Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	action_n	good_a	law_n	1,011	5	4.8972	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02855	The first part of the life and raigne of King Henrie the IIII. Extending to the end of the first yeare of his raigne. Written by I.H.; Historie of the life and raigne of Henry the Fourth	Hayward, John, Sir, 1564?-1627.	1599 (1599)	STC 12995; ESTC S103908	104,716	160

Lordes concerneth a matter of great consequence and weight the determining whereof will assuredly procure eyther safe quiet or daungerous disturbance both to our particular consciences and also to the common state Therefore before you resolue vppon it I pray you call to your considerations these two things First whether King Richard be sufficiently deposed or no Secondly whether King Henrie be with good iudgement or iustice chosen in his place For the first point we are first to examine whether a king being lawfully and fully instituted by any iust title may vppon imputation eyther of negligence or of tyrannie be deposed by his subiects Secondly what King Richard hath omitted in the one or committed in the other for which he should deserue so heauie iudgement I will not speake what may be doone in a popular state or in a consular in which although one beareth the name and honour of a Prince yet he hath not supreme power of Maiestie but in the one the people haue the highest empire in the other the Nobilitie and chiefe men of estate in neyther the Prince Of the first sorte was the common wealth of the Lacedaemonians who after the forme of gouernement which Licurgus framed oftentimes fined oftentimes fettered their Kings and sometimes condemned them to death such were also in Caesars time the petit Kings of euery Citie in Fraunce who were many times arreigned vppon life and death and as Ambiorix Prince of the Leodienses confessed had no greater power ouer the people then the people had ouer them Of the second condition were the Romaine Emperours at the first of whome some namely Nero and Maximinus were openly condemned others were sodainlie surprised by iudgement and authoritye of the Senate and such are nowe the Emperours of Germany whom the other Princes by their Aristocraticall power doe not onely restrayne but sometimes also remooue from theyr imperiall state such are also the Kinges of Denmarke and Sweueland who are many times by the nobilitye deiected eyther into pryson or into exile such likewise are the Dukes of Venice and of some other free states in Italy and the chiefest cause for which Lewes Earle of Flanders was lately expelled from his place was for drawing to himselfe cognisance in matters of life and death which high power neuer pertayned to his dignitie In these and such like gouernmentes the Prince hath not regall rightes but is himselfe subiect to that power which is greater then his whether it be in the Nobility or in the common people But if the Soueraigne Maiesty be in the Prince as it was in the three first Empires and in the Kingdomes of Iudea and Israell and is now in the kingdomes of England Fraunce Spaine Scotland Muscouia Turky Tartaria Persia Aethiopia and almost all the Kingdomes of Asia and Africke although for his vices he bee vnprofitable to the subiectes yea hurtfull yea intollerable yet can they lawfully neyther harme his person nor hazard his power whether by iudgement or els by force for neyther one nor all Magistrates haue any authority ouer the Prince from whome all authority is deriued and whose onely presence doeth silence and suspend all inferiour iurisdiction and power As for force what subiecte can attempt or assist or counsaile or violence against hys Prince and not incurre the high and heynous crime of treason It is a common saying thought is free free indeede from punishment of secular lawes except by worde or deed it breake foorth into action Yet the secret thoughts against the sacred maiesty of a Prince without attempt without endeuour haue beene adiudged worthy of death and some who in auriculer confession haue discouered their treacherous deuises against the person of their Prince haue afterwardes beene executed for the same All lawes doe exempt a madde man from punishment because theyr actions are not gouerned by theyr will and purpose and the will of man being set aside all his doings are indifferent neyther can the body offend without a corrupt or erronious minde yet if a mad man draw hys sword vpon his King it hath bin adiudged to deserue death And least any man should surmise that Princes for the maintenance of theyr owne safety and soueraignety are the onely authors of these iudgementes let vs a little consider the patternes and preceptes of holy