Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	act_n	king_n	law_n	5,822	5	4.7877	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85688	Vox cœli, containing maxims of pious policy: wherein severall cases of conscience are briefly discussed; as I. In what subject the supream power of a nation doth reside. II. What is the extent of that power, and in what causes it doth appear, with the due restrictions and limitations thereof according to the Gospell. III. What obedience is due unto that power from all persons, superiour and inferiour, with other cases of great weight, very necessary to reconcile our late differences judiciously stated and impartially ballanced in the scale of the sanctuary. / By Enoch Grey minist	Grey, Enoch.	1649 (1649)	Wing G1968; Thomason E565_20; ESTC R202336	50,311	67

fear to condemn the righteous But the only question will be who shall be the Iudges For those Persons those acts evill in the opinion and sense of one are good and justifiable in the Reason and Rule of another both Divines and Lawyers One saith there is the greatest violation of Faith the deepest wound given in Religion by Parliament and Army in their late Acts as never the like was in any Age before us Another saith Offences are Passive as well as Active and taken when not given and the best men in their upright intentions and honest executions are most obn●xious to humane censure even to the censure of good men bya●sed by particular Interest That these Acts conduce to the most hopefull happy plantation of the Gospel in Parity and Liberty in this State to the most certain and perpetuall establishment of Righteousnesse and Iustice amongst us throughout all Generations now certainly the Jus Regni must be the umpire in this case which is the bond between King and Parliament betwe● the Representative and the Represented To speak unto particulars objected For that of the change of Government by King Lords and Commons contrary to former Declarations the reason of every alteration is to be respected Parliaments are not bound up by their own Votes or Acts though others be they alter them upon reason those given are these 1 The treachery of the Peers in concurrence with the perfidious Scots if not acting with them yet abetting their Design in the last invasion 2 The great obctruction of Justice by their Negative Voice the last year when the Common-wealth was in hazard had not the Commons acted without the Lords we had been as Sodom and as Gomorrah ere this day the designs of that year so countenanced by them that the Grand Incendiaries should have been discharged with a veniall punishment had not the Army interposed But what call what warrant had the Army to intermeddle had not they the being from and shall they assume Authority over Parliaments The Army acts not in way of Authority but duty from necessity from charity If a servant in such a case should contend with his Master Reason will justifie Religion will defend that servant who to save his Masters adventured his own life But again the Army Officers by Law were the Vindices Regni raised by Parliament to defend our Laws and Liberties and above all the Supream Law the safety of the Nation as all know Now what the Parliament had declared of as just and safe the Army grounds upon and first they Remonstrate the State of affairs which taking no effects and the life of the State in perill if not speedily prevented for that case would admit of no delay in that time God and Nature inforced them to an act above yea against all Law as it did Hester to adventure into the Kings Presence although shee perished The Parliament had declared never to Treat with the King charging Him with the bloud of his Father collaterally the bloud of four Kingdomes besides England Scotland Ireland and the Rochellers in France his correspondence with the Pope compliance with Papists his Treachery Tyranny and Hypocrisie beyond al men that ever were so as no confidence could be reposed ●n him yet the Majority of the Commons Vote a Treaty with him to gratifie the treacherous and bloudy designes of Royalists who thereby only sought their revenge upon all active in and faithfull to this Parliament and Republick and in their hopes to carry on their Diabolicall plot as deep as hell they rage as if Satan had been let loose against all who had the Image of God shall I say nay but the face of civility that had not the Lord arose and this Army awakened wee had been swallowed up quick and that Treaty ended they Vote the Kings answers satisfactory and a good Basis or foundation for the establishment of Religion and Righteousnesse thereupon which before was declared non-satisfactory they resolve to set him upon his Throne in Honor Peace Freedom and safety who ●ad no remorse for England or Irelands blood nay who in the very time of this Treaty had plotted and contrived against his return to Westminster a second design in England paralle●● to that of Ireland and this was that Armies whom God miraculously had armed with power and courage honour and successe a little before this was their necessity the Salvation of the State upon the Parliaments declension their former Declarations Principles and resolutions grounded upon reason and safety But they have destroyed the