Selected quad for the lemma: prince_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prince_n	ordinance_n	power_n	resist_v	2,543	5	10.0817	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70553	The thoughts of a private person, about the justice of the gentlemens undertaking at York, Nov. 1688 wherein is shewed, that it is neither against scripture, nor moral honesty, to defend their just and legal rights, against the illegal invaders of them : occasioned then by some private debates, and now submitted to better judgments.	Leeds, Thomas Osborne, Duke of, 1631-1712.	1689 (1689)	Wing L923A; ESTC R15799	20,236	31

to cut all our Throats If I be called to suffer for my Religion or the Faith of Christ I am bound to suffer upon a mighty reasonable account For first It is the best way to overcome my Faith can Triumph so by no other Victory as by Death for that is a Victory never to be lost again 2. Though I dye the Tyrant hath not his end but is by that means utterly defeated of it And 3. I shall be an infinite gainer by it for I shall have an infinite Reward for what I suffer and what I lose But there is a vast difference between suffering for the Faith of Christ and for the frame of a Political Government for if I may not resist I am overcome 2. If I am overcome the Tyrant gets his End namely an Arbitrary Power And 3. He has promis'd no Reward for such Voluntary entering into Bondage or owning an usurped Authority The Church and the frame of the State stand upon Two several Bottoms God has promised to support the Church and there needs no Arm of flesh to defend it under the worst of Governments But the frame of every Government is a Humane Structure and though God does impower and authorize every Government yet he has left the Choice of the several kinds to the Parties and has promis'd to bless them in the just Administration of their several Choices but no where has he promis'd to support the particular frame they chose that as their Prudence raised it so their Prudence must defend it or it must fall at every King's pleasure and when they have chosen out the Frame God that approves it grants neither the King nor the People greater Priviledges than the Frame it self expresses which in diverse Nations is different some submitting to be govern'd by the will of him they Voluntarily chose Others to one that will Govern by Laws of their own making and his approving Others to one of their preceeding Kings Race or Line Others to a multitude Others to a few of the best and presumptively wisest Persons and every Peoples choice must be the measure of their Obedience if they have made an ill Bargain they must stand to it and if they have made a good one they may stand for it If therefore any Governor challenge more of the Subject than is in the Submission That Subjects may by the Laws of God and Man deny to yield it And if the Prince deny to give the Subject as much as in the Grant the Subject may challenge his Right and if by Force or Fraud contrary to the Frame of the Government the Governor will force the Governed from his Right the Obligation of subjection ceases so far and he may defend himself from the oppression and injustice as well as he can Obj. 2. But he must defend himself in God's way his defence must be without Sin. And that is either by Prayers to God or Intreaties to the Prince or by Suffering for the Scripture says all Power are of God and they that resist the Power resist the Ordinance of God. Rom. 13.2 And St. Peter gives Christians in Charge that they submit to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake Answ All Powers indeed are of God that is every Government has God's Warrant to proceed according to the Frame of the Government to the End of the Government which is the publick Good. The Power is of God but the Restraint of the Power is in the Frame of the Government and the Frame is an humane Ordinance or Structure as the Apostle elegantly Expresses it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he therefore that resisteth the Government proceedeth according to the Frame of the Government resisteth the Ordinance of God. But if the Governor proceed neither according to the Frame of the Government nor to the End but against it such Process cannot be the Ordinance of God unless God have two contradictory Ordinances of Force at one time in the same Government and then the command may be true and false and the Subjects duty good and evil and men would be perpetually distracted with serving two Masters This would make the Government God's and the Devil 's and as no less than to put a Blasphemous Juggle upon the Ordinance of God which is always simple and at one with it self These Scriptures therefore cannot tye us to obey the Governor contrary to the Government because they tye us to obey the Government and that this is all they tye us from resisting is evident by the Reason St. Paul gives which is because the Resisters resist the Ordinance of God and therefore it is warily exprest if it were but as warily read for it is not whosoever resisteth the person or the will of the Governor but whosoever resisteth the Power and that Power is neither more nor less than the Frame of the Government expresses resisteth the Ordinance of God and to this Resistance the Penalty is annexed But it does not follow because I may not resist the Ordinance of God that I may