Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	parliament_n	power_n	sovereign_a	2,128	5	9.5338	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85386	Calumny arraign'd and cast. Or A briefe answer to some extravagant and rank passages, lately fallen from the pen of William Prynne, Esquire, in a late discourse, entituled, Truth triumphing over falshood, &c. against Mr John Goodwin, Minister of the Gospel. Wherein the loyall, unfeigned and unstained affection of the said John Goodwin to the Parliament, and civill magistracie, is irrefragably and fully vindicated and asserted against those broad and unchristian imputations, most untruly suggested in the said discourse against him. By the said John Goodvvin. Licensed entered and printed according to order.	Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.	1645 (1645)	Wing G1153; Thomason E26_18; ESTC R12923	51,593	64

Rights of all nationall Bodies or else peculiar to this State and so also they are either such as are by their constant practice commonly declared or else more reserved for occasional emergencies The two former are obvious to judge of and the latter also apprehensible upon their discovery of them especially with their grounds else how could they have been assisted in the defence of them all this time 4. Whereas he vilifies or insults over me as being a meere Divine I confesse I have not much to except against the disparagement yet I desire leave to speak these three things 1. That if Mr. Prynne himselfe had been a meere Divine he had chosen the better part and if he yet knew how to tranforme the skill which hee hath in the Law into a like proportion of sound Divinity he and the Church should gain by it so great plenty is there of good Lawyers and so few faithfull labourers in Gods harvest 2. Though I pretend to no great knowledge in any other Science but to that which is the glory of all the rest Divinity I mean no nor yet to one halfe of that knowledge in this which my years and opportunities had not I been a sonne of folly and infirmities above many might well have furnished me with yet can I not with truth yeeld my selfe so meerly a Divine as not to understand many Principles and Maximes of reason besides those which I have learned from the Scriptures As that every whole is more then any part of it That no effect can possibly exceed the vertue or efficacy of the totall cause thereof That one part of any contradiction is verifiable of every thing That the good of many other circumstances being alike is to be preferred before the like good of one or of a few with many others of affinity with these By the authority and aid of which alone without the concurrence or assistance of any Principle at all proper to the Science of Divinity I know God assisting I am able to make good the ground which I have chosen to stand upon in the controversies depending between Mr. Prynne and me Yea I should injure mine own ignorance and weaknesse and censure them too deep if I should deny but that I know somewhat in other Arts and Sciences also 3. And lastly if I be a meer Divine I remember I have read some such observation as this for my comfort that when the streame of endevours is divided the waters of knowledge run but shallow in a plurality of channels {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} But 5. Whereas he lifts up this Iron mace on high and thinkes to break all in peeces like a potters vessell that I have either said or ever shall be able to say to escape the push of his pike PRESUMPTUOUSLY wherewith he makes at me in the pre-recited charge that Divines are no competent Judges of Parliaments privileges and that therefore it was no lesse then PRESUMPTION nay then PRESUMPTION upon PRESUMPTION then high PRESUMPTION for me being a meer Divine and a man altogether ignorant in the ancient Rights and Privileges of our Parliaments to undertake to determine and judge of them so peremptorily c. I answer 1. If I had been altogether ignorant of the Rights and Privileges of Parliament I was not so capable of ingaging my selfe by that solemne vow which is now upon me for the maintaining of them sincerely really constantly c. For though a man may indefinitely swear to maintain the just rights of such or such a Body though he know them not all distinctly yet that he may sweare in judgement it is requisite he be not altogether ignorant of them So that if Mr. Prynnes doctrine in this point be true it is more then time for me to flie from my Covenant as from a Serpent and to abhorre my selfe in dust and ashes before the presence of God that ever I took it But blessed be God my ignorance of the Rights and Privileges of Parliaments is not such but that I know many of them These by name questionlesse are some of them To bee the Soveraigne Tribunall and supreme Judicatory in the Kingdome To have a Legislative power in civill affaires in respect of the whole Kingdome To have a power of discharging or repealing all former Lawes and Statutes that are found inconvenient for the State and Kingdome To dispose of the Militia of the Kingdom for the safety and best advantage thereof To impose Rates and Taxes of money for the necessary occasions of the Kingdome to call even the greatest Delinquents in the Kingdome to account and to inflict punishments upon them