Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	church_n	civil_a	magistrate_n	1,328	5	8.0220	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67700	A discourse of government as examined by reason, Scripture, and law of the land, or, True weights and measures between soveraignty and liberty written in the year 1678 by Sir Philip Warwick.	Warwick, Philip, Sir, 1609-1683.	1694 (1694)	Wing W991; ESTC R27062	96,486	228

is that religion neglected or despised weakens all other parts of government Religio neglecta aut spreta trahit secum rempublicam for where there is but an indifferency to it or a want of devotion and inward esteem of it the soul of moral virtue is lost for men will be rather temporate for health than for the peace of society or to have a fitness by piety to have an intercourse with their God and justice will be observed rather as an outward compliance with laws than an inward esteem of such a beneficial tye in relation to society For it is the love of justice which flows from religion not the fear of its punishments that inspirits government for this values the Legislators authority and wisdom the other dreads only the Lictor's rods Secondly Government is never freely and chearfully obeyed but when it is supposed God's ordinance and that it is accounted a part of religion so to esteem it else obedience will be more precarious than the nature of it will admit The commission of goverment therefore issues out of God's Chancery and directs the Prince to direct his government to the benefit of the subject and yet when he fails therein leaves no appeal to the subject but unto his providence who prescribes to both for Nero's vices were not half so pernicious to the empire no nor to particular men as were the revolts even from that monster and from his Successors Galba Otho and Vitellius who were but pestilential breaths of the same ill vapor When conspiracy had cast out Kings the Consul's rule seemed so majestick and arbitrary that the Commonalty must needs be tempering it by Tribunitial power so as Livy observes that the cord of government was so strongly haled at each end or extremity that there was no strength left in the midst and that strife was more for the management and rule than for the safety and preservation of the State and all these revolutions because government was not supposed God's ordinance but the peoples choice Thus we see it is religion that only makes Soveraignty and liberty sociable or sets such bounds to majesty in the Prince as may advance concord among the Citizens Cast off this temper and every mistaken judgment will produce such angry humors as will neither endure the ordinary evils or sores of government nor the common remedies or salves for its cure Thirdly the highest throne though never so wise powerful or sincere depends upon Providence which can either by natural or moral causes disappoint all its best laid designs An earthquake a storm or a treachery frustrates all man can do whilst nothing can withstand heavenly benedictions and the very opinion men have that the Gods are propitious to them gives diligence and courage in all attempts These are the reasons and many more why government must be supported by religion Next we will offer a few why the religion of every Nation should be but one Religion should be but one First Religion is the highest as well as the strongest obligation upon the mind of man so as if that admit any principles of liberty or exemption from Civil authority disobedience shelters it self and replies it is fit to serve God before man and so grows incorrigible because reasonably it may justifie it self though that be an error as will be soon proved Secondly Men of a superstitious temper either infect one another or are misled by some subtil knaves who make good gain of men who are of a superstitious devotion and who make conscience of every little thing and are apt to believe vain and foolish prophesies or interpret revelations And thus says Livy in his fourth book they became a publick offence insomuch as the Aediles had in charge that no other Gods should be worshiped but those of the Romans nor after any other manner than had been usual in their native Country Indeed if it were rightly considered the religion of all Nations should be but one because all should serve but one God and he by the tradition unto the Patriarchs before the Law and by his divine prescripts under the Law and by the revelation of his will by the Messiah and his Apostles after the Mosaic-Law made his will known in all necessary natural moral and divine truths tending unto salvation whereof Kings and Priests were the guardians but not the parents for they were to deliver in matters immediately relating to salvation nothing but what they had received though in matters relating to decency and order in his service or in matters of civil concern they were authorized to give the law suitable to their own best judgments and all subordinate to them were thus to seek an unity in the faith and a common utility in the State in the band of peace Thus God is a God of order and not of confusion and if he made religion a support to government private men by framing new