Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	humane_a	law_n	positive_a	2,470	5	10.9031	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39391	Enchiridion legum a discourse concerning the beginnings, nature, difference, progress and use of laws in general, and in particular, of the common & municipal laws of England.; Enchiridion legum.		1673 (1673)	Wing E720; ESTC R22664	57,223	150

being Liberum agens is subject to no Law but his own Will is the perfect Law of Justice which is the Fountain from whence all Laws are derived to all things in Heaven and in Earth Law hath a threefold respect and is divided according to the diversity of things to which this great Law-giver doth dispense Law They are of three kinds to wit the Natural Sensible and Reasonable agents To the first are referred the Elements and all compounded things without life They are guided by that Law which was imposed on them at the begining and they do never break it The second which is the Sensible agents are all living Beasts which are guided not with so forcible a Law of necessity as the first for they are not ordained to keep their certain and setled stations but they do follow their own kind and appetite wherein yet they do not transgress the Laws of Nature The third kind of agents called Reasonable are Men and Angels and they at first were created with a possibility of performing or not performing the Laws imposed on them According to these three forenamed A threefold Law Subjects of Law there is a threefold Law as some say given unto them that is the Divine Natural and Humane The first delivered by God and written by the direction of his Holy Spirit in the Old and New Testament The second stamped and as it were engraved by him in mens hearts The third derived out of the two first and devised for Government and Society amongst men Some others do divide Laws into four parts that is the Law of Providence or the eternal Law of God which is his wisdom by which from Eternity he that is called Antiquus dierum hath pre-ordained all things before their beginning whereof St. Paul speaketh when he saith that Deus voeat ea quae non sunt tanquam ea quae sunt The second is the Divine Law which God hath given in his Old and New Testament to conduct men unto their supernatural end for his Glory and Service and for their own final Salvation Of this Jeremiah speaketh by the Spirit and as in the Person of God Dabo Legem meam in visceribus eorum scribam eam Of the third which is the Natural Law the Apostle Paul maketh mention Gentes quae legem non habent naturaliter quae legis sunt faciunt Of the fourth which is the Humane Law warranted by Gods Word the Apostle Paul likewise speaketh Omnis anima potestatibus sublimioribus subdita a sit So that all these Laws have their warrant from Gods Word save the Eternal Law which was his will and wisdom being from the beginning before any Law was written or could be divulged Therefore next to the Eternal Law The excellency of the Divine Law the Divine Law springing from the same hath his place and preheminence before all other in Dignity and Antiquity because from it all other good Laws have their derivation and foundation or else are squared by it and for that it suffereth no mutation in it self In amplitude because it affordeth the self-same Rules and measure to all Men and Nations without difference of Persons Place and Time or any other such like circumstances by which other Laws are often altered And of this Divine Law the Decalogue or Ten Commandments delivered by God unto Moses on the Mount and by him to Gods people is a Compendium or full Epitome of all the rest as unto which the rest may be reduced as Conclusions drawn out of certain Principles The Law Divine delivered by God The Law of Moses or of the Old Testament more antient than any humane Law unto Moses is in Antiquity before all Humane Laws for though Pliny goeth about to prove that Ceres was the first gave Laws unto men and as others attribute that honour unto Radamanthus yet Josephus writing against Apion directly proveth that Moses was the first did promulgate unto men the Laws delivered unto him from God and that long before those Law-givers whom Isidorus nameth as Pharonius to the Grecians Mercurius Trismegistus to the Aegyptians Solon to the Athenians Lycurgus to the Lacedemonians Numa Pompil to the Romans The Law of Nature is next to the The Law of Nature next to the Divine Law Divine Law in excellency antiquity immutability and severity because it began with mans Creation it never changeth being nothing else as one defineth it according to the part of the Law of Nature which is called secondary whereof we shall have cause to speak somewhat in the next Chapter but dictamen rationis in rationabili creatura therefore this Law of Nature secondary is the effect of Gods Law in the mind of man and the impression thereof as a step in dust is the effect of the foot which first framed it And this secondary Law of Nature is in some sort contrary to that first Law which St. Paul calleth the Law of the Members being a natural inclination to sensuality After these Laws followeth the Humane or Positive Laws of men which being the prescript and particular rules by which the actions of men should be reduced and conducted to their due ends and this grounded on the Eternal Divine and Natural Laws mentioned before but yet still measured and moulded by the reason invention and disposition of men which is most commonly variable and diverse no marvel then if also the Laws of men setled upon such slippery foundation of different reasons and affections be also changeable and subject to imperfection whereof Justinian in his Preface to the Digests doth render the like reason saith he Sed quia divinae res quidem perfectissimae sunt humani vero juris conditio semper in infinitum decurrit nihil est in eo quod stare possit perpetuo multas enim formas natura novas edere deproperat No Humane Laws can be made absolutely perfect no more than other Arts and Sciences can be perfected by men since Art is the imitator of Nature and even Nature her self is imperfect in her works The conclusion therefore is short and certain That those Humane Laws tend most although hardly can they attain to perfection which do square most and most depend on the Divine Eternal and Natural Laws And on the contrary those positive Laws of men are most corrupt and unprofitable which swerve most from them Since we see what Laws are perfectest and which are subject to most imperfection let us a little consider what conditions are required in Humane Laws to help them towards perfection They by Isidorus are described to be these that is that they be honest Certain conditions requisite to bring Laws towards perfection just possible according to nature and custom convenient and agreeable to the time and place that they be necessary and profitable manifest and perspicuous lest by their obscurity the uncircumspect be intrapped that they be not made for private profit but for publick utility Others require fewer yet as effectual qualities in Laws that

