Selected quad for the lemma: head_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
head_n	body_n	king_n	politic_a	2,735	5	10.6730	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63192	The tryal of Sir Henry Vane, Kt. at the Kings Bench, Westminster, June the 2d. and 6th, 1662 together with what he intended to have spoken the day of his sentence (June 11) for arrest of judgment (had he not been interrupted and over-ruled by the court) and his bill of exceptions : with other occasional speeches, &c. : also his speech and prayer, &c. on the scaffold.	Vane, Henry, Sir, 1612?-1662, defendant.; England and Wales. Court of King's Bench.	1662 (1662)	Wing T2216; ESTC R21850	115,834	133

such a Body is sounded in the common consent of that Body The Office of chief Ruler or Head over any State Common-wealth or Kingdom hath the Right of due Obedience from the People inseparably annexed to it It is an Office not onely of Divine Institution but for the Safety and Protection of the whole Body or Community and therefore justly and necessarily draws to it and engages their Subjection This Office of the Soveraign according to the Laws and Fundamental Constitutions of the Government of England is ministred by the King in a twofold Capacity as his Will and personal Command is in Conjunction and Agreement with his People in Parliament during the Session thereof or as it is in Conjunction and Agreement with the Law the Parliament not Sitting But his Will and Personal Command single in dis-junction and disagree from the Parliament or the Laws hath not the force of a Law saith Fortescue and gives the Reason of it Because this is a limitted Monarchy where the King's Power as to the exercise of it is onely a Power Politick The Obedience then which from the Subject is due to the King and which they are sworn to perform by the Oath of Allegiance is to him in the ministry of the Royal Office according to the reason and intent of the Fundamental Compact and Constitution and according to his own Oath which is to Govern by Law that is to Exercise his Rule or Royal commanding Power in Conjunction and Agreement with the Parliament when sitting and in Conjunction and Agreement with the Laws of the Land they not sitting To exercise his Power otherwise is and hath been alwayes judged a grievance to the People and a going against that which is the original Right and just Liberty of the Community who are not to be bound to such personal Commands at will and pleasure nor compelled to yield Obedience thereunto The contrary hereunto was the Principle at bottom of the Kings Cause which he endeavoured to uphold and maintain in order to decline and lay aside the Legal Restraints as aforesaid which the Government of England by the Fundamental Constitution is subjected unto as to the exercise and ministery of the Royal Office From the Observation and Experience which the Pople of England had and made many years together by their Representatives in Parliament of a desire in the King to shake off these Legal Restraints in the Exercise of the Regal Power and on their having tried the best wayes and means that occurred to their Understandings to prevent the same and to secure to themselves the enjoyment of their Just Rights and Liberty they at last pitch'd upon the desiring from the King the continuance of the sitting of the Parliament called November 3d 1640 in such sort as is expressed in that Act 17. Car. wherein it is provided That it shall not be Discontinued or Dissolved but by Act of Parliament This was judged by them the greatest Security imaginable for keeping the ministry of the Royal Office within its due Bounds and for quieting the People in the enjoyment of their Rights But experience hath shewed that this yet could not be done without a War the worst and last of Remedies For although their Continuance as the Representative Body of the Kingdom with the Right to exercise the Power and Priviledges inherent in and inseparable from that Supream Court and Chief Senate whereof the King is Head both making but one Person or Politick Body in Law yet they themselves as well as the King were bound by the Fundamental Constitution or Compact upon which the Government was at first built containing the Condition upon which the King accepted of the Royal Office and on which the People granted to him the Tribute of their Obedience and due Allegiance This Condition as the Lawes and Experience declare is that the King shall exercise his Office of Rule over them according to the Laws as hath been shewed and as he and his People shall from time to time agree in Common Council in Parliament for that end assembled In respect hereof the Laws so made are called the Concords or Agreements passed between the King and the Subject in the 3d part of Cooks Institutes These Agreements then are the Standard unto the Kings Rule and the Peoples Obedience signifying the justice of his Commands and the dueness of their Allegiance But the case so happening that this Conjunction and Agreement which ought to be found between the personal Will of the King and Representative Will of the Kingdom failing and these two Wills declaring themselves in Contrariety and Opposition both of them becoming standing Powers Co-ordinate and distinct parts of the Supremacy as the two Channels wherein the Supremacy is placed and appointed to run as to its exercise by the Fundamental Constitution hence sprang the War each asserting and endeavouring to defend and maintain their own part and right which ought not to be kept up in dis-junction and contrariety but in Unity and Agreement each with other