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	people_n	prerogative_n	3,798	5	10.0274	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B01853	A sermon preached at the coronation of William III and Mary II, King and Queen of England, ---- France, and Ireland, defenders of the faith in the Abby-Church of Westminster, April 11, 1689 / by Gilbert Lord Bishop of Salisbury. Printed by their Majesties special command.	Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1689 (1689)	Wing B5888AA; ESTC R176250	10,364	17

acting as they please or a State of Restraint that shuts out all Liberty is the more miserable of the two The one subdues whole Nations to the Humours of one flattered and abused Tyrant and the other exposes Men to the Frauds and Violences of all their Neighbours this keeps all Men in a constant State of War and that makes them languish under a base depression of Spirit In one word the one makes Men Beasts of Prey and the other makes them Beasts of Burden The Mean between these two Extreams is a Just Government that conducts those who are under it by constant and fixed Rules that limits Men Rights and restrains their Passions that subdues the Haughty and protects the Humble that assures to every Man both his just Birth-rights and the fruits of his Industry and to sum up all that renders every Man safe and that puts him in a way to make himself happy Without this Man-kind would grow into so much disorder that the World would become a Desert and Life it self would be a Misery if to live without all Rule over Men were the Condition of living A firm and steady an equal and uniform but above all a just Government changes the whole Scene every man feels that he is secure and sees how he may be happy and unless the whole Government falls under a General Distress no man can be miserable without Remedy but through his own fault This is the Sum of all the Happiness that can be expected from Government But as it is a Rule and not a fallen Authority so it is a Rule over Men suitable to the Principles of Reason to the Nature of Man and to the Ends of Civil Society To govern by Humour or Willfulness either shewing an unreasonable Stiffness in adhering too sullenly to received Maxims or an unfixed Levity that has no measures to impose things meerly because those in Authority will shew their Power and will be obeyed to put the Frailties of Men to trials in their Obedience that are above Humane Patience to exact of them that which is either impossible or unreasonable and to carry this Rule too far into that which is God's Immediate Province I mean Mens Consiences All this is not the Ruling over Men either as Men or as Christians God himself has made his Yoke easie and therefore those who can pretend no higher than to be his Vicegerents should not exceed those Limits within which the Author of our Being has restrained himself Undue Impositions and unrelenting Severities a Rigour in Commanding and a Cruelty in Punishing must find Patterns elsewhere then in Gods Governing the World or in Christs Governing the Church Happy we who are delivered from both Extreams who neither lie under the Terror of a Despotick Power nor are cast loose to the wildness of ungovern'd Multitudes who neither groan under the Tyranny of Inquisitors nor the Madness of Lawless Men and whose Laws are neither writ on Sand nor with blood neither easie to be defaced nor cruel in their Execution But how well tempered soever our Constitution may be nothing can compleat our happiness but the Justice of those who rule over us Then may we reckon our selves really happy when they are truly Just Just I say to their People and to themselves to their Laws and to their own Words and Promises chiefly to such as is the Sacred Oath of this Great Day and when they are so exactly scrupulous in point of Truth that all men see that there is no part of the Government so unalterable as their Faith is Just likewise to every one of their Subjects sheltring them all under an Impartial Protection neither perverting Justice themselves nor suffering it to be perverted as far as in them lies by any that act in their Name and resolving to make severe Examples of all that they can discover who make them the Patrons of their Oppression Just to the whole Society and the Constitution of the Government as wel as to every Individual Member of it not breaking through the Limits of their Power nor invading the Rights of their People neither inventing new Pretensions of Prerogative nor stretching those that do belong to them to the Ruine of their Subjects Just in distributing the Publick Rewards with a due regard to mens Capacities and Merits and even Just in that which to Good Kings is always the least acceptable Exercise of their Power I mean in punishing the froward and disobedient when the ill Effects of their Lenity are visible for there are Cases in which Gentleness to particular persons becomes an Injustice to the whole Body When Blood is shed it cries against the Murderer till it is pardoned but then the Cry turns upon those that pardon it and upon the Land that is defiled with Blood. There is after all a Justice in shewing Mercy as well as in punishing otherwise Princes may fall into the Error of being righteous overmuch And when the Motives for Mercy are brought near an Equality to those of the other Extream the Ballane should ever turn to the merciful side He understood Government well that said Mercy and truth preserve the King and his Throne is upheld by mercy Prov. 20 28. This is the Character of a Just Prince who sitteth on the Throne of Judgment and scattereth away all evil with his eyes Prov. 20 8. There is a Majesty in Justice that makes all unrighteousness fly and hide its face before it It is by righteousness that the Throne is established Proverb 16 12. When every man feels the Blessings of such a Ruler all men are easie and pursue their Industry because they know they shall reap the Fruit of their Labour and every man becomes a Guard to the Government that finds himself guarded by it It is neither the Discontents of a few ambitious and restless Spirits nor the Practices of those who are corrupted by the Enemies of a State that can throw it into Convulsions as long as Justice and Righteousness issue out from the Throne in so free a course that they run down like a River When righteous lips are the delight of Kings Prov. 16.13 and when the wicked are put away from before them Prov. 25.5 and when they esteem it their honour to search out matters not being abused by bold Calumnies or unjust Representations When they relieve the Poor and protect the Oppressed then by a noble sort of Conquest and Enlargement of Empire and Prerogative they become the absolute Masters of the Hearts and Hands of their Subjects When instead of making their Will the Measure of the Law they make the Law the Measure of their Will they will then feel the easiness of Ruling justly as sensibly as their People will the happiness of it for here they will see their way very plain before them whereas in all other paths they must be often divided between an irreconciliable variety of Interests and Passions But after all though it is a great happiness when