Selected quad for the lemma: power_n
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A70542
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Two great questions determined by the principles of reason & divinity I. whether the right to succession in hæreditary kingdoms, be eternal and unalterable? Neg. : II. whether some certain politick reasons may not be sufficient grounds of divorce? Affirm.
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Lawrence, William, 1613 or 14-1681 or 2.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing L692A; ESTC R19202
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24,141
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40
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Eternal for the same Reason it ever had a beginning He Forfeits His Right to it who is disposed to a Nations extreme Hazard or Destruction to prevent all which is the only Reason he should Succeed in the Government and that there should be any such thing at all which if He will not only not prevent but is the Person who brings it about there is no Reason He should Succeed in the Government he has made a Forfeiture of His Right CHAP. III. That the Forfeiture is made to the Supreme Authority That it is none unless it be taken Advantage of whilst He continues a Subject but that a Prince once Possest of the Supreme Power cannot be Deposed That the same Reasons which Warrant to take the Forfeiture of Him whilst Heir if it be not taken then are afterwards of no Force against Him I Above put the Power of Designing a Successor either at Pleasure or else by some fixed standing Rule and Law in the Supreme Authority and therefore if the Designed Successor make Forfeiture of his Right it can be to none but Him who conveyed it to Him His Superiour for none else could Convey it to him And for another Reason the Forfeiture must be made to the Supreme Authority because the Care of the Future Welfare and Safety of the Subjects against which He was Disposed belongs properly to the Supreme Magistrate and therefore the power of preventing future Mischiefs and taking the Forfeiture which is the way to prevent doth reside solely in Him For although it cannot be denied but that the People are mainly Concerned in a matter of that Weight as is their Spiritual and Temporal Welfare and so might seem sufficiently warranted of themselves to provide for their own safety as is every one Naturally Yet may they use only such Means as are to them Lawful and as may not prove as Great or greater Inconveniences than the thing they would avoid and what such are I shall presently shew Every one Naturally hath a Power and Right to preserve himself not only by Avoiding or Flying from that which actually Assaults Him but by standing and defending Himself against it Nay by Offending and Assaulting that for the others Violence being Arbitrary that is exercised by One who had no Right or Authority so to do was Unjust and might therefore not only be Resisted but returned in the same Degree according to the just and natural Laws of Retaliation and that even Immediately and by the private hand of the Person Assaulted forasmuch as the imminent danger could not admit of the delay of expecting a publick Determination but in case one be not actually Assaulted I speak of private Persons it is not lawful either to Kill or Bind Him who you suspect will be the Aggressor but to fly from him is Lawful Or to endeavour to perswade him who bears Authority over Him to take away His Arms or confine him or make him give Security for his keeping the Peace by this way of prevention for any one to provide for his own safety is not only Lawful but Prudent and Commendable So in case a Nation fear the future Practices of Him who is now Heir they may forecast a prevention by engaging and obtaining of Him under whose Authority He is to tye him up by such Rules and Laws as will put it without his Power to Effect the dreaded Mischief or by utterly and totally removing Him out of that Place and Capacity in which alone he can hurt them But they themselves have not sufficient Authority to tye Him up by Laws or Disinherit Him and therefore cannot do it without Injury and if it so come to pass that the Supreme Authority will suffer him whom you suspect will Murther You to bear Arms and will not confine Him if He Assaults you being a private Man you have the power of defending your self but if the Supreme Magistrate will appoint a Successor over a Nation who that Nation has good reason to suspect will endanger their Lives and Fortunes and Corrupt them in their Religion to the hazard of their Souls they have done all that lawfully they may for preventing that Successiòn but