Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	authority_n	law_n	power_n	2,872	5	4.6226	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44583	Advice to a daughter as to religion, husband, house, family and children, behaviour and conversation, friendship, censure, vanity and affectation, pride, diversions : to which is added The character of a trimmer, as to the laws and government, Protestant religion, the papists, forreign affairs / by the late noble M. of H..; Lady's New-Year's gift	Halifax, George Savile, Marquis of, 1633-1695.; Coventry, William, Sir, 1628?-1686.	1699 (1699)	Wing H290; ESTC R9539	80,252	294

of France who in practice use their Laws pretty familiarly yet think their Picture is drawn with most advantage upon their Seals when they are placed in the Seat of Justice and tho' the Hicroglyphick is not there of so much use to the People as they would wish yet it shews that no Prince is so Great as not to think fit for his own Credit at least to give an outward when he refuses a real worship to the Laws They are to mankind that which the Sun is to Plants whilst it cherishes and preserves ' em Where they have their force are not clouded or supprest every thing smiles and flourishes but where they are darkened and not suffered to shine out it makes every thing to wither and decay They secure Men not only against one another but against themselves too they are a Sanctuary to which the Crown has occasion to resort as often as the People so that it is an Interest as well as a Duty to preserve them There would be no end of making a Panegyrick of Laws let it be enough to add that without Laws the World would become a Wilderness and Men little less than Beasts but with all this the best things may come to be the worst if they are not in good hands and if it be true that the wisest Men generally make the Laws it is as true that the strongest do often Interpret them and as Rivers belong as much to the Channel where they run as to the Spring from whence they first rise so the Laws depend as much upon the Pipes thro' which they are to pass as upon the Fountain from whence they flow The Authority of a King who is Head of the Law as well as the Dignity of Publick justice is debased when the clear stream of the Law is puddled and disturbed by Bunglers or convey'd by unclean Instruments to the People Our Trimmer would have them appear in their full lustre and would be grieved to see the day when instead of speaking with Authority from the Seats of Justice they should speak out of a Grate with a lamenting voice like Prisoners that desire to be rescu'd He wishes that the Bench may have a Natural as well as a Legal Superiority to the Bar he thinks Mens abilities very much misplac'd when the Reason of him that pleads is visibly too strong for those who Judge and give Sentence When those from the Bar seem to dictate to their Superiours upon the Bench their Furrs will look scurvily about them and the respect of the World will leave the bare Character of a Judge to follow the Essential knowledge of a Lawyer who may be greater in himself than the other can be with all his Trappings An uncontested Superiority in any Calling will have the better of any distinct Name that Authority can put upon it and therefore if ever such an unnatural Method should be introduc'd it is then that Westminster-Hall might be said to stand upon its Head and though Justice it self can never be so yet the Administration of it would be rendered Ridiculous A Judge has such power lodg'd in him that the King will never be thought to have chosen well where the voice of Mankind has not before-hand recommended the Man to his Station when Men are made Judges of what they do not understand the World censures such a Choice not out of ill-will to the Men but fear to themselves If the King had the sole power of chusing Physicians Men would tremble to see Bunglers preferred yet the necessity of taking Physick from a Doctor is generally not so great as that of recieving Justice from a Judge and yet the Inferences will be very severe in such cases for either it will be thought that such Men bought what they were not able to deserve or which is as bad that Obedience shall be lookd upon as a better Qualification in a Judge than Skill or Integrity when such sacred things as the Laws are not only touchd but guided by prophane hands Men will fear that out of the Tree of the Law from whence we expect Shade and Shelter such Workmen will make Cudgels to beat us with or rather that they will turn the Cannon upon our Properties that were intrusted with them for their Defence To see the Laws Mangled Disguised Speak quite another Language than their own to see them thrown from the Dignity of protecting Mankind to the disgraceful Office of destroying them and notwithstanding their Innocence in themselves to be made the worst Instruments that the most refined villany can make use of will raise Mens Anger above the power of laying it down again and tempt them to follow the Evil Examples given them of Judging without Hearing when so provoked by their desire of Revenge Our