Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A66454
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An answer to sundry matters contain'd in Mr. Hunt's postscript to his argument for the bishops right in judging capital causes in Parliament ... whereunto is added a query to be put to the scrupulous and dissenting brotherhood : with an advertisement how usurpers of the crown ought to be dealt with / by Wa. Williams of the Middle Temple, a barrister at law.
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Williams, Walter, of the Middle Temple.
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1683
(1683)
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Wing W2773A; ESTC R7863
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19,108
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36
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Captivity his own peculiar People the Jews and to redeem them out of the power of a mighty King he chose them a King Moses who none will deny to be a King that knows what belongs to the Office and Power of a King although he was not named a King for he as only Supream under God by Gods own appointment not by the Peoples Election exercised all the Offices of a King over that People he was their chief Captain and their chief Judge and so were all his Successors after him that went by the name of Judges they were Kings and Soveraigns in their turns and were then called Judges as I conceive propter Excellentiam because it is the chief part of a Kings Office by himself and his Deputies to Administer Justice between his Subjects and in those dayes and long before most Kings were called Judges though of latter times the word is applicable to the inferiour Magistrates only God himself is called the Judge of all the Earth as well as the King of Kings That the Judges of Israel that succeeded Moses might as well have been called Kings as Judges will plainly appear if we consider the signification of the word King and the Offices and Powers exercised by those Judges as to the word King it signifies him that hath the highest Power and Command in a Countrey and those Judges in their turns and but one at once and during his life exercised all the power of a King they commanded the Officers of the people and judged Israel And I would also note unto you that most of them were chosen by God himself and but very rarely by the people and when ever they did usurp upon Gods Prerogative in that particular as they did when of their own accord they chose Abimeleck the base Son of Jerubbaal it soon happened that they fell a Butchering one another and thereby reduced themselves to such a confused state for want of a Rightfully Constituted King or Judge that they were brought to the brink of Ruin and so it happen'd to them alwayes when they transgressed in that nature but still upon Recantation and seeking to God he would vouchsafe to choose them a King then called a Judge and whilst they could keep such a Judge they did well enough Yet after a little Prosperity they were still apt to return to their licentious Liberty and after this rate did they continue for about Four hundred Years but at length it was brought to that pass by their perverse self-conceitedness that God had quite forsaken them and whereas formerly God did often Converse with their Prophets as one man doth with another by word of mouth and directed them they rejected his directions and depended only on their own Policy so that God withdrew his favour from them for a long time And in the Third of the first of Samuel you will find it Recorded that there was no open Vision in those days but in a while after God was pleased to Reveal himself again to Samuel and to advise him how to Retrive and Govern those almost lost People And forasmuch as soon after they asked for a King and that it is there said that God was angry with them for it and forasmuch as that passage is made use of by some as an Argument against Kingly Government I cannot omit shewing unto you that God was not against their having any King at all but the displeasure was because they would at that very time have another Governour or King than God had set over them which was Samuel Such a Feeble old man as he according to their understanding was not fit to Govern them they did not at all regard it that God was with him And this was the cause of the Anger as appears by the sequel of the Story For says God to Samuel They have not rejected thee but me have they rejected And this I do the more firmly believe to be the true meaning of that passage and reason of Gods Anger for God designed long before that time that they should have a King and consequently should be Governed by a Kingly Government though you say page 36. That it was a Government of their own choice for in Numb 24 verse the 7. The Prophet Balaam foretelling the prosperity of Israel says that the King of Israel should be higher than Agag the King of the Amalekites and Deut. 17. verse 14. God gives Israel these Directions When thou art come into the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee verse 15. thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall choose not whom they would themselves with Directions in that Chapter how their King should behave himself and his Sons after him so that if there had not been a King designed for them by God himself sometime or other that Prophesie of the Prophet Balaam could never have been fulfilled and the Directions who should be King and how he was to behave himself and upon what terms he and his Sons after him were to enjoy the Crown had been in vain whereby it is most manifest that the mere desiring of a King as some would have it was not the fault but desiring a new King at an undue time desiring a King not choosing one themselves which had they done had been a greater fault by much Another Reason that makes me of belief that the meer asking of a King had it been at a due time had been no Offence because God was not long angry nor did he long withstand their desires but soon after commanded Samuel to hearken to the people and give them a King but this King was to be of Gods choosing not of their own choosing as you falsely affirm page 36. for God himself told Samuel that Saul should be the man and caused him to be Anointed before the people knew ought thereof and afterwards God directed the Lot according to his own Predestination and fore-appointment and when Samuel presented him to the people as chose by God they made no more ado but submitted to the choice and shouted and cryed God save the King yet some Sons of Belial there were in those days that did not like the choice all which proceedings you may find in the Eighth of the first of Samuel Saul being thus Established and a Successor thought of for as yet the Succession of Monarchy was not settled Samuel by Gods special appointment and of his own meer motion without any Request from the people chose David to be Sauls Successor and in him did God make Monarchy Hereditary and Established it so as you may see in the Second of Samuel 7.12 by saying to David in this manner when thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers I will set up thy Seed after thee and verse the 16. thy House and thy Kingdom shall be Established before me for ever and in another place the Scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloe come Here