These two Parties with their Adherents in this Case may be according to the Law Contrarients one towards another as the Law affords an Example in the Preamble to Cook 's 4th Part of his Institutes not properly Traytors being co-ordinate Powers parts of the Supremacy that are the Heads to each Party and by consequence have a right of making a War as their last Appeal if they cannot otherwise agree Being once entred thus into a state of War and actual Enmity they do as it were become two Nations and cease to be under the Obligations they were in before for during this state of War and Enmity the standing Laws in a sort cease and a new way of Rule each Party Forms to himself and his Adherents as may best consist for each of their Safeties and Preservations Upon this Dis-junction of the two Wills in the Harmony and Agreement whereof the Supremacy is placed these following Queries do naturally arise First To which or Whether of these by Law is the Allegiance required as due Is it to be yeilded to the Personal Will of the King single in disjunction from the Will of the Representative Body of the Kingdom or to the Will of the People in dis-junction from the Will of the King Or is it to the Personal Will of the King in conjunction with the Laws though in opposition and contrariety to the Will of the Kingdoms Representative in Parliament Assembled Or is it to the Will of the Kingdomes Representative in conjunction with the Laws though in opposition to the Personal Will of the King The Second Querie is In whose Judgement in this case are the People by Law to acquiesce as to the declaring with whom the Laws are Whether the Personal Judgement of the King single or the Vote of the Senate that is the Kingdoms Representative Body The Third Querie is With whom will the Laws be found to go in this Case so rare unusual and never happening

even whilst here in the body be made partaker of Eternal Life in the first fruits of it and at last sit down with Christ in Glory at his right-hand Here I shall mention some remarkable passages and changes of my Life In particular how unsought for by my self I was called to be a Member of the Long Parliament what little advantage I had by it and by what steps I became satisfied with the Cause I was engaged in and did pursue the same What the Cause was did first shew it self in the first Remonstrance of the House of Commons Secondly in the Solemn League and Covenant Thirdly in the more refined pursuit of it by the Commons House in their Actings single with what Result they were growing up into which was in the breast of the House and unknown or what the three Proposals mentioned in my Charge would have come to at last I shall not need now to say but only from all put together to assert That this Cause which was owned by the Parliament was the CAUSE of GOD and for the Promoting of the Kingdom of his dear Son JESUS CHRIST wherein are comprehended our Liberties and Duties both as Men and as Christians And since it hath pleased God who separated me from the womb to the knowledge and service of the Gospel of his Son to separate me also to this hard and difficult service at this time and to single me out to the defence and justification of this his Cause I could not consent by any words or actions of mine that the innocent Blood that hath been shed in the defence of it throughout the whole War the Guilt and moral evil of which must and does certainly lye somewhere did lye at my door or at theirs that have been the faithful Adherers to this Cause This is with such evidence upon my heart that I am most freely and chearfully willing to put the greatest Seal to it I am capable which is the pouring out of my very Blood in witness to it which is all I shall need to say in this place and at this time having spoken at large to it in my Defence at my Tryal intending to have said more the last day as what I thought was reasonable for Arrest of the Judgment but I was not permitted then to speak it Both which may with time and God's providence come to publick view And I must still assert That I remain wholly unsatisfied that the course of proceedings against me at my Tryal were according to Law but that I was run upon and destroyed contrary to Right and the Liberties of Magna Charta under the form only of Justice which I leave to God to decide who is the Judge of the whole World and to clear my Innocency Whilst in the mean time I beseech him to forgive them and all that have had a hand in my Death and that the Lord in his great mercy will not lay it unto their charge And I do account this Lot of mine no other than what is to be expected by those that are not of the World but whom Christ hath chosen out of it for the Servant is not greater than his Lord And if they have done this to the green tree they will do it much more to the dry However I shall not altogether excuse my self I know that by many weaknesses and failers I have given occasion enough of the ill usage I have met with from men though in the main the Lord knows the sincerity and integrity of my heart whatever Aspersions and Reproaches I have or do lye under I know also that God is just in bringing this Sentence and Condemnation upon me for my sins there is a body of sin and death in me deserves this Sentence and there is a similitude and likeness also that as a Christian God thinks me worthy to bear with my Lord and head in many circumstances in reference to these dealings I have met with in the good I have been endeavouring for many years to be doing in these Nations and especially now at last in being numbred amongst transgressors and made a publick