according to the nature of their crimes To defend protect and encourage and that with an higher hand then others can doe those that doe well and live peaceably and are serviceable in their callings and imployments to the State Besides many others like unto the Starres in the Firmament of heaven which cannot be numbred 2. Whereas Mr. Prynne to make light of darknesse and to cover the shame of his darling PRESUMPTUOUSLY with honor thrusts Divines out of doors as no competent judges of Parliaments privileges he must know from a meer Divine if there be any place left in him for an addition in that kind and intus apparens doth not prohibere alienum with too strong an hand that Divines in one respect that of soveraigne consideration are Judges of a better more regular competencie of such things then Lawyers are without prejudice to that profession be it spoken yea the meerer Divine in M. Pryns sense the more competent Judge in this kind as the meere Physitian a more competent Judge of medicines then others There is a double judgement or dijudication of Parliament Privileges the one positive or affirmative the other privative or negative The positive or affirmative judgement wee speake of consists in a faculty or ability of discerning what really and indeed are the Privileges of Parliament the judgement which I call negative consists in the like faculty or ability of discerning what are not For this is a most certain and undoubted Maxime That nothing that is sinfull or contrary to the will and word of God can possibly be a privilege of Parliament The reason whereof is plain Nothing that in the nature and direct tendencie of it is dishonourable or destructive to a creature can possibly bee any privilege thereof Now whatsoever is sinfull and displeasing unto God is in the nature and direct tendencie of it dishonourable and destructive to the creature as the whole tenour of the Scriptures almost yea and the impressions of naturall light and conscience in all men doe abundantly confirme Ergo So then the Scriptures or word of God being the Standard or supreme Rule whereby to judge what is sinfull and consequently destructive to the creature and what not evident it is that they who reasonably may be presum'd to have the best knowledge and soundest understanding

the passage so tenter'd tortur'd and tormented by the evill spirit which so much haunts Mr. Prynnes pen it was occasioned indeed necessitated by his own most unreasonable bloody and importune suggestions clamours and instigations of authoritie against mee in regard of which I had no other course but to give a faire and reall account out of what principle and motive in reference to the Parliament I spake such and such things which were most unchristianly handled and misused by his pen Now then to whisper those things in the eares only of a few the knowledge whereof concernes so many thousands is not the duty but an high prevarication of the duty of a Minister of Jesus Christ Secondly neither doth he know whether the Doctrines so much questioned and quarrelled by him did or do so particularly concern my friends in Parliament by my friends I suppose hee means my acquaintance for otherwise I trust the whole number of that honourable Assembly are my friends at least I know no cause but why they should as many other members of this Assembly If so his ignorance in such a circumstance as this plainly proves that he hath here prophesied above the analogie or proportion of his Faith a and consequently even in his own notion of the word b hath done it PRESVMPTVOVSLY Yea thirdly how doth he know but that I did prevent the admonition or reproof of his pen by doing the very duty for the neglect whereof I am so deeply censured by him I presume that my acquaintance in the Parliament have not communicated unto him all things that have passed between me and them therefore his ignorance in this particular also proves him according to the responsall of his own Oracle even now intimated to have been somewhat PRESVMPTVOVS in his charge of neglect of Duty in mee Fourthly and lastly there being nothing in the particulars excepted against either preached or printed by mee which in the judgement of any indifferent or Christian-spirited man is of any hard or disparaging reflexion either upon any particular person in the honourable Assembly of Parliament or upon this Assembly it self there could be nothing in the publishing of them whether by preaching or printing any wayes repugnant to any duty lying upon me That which followes in the late transcribed passage as that I publish my brain-sick jealousies and suspicions against them behind their backs of purpose to make my Auditors Readers jealous of them as men who invaded c. or to defame or draw an odium or contempt upon them to prepare the people before-hand to oppose or reject whatsoever c. these things I say with many others of like calculation both in this and many other of his writings are but the reasonlesse presumptions of his exasperated transported unchristianized spirit over-heat it may be with his nocturnall lucubrations and in part occasioned by the fuliginous vapors breathing still upon him from his lamp and in this regard I judge them unworthy to have day-light bestowed upon them for their refutation Hee talks of my brain-sick