Selected quad for the lemma: state_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	great_a	king_n	monarch_n	1,055	5	9.5526	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77374	The vvounded conscience cured, the weak one strengthned, [sic] and the doubting satisfied By way of answer to Doctor Fearne. Where the main point is rightly stated, and objections throughly answered for the good of those who are willing not to be deceived. By William Bridge, preacher of Gods Word. It is ordered this 30. day of January, 1642. by the committee of the House of Commons in Parliament, concerning printing, that this answer to Dr. Fearnes book be printed. John White. The second edition, correced and amended. Whereunto are added three sermons of the same author; 1. Of courage, preached to the voluntiers. 2. Of stoppage in Gods mercies to England, with their [sic] remedies. 3. A preparation for suffering in these plundering times.	Bridge, William, 1600?-1670.	1643 (1643)	Wing B4476A; ESTC R223954	47,440	52

t●● Judges then in the Kings Ans But how come we to this discourse to compare Monarc● and Aristocracy and to say that Monarchy is better government th● Aristocracy Doth it follow from the word True which the Dr. ha● said to that proposition many see more then one and more safety 〈◊〉 the judgement of many then of one But seeing he is pleased to say ●he government which God made choice of to set up among his people was Monarchicall still first in Moses then in the Judges then in the Kings let us now diligently observe that Monarchicall government which God made choice of If Moses the Judges and Kings were are all Monarchs and Monarchy the best government Then 1. The best government is such where the people have the free choice of their Governour for so they had in the time of the Judges Chap. 11. 5. And it was so when the children of Ammon ma●e war against Israel the Elders of Israel went to fetch Jephtha out of the Land of Tob and ●hey said unto Jephtha Come and be our Captaine that we may fight with the children of Ammon And Jephtha said unto the Elders of Gilead If ●● bring me home againe to fight with the children of Ammon and the Lord ●eliver them before me shall I be your head And the Elders of Gilead said into Jephtha The Lord be witnesse betwixt us if we doe not so according ●o thy word Then Jephtha went with the Elders of Gilead and the people ●ad● him Head and Captaine over them v. 11. Thus wee see that that government which the Doctor cals the best and set up by God is such when the people have the choice of their King and the derivation of ●is power is from them as I have proved at large in the Preface to ●ave beene in the Judges and Kings of Israel Secondly then the best government is that where the King and ●eople strike a covenant at his Coronation which covenant the King is bound to observe neither doth his covenanting with the peo●le make him no Monarch for David was a Monarch yet David ●ade a covenant with the Elders of Israel and so they anointed him King ●ver Israel 1 Chron. 11. 3. Thirdly then the best government is such also where the Prince ●oth advise with his people and Elders doing no great matter in State ●● Religion without their consent and with their consent doing So David 1 Chron. 13. 1. And David consulted with the Captaines of thou●ands and hundreds and every Leader and David said unto all the Con●●egation of Israel If it seeme good unto you let us bring againe the Arke ●● the Lord our God unto us and all the Congregation said that they would ●● so for the thing was right in the eyes of all the Congregation So that ●●e people having an agency in the great affaires of the Kingdome is ●o way repugnant but consistent with Monarchicall government or ●●e government appointed by God himselfe Fourthly then also is the best government appointed by God such ●● doth carry along with i● a lawfulnesse for the subjects to take up armes and make forcible resistance for their own security and safety of the Common weale against their Monarchs when cause requireth for did not the people sometime in Israel take up armes against some of the Judges And did not David though yet a subject to Saul take up armes and make forcible resistance It is said expresly 1 Chron. 12. 18. 19. Then David received them and made them Captaines of the Band and there fell some of Manasses to David when he came with the Philistines against Saul to battell The Doctor said before in his Treatise that David tooke up armes onely in his owne defence But doe these words note no more Only I presse them thus far as may shew a lawfulnes for the people to take up armes in a way of forcible resistance against the Kings commandement when the danger is eminent which we finde agreeable to the best government set up by God himselfe as the Doctor acknowledgeth In the fourth place the Doctor answers that such power of resistance will be no meanes of safety to a State but rather a remedy worse then the disease which he proveth from Rom. 13. which I have answered already and from some reasons as 1. This power of resistance if admitted and preserved may proceed to a change of government Ans To which I