Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	law_n	power_n	time_n	3,535	5	3.5329	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A94220	Plenary possession makes a lawfull power: or Subjection to powers that are in being proved to be lawfull and necessary, in a sermon / preached before the judges in Exeter March 23. 1650. By Richard Saunders, preacher of the Gospel at Kentisbeer in Devon.	Saunders, Richard, d. 1692.	1651 (1651)	Wing S756; Thomason E638_5; ESTC R203482	25,884	32

but where Scripture speaks though but sparingly there may we speak too so that we remember still what our main work is especially when some emergent reasons provoke unto the same Upon this account have I endeavoured to speake something unto this Scripture in opening of which wee shall I hope finde somewhat fatisfying some scruples to this day on foot amongst us The former part of my Text is an Exhortation grounded on a Doctrinall Conclusion layd down and illustrated in the latter part The Exhortation in these words Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers The Doctrine There is no power but of God The which is amplyfied or illustrated in the next or last words The Powers that be are ordained of God The Text being such an expresse Doctrine and Use I shall not affect to draw forth any other Conclusions out of it but labour to give you the true sense of the termes and expressions as they lie and apply the whole to our present occasion As for the first words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every soul which comprehends the persons whom this exhortation concerns there is no difficulty in them nor controversie about them that I know save between us and the Papists who following the interpretation of Origen understand by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every naturall man so excluding their Clergy from any subjection to Civill Powers because they are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naturall but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spirituall men But this is so frivolous that I need not to take any pains to furnish any with an argument to refute it Clergy-men as well as others Every soul that is every man and woman is most certainly and indisputably here intended And Christ himselfe gave an example of this in that he himself payd Tribute by way of acknowledgement of the Civil Order established Mat. 17.27 Not that he himselfe was to be accounted subject to any earthly power for being made heir of all things he had a preheminence above all Kings and Princes of the earth But this he did to give us an example of subjection unto those that are over us But that which is most considerable in this Scripture and to be lookt into is that there is mention made in it of Powers and higher Powers And concerning these Powers we find expressions 1. Of Subjection to them 2. Of and concerning their Being 3. Of their Ordination and Institution by God All which particulars or most of them have difficulty and dubiousnesse in them Therefore my work shall be to open them to you and that by giving an answer to these four Questions 1. What is meant by Powers and higher Powers 2. What it is to be Subject to them Or What is the Subjection that is required 3. When Powers may be sayd to be Or What Powers may be sayd to be 4. How they are sayd to be ordained of God A word or two to the first of these which will be necessary by way of introduction to give light to what followeth By Powers we are to understand Civil Magistrates All I think agree in this and if any should doubt of it we have one Scripture where we finde this word Powers joyned with Magistrates as Synonimous It is Luke 12.11 where Christ sayes When they shall bring you unto the Synagogues and unto Magistrates and Powers take no thought c. Here Magistrates and Powers are set down as expressing one and the same thing Paul in the fourth verse of this 13 Chap. to the Romans calls a Magistrate One that beareth the sword i. e. the sword of power and justice viz. Such a one as is in rule and power Par. in loc over others So Pareus Qui potentia potestate sunt armati in alios Such as are invested with power and authority over others And the reason why he sayes Powers rather than Kings Princes Nam omnes complectitur Paulus cùm ait non esse potestatem nisi a Deo Cal. Inst l. 4. cap. 20. Emperours Senates Parlaments or the like is twofold either First Because this is a more comprehensive word taking in Rulers and Governours of what kinde soever and doth denote any in power under what form of Government soever whether Monarchicall Aristocraticall or Democraticall Secondly which is the reason Pareus gives That he may be understood to speak not of the persons so much as de ordine ipso of the Order it selfe fixed and set up by God Pareus in Loc. For if we should look upon the persons of men in authority and eminency we may espie many times failings and corruptions and causes of non-Submission whereas if we have respect unto that Civill