Trimmer therefore as he thinks the Laws are Jewels so he believes they are no better set than in the constitution of our English Government if rightly understood and carefully preserved It would be too great Partiality to say they are perfect or liable to no Objection such things are not of this world but if they have more Excellencies and fewer Faults than any other we know it is enough to recommend them to our Esteem The Dispute which is a greater Beauty a Monarchy or a Common-wealth has lasted long between their contending Lovers and they have behav'd themselves so like Lovers who in good Manners must be out of their Wits who used such Figures to exalt their own Idols on either side and such angry Aggravations to reproach one another in the Contest that moderate men have in all times smil'd upon this eagerness and thought it differ'd very little from a downright Frenzy we in England by a happy use of the Controversie conclude them both in the wrong and reject them from being our Pattern not taking the words in the utmost extent which is a thing that Monarchy leaves men no Liberty and a Common-wealth such a one as allows them no Quiet We think that a wise Mean between these barbarous Extreams is that which self-Preservation ought to dictate to our Wishes and we may say we have attained to this Mean in a greater measure than any Nation now in being or perhaps any we have read of tho never so much Celebrated for the wisdom or Felicity of their Constitutions We take from one the too great power of doing hurt and yet leave enough to govern and protect us we take from the other the Confusion the Parity the Animosities and the License and yet reserve a due care of such a Liberty as may consist with Mens Allegiance but it being hard if not impossible to be exactly even our Government has much the stronger Biass towards Monarchy which by the general Consent and Practice of Mankind seems to have the Advantage in dispute against a Commonwealth The Rules of a Commonwealth are too hard for the Bulk of Mankind to come up to that Form of Government requires such a

spirit to carry it on as dos not dwell in great Numbers but is restrained to so very few especially in this Age that let the Methods appear never so much reasonably in Paper they must fail in Practice which will ever be suited more to Mens Nature as it is than as it should be Monarchy is lik'd by the People for the Bells and the Tinsel the outward Pomp and Gilding and there must be milk for Babes since the greatest part of Mankind are and ever will be included in that List and it is approv'd by wise and thinking Men all Circumstances and Objections impartially considerd that it has so great an advantage above all other Forms when the Administration of that Power falls in good hands that all other Governments look out of Countenance when they are set in Competition with it Lycurgus might have sav'd himself the trouble of making laws if either he had been Immortal or that he could have secur'd to Posterity a succeeding Race of Princes like himself his own Example was a better Law than he could with all his skill tell how to make such a Prince is a Living Law that dictates to his subjects whose thoughts in that case never rise above their Obedience the Confidence they have in the vertue and Knowledge of the master preventing the Scruples and Apprehensions to which Men are naturally inclin'd in relation to those that govern them such a Magistrate is the Life and Soul of Justice whereas the Law is but a Body and a dead one too without his influence to give it warmth and vigour and by the irresistible Power of his vertue he do's so reconcile Dominion and Allegiance that all disputes between them are silenced and subdued and indeed no Monarchy can be Perfect and Absolute without exception but where the Prince is Superior by his Vertue as well as by his Character and his Power so that to screw out Presidents and unlimited Power is a plain diminution to a Prince that Nature has made Great and who had better make himself a glorious Example to Posterity than borrow an Authority from Dark Records raised out of the Grave which besides their Non-usage have always in them matter of Controversie and Debate and it may be affirmed that the instances are very rare of Princes having the worst in the dispute with their People if they were Eminent for Justice in time of Peace or Conduct in time of War such advantage the Crown giveth to those who adorn it by their own Personal vertues But since for the greater Honour of Good and Wise Princes and the better to set off their Character by the Comparison Heaven has decreed there must be a mixture and that such as are perverse and insufficient or at least both are perhaps to have their equal turns in the Government of the World and besides that the Will of Man is so various and so unbounded a thing and so fatal too when joined with Power misapply'd it is no wonder if those who are to be govern'd are unwilling to have so dangerous as well as so uncertain a Standard of their Obedience There must be therefore Rules and Laws for want of which or at least