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	tyrant_n	3,396	5	9.9720	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77921	State-maxims, or, Certain dangerous positions, destructive to the very natural right and liberty of mankind. Laid down in a book entituled, The grounds of government and obedience; by Tho. White Gent. / Discussed, and both by Scripture and reason confuted, by Will Ball Esq;	Ball, William.	1656 (1656)	Wing B595; Thomason E886_6; ESTC R207341	17,284	32

for it was casus fortunae or more Theologically the providence of GOD punishing the masters careless neglect who if he knew that his servant had such power committed unto him as that he might put any thing in or out should prudently have fore-seen and over-seen it In like manner he that promiseth absolutely his Daughter in marriage to another and afterwards the party is not found to be of such competent means as the father of the Daughter esteemed him to be I omit matter of Religion and manners for those being dissembled may sometimes alter the case is for his part tied Jure contractus civilis to perform his promise for he might prudently and carefully have looked into the parties means before he had made an absolute promise howbeit the Daughter is free to dissent if she have not absolutely given her consent But neither these cases of imprudence and negligence nor that of Jephte can give scope to a Limited high Magistrate for promise or oath-breaking for Jephte made a rash and imprudent vow he should have prudently considered what had been fit to sacrifice to GOD and not have rashly vowed to sacrifice the first thing that met him from home which casually might have been one of his neighbours or servants as it was his onely daughter and therefore in the Opinion of solid Divines he ought rather to have broken his rash vow than to have sacrificed his daughter howbeit in regard he had his daughters consent and in regard the Scripture reprehendeth it not and that it might seem a Type of the militant Church submitting her self to martyrdom in honour of the victory of Christ the fact of Jephte may be argued But however Jephte his miscarriage in not breaking but accomplishing his rash and imprudent vow cannot as aforesaid be a sufficient Warrant for the Limited high Magistrate to break his Oath or promise made with deliberation and according to prudence that a People might be preserved from slavery oppression or meer Arbitrary Government so that he is bound by the tie of honesty and fidelity to a strict observation of his Rules and Limitations nor ought he to exceed them nor in any thing to violate them unless he be released of his Oath or Promise by the People or their Trustees or by them enlarged touching his Rules and Limitations All understanding men know that a deliberate and prudent Oath or Promise ought to be kept OBSERVATION III. Vpon the fourteenth Ground in what conditions the subject may resist Government And upon the fifteenth Ground wherein consists the Power and Liberty of the subject IN this place I must tell Mr. White that he doth either of purpose or mistake confound the Power of a Limited high Magistrate and of an unlimited supream Magistrate for in the places which I have quoted his scope is touching a Limited high Magistrate in other places he instanceth or induceth the Power of an unlimited supream Magistrate as in the twelfth Ground page 98. where he saith The next thing that occureth is the subjects fact by making this Trust and that is that he hath made away all Power of judging and caring for the common good farther than the eyes and hands of the Magistrate his Trustee otherwise they have not made him supream Governour Now I intend not to discourse of such an unlimited Magistrate to whom the People by making away all Power of judging and caring for the common good have submitted themselves slaves to stand to his Judgment solid or not solid and to depend on his conscience or rather will good or bad but my intent is to discourse of a Limited Magistrate from whom the People have received the chief Power to their Trustees of judging and caring for the common good and of the Peoples duty to such a Magistrate The Gentleman saith Ground 14. page 112. Who should ask me if the Governour exacted for one time all the subject had so there remained a Ground to work upon a new and within a little time to live contentedly I should be troubled to confess it were a sufficient injury to take up arms against him because I cannot judge which were the greater mischeif to the subject Truly I am no whit troubled to aver that a Limited Governour who should deal so enormously with any People as to exact all they had leaving them onely a Ground to work upon a new ought not onely to be by arms if no other Remedy be left displaced or deposed but also punished Romano more majorum for he not onely violateth or breaketh his Promise or Oath which obliged and tied him to his Limitations but inhumanly trampleth upon the Rule of Nature it self to spoil those whom he ought