Selected quad for the lemma: evil_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
evil_n	good_a	know_v	knowledge_n	3,077	5	7.3450	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66598	Conscience satisfied in a cordial and loyal submitting to the present government of William and Mary in three discourses justifying the Williamites against the Jacobites : the first being animadversions on a book intitutled The doctrine of non-resistance, or, Passive obedience no way concerned in the controversies now depending between the Williamites and the Jacobites, the second on I Sam. 23.30 ... the third on Dan. 5.20 ... / by Tim. Wilson, rector of Kingsnoth in Kent.	Wilson, Timothy, 1642-1705.	1690 (1690)	Wing W2949; ESTC R38313	57,754	74

elected And Charles the the third the last Emperor of Pipins Line was deposed by the same people for a Bedlam As also when Justinus the younger was distracted of his wits Tiberius was placed in the Empire So he And if Governours may be deposed and the Succession altered for natural defects and calamities then much more for Moral defects such as universal Oppression and Tyranny over their Subjects Because the other might be helped by Protectors and Guardians but this neither will nor can Again p. 179. If any Prince were repressed since the Foundation of the Earth for five thousand years it was done by their own States and Realms and that for their Extream Tyranny Priests always refrained those attempts and never thought it any part of their vocation to meddle with the changes and alterations of Kingdoms as Gregory the seventh called Pope Hildebrand did Now to return to Nebuchadnezzar that which happened saith a learned Divine to the furious King in his madness by the decree of God why may not ought not that be done to other impious Kings also Calvin indeed speaks dubiously in his Commentary on Dan. 4. It is uncertain whether he was cast out by Tumult and the Conspiracy of the Nobles or also by the consent of the whole people This is doubtful because the Histories of that time are unknown to us While Calvin thus doubts he denies not in the mean time that the furious King was removed by publick Authority The Text is express They shall drive thee from men v. 32. And verily by force of Gods Decree Command Therefore other impious Kings taken with like fury may fear the same punishment Like Oppression at any time will justify like defence proceedings The famous Doctor of the Church Oecolampadius judgeth right whose words are these in his Commentary Observe the equity of the Judge that the Lord measures to us with the same measure that we measure to others He was much exalted and much humbled he received many gifts from God many are taken away he banished many and he also is driven from men he had delicious meats now he feeds with beasts he was clothed with purple now he is wholly covered with frightful hair he was anointed with balm and precious Ointments now he is wet with showers and the dew of Heaven And here I shall sum up the whole in principles according to the use of Mathematicians in Postulata Definitions and Axioms Such things saith the renowned Hooker Eccl. Pol. b. 1. par 8 As soon as they are alledged all men acknowledge to be good As God is to be worshiped Parents are to be honoured The main Principles of reason are in themselves apparent For to make nothing evident of it self to mans understanding were to make away all possibility of knowing any thing And herein that of Theophrastus is true They that seek a reason of all things do utterly overthrow it In every kind of knowledge some such grounds there are as that being proposed the mind doth presently imbrace them as free from all possibility of error clear and manifest without proof Postulatum 1. Every creature by the instinct of nature preserves itself and promotes its well being For as the Philosopher saith all defire Good and Happiness naturally is to be sought 2. No Positive law ought to or can invalidate or destroy the Law of nature which is the highest reason in man Because positive Laws are to better the condition of mankind not to make it worse 3. The primary right of nature so called cannot be changed because it is written in the heart of man as S. Paul testifies Hence it cannot be blotted out unless nature be blotted out and reason cease to be reason See the former discourse 4. The great End of Government is the security of the Community Were the People first or the King first Surely there were People to be governed before there were Governours Did Kings descend from Heaven and were they immediately appointed by God or mediately by the Election of the People Surely the Fathers of Families and Elders of the People chose one to be their Head and Governour Did they chuse him to make themselves in a better condition or in a worse Surely that they might live better and more secure that no one Person or Family might wrong another because they were stronger The Law of Nature tells us it is not necessary as one saith in another case That they that give should always formally have beforehand received that Power which they give it is enough if they have received it virtually For instance a multitude of free People