Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	care_n	child_n	good_a	1,003	5	3.6694	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56250	A political essay, or, Summary review of the kings and government of England since the Norman Conquest by W. P---y, Esq.	Pudsey, William.; Petty, William, Sir, 1623-1687.	1698 (1698)	Wing P4172; ESTC R19673	81,441	212

himself whether Frighted or not is not material upon which the Prince together with his Consort the next Heir Indisputable to the Crown in a full and due Representation of the whole Community and Body of the Kingdom is and are Declared and Appointed King and Queen Now let us see what we have done upon the whole matter to deserve that harsh Language of the Convocation-Book produced by Dr Sherlock Whether we have done more or so much as all other Nations have done in a Case any thing like Ours Whether we have done more than becomes Good Christians or Men of Honour And what it is that stands in our way to hinder or bar such an Attempt and Action First Setting aside at present those Texts of St. Paul and St. Peter which are the only discouraging Impediments and which have been sufficiently as I think answered and avoided by several Pens Upon the Law of Nature no Man I believe can pretend to say here is any Natural Injustice or Moral Injury done Certainly Nature and Reason prompt us to Defend Injuries and to Repel Force Nature will preserve it self in its Being No Man will say a King of England hath power of Life and Death over his Subjects We say he hath no Power other than by the Law of the Land the Moral as well as Legal Consequence must be That we may Defend our Lives against all Assaults 't is the same of Liberty and Property for there is a Meum and Tuum in all Christian Commonwealths as Archbishop Abbot said before subject only to the Laws of the Place therefore I can't defend my self or House against the King Arm'd with Legal Power as upon a Cap. Vtlagatum or upon a Duty due to him c. but I may where I am out of the compass of a Legal Prosecution If the consequence of Self-defence and Preservation be denied it 's vain trifling to talk of Laws and to value our selves upon Living in a Country where the Measures of Right are ascertain'd and the Limits of Government and Subjection the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and the Bow String will be the same if Laws are only a simple Direction for Information and not an Obligation We must owe our Lives c. at this rate to Fortune not to Justice But since the Restoration it 's said we are under another Tie not to take up Arms by the Extravagant Compliment to King Charles the II d and the Declaration pursuant to that Act. Be it so though all Laws made in Extraordinary Heats are not a regular Obligation but let them take that State-Artificial Obligation into the Bargain the King Swears too and this was not designed to let loose the King's Hands and tie the Subjects for all Obligations whether Natural or Artificial are Reciprocal and Mutual and always so taken and understood in common Intendment There can be no other Notion of Justice Natural Moral or Political and whatever Preference and Advantage is allowed to One above the Other 't is an Authority upon Supposition of Care Protection and for Order and centers in the Good of the Community And I think the Lacedemonians had a Law to Punish Parents who did not their Duty towards their Children Let us therefore take in the highest Instance of Obedience and Duty from Children to Parents No Man I suppose will pretend now that a Father may Castrate Sell or Kill a Child the Inference must be That in any Case of such open Violence a Son may Resist a Father in his own necessary Defence and Self-preservation without offering Reproach Injury or Vindictive Force So in the Case of Lunacy in a Parent or any fatal Extravagance no doubt a Son may lay Hands on a Father by way of Restraint and must take a continued Commanding Care over him in case of Relapse c. This is agreed on all hands to be the severest Tie of Obedience and therefore Kings are endeavoured to be brought within the Fifth Commandment to make our Chains the faster not in the mean time considering that they make them looser by putting an inconsistent double Duty upon us Thus we are told Religion stands positively in our way and fetters us with an Absolute Obedience to Kings without Reserve c. It seems hard that Religion should weaken our Arm in Defence of it self and force our Obedience and Submission to Laws and Absolute Power in the same breath For where there is Absolute Power there is no Law and where there are Laws there is no Absolute Power But Scripture is to be our Guide I agree it But what Authority shall I rely on Where shall I apply my self for an Interpreter 'T is manifest our own Church cannot settle me that is divided against it self Some bring Instances from the Old Testament Others tell us That is nothing to the purpose those Kings being by God's Designation c. Some tell us these Texts of St. Peter and St. Paul oblige us to Passive Obedience on peril of Damnation And Others as boldly and magisterially inform us That the New Testament gives no Rules for Submission to Forms of Government but only Rules of Justice Order and Peace That those Texts are nothing to Our purpose for the Apostles spoke to those under Heathen Emperors where Paganism was Established by a Law and that those Texts are to be only Expounded against the Jews who still believed themselves under the Divine Authority and thought they could not become the Subjects of any other Power As to the Scripture-Examples we are Taught by a very great Divine and Bishop not to rely on them and he says Those who place the Obligatory Nature of these Examples from Scripture must either produce the Moral Nature of those Examples or else a Rule binding us to follow those Examples especially when these Examples are brought to found a New positive Law Obliging all Christians Some say in general the Bible is a Miscellaneous Book where Dishonest and Time-serving Men may ever in their loose way find a Text for their purpose Sir Robert Filmer upon the Dispute of the Form of Powers for these Texts are sometimes applied to the Form and sometimes to the Quality of Power takes Power only in the Singular Number Powers in the Plural is a damnable Sin and he will have all Governments but the Patriarchal to be Illegal and Abominable but this is so Extravagant that I think none of our Divines pretend to justify him in it and therefore Others on the contrary are of Opinion That Submit to all Powers infers That all Forms of Government are admitted to be good and do not allow that Power in the Singular is to be taken restrictive and so there is no Authority if not of God and the Authorities which are of God's Institution are ordered under God Sir Robert Filmer Dr Hicks c. will have the Legislative Power to be in the King alone And the First says all Legislative Powers are Arbitrary But where is the necessity for