foundations have left no visible Power or Legall Authority remaining We must in all Laws look at the double sense the Gramm●ticall and the Morall or equitable contained in the Preface to the Law where the equitable sense of the Law is maintained that Law is preserved and the same distinction may I observe in the constitution of Authorities there is the essential and there is the Integral State thereof As 〈◊〉 s●● the great Counsel of the Kingdom is a Parliament without the Kings Presence because his power is virtually inherent there yet the i●●egrall State thereof if his presence be wanting is defective but the essentiall 〈◊〉 even when such Integrall Parts are abolish● a man is still a man wanting an eye a hand a leg the Commons only stand in the neerest relation to the People being called by them representing of them acting for them and such is that present Authority now sitting at Westminster the only S●pream and visible Authority of this Nation But in all these confusions and contrary motions have we not broken Covenant with God faith with men v●●ing and promising before God to set the King upon his Throne t● preserve the Priviledges of Parliament Why the Maj●rity of the House was re●●rain●d pro tempore is formerly expressed and intimated For the breach of Covenant in these particulars objected we must know that future contingencies intervening a Covenant and the performance of that Covenant doe disoblige the conscience from duty or that penalty insuing a ●iolatio● in s●●● a case as if a man Covenants to take such a woman in marriage if this woman before the time of the Celebration of this Nuptiall be found unchaste and 〈◊〉 all D●vines will tell ●s 〈◊〉 ●●is 〈◊〉 i● not b●●●d in Conscience to perform his Cov●●●●t made with this ●●man shee was bound in faithfulnesse to him as well as ●e in affecti●● to her and although this condition was not exprest if that you re●ain faithful and conjugall in your affections to me ● will take you unto my wife yet was it necessarily implyed and the bond in this case without just offence to God or man is violated Vows Covenants Premises and oaths of things unlawfull impossible beyond 〈◊〉 power and Liberties and wherein such consequences 〈◊〉 happen as are forementioned in these cases Co●s●ience is dis-ingaged before God and man and what was our

Member of Parliament or to any Person indempnified thereby for any demer it since this Session or to any receipts of mony out of the Publike Treasure A cause as much your Honours as mine 〈◊〉 Jesus Christs rather then either yours or mine 〈◊〉 might be finished in four houres time in a select C●●mittee if once appointed for Audience thereof which in 8 years space I never could obtain although some Honorable Members have expressed their deep se●s● of the extremity of my oppression that prejudice which I have sustained by this delay and therefore I beleeve it impossible that so just a cause should miscarry in the hands of so just a Parliament My earnest prayer for your Honours shall bee that the splendor of this Representative may by the highest Acts of sincere Reformation of Religion of impartiall Administration of Justice dazle the eyes of all Europe that your Power and greatnesse thereby may bee rendered formidable to all your adversaries Domestick and Forain by Sea and Land in England and Ireland that the people of these Nations by your Pious Prudent Righteous and Resolved indeavours may be assured ut Pacem summam obtinebimus in Patria cum ipso Deo nobis inter not ubi nullum erit bellum nulla contradictio which is the hearts desire of Your Honours in all humility devoted in the highest Services for the Gospell ENO GREY To his Excellency THOMAS Lord FAIRFAX Lord Generall of all the Parliaments Forces in England and Wales And the Right Honourable OLIVER CRUMWELL Lord Lievtenant of Ireland Commander in chief of all the Parliaments Forces there With the Generall Councell of Warre Grace Mercy and Peace be Multiplyed Right Honorable and Honorable THe hearts of such who truly fear the Lord in this our Israel cannot but be towards you who have jeoparded your lives to the death in the high places of the field what Titus acknowledged in his success against Jerusalem the same may we in yours De●s vobiscum in liberand● hoc regn● pugnavit he who hath called you unto fitted you for this service hath united your spirits mutually to affect to effect one end that you are ut manus ut mens Angli● as Hector Aen●● of Troy whereby the Publick hath gained much both Peace Liberty although your selves as yet little for magis mor●● quam mummorum causa doe you ingage England unworthy the affections of such Worthies this Generation much degenerating that should you respect the opinions of man concerning you more then the affection of God unto you who observes all men all things a heathen but a speach becomming a Christian you would repent of all that good afforded them But whatever is the estimation of the world you are the glory of God in his Churches apud deum major est qui melior ille melior qui in virtutib●● praestat The Crown of his Saints yea Sanctorum amor delici● Luther tells us there be Miracula Ocularia and Auricularia Ages to come will admire our mercies in such renowned instruments should we unworthily forget you