may Elect and Ordain a King over them and yet none of them had beforehand received Kingly Power It is enough they have a Virtual Power to set up and to submit to any Lawful Form of Government which they see good for themselves in the Land 5. Defend thy self against Foroe is the first Principle of true Politicks There can be no Time Age Person wherein this is not true according to the former Postulata Hence are drawn these Conclusions mentioned in my former Discourse 1. No man ought to hurt us when we are innocent 2. If any man endeavours to hurt us when we are innocent we may defend our selves 3. Neither God nor Man gives Authority to Governours to hurt the Innocent 4. If Governours hurt the Innocent they may defend themselves All this presupposeth my former Discourse to which I refer the Reader The general and perpetual Voice of men saith Hooker is as the Sentence of God himself For that which all men have at all times learned Nature her self must needs have taught and God being the Author of Nature her Voice is but his Instrument By her from him we receive whatsoever in such sort we learn Infinite duties there are the good whereof is by this Rule sufficiently manifest tho' we had no other warrant besides to approve them The Apostle Paul having speech concerning the Heathens saith of them They are a Law to themselves Rom. 2.14 His meaning is that by force of the Light of Reason wherewith God illuminates every one that comes into the world men being enabled to know truth from falshood and good from evil do thereby learn in many things what the Will of God is Which Will himself not revealing by any extraordinary means to them but they by natural discourse attaining the knowledge thereof seem the makers of those Laws which indeed are his and they but only the finders of them our I now proceed to Definitions 1. Defence is the preserving the Innocent from wrong 2. Tyranny is the wilful Oppression of the Innocent against Law or Conscience Yet there is Tyranny in the Legislative Power when Princes and men in Authority make wicked and unjust Laws and here submission is due or Passive Obedience so called Thus Daniel and his Companions could not Actively obey Nebuchadnezzar because we must obey God rather than Man but they humbly submitted

the Magistrate Power or Authority to tyranize and oppress Secondly Because Governours are appointed for the good of the People Thirdly Because this is a violation of the Law of Nature First Because God never gave the Magistrate Power or Authority to tyrannize and oppress So that to resist illegal Oppression is not to resist God's Ordinance but mans Usurpation not the King's Authority but his Lust Hence the Prophet Elisha defended himself 2 King 6.32 Elisha sat in his house and the Elders sat with him and the King sent a man from before him and ere the Messenger came to him he said to the Elders See ye how this Son of a Murderer hath sent to take away my head Look when the Messenger cometh shut the door and hold him fast at the door Is not the sound of his Masters feet behind him He calls him the Son of a Murderer because his Father Ahab had killed God's Prophets and he was like him in disposition But that which is to our purpose is that he resisted the King's Messenger he calls upon the Elders to assist him as knowing that God gives no Power to Princes to punish the Innocent And therefore they may defend themselves There is First Private defence Secondly Publick Private defence is proved by this Text. It is lawful against a sudden and illegal assault of a Messenger sent by the King If against a sudden as one saith why not against deliberated and plotted for they are worse This example of Elisha is brought to prove the lawfulness of using force against a King in using violence Prayers and Tears are very good means against tyranny but they are not the only means To kneel down and say Lord help us and not stretch forth an hand to help our sevles is not to trust God's Providence but to tempt God and to try whether he will work a Miracle for our safety It is Presumption and not Piety so to trust to a good Cause as not to use all lawful means to maintain it Here is forcible Opposition allowed against a Messenger Commissioned by the King The Elders are desired to seize him This act of Elisha was plainly contrary to the King's Command Secondly Because Governours are appointed for the good of the People He is the Minister of God to thee for good Rom. 13.4 But if thou dost that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain for he is the Minister of God a Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil He hath not Arbitrary Power but his Power is limited And this is the end of his Government even the welfare of the Kingdom Now if the Subversion of the Government be designed and the Destruction of the People aimed at by Evil Counsellors then the Law of God allows and the Law of Nature requires the People to defend themselves The Magistrate is the Minister of God He sustains the Person of God as a Legate as one glosses and as is the Lord so is the Minister But God doth not punish the good but praise them Therefore the end of Government is that we may live justly and quietly