axioms of their own to exempt themselves from odedience or to weaken the sinews of government must not distract it For if a Soveraign may command one thing which God hath not forbidden and a high Priest another which God hath not revealed or a private person contradict both in those things which are both true and suitable to their distinct authorities then the reins or girdle of all authority divine ecclesiastical or civil is dissolved Among the Gentile world instituted religion was no disturber of government because it consisted principally in outward rites ceremonies and observances But in the Christian religion God being a jealous God of his honor and truth it hath great influence on government because the main end of it Instituted Religion was to restore natural as it was to make reconciliation and clear the intercourse betwixt the divine and the intellectual nature so it was to restore natural religion and to cleanse that polluted stream Therefore that Church which upon false glosses on instituted religion introduces corruptions in natural and weakens civil Soveraignty that it may usurp Ecclesiastical or dispences with moral duties that men may be the more observant of their ceremonial laws makes the buttress which was to support the wall thrust it down And those Princes whom God bridled by his moral law in the exercise of their Soveraignty weaken but their own Governments when they decline those laws natural religion and common justice recommended unto them as to be the basis of all their civil municipal and human laws Nor doth any spirit more weaken government by pretence of religion than those Enthusiastical persons who upon pretence of particular impulses respect neither human nor divine laws The ill influences on Government by several phanatick principles for these can fall in love with their own selves and their tribe and broach doctrines that we may say turn the world topsie turvy for one says 1. Dominion is founded in grace and thereby is all Soveraignty overthrown though the same men at the same time read that Cyrus

to the young Sons of the Nobility and Gentry the growing hopes of their Country and who one day by their virtue courage loyalty wisdom and learning befitting their birth and quality will make a great figure in it for the seasoning of whose minds capable of the highest and noblest impressions with virtuous and true notions of Policy and for their direction and service it is chiefly published and to whom therefore it is humbly dedicated The Reader is desired to correct the following errata which have escaped the diligence of the Corrector PAg. 29. l. 29. Person p. 89. l. 29. make is p. 80. l. 23. were p. 121. l. 13. reckoned 139. l. 21. recommend 149. l. 12. justice is 146. l. ult prescribe 154. l. 7. condition for 164. l. 1. prompter 172. l. that is a. in the margin there for civil read single 193. l. 13. take 206. l. 20. for too read two OF Government As examined by Reason Scripture AND Law of the Land GOD and nature made men sociable creatures Government as examined by reason which appears by this that every man affects a companion which arises from this that every single man stands in need of anothers help Men could not have liv'd together in a body politick if God had not disposed the natural inclinations of their minds for such a society and the same reason that leads them to co-habit together exacted from them the preferring publick good before private interest or the whole before any part so as government is an ordinance of God and not an invention of man and arises not as Mr. Hobbs would make it from the passion of fear which one man had of another but from the moral virtue of justice to do as one would be done unto This makes the politick body so much to resemble the natural The brain must be distinguisht from the heart and the heart from the liver If one part give life another must sense and a third nutrition The understanding or Prince or soveraign power must give the law and the animal spirits or Nobility must influence the nerves or instruments of motion thro' the whole body or subordinate Officers to set on work the muscles or organical members or Commonalty to perform the several offices which belong to the several faculties of the soul of government But we will not follow affectedly metaphors or resemblances which only serve for illustration but not for proof The Object of Government stands in Persons Ruling are Either Supream Whether supremacy lies in one or more persons Here rule or government is absolute arbitrary and uncontroulable yet with an eye and duty to publick-weal or salus populi and an accountableness to God Or Subordinate Magistrates under him or them in whom the supremacy is lodged These do rule by the Soveraigns commission the powers whereof they are not to exceed and they are accountable for the execution thereof not to God only but man likewise Ruled are the People in general viz. 1. Nobility Ecclesiastical Civil 2. Gentry 3. Commons The three states of men which among us make up a Parliament and are united to the King or Supream as members with their head They represent the whole body of that people unto the King but the King is the true