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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
A43657	Jovian, or, An answer to Julian the Apostate by a minister of London.	Hickes, George, 1642-1715.	1683 (1683)	Wing H1852; ESTC R24372	208,457	390

Edgar stiled himself in his Charter Basileus Imperator Dominus and his Son St. Edward in a Charter which he made to the Abbot of Ramsey which my Lord Cook saith he had stiled himself Ego Edwardus totius Albionis Dei moderante Gubernatione Basileus Thus much may serve to shew that the Realm of England is a Perfect Soveraignty or Empire and the King a Compleat Imperial Soveraign Where for the Readers satisfaction I must observe That the Regal Estate is then Imperial when the King is Supream in his Dominions next under God and hath full perfect and entire Jurisdiction from God alone and all others within his Dominions by emanation from him Now this Perfection and Fulness of Imperial Power which makes an Imperial Soveraign is of two sorts such as is limited by the Laws of God and Nature only or such as is limited by the Laws of God and Nature and Civil Laws and Pactions too The Power in both sorts of Soveraigns is Imperial i. e. full perfect absolute and entire but the Exercise of it is differently bounded and regulated one by the Laws of God and Nature and the other by Humane Positive Laws and the latter Limitation doth no more destroy the Fulness and Perfection and Supremacy of the Power than the former because the Soveraign who is under Political Limitations as to the Exercise of his Power hath his Power nevertheless as absolutely fully and entirely in himself as he that is only under the limitation of Divine and Natural Laws Thus the Learned (‖) De laudibus Legum Angliae c. 9. Rex Angliae Principatu nedum regali sed politico suo populo dominatur Regnum sic institui ut lex non liberè valeat populum tyrannide gubernare quod solum fit dum potestas regia lege politicâ cohibetur Chancellor Fortescue grants the King of England to have Regal or Imperial Power although it be under the Restraint and Regulation of the Power Political as to the Exercise thereof And as a Fountain which hath Channels or Pipes made for it within which its Waters are bounded in their passage and through which they are to flow is nevertheless as perfect a Fountain and hath its Waters as fully and entirely within it self as any other Fountain whose Waters flow from it at liberty without any such Regulation So a King whose Imperial Power is limited by Humane Constitutions in the Exercise of it is nevertheless as Compleat a Soveraign and hath the Soveraign Power as fully and entirely within himself as he who is at liberty to exercise his Authority as he will To be Arbitrary is no more of the Essence of an Imperial Soveraign than to be free in the course of its Waters is of the Essence of a Fountain but as the Fountain of an Aqueduct for Example is as perfect in its Kind and generally more beneficial and useful to Mankind than a Free-flowing Spring So limited Soveraigns are as perfect and essential Soveraigns as the purely Arbitrary or Despotic and generally more Beneficial and Salutary to the World All that I have hitherto said may be better understood by distinguishing between the Being and Essence of Imperial or Soveraign Power and the Exercise and Emanation thereof As to the Being and Essence of it it is in as full perfection in the Limited as in the Arbitrary Soveraign though the Law confines and limits him in the Exercise thereof but to be confined in the Exercise doth not destroy the Being nor diminish the perfection of Soveraign Power for then the Power of God himself could not be Soveraign because there are certain immutable Rules of Truth and Justice within which it is necessarily limited and confined But God is nevertheless a perfect Imperial Soveraign over the Universe though the Exercise of his Government over his Creatures be limited by the Eternal Laws of Truth and Equity It is true that this Limitation of Almighty God is Intrinsecal and proceeds from the perfection of his Righteous and Holy Nature but yet it shews that the most perfect and absolute Imperial Power may without a Contradiction be confined within bounds and limited in the actual Exercise thereof and that such moderation and limitation of Power Absolute and Imperial doth only qualifie and temper and not destroy the Essence thereof And therefore Cook in Caudreys Case saith That by the Ancient Laws