Sacrifice through the wrath and contradictions of men and in having finished my course and fought the good fight of Faith and resisted in a way of suffering as you see even unto blood This is but the needful preparation the Lord hath been working in me to the receiving of the Crown of Immortality which he hath prepared for them that love him The prospect whereof is so chearing that through the Joy in it that is set before the eyes of my Faith I can through mercy endure this Cross despise this Shame and am become more than Conquerour through Christ that hath loved me For my Life Estate and all is not so dear to me as my Service to God to his Cause to the Kingdom of Christ and the future welfare of my Country and I am taught according to the Example as well as that most Christian saying of a Noble Person that lately died after this publick manner in Scotland How much better is it to chuse Affliction and the Cross than to sin or draw back from the Service of the Living God into the wayes of Apostacy and Perdition That Noble Person whose Memory I honour was with my self at the beginning and making of the Solemn League and Covenant the Matter of which and the holy Ends therein contained I fully assent unto and have been as desirous to observe but the rigid way of prosecuting it and the oppressing Uniformity that hath bin endeavored by it I never approved This were sufficient to vindicate me from the false Aspersions and Calumnies which have been laid upon me of Jesuitism and Popery and almost what not to make my Name of ill savour with good men which dark mists do now dispel of themselves or at least ought and need no pains of mine in making an Apology For if any man seek a proof of Christ in me let him reade it in his action of my Death which will not cease to speak when I am gone And henceforth let no man trouble me for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus I shall not desire in this place to take up much time but only as my last words leave this with you That as the present storm we now lie under and the dark Clouds that yet hang over the Reformed Churches of Christ which are coming thicker and thicker for a season were not un-fore-seen by me for many years passed as some Writings of mine declare So the coming of Christ in these Clouds in order to a speedy and sudden Revival of his Cause and spreading his Kingdom over the face of the whole Earth is most clear to the eye of my Faith even that Faith in which I dye whereby the Kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ Amen Even so come Lord Jesus Some Passages of his PRAYER on the Scaffold

Son Lay him low and humble abase his soul for his sins and all his unworthinesses before thee Men cannot speak evil enough of our sins In this perswasion this abasement and humiliation thy Servant desires to die And dear Lord thou seest knowst all things and art able to witness to the truth integrity of thy Servant When his blood is shed upon the Block let it have a voice afterward that may speak his Innocency and strengthen the Faith of thy Servants in the Truth Let it also serve for conviction to the worst of thy Enemies that they may say Surely the Lord knows and the Lord owns his Servant as one that belongs to him The desire of our soul is to hasten to thee O God to be dissolved that we may be with Christ Blessed be thy Name that this great strait that we were before in is now determined that there is no longer abode for me in this mortal body Our great Captain the great General of our souls did go in a way of affliction before us to Heaven Come Lord declare thy Will that thy poor Servant may manifest a readiness to come to Thee Prepare his heart that in his access to Thee may he be brought down at thy feet in shame confusion for all the evil is so of hul but Thou art his salvation Let thy Servant speak something on the behalf of the Nation wherein he hath lived Lord did we not exceed other Nations in our day Great things have been done by thee in the midst of us Oh that thou wouldst look down in pity compassion and pardon the sins of this whole Nation and lay them not to their charge shew them what is thy good and acceptable Will and bring them into subjection thereunto We humbly pray thee O Lord look down with compassion upon this great populous City cleanse away the impurity sinfulness and defilements thereof cause their souls to delight in thy Word that they may live Let a spirit of Reformation and Purity spring up in and amongst them with power make them willing to lay down all that is dear to them for thee that Thou mayst give them a Crown of Life that they may always desire chuse affliction and to be exposed to the worst condition hardest circumstances that can be brought upon them in this world rather than sin against him that hath loved them and bought them with a price that they might live to him in their bodies and in their spirits We are assured Thou knowest our suffering case and condition how it is with us We desire to give no just occasion of offence nor to provoke any but in meekness to forgive our Enemies Thy Servant that is now falling asleep doth heartily desire of thee that thou wouldest forgive them and not lay this sin to their charge Before the stroke he spake to this effect I bless the Lord who hath accounted me worthy to suffer for his Name Blessed be the Lord that I have kept a conscience void of offence to this day I bless the Lord I have not disserted the Righteous Cause for which I suffer But his very last words of all at the Block were as followeth Father glorifie thy Servant in the sight of men that he may glorifie thee in