representative of the people to all the world The Soveraign the Virtual Body of the Nation The three Estates the Representative Body of the Nation The People themselves the Essential Body of the Nation Things Prerogatives are in defence of the Government it self and of the Soveraign Person and to be made use of in both cases Laws Civil or Municipal for securing the Lives Liberties Properties c. of the Subject Matters Thus Ad Caesarem potestas omnium pertiner ad singulos proprietas Divine Civil as 1 Religion 2 Justice 3 Council 4 Commerce 5 Confederation 6 Treasure 7 Arms by Sea Land The seven great sinews or pillars or nerves of Government Military Government and Governors Government and Governors are both Gods ordinances for though He himself was the sole Legislator in all those matters which concerned mans ultimate happiness yet he left men by the light of their own natural reason to make such laws as concern'd their civil interests or their concerns of this life as natural reason dictated unto them And because no society could be formed and kept together but by equal and just laws nor those laws executed but by some Persons therefore both laws and Governors were made sacred the one to be observed and the other to be reverenced and therefore God owns both and puts an impression of part of his own honor both on humane laws and Soveraign Persons though both these may be infirm and failing for Princes or Soveraigns may err as well in making laws or in their judgments about them as in the execution of them or in their own manners And therefore God obliged Princes to be well advised about making laws and as nigh as they could to follow sound reason and the best precedents and to do all with deliberation and good advice and with an eye to publick utility Nevertheless because these concerns were but about matters of an indifferent nature and that coming under so many divers circumstances it often puzled a sincere and a wise Governor what to ordain and the narrowness of mens understandings often making that whilst the business was in councel or agitation appear best which as soon as perfected was often discerned not to be so and so wisdom and sincerity though not likely so grosly or so often might fail in councel as well as folly and negligence therefore he stampt his own authority both upon human laws and Governors The reverence due unto authority thereby to keep them both from being disputed And upon this ground it was that laws were by the same authority that made them to be revoked or repealed Thus the human authority from whence these laws flowed silenced all private judgment and became indisputable there being nothing to be put in the ballance with it it being only the prerogative of God's Laws to be entertained for their own excellency mens for the authority or station they were in Otherwise all Government had been precarious or subjected so to change as to be unsteady or endless and so useless This every master of a family shall find if he give way to his wife children and servants to dispute his commands much more then a Lord or Soveraign over a whole nation And this should make every master of a family as careful to keep up the honor of his Prince in his great family as he would his own in his little family Soveraignty must be absolute and arbitrary Soveraignty therefore was by divine ordinance made both arbitrary and unquestionable else it could never have answered the true ends of government Divine wisdom therefore necessarily armed even in behalf of the governed the supream Governors with these powers following The

considerable in the Government even the Multitude or Vulgar or lowest sort of men being very considerable in respect of their very number The Clergy are an order of men set apart among all Nations for the divine services of the God of the land Clergy for the Gentile and Barbarians never wanted their Brachmans or their Druides and every where they were men of prime rank for the natural reverence that was due to their calling gave such an authority to their persons that most commonly they were conversant in the most important affairs of the Nation for here we mention them only in relation to the Civil society none being fitter to interpose betwixt Prince and People than those that interceed with God for both And the respect that is paid to them is a reverence paid to God for upon the same ground Princes Ambassadors are treated with those observances they meet with upon the same are God's Ministers In this order of men God becomes in a manner visible unto us for when we find he hath Servants peculiar to himself a Court or Temple and revenues appropriate for maintenance of both we straight conclude of a surety God is in this place or he is the Lord of this people So as there is no greater evidence that piety decays in a Nation than that they are apt to contest or disrespect their Priests or Ministers Now as this is a valuation due to the Minister of God's word so he himself is to pay a respect unto his own calling and to appear worthy of it and fitted for it for duties are reciprocal and he is God's husbandman and therefore must cultivate his People and if he truly discharge his