Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	good_a	justice_n	temperance_n	1,152	5	10.5078	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03941	A Nevv-Yeares gift for English Catholikes, or A briefe and cleare explication of the new Oath of Allegiance. By E.I. student in Diuinitie; for a more full instruction, and appeasement of the consciences of English Catholikes, concerning the said Oath, then hath beene giuen them by I.E. student in Diuinitie, who compiled the treatise of the prelate and the prince.	E. I., student in divinitie.; Preston, Thomas, 1563-1640.	1620 (1620)	STC 14049; ESTC S119291	68,467	212

affected in point of their loyaltie and due obedience For as Vasquez obserueth very well out of Aristotle Vasquez 1. 2. Disp 51. cap. 3. disp 73. cap. 7. disp 86. cap. 5. with whom all Diuines and Philosophers do herein agree to make an act of vertue to bee morally good and vertuous it is not only required that it haue a good and vertuous obiect but also it must bee done directly for the goodnesse and honestie of the vertue it selfe and not for any other end or motiue For otherwise if one doe acts of vertue as of iustice or temperance not for iustice or temperance sake but for some other end as for lucre vaine glorie feare of punishment or any other motiue whatsoeuer he sholl doe saith Aristotle Aristot 2. Ethic cap. 4. iust or temperate actions but hee shall not doe them iustly or temperately neither shall hee for doing those actions be accounted a iust or temperate man Seeing therefore that euery iust and vertuous man ought to obserue iust Lawes not for feare of punishment as the wicked do but heartily willingly and truely that is sincerely and vnfainedly for the loue of vertue it is euident that euery good and well affected subiect may and ought to take this Oath of Allegiance supposing it to be lawfull and ministred by good and full authoritie not for feare of punishment as likewise we ought to obserue God his commandements not for feare of eternall damnation but heartily willingly and vnfainedly for the loue of vertue and obedience Wherefore it is manifest that euery good and vertuous Subiect ought to haue a farre greater willingnesse in obseruing iust Lawes although they be imposed vnder paine of death then hath a Merchant being in danger of drowning to cast ouer board his goods for sauing his life for that a Merchant in that case is only willing to lose his goods for that otherwise hee cannot escape the danger of his life but euery vertuous man ought to obserue iust Lawes heartily willingly and vnfainedly for vertue and obedience sake although hee were in no danger of being punished for not obseruing the same 2. And thus thou seest good Reader that this new Oath of Allegiance doth not want either Veritie Iustice or Iudgement as well in regard of the takers as of the makers propounders of the same That the State supposing that horrible Powder Treason which was grounded vpon colour and pretence of the Popes authoritie to take away the Crownes and liues of Princes in order to spirituall good had iust cause to deuise a new Oath of Allegiance wherein mention should bee made of the aforesaid authoritie to make a true difference betwixt ciuilly obedient Subiects and the peruerse disciples of those Powder Traitors it is euident by that which hath beene said before in the fourth obseruation and that therfore the State in deuising and propounding such an Oath did not want Iudgement Also that the Subiect hath iust cause to take the Oath supposing it to bee lawfull and ministred by good and full authoritie and that consequently in taking it after he hath examined and seene the lawfulnesse thereof doth not want Iudgement it is as euident as that there is no want of Iudgement to obserue the iust commandement of his Lawfull Superiour when after due examination he findeth the commandement to bee iust And finally that no assertorie Clause of the Oath wanteth Veritie nor any Promissorie Clause wanteth Iustice or which is all one that no falshood or iniustice is to bee found in any part or parcell of the Oath it is manifest by the former Explication of euery Branch in particular CHAP. IX An Answere to the Popes Breues 1. THere remaineth only one difficultie to be explained concerning the Popes Breues which forbid English Catholikes to take this new Oath for that it containeth many things which are plainely against faith and saluation And although Widdrington both in his Theologicall Disputation and also more fully in his Answere to Fitz-herberts Reply hath cleared this difficultie Wriddrington in his Disput. Theolog. cap. 10. sec 2. and in his Answere to Fitzherb part 3. cap. 7. yet I thinke it not amisse briefly to set downe