Selected quad for the lemma: power_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	king_n	law_n	positive_a	3,676	5	11.2679	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76312	The grounds and foundation of natural religion, discover'd, in the principal branches of it in opposition to the prevailing notions of the modern scepticks and latitudinarians. With an introduction concerning the necessity of revealed religion. By Tho. Beconsall, B.D. and fellow of Brasenose Colledge, in Oxford.	Becconsall, Thomas, d. 1709.	1698 (1698)	Wing B1657aA; ESTC R223530	119,538	326

Truth and Divinity of the Sacred Oracles must own it as such since we find it expresly assigned as an Argument of the Duty Hearken unto thy Father that begat thee Prov. 23. ver 22. But then when we consider that we did not only take our Rise from the Loins of a Parent but drew all our Blessings thro' his Care and Inspection and that God by a special Decree enjoyned it upon 'em as an indispensable Duty it 's an evident Confirmation of the fundamental Title that of Generation and an unquestionable Argument that God intended to induce indispensable Obligations of Obedience upon it And truly he that considers and allows God's Right of Dominion to be founded in his creative preserving Power must allow a subordinate Right of Dominion in him whom he has made the immediate Instrument and Substitute for displaying the Glory and Wonders of it Thus far I presume it 's abundantly evident that the Obligations of Filial Duty and Obedience rest upon an unquestionable Foundation That which remains is to consider the Extent of 'em and this will best be performed by applying 'em to the first Parent of Mankind from whom the Notion will present itself as it lies in its original Model And certainly we may in the first place affirm That Filial Duty and Obedience doth not barely consist in any external Ceremonies or Instances of Respect nor even those that terminate in Obligations to succour and relieve a Parent under Want or Distress but it extends to the Regulation of our Lives and Actions by Commands and Laws in all the Parts and Instances of Human Life § 4. From what has already been offered I think it may with force of Reason be affirmed That the first Parent of Mankind is by God invested with a Sovereign Power over his Off-spring to prescribe Laws for the Conduct of their Lives and Actions in all Cases and Emergencies pursuant to the Laws of God whether natural or revealed or where God has no way interposed to the contrary And pursuant to this it 's an uncontroverted Truth that the Patriarchs rightfully exercised the Priestly Function till God interposed by a positive Institution and constituted a standing Order of Men to wait on his Altar this is so agreeable to the Divine Will that though private Persons cannot preside in the public Worship of God without an Intrusion of the Priestly Office yet every Parent by Divine Designation and Appointment is still a kind of Priest within the District of his own Family And certainly if a Paternal or Patriarchal Power originally includes a Priestly Power I can see no Reason to dispute the Authority of a Kingly Power And agreeable to this History assures us that the Kings of Egypt as well as other Governments originally exercised a Sacerdotal as well as Civil Jurisdiction But to proceed The Business or Design and Authority of the supreme Power or in a word of all those delegated Powers which God hath or ever will establish among Mankind is to prescribe Laws for the Regulation of our Lives and Actions in all Cases and Emergences And if Government and positive Human Laws by the Laws of Nature and the Frame of our Beings are absolutely necessary to the Conduct of Mankind in a State of Nature as well as Grace we have all the Reason in the World to conclude that this Power and Authority was originally lodged in the paternal Power of Adam over his own Off-spring It 's certain the Prerogatives of the Supreme Power do not extend to the wresting away real Rights and Immunities which the Laws of Nature or Revelation give us for their original Institution is to advance the Wellfare and Happiness of Mankind by securing and enforcing the observance of them and therefore since it is indisputably concluded that an authoritative Power is lodged in the Fatherhood there is no Obstruction in the Nature of the Thing but the Paternal Power of Adam might extend to the imposing such Laws as are fitted to answer these Ends and Purposes Indeed God's making Government necessary seems to advance his Paternal Power to all the Rights and Prerogatives of it unless he had established it upon another Foundation by some express Law for God having created the Off-spring of Adam with the strongest Propensions of Obedience to him as a Father God having established an Obedience upon the same Principles upon which he challenges our Obedience we must conclude that a Right of Obedience accrews to Adam as a Father in all those Cases wherein God has made it necessary for Mankind to be governed by Laws And since God has made it necessary for the Off-spring of Adam and in them the Off-spring of Mankind even by the highest Necessity that of Nature and Existence to live by Society and to be governed by Laws in order to the enforcement of the Laws of God whether Natural or Revealed and in them in order to the Security of the Wellfare and Happiness of Mankind the Paternal Power of Adam must originally extend to all the Prerogatives of delegated Power so that by vertue of his Characters which God brought him into the World under he 's to all Intents and Purposes God's immediate Vice-gerent unless some positive and express Law had signified the contrary In a word a Necessity arising from the Frame and Order of Nature is in a State of Nature the proper Evidence for Divine Designation and Appointment or indeed for any Law of Nature and therefore since Civil Government is thus far necessary Reason will dictate God's Intentions in placing it that is according to the Order of Nature or where he has placed the principal Marks of Authority or Supremacy Indeed the Notion is founded on Arguments so clear and convincing that natural Reason dictates an Allegiance as forcibly from a Paternal Power as that of Compact tho' there were nothing in the Nature of the former that interferes with the Hypothesis of the latter for an Allegiance which derives from Compact must rest upon the Authority of Compact whereby it becomes indispensably binding to all the Ends and Purposes of Civil Government And I think natural Reason upon the received Laws of the Creation as clearly fixes an Allegiance in the Paternal Power as a Law of God and Nature as it pronounces the Maintainance of such Compacts a Law of God or Nature But then if upon Matter of Fact or the revealed Methods of the Creation there is any thing repugnant to such a Compact the Authority of a Paternal Allegiance cannot be rejected Now we profess and believe that Adam was the Father of Mankind for even the Woman of whom the rest of his Progeny was to be Born by an Omnipotent Power issued forth of him and since it 's concluded That for this Reason as well as for the Offices of his Paternal Function a real Superiority as well as a Right of Allegiance is derived to him we must conclude that his Off-spring could not challenge a Right of Compact any