office in fitting them for another world he fits them best for society in this world and for subjection to the Prince and there is no such way for him to procure the dignity that is due to himself as to exercise the proper virtues of his calling Other tyes or compliances with the humors and manners of a People or becoming like them with them in common conversation begets familiarities but not reverence Piety in themselves and endeavors to make their flock pious or of orderly lives discretion in being friendly and helpful or ready to advise and do good offices a private information or admonition at home or a conversation which recommends that unto particular men out of the pulpit which is preached unto them in it this attracts their good will whilst being unconcerned with or conforming their company to the irregular or negligent habit or custom of others removes the inward esteem they should labour for This ought to be very sincerely Pursued I will no be so uncharitable as to say it is artificially so done by some of the Romanists and by some of the Presbyterians though I believe one gains much of his authority by his indulgences and easie absolutions and the other by his assurances that they carry God's brand to mark the elect with only I wish our Country Clergy would be more strict to follow the rules they receive and I have often heard given them by their Bishops in their visitations for when they influence their flock towards God's service they lead them the easier to be subject chearfully to their Prince's laws and commands And if this Order of men will expect as justly they may the Prince's protection for themselves they owe it him as a duty to keep themselves so in esteem and friendship with their congregations as they may dispose them to his service for if they fall into the envy or disesteem of their Parishioners they who should be an ease and coadjutors of their Prince make their protection a burthen to him or they become as an useless body In this quarrelling and examining age the Governors of the Church should endeavour to make matters of faith treated on with plainness and not mingled with too many distinctions that matters of good life be taught as much by the example of the teachers as his expositions or precepts that their Visitations and Courts of Jurisdiction be not only formal or in maintenance of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction or gain or rather for shewing their Orders and paying for it as I have heard no mean men among themselves say than for keeping them in good order especially that their excommunications be upon weighty matters and somewhat that is purely Christian For though contumacy to a Court be a great fault and that this Ecclesiastick Court have no other penal or legal censure yet when the subject matter on which the excommunication is grounded is some civil or mixt concern then this being a spiritual punishment seems so remote that it makes excommunication seem light and draws neglect rather than respect or obedience to the Jurisdiction These good Fathers should be known to be forward to divert a Prince from laying great or unnecessary burthens on their Subjects which if it be perceived by the Subject then this temper in the Clergy will get such a disposition in the Layety as will lead them respectfully to hearken to such doctrines as invite them patiently to bear grievances or pressures since it is an eminent virtue in a Christian Subject to bear with the errors of a remiss Government Thus a Clergy must make themselves as useful as they can in secular affairs both to Prince and People if they would gain upon them in their spiritual concerns and this we may say is an incumbent duty upon them as they are members of a Politick body And in this sense it is that nothing more concerns a Prince in respect of the influence this order of men have on his Subjects than that he provide as God hath done for him that his Clergy depend on no body but himself for if either in the Prince's Ecclesiastical affairs they pretend a Superior authority to his as making themselves depend on a Pope and thereby exempting themselves from the Prince's jurisdiction or that they can wrest themselves into his secular affairs as they have some relation to Spiritual or Ecclesiastical concerns which even Presbytery hath set up a claim unto then this Prince's State and his Subjects obedience will be very precarious and dangerous and his condition not much bettered if Junius Brutus and Buchanan or the Schoolmen and Jesuits be the Interpreters of St. Paul's thirteenth Chapter to the Romans or of St. Peter's 1. Ep. 2. ch v. 13. And the like he may expect from an Enthusiastical Teacher who will be but binding him in chains and his Nobles in links of iron He must not be ignorant therefore that his office supervises theirs and when he hath not encroached upon that spiritual part of their office to which they are properly said to be set apart and consecrated as administring the publick Offices of the Church of praying for and preaching unto and administring the Sacraments then to oversee these Overseers in the good or male-administration of their Offices is his duty and his security And