Scripture Nabuchadnezzer King of Assiria wasted all Palestine with fire and swoord oppugned Hierusalem a long time and at the last expugned it slue the King burnt the Temple tooke away the holy vesselles and treasure the rest hee permitted to the cruelty and spoyle of his vnmercifull soldiers who defiled all places with rape and slaughter and ruinated to the ground that flourishing Citty after the glut of this bloudy butchery the people which remayned he led Captiue into Chaldaea and there erected his golden Image and commaunded that they which refused to worship it should bee cast into a fierye furnace What crueltye what iniustice what impiety is comparable to this and yet God calleth Nabuchadnezzer his seruant and promiseth him hyre and wages for his seruice and the Prophetes Ieremiah and Baruch dyd wryte vnto the Iewes to praye for the lyfe of him and of Baltasar hys Sonne that theyr dayes myght bee vppon earth as the dayes of Heauen and Ezechtel with bitter termes abhorreth the disloyalty of Zedechia because he reuolted from Nabuchadnezzer whose homager and tributary he was What snall we say of Saul did he not put all the Priestes to execution because one of them did relieue holy and harmelesse Dauid did he not violently persecute that his most faithfull seruant and dutiful Sonne in laws during which pursuite he fell twice into the power of Dauid who did not onely spare but also protect the King and reprooued the preto●an souldiers for their negligent watch and was touched in heart for cutting away the lappe of his garment and afterwards caused the messenger to be slaine who vpon request and for pitty had lent his hand as he said to help forward the voluntary death of that sacred King As for the contrary examples as that of Iehu who slue Iehoram and Ahazia Kings of Israell and Iuda they were done by expresse oracle reuelation from God and are no more set downe for our imitation then the robbing of the Aegyptians or any other perticuler and priuiledged commaundement but in the generall precept which all men must ordinarily follow not onely our actions but our speeches also our very thoughtes are strictly charged with duety and obedience vnto Princes whether they be good or euill the law of God ordaineth that he which doth presumptuously against the ruler of the people shall dye and the Prophet Dauid forbiddeth to touch the Lords annointed Thou shalt not saith the Lord rayle vpon the iudges neither speake euill against the ruler of the people And the Apostles do demaund further that euen our thoughtes and soules bee obedient to higher powers And least

some at this present and many hereafter will accompt my case lamentable either that I hane deserued this deiection if it be iust or if it be wrongfull that I could not auoide it Indeede I doe confesse that many times I haue shewed my selfe both lesse prouident and lesse painfull for the benefite of the common-wealth then I should or might or intended to doe hereafter and haue in many actions more respected the satisfying of my owne particular humour then either iustice to some priuate persons or the common good of al yet I did not at any time either omit dutie or cōmit grieuance vpon natural dulnesse or set malice but partly by abuse of corrupt councellers partly by errour of my youthfull iudgement And now the remembrance of these ouer-sights is so vnpleasant to no man as to my selfe and the rather because I haue no meanes left either to recompence the iniuries which I haue done or to testifie to the world my reformed affections which experience and stayednesse of yeares had already corrected would dayly haue framed to more perfection But whether all the imputations wherewith I am charged be true either in substance or in such qualitie as they are layd or whether being true they be so heinous as to inforce these extremities or whether any other Prince especially in the heate of youth and in the space of two and twentie yeares the time of my vnfortunate raigne doth not sometimes either for aduantage or vppon displeasure in as deepe maner grieue some particular subiect I will not now examine it helpeth not to vse defence neither booteth it to make complaint there is left no place for the one nor pitie for the other and therefore I referre it to the iudgement of God and your lesse distempered considerations I accuse no man I blame no fortune I complaine of nothing I haue no pleasure in such vaine and needlesse comforts and if I listed to haue stood vpon tearmes I know I haue great fauourers abroad and some friends I hope at home who would haue beene ready yea forward on my behalfe to set vp a bloudy and doubtfull warre but I esteeme not my dignitie at so high a