Violently and of their own Authority which is none to go about to Disinherit or Alter the Succession upon pretence that the Injury done to him is not comparable to the Mischiefs and Injuries prevented which though true enough and there want nothing but a competent Authority to alter the Succession without Injury to the Person Disinherited yet still it remaining an Injury because they do it who have not sufficient Authority it is a breach of the Lawes of Christianity which allows not evil to be done that good may come of it or evil be prevented And supposing my self to speak to Christians I hope the Laws of our Religion will be judged to Oblige them as much as any Civil Lawes whatsoever for Christians ought to suffer Injury rather than do any Having then proved this Forfeiture to be made to the Supreme Authority that the Care and Power of preventing those ' foreboded Mischiefs resides only in it the Subject ought in Prudence and Duty to himself to endeavour their prevention by moving the Supreme Authority to prevent them but not otherwise and if he foresees no remedy ought to Arm his Conscience from Corruption in Religion and the Spiritual Danger and his resolution to suffer under the Temporal and bear Injury when it cannot without Sin be prevented or Opposed And this submission is not only necessarily enforced from the Principles of Christianity but grounded upon Civil and Sate-Policy for if it were in the Peoples Power to Disinherit whom they would no Person could ever Succeed from whom the Multitude might not have Assurance of being Complyed with in what they pleased and Mens desires being sometimes Extravagant and Sinful great Inconveniences must needs ensue too the Government by the allowance of them frequently to a Successor might be Disinherited by the Faction or ill Disposition of the most by reason of false and scandalous Imputations which they can hear and believe but not disprove or on purpose which is sometimes very Be-witching to shew their Power and this must needs make a Government unsetled and dispose it to Anarchy Ruin and Destruction Now upon reflection of the inconveniences of a Power in the People to Disinherit and of those which sometimes may happen for want of that Power in them when the Ordinary Supreme Authority which hath Power will not exercise it upon a due Occasion some Men may possibly fall into a Rage accusing their ill Fortune which unavoidably subjects them to Misery on both sides and Him who having Power will not use it to secure them from the dangers they fear but if they consider that He who refuses to Gratify them in this cannot be imagined not to wish intend his Peoples good as much as his own and several wayes formerly has procured it they have no reason to be
TWO Great Questions DETERMINED BY THE PRINCIPLES OF Reason Divinity I. Whether the Right to Succession in Haereditary Kingdoms be Eternal and Unalterable Neg. II. Whether some certain Politick Reasons may not be sufficient Grounds of Divorce Affirm It was Enacted and Provided out of the Warrant of Ancient Laws That if any should Affirm That the Laws and Statutes cannot Limit and Bind the Right of the Crown and the Succession thereof every such Person should be Guilty of High-Treason Camb. Hist. of Qu. Eliz. Ann. 1571 1572. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Erasm. LONDON Printed for Richard Janeway in Queens-Head-Alley in Pater = Noster = Row 1681. THE CONTENTS The first Question WHether the Right to SUCCESSION in Hereditary Kingdoms be Eternal and Unalterable CHAP. I. That the Power and Authority which Princes or Supreme Magistrates have is derived to them from God and that by these several wayes immediate Deputation Hereditary Succession and Election page 1 CHAP. II. That a Disposition in a Prince proceeding from Opinion or otherwise to both the Spiritual and Temporal dammage and destruction of a Nation maketh a Forfeiture of Right to Succession p. 6 CHAP. III. That the Forfeiture is made to the Supreme Authority that it is none unless it be taken Advantage of whilst He continues a Subject but that a Prince once possest of the Supreme Power cannot be Deposed that the same Reasons which Warrant to take the Forfeiture of Him whilst Heir if it be not taken then are afterwards of no force against Him p. 11 CHAP. IV. That Mens throwing themselves wholly on Providence for averting these Mischiefs without making use of rational and moral means to prevent them is unreasonable and absurd page 17 The Second Question WHether some certain Politick Reasons may not be alone sufficient Grounds of DIVORCE CHAP. I. Of Marriage its Institution Ends and Obligation of its special Rights and Priviledges in the state of Christianity p. 19 CHAP. II. What is Divorce What are sufficient Reasons of Divorce And the Words of our Saviour St. Mat. 5. 