or your acts which deserve to bee had in eternall 〈…〉 not wee of this Nation variable in our affections 〈…〉 in our judgements wee could not but honour 〈…〉 your Physicall Prescriptions upon the Prudenti●●● Observance of the Causes 〈◊〉 and P●ognost it is of the Malady of this State for spent by the Kings evill administred in the most desperate Paroxysm of our great Body Politick effectuall through the Lords blessing to the absolute cure of the Nation the Remedy being powerfull not only to remove what at present doth distemper this State but to prevent what in future may occasion a Perillous Relapse ut ●●hil defi●it quod ad salutem sufficit These acts of your doe publish your Honours your Humilities doe crown your Graces thereby you deserving rather then desiring the praise of your vertues your vertues And because your Prudence as well as your Courage the wise and Omnipotent God hath prospered to the healing of the Nations I shall humbly beseech you to improve both for the advance of Religion in the power and purity thereof and maintenance of Justice amongst us ●●●gal the evills threatning this Nation in the deformation of the one or in the Non or Mal-administration of the other may he prevented and removed The Lord beat your enemies as smal as the dust and stamps them as the mire of the street give you courage to pursue them and not to turn again untill you have consumed them the Lord be the shield of your help the Sword of your Excellency that by his strength you may run through a Troup by his help you may scale a wall that your feet may be 〈◊〉 Hinds feet and a how of Steel be broken by your Arms the Eternall God be your refuge and underneath you be his everlasting Arms that the Enemy may be thrust out from before you in England in Ireland that he may say destroy them that you may return from Ireland with as many victories by your Armies as good security to your persons as much rejoycing to your friends as great confusion to your Enemies as you did from Scotland that all there all here all elsewhere that do conspire agaist you even the multitudes of the great and ●ervible ones may be as chaffe that passeth away and perish●●● in an instant sodainly as the Lord hath said so prayeth Your Honours humble Servant in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ Eno. Grey To the Reader Courteous Reader THe Health of our Body Politick is preserved by our Laws the ligaments of all civill Societies when grounded upon the infallible Principells of Equity the intention of Parliament and Army in their late transactions I know many that feare the Lord and conscientious of their wayes are much dissatisfied in their judgements about the proceedings of both yet I fear self-love and self-interest perturbates the minds distempers the affections of too many who demurre and scruple against apparent reason unto publick prejudice Had wee a sense of the last years judgment in our punishment from Heaven by unseasonable weather the effects of which wee are like to feel many years upon the Land and cry of the People for a King we would now hold our peace at the presence of the great God and suffer our lips no longer to sin nor our mouths to speake foolishly It is our duty to stand upon our Watch-tower to observe the motions of Divine Providence in the mutati●●s it the 〈◊〉 in this last age wherein all promises and Prophecies shall be accomplished the integrity of Noah consisted in his sidelity in his Generation when degenerate and our sincerity is discerned by a pious temporizing I hate these who have lascivientia ingenia wanton wits and mercenary soules who Mancipate their judgements to the opinions and Errors of others because great in person and power As I would abhor to justifie the wicked so would I

not be healed what may we feare but judgment advanced to the skies which the Lord prevent for the fall will be heavy on those who procured and who continued this wound Thirdly What Lawes or Liberties have incouraged the hearts of wicked ones or strengthened the hands of ●inners by too much lenity or indulgence those Lawes must be reformed and established with greater severity and with due authority ordaining such lawes such executioners superior or inferiour in every place as may be faithfull in the discharge of their duties in conscience in obedience unto God ultimately Many Lawes are without life whereby prophanenesse increase and the land mourneth under the pressure of the sinnes of the inhabitants thereof what Adulteries what Inc●sts what Pride what Oppression yea what Pagan Ignorance what grosse Prophanenesse what secret Idolatry what contempt of divine Worship Sabbaths Ministers Saints ●ad symptomes of a declining State and prognosticks of irrevocable ruine without speedy prevention and remotion by a blessed and effectuall reformation This we have promised to God and the world we have prayed for but oh that we were tender and observant of our duty conscientious 〈◊〉 vigorous in our endeavours to suppresse all sin to advance all godlinesse in the highest degree in our selves and in all others lest the flying rowle of vengeance 〈◊〉 in upon the Nation There are mighty crying sinnes the sin● of S●do● yea such as are not named among the Gentiles to be found in England for which the Lord