed Treason in others they made conspiracy therefore you will say can either of those be presentable Rep. To this I reply thus much how ever the Word is translated we must eye its meaning not translation It is not our happynesse that all the words in the Bible are truly translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ligare or that where they are they are rightly understood The Word therefore in that place which is translated they made a conspiracy * properly signifieth to bind and to agree together as under a bond Now all be it that it is somtimes used to be taken in a bad sense it is not therefore to be understood where ever the Word is used that it is taken in a bad sence For the same word is used in the 2 Kings 9 14. concerning Jehu it is said he conspired against Joram Now certainly what he did against Joram was not unlawfull neither is the word so to be understood for we know he was annoiuted by God unto that worke and it is probable in that he had the concurrence of the servants of God of whom it is mentioned verse the 11. Now there be three Reasons that make me something confident that this act of putting King Amaziah unto death was lawfull and immitable First because the Holy-ghost records it without mentioning any thing that might blemish it It is not noted there as in other conspiracies that it was done by any private man or by his servants but rather it is recorded as the act of all the People for it is said they conspired against him in Jerusulem Secondly 2 Kings 15.10 2 Kings 21.29 because the Holy-Ghost doth not record any publicke Cognizance that was taken for the thing as a crime nor any punishment inflicted upon any for it as we find in other cases of conspiracy Thirdly the Holy-Ghost sheweth it was done publickly so as he knew of it whereupon he fled for it they send after him and when he was slaine he was openly brought back upon horses which doth shew without doubt that had it not been done by authority and allowed of it would never have been owned so openly 2 Obj. But you will say how cometh it to passe that Shickard who professedly seemeth to enouire after the Jewish peoples power over their Kings had not observed any such things amongst the Rabbins Answ For that I conceive the true reason why he did not find any thing among the writings of the Rabbins now extant was this because their works are not ancient enough to give instance of this practise for besides pecuniary mulckes and whippings the Jewes had not for divers years Mainord in Hilch Sanhedrin cap. 11. any other puuishment among them for any crime whatsoever It is observed of the Criminalia Judicia that they ceased among the Jewes some yeares before the destruction of the second Temple and so much is observed out of the Jerusalem and Babylouish Talmud Hence it was that the Jewes did not put any to death for any fact whatsoever An instance of which we find in the case of one that defiled himself with a Beast * which by the very known Law was death In Berachos fol. 58. yet he was only whipped for it and the reason that is given for it is this because from the time that they were forced to go from their own land they did not put any man to death that is they had no power or at least they thought so to put any unto death for any crime whatsoever Hence Buxstorfe * conceiveth In Lexicon Talmud p. 514. was that speech of theirs John the 18.31 it is not lawfull for us to put any man to death not but that their Law did allow of putting of men to death as they themselves acknowledged John the 19. and 7. But it seemeth that power was taken from them and they could not execute it So that you do see there might be a great reason why Shickard could not light upon a passage that might shew him that the Jewes did put any of their Kings to death because that the Jewes for many yeares even for some yeares before Christs death had not that Power in any case whatsoever Thus far and a little further then I thought have I waded in this businesse of President and to wind up all you see how your scruples drawn both from the Covenant from pretended want of Authority in the Councell and also of want of President may be resolved What you adde besides these are inconsiderable that I shall passe them by only a word unto your fear about the consequence of this busines Ob. You will say Prudence in private persons doth much more Policy in publicke States should fore-see the worst and so order things as that the successe or event of them may be weighed before they be done and you conceive had the event of this work been well weighed it had never been done Answ Unto this I return shortly thus First suppose the event as bad as some wretches brag and some weak ones fear suppose upon the conjunction of Malevolent asspects of desperate foes and Apostate friends another Warre should arise yet here will be our comfort and our advantage that our enemies are such as oppose not only us but Justice it self and so Justice will be ingaged to preserve not so much our persons as his own actions Secondly Why should we so much dis-trust that sweet and powerfull Providence that all along especially of late hath appeared so clearly for us why shall we not hope that the same God that hath given us so many signall victories in great battels over that man of blouud when a live and in the field and who hath also helped us to suppresse so many such unparallel'd insurrections of his mutinous friends of late who I say should wee not hope the same providence will be