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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
A96595	Vindiciæ regum; or, The grand rebellion that is, a looking-glasse for rebels, whereby they may see, how by ten severall degrees they shall ascend to the height of their designe, and so throughly rebell, and utterly destroy themselves thereby. And, wherin is clearly proued by holy Scripturs, ancient fathers, constant martyrs, and our best modern writers, that it is no wayes lawfull for any private man, or any sort or degree of men, inferior magistrates, peeres of the kingdom, greatest nobility, lo. of the councel, senate, Parliament or Pope, for any cause, compelling to idolatry, exercising cruelty, prastizing [sic] tyranny, or any other pretext, how fair and specious soever it seems to be, to rebell, take armes, and resist the authority of their lawfull king; whom God will protect, and require all the blood that shall be spilt at the hands of the head rebels. And all the maine objections to the contrary are clearly answered. / By Gr. Williams, L. Bishop of Ossory.	Williams, Gryffith, 1589?-1672.	1643 (1643)	Wing W2675; Thomason E88_1; ESTC R204121	92,613	114

unto the rules of justice when as The Law condemneth no man much lesse the King before his cause be heard And seeing such a competent Judge as can justly determine this controversie betwixt the King and his People or rather betwixt one part of his people and the other cannot be found under Heaven therefore to avoid civill warres and the effusion of humane and Christian blood and the prevention of abundance of other mischiefs That we ought not by any means to resist our Kings Proved both the Scripture teacheth and the Church beleeveth and Reason it self sheweth and the publique safetie requireth that we should transmit this question to be decided onely by him which is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and will when he seeth good bind evill Kings in fetters and their Nobles with links of iron CHAP. V. Sheweth by Scripture the Doctrine of the Church humane reason and the welfare of the weale publique that we ought by no means to rebell A threefold power of every Tyrant Three kinds of tyraunies The doubtfull and dangerous events of Warre Why many men rebell Jehu's example not to be followed 1. THe Scripture saith 1. By the Scriptures I counsell thee to keep the Kings commandement and that in regard of the oath of God that is the oath whereby thou hast sworne before God and by God to obey him Be not hastie to go out of his sight that is not out of his presence but out of his rule and government and stand not in an evill thing that is in opposition or rebellion against thy King which must needs be evill and the worst of all evils to thy King for He doth whatsoever pleaseth him that is Ecclesiast 8.2 3 4. he hath power and authority to do what he pleaseth Where the Word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him What doest thou or Why doest thou so And Solomon saith A Greyhound an Hee-Goat and a King Prov. 30.31 against whom there is no rising up there ought not to be indeed I will not set down what Samuel saith but desire you to read the place 1. Sam. 8.11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18. where you shall see what the King will do and what remedy the Prophet prescribeth against him not to rebell and take up armes but to cry unto the Lord that he would help them And Saint Paul saith Whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God Rom. 13.2 and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation And Saint Peter saith that they which despise government 2. Pet. 2.10.12 and are not afraid to spoake evill of dignities are presumptuous and doe walke after the flesh in the lusts of uncleannesse and as naturall bruit beasts that are made to be taken and destroyed they speake evill of the things they understand not and therefore they shall utterly perish in their own corruption And Saint Jude in like manner calleth those that despise Dominion and speak evill of Dignities the very phrase of Saint Peter filthy dreamers Iude 8.10 11. that defile the flesh and therefore shall perish in the gainsaying of Corah This is the doctrine of God therefore Saint Paul exhorteth us not to rebell nor to speak evill of our Kings 1 Tim 2.2 be they what they will but first of all or before all things to make prayers and supplications for our Kings and for all that are in authoritie And I wonder what spirit except it were the spirit of hell it selfe durst ever presume to answer and evade such plain and pregnant places of Scripture to countenance disobedience and to justifie their rebellion And therefore 2. 