the discharge of his Duty to Thee and to his Country It was observed that no signs of inward fear appeared by any trembling or shaking of his hands or any other parts of his body all along on the Scaffold Yea an ancient Traveller and curious observer of the demeanor of persons in such publick Executions did narrowly eye his Countenance to the last breath and his Head immediatly after the separation he observed that his Countenance did not in the least change and whereas the Heads of all he had before seen did some way or other move after severing which argued some reluctancy and unwillingness to that parting-blow the Head of this Sufferer lay perfectly still immediately upon the separation on which he said to this purpose That his Death was by the free consent and act of his mind which Animadversion notably accords with what the Sufferer himself had before expressed in differencing a death by rational choice from that by sickness which is with constraint upon the body He desired to be dissolved to be with Christ The Names of the Grand Jury in the Case of Sir Henry Vane SIr John Cropley of Clarkenwel London Knight and Baronet Thomas Taylor of St. Martins in the Fields London Esq Francis Swift of St. Gyles in the Fields Esq. Jonas Morley of Hammersmith Gent. George Cooper of Covent Garden Gent. Thomas Constable of Covent Garden Gent. Edward Burrows of East-Smithfield Gent. Michael Dibbs of the same Gent. Edward Gregory of St. Gyles in the Fields Gent. Richard Freeman of Istington Gent. Thomas Pitcock of the same Gent. Richard Towers of Clarkenwel Gent. Robert Vauce of Paddington Gent. Thomas Benning of Wilsdon Gent. Francis Child of Acton Gent. Isaac Cotton of Bow Gent. Peter Towers of Mile-end Gent. Thomas Vffman of Hammersmith Gent. Matthew Child of Kensington Gent. Bryan Bonnaby of Westminster Gent. George Rouse of St. Gyles in the Fields Gent. Twenty one in all The Names of the Petty Jury Sir William Roberts Sir Christopher Abdy John Leech Daniel Cole John Stone Daniel Brown Henry Carter Thomas Chelsam Thomas Pitts Thomas Upman Andrew Brent William Smith Judges of the King 's Bench. Chief Justice Foster Justice Mallet Justice Twisden Justice Windham The Kings Counsel against the Prisoner no Counsel being permited to speake one word in his behalf to the matter or form of the Indictment or any thing else Sir Geoffry Palmer the King's Attorney General Sir Henneage Fynch the King's Sollicitor General Sir John Glyn. Sir John Maynard Sir William Wild. Serjeant Keeling Witnesses against Sir Henry Vane Marsh a Papist 't is said who witnessed what was accounted most dangerous against the Prisoner as to change of Government William Dobbins Mathew Lock Thomas Pury Thomas Wallis John Coot The Peoples Cause Stated HE in whom is the Right of Soveraign and to give Law is either so of himself or in the Right of another that may derive the same unto him which shews that there are two sorts of Soveraings A Soveraign in the first sense none is nor can be but God who is of himself most absolute And he that is first of all others in the second sence is the Man Christ Jesus to whom the Power of Soveraign in the Right of the Father is committed over all the Works of Gods hands Christ exercised the same in the capacity of David's Root from before the beginning of the World He owne himself thus to be long before he became David's Seed This his being in Spirit or hidden being even as a Creature the first of all Creatures in personal Union with the Word David saw and acknowledged Psal 110. 1. Thus Christ may be called God's Lieutenant

Judgement and the Lord's Day And this is that in every individual man which in the collective Body of the People and meeting of Head and Members in Parliament is called The Supream Authority and is the publick reason and will of the whole Kingdon the going against which is in Nature as well as by the Law of Nations an offence of the highest rank amongst men For it must be presumed that there is more of the Wisdom and Will of God in that publick Suffrage of the whole Nation than of any private Person or lesser collective Body whatsoever not better quallified and principled For Man is made in God's Image or in a likeness in Judgement and Will unto God himself according to the measure that in his nature he is proportioned and made capable to be the receiver and bearer thereof Therefore it is that the resisting and opposing either of that Judgement of Will which is in it self Supream and the Law to all others or which bears so much proportion and likeness to the Supream Will as is possible for a Society and community of Men agreeing together for that end to contrive and set up for an administration thereof unto them is against the duty of any member of that Society as well as it is against the duty of the Body of the whole Society to oppose its Judgement and Will to that of the Supream Law-giver their highest Soveraign God himself The highest Judgement and Will set up by God for Angels and Men in their particular beings to hold proportion with and bear conformity unto in the capacity of Ruled in relation to their chief Ruler sinnes forth in the person of Christ the engrafted Word And when by the Agreement or common Consent of a Nation or State there is such a Constitution and Form of Administration pitched upon as in a standing and ordinary way may derive and conveigh the nearest and greatest likeness in humane Laws or Acts of such a Constitution unto the Judgement and Will of the Supream Legislator as the Rule and declared Duty for every one in that Society to observe It is thereby that Government or Supream