some generall heads of his answere to the said Breues whereby any iudicious man may haue sufficient grounds to iudge not only how farre the Popes aforesaid Breues but also all other of the like kind may without any irreuerence or disobedience to the Sea Apostolike be contradicted or not admitted by good and vertuous Catholikes 2. First therefore Widdrington sheweth out of the approued Doctrine of Suarez and other Diuines that there bee two sorts of Lawes or Precepts the one are called Constitutiue for that they doe not suppose but make the thing which they forbid to be vnlawfull which if that Precept were not would be lawfull as the Precept of the Church to fast from Flesh in Lent to abstaine from seruile works vpon commanded Holy-daies to receiue the Blessed Sacrament at Easter or the like And that no Constitutiue Precept of the Church doth binde when by obseruing it there is danger to incurre some notable corporall or temporall hurt The other are called Declaratiue for that they doe not make but suppose and declare the thing to bee vnlawfull which they forbid as being forbidden by some former Law as the forbidding of Theft Murder Whoredome Vsurie and such like for that they are before forbidden by the Law of God and Nature And that the obligation of Declaratiue Precepts doth only depend vpon the reason and former Law which in the Declaratiue Precept is supposed and declared So that if there bee no such former Law or prohibition as in the Declaratiue Precept is supposed and declared the Declaratiue Precept hath no force to bind 3. Secondly he sheweth that the Popes Breues forbidding English Catholikes to take the Oath doe not containe a Constitutiue but only a Declaratiue Precept neither do they make but suppose and declare the Oath to be vnlawfull for that say the Breues it contayneth in it many things which are manifestly against faith and saluation and that consequently if in the Oath there bee nothing against faith or saluation as the Breues suppose and declare it is manifest that the Breues haue no force at all to bind English Catholickes not to take the Oath for that they are grounded vpon a false reason supposition and declaration 4. Thirdly he sheweth that all declaratiue Breues are eyther definitiue or grounded vpon some former definition of Pope or Councell or else they are onely opinatiue or grounded vpon the Popes opinatiue iudgement perswasion or probable opinion And that if they bee grounded vpon the Popes opinion no man is bound to obey them as neyther to follow his opinion whereon they are grounded but hee may as lawfully contradict them as he may contradict his opinion although the Pope thinke it to bee neuer so probable And that vpon this ground cause and reason it was

obligation whatsoeuer contained therein See the Canons Nos Sanctorum Iuratos Absolutos that the Pope hath authoritie to release him of that promise and to giue him leaue to doe otherwise then hee hath promised by Oath to doe And also for that his Maiestie and the State according to whose meaning especially the doubtfull words of this Oath are to bee vnderstood and determined doe little regard this subtile quircke of refined wits whether the Pope hath power to absolue his Maiesties subiects from the sacred and religious bond of their naturall Allegiance or which is all one only as it is sworne or confirmed by Oath so that notwithstanding the releasing of this sacred bond they may bee assured that the ciuill and naturall obligation of the subiects temporall Allegiance to the confirmation whereof this Oath is superadded doth remaine inuiolable and indispensable and by the Popes authoritie cannot any way be dissolued or diminished but that his Subiects although they might by the Popes authoritie bee absolued from the sacred bond of their Allegiance as it is confirmed by Oath are neuerthelesse by the Law of God and Nature obliged to beare faith and true Allegiance to his Maiestie and that therein the Pope hath no authoritie to dispense 6. And although wee should for Disputation sake admit that it were the meaning of this Clause that the Pope hath no authoritie to absolue the swearer so much as from the Sacred bond of this Oath or any part thereof or which is all one from any of these three things promised in the third Branch only with this reduplication as they are sworne or confirmed by Oath of which nice subtiltie his Maiestie and the Parliament by all likelihood little dreamed yet any man may with great reason thinke and in conscience be resolued that the Pope hath no such authoritie for that according to the common doctrine of Diuines the Pope hath not power to absolue from Oaths when the absoluing from them tendeth to the temporall preiudice of a third person vnlesse either directly or indirectly hee hath power to dispose of the temporall goods of that person For hee hath not power saith Sotus Aragona and Sayrus Scotus lib. 8. de Instit q. 1. art 9. Aragona 2. 