Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	judge_n	king_n	power_n	3,562	5	5.1146	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61334	An apology for the laws ecclesiastical established that command our publick exercise in religion and a serious enquiry whether penalties be reasonably determined against recusancy / by William Starkey ...	Starkey, William, 1620 or 21-1684.	1675 (1675)	Wing S5293; ESTC R34597	99,432	218

to be his Law when every man from the pride of his heart and ambition of Precedence is inclined pertinaciously to adhere and unyieldingly to maintain his mis-led Perswasion and is prone by all means to bring others to submit unto him If none were appointed whose wisdom were not to be doubted nor goodness nor justice suspected nor Authority to be opposed or gainsayed by whose determination judgment and order the People were to abide by what could follow from Contrariety of Perswasions but divisions what could succeed but a dissolution of that Peace and Unity which is the sure wall of defence to support and maintain the whole superstructure of additional Comforts which are necessary for the welfare of the whole Society what can be expected but rending into several Parties and Factions and there must unluckily succeed a disorderly Chaos and confusion and every evil work Rulers then must of necessity be appointed to prevent Controversie and settle Peace And as Judges and Rulers must be appointed over every Society for Peace sake so must such also be appointed for Righteousness sake Distributive Justice is the glory exaltation the stay the preservation of any Nation Now distributive Justice is to render to every man according to the merit of his Work that he that doth well might have encouragement by due Reward and he that doth ill might be discouraged by proportionable Punishments That there be a right Sentence and care of a due Execution Now if no third Person or Order of men unconcerned were agreed upon and constituted as supream Judges to determine the merit and quality of Private mens Actions and the measure of Rewards and Punishments that did in equity belong to them We see how every man for himself if he hath done well is ready to overvalue his Merit and extend the measure of Reward to himself beyond a due proportion and if he hath done ill to extenuate if not excuse his own Irregularity and to mitigate if not exempt his Punishment And for his Neighbour every man is ready to extenuate his Merit and lessen his Reward to heighten his Crime and aggravate his Punishment So 't is very improbable either for himself or others that according to distributive Justice men should pass a right Sentence or due Execution This being clear to every mans Reason That a parity is not to be allowed but Rulers and Judges must be appointed over every Society as well to preserve Peace as to maintain Righteousness And to the conviction of this Truth by their practice all Nations that have associated have subscribed and have declared their Assent to the conveniency and necessity of it by the management of their Concerns And Generalis consuetudo declarat institutum Naturae For never any City or People associated but constituted their Governours and some as Supream nor sent abroad an Army but appointed their General The thriving Aristocracy of the Romans were never in any notable streight but Trepidi ad Dictatorem confugiunt as their chief Remedy and Security And never was there any tumultuous Rabble of seditious Persons united upon wicked designs that could in reason suppose they could subsist in carrying on their wicked undertakings in acting for a lawless Liberty or Licentiousness but they alway appointed a Captain or Leader to whose Command and Conduct they did alwaies submit when they had made Choice of him to be Supream in any Enterprize that they desired to be successful and owned him to be so To Conclude this point then let it stand as unquestionable That every man that loves his Life desires it may be Comfortable and seeks his preservation and welfare And a Comfortable life to prevent evil and promote good is to be maintained by Society which cannot be compassed by singularity or separation Neither could I ever read or hear that ever any Society did in reason think or conclude to subsist and pass a quiet and comfortable Life without the appointment of Governours among them Thus by light of Reason and her Dictates by Nature and her Laws it is manifest that the appointing of Governours over every Society is both necessary and convenient and this will be more fully cleared and illustrated when we consider it is approved by the Revealed Will of God Moses was a King over Israel and a Judge deputed by God by whom Kings did reign and Princes did decree justice And where no Governours were there the People did fall into confusion as Israel did at that time when they had no King but every man did what was right in his own eyes And in the last dispensation Caesars Authority was owned by Christ and Tribute paid to him And so Pontius Pilate Power was given him from above They might abuse their Power but their Authority was of God And in St. Pauls time Magistracy was Gods Ordinance Powers were appointed of God Rulers were Ministers of God set over the People for good Prayers were to be made unto God for them and account was to be given unto God by them And Humane Ordinances were to be submitted unto for the Lords sake And this yet more evident from the Spirit of Christ which was to be with his Church to the end of the World when it was and is the declared Sentence and Faith of all particular Churches that Governours are appointed by God And now how can we but stand amazed at the impudence of some perverse Spirits ungoverned unnatural Tempers that are to be found in the midst of this crooked generation such as neither will Lead nor Drive neither Command nor Obey but make it their business to despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignity That dare speak and think that Superiority in any man is unnatural hellish Antichristian That Rule and Government is but the unlucky issue of Pride Arrogance and Ambition assumed by Vsurpation When from the premisses it must be concluded as Natural and the Ordinance of God Certainly it is but just and reasonable that such men should suffer the punishments of their own Choice and be taught to see the madness of their own delusions by abjuring the Realm and banished from partaking the Priviledges of a well-governed Society Sure a City is not so fit for such Persons as a Prison or a Wilderness who have espoused such wild unnatural principles that are not owned by the Beasts that perish And it is yet more strange that any such Tempers should be found in our Nation where it is most apparent that our Governours are appointed and approved by God especially SECT IV. Our Governours appointed and allowed by God especially 4. A Midst our Governours we have one Supream Chief and Head over all And this Supremacy and Headship rightly belongs to him by his legitimate Heirship and succession being descended from a long series of Royal Ancestors that had this Power successively committed unto them Minori discrimine Princeps sumitur quam queritur And when we seriously consider the Conspiracies Tumults Factions Divisions experimentally