Power comes to receive Being in a Nation or State and is brought into exercise according to God's Ordinance and Divine Institution So then it is not so much the Form of the Administration as the thing Administred wherein the good or evil of Government doth consist that is to say a greater likeness or unlikeness unto Judgement and Will of the highest Being in all the Acts or Laws flowing from the Fundamental Constitution of the Government Hence it is that common Consent lawfully and rightfully given by the Body of a Nation and intrusted with Delegates of their own free choice to be exercised by them as their Representatives as well for the Welfare and good of the Body that trusts them as to the Honour and Well-pleasing of God the Supream Legislator is the Principle and Means warranted by the Law of Nature and Nations to give Constitution and Admission to the exercise of Government and Supream Authority over them and amongst them Agreeable hereunto we are to suppose that our Ancestors in this Kingdom did proceed when they constituted the Government thereof in that form of Administration which hath been derived to us in the course and channel of our Customes and Laws amongst which the Law and Customes in and of the Parliaments are to be accounted as chief For Hereby First The Directive or Legislative Power having the Right to State and Give the Rule for the Governors Duty and the Subjects Obedience is continued in our Laws which as well the King as People are under the Observation of witness the Coronation Oath and the Oath of Allegiance Secondly The Coercive or Executive Power is placed in one Person under the Name and Style of a King to be put forth not by his own single personal Command but by the signification of his Will and Pleasure as the Will of the whole State in and by his Courts of Justice and stated publick Counsels and Judicatures agreed on for that purpose between him and his People in their Parliamentary Assemblies The Will of the whole State thus signified the Law it self prefers before the personal Will of the King in distinction from the Law and makes the one binding the other not So that the publick Will of the State signified and declared by the publick Suffrage and Vote of the People or Kingdom in Parliament Assembled is a Legal and Warrantable ground for the Subjects Obedience in the things commanded by it for the good and welfare of the whole Body according to the best Understanding of such their Representative Body by it put forth during the time of its sitting The Body with whom the Delegated Vote and publick Suffrage of the whole Nation is Intrusted being once Assembled with Power not to be Dissolved but by their own consent in that capacity the highest Vote and Trust that can be is exercised and this by Authority of Parliament unto ex Officio or by way of Office are the Keepers of the Liberties of England or of the People by the said Authority for which they are accountable if they do not faithfully discharge that their duty This Office of keeping the Liberty which by the Law of God and Nature is due to the Community or whole Body of the People is by way of Trust committed by themselves to their own Delegates and in effect amounts unto this 1. That they may of right keep out and refuse any to exercise Rule and Command over them except God himself who is the Supream and Universal King and Governour or such as shall agree in their Actings to bear his Image which is to be Just and shew for the Warrant of their Exercise of Soveraignty both a likeness in Judgement and Will unto him who is Wisdom and Righteousness it self and the Approbation and common Consent of the whole Body rationally reposing that Trust in them from what is with visible and apparent Characters manifest to them of an aptness and sufficiency in them to give forth such publick Acts of Government that may bear the Stamp of God's Impression upon them in the Judgements they do and execute especially being therein helped with a National Counsel of the Peoples own choosing from time to time 2. They may of right keep hold and restrain him or them with whom the Coercive or Executive Power is intrusted unto a punctual performance of Duty according to the Fundamental Constitution the Oath of the Ruler and the Laws of the Land And if they shall refuse to be so held and restrained by the humble Desires Advice and common Consent in Parliament and the Peoples Delegates be invaded and attempted upon by force to deter them from the faithful discharge of this their Duty they may in asserting their Right and in a way of their own just Defence raise Armes put the issue upon Battel and Appeal unto

and to betray our Countrey If God then do think fit to permit such a dispensation to pass upon us it is for the punishment of our sins and for a plague to those that are the Actors therein to bring more swift exemplary vengeance upon them Such as have discharged a good Conscience in what may most offend the higher Powers are not to fear though they be admitted to the exercise of their Rule with an unrestrained Power and revengeful mind Though from that Mountain the Storm that comes will be very terrible yet some are safest in Storms as experience shews Yea best therein by Gods Mercies when their greatest enemies think most irrecoverably to undo them Our late Condition held much resemblance with that of the Jewes and we deserve as well to be rejected as they were If Christ were in the flesh amongst us as he was with them we are as likely to prefer theeves and murtherers before him and crucifie him The present necessity in a righteous Cause is to be submitted