jealousies and suspicions but these are more then brain-sick even brain-dead calumniations and slanders ten degrees to speak in his own language more unchristian uncharitable detestable execrable then any even the worst of jealousies or suspicions whatsoever If he would but authorize mee to reason after the rate of his Logique in raising conclusions from his premisses I could prove according to the tenor of such authoritie that Mr. Prynne hath written against the Congregationall Way hath represented those that walk in it as extremely derogatory and destructive both unto the Parliament and Church of Englend a as great disturbers of our publique peace and unity b hath slandered them in their spirits principles practices over and over c hath presumptuously attempted to infuse such dangerous principles as these into Kings Magistrates and highest civill powers that they are Christs Substitutes Vicars in point of Government Church-government hee speaks of a that Christ hath delegated his Kingly power unto them b that it may passe as tolerable that Christ is King alone over his Churches in matters of Faith c c. with many others of like undue insinuation I could prove I say by the Commission aforesaid that Mr. Prynne hath done all these things on purpose to despite the Spirit of God to defame the Gospel to make the Wayes of godlinesse and Religion hatefull unto the world to increase divisions to multiply distractions to bring a snare and evill day upon the Parliament to expose the whole Kingdome to utter ruine and destruction Yea the truth is that there is a far more rationall connexion between the premises last mentioned from Mr. Pryn's pen and such collections and conclusions as these then there is between those premises of mine transcribed by him and the inferences which he extracts and deduceth from them A man might think that the Gentleman had by this time laid out himself to a sufficient proportion in depraving both the expressions and intentions of him that never to his best knowledge did him the least wrong nor ever administred the least occasion of provocation Sed audi facinus majoris abollae Your last clause saith he yet further p. 108. And if continued c. intimates and speaks aloud without any straining that the Parliament for the present are guilty of dashing their foot against Christ the Rock of claiming the most sacred incommunicable royalties and priviledges of heaven and making themselves equall with God and that if they persevere in the course they have begun to Reforme our Church c. it is such an high provocation against the most High as will kindle a fire in the brest of him whose name is Jehovah he should have said jealous but that his pen hath contracted an ill habit of stumbling which will consume and devoure c. Could all the malignant and Prelaticall party in England lay a greater wickeder or more unjust scandall in our Parliament then this or more defame them then by such a false report enough to fire the whole Kingdome against them as well as Gods wrath c. as it followeth in his most unjust and ignoble strain of Calumny But for answer 1. Doth a wicked or unjust scandall use to fire Gods wrath against those upon whom it is cast and who are the sufferers Though the sin committed be enough to kindle a fire in the brest of him whose name is jealous against those whosoever they be that lie under the guilt of such a Commission yet is there not the least colour to imagine that the false or scandalous imputation of it unto any should have the like operation in respect of those that are so scandaliz'd He tells me of my being a meer Divine p. 109. and a man altogether ignorant in the ancient Rights and Privileges of our Parliament with how little pertinencie or advantage to his cause shall be taken into

of Presbyterie and did not his writings more accommodate that cause and partie by the weight of their Authoritie and height of language and confidence together with unparalleld bitternesse against his opposites then by their worth in strength of reason I beleeve they would hardly think them worthy to be numbred amongst their Benefactors But notwithstanding all that Mr. Prynne hath done or said to or against me or my Innocencies Triumph in particular in the 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 pages of this his Discourse yet his spes gregis the strength of his hope that he hath done sufficient execution upon me rests onely upon his former sections however the Question of many concerning them is Cui bono He tells me that my own conscience and judgement cannot but informe me that he hath written enough in the former Sections to convince me and all the world besides that I have not onely violated but denyed oppugned those Priviledges of Parliament in Ecclesiasticall affaires which our own Parliaments in all ages and Parliamentary Assemblies in all other Kingdomes have unquestionably exercised c. I answer 1. I confesse that in the former sections he hath written enough quantitativè to convince any reasonable man if not all the world of any errour or mistake whatsoever but much too little qualitativè to convince either me or any reasonable man that I have violated or oppugned any Priviledge of Parliament I have farre more reason to conceive and hope that in this and my last-published Discourse