answer that if severall formes of government be of humane constitu●ion as the Doctor speaks why should we think that they are utterly unalterable as the laws of the Medes Persians But secondly this principle of ours cannot boyle up to that height for we only say that when the Prince shall neglect his trust the people are to see to it and silenc'd not for deposing 2. He saith This power of resistance is accompanied with the evils of ● civill war Ans No but therefore we are afflicted with civill warre becaus● some people are mis-led from their own natures to take up armes against their own Country Civill war is from the cause thereof now the Parliament calls for armes only to defend the Country thes● make the civill war that are against the Countries defence Thirdly he saith There is danger in this power of resistance for the if the people be discontented and have gotten power they may say the Members of the two Houses doe not discharge their trust and so by this rule tak● up the power to themselves and so all rapine and confusion brought into th● Kingdome Ans There can bee no such inference made from this principle o● ours for the people do all acknowledge that we are to bee governed by Lawes and that as the Doctor saith the Parliament is th● Judge what is Law the people doe acknowledge according to truth that the Parliament hath the declarative power or the supreme power of declaring the Law the King doth not professe this but rather the contrary that he is no Lawyer nor skilled in the Lawes The Parliament doe professe it and the people acknowledge them to be so and therefore there is not the same reason that they should take their power to themselves in case that the Parliament should neglect their trust for why should the people take that power unto themselves should it be according to Law The Parliament will then tell them that they have done that which is according to law wherein they confesse that the two Houses have the power of declaring But now if the Prince shall neglect his trust and the people take a power to looke to themselves in times of danger by way of forcible resistance the Prince cannot say when the Parliament is against him the supreme power of declaring law doth agree my course to be lawfull so that you see there is not the same reason of both And whereas the Doctor saith That upon the like reason if the Parliament shall neglect their trust the people may call in

bound to it because he receiveth this power originall I speake not in opposition ●o God but I say originally from the people themselves as appears by the government of the Judges and Kings of Israel which government this Doctor saith was Monarchicall the best plat-forme for England For Judges 8. 22. The men of Israel come unto Gideon to make him their King and Judges the 9. 6. They gathered together and made Abimeleck their King and Judges 11. 8 9 10 11. The people covenanted with Jephtha and made him their King and as for Saul though he was designed by God to the Kingdome yet the people themselves chose the kinde of their government first when they said Give us a King to rule over us after the manner of the Nations After that God had annointed Saul it is said 1 Sam. 11. 15. And all the people went to Gilgall and there they made Saul King before the Lord in Gigall and as for David though he was annointed King by Samuel yet we finde that he continued a Subject unto Saul after that and the 2. of Sam. 2. He came unto Hebron and there the men of Judah were and there they anointed David King over the house of Judah v. 4. After that he was thus annointed by Judah to be King over them yet he did not rule over Israel till the other tribes also went out and made him King over them 1 Cron. 12. 38. It is said that all these men of warre came with a perfect heart to Hebron to make David King over all Israel as for Solomon though he was designed by God to the Kingdome yet it is said of him also 1 Chro. 29. 22. that all the Corgregation did eat and drinke before the Lord and they made Solomon the son of David King the second time and annointed him unto ●he Lord to be the chiefe Governour Solomon being dead the second of the Chron. 10. 1. It is said of Rehoboam that he went to Shechem where all Israell came to make him King and in the second of Sam. 16. 18. it is said thus And Hushai said unto Absolon God save the King God save the King and Absolon said unto Hushai Is this thy kindnesse unto thy friend why wentest thou not with thy friend And Hushai said unto Absolom againe nay but whom the Lord and this people and all the men of Israel chuse his will I be and with him will I abid● ● that wee see that these Monarchs both of the Judges and Kings ● Israel were chosen and entrusted by the people and had their powe● of governing from them 3. The Parliament also is immediatly trusted b● the people and Common-weal with the safety thereof as wel as the King though not to be King for they are the officers of the Kingdom and therefore chosen immediatly by the people and not designed by the King an● this kinde of officers was in Davids time also there were some Officer● then that were the Kings Officers his Cooks his Bakers the steward o● his house and the like Others were the officers of the Kingdome called the Elders and heads of the Tribes which though they were under him yet were they with him trusted in the affairs of the Kingdome whom therefore he did consult with in the great affaires of the State 1 Chron. 