of this Realm England is an Absolute Empire and Monarchy and that the King is furnished with Plenary and Entire Power Prerogative and Jurisdiction and is Supream Governour over all Persons within this Realm And if any man will but attend well to his own Thoughts he will find no Inconsistency between the Fulness of Soveraign or Imperial Power in the Root and Essence of it and a legal limitation of the Use and Exercise thereof And from hence it comes to pass That the King of England though he be limited in the Vse and Exercise of his Power yet he is as much the Fountain of all Power and Jurisdiction within his Dominions as if he were Arbitrary He hath none to share with him in the Soveraignty but all Power and Authority is derived from him like Light from the Sun in Him alone it is Radically and Originally placed He hath no Sharers or Co-partners in the Soveraignty none Co-ordinate with him in Government no Equal nor Superior but only God to whom alone he is Subject Hence saith (†) Lib. 1. c. 8. Bracton who wrote in the Reign of Henry the Third Omnis quidem sub rege ipse sub nullo sed tantum sub Deo non est inferior sibi subjectis non parem habet in regno suo And afterwards Ipse autem Rex non debet esse sub Homine sed sub Deo And then to shew that he is a Soveraign doubly limited in the Use of his Power by the Laws of God and the Civil Laws of his Kingdom he adds Et sub Lege quia Lex facit Reg●m In the same place he calls him Vicarius Dei and saith Vices gerit Jesu Christi and nothing greater could be said of Caesar or the most Despotic Soveraign that ever was So the Statute of Praemunire 26 R. 2 c. 5. declares That the Crown of England hath been so free at all times that it hath been in no Earthly Subjection but immediately Subject to God in all things touching the Regality of the same Crown And in 25 H. 8. c. 21 the Parliament directing their Declaration to the King enacted and declared That this your Graces Realm recognizing no Superiour under God but only your Grace hath been and is free from Subjection c. And in 24. H. 8. c. 12. after the words before cited it follows unto whom a Body Politick been bounden and owen to bear next unto God a Natural and Humble Obedience He being instituted and furnished with plenary whole and entire Power Preheminence Authority c. So 2 Ed. 6. c. 2. Seing that all

Bishop Bilson as I find him speaking in his Book of the True Difference between Christian Subjection and Vnchristian Rebellion written against the Papists in Queen Elizabeths Time and printed 1586. There p. 256. Theoph. saith Our Saviour foreteaching his Disciples that they should be brought before Kings and Rulers and put to death and hated of all men for his Names sake addeth not as you would have it and he that first rebelleth but he that Endureth to the End shall be saved And again Nor with Violence restrain them but in patience possess your Souls p. 260. Deliverance if you would have obtain it by Prayer and expect it in Peace those be Weapons for Christians p. 262. The Subject hath no refuge against his Soveraign but only to God by Prayer and Patience p. 278. Your Spanish Inquisitions and French Massacres where you murdered Men Women and Children by thousands and ten thousands against the very Grounds of all Equity Piety and Humanity without convicting accusing or calling them before any Judge to hear what was misliked in them are able to set Grave and Good Men at their Wits end and to make them justly doubt since you refuse the course of all Divine and Humane Laws with them whether by the Law of Nature they may not defend themselves against such Barbarous Blood-suckers yet we stand not on that if the Laws of the Land where they converse do not permit them to Guard their Lives when they are assaulted against Law or if they take Arms as you do to Depose Princes we will never excuse them from Rebellion p. 279. For my part I must confess except the Laws of those Realms do permit the People to stand on their Right if the Prince would offer that Wrong I dare not allow their Arms. This is his determination in case of a Massacre which is the Extremity of Tyranny and it is agreeable not only to the Scripture but to the Practise of the Primitive Christians who against Equity Humanity and the Common Law of all Civil Governments endured many Tyrannical Massacres when they were able to resist And Bishop Jewel whom I should have set first in his Defence of the Apology p. 15. saith unto Harding We teach the