Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	king_n	power_n	supreme_a	3,860	5	9.0420	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58003	The present state of the Ottoman Empire containing the maxims of the Turkish politie, the most material points of the Mahometan religion, their sects and heresies, their convents and religious votaries, their military discipline ... : illustrated with divers pieces of sculpture, representing the variety of habits amongst the Turks, in three books / by Paul Rycaut Esq. ...	Rycaut, Paul, Sir, 1628-1700.	1668 (1668)	Wing R2413; ESTC R18075	228,446	228

hand of the Souldiery all places are the better strengthned and the conquered people more easily kept from Mutiny and Rebellion not much unlike our tenure of Knights-service in England and lands held of the Crown but with this difference that we enjoy them by the title of a fixed and setled Law never to be forfeited but upon Treason and Rebellion they enjoy them also by inheritance derived from the Father to the Son but yet as usufructuary during the pleasure of the Emperour in whom the propriety is always reserved and who doth often as his humour and fancy leads him to please and gratifie a stranger dispossess an ancient possessor whose family hath for many generations enjoyed that inheritance Sometimes I have heard with the sighes of some and the curse of others how the Grand Signior heated in his hunting and pleased with the refreshment of a little cool and chrystal water presented him by a poor Paisant hath in recompence thereof freed the Tenant from the rent of his Landlord and by his sole word confirmed to him the Cottage he lived in the Woods Gardens and Fields he manured with as sound a title as our long deeds and conveyances secure our purchases and inheritances in England and this the former Master dares not name injustice because this Tenant is now made proprietor by the will of the Grand Signior which was the same title and claim with his preseription tenant-right and custom availing nothing in this case For if the inheritance hath been anciently derived from Father to Son the more is the goodness and bounty of the Emperour to be acknowledged that hath permitted so long a succession of his favours to run in one family in whose power it was to transfer it to others The absolute and unlimited power of this Prince is more evident by the titles they give him as God on earth the shadow of God Brother to the Sun and Moon the giver of all earthly Crowns c. And though they do not build and erect Altars to him as was done to the Roman Emperours when that people degenerated into a fashion of deformed adulation wherein Italy is at present corrupted yet the conception they have of his power the Ray they conceive to be in him of divine illumination is a kind of imagery and idolatrous fancy they frame of his divinity It is an ordinary saying among the Turkish Cadees and Lawyers That the Grand Signior is above the Law that is whatsoever law is written is controllable and may be contradicted by him his mouth is the law it self and the power of an infallible interpretation is in him and though the Mufti is many times for custome formality and satisfaction of the people consulted with yet when his sentences have not been agreeable to the designs intended I have known him in an instant thrown from his office to make room for another oracle better prepared for the purpose of his Master Some maintain that the very oaths and promises of the Grand Signior are always revocable when the performance of his vow is a restriction to the absolute power of the Empire And I remember when my Lord Embassador hath sometimes complained of the breach of our capitulations and pleaded that the Grand Signior had no power by simple commands to infringe articles of peace to which he had obliged himself by solemn oaths and vows the Interpreters have very gently touched that point and been as nice to question how far the power of the Grand Signior extended as we ought to be in the subtile points of the divine Omnipotence but rather in contemplation of the Grand Signiors justice wisdom faith and clemency insinuated arguments of honour convenience and justice in maintaining the league inviolate with the King of England It was Justinians rule concerning the Prerogative of Princes Etsi legibus soluti sumus tamen legibus vivimus That is although the Majesty of Princes and the necessity of having a supream head in all governments did free and priviledge them from all punishment and exempt them from the censure and correction of law that no earthly power could call them to account for their errours or disorders in this world yet it is necessary to the Being of an absolute Monarch to be a severe executioner of the Laws of his Country and it is more his interest and security then to act without rule and always to make use of the power of absolute dominion which is to be applied like Physick when the ordinary force of nature cannot remove the malignancy of some peccant humours The Grand Signior himself is also restrained by laws but without impeachment to his absolute jurisdiction For when there is a new Emperour it is the custom to conduct him with great pomp and triumph to a place in the Suburbs of Constantinople called Job where is an ancient Monument of some certain Prophet or Holy man whom the Turks for want of knowledge in Antiquity and History stile that Job who was recorded for the mirrour of constancy and patience For they confound all History in Chronology saying that Job was Solomons judge of the Court and Alexander the Great Captain of his army At this place Solemn Prayers are made that God would prosper and infuse wisdom into him who is to manage so great a charge Then the Mufti embracing him bestows his benediction and the Grand Signior swears and promises solemnly to maintain the Musleman Faith and laws of the Prophet Mahomet and then the Visiers of the Bench and other Bashaws with profound reverence and humility kissing the ground first and then the hemme of his vest acknowledge him their lawful and undoubted Emperour and after this form of inauguration he returns with the like solemnity and magnificence to the Seraglio which is always the seat of the Ottoman Emperours And thus the Gr. Sig. retains and obliges himself to govern within the compass of Laws but they give him so large a latitude that he can no more be said to be bound or limited than a man who hath the world to rove in can be termed a prisoner because he cannot exceed the Inclosure of the Universe For though he be obliged to the execution of the Mahometan Law yet that Law calls the Emperour the Mouth and Interpreter of it and endues him with power to alter and annul the most setled and fixed Rules at least to wave and dispense with them when they are an obstacle to his Government and contradict as we said before any great design of the Empire But the lea●●ed Doctors among the Turks more clearly restrain the Imperial power only to the observation of that which is Religious in the Mahometan Law saying That in matters which are Civil his Law is Arbitrary and needs no other Judge or Legislator than his own will Hence it is that they say the Grand Signior can never be deposed or made accountable to any for his crimes whilst he destroys causelesly of his Subjects under the