Order that is set up and fixed by God for Common good and safety we may see greater reason for submitting Whereas the Apostle here sayes higher Powers T is not as I conceive comparing Powers one with the other as if the meaning of Higher Powers were such Powers as are uppermost of all I say that is not the meaning of the word But Higher in relation to the people they are over Rather to be rendred high Powers then higher Powers The words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Powers that are set above others Such as have the people under them Quae praesunt nobis Such as be over us There hath been some controversie touching this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made use of in the text Some being of the minde that it signifies in Scripture onely a lawfull Power and Authority in opposition to a power usurped which though it be a new notion and conceit formed on purpose to take off the edge of this Scripture yet findes it entertainment with some I suppose I do not misname it in calling of it a new conceit for sure the limiting and confining the word unto that strict sense is both new and having little ground either in Scripture or the proper genuine * We read in Dio. Hist Rom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which could not be if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by it selfe with that Greek Author did signifie a lawfull Power Plutarchus Herodianus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 copularunt Scap. Lex Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 AEmil Port. Annot. in Thucyd. de Bello Pelop. signification of the word it selfe T is true that learned men the better to expresse their conceptions do take liberty sometimes to put some senses upon certain words more than they had originally in them not with an intent to cōfine the words to the new created or imposed significations but onely the better to make out to the apprehensions of others a distinction between things that differ So some have made use of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to distinguish between lawfull and unlawfull or usurped Powers as they doe the latine of Potestas and Potentia which yet I thinke every man will confesse import one and the

will finde more anon in the clearing of what is yet behind 2. Powers then are when they give Laws to the people and the people receive Law from them This is a most visible and undoubted symtome of the Life and Being of a Governing Power When we see this we may say a Government is or a Power is as safe as we may say there is life where we see breathing The administration of Law is the very soul and breath of a body Politick and it can no more be without it than a naturall body can live without breath and without a soul And are not such then to be accounted Powers in Being unto a people as do give under God life and breathing to them in a politicall sense 3. And lastly Then Powers may be sayd to be most undoubtedly and unquestionably when the people or the greatest part of them have by any means consented to them as Rulers and Governours over them 1. I say When the people or the greatest part of the people have consented For what is an act of the major part of the people is taken for the whole 2. I say When they have by any means consented upon this account Because though their consent or choice be not voluntary elicitivè but subjectivè only as the Schoolmen distinguish it is enough That is though it be not drawn forth by the will as the first and sole productive principle of it Yet il it be with the will moved and acted by some necessity apprehended or the like this is sufficient to make it voluntary and so valid yea and fully as voluntary as any people have been in choosing or consenting to their Kings or Princes I cannot conceive any thing more that can be added as necessary to the being of an authority To say as I have heard some do that time or duration gives or may give a being to the lawfulnesse of a supreme Power seems to me very irrationall for as sayes Grotius Tempus suapte natura vim nullam effectricem habet Nilenim fit à tempore quanquam nihil non fit in tempore Time makes nothing to be though every thing be made in time The duration or continuance of things cannot make them to be what they are not in themselves Quod ab initio vitiosum est c. saies * Quod ab initio vitiosum est non potest tractu temporis convalescere Ulp. L. 29. Vlpian That which is vitious in its rise cannot become valid by its continuance 'T is true Prescription and Custome make things to be deemed right which might not be so in themselves originally And yet I hope 't is not Time or Duration that is the ground of this right but a presumption of right still to have been because the same never known to be questioned For lapse of time undoubtedly cannot change the morality of a thing so as that that which is unjust should become just by continuance Time may alter the quality of actions or things à minore ad majus that is so as to