13. 1● wherefore seeing the King is to looke to the safety of the Kingdome and that because he is trusted therewith by the people and the Parliament ar● as well trusted by the people with the safety of the land it is their duty i● case of danger to looke to it which they are not able to do● and mak● good their trust unlesse they have power to take up Arms against an enemy when the Prince is misled or defective 4. From the being of a Parliament As it is a Parliament it is the highest Court of Justice in the Kingdome therfore hath power to ●●nd for by force those that are accused before them that they may come to thei● triall which power if I mistake not inferiour Courts have much more the highest 'T is out of doubt agreed on by all that the Parliament hath a power to send a Sergeant at Armes to bring up such an one as is accused before them and if they have a power to send one Sergeant at Arms then 20. if 20. be accused then a 100. if there be a 100. accused then a thousand if there be a thousand accused then tenne thousand if there be tenne thousand accused and so more or lesse as occasion serves for there is the same reason for two as for one and for 4. as for 2. and for a 100. as for 20. and for a 1000. as for a 100. and take away this power from the Parliament and 't is no longer a Parliament but the King● and his forefathers have by law setled these libertie● of Parliament and therefore according to Lawes they have a power to send for by force those that are accused to be tried before them which they cannot do unlesse they raise an army when the accused are kept from them by an army 5. From the common trust reposed on Princes and the end thereof which is to feed their people Psal 78. 70. He chose David his servant an● tooke him from the Sheep-fold to feed his people Jacob and his inheritance in Israel The end why the people have trusted the Prince is the s●fety and security of the Kingdome the safety and welfare of the State not that the King might be great and the Subjects slaves Now if a people should have no power to take up armes for their owne defence because they had trusted the Prince therewithall then by that trust they intended to make themselves slaves For suppose the King will let in a common enemy upon them or take his owne subjects and make the● slaves in Gallies if they may not take up armes for their owne defence because they had trusted their Prince therewithall what can this be but by their trust to make themselves slaves unto him 2. The caution that is to be premised is this notwithstanding all that I have said yet I doe not say that the subjects have power to depose their Prince neither doth our assertion or practice enforce such an inference Object But if the power of the Prince be derived from the people then they may take away that power againe Resp It followes not neither shall the people need to thinke of such an inference Indeed if the power were derived from the people to the Prince firstly and that the people should be so strait-laced that they should have no power left to defend themselves in case of danger when the Prince is misled or unfaithfull then the people might be occasioned to thinke of deposing their Prince but though the power of the Prince bee originally from them yet if they have so much power left as in times of danger to looke to their owne preservation what need they

difference betweene us and the Papists in this particular for 1. The Papists contend for the lawfulnesse of deposing Kings which we doe not 2. The Papists plead for a power to depose a Prince in case that he turn Heretick which we doe not for we hold that though a Prince may leave and change his religion the subjects are not thereby excused from their allegiance 3 The Papists doe not onely hold ●● lawfull to depose and thus to depose their Prince but to kill him also 〈◊〉 that a private man invested with the Popes authority may doe thus all which we abhor from why therefore should the Doctor charge us thus and make the world beleeve that we favour the Popish doctrine in this particular But as the Parliaments Army is scandalized by the adversaries saying there are many Papists in their army to helpe on their designes so is our doctrine scandalized by our adversaries saying that we make use of Popish arguments to strengthen our opinion but the truth of this we leave to all the world to judge of But to prove this the Doctor saith further that by this reason the Pope assumes a power of curbing or deposing Kings for that if there be not a power in the Church in case the civill Magistrate will not discharge his trust the Church hath not meanes for the maintenance of the Catholick faith and its owne safety Ans But what likenesse is there between that of the Papists and this of ours The Papists saying the Church hath a power of preserving its own safety and therefore