2. By the Doctrine of the Church The Church of Christ beleeveth this Doctrine to be the truth of God for no man saith Saint Cyril without punishment resisteth the Laws of Kings but Kings themselves in whom the fault of prevarication hath no place because it is wisely said it is impiety therefore against the will of God to say unto the King Cyril in Iohan. l. 12. c. 56. Iniquè agis thou dost amisse for as God is the supreame Lord of all which judgeth all and is judged of none so the Kings and Princes of the earth which do correct and judge others are to be corrected and judged of none but onely of God to whose power and authority they are onely subject and therfore King David understanding his own station well enough when he was both an adulterer and a murderer and prayeth to God for mercy saith Against thee onely have I sinned because I acknowledge none other my superiour on earth besides thee alone and I have no judge besides thee which can call me to examination or inflict any punishment on me for my transgression And so the Poet saith Regum timendorum in proprios greges Reges in ipsos imperium est Jovis But you will object against Saint Cyril Obiect if it be impiety to say unto the King Thou doest amisse how shall we excuse Samuel that told King Saul he did foolishly and Nathan that reproved King David and Elias that said to King Ahab it was he and his fathers house that made Israel to sinne and John Baptist that told Herod It was not lawfull for him to have his brothers wife I answer 1. Sol. That by the mouth of these men God himself reproved them because these men were no private persons What the Priest or Prophet may do private men may not do but extraordinarily inspired with the Spirit of God to perform the extraordinary messages of God 2. I say as I said before that as Moses may correct and punish Aaron if he doth amisse so Aaron the Priest inregard of his calling may reprove and admonish Moses the chief Magistrate when he doth offend but so that he do it wisely and with that love and reverence which he oweth unto Moses as to his God not publiquely to disgrace and vilifie his Prince unto his people but modestly and privately to amend his fault and reconcile him to God and this is the work of his office which he ought to do as he is a Priest and not of his person which ought not to do it as he is his subject 3. Reason it self confirmeth this truth 3. By humane reason because the King is the head of the body politique and the members can neither judge the head because they are subject unto it nor cut it off because then they kill themselves and cease to be the members of that head and therefore the subjects with no reason can either judge or depose their King 4. 4. From the welware of every Common-wealth The event of every warre is doubtfull The publique safety and welfare of any Common-wealth requireth that the Subjects should never rebell against their King 1. Because the event of a rebellious warre is both dubious and dangerous for who can divine in whose ruine it shall end or which

1. c. 8. pag. 95. in English and the place is worth the noting no power to make Lawes without their King no right to meet without his Writ no liberty to stay any longer then he gives leave how then can you meet as you doe now in my Episcopall See at Kilkenny and continue your Parliament there to make warre against your lawfull King What colour of reason have you to doe the same you cannot pretend to be above your King you have with lies and falshoods most wickedly seduced the whole Kingdome and involved the same in a most unnaturall civill warre you are the actives the King is passive you make the offensive He the defensive war for you began and when he like a gracious King still cried for peace you still made ready for battell And I doubt not but your selves know all this to be true for you know that all Parliament men must have their elections warranted by the Kings especiall Writ you will say The letter sent from a Gentleman to his friend that so you were well and you were chosen but by subjects and intrusted by them to represent the affections and to act the duties of subjects and subjects cannot impose a rule upon their Soveraigne nor make any ordinance against their King and therefore if the representative body of subjects transcend the limits of their trust and doe in the name of the Subjects that which all subjects cannot doe That men intrusted should not go beyond their trust and assume that power which the subjects neither have nor can conferre upon them I see no reason that any subject in the world should any wayes approve of their actions for how can your priviledge of being Parliament men priviledge you from being Murderers Theeves or Traytors if you doe those things that the Law adjudgeth to be murders thefts and treasons Your elections cannot quit you and your places cannot excuse you because he that is intrusted cannot doe more then all they that doe intrust him and therefore all subjects should desert them that exceed the conditions and falsifie the trust which their fellow subjects have reposed in them Besides The King must needs be a part of every Parliament you know the King must needs be reputed part of every Parliament when as the selected company of Knights and Burgesses together with the Spirituall and Temporall Peeres are the representative body and the King is the reall head of the whole Kingdome and therefore if the body separates it selfe from the head it can be but an uselesse trunke that can produce no act which pertaineth to the good of the body because the spirits that give life and motion to the whole body are all derived from the head as the Philosopher teacheth And further you doe all know The power of dissolving the Parliament greater then the power of denying any thing that as the