price as the hazard of so great valure the spilling of so much English bloud and the spoile and waste of so flourishing a Realme as thereby might haue bene occasioned Therefore that the Common-wealth may rather rise by my fall then I stand by the ruine thereof I willingly yeeld to your desires and am heere come to dispossesse my selfe of all publike authority and title and to make it free and lawfull for you to create for your King Henric Duke of Lancaster my cousin germaine whom I know to be as worthie to take that place as I see you willing to giue it to him Then he read openly and distinctly the forme of his cession wherein he did declare that he had discharged his subiectes from their oathes of fealtie and homage and all other oathes whatsoeuer and of his owne will free motion did abdicate the title dignitie and aucthoritie of a King and rendred vp the possession of the Realme with the vse and title thereof and all the rights thereunto appertaining To this the King subscribed and was sworne and then hee deliuered with his owne hands the Crowne the Septer and the Robe to the Duke of Lancaster wishing vnto him more happinesse therewith then had euer happened vnto himselfe Then he did constiture the Archbishop of Yorke and the Bishop of Hereford his procurators to intimate and declare this his resignation to all the states of the realme which should be assembled together in Parliament Lastly he gaue all his riches and goods to the summe of thee hundred thousand pounds in coyne besides his Iewels plate for satisfaction of the iniuryes that hee had done desiring the Duke al the rest that were present seuerally by their names not altogether to forget that he had beene their King nor yet too much to thinke vpon the same but to retaine of him amoderate remembrance and in recompence of the ease that hee had done them by his voluntarie yeelding to permit him to liue safely in a priuate and obscure life with the sweetenesse wherof he was so possessed that frō theneforth he would preferre it before any preferment in the world All this was deliuered and done by the King with voyce and countenance so agreeable to his present beauinesse that there was no man to vnmindefull of humane instabilitie which was not in some measure moued thereat insomuch as a fewe secrete teares melted from the eyes of many that were present in whose mindes a confessed and obscure alteration alreadie g●nne to beginne So pro●e and inclinable are mento pitie miserie although they haue procured it and to enuie prosperitie euen that which they haue raysed Vpon Munday next following the Parlament began at Westminster and the Archbishop of Yorke and the Bishop of Hereford the Kings Atturneys for this purpose declared openly to the states there assembled the Kings voluntarie resignation and demaunded whether they would assent and agree therevnto the Barons of the realme by seuerall and particular consent the commons with one generall voyce did expreslye accept and admit the same Then it was thought meet that certaine defects and misdemeanures concerning matters of gouernment should be obiected against the King for which he should be adi●dged as vnworthy as he seemed vnwilling to reteine the kingdome To this purpose certaine articles were engrossed and openly read in which was conteyned how vnprofitable the King had bin to the realme how vniust and grieuous to the subiectes contrarie both to his honour and to his oath The chiefest of which articles are these that follow 1 FIrst that King Richard did wastefully spend the treasure of the realme and had giuen the possessions of the crowne to men vnworthy by reason whereof new charges were dayly laide on the neckes of the poore comminaltie 2 Item where diuers Lords as well spirituall as temporall were appointed by the high court of Parlament to commune and treate of matters concerning the state of the realme and the commonwealth of the same they being busied about the same commission he with others of his affinitie went about to impeache them of treason 3 Item that by force and menace he compelled the Iustices of the realme at Shrewsburie to condiscend to his opinion for the destruction of the said Lords Insomuch as he began to raise warre against Iohn Duke of Lancaster Thomas Earle of Arundell Richard Earle of Warwicke other Lords contrarie to his honor and promise 4 Item that he caused his vnckle the Duke of Gloucester to be arrested without lawe and sent him to Calice and there without iudgement murthered him and although the Earle of Arundell vpon his arraignement pleaded his charter of pardon he could not be heard but was in most vile and shamefull manner sodainly put to death 5 Item he assembled certaine