is to contain honesty justice possibility conveniency for the end of Humane Laws is that by the dread of their punishment innocency may be safe in the midst of wicked men There are also certain habilities requisite Certain habilities necessary for Law-makers in those who are Law-makers amongst which the School-men do chiefly esteem these three parts or potential faculties of prudence Ebulia Synesis Providentia The first is the faculty of Counselling and advising aright The second is the habit of judging soundly not so much the Cases of Law already made as the Considerations of Laws to be made The last which is Providence being a fore-sight of future events this hath two parts Circumspection and Caution the one being the consideration of Circumstances lest any thing be defective in the provision of the Law the other searcheth into the Incommodities and Inconveniences whereto such Laws or they for whose safeguard it is made may be exposed The Philosopher requireth to the What the Philosopher requireth in making of Laws making of good Laws Authority Reason general Justice which is honesty and Agreement of the People By the first the Law-maker doth bind by the second he doth know by the third he doth desire to make such Laws as shall be possible and profitable not for himself only or for a few but for all or at the least the greatest number for Suprema Lex Salus Populi The notions and general rules of Nature do teach to shun that which is hurtful but where the Naturalist or Moralist doth not perswade the Politician and Law-maker doth enforce The Moralist doth indeed prescribe general Rules and Precepts what ought to be done But doth not shew so particularly how it should be done The Rules of good and evil prescribed by Nature and set down by the Moralist are by them both enjoyned to be practised by and to our selves but by the Politician and Law-giver those general Rules are applyed and accommodated to the particular Laws of each Nation to be fashioned not only for our selves but for others Therefore it is aptly said Vbi Ethicus desinit ibi incipit Jurisperitus as in Nature Vbi physicus definit incipit medicus Though these positive and politick The necessity and utility of Laws Laws of Men cannot attain to absolute perfection yet that they are of evident utility and urgent necessity I suppose no man doubteth For both nature and necessity the two raisers of Sciences and Invention have as it were conspired to direct and require the use of these Humane Laws because as it is natural unto men to desire and to like that which is others and yet to dislike and abhorr other men from whence come questions controversies quarrels opposition and defence so out of these doth arise an inevitable necessity to lay certain limits which are Laws and Civil Constitutions by which these inordinate desires and designs of men being full of disturbance should be bounded and without which as the appetites and affections of men are restless and of themselves unrestrained so except they were confined and restrained by positive Laws the lawless wills of men would make society uncomfortable and unsafe CHAP. II. The differences betwixt the Laws of Nature of Nations the Civil and Municipal Laws HAving said somewhat of the definition and nature of Laws especially of the Eternal Divine and Natural Law it now followeth that we should descend to discover the differences betwixt the Humane Laws of several sorts These by some are divided into three branches from whence it is supposed that all other particular positive Laws do spring and grow The first is the Law Natural whereof there hath been a little spoken before this is defined to be that which Nature hath taught all living Creatures The second is the Law of Nations which is received amongst all Countries and People The last is the Civil Law which every free Commonwealth ordaineth for it self Caius a Civil Lawyer divideth A division of Laws into two parts these Laws but in two parts that is the Natural and Civil Law for some think that whatsoever Law is Natural the same is also the Law of Nations and so on the other side interchangeably The reason is thus What else is the Law of Nations A question concerning the former division but that which natural Reason hath taught and perswaded all men to be equally good for all So that it is called National or the Law of Nations because all Countries have received it Natural because it had its beginning from natural Reason For the deciding of which doubt The Law of Nature twofold it is to be understood that the Law of Nature is twofold Primary and Secondary the one being that which Nature or rather the God of Nature teacheth all living Creatures the other that which Nature teacheth Men. The first called the instinct of Nature whereby it is common to all living Creatures by the instinct of Nature to procreate and to seek the preservation of their own kind to avoid that which they find to present death and danger to repeal force with force to seek things needful for sustenance and the like This in a general sence is called Jus primaevum or the primary Law of Nature And this doth differ from the Law of Nations which is a Law proper only unto Men and not to other Creatures But the Secondary Law of Nature or of God for both is one and the same containeth and comprehendeth the Precepts of honesty which God and Nature hath infused into Mans heart at his Creation given only unto Mankind and unto him from his beginning as to yield Religious reverence to the Supreme and Divine power to exhibite love and duty towards our Parents and the like This latter part of the Law of Nature doth answer and concurr with some part of the Law of Nations which likewise as the former is twofold that is to The Law of Nations twofold say Primary and Secondary The Primary Law of Nations is that which natural Reason hath insigned all Nations as hath been expressed in the Secondary Law of Nature therefore some have termed the Secondary Law of Nature the antient Law of Nations But there is a Secondary Law of Nations which is no part of the Primary or Secondary Law of Nature this cometh not by nature but by a Judgment gathered out of experience and discourse thereby collecting what is commodious for common society and equally behoofeful to all Nations and this is not ingraffed in nature at first but gotten and gathered by use and necessity which makes thereof a Law as to punish offenders and wrong-doers which is the first head of the Secondary Law of Nature yet not a Rule or Law begotten or bred by Nature But when the perverse nature of Man could not contain it self in temperancy then wrongs offered publick necessity required that they should be punished who would hurt others and trouble the