the Pope may depose we say the Kingdome hath a power to preserve it selfe and therefore if the King neglect the trust the State for the present is to look unto it And as for the matter of the Church we turne the Doctors argument upon himselfe thus If the Church cannot be preserved where the Officer is an hereticke unlesse the Church have a power to reject him after once or twice admonition then cannot a Kingdome have a power to preserve it selfe when the officer is unfaithfull unlesse the Kingdome have a power either to depose him or to looke to their own matters till things be better setled But the Church hath excommunication granted to it by Christ himselfe for its owne preservation neither can we conceive how a Church can preserve it selfe from evils and errors unlesse it have a power to cast out the wicked officers as in the body naturall it cannot preserve it selfe unlesse nature had given it a power to deliver it selfe from its own burdens therefore the Commonweale also by the like reason cannot have a power to preserve it selfe unlesse it have a power to deliver it selfe from its burden but in case that an Officer be unfaithfull we doe not say that it i● lawfull for the Kingdome to depose him therefore it may be lawfull for themselves socially considered Statewise in time of danger to help themselves Neither herein as the Doctor would doe we appropinquate to the Romish doctrine for the Papists from this power of the Church doe infer a power unto the Pope and not unto the Church or community Secondly the Doctor askes us this question by way of his second answer If every State hath such meanes to provide for its safety what meanes o● safety had the Christian Religion under the Roman Emperors in or after the Apostles times or the people then inslaved what meanes had they for their liberty had they this of resistance Tertullian in his Apology sayes thus the Christians had number and force sufficient to withstand but they had no warrant Ans 1. The question is wrong stated it should have been made thus If any State hath such meanes to provide for its safety what meanes of safety had the Roman State under the Roman Emperours when as he doth say what meanes of safety had the Christian Religion under the Roman Emperours Christian Religion and the State are two different things Secondly in the primitive times the Christians indeed had none of this power of resistance nor warrant for it as Tertullian speaks because the Roman State was not with them but suppose that the Roman Senate or Parliament had stood up for them and with them the representative body of the whole Empire and this is our case not as the Doctor ●ayes it then would not the Christians have made resistance for their owne defence No question but they would and would have knowne that they had warrant therein who may not see that hath but halfe an eye the vast difference betweene the condition of the Christians in the primitive times and ours they not having the State to joyne with them they not being the representative body of the Empire as it is now with us yet this objection maketh a great outcry and there is some threed of it runnes through the Doctors booke but how easily it may be cut let the world judge there being no more likenesse betweene our condition the condition of the primitive Christians then between the condition of private men whom the whole State doth move against and the condition of people whom the State is with The Doctor replyes that though the Senate of Rome were against the Christians of those times yet if the people have the first right and all power bee from the people that people must rise up and resist because the Senate did not dis●harge the trust and so it will be in this State if at any time a King that would ●ule arbitrarily should by some meanes or other worke out of the two Houses ●he better affected and by consent of the major part of them that remaine com●asse his desires the people may tell them they discharged not their trust they ●hose them not to betray them or inslave them and so might lay hold on this power of resistance for the representative body claimes it by them Ans Concerning the Senate of Rome and the people of the Romane Empire we say that though the Emperor and the Senate had been for the ●estructiō of the Christians yet if the whole body of the Empire had joint●y risen for the Christians I make no question but that many of those that ●ied would so far have resisted that they would have saved their owne ●ves but the Emperours and Senate being against them and the body of the Empire jointly considered not rising for them it is true indeed they had no warrant to make resistanc● but to suffer as they did This i● none of our case Secondly whereas the Doctor saith both here and afterward in this Section that if upon our grounds the King will not discharge his tru●● that therefore it falls to the representative body of the people to see to i● then the people having this power may also say if the Members of the tw●● Houses doe not discharge their trust committed to them they doe not that which they were chosen and sent for and then may the multitude by this rule