hath smitten us although wee have not returned to him that smit●●h us that his an●er is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still he a●●lic●● us in our choicest comforts the very supports of life the field is wasted the land mourneth the fruit trees are withered the beasts groane the flocks of sheep are desolate that a faithfull Land is made barren for the wickednesse of those that dwell therein The Lord hath been is still hewing at the root of this Nation this Parliament his compassion hath r●wled within him unwilling he hath been to make England as Ireland as Germany Oh that the sinnes of this preserved remnant create not a new controversie that our overthrow be not like the overthrow of Sodome who would have thought in so fair a morning a Storm should have risen but a Tempe●● of fire and Brimstone who could have feared and yet it came in an instant suddainly No priviledge will exempt a sinfull Nation from the punishing hand of a divine justice no greatnesse can secure it against heaven no wisdom can establish it if sin be found in the skirts of it Not the presence no● prayers of the Saints not the Oracles nor the Ordinances of God no humiliation without reformation can divert that reproach which sinnes bring upon a Nation those judgments which they procure Every ma● begin with himself with his Family le●t the Lord first visit there many a Princely and Noble Family in this State hath faln by the sword of the Lords indignation such who thought themselves too great to be good who were unwilling to be informed who hated to be reformed these have drunke the wine of the Lords fury and were moved and ●●d they have spued and are falne never to rise up more These things happened unto them for examples unto 〈◊〉 if we ●●ake off God God will shake off us the Lord hath a controversie with the Nations he will plead with all ●le●● hee will give them that are wicked to the sword the Lord is now upon that worke which others are grieved at are unwilling unto that is reformation which will cost fire and sword two parts shall dye the third shall passe through the fire he is upon Reforming Parliament Army Nation the hand of the Lord shall bee upon the Cedars of Lebanon the Oakes of Bashan that himself alone may be exalted The Lord is dashing the son against the father brother against brother neighbour against neighbour hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst of England and no wonder the greatest part of men professing Religion are without Religion are against Reformation Christians in name but worse then heathens in nature all crying pleading for reformation but few subjecting submitting unto the power and the authority thereof the potion that should heal us maketh us more sick the humors of this Nation are so farre from evacuation that they are now more inraged God would have healed Israel and the iniquity of Ephraim discovered it selfe a sad presage of judgment and ruine But if after all this we begin with personall reformation if those who are the reformers of others do especially reforme themselves Persons Families Parliament Laws then shall the light of this Nation break forth as the morning the darkness thereof shall be as noone day and the health thereof shall spring forth speedily When the Lord hideth his face who then can behold him but when he giveth quietnesse who then can make trouble Oh that England may be the glory of the earth the emulation of Jew and Gentile Fourthly and lastly as a faithfull Magistracy is the support of Law so a learned pious painfull and soul-saving ministery is the best support of Religion and without the conjunction of these their mutuall concurrence in Counsell in authority no State can prosper Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron The power of Magistrates and of Ministers are divers one from another the power of the one being Ecclesiasticall of the other civill yet in respect of the exercise of this power they ought not to be divided the one from the other because they are powers to confirme not to prejudice the being or wel-being each of other The Harvest is great the labourers are few Many there are amongst us whom the Lord hath fitted with graces with gifts and choice abilities able and understanding men in the Lords work It was Ezra his care Nehemiahs Jehosapbats and Josiahs who did also encourage in the work of the Lord all who were faithfull in their ministration providing for them a comfortable and honourable maintenance Christian Magistrates or the supream authority of a Nation hath the power of Christ in them to depose and deprive in case of unworthinesse as Solomon did Abiat●ar all such as are ignorant erroneous and scandalous as be prophane or formall for from such a ministery tolerated ignorance error formality and prophaneness flowes into a Land or Nation And if a faithfull soul-saving Ministery decay the greatest glory and blessing in a Nation yea the security and tranquillity of that State is departed from it without which no State can expect such a people their friends they willingly allowing them to be Christs foes to live in ignorance darknesse and error without means and remedy to inform to reforme their deluded seduced souls ready to perish to be destroyed unto all eternity The