31 32. Chap. 19. 9. and elsewhere about Divorce only for the Cause of Adultery and Fornication considered and explained p. 23 CHAP. III. Whether the Case of Princes Marriages be the same with private Mens and whether they are not sometimes extraordinarily Indulged and Dispenced with by God p. 30 ERRATA Pag. 3. Lin. 15. before the insert of For Posterity p. 5. 1. 3. Read Paternity Immediately p. 5. 1. 16. Mediately either p. 27. 1. 34. neither a Vowed p. 28. 1. 33. an avowed TWO Great Questions I. Question Whether the Right to Succession in Hereditary Kingdoms be Eternal and Unalterable CHAP. I. That the Power and Authority which Princes or Supreme Magistrates have is derived to them from God and that by these several Wayes Immediate Deputation Hereditary Succession and Election BEing about to Discourse of a Point both difficult and dangerous I mean The Right of Succession to Supreme Authority whether it be not limited by Conditions and subject to Alterations I shall in the following Dispute use such Caution in Arguing and that too from no worse Topicks than Principles of Reason and Divinity as may I hope prove some means of Satisfaction but none of Distaste And because this Question about the Alterability of Succession to the Supreme Authority will receive great Light from a Discussion of what is the Nature of that Right which Princes have to Succession and the Nature of that Right be Cleared by a Consideration of him who gives it and to what Ends I shall in the first place state from what Fountain Power and Authority it is Derived by what Ways and to what End First I take it for granted that no man Naturally and of Himself has a Right Inherent in Himself to exercise Rule and Government over others and all men as to a state of Nature to be Born in the same Degree of equality with one another but yet that most Men are Born in a state of Subjection to some other comes thus to pass because Man being at the Will Disposal and Command of His Creatour who gave Him Life and Existence and continues it to him shall be likewise at the Command of whomsoever the Creatour shall transfer a Right to of Government and Command and only of Him So that supposing God not to have transfer'd His Right of Dominion over Man or any part of it to any else every Man is born in the same condition and relation of Equality for though Son-ship doth Oblige to many Offices of Gratitude and Duty yet not to such a Subjection as we are handling and consequently no one is Naturally a Servant or Subject nor any one a Prince till God hath Invested some Person with an Authority of Governing such a number of Men and all that shall be born of them The Inference then is plain that if men should be naturally equal and no one subject to other did not God Depute some one Person to Exercise part of his Authority and Government over others then that they are not Equal is the effect of God's Appointment and so all Pre-eminence of Power and Authority is primarily derived from Him And that this immediate conclusion from right Reason is Consonant to God's Word and so must all such of necessity be I shall quote but one place of Scripture viz. Rom. 13. 1. Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers for there is no Power but of God the Powers that be are Ordained of God c. This being laid for a Foundation that all Authority is derived from God the next Doubt is how we shall know to whom He does derive it that we may give Him due Obedience and not be imposed on by Usurpers And this will best be known if we consider the several ways by which God Derives this Power to Men For we may infallibly conclude that He has no Authority from God who did not receive it by those ways by which God Confers it and that He is God's Minister to whom we see Providence has Derived it by some such way as He makes use of to that purpose and they are these His own Immediate Choice and Deputation Hereditary and Natural Succession of Kindred And Election by the Common Votes and Suffrages of any People Of the first sort were Moses Saul and David of the second were Solomon and Rehoboam c. the last was Jeroboam though God had also foretold to Him by His Prophet that He should be King over Ten Tribes and accordingly v. 20. of the 12. Chap. of the 1 of Kings All Israel when they had heard that Jeroboam was come again out of Egypt sent and called Him to the Congregation and made Him King over Israel Of these three ways of being Inaugurate into the Supreme Power the First is more Noble and Glorious for as much as in that a particular Approbation of the Person by God Himself is the Reason of his Advance