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
A55606	A vindication of monarchy and the government long established in the Church and Kingdome of England against the pernicious assertions and tumultuous practices of the innovators during the last Parliament in the reign of Charles the I / written by Sir Robert Poyntz, Knight of the Bath.	Poyntz, Robert, Sir, 1589?-1665.	1661 (1661)	Wing P3134; ESTC R3249	140,182	162

Gods word or from thence to be probably deduced and inferred They catch at every Text of Scripture as their fancy leadeth them according to the old and usual course of Hereticks and Schismaticks to prove their own and destroy the old Church Government without any consideration of the Expositions of the Antient Fathers or Modern Divines or any regard how wilfully they pervert and abuse the Word of God as those who have largely and learnedly handled these points have made appear * S. Hierome sheweth us such men in his time qui quicquid dixerint boc legem Dei putant nec scire dignantur quid Prophetae quid Apostoli senserint sed ad sensum suum incorgtua aptant testimonia quasi grande sit non vitiosissimum docendi genus depravare sententias ad voluntatem suam Scripturam trahere repugnantem Epist ad Paulinum The unlearnd and unstable wrest the Scriptures unto their own destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 But seeing they deal thus with the Scripture it cannot be expected they should regard humane Laws neither the power given by God to Kings and to his Church and to make such Laws as carry with them both a directive and a coercive power Such Laws and Constitutions I mean as are in no respect repugnant to Gods word but are deduced from the general rules thereof and grounded upon the varranty left by our Saviour and his Apostles as ●uides and limits for the Church in all ages Humane lawes are measures saith Aquinas in respect of men whose actions they direct and govern and these measures have their higher rules by which they are to be measured which are the laws of God and nature Those Laws therefore have the essential parts and properties of the best positive Lawes which the Lawes of God do approve and are such as are extracted from the light and law of Nature and the common and demonstrable precepts thereof most agreeable to common equity and are most necessary for the preservation of the peace and welfare of the Church and Common-wealth It is therefore a false and dangerous doctrine of theirs that it is not in the power of the Church or State to restrain and bar men by Lawes from their liberty which God hath granted unto them no more then it is to take away the yoak which God hath laid upon them and to countermand that which he hath expresly injoyned They may find a difference between the liberty granted us by God and nature which is restrainable and the eternal precepts of God which are immutable By this doctrine the power of government is so restrained and so weakened as that the frame and pillars thereof are shaken and the difference almost taken away between the things of greatest weight precisely defined and injoyned by the Word of God to be observed alwayes as are those which the Schoolmen call his negative precepts and those other things of less moment which have little or nothing of precise and perpetual commandment but more of liberty granted unto men by God and nature and yet not exempted from the power of the Church or Magistrate to alter or restrain according to special occasions and variations of times In this miserable age wherein we live we are to deal with men such as the antient times never produced men who rest not upon the disobedience of Princes and contempt of Laws Divine and humane but teach and practise the introducing of new orders and discipline in the Church and State by sire and sword and do destroy those men and their estates who joyn not with them Men who gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous and condemn the innocent blood Psalm 94.21 Such men are not to be found save in the time of Antichrist mentioned by the Prophet who shall wear out the Saints of the most High and think to change times and laws Daniel 7.25 The doctrine of the Gospel much less the Discipline of the Church ought not by such means in any case to be brought in or established Apud Christianam disciplinam magìs occidi liceret Tertul. Bernard quàm occidere non est religionis cogere religionem Religion saith Saint Austin is planted and preserved by instructing more then by commanding by admonishing more then by threatning 2 Corin. 1 24 Cap de Judaeis Dijlinct 45. Not that we saith Saint Paul have dominion over your faith Praecipit sancta Synodus nemini ad credendum vim inferri cui enim vult Dous miseretur quem vult indurat The sword availeth little with the souls of men unless to destroy them together with their bodies and to make men desperate or dissemblers in Religion and when they find opportunity to fall into rebellion as there are many examples The old just and necessary Edicts made by the best Christian Emperours against Hereticks and those who were of a contrary religion to that which was publickly received and established were but Civil and Political Lawes for the tranquillity of the State and People quae pacis perturbatorum pervicaciâ exasperanda sunt parentium et obtemperantium bono temperandaet moderanda sunt Thuan Epiff in prin ipio Hist and this K. James declared when he set forth the oath of Allegeance Those Imperial edicts did not punish men for their diversity of religion neither gave them toleration their scope and end was not to inforce the conscience D. Hieronym but to preserve the Peace Aliae sunt Leges Caesarum aliae sunt Leges Christi alind Papinianus Epist 48. 50. aliud Paulus noster docet And yet Saint Austin doth allow of the punishment of some hereticks by pecuniary mulcts or banishment as being not repugnant to Christian lenity and sheweth that many of the Donatists were by the terror of Laws and edicts brought to the Catholick Faith and to unity in the worship and service of God D. Bernard ser 66. super Cant. Aliqui meliùs procul dubio coercentur gladio illius videlicèt qui non sine causa gladium portat Rom cap. 13. quàm ut in suum errorem multos trajicere permittantur Some discreet coercion may oftentimes necessarily be used towards those who contemn or neglect the service of God and the preaching of his word the means of salvation The parable of the marriage feast saith Luke 14. compel them to come in that my house may be filled Melius est cum severitate diligere quàm cum lenitate decipere Auguslin Parcere alienis peccatis quae dedocere objurgare debemus hoc est propter quaedam cupiditatis vincula non propter Charitatis officia But in the antient times of Christianity such means were not used as might make Hereticks Schismaticks more obstinate then docible through the preposterous proceedings of the Magistrates and Ministers of justice in the execution of penal Lawes used rather as snares for gaining of money and pecuniary mulcts imposed rather as prices