not resist the powerless and inauthoritative unjust Attempts of Superiors upon me for then a Souldier might not resist his Captain that would rob him nor a Married Man-servant his Master that would force his Wife This I think evidences That to resist a Superiour and his evil Instruments and Accomplices while they Act contrary to the Frame of the Government is not to resist the Power of God or the Ordinance of God but to keep off those who usurp upon the Power of God and the Frame of the Government and the just Rights of others For I would fain know of the Doctors of Non-resistance whether the Act that contains the Test have the stamp of God's Authority upon it or no if it have not the Power of the King and Parliament is no Power of God if it have then to resist that is to resist the Ordinance of God And those Commissions that are contrary to it have no Power from God If the affirmative be true the negative is of no force And therefore to resist such Commissions is not to resist the Ordinance of God unless God's Ordinances be contradictory and that would render God guilty of double dealing as well as the Jesuits Which being utterly impossible it must be concluded That the resisting such Commissions and the Instruments acting by them is not to resist Lawful Authority but to remove Unlawful not to do evil but to hinder it not to sin but to prevent Sinners for doing mischief and it would be very hard measure for a Man to be damn'd for doing such a good Office. Bishop Bilson therefore speaking of this Text says It is not resisting the King's Will against Law but according to Law that is forbidden And both Barclay and Grotius affirm That the People may in diverse Cases resist Kings that are tyed to govern by Law which they could not do did they think these Scriptures forbad all resistance Much indeed is said from the

THE THOUGHTS OF A Private Person About the JUSTICE OF THE Gentlemens Undertaking AT YORK Nov. 1688. Wherein is shewed That it is neither against Scripture nor Moral honesty to defend their Just and Legal Rights against the Illegal Invaders of them Occasioned then by some Private Debates and now submitted to better Judgments Printed in the Year 1689. The present Undertaking of the Gentlemen at YORK Nov. 88. taken into Consideration wherein is shewed That it is neither against Scripture nor moral Honesty to defend their Just and Legal Rights against the Illegal and Unjust Invaders of them by way of Objection and Answer FIrst That it is not against Scripture is shewed Obj. 1 2 3. 2. That it is not inconsistent with the Frame of the Government in General Obj. 4. 3. Not against the Law but the Law-breakers Obj. 5. 4. Not Rebellion Obj. 6. 5. No Vsurpation of the Power of the Sword Obj. 7. 6. No unlawful Act in a moral Sense Obj. 8. 7. Not against true Allegiance Obj. 9. 8. Not against the Declaration in a Legal Sense Obj. 10. 9. Not against Political Power but Force without Political Power Obj. 11. 10. Not against any Royal Prerogative in general Obj. 12. 11. Not against the Supremacy Obj. 13. 12. Not Criminal Disobedience Obj. 14. 13. Not incommodious or unsafe for the Publick in respect of the present and approaching Evils in removes Obj. 15 16. 14. No disparagement to the Frame of the Government that cannot otherwise decide at obstinate difference between King and People Obj. 17. Lastly The Conclusion shewing That Non-resistance of illegal Force does in effect make all Monarchs Arbitrary and the People Slaves The Thoughts of a Private Person c. MEN have three Rules to walk by which we may call Laws that is Nature Reason and Religion and and answerable to these three a Christian hath three Principles that is Sensitive Rational and Spiritual which I take to be the distinction that St. Paul makes 1 Thes 5.23 I pray God your whole Spirit Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Nature considers all Men as single Persons and directs them to Self-interest and Self-preservation as the chief end Reason considers Men as sociable Creatures and directs them to unite the Government for the publick Good inclusive of their own Safety as the chief End. And the Spirit considers Men as Candidates for Heaven and directs them to live according to the Word of God that they may attain Eternal Happiness the chief End of Man. All these have the divine Warrant and are of force where the Lower is not superseded by the Higher A single Person is not to expose himself to ruin unless it be for the Publick good and the Publick are not to expose themselves to Beggary and Slavery unless it be for the Kingdom of Heaven Now though these Rules may be considered separate and apart yet they all ought to be in a Christian Government Laws for the publick Good do not destroy the Law of Nature but supersede it for a greater Good and the Laws of God do not destroy the Law of Reason but supersede it for a higher end and so makes it still more Reasonable to do so Nothing therefore can justifie a Private Injury but the Publick Good and nothing can hinder the Publick Good for being carried on but Sin. For these Laws are not destructive but supportive of one another and all supportive of Man. When a Man cannot defend himself by the Method and Measures of the Publick as in case of sudden Assaults he may by the Law of Nature break the Peace and smite his Adversary to save his own life because humane Laws can