King hath a power to call so he hath a power to dissolve all Parliaments and having a power of dissolving it when he will he must needs haue a power of denying what he pleaseth because the other is farre greater then this And therefore all these premises well considered it is apparent that your sitting in Kilkenny without your King or his Lieutenant which is to the same purpose and your Votes without his assent are all invalid to exact obedience from any subject and for my part I deeme them fooles that will obey them and rebels that will take armes against their King at your commands and if you persist in this your rebellious obstinacy I wish your judgements may light onely upon your owne heads and that those which like the followers of Absolon are simply led by you may have the mist taken from their eyes that they may be able to discerne the duty they owe unto their King that they be not involved and so perish in your sin For though you be never so many and thinke that all the Kingdome Townes and Cities be for you yet take heed lest you imagine such a mischievous device which you are not able to performe Psal 21.11 for the involving of well-mearing men into your bad businesses 1. Reg. 22.29 as Jehoshaphat was misled to warre against Ramoth Gilead doth not onely bring a punishment upon them that are seduced but a farre greater plague upon you that doe seduce them and God who hath at all times so exceeding graciously defended His Majesty and contrary to your hopes and expectation from almost nothing in the beginning of this rebellion hath increased his power to I hope an invincible Army will be a rock of defence unto his anointed For what causes the King suffereth because it is well known to all the world that whatsoever this good King hath suffered at the hands of his subjects it is for the preservation of the true Protestant Religion of the established Lawes of his Kingdoms and of those Reverend Bishops Grave Doctors and all the rest of the Learned and Religious Clergy that have ever maintained and will to the spilling of the last drop of their blood defend this truth against all Papists and other Anabaptisticall Brownists and Sectaries whatsoever And therefore if you that are his Parliament What a shame it is to use the power we have received against him that gave it us should like unthankefull vapours that cloud the Sunne which raised them or like the Moone in her interposition that obscures the glorious ' lampe which enlightens her in the least manner imploy that strength which you have received from His Majesty when he called you together against His Majesty it will be an ugly spot and a foule blemish both for your selves and all your posterities and if not suddenly prevented you may raise such spirits that your selves cannot lay downe and sow such deeds of discord and discontent betwixt the King and his people as may derive through the whole Race of all succeeding Kings such a disaffection to Parliaments as may prove a plague and poyson to the whole Kingdome For if the King out of his favour and grace call you together and intrust you with a power either of continuing concluding or enacting such things as may be for the good of the Commonwealth you abuse that power against him that gave it you I must needs confesse that I am of his mind who saith That it is lawfull to recall a power given when it is abused that the King were freed before God and man from all blame though he should use all possible lawfull means to withdraw that power into his owne hands which being but lent them hath bin so misapplyed against him for if my servant desireth to hold my sword and when I intrust him with it he seekes to thrust the same into my breast will not every man judge it lawfull for me to gaine my sword if it be possible out of his hand and with that sword to cut off his head that would

Magistrates Peeres The Conclusion of the whol Parliaments Popes or whatsoever you please to cal them to give so much liberty unto their misguided consciences so far to follow the desires of their unruly affections as for any cause or under any pretence to withstand Gods Vice-gerent and with violence to make warre against their lawfull King or indeed in the least degree and lowest manner to offer any indignity either in thought word or deed either to Moses our King or to Aaron our High Priest that hath the care and charge of our soules or to any other of those subordinate callings that are lawfully sent by them to discharge those offices wherewith they are intrusted This is the truth of God and so acknowledged by all good men And what Preachers teach the contrary I dare boldly affirme it in the name of God that they are the incendiaries of Hell and deserve rather with Corah to be consumed with fire from Heaven then to be beleeved by any man on Earth CHAP. X. Sheweth the impudency of the Anti-Cavalier How the Rebels deny they warre against the King An unanswerable Argument to presse obedience A further discussion whether for our Liberty Religion or Lawes we may resist our Kings and a patheticall disswasion from Rebellion I Could insert here abundant more both of the Ancient and Moderne Writers that doe with invincible Arguments confirme this truth Anti-Cavalier p. 17.18 c. but the