Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	civil_a	law_n	society_n	2,401	5	9.1625	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30362	An enquiry into the measures of submission to the supream [sic] authority and of the grounds upon which it may be lawful or necessary for subjects to defend their religion.	Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1688 (1688)	Wing B5809; ESTC R215041	11,479	16

AN ENQUIRY Into the Measures of SUBMISSION To the SUPREAM AUTHORITY And of the Grounds upon which it may be Lawful or Necessary for SUBJECTS to Defend their RELIGION LIVES And LIBERTIES LONDON Printed in the Year 1688. An Enquiry into the Measures of SUBMISSION to the Supream Authority And of the Grounds upon which it may be Lawful or Necess●ry for Subjects to Defend their RELIGION LIVES and LIBERTIES THis Enquirie cannot be Regularly made but by taking in the first place a true and full view of the Nature of Civil Society and more particularly of the Nature of Supream Power Whether it is lodged in one or moe Persons 1. It is certain that the Law of Nature has put no difference nor subordina●ion among Men except it be that of Children to Parents or of Wives to their Husbands So that with Relation to the Law of Nature all Men a●e born free And this Libert● must still be supposed Entire unless so far as it is limited by Contracts Provisions and Laws For a Man can ei●her bind himsel● to be a Servant or sell himself to be a Slave by which he becomes in the power of another only so far as it was provided by the Contract Since all ●hat Liberty which was not expresly given away remains still entire so that the Plea for Liberty alwayes proves it self unless it appears that it is given up or limited by any special Agreement 2. It is no less certain that as the light of Nature has plan●ed in all Men a Natural principle of the Love of Life and of a desire to pr●s●rve it so the comm●n principles of all Religion agree in this that GOD having set Us in this World we are bound to preserve that Being which he has given Us by all Just and Lawful wayes Now this Duty of Self-Pr●serv●tion is exerted in instances of two sorts The one are in the resisting of violent Aggressors The other are the taking of J●st Revenges of those who have invaded Us so secretly that We could not prevent them and so violently that We could nor resist them In which cases the principle of Self preservation warrants us both to recover what is our own with just Damages And also to put such unjust persons out of a capacity of doing the like injuries any more either to our selves or to any others Now in these instances of Self-preservation this difference is to be observed that the first cannot be limited b● any slow Forms since a ●ressing Danger requires a vigorous Repulse and cannot admit of delay whereas the second of taking Reverges or Reparations is not of such haste but that it may be brought under Rules and Forms 3. The true and original Notion of Civil Society and Government is that it is a com-promise made by such a body of Men by which they resign up the right of demanding Reparations either in the way of Justice against one another or in the way of War against their Neighbours to suc● a single person or to such a body of Men as they think fit to trust with this And in the management of this Civil Society great distinction is to be made between the power of making Laws for the regulating the conduct of it the power of executing these Laws the Supream Authority must still be supposed to be lodged with those who have the Legisl●tive Power reserved to them but not with tho●e who have only the Executive which is plainly a Trust when it is separated from the Legislative power and all Tru●ts by their nature Imp●rt that those to whom they are given are accountable even tho that it should not be expresly specified in the words of the ●rust it self 4. It cannot be supposed by the principles of Natural Religion that GOD has authorised any one Form of Government any other way than as the general Rules of Order and of Justice oblige all Men not to subvert Constitutions nor disturb the peace of Mankind nor invade those Rights with which the Law may have vested some Persons For it is certain that as private Contracts lodge or translate private Rights so the publick Laws can likewise lodge such Rights ●rerogatives and Revenues in those under whose protection they put themselves and in such a manner that they may come to have as good a title to these as any private person can have to his property so that it becomes an Act of high injustice and violence to invade these which is so far a greater sin than any such Actions would be against a private person As the publick Peace and Order is preferable to all private considerations whatsoever So that in truth ●the principles of Natural Religion give those that are in Authority no power at all● but they do only secure them in the possession of that which is theirs by Law And as no considerations of Religion can bind me to pay another more than I indeed owe him but do only bind me more strictly to pay what I owe So the considerations of Religion do indeed bring Subjects under stricter Obligations to pay all due all●giance and Submission to their Princes but they do not at all extend that Allegia●ce further than the Law carries it And though a Man has no Divine Right to his Property but has acquired it by Humane Means such as Succession or Industry yet he has a security for the enjoyment of it from a Divine Right so tho Princes have no immediate warrants from Heaven either for their Original Titles or for the extent of them yet they are secured in the possession of them by the Principles and Rules of Natural Religion 5. It is to be considered that as a private Person can bind himself to anoth●r Mans service by different degrees either as an ordinary Se●vant for wages or as an appropriat for a longer time as an Apprentice or by a total giving himself up to another as in the case of Slavery In all which cases the General name of Master may be equally used yet the degrees of his power are to be judged by the nature of the Contract so likewise Bodies of Men can give themselves up in different degrees to the conduct of others And therefore though all tho●e may carry the same name of King yet every ones power is to be taken from the Measures of the Authority which is lodged in him and not from any general Speculations founded on some Equivocal terms such as King Soveraign or Supream 6. I●'s certain that GOD as the Creator and Governour of the World may set up whom he will to rule over other Men But this Declaration of His will must be made evident by Prophe●s or other extraordinary Men sen● of Him who have some manifest proo●s of the Divine Authority that is committed to them on such occasions and upon such Persons declaring the will of GOD in favour of any others that Declaration is to be submitted to and obeyed But this pretence of a Divine Delegation can