reward no Person 's obedience with so good a thing as life and therefore the publick good excepted his life is to be preferred before all forms of Law. But it is not so with the Laws of God for if I be urged to deny my Faith or dye I must dye rather than break God's Law because God will give me a better Life and an infinite Reward Necessity can suspend a positive Law of Man that is merely such but it cannot supersede what is established by God or Nature an Act therefore that is civilly Unlawful may notwithstanding be Lawful because it is not Lawless but under a more extensive Law. If it be according to the Laws of God or sound Reason the Conscience is safe and the Act commendable before God and good Men though it be against the form of Political Law For though it be against the Form it is not against the Reason of that Law and the Form not being extensive enough of Man's safety it must give place to necessity and absolve him of his duty when his duty would destroy him The Safety of Man shows us both the Necessity and End of humane Government for when private Persons found they could not be Safe they were willing to enter into Compacts and Associations and reposite their private Safety in the publick Interest And therefore if after this Association some of their Fellows will break the Covenants and go about to destroy the Rest it is lawful both by the Laws of God and Man for the injured to defend themselves and by the Laws and Compacts by them made and consented to on both sides for the publick Good. Otherwise it would be unlawful to resist Injustice and consequently a Thief or a Robber Objets 1. But you will say in all Governments there are Superiours and Inferiours and God has made Obedience a part of Religion and consequently conducive to a higher end than the Publick Good and therefore if the Governours break the Laws and introduce a Publick Evil for a Private Interest they must not be resisted upon pain of Damnation Answ This were a good Plea if it were true but God is not the Patron of Injustice and therefore he gives no Prince or Potentate more Authority over the People than the Tables of the Government express and of these there are diverse degrees Those that are Govern'd by the Will of their Prince whose Word is a Law if he command their Persons for Slaves or their Estates to serve his Ambition they must obey and God requires it of them because it is the Prince's Right Arbitrary Princes have a Political Power to treat a Subject cruelly and inhumanely their Immortality is an offence against God not in justice to the Subject who had given himself up to be used at their discretion But those that are to rule by Laws made for the Publick Good and such as render the Subjects Freemen not Slaves such as secures their Religion Liberty and Property if these Princes contrary to Law imprison their Persons or seize their Estates they do it unjustly without God's Warrant or any Political Authority and may be resisted or else we might not resist the Devil should he creep into the Court in a Jesuits habit and Haman-like get a Commission

Practice of the Jews and the Primitive Christians and the Subjection of Servants but nothing to the purpose for their Case is not ours more than their frame of Government is ours their Servants were Slaves and their Kings and Emperours Wills were their Laws their People had no Magna Chartaes to show nor Fundamental Compacts and so could plead no injustice in any command the frame of the Government Warranted all those commands that had the Royal pleasure Their Political Power was more extensive than their Moral Power The People were wholly at the Mercy of the Prince All their Laws were Acts of Grace not fundamental Reserves and inherent Rights and therefore in Spirituals they had no Cause to resist and in Temporals they might not as was observed above If they had been under limitted Governments as we are we might have heard of Blows as well as Words St. Paul was never so virulent with his Tongue as when he was smitten contrary to Law. Obj. 3. But the Person of the King is Sacred and must not be touched Answ I say so too but it is his just Power that makes him so And therefore in dangerous times he is to be counselled and perswaded to secure himself by keeping within the Sanctuary of the Laws and holding them forth for the Publick Good by gaining the Affections of the People and being content with that measure of Power that is proper to the Government For if he do not Right may and ought to be defended and resistance for the Publick Good of Illegal Commission'd Forces is not resisting the King's Person but his Forces not his Power but his Force without Power If none would execute the King's contradictory Commands none would resist and if he will against all Justice Prudence and Perswasions joys with wicked Men and wilfully expose himself to the mercy of blind Bullets charge is to be given to all that none kill him wittingly or wilfully the hand that lifted him up may not pull him down God forbid that any should think of killing him de industriâ or despair of his repentance before God does nothing past can prejudice a Penitent before God and I hope not before Men thus the King's Person and Power will be safe in the midst of a Civil War not so safe as in peaceable times but as safe as can consist with the Subjects Right when their Religion and Laws Liberty and