2. q. 89. art 9. Sayrus lib. 5. Thesauri cap. 8. num 4. to release an Oath which one hath made to another man to pay him that debt which he oweth him because he hath not power to take from another man that which is his owne and therefore he can not doe him wrong in releasing the Oath which was made vnto him Wherefore this difference is betweene Vowes and Oaths that in changing and dispencing of Vowes that only must be regarded which is more pleasing to God but in releasing of Oaths great caution must be vsed that no wrong be done to a third person 7. And this is farre more euident in the doctaine of Saint Thomas S. Thom. 2. 2. qu. 89. art 9. whom the greatest part of Diuines doe herein follow who houldeth that the Pope cannot dispence in Oaths by releasing directly the sacred obligation of the Oath for that this obligation is de iure naturae wherein the Pope cannot dispence but only by declaring that the thing promised by Oath which before was a fit thing to bee sworne and therefore by vertue of the Oath to be performed so long as it remayneth so is now by reason of some particular accident or circumstance become vnlawfull hurtful or an hinderance of greater good and therefore now no fit matter to be sworne nor by vertue of the Oath to be now any longer performed From whence it plainely followeth that the Pope cannot absolue from this Oath of Allegiance vnlesse hee hath power to declare that temporall Allegiance which Subiects by the Law of God and Nature owe to their lawfull Prince so long as he remaineth Prince be vnlawfull hurtfull or an hinderance of greater good which he cannot in any wise declare vnlesse hee hath power to make a King no King For consequently hee should also declare that God and Nature commanding Subiects to beare true faith and Allegiance to their lawfull Prince should enioyne them an vnlawfull or hurtfull thing or which is an hinderance of greater good which is impossible And so in this Clause there is no more difficultie concerning this point of the Popes authoritie not to absolue from this Oath of Allegiance or any part thereof then is in the former clauses wherein the Popes authoritie to depose Kings and to absolue Subiects from their naturall allegiance is denyed 8. Lastly by those words nor any person whatsoeuer is not vnderstood the Kings Maiestie Both for that in the Lawes of this Realme the Kings Maiestie is not vnderstood by the name of person or persons when the matter is odious also as in no penal law the Prince or Law-maker himselfe is included vnder any generall word because he is not subiect to such laws according to that principle of the law Princeps legibus solutus est The Prince is free from lawes Leg Princeps ff de Legibus so also when it is said in the Law that no person whatsoeuer hath power to dispence in that law or to change or alter that Law the Law-maker himselfe who is aboue the Law is not comprehended vnder those generall words yea and as well obserueth Salas and Sa both Iesuites In a generall speech the person who speaketh is vnderstood to bee excepted Salas disp 21. de Legibus sec 3. regula 22. Emanuel Sa verbo Interpretatio nu 14. 9. And although we should admit that the Kings Maiestie were included in those wordes nor any person whatsoeuer yet this clause would neuerthelesse be very true And the reason is for that albeit his Maiestie hath power to dispence with his subiects that they shall not take this Oath which is not the meaning of this Clause yet he hath not power to absolue them from this Oath or any part thereof after they haue once taken it which is the true sense meaning of this Branch First for that to dispence or absolue from Oaths taking those words to dispence or absolue according to their proper signification and as they are taken commonly by Diuines doth belong onely to spirituall and not to temporall power Wherefore the Diuines make a great difference betweene absoluing or dispencing in Oathes or Vowes and releasing or annulling the same and they affirme that to release or annull an Oath or Vow a temporall power yea and sometimes priuate authoritie may suffice as Parents may release and annull the oathes and vowes of their children but to absolue or dispence in an Oath or Vow a spirituall authoritie and iurisdiction is necessarily required But secondly and principally for that his Maiestie hath not power to release his subiects from their temporall and naturall allegiance vnlesse he will cease to be their Prince because temporall allegiance is by the law of