and that the Body Politick and Publick Honesty may be defended If these are violated in an high measure the People are not bound to stand still and have their Throats cut The Sword is to defend the good and punish the evil but if the Sword be used to the contrary then the People must defend themselves Finally The cause of the Institution of Magistracy is to defend and honour the Good This is the call that Magistrates have for they ought not to rule for their own sakes only but for the publick good And they are not possessors of an unbridled Power but with such as is for the safety of their Subjects Thirdly Because this is a Violation of the Law of Nature The Subject as several Authors speak may be said to take up Arms either First As an Act of Self-Preservation Or Secondly As an Act of Jurisdiction exercised towards his Prince The first way we say it is lawful The second way we contend not for it because Jurisdiction properly signifies Power of Office The Schools out of Aristotle saith Wendel Philos Mor. b. 1. c. 29. distinguish Natural and Civil right by the Properties He assigns three Properties of Natural right The first is taken from the Efficient For Natural right hath its Original and Authority from God who first put it into the Minds of men in the Creation and after the Fall also in some manner preserved it in the Posterity of the first Men. Hence it is called by Aristotle The first Right or the first thing that is Just The second is from the Force and Efficacy The Right of Nature is understood by all indued with a sound Mind and every where among all hath the same Force Hence it is immutable and cannot be abrogated The third is from the end The Right of Nature is chiefly referred to Honesty There are also three Properties of Civil and Legal Right taken from the same Arguments The first is from the Efficient Civil Right hath its rise and authority from men by whom it is constituted with common consent with probable Reasons taken from the Law of Nature or some Circumstances The second is from the Force and Efficacy This Right obliges no body before it is established and constituted but after it is established and confirmed it begins to oblige under pain of Transgression Hence it may be changed and abrogated The third is from the End It is chiefly referred to Profit tho' it presupposeth Honesty from Natural Right Here it will not be amiss to lay down a few Definitions and Rules for the more ease understanding what we mean by the Law of Nature First There is an Eternal Law which the Schoolman out of S. Aug. b. 6. Of Free Will describes thus The Eternal Law is the highest reason which we must always obey by which Evil Men deserve Misery and Good Men a good Life by which that which is Temporal is rightly made and rightly changed From this Eternal Law flows the Law of Nature And accordingly Aquinas tells us The Law of Nature is nothing but a Participation of the Eternal Law in the reasonable Creature And Grotius saith Culverwell describes it thus The Law of Nature is the Dictate of right Reason shewing that there is Moral filthiness or Moral necessity in some Act from the convenience or inconvenience or disagreement thereof with the reasonable Nature it self and consequently that such an Act is either forbidden or commanded by God himself the Author of Nature The Laws of Reason saith the ever-renowned Hooker Eccl. Pol. b. 1. Parag. 8 have these Marks to be known by First Such as keep them resemble most lively in their voluntary acts that very manner of working which Nature her self doth necessarily observe in the course of the whole World The works of Nature are behooveful beautiful without superfluity or

to the King's pleasure and cruel Edict Thus the Primitive Christians chearfully laid down their Lives for the Name of Jesus and resisted not because the Laws of the Heathen Roman Empire as those of the Chaldeans before were against them This is called Abuse of Power in Kings and Governours And in this case Prayers and Tears are the Weapons of Christians and all upright men or flying from Persecution But where there is no Law there is no transgression Rom. 4.15 This is an universal Proposition mentioned by Paul If I defend my self against the Illegal Will or Lust of a Governour who hath received no such Authority from God nor Man it is neither transgression nor resisting of the Power Defin. 3. Obedience is a willing and hearty performance of the Commands of our Governours according to Law Defin. 