Property are Violently invaded And therefore if any thing befall his Person by their hands it is but a chance and accidental thing which may happen also in peaceable times This shows that Resisting the King 's illegal commission'd Forces in defence of their own Rights is not Resisting the Ordinance of God and consequently no Sin and then the Conscience is not tyed otherwise than the Laws of the Land and the particular Frame of the Government tyes it Obj. 4. But to resist the King or his Commissioners is against the Frame of the Government it being a Monarchy and against the Laws and Statutes of the Realm Answ If it be so it is a great Sin but as it is certain this is a Monarchy so it is certain that it is limited in the Foundation otherwise the King would have all the Legislative Power and the Parliament no Authority or Right but derived from him and then he must be Arbitrary and we Slaves and all our Laws must be Acts of Grace not Fundamental Rights Not from any inherent Power refereed at the Institution to our selves and never submitted to the Prince but from the Gracious condescention of an Absolute Monarch which is contrary to the Story of all times which shows that the People ever claimed Liberty and Property according to their Ancient Laws and Customs not as a Gift but as a Right inherent in themselves and never Transferred Aliened or Conveyed to any King but Declared Recognized and Confirmed to them by many I shall therefore suppose what I thick none can upon sufficient grounds deny that the King is bound by all the sacred Tyes of God and Man to Govern by the Laws and not otherwise neither by a Foreign Law nor by one of his own framing nor by any Word or Will contrary to Law seeing nothing can have the force of Law here but what has the joynt Consent of King and Parliament and that in a Parliamentary way and this shows us in Terms of Submission that are sworn to on both sides The King and the People by a joynt consent makes Laws and make them the common Rule betwixt them the King swears to observe the Laws and the People swear to obey the King and to leave the Execution of the Laws to the King to be managed for the publick good Therefore as long as he Governs by Law he and all his Ministers are safe enough from Resistance the Resister being lyable to be punished both by God and Man and the sole administration being left to the King Subjects all but himself to Criminal Process and even himself to Civil but his Person and Power are safe in both he may be severe in the Execution of the Laws many times but not unjust As if he will not suspend a Burthensom Law or Revive an Antiquated one when the Publick good requires it This may render him uncharitable or imprudent but he is safe yet For though he be bound to proceed according to Law yet he is not tyed to proceed always according to the best Methods when there are diverse But if he stop the Courts of Justice erect new ones or proceed contrary to Law he Acts without Authority and against his own Authority and puts on a kind of a Vizard that his Subjects can neither know him nor their Duty for it is the Laws that direct them to the Person of the King and their own Duty without which they could know neither And if the End be not the Publick Good it is downright Injustice as well as politically Powerless Necessity indeed may justifie a Political unlawful Act for the Publick Good. As in case of an Invasion to burn a Garrison rather than it should be a refuge for the Enemy or to open Sluces and to drown a part of the Country for though these things have not the form of Law they have the reason and that is Publick Good And therefore it is not Law but Necessity not the King's Command but Publick Good that warrants these Acts. And when Peace returns the Injured are to have satisfaction made by the Publick not as of Charity but as of Justice which shows that the Law looks upon it as a Trespass justified only by Necessity and the Publick Good. And the particular Persons here have reason to be quiet and make no resistance because they shall reap double benefit by it one in the Publick Good and another from the Publick Treasure But it does not follow that if the King in an angry mood should command his Guards to fire Newmarket because he had lost an

Horse-race there or had a mind to have a Bonefire because he had won one that the Inhabitants might not resist them Obj. 5. By what Law Not by the Law of the Land Answ Yes By the Law of the Land a Petty Constables Word would justifie Resistance better than the Kings Commission could justifie the illegal Attempt But suppose there were no Person that had the least Authority and that the resistance could not be within the prescribed Form of Government yet because the force is an unauthoritative force and because there is greater necessity of the End of the Government than of the Form Men may by the Law of Nature and the Law of Reason proceed to the End not without all Form but without the Political Form for those proceedings that are according to Reason are not simply under no Law but under a more extensive Law and that Law justifies resistance even of Superiors when there is no other way of defence left the People If the Case will admit of Intreaties or sober Counsels or legal Appeals they are to be used but if there be no rooms for these or if they take no place but illegal force be used that