known who watch for their own private gain more than publick good let such modestly be desired either to lay down their Honour or take up their Office For its evident by Reason and Scripture That it is every good Rulers duty not only to hinder the Evil but to promote the Publick welfare of the Society over which he is placed SECT II. To promote Publick good Governours must take care to establish Laws OF necessity there must be Laws constituted about every Company of Man that are knit into one Body for if not restrained and limited many Persons that have more Sence than Reason would wildly break out into exorbitant excursions and mislead others extravagantly into dangerous Irregularities A City had better be without Walls than Laws its safety depends more upon the latter than the former For without Laws Men would be like Beasts the strongest would devour the weakest and savagely tear and devour one another without controul The Sword would be the Rule of Justice and the strongest Arm would have the best Cause Men would regard Power more than Right So that Law in a Society is like a Soul in a Body without which the Body is corrupted and dissolved immediately And as Laws must be of necessity to uphold the being so must they be to preserve the welfare of any Society For they afford direction and guidance for humane actions And as good take the Sun out of the Firmament as Laws out of a Nation without which as in a perpetual Night men would stumble if not fall and dash continually one upon another and offensively Another hath it Laws are as Eyes to the Commonwealth that give beauty to the Face and direction to the whole Body But to set forth the usefulness of Laws sure I cannot do it better than to compare them to Nerves and Sinews ligaments of the Body politick not only to compact and knit the several Joynts into one Body but to convey life and spirits unto every part as is convenient that they may all agree in the same regular motion as they are adapted and every part may move for the safety and welfare of the whole Neither being nor welfare of a Society can be preserved without Laws But Who are to make and appoint Laws There 's the Question He that ordered Kings to Reign hath ordained Princes to decree Justice The first duty and work in Magistrates is to ordain and constitute Laws This is the Rulers Province It was rightly determined by the Schoolmen Non cujuslibet Ratio facere potuit Legem Every man is not wise enough to make a Law And if he had a Head to contrive yet he hath no Authority to establish And there is no reason to think That any publick Law should be of a Private mans constitution For every man of the same Condition may challenge the same Liberty So that there being contrary Judgments and determinations there might be contrary Laws and so there would follow contrary Actions inevitable distraction and opposition which will not only destroy the welfare but the being of the Society For private Persons to make Rules and Laws for their own private Actions who can hinder them But our gracious God hath appointed Governours as his Deputies by a wise Providence to direct and order the publick Actions of men for the publick good of the Society in which they are interessed As God the World and Christ his Church so are good Governours to Rule over their People by constituting just Laws that promote their Happiness SECT III. LAWS must be established and the nature of a Law is that it doth oblige ad id quod rectum It is the first thing required to the Constitution of a Law by the Schoolmen Rectitudo Right A tendency to the End A Law a Canon a Rule is a notified boundary to confine and limit mens Actions that they may not be loose and extravagant but they may be directed in a streight Line or tendency to the prize aimed at viz. The Comfort and Content of the Society to which such Laws are composed and published The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is oft used by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Graecian Churches and oft he alludes to their Agonistical concertations in their Istmian Games especially that of Running And beside the Barriers from whence the Coursers started or Ieaped and the Prize or Crown to which they tended they had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a white Line which marked out the Path bounded the Race and whatever the heat or activity of the Racers ran they never so swiftly or vigorously if they transgressed or ran over the Line this was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 1.5 to strive Legally and consequentially they lost the prize A Christians Conversation amidst Believers is a Race from the first exertion of Reason whereby he leaps into Society He stretches forth and aims at an incorruptible Crown that God holds forth unto him Whatever the Christians heat or agility is if he will so run as he may obtain he must observe that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Rule that is given him and not transgress those limits that are prescribed him All aberration all extravagancy must be declined he must keep close exactly to the line and limits prescribed that he may move in a direct tendency to the End proposed Now Rulers and Governours are to intend the publick good and welfare of the Society To compass this they Establish Laws and these Laws are directive Rules of humane Actions tending ad bonum publicum They are to think and consider and if Reason rightly deliberates she will conclude and determine only of such things as are true honest just pure lovely of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise they will think and determine only of such things Injust then and dishonest Commands cannot be called rightly Laws because they tend to the hurt not the good of the Publick For Rulers to Command without controul and to set no bounds to their lawless Will and inconsiderately to enjoyn what is unjust illegal and what tends not to good is the Vice of Superiority and Power not the vertue of Ruling by a Law For nothing can be called a Law but must oblige to what is Just and tend to a good End The End must be Peace the Means must be Righteousness for the effect of Righteousness is Peace And where Glory dwells in a Land Mercy and Truth meet together Righteousness and Peace kiss each other And as such Commands cannot be called Laws if injust so when imposed they are not binding nor obliging It was not more stout and valiant than reareasonable and honest that pious Apology made by the Father for the poor persecuted Christians to the Emperour who commanded them irreligiously to sacrifice to Idols Da veniam Imperator c. major est c. Give pardon Oh Emperour we cannot obey thy Commands in this thing for he that is greater