Anti-Cavalier would perswade the world that all those learned Fathers and those constant Martyrs that spent their purest blood to preserve the purity of religion unto us did either belye their owne strength * Yet Tertul. Cypr. whom I quoted before and Ruffin hist Eccles l. 2. c. 1. and S. August in Psal 124. and others avouch the Christians were far stronger then their enemies and the greatest part of Iulians army were Christians or befoole themselves with the undue desire of overvalued Martyrdome but now they are instructed by a better spirit they have clearer illuminations to informe them to resist if they have strength the best and most lawfull authority that shall either oppose or not consent unto them thus they throw dirt in the Fathers face and dishonour that glorious company and noble army of Martyrs which our Church confesseth prayseth God and therefore no wonder that they will warre against Gods annointed here on Earth when they dare thus dishonour and abuse his Saints that raigne in Heaven but I hope the world will beleeve that those holy Saints were as honest men and those worthy Martyrs that so willingly sacrificed their lives in defence of truth could as well testifie the truth and be as well informed of the truth as these seditious spirits that spend all their breath to raise armes against their Prince and to spill so much bloud of the most faithfull Subjects But though the authority of the best authors is of no authority with them that will beleeve none but themselves yet I would wish all other men to read that Homilie of the Church of England where it is said that God did never long prosper rebellious subjects against their Prince were they never so great in authority or so many in number yea were they never so noble so many so stout so witty and politique but allwaies they came by the overthrow and to a shamefull end Yea though they pretend the redresse of the Common-wealth which rebellion of all other mischiefes doth most destroy or reformation of religion whereas rebellion is most against all true religion yet the speedy overthrow of all Rebels sheweth The Homily against rebellion p. 300 301. that God alloweth neither the dignity of any person nor the multitude of any people nor the weight of any cause as sufficient for the which the subjects may move rebellion against their Princes and I would to God that every subject would read over all the six parts of the Homilie against willfull rebellion for there are many excellent passages in it which being diligently read and seriously weighed would worke upon every honest heart never to rebell against their lawfull Prince And therefore the Lawes of all Lands being so plaine to pronounce them Traytors that take armes against their Kings as you may see in the Statutes of England 25. Edw. 3. c. 2. And as you know it was one of the greatest Articles for which the Earle of Strafford was beheaded that he had actually leavied warre against the King The Nobles and Gentry Lords and Commons of both Houses of Parliament in all Kingdomes being convicted in their consciences with the truth of this Doctrine doe in all their Votes and Declarations conlude and protest and I must believe them that all the leavies monies and other provision of Horse and Men that they raise and arm are for the safety of the Kings person and for the maintenance of his Crowne and Dignity Nay more then this the very Rebels in this our Kingdome of Ireland knowing how odious it is before God and man for subjects to rebell and take armes against their lawfull King do protest if you will believe them that they are the Kings Souldiers and doe fight and suffer for their King and in the defence of his Prerogatives But you know the old saying Tuta frequensque via est sub amici fallere nomen the Devill deceiveth us soonest when he comes like an Angel of light and you shall ever know the true subjects best by their actions farre better then by their Votes Declarations or Protestations for Quid audiam verba cum videam contraria facta When men doe come in sheepes cloathing and inwardly are ravening wolves when they come with honey in their mouthes and gall in their hearts and like Joab with peace in their tongue and a sword in their hand a petition to intreat and a weapon to compell I am told by my Saviour that I shall know them by their works not their words And therefore as our Saviour saith Not he that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven So I say not he that cryeth peace peace is the sonne of peace but he that doth obey his Prince and doth most willingly whatsoever hee commandeth or suffereth most patiently for refusing to doe what hee commandeth amisse This is the true Subject Well to draw towards the end of this point That is when the Commonalty guide the Nobility and the Subjects rule their King of our obedience to our Soveraigne Governour I desire you to remember a double story the one of Plutarch which tels us how the tayle of the Serpent rebelled against the head because that did guide the whole body and drew the tayle after it whithersoever it would therefore the head yeelded that the tayle should rule and then it being small and wanting eyes drew the whole body head and all through such narrow crevises clefts and