4. Law the Rule of Obedience is a Sentence proceeding from the right Reason of the Commander And therefore no man must yield Active Obedience to Laws against the Law of Nature or against the written Law of God I go on to Axioms 1. The whole is to be preferred before any one part and the greater good before the less Therefore self-preservation is before the preservation of another because Charity begins at home And the whole Kingdom is to be preferred before the King himself when be who is the principal part stands in opposition to the good of the whole Axiom 2. All natural good may be desired and all natural evil may be avoided And here comes in the Rule of Justice and first Principle mentioned by our Saviour Mat. 7.12 All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do you even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets And what you will not have done to you do not you do to another This is a clear and undeleble Principle a first and Alphabetical Notion as one speaks Therefore I may preserve my Liberty and Property and oppose those that would by violence and illegal preceedings invade them And here I shall offer four or five more Postulata 1. Our Saviour did not countenance Oppression nor taught no Doctrine in favour thereof 2. Nothing in Christian Religion contradicts natural Religion The reason is both are from God So that if Natural Religion allows Defence then Christian Religion forbids it not As for Mysteries of Faith they are said to be above but not against Reason 3. Our Saviour never designed to set down a Form of Government and Polity but taught Obedience to Lawful Authority Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar ' s. Polity was before the Law of Moses or the Law of Christ The Law of Moses commanded Moral and Ceremonial performances And as for Judicial Laws they bind us only as to the Equity as all acknowledge And the Law of Christ compleats fulfils or advances the Moral Law indeed and withal adds some Mysteries of Faith to be believed of all Christians But Christ and his Apostles leave Political Government as they found them in the world The Gospel say Theol. Wit is a Doctrine of a Spiritual and Eternal Kingdom in the hearts of men neither doth it externally overthrow Political Regiment but rather establish and confirm it Therefore it follows that the Gospel permits all Natural and Legal Defence agreeing with the Civil Laws The Gospel takes not away Polity or Political Laws 4. No People could be so sottish as to set Governours over them to undo them For safety happiness or well-being is the End of Government It is a self-evident Principle No man is bound to think well or speak well or do well to his Oppressors but may throw off their Yoke as soon as be can And so may a whole Kingdom likewise Again This is another self-evident Principle and needs no proof Trust not him with thy Life Goods and Posterity who hath once endeavoured to ruin thee I am confident few men would lend such a man Ten pounds upon his word A man cannot make any doubt of it but that it is most agreeable to reason and the common Interest of those in Society that they should be true to their Compacts Out of what Author as an ingenious Scholar questions can they shew us a Nation that ever did allow the breach of solemn Compacts The lowest inanimate beings have a power and propensity to their own welfare a blind tendency and inclination to their own Security And such a noble being as man is must needs have it in a more sublime and eminent manner A noble Author of our own tells us in his Book of Truth That he for his part takes them for the Catholick Church that are constant and faithful to first Principles that common Notions are the bottom and foundation upon which the Church is built Excuse our diffidence here great Sir The Church is built upon a surer and higher Rock upon a more Adamantine and precious Foundation yet thus much is acceptable and undeniable That whoever they are that by any Practice or Custom or Tradition or Tenet shall stop the passage of first Principles and sound Reason that flows from them they are in this farther from the Church than Indians or Americans while they are not only Antichristian but Unnatural 5. If any should consent to such unreasonable Conditions their Posterity could not be bound by their mistakes The Precepts of the Law of Nature are so potent and triumphant as he speaks as that some Acts which rebel against it become not only unlawful but void as both Schoolmen and Lawyers observe they are not only Irregularities but meer Nullities Because man wants power to make such Laws God gives no man Authority to contradict the Law of Nature which is his own Law and Commands nothing but what is reasonable so that what contradicts this must be unreasonable He that lays violent hands upon himself for wickedness committed tho' commanded by the Magistrate saith Wendelin Philos Mor. b. 1. c. 28. wrongs himself by executing that Command because the Command of such a Magistrate is unjust and against Natural Divine right therefore Obedience performed to it must be unjust And verily if a Kingdom may not defend it self by Force of Arms when grievously oppressed then this Absurdity will follow that we our Liberties Wives Children and Religion may be destroyed when Tyrants and evil Rulers please And all the Remedy is Lord have mercy upon us and our Children But surely this is against common Sense and Reason as I have shewed and God and Nature hath not placed Mankind in such circumstances If this be so then we are in worse case than the Heathens and all other Humane Commonwealths as an Enemy of ours saith which both before and after Christ have had means to deliver themselves from such Tyrants as were intolerable and evidently pernicious to Humane Society and the good of the People for whose peace and preservation they were created by Men or ordained by God This wicked Doctrine may put