to protect To Even by the strength of that Power which he ought to defend omit the Scenes of horrid Tyrants Christianus the second King of Denmark for oppressions no way sutable to what Mr. White hath stated was expelled out of his Kingdom and could never be admitted to the Government albeit Charles the fift his Brother in Law and some other Princes laboured what they might for his restauration For my part I never read that any of the Eastern Monarchs did at any time so Tyrannize over the subjects as at one time to axact all the subjects had howbeit those effeminate people used to the yoak of slavery do voluntarily or carelesly undergo the burden of Tyranny Touching the clause viz. So there remained a ground to work upon of new and within a little time to live contentedly It is a Riddle above my reach I cannot conceive from what clouds such contentedness should drop unless pains and penury instead of plenty and prosperity should be esteemed contentedness as amongst the poor Peasants in France The Gentleman sayes page 114. When evidently the Tyranny of the Governour is greater than the mischeif hazarded viz. of taking up arms against him when ever this happeneth be the material conditions what they will the subject is free I would know of Mr. White or any Rational man whether it were not better for the Subject to take up armes than to suffer a Tyrant at one time to exact all the subject had leaving onely a ground to work upon of new which peradventure may be barely the spade and ground If the Subject permit a Tyrant at one time or I say at several times to exact all he is accessary to his own wrong but if he depose and severely punish such a Tyrant he justly vindicateth himself according Gen. 14. dictateth this Also the Book of Judges to his original or primitive Power in the force of Nature which giveth to every People power to free themselves from any kind of slavery to which they have not or do not voluntarily submit Now it is in Reason evident that the Tyranny of the Governour in exacting all is greater than the mischeif hazarded by the subject in endeavouring by arms to preserve all by suffering the first nothing but slavery can

be expected by hazarding the other freedom may be hoped for and if lost yet Rationally and nobly lost howbeit I think it very Rational to go prudently and not rashly to work in so weighty a case Mr. White ingeniously confesseth page 119. It is clear there can be no question of the necessity of the resistance for they are such speaking of the oppressions of a Tyrant as do put the question beyond all ambiguity in the very conscience of the Magistrate he should have done well to have added if he have any the objects bearing on the subject in every ones particular beyond denial and dispute Such a one who putteth his Subjects to such extremities Mr. White also page 118. jugdeth fit to deserve all the mischeif that may light upon him for it and withal concludeth that discourse page 120. And therefore his either ignorance or carlesness or Tyranny ought to be so evident that it be beyond all question or else the subiect must have patience for his own good which is his aim in putting himself under Government Now if ignorance which may peradventure be but mistake or carelesness which may sometimes be but confidence seeming so evident to the apprehensions of the People as that they be beyond all question are Grounds I will not say sufficient for the Subiect to resist the Magistrate certainly the Tyranny of exacting all the Subiect had at one time leaving onely a ground to work upon of new being a case more transcendent in voluntary mischief than ignorance or carelesness which may sometimes be involuntary must needs be a sufficient Ground for the subiect not onely to resist the Magistrate if he reform not and make restitution for The Roman Caesars even Nero had the Explicite consent of the Senate and the implicite consent of the People of Rome at least wise a parte post such oppression but also severely to punish him which thing Mr. White needed not to have been troubled in his Judgment to have confessed And now I think it not amiss to declare who are Tyrants whosoever acquireth power or soveraignty by meer force without the explicite or implicite which some call tacite consent of a Nation or People is a Tyrant formeer acquisition of Power or merum Imperium doth not barely of it self create any Right no more than doth a forcible Entry or Possession unduly gotten Also all and every Power Monarchical Aristocratical or Democratical who I have formerly instanced touching Limited Tyrants if unlimited Potentates may be Tyrants consequently Limited Potentates must be Tyrants if they transgress their Limitations albeit they have the Peoples consent explicite or tacite without Limitation do transgress the end of Government which is the Peoples safety and welfare are Tyrants the Reason is because all Government is by the Rule of Reason intended for Protection and Preservation not any for destruction or desolation and therefore this is an usual Maxim viz. ubi nulla Protectio nulla subiectio the Reason is because the final cause or end of subiection which is Protection is wanting to which end St. Paul pointeth at Rom. 13. 