force may nay must be resisted or evil is consented to For he that will not serve the Publick by that means when there is no other does actually consent to the ruin of it He that has his House on fire and will not stir to quench the flames though he be able is willing sure it should be burnt The Rules of Prudence indeed are to be observed for if there be no probability that resistance will prevent the Evil the attempt is Folly and if resistance will do more harm than good it is inserviceable and if there be any other means effectual it is unreasonable for it ought to be the last refuge and then if the Cause be Good Necessity justifies proceeding to the End Not by illegal Means but by suspending the Political Form and appealing to the Reason of Mankind and introducing the Law of Nature And this is no more then when Judgement at Common-Law is reversed in Chancery the Form of the Law gives place to Equity and sound Reason Obj. 6. But is it Rebellion Answ I Answer Rebellion is resisting the just Power of the Government and if so then it is no Rebellion to resist the unjust and usurped Power for then it would be Rebellion to resist Rebellion and there could be no such thing as a just defence against the exorbitant Power of Princes and then the King might Commission a Captain or a Collonel to role up and down in the Country and Plunder and it would be Rebellion in the Posse Com. at least in any Private Family to resist them And a private Commission to cut our Throats would tye our Hands till the business were done But the resisting such Force as has neither Moral nor Political Power is no more Rebellion than to fight against a Wild Beast that came with Strength but no Authority to devour them The Papists indeed have taken up Arms without and against the just Power of this Land not only against the Form of Law but to the overthrow of the Laws and Fundamental Rights of this Government directly against the Letter the Power and the End of the Law which is as inslaving to the Subjects as an usurping Conquest and it is no more Rebellion to resist them than Wat Tyler or Jack Cade They are Rebels who Arm against the Government not they that defend it by Arms. Obj. 7. But this is to usurp the Power of the Sword which by the Frame of the Government is wholly in the King's Hand Answ The Political Power of the Sword indeed is in the King but that does not devest the Subject of all defence by Arms but only of such defence as is against or inconsistent with the Political Power If force be offered that wants Political Power whoever does it does it but in the Nature of a private Person and private Persons may resist such The Right of Self defence is a precedent Right to all Policy and every Man has so much of it still as is not given up unto the Political Power he lives under They therefore that have given themselves up to be govern'd by Law only have Right to defend themselves not only against the private Assailant which is allowed in all Governments but also against illegal Force And this Resistance is no Usurpation upon the Magistrates Power because it is not an Act of Civil Authority but of Natural Right And if thousands joyn in the Attempt they are all Volunteers a Multitude but no body Corporate and such as challenge no Authority over those they resist but deny Subjection to such unauthoritative Force For such Force wanting Political Power has no Power but Strength and Strength authorizes none to injure but Natural Right authorizes every one to defend himself so that in this case the Resister has a moral Power or Warrant but the illegal Invader none at all Obj. 8. But the Resisters ought not to do an unlawful Act to suppress such illegal Force Answ I Answer That Act is not simply Unlawful that wants Political Power the Law is made for the publick Good as the End and therefore if the prescribed means be not sufficient for the End the Law permits that other reasonable means be used otherwise People might dwell upon the Shadow till they 've lost the Substance The Posse Com. ought not by the prescribed form of Law to go into another County but if the other County at that time had no Sheriff whereby the power of that County could not be raised to defend it self or if there were Ships in the Borders of the next County to which the Plunderers might escape if they were not hotly pursued I question not but the Posse Com. might do a commendable Act to pursue them and take them in the next County The Law was made for the publick Good and not the Publick Good for the Law and therefore when the Law cannot answer its own End or prescribes ineffectual Means any just and honest Means may be used and this is not destructive of the Law but suppletory not a violating the Form prescribed but an improving it And though a Man may be called to account for doing a Good Act in such a manner I suppose it is but to know the Truth of the Matter and to preserve the Reverence of the Laws for he is already cleared in his own Conscience and in the Breasts of all Good Men and a Pardon in that case does but declare it is so and ought of Right not of Grace to be granted For it is not necessary in respect of any Crime but in respect of some defect in the Law which had not made sufficient provision for the Publick Good. Obj. 9. But it is against true Allegiance and an Oath must be kept though it be to our own hurt Answ True Allegiance