Statute of Westminster which consists of Fifty one Chapters and is well worth perusing Sir Edward Coke says This and all other Statutes made in the Reign of this King may be stiled by the Name of Establishments because they are more Constant Standing and Durable Laws than have been made ever since and Sir William Herle then Chief Justice of the Common Pleas says Fuit le plus Sage Roy que Vnques fuit And though these Laws were said to be Pour le Commun profit de seint Eglise del Realm yet he thought it expedient to clip the Wings of his Clergy observing as is said their Power too predominant and afterwards by the Statute of Mortmain kept them from ingrossing Lands and increasing their Temporal Possessions and when his Prelates prest him to repeal this Statute he gave them for Answer That it was a Statute made by the whole Body of the Realm and therefore not in his Power who was but one Member of that Body not like some of his Successors who have pretended to dispense with all Acts of Parliaments He united Wales to the Crown of England partly by Force and partly by Policy As to his War in Scotland if it were managed with the same Policy it had not nevertheless the like success at least Scotland was so unfortunate to him that he died there His War with France was but a Trifle and soon ended in a Truce His last Misunderstanding with his Lords was the Effect of Unadvised Obstinacy on both hands for he ought not to have insisted on sending or their going to the Wars in Gascoin without his going himself in Person and they ought not to have refused going with him in Person though in or out of France or Scotland but yet he made up the Breach by his subsequent Prudence and soft Demeanour The worst Action of his Reign to me seems to be Bribing the Pope to absolve him from the Covenant made with his Subjects concerning their Charters which he had confirm'd with an Oath but the other good Laws which he made and observed shall with me excuse one Act of Frailty or Passion And if he be censured for his Taxes he is in part justified by his well bestowing them to his own Honour and Good of his Kingdom EDWARD II. WE are not to expect much good from a King who begins his Reign with the breach of his Father's Admonitions and the Obligations he lay under by him in matters of Duty Commands which his Father gave him in charge with his last Words on pain of a Curse for his Disobedience as Stow says And here it may be observed how wretched and contemptible a Creature pardon the Expression even a King as well as another Man is when he hath once broke loose from the Principles of Honour and Morality when the Natural Bonds of Modesty are unhinged and broken How he wavers and shuffles and is driven about by every Wind that he cannot be steady to himself or any one else When Men have once forsaken the Path of Vertue they walk in an endless Maze they can't rely on themselves and therefore are impos'd upon and misled by every one For when a Man cannot justify himself to himself he can never do it to another and Kings generally stand so much upon the Prerogative of being like Gods that they scorn to be thought to be in the wrong like Men. Here we may see how fatal 't is to prefer a private Person before the Publick and for a Prince to espouse the Interest of a Favourite so far as to put him in competition with all his other Subjects and to oppose his Welfare to theirs The whole Reign of this Poor King is but one Farce of Folly and Misfortune contemn'd by his Subjects and even by his own Wife who revenged upon him the violation of a double Tye of Obedience This was the immediate as well as natural Consequence of relying upon the Opinion and Advice of single Persons contrary to the Counsels and against the Advice of the Wisdom of the Nation After Troubles on the behalf of Gaveston Troubles in Scotland with a faint ill-managed War Troubles on account of the Spencers Troubles in his own Family for he was no wiser in his Oeconomicks than his Politicks with his Wife c. he was at last shamefully Deposed barbarously Used and villanously Murther'd A Person in his Natural Capacity certainly to be lamented as having some Virtues and Good Qualities Fit to make an Accomplish't Gentleman though not a Good King Kingly Government did not seem to be his Talent for he lived as if born for himself not for others and there is certainly a difference in the Quality of governing a Man's self and others between governing and being govern'd To this purpose I must bring in Montaign who seems to have a good Notion of the Thing Doubtless says he it can be no easy Task to Rule others when we find it so hard a matter to govern our selves And as to the Thing Dominion which seems so charming the Frailty of Human Wisdom and the Difficulty in Choice of Things that are New and Doubtful to us consider'd I 'm very much of Opinion That it is far more pleasant to follow than to lead and that it is a great Settlement and Satisfaction of Mind to have only one Path to walk in and to have none to answer for but a Man's self For without doubt says he there is a great and painful Duty incumbent upon a Good King How much doth it import Kings to have a Good Advice of Counsel For I doubt we shall find but few Kings whether of God Almighty's making or our own i. e. whether by Inheritance Solus Deus facit haeredes or Election of Cyrus's Qualifications who says That no Man is fit to Rule but he who in his own Worth is of greater value than all those he is to govern EDWARD III. THE Reign of Edward the Third was more a School of Arms than Civil Polity For having in the beginning patch'd up an Indifferent Peace with Scotland he is immediately embroil'd in a War with France with which and some few Matters in Scotland he was engaged all his Life-time It is true in his Parliament at Westminster Supply and Grievances were pretty warmly Debated And he has his weak Side in the Business of Alice Peirce his Concubine but I let this pass as a Failing And who is without some But when he was at leisure he made Good Laws and particularly in the Affair of Purveying He caus'd all Pleas to be in English that the Subjects might understand the Laws Ordain'd Sumptuary Laws c. and in the general was a Great and Good Prince as Walsingham Fuerat nempe Rex iste inter omnes Reges Orbis Principes Gloriosus Benignus Clemens Magnificus Belliger fuit insignis fortunatus qui de Cunctis Congressibus in Terra Mare semper triumphali gloriâ Victoriam Reportavit I