make that which is evill to become more evill or that which is good to become better This tract of time may do but that a thing that is unlawfull as a Civill Power should become lawfull by continuance seems to me a Paradox Surely this seems to me to be the judgment of such as are not willing to joyn hands with any Supreme Power that comes in upon the change of Government till time hath worn out all danger of adhering to the same and till the Power hath out-lived in likelihood the hazard of shaking Surely 't is not becomming Christians to suspend their obedience unto a Divine Rule upon such a carnall ground But I passe to the last Question and that is this Quest 4 How the Powers that be are said to be Ordained of God Sol. I answer Things are said to be of God or to be ordained of God in a twofold sense viz. Either by manifest will and command or by secret providence The one I call a Preceptive ordination the other Providentiall 1. Such are ordained by God to rule by manifest will or preceptive ordination as are by God himself nominated and commanded to be set up over the people by expresse word as were the Kings of Israel When Israel would have a King according to the mode of the Nations round about them the Lord points out by expresse word who it should be and then who should be his successour c. But any such way of ordaining Rulers in a State I hope we may not expect or look for now because such appearances of God as then were are ceased We have no Prophets to whom God now speaks as of old Go Annoint such a person King Go tell the people such a Person or such a Family will I have to reign over them he doth not ordain any then now after this first way by manifest will or expresse word 2. Now in the second place as for Gods Providentiall ordaining of Rulers or Powers such are Powers ordained of God into whose hands Providence hath cast Authority and Dominion Such as Providence hath placed in eminency This is the way after which all Rulers and Powers in the earth are now established and fixed by God And 't is that which Paul means in the Text and makes the reason of Christian subjection Doth not Scripture speak of that Soveraignty that the Lord makes use of in disposing of the Empires of this world See Dan. 2.21 And he changes the times and the seasons he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings And Chap. 4.17 The most high ruleth in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will and setteth up over it the lowest or humblest of men as the word * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Humilis submissus signifies And again Jer. 27.5 I have made the earth the man and the beast that are upon the ground by my great power and by mine out-stretched arme and have given it to whom it seemed meet unto me And the Psalmist speaks to the same purpose Psal 75.6 7. Promotion cometh neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South But God is the judge he putteth downe one and setteth up another The Lord ownes these changes to be from himselfe not by permission onely as you see but by divine disposition and ordination viz. Providentiall So that t is enough to satisfie us touching a Power that t is ordained of God when Providence hath set it up Neither am I alone in this T is that which the learned and judicious agree to As Calvine speaking on these words There is no power but is of God sayes (a) Ratio cur debeamus esse subjecti Magistratibus est quod Dei ordinatione sunt constituti Quod si ita placet Domino mundum gubernare Dei ordinem invertere nititur adeoque Deo ipsi resistit quisquis potestatem aspernatur quando ejus qui juris politici author

est providentiam contemnere bellum cum eo suscipere est Calv. in Rom 13. that to slight providence is to wage war with God himselfe intimating as you may finde by reading him at large that the ordaining of Powers in the Text is by providence which ought to be binding to Christians And Bucer affirmes that (b) Summum jus omnium potestatum Regum c. in eo situm est quod a Deo Ordinatae sunt hisjus ordinationis unum indubitatum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est esse Potestates Nam nulla potestas nisi certa dei dispensatione esse potest Buc. in Rom. 13. the chiefe right of all Powers consists in this that they are ordained of God And of this ordination there is this one most sure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or evidence viz. That they are Powers i. e. that providence hath set them up for no power can Be but by Gods ordering of it to be Omne sub regno graviore regnum est Sen. And indeed there is nothing by which wee may judge of a Power whether it be of God or no but onely this that it actually is If you say yes the consent and choice of the people I say that demonstrates what is the peoples will not what is Gods will We are commanded 〈◊〉 be subject to Powers in the text not because the people choose them but because God ordaines them Now by what 〈◊〉 we know that a Power is ordained of God unlesse we ●ake