to and we are not to be discouraged by the danger which to some seems threatned us from former or present Laws For no man that acts for common safety when the Sword hath absolute power and shall also command it can justly be questioned afterwards for acting contrary to some former Laws which could be binding no longer then whilst the Civil Sword had Soveraignty What People under Heaven have had more Experiments of God's timely assistance in all their Extreamities then English-men as well with respect to times past as within our remembrance Are the like Mercies recorded of any Nation In their times of greatest Confusion they were preserved They were a living active Body without a Head A Bush burning in the Flames of a Civil War yet not consumed A People when without a Government not embrued in one anothers Blood A wonder to all Neighbours round about and many signal Changes brought about without Blood which indubitably evidences that God is in the Bush and would gather us together as Chickens under a Hen to be brooded by him if we were not most stubbornly hardened Our sins have been the cause that our Counsels our Forces our Wit our Conquests and our Selves have been destructive to our selves to each other and to a happy advancement towards our long expected and desired Settlement Until these sins of ours be repented truly and throughly all the Wisdom and Power upon Earth shall not avail us but every day every attempt will encrease our Troubles until there be a final extirpation of all that hinders God's Work When this once is nothing shall harm us God being a sure refuge against all evils if we reconcile our selves to him by Faith and Repentance Then even those things that are most mischievous in their own natures shall be made our advantage and security The Peoples Cause whom God after trial hath declared free is a righteous one though not so prudently and righteously managed as it might and ought to have been God's doom therefore is justly executed upon us with what intent and jugglings soever it was prosecuted by men Man's corruption makes him more firmly to adhere to that which is good in which case it is not many times Virtue so much as Necessity that keeps men Constant having no other means of safety and subsistance for the most part The goodness of any Cause is not meerly to be judged by the Events whether visibly prosperous or unprosperous but by the righteousness of its Principles nor is our Faith and Patience to fail under the many fears doubts wants troubles and Power of Adversaries in the passage to the recovery of our long lost Freedom For it is the same Cause with that of the Israelites of old of which we ought not to be ashamed or distrustful How hath it fared with the Cause of Christ generally for more now than 1600 years being made the common object of scorn and persecution not from the base and foolish onely but from the noblest and wisest persons in the Worlds esteem Yet though our Sufferings and the time of our warfare seems long it is very short considering the perpetuity of the Kingdom which at last we shal obtain wherein we shal individually reign with the chief Soveraign thereof For whereas all the Kingdoms of the World have not yet lasted 6000 years this is everlasting and without end They that overcome by not loving their lives unto the death Rev. 12. 11. shall be Pillars in the House of this everlasting Kingdom never to be removed They shall be Kings and Priests to God sitting with him upon his Throne subjecting the Nations and reigning with him for ever and ever This is a Kingdom that consists with the Divinity of Christ and humanity of men Such a reign of Christ upon earth as will not be without Laws agreeable to humane Nature nor without Magistrates appointed as Officers under him in which Election God and the People shall have a joint concurrence God's Throne in mens Consciences must then be resigned and his People permitted to enjoy the Liberties due to them by the Laws of Grace and Nature Into this God's own immediate hand can now onely lead us by his own coming to Judgement in the Valley of Jehoshaphat Meditations concerning Man's Life c. Penned by this Sufferer in his Prison State IT is a principal part of Wisdom to know how to esteem Life to hold and preserve to loose or give it up There is scarce any thing man more fails in than this They that think nothing dearer than Life esteem Life for it self live not but to live Others think the shortest Life best either not to be born at all or else to die quickly These are two extreams That comes nearer Truth a Wise Man said Life is such a good that if a man knew what he did in it he would not accept at least not desire it Vitam nemo cuperet si daretur tantum scientibus Wise Men in living make a Virtue of Necessity live as long as they should not as long as they can There is a time to Live and a time to die A good Death is far better and more elegible than an ill Life A wise man Lives but so long as his Life is more worth than his Death The longer Life is not alwayes the better To what end serves a long Life Simply to live breath eat drink and see this World What needs so long a time for all this Me thinks we should soon be tired with the daily repetition of these and the like Vanities Would we live long to gain knowledge experience and Virtue This seems an honest Design but is better to be had other wayes by good men when their Bodies are in the grave None usually imploy their time so ill in this World as Men. Non inopes sumus vitae sed prodigi Some begin to live when they should die Some have ended before they begin 'T is incident to