feigned that when certain people desired of Apollo Rignalio di Parnaso to be relolved whether it were lawful to kill a Prince a Tyrant he with great indignation rejected their question in respect the people were incomperent judges and not capable to discern between a King and a Tyrant and in respect of their ignorance they alwayes gave great advantage unto those who were ambitious seditious and lovers of novelties or in desperate condition and estate with their pencel or false pretences and with colours of Hypocrisie to paint Tyrants for lawful Princes as well as Princes for Tyrants whereby the world would be filled with bloodshed and execrable confusions and so Apollo sent them away with this admonition bonos Principes voto expetere qualescunque tolerare David said against thee thee onely have I sinned not but that he sinned also against men and no excuse no prerogative no acceptation of persons at Gods Tribunal although in the quality of a King he was exempted from any Judgement-seat of men for David being a King saith Saint Ambrose was therefore not under the coercive power of humane lawes quia Reges liberi sunt à vinculis delictorum they are freed from the bonds of their offences and are not called to punishments inflicted by Lawes saith he quiatuti sunt Imperii potestate they are safe by the power and virtue of Empire The Interpreters of the Civil and Canon Lawes in explaining that in the Imperial Law Inflitut tit qutb modis Testam l. 3. Ced de Testam L. 4. Cod. de Legibus Diflinctio 21. c. 4. etc. 7. Decretal de Electionib cap. 20. legibus soluti sumus legibus tamen vivimus do say that Kings are freed from the coercive power of Laws but not from the directive quia nihil magis proprium Imperii quàm legibus vivere Et qui leges facit pari Majestate legibus obtemperare debet Non posse quemquam qui minoris est authoritatis eum qui majoris potestatis est judiciis suis addicere aut propriis desinitionibus subjugare quia prima sedes non judicabitur à quoquam nisi à Deo Nee potest ipse hac in parte praejudicium ullum successoribus suis generare pari potestate imo eâdem post cum functuris cùm non habet par in parem imperium The ten Tribes which fell from their King Rehoboam and chose Jeroboam we find were justly condemned for their Rebellion because they perverted the order and violated the power established by God in falling from the house of David Hosea 11. The Prophet sheweth what they were Ephraim compasseth me with lyes and the house of Israel with deceit but JVDAH ruleth yet with God and is faithful In this Tribe of Iudah which remained and kept the pure service of God there remained also the lawful Government in the progeny of David and all the other Tribes which revolted to Ieroboam and sorsook their lawful Soveraign for being overburdened with taxes what got they by it they lost their Religion which we have seen in our time to go after the loss of allegeance and inthralled themselves under far greater exactions as most commonly it appeareth in a new usurped State and they had their Rebellion rewarded with Tyranny as there are many examples both Ancient and Modern If men well consider they shall finde that to help what is amiss in Government is not by resisting or which is the worst of all by removing the power or the Persons set over us by Gods decree and by dissolving the bond of Kings Job 12.18 which God onely looseth or by casting contempt upon their Persons which draweth on the destruction of their authority It was said by a wise man vi regere patriam aut parentes Salust quanquam possis delicta corrigas tamen importunum est For such men usurp Gods right and murmure against his decree and controul his wisedome and justice and give a check to his divine providence Such men are pusilli animi Seneca qui ita obluctantur de ordine mundi malè existimant emendare mallent Deos quam seipsos They rather will controul the supream powers and usurp the power to help themselves by evil means then look whether they can finde any fault in themselves He who resisteth the powers Rom. 13. resisteth the ordinance of God saith Saint Paul Those who resist Goverment are presumptuous and selfe willed saith Saint Peter these filthy dreamers dispise Government and speake evil of dignities saith Saint Jude All three Apostles teach us allegeance to our Soveraigne which inseparably is annexed to the love of our Country both stand and fall together He who is a Subject by birth as he is tyed unto his allegeance by the divine so is he by the Laws of Nature and Nations L. 14. F. de condict indebiti l 2 l. 8. F. de capit minut l. 95. S. 4. F. de solutionib L 84. F. de regul Juris L. 26. S. 12. F. de condict ind●biti l 12. Cod de in jus vocando L. d Chanel and Sir Fdw. Cke Postnati case L. 8. F de Cap●● m●●utis 〈◊〉 de jure na gen L 2 F de Iustu jure but our adversaries who are as presumptuous self-willed and as great resisters of Goverment as ever were in any age deny this stifly and affirme that no natural allegeance is due to our Soveraigne which is a vain dream for there is a natural allegeance as there is a natural obligation expressed in divers cases in Law naturâ aquum obligati naturaliter obligationes quae naturalem praestationem habent obligatio naturalis quod vincnlo aequitatis vinculo juris naturalis sustinetur is natura debet quod jure gentium dare oportet sic natura libertus obsequium patrono debet cùm naturali obligatione seu ratione honor bujusmodi personis deb●●tur If the Laws have ordained so many distinct natural obligations and bonds between men it were very hard that Princes should be excluded from having any natural obligation between them and their Subjects But there is a natural and a local allegeance Naturalia jura lex civilis corrumpere non potest naturalia jura sunt immutabilia nec jure gentium tolli possunt nec Senatus authoritate commutari The supream Laws of nature are immutable as Religio erga Deum ut Patriae Parentibus parcamus And herein is included our allegeance to our Soveratgne as it is likewile in the sift Commandment of the Decalogue by the judgment of all Divines There are other Laws of nature of an inferior rank and degree not so much concerning our natural duties as our rights profits and liberties due unto us by the Laws of nature originaily which may be and have been by the Laws of nations and by positive and Municipal Laws and cusiomes L. 64. F de condict indebitt Grot. de jur bel l. 3. c. 4.