providences putting men in possession of power to 〈◊〉 Gods way of ordaining Powers I say by what shall we judge whether a Power be ordained of God or no God doth 〈◊〉 now reveale himselfe by expresse word concerning the thing how shall we know his will then why Promotion cometh neither from the East nor West c. God giveth the Empires of the world to whom he wil. Thou canst not know who is ordained of God but only by considering whom providence hath exalted as supreme For as sayes Calvin * Atque simulac in regium fastigium quempiam evehit dominus testatum nobis facit suamvoluntatem quod regnare illum velit Cal. Inst l. 4. Chap. 28. As soon as ever the Lord hath lifted up any unto the Height of a supreme power he doth witnesse to us that it is his will that he should reign So then the particulars being thus cleared consider what the whole text speakes out Let every soul be subject i. e. orderly or according to the Law and Rules of Civill Order placed under the Powers that are above or in Eminency for there is no power on earth be it what it will be that hath an actuall being but is Providentially ordained by God and hath validity and Authority from him So that as t is in the verse following he that resisteth the Power Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that doth any thing against the Order resi sts the Ordinance of God I have met with one objection that seemes to carry some weight in it which I shal here insert and give an answer to it The objection is made against what hath been given out as the sense and scope of my text viz. That those that are actually Supreme and in Plenary possession of Power are to be submitted to as Powers or as a Power Ordained of God Object 1 Against this is argued from 2 Kings 11. thus If possession makes a lawfull Power then Athalia was a lawfull Power and they did ill who did rise against her and crowne Joash King It had questionlesse been rebellion in them to thrust out her that had been in full possession for six yeares together but we finde not that they did amisse in putting her off though she had been actually supreme for so long time that the right heir might be annointed King therefore her being in actuall possession did not make her a lawfull power or a power to which the people were bound to be subject and so by consequence the like doth not now constitute a power to which the people owe subjection Ans To which I answer 1 Jehojada who contrived the deposing of Athaliah after six yeares reign was no private man but the chiefe Priest to whom it did belong as sayes Peter Martyr speaking very well to this very Question non modo judicare res Ecclesiasticas verum etiam Civiles to judge not onely Church matters but State affaires too he was custos Legum and had power to look to the lawes to keep them from violation and infringment if he and they that acted in this businesse had been private men it had been rebellion in them according to Peter Martyr who sayes upon this very case that 't is not lawfull for private men to cast downe him qui rerum potitur that is in plenary possession 2. God then ordained rulers by manifest word and command and therefore such were onely to be acknowledged for lawfull Powers then as were thus appointed by God in respect of which Athaliah was not but Ioash was the rightfull Prince But now to us there is no such expresse way afforded to determine who should govern but there is an expresse way teaching us whom we should acknowledge and Submit to even the powers that are therefore we are not bound to neither may we look any further back than the Powers in being though the Israelites might and perhaps ought according to a rule which they had more than we have Object 2 But it's said Hosea 8.4 by the Lord They have set up Kings but not by me they have made Princes and I knew it not speaking of the peoples following and setting up of Jeroboam as their King Therefore all Powers that get up into actuall Domination are not ordained of God Ans I answer the Lord speaks thus in respect of the indirect course the Ten tribes took in setting up Ieroboam to be King over them not as if he were not a lawfull Power after he was in the throne or as if God had no hand in setting of him up God himselfe sayes he made him King as you shall see in the answer to the next objection But however the people were disorderly and rebellious in what they did which is that which this Scripture hath respect to and to this agree Peter Martyr Pareus and divers others See the margent * Quod autem non promoti fuerint speaking of the Kings mentioned Hos. 8.4 ad regnum deo volente cum tota fermè Scriptura pugnat Pet. Marrv Loc. Com. A Deo fuit illa regni a Roboamo ad Ieroboamum translatio c. Quod vero hic dicit Deus Jeroboamum Regem non fuisse ex se de modo circūstantiis facti quas Deus minime probavit est intelligendum Par. in Rom. plura in Ose 8.4 1. They did not ask counsell of God therefore he sayes 't was not by him that is his advice 2. They were not backt with any authority but