the Observation of them it was as Capital for a Man to say that Nero did not play well upon the Lute as to commit Treason or Blaspheme the Gods And even Vespasian himself had like to have lost his Life for sleeping whilst he should have attended and admir'd that Emperours Impertinence upon the Stage There is a wantonness in great Power that Men are generally too apt to be corrupted with and for that Reason a wise Prince to prevent the temptation arising from common frailty would choose to Govern by Rules for his own Sake as well as for his Peoples since it only secures him from Errors and does not lessen the real Authority that a good Magistrate would care to be possess'd of for if the Will of a Prince is contrary either to Reason it self or to the universal Opinion of his Subjects the Law by a kind restraint rescues him from a disease that would undo him if his will on the other side is reasonable or well directed that Will immediately becomes a Law and he is arbitrary by an easie and natural Consequence without taking pains or overturning the World for it If Princes consider Laws as things impos'd on them they have the appearance of Fetters of Iron but to such as would make them their choice as well as their practice they are Chains of Gold and in that respect are Ornaments as in others they are a defence to them and by a Comparison not improper for God's Vicegerents upon Earth as our Maker never Commands our obedience to any thing that as reasonable Creatures we ought not to make our own Election so a good and wise Governor tho' all Laws were abolish'd would by the voluntary direction of his own Reason do without restraint the very same things that they would have enjoyned Our Trimmer thinks that the King and Kingdom ought to be one Creature not to be separated in their Political Capacity and when either of them undertake to act a-part it is like the crawling of Worms after they are cut in pieces which cannot be a lasting motion the whole Creature not stirring at a time If the Body has a dead Palsie the Head cannot make it move and God hath not yet delegated such a healing power to Princes as that they can in a moment say to a Languishing People oppress'd and in despair take up your beds and walk The Figure of a King is so comprehensive and exalted a thing that it is a kind of degrading him to lodge that power separately in his own Natural Person which can never be safely or naturally great but where the People are so united to him as to be Flesh of his Flesh and Bone of his Bone for when he is reduc'd to the single definition of a man he sinks into so low a Character that it is a temptation upon Mens Allegiance and an impairing that veneration which is necessary to preserve their Duty to him whereas a Prince who is so joined to his people that they seem to be his Limbs rather than his Subjects Cloathed with Mercy and Justice rightly apply'd in their several ●laces his Throne supported by Love as ●ell as by Power and the warm wishes ●f his devoted Subjects like never-fail●●g Incense still ascending towards ●im looks so like the best Image we ●●n frame to our selves of God Al●ighty that Men would have much ado ●ot to fall down and worship him and ●ould be much more tempted to the ●in of Idolatry than to that of Disobe●ience Our Trimmer is of Opinion that ●here must be so much Dignity insepa●ably annexed to the Royal Function ●s may be sufficient to secure it from in●olence and contempt and there must ●e Condescensions from the Throne ●●ke kind showers from Heaven that ●he Prince may look so

a House they seldom give warning or blow a Trumpet but there are some small States-Men who are so full charg'd with their own Expectations that they cannot contain And kind Heaven by sending such a seasonable Curse upon their undertakings has made their ignorance an Antidote against their Malice some of these cannot treat peaceably yielding will not satisfy them they will have Men by storm there are others that must have Plots to make their Service more necessary and have an Interest to keep them alive since they are to live upon them and perswade the King to retrench his own Greatness so as to shrink into the head of a Party which is the betraying him into such an Unprincely mistake and to such a wilful diminution of himself that they are the last Enemies he ought to allow himself to forgive such Men if they could would prevail with the Sun to shine only upon them and their Friends and to leave all the rest of the World in the dark this is a very unusual Monopoly and may come within the Equity of the Law which makes it Treason to Imprison the King when such unfitting bounds are put to his Favour and he confin'd to the narrow limits of a particular set of Men that would inclose him these Honest and only Loyal Gentlemen if they may be allow'd to bear Witness for themselves make a King their Engine and degrade him into a property at the very time that their Flattery would make him believe they paid Divine Worship to him besides these there is a flying Squadron on both sides that are afraid the World should agree small dabblers in