people at St. Paul doth to be Subject to the Higher Powers not only for Fear but also for Conscience We teach them that whos● striketh with the Sword by private Authority shall perish with the Sword If the Prince happen to be wicked or cruel or burdensom we teach them to say with St. Ambrose Arma nostra sunt preces lachrymae Tears and Prayers be our Weapons He reckons this Bishop among the Worthies p. 14. of Preface but according to him he must have been but a Quack in Divinity for he was for the old Mountebank Receipt of Prayers and Tears The Peole of England it seems were taught in his time as the Doctor taught the Citizens of London in his Bow-Sermon and therefore Passive Obedience was either Heterodox Divinity then or else it is none now Nay it was taught by the Martyrs themselves in Queen Maries days for Bradford in his Letter saith Howbeit never for any thing resist or rise up against the Magistrates And Bishop Latimer in King Edward the Sixths days taught it very plainly in his 4th Sermon before the King in his Familiar Homespun Stile When I was travailed in the Tower saith he my Lord Darsy was telling me of the Faithful Service that he had done the Kings Majesty that dead is And had I seen my Soveraign Lord in the Field said he and had I seen his Grace come against us I would have lighted from my Horse and taken my Sword by the Point and yielded it into his Graces Hands Mary quod I but in the mean season you played not the part of a Faithful Subject in holding with the People in a Commotion and Disturbance It hath been the Cast of all Traytors to pretend nothing against the Kings Person they never pretend the matter to the King but to others Subjects may not resist any Magistrates nor ought to do nothing contrary to the Kings Laws I could produce much more to the same purpose out of Archbishop Sandys his Sermons Dr. Willet upon Rom. 13. Dr. Hakewels Scutum Regium Dr. Boys his Postils Dean Nowell on the 5th Com. Dr. Owen in his Antiparaeus Mr. Perkins on the 5th Com. the Little Book called Deus Rex not to mention Bishop Sanderson and other latter Divines but I have said enough to Justifie Dr. Hickes or Condemn the Church of England and her Reformers and the most Famous Divines that She hath bred Let Mr. J. look to it either the Dr. hath done well or else they are all in the same Condemnation with him And that he may know what a severe Censure he deserves for opposing this Evangelical Principle which the Dr. preached up I refer him to Erasmus in Luc. 22.36 especially to these words Mihi nulla haeresis videtur perniciosior nulla blasphemia secleratior quam si quis philistinorum exemplo Evangelici agri puteos qui a Christo venam habent aqua vivae scatentis in vitam aeternam terrâ oppleta sensum spiritualem vertat in carnalem doctrinam caelestem depravet in terrenam ac sacro-sancta Christi dogmata detorqueat imò corumpat idque reclamantibus omnibus ejus praeceptis reclamante totâ ipsius vitâ reclamante doctrinâ Apostolicâ refragantibus tot martyrum millibus repugnantibus vetustis interpretibus I do not accuse him of Heresie Blasphemy or perverting the Truths of the Gospel but if Erasmus do it I cannot help it he must get off as well as he can Having now I hope shewn that Passive Obedience is required of all Subjects by the Common Laws of Soveraignty and in particular of the English by the Laws Imperial belonging to this Crown I might here conclude this Chapter but that having undertaken the Defence of the Doctor I am obliged to answer some particular Passages which cannot well be answered but apart by themselves In the 80th p. he cites this Passage out of the Doctors Sermon Neither doth the Gospel prescribe any Remedy but Flight against the Persecutions of the Lawful Magistrate allowing of no other Mean when we cannot escape betwixt denying and dying for the Faith To this he Replyes What the Gospel Prescribes is one thing what it Allows is another There are ten ten thousand things allowed by the Gospel not one of which is prescribed by it But what is this to the purpose the Doctor speaks there of the only Gospel-Expedient or Remedy against Persecution which is Flight He asserts that the Gospel allows of no other Mean against the Persecutions of the Lawful Magistrate and if it allow no other then certainly it prescribes That The Physitian that allows but of one only Medicine against the Plague doth certainly prescribe it to the Patient And to make no more words about the matter Flight by the