Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	common_a	king_n	prerogative_n	4,748	5	10.1381	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45944	The interest of the English nation under the happy government of King William III once more asserted in answer to the challenge of a Jacobite : wherein is proved that the law which forbids taking up arms against the King upon any pretence whatsoever is consistent with the late revolution / by Philo-kalo-basileos.	Philo-kalo-basileos.	1696 (1696)	Wing I268; ESTC R25207	22,742	31

this for an Argument God makes Merchants and Lawyers therefore Merchants cannot break nor Lawyers prevaricate I am sure Kings are not made without Means no more than other Conditions of Men All is Providence from the Throne to the Dunghil and we find in Scripture Kings made by the People Nay even Hereditary Kings are made by the People as well as Elective For Crowns at this day are not Intail'd by Messages from Heaven but by Laws made upon Earth and I pray who made these Laws Had the People no Hand in them Historians tell us That the Right Descent of English Kings has been broken now Nine times since K. William the First And the Scriptures tell us That the Lineas Succession of the Kings of Israel and Judah have been Interrupted and cut off sometimes by express Nomination from God by a Prophet and sometimes also Providentially Jehu a Subject was Anointed King by a Prophet Baasha shew Nadab and Succeeded in the Kingdom and Omri was made King by the People without any Divine Appointment So that here is Jus Divinum the Sword and the People each of them setting up their several King And in a word all Kings are made and unmade by Divine Providence which outs down one and sets up another and we quarrel at this and think much that God should Rule the World unless he give us a particular Account of his Ways But suppose they do really design the Subversion of the Government who shall or ought to punish them Barclay says in that Case the King returns to the state of a private Man and the People become Free and Superior This is so cutting a thing especially from one of your own Party that I suppose you durst not so much as touch it But I Answer None ought to punish the King nor to hurt his Person tho' he be fall'n from his Power But I say that when a Government is breaking up and all things at the brink of Ruin and Confusion every Man ought to stand for his Life and to Defend his Family and Posterity the best he can from future Misery other wise they are guilty of Self-Murder and of Betraying their Country provided they be in a Condition to appear in the Field as many Brave Englishmen did at York and in Cheshire and other places of this Kingdom in Nov. 1688. In the mean time the King is to be Counselled to keep within the Sanctuary of the Law or at least to keep his Person out of Danger and not to Head his Party But if he will against all Justice Prudence and Perswasions Join with Wicked Men and Expose himself to Blind Bullets and fall in the Field it is to be lookt upon as an Accidental thing and none can help it God forbid that any one should think of hurting him on purpose and Charge should be given to all to beware as much as possible of so doing For this see further that Nameless but very Learned Book which your self put into my Hands You come next to your Boys Play Give a thing and take a thing where from a certain Maxim of your Learned Politician you infer that the People have wholly and intirely divested themselves of all their Power and Right without any Limitation whatsoever and therefore they can by no means call for it back again I cannot deny at this time of Day that a Free People may make themselves Slaves by Consent There are those among us who not only seem forward to do it but take it ill that the whole Kingdom will not do the like Hitherto I have thought it impossible that any Wise Man should do an Act without having some end in it or should give up his whole Right to the Will of another without any respect back again upon himself But the Jacobites whose Principles are Unaccountable have given us a Demonstration of it and to them only are we Indebted for so Noble a Discovery I could wish they would try the Experiment in France and not trouble us here in England who are under better Circumstances Indeed those that have made an ill Bargain must be content to stand by it till they can be released But we have made a good one and will stand for it not doubting the performance on either part We have Sworn Allegiance to the King and he has Sworn to Rule by Law Allegiance and Protection are Correlatives and will be so while this Kingdom stands Take away the one and the other falls to the Ground But no Scheme of Politicks will please you but that of Holbs or Filmer which teacheth Kings to break through the most Sacred and Solemn Obligations and to Act Leviathan without Controul Your last Argument was Argumentum Puerile taken from Boys Play the next is Argumentum Pestiferum taken from the Common Pests of the Nation as you are pleased to style the poor Bailiffs and thus you express it As to the Power in not being resisted in the Execution of the Laws which you are pleased to allow to Kings if that be all they are Kings for truly I think they are in a far worse state and condition than the Common Pests of the Nation the Rogue Bailiffs But by your Favour I did not say that is all they are Kings for but I said the King in Executing the Law is not to be Resisted not denying him his proper share in the Legislative Power in which none will oppose him But if he should assume the whole Legislative Power as some in Effect have done that would mightily alter the Case But besides all this the King of England has a Royal Prerogative which is not a Dispensing Power or a Power above the Law to do what he pleases but it is a Power Residing in the King partly defin'd and limitted by the Law it self and partly left to the King's Wisdom and Clemency to be exerted for the Benefit of the Subject where the edge of the Law is too sharp which often happens by Casualty or Humane Infirmity For the Law is an Excellent Rule but in many Cases it may be defeated nor can it provide for all future Accidents Infirmity or Knavery in Witnesses may occasion a wrong Sentence And Laws can never be made so compleat but that Summum Jus may happen to be Summa Injuria So that the King's Prerogative is to Relieve the Subject in Extraordinary Cases and being used with Prudence and good Advice is a Glorious Jewel of the Crown Let us now pursue the Comparison between an English Monarch and a Bailiff The one let us View upon a Throne Cloathed with Power and Excellent Majesty Vested with a Noble Prerogative and giving his Royal Assent to Laws made for the Punishment of Evil-doers and for the Praise of them that do well Or let us consider him in the Field giving Laws to Princes Commanding many Thousands Protecting the Innocent Defending the Faith Astonishing his Enemies and for several Years together Defying the Philistine and Desiring Nothing