Conjuring that raise angry Apparitions to keep Men from being reconcil'd like Wasps that fly up and down buz and sting to keep Men unquiet but these Insects are commonly short-liv'd Creatures and no doubt in a little time Mankind will be rid of them they were Gyants at least who fought once against Heaven but for such Pigmies as these to contend against it is such a provoking Folly that the insolent Bunglers ought to be laught and hist out of the World for it they should consider there is a Soul in that great body of the People which may for a time be drowzy and unactive but when the Leviathan is rouz'd it moves like an angry Creature and will neither be convinc'd nor resisted the People can never agree to shew their united Powers till they are extremely tempted and provoked to it so that to apply Cupping-Glasses to a great Beast naturally dispos'd to sleep and to force the Tame thing whether it will or no to be Valiant must be learnt out of some other Book than Machiavil who would never have prescrib'd such a proposterous Method It is to be remembred that if Princes have Law and Authority on their sides the People on theirs may have Nature which is a formidable Adversary Duty Justice Religion nay even Humane Prudence too bids the People suffer any thing rather than resist but uncorrected Nature where e're it feels the smart will run to the nearest Remedy Mens Passions in this Case are to be consider'd as well as their Duty let it be never so strongly enforc'd for if their Passions are provok'd they being as much a part of us as our Limbs they lead Men into a short way of Arguing that admits no distinction and from the foundation of Self-Defence they will draw Inferences that will have miserable effects upon the quiet of a Government Our Trimmer therefore dreads a general discontent because he thinks it differs from a Rebellion only as a Spotted Fever does from the Plague the same Species under a lower degree of Malignity it works several ways sometimes like a slow Poyson that has its Effects at a great distance from the time it was given sometimes like dry Flax prepared to catch at the first Fire or like Seed in the Ground ready to sprout upon the first Shower in every shape 't is fatal and our Trimmer thinks no pains or precaution can be so great as to prevent it In short he thinks himself in the right grounding his Opinion upon that Truth which equally hates to be under the Oppressions of wrangling Sophistry of the one hand or the short dictates of mistaken Authority on the other Our Trimmer adores the Goddess Truth tho' in all Ages she has been scurvily used as well as those that Worshipped her 't is of late become such a ruining Virtue that Mankind seems to be agreed to commend and avoid it yet the want of Practice which Repeals the other Laws has no influence upon the Law of Truth because it has root in Heaven and an Intrinfick value in it self that can never be impaired she shews her Greatness in this that her Enemies even when they are successful are asham'd to own it nothing but Power full of Truth has the prerogative of Triumphing not only after Victories but in spite of them and to put Conquest her self out of Countenance she may be kept under and supprest but her Dignity still remains with her even when she is in Chains Falshood with all her Impudence has not enough to speak ill of her before her Face such Majesty she carries about her that her most prosperous Enemies are fain to whisper their Treason all the Power upon Earth can never extinguish her she has lived in all Ages and let the Mistaken Zeal of prevailing Authority Christen any opposition to it with what Name they please she makes it not only an ugly and unmannerly but a dangerous thing to persist she has lived very retired indeed nay sometime so buried that only some few of the discerning part of Mankind could have a Glimpse of her with all that she has Eternity in her she knows not how to dye and from the darkest Clouds that shade and cover her she breaks from time to time with Triumph for her Friends and Terrour to her Enemies Our Trimmer therefore inspired by this Divine Virtue thinks fit to conclude with these Assertions That our Climate is a Trimmer between that part of the World where men are Roasted and the other where they are Frozen That our Church is a Trimmer between the Phrenzy of Pratonick Visions and the Lethargick Ignorance of Popish Dreams That our Laws are Trimmers between the Excess of unbounded Power and the Extravagance of Liberty not enough restrained That true Virtue has ever been thought a Trimmer and to have its dwelling in the middle between the two Extreams That even God Almighty himself is divided between his two great Attributes his Mercy and his Justice In such Company our Trimmer is not asham'd of his Name and willingly leaves to the bold Champions of either Extream the Honour of contending with no less Adversaries than Nature Religion Liberty Prudence Humanity and Common Sense FINIS THE Lady's New-Year's-Gift OR ADVICE TO A DAUGHTER Dear Daughter I Find that even our most pleasing Thoughts will be unquiet they will