6 Therefore or to this end pay ye Tribute c. I think it convenient to define Protection and Subiection and from thence to deduce some Reasons Protectio est Relatio Defensiva superiorum erga inferiores That of 1 Pet. 2. 18. is to be understood of froward Masters Protecting and paying wages or allowing maintenance Protection is a Defensive Relation of Superiors towards Inferiors Subiectio est Relatio submissiva Inferiorum erga Superiores Subiection is a submissive Relation of Inferiors towards Superiors Hence it will follow that the Governour and Governed are but as Relatum Correlatum that the submissive Relation of Rational Obedience supposeth the Defensive Relation of Rational Justice we ought Rationally not blindly to obey Rom. 12. 1. we ought Rationally not rashly to Judge Luk. 12. 57. Hence it follows also that no submissive Relation of Rational obedience is due to such Tyrants if any such Monsters be amongst mankind who at will deprive their vassals of life or take away from whom they please what they please when they please ad Arbitrium for such do not defend but destroy nor can I be of opinion that any People did at any time submit to or rather enthral themselves under such Tyrants voluntarily but of constraint which if so then are they Free if able to free themselves as I have formerly shewed But whether or no any People have voluntarily enslaved themselves I shall not insist upon Howbeit I will instance the late Government of England not so unlimited as some have supposed it and would peradventure have had it so but exactly Regulated to the Rational end of Government until Exorbitances like briars over-spread the Land In England the King had the sole power Juritenent or of Law-administring but not solely for in the time of Parliaments they could ioyntly administer Law and Judge of matter of Fact even as could the King In England the King had onely a joynt-Joynt-power of Juredicent or of Law-making for without the Parliament the King could neither make nor repeal Laws nor Legally impose Taxes upon the People Yet the leaving matters of great consequence to the Resolution of the governed Party did not make them Governours as Mr. White supposeth Ground 15. pa. 127. for the Members of Parliament were co-ordinate with the King in Law-making and Law-administring at the times of their Sessions and in other things and at other times subordinate to the King Moreover in England neither the King nor Parliament though united in consent could do three things to wit 1. To deliver over the People of England to a Forrain Government 2. To deliver over the National Benefit of the People of England to a People distinct in Law and Government 3. To deprive the People of England of their own National Law That is to say to judge and determine Meum and Tuum contrary to the Essence of any Law as long as such Law was in Being For the Kingly and Parliamentary Sacred Scripture is the written Rule of Religion Law Positive of Government Nulled or repealed c. power united was but efficiently in Posse not formally in Esse above the Law because the Law obliged all even King and Parliament until such Law were by Parliament being the Representative Body of the Nation and Trustees of the People nulled or altered The Reason is because all Government ought to be Regular for the peoples safety not any absolutely or meerly Arbitrary to their Destruction Wherefore if the Kingly and Parliamentary power should have granted the Propriety of John to Thomas meerly at their pleasure contrary to Law in Being albeit they should therein have violated but the Right of one man Explicitely and Actually yet they had therein violated the Right of all men in England Implicitely and Potentially in regard all men had been subject to the like Danger

In such case I should have applied to the King and Parliament what Mr. White applieth to the Magistrate Ground 15. page 123. where he sayes So that in truth the Magistrate first by his miscarriages abdicateth himself from being a Magistrate and becometh a Brigand and Robber instead of a Defender And the People in way of Natural Preservation of themselves make Resistance against him But Mr. White applieth this to a Magistrate who should wrong or Tyrannize over a People in General and seemeth to deny page 129. that any Resistance may be made by a People to vindicate the wrongs of some Particulars for he saith If the wrong be done to Particulars we ought to consider that accidental harms cannot be prevented neither in nature nor in humane affairs and so are objects of pitty rather than of hope to be amended and to be tolerated rather in respect of the great good which is the common peace than expose all to such confusion as must be and ever hath been where the Government is in part placed in unexperienced hands I am not altogether of the Gentlemans opinion for besides the Rule of Humanity the Tye of National Amity obligeth a whole Nation to vindicate the wrongs of a few even by arms if no other Redress can be had especially when the wrongs done to some Particulars may manifestly seem to presage the Ruine of all I do not find that the Israelites had any special warrant from GOD to punish and suppress by Arms the Benjamites for not punishing such as abominably abused the Levites Wife or Condubine Judges 19. 