I have written enough both wayes to convince both him and all the world that I have NOT violated or oppugned any Priviledge of Parliament truly or with the consent of Heaven so called If he intends to conclude that therefore I have violated oppugned the Privileges of Parliament because I have argued against some positions or opinions which Mr. Prynne with some others are pleased to call Priviledges of Parliament the Logician who is a man of reason will answer for me that à terminis diminuentibus non sequitur argumentatio It doth not follow that a piece of metall or coyne is therefore gold because it is counterfeit gold nor that Mr. Prynnes Great Grandfather is a man because he is a dead man If he can or shall fairly demonstrate unto me though in a far lesse content of words then his three former sections amount unto that any act practise or exercise either by continuance or succession of time or by frequencie of repetition or customarinesse of reiteration by connivencie or want of opposition from men must needs change the nature and kind of it and of sinfull become lawfull he shall by such a demonstration as this put life into his former sections and render them potent for that conviction which he expects from them but till this be done that great bulk and body of things done in the dark and time out of minde will partake of that infirmitie which the Author himself acknowledgeth as cleaving to the Discourse I meane impotencie a and can with no tolerable pretence of reason or equitie demand that interest in the judgements consciences understandings of men which he challengeth it seems on their behalfe It is as poore and low a designe onely by alledging the examples opinions or judgements of men to attempt the conviction of him that builds his opinion upon the Scriptures word of God yea though he builds besides his foundation as it would be in a man to carry a sack of chaffe to the market hoping to bring home a like quantitie of wheat for it without giving any other price Yea to alledge and cite the Scriptures themselves though in never such an abundance without close arguing and binding them to our cause is a means of very small hope whereby to prevaile or doe good upon such a man who holds his opinion not barely or simply upon a supposall of Scripture-Authoritie for it but upon Scripture thoroughly debated and by principles of sound reason and naturall deductions brought home unto his judgement and cause Againe 2. in all that great body of premisses contained in all the former Sections he speaks of there is not one word syllable letter or tittle to prove that maine ingredient in his Conclusion unquestionably exercised Logicians justly reject and exauthorize all such Conclusions which swell above the line of their premisses By all the tables and donaries presented unto Neptune by those that in Shipwracks escaped with their lives it could not be knowne who or how many they were that were drowned 3. Nor is there any whit more in any in all the said Sections or premisses that reacheth home or indeed comes neere to that specialtie in the Conclusion in all ages Evanders mother lived many ages agone yet the mother of Abel had the precedencie of her by many generations Therefore surely all the world will never accept of the Conclusion so insufficiently and lamely prov'd 4. And lastly Whereas Mr. Prynne tells me that if I now make not good my promise few or none will ever credit me hereafter I should be very glad to meet with my condition that so I might performe my obligation But in the meane time whether any or none will credit me hereafter I know not well how I or any other should credit him for the present as touching the authentiqueness and truth of those citations and transcriptions upon which the principall weight of that Conclusion depends whereof he expects conviction both from me and all the world to boote Is it lightly possible for any man to refraine jealousie in this kind that doth but consider how oft his pen hath dash'd against the rock of truth in representing me my opinions and sayings yea I can say further affections intentions upon the open theatre of the world where any man that will may see his nakednesse in this kinde Is boldnesse in the Sun like to prove modestiē in the shade As for satisfaction by examination of all particulars it is not every mans indeed very few mens opportunitie The respective Authors and records wherein particularities must be inquired after and found for satisfaction in that kind are in few mens hands and not of all mens understandings So that Mr. Prynne by dealing so unfaithfully and unchristianly by me and my sayings as he hath done hath not onely obstructed the course and passages of his own reputation and credit but hath further also injur'd the world round about him by rendring those good parts and abilities wherewith God hath intrusted him for publick accommodation if not wholly unserviceable yet of very meane usefulnesse and concernment in comparison of what their line and tenour would well have borne It is a saying in the Civill Law that he that hath injur'd one hath threatened many I end with a word of Christian admonition and advice both to the Gentleman my Antagonist and my selfe Sir the Great and Glorious God that made us in mercy remembers both our frames and