be carryed no farther than to those who are thus expresl● marked out and is unjustly claimed by those who can prove no such Declaration to have been ever made in Favour of them or their Families Nor does it appear Reasonable to conclude from their being in possession that it is the will of GOD that it should be so this justifies all Usurpers when they ●re successful 7. The Measures of Power and by consequence of Ob●dience must be taken from the express Laws of any S●ate or Body of Men from the Oaths that they swear or from Immemorial prescription and a long possession which both give a Title and in a long tract of time make a bad one become good since prescription when it passes the memory of man and is not dispured by any other pretender gives by the common sense of all men a just and good title So upon the whole matter the degrees of all Civil Authority are to be taken either from express Laws Immemorial Customs or from particular Oaths which the Subjects swear to their Princes This being still to be laid down for a principle that in all the disputes between Power and Liberty Power must alwayes be proved but Liberty proves it self the one being founded only upon positive Law and the other upon the Law of Nature 8. If from the General Principles of humane Society and natural Religion we carry this matter to be examined by the Scriptures it is clear that all the passages that are in the Old Testament are not to be made use of in this matter of neither side For as the land of Canaan was given to the Iews by an immediat grant from Heaven so GOD re●erved still this to himself and to the Declarations that he should m●ke from time to time either by his Prophets or by the answers that came from the Cloud of Glory that was between the Cherubims to set up Judges or Kings over them and to pull them down again as he thought fit here was an express Delegation made by God and theref●re all that was ●one in that Dispensation either for or against Princes Is not to be made use of in any other State that is founded on another bottom and constitution and all the expressions in the old Testament relating to Kings since they belong to persons that were immediatly designed by God are without any sort of reason ap●lyed to those who can pretend to no such Designation neither o● themselves nor for their Ancestors 9. As for the New Testament it is plain that there are no rules given in it neither for the Forms o● Government in general nor for ●he degrees of any one Form in particular but the general rules of Justice order and peace being established in it upon higher Motives and more binding considerations then ever they were ●n any other Religion whatsoever we are most strictly bound by it to observe the constitution in which we are And it is plain that the rules set us in the Gospel can be carried no further It is indeed clear from the New Testament that the Christian Religion as such gives us no grounds to defend or propagat it by force It is a Doctrine of the Cross and of Faith and Patience under it And i● by the order of Divine providence and of any constitution of Governmen● under which we are born we are brought under suf●erings for our professing of it we may indeed retire and fly out of any such Countrey if we can but if that is denyed us we must then according to this Religion ●ubmit to those suffe●ings under which we may be brought considering that God will be Glorified by us in so doing and that he will both support us under our sufferings and gloriously reward us for them This was the State of the Christian Religion during the three first Centuries under Heathen Emperours and a Constitution in which Paganism was established by Law But i● by the Laws of any Government the Christian Religion or any form of it is become a part of the Subjects Property it then falls under another consider●tion not as it is a Religion but as it is become one of the Principal Rights of the Subjects to believe and profess it And then we must ju●ge of the Invasions made on that as we do of any other Invasion that is made on Our Rights 10. All the pas●ages in the New Testament that relate to Civil Government are to be expounded as they were truely meaned in opposition to that false notion of the Iews who believed themselves to be so immediately under the Divine Authority that they would not become the Subjects of any other Power particularly of one that was not of their Nation or of their Religion therefore they thought they could not be under the Roman yoke nor bound to pay Tribute to Caesar but judged that they were only subj●ct out of Fear by reason of the Force that lay on them but not for Conscience sake And so in all their Dispersion both at Rome and elsewhere they thought they were GODS Free-Men and made use of this pretended Liberty as a cloak of maliciousness In Opposition to all which since in a cour●e of many years they had asked the protection of the Roman yoke and were come und●r their Authority our Saviour ordered them to continue in that by his ●aying Render to Caesar that which is Caesars and both St. P●ul in his Epistle to the Romans and St. Peter in his General Epistle have very positively condemned that pernicious Maxim but without any formal Declarations made of the Rules or Measures of Government And since both the People and Senate of Rome had acknowledged the power that Augustus had indeed violently usurped it became legal when it was thus submitted to and confirmed both by the Senate and People And it was establisht in his Family by a long prescription when these Epistle● were writ So that upon the whole matter all that is in the New Testament upon this Subject imports no more but that all Christians are bound to acquiesce in the Government and submit to it according to the cons●i●ution that is setled by Law. 11 We are then at last brought to the Constitution of our English Government So that no General Considerations from Speculations about Soveraign Power nor from any passages either of the Old and New T●stament ought to determin us in this matter which must be fixed from the Laws and Regulations that have been made among Us. It is then certain that with Relation to the Executive part of the Government the Law has lodged that singly in the King So that the whole administration of it is in him but the Legislative Power is Lodged between the King and the two Houses of Parliament So that the Power of making and Repealing Laws is not singly in the King but only so far as the two Houses concur with him It is also clear that the King has such a determined extent of Prerogative