20. yet for the wrong of one or two the Israelites hazarded the good of common Peace to do the good of Justice and surely they did Rationally for the good of Justice is to be preferred before the good of Peace albeit Peace is highly to be esteemed as a blessing from GOD yet Justice is to be esteemed as the Rule of GOD Regulating humane Affairs and though not formally yet finally omnis virtus for the Preservation whereof men ought to hazard Peace or Tranquillity Lives and Livelihoods as for that of exposing all to confusion c. it hath so happened when a giddy Multitude have rashly attempted somewhat against their high Magistate or superior Rulers but seldom or never when an whole Nation or People or the major or a very considerable part of them have prudently engaged against an over-lording Oppressor or Oppressors as in Switzerland and Holland I shall now return to instance somewhat more touching the former Government of England before I conclude the discourse thereof In England neither the King nor Parliament were to speak strictly the efficient causes of Laws primarily but onely secundarily The Reason is because the People tied the King by Oath to conserve the just Laws which the Peogle shall chuse or as some contend have In England the People had a National Innate power of Electing and Intrusting Representatives The Kings Writ did only appoint the time and place not give power as somehave supposed expressed chosen The People also nominated and as it were created their representatives in Parliament and although the Kings of England were heretofore born by Descent to their Kingly Office and so many times admitted thereunto before they took their solemn Oath yet the People alwayes admitted them with reference of their Oaths to be taken and kept or performed I therefore make this Argument 1. All Power which did primarily oblige by Oath and which did constitute Representatives was the primary Power of Laws or of Law-making 2. The People of England were the Power which did primarily oblige the King by Oath and which did constitute Representatives Olim Episcopi quidam Pontifices ut vocantur a Populo electi fuerunt ad denotandum Populi libere consensum erga Ecclesirsticos hoc Historicis notum est 3. Therefore the People of England were the primary Power of Laws or of Law making The major touching the King is manifest for first not any can oblige another by Oath but such as have some power over him wherefore it was truly said of an able Lawyer that the King was singulis major universis minor for indeed the People are primarily and intensively above any Kingly Power in respect Hanc rerum etiam Scriptura denotat de Mathiae Acts 1. de septem Diaconis Acts 6. of the end of Government which is salus Populi and therefore to be preferred before Majestas Imperii Secondly the Kingly Oath was in nature of Contract which obligeth between Contractor and Contracted Both major and minor are also manifest touching the Representatives it being evidently known by the Peoples former Indentures to their Trustees To apply what I have written touching the former Government of England I say where such Government or the like doth continue as in Holland The Prince of Orange was State-holder in Holland c. but not wholly intrusted so were heretofore some Princes or Princely Lords amonst the Switzers Switzerland c. albeit those People seldom plenipotentiate their Trustees without Limitations the Governours and Trustees abdicate themselves from the Government and Trust reposed in them by the People and are subject to their primary power alwayes intended and reserved for their preservation for every Free man hath a natural innate power in himself of himself and All united have a national innate power in All of All. I shall not take upon me to prescribe Rules of Government but onely say that that Government is best for any people to which the people will willingly submit and which they may or have power to reform by their Trustees or Delegates if it become greivous or burthensome unto them And so far Mr. White seemeth to assent Ground 1. page 7. saying Men are not wont to repine often at what themselves chuse and judge best for themselves especially if even after the action performed and peradventure the attempt failed yet the subject remains satisfied that it was best for him in those circumstances to do what he did I could wish that all Governours unlimited as well as limited would consider this not prefering their own self-ends or greatness before the Peoples selfimbracing Good Jamque opus exegi WILL. BALL FINIS