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
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

and Argument But this is not our Case I will state the Case Suppose a whole Nation Christian and the true Religion fixed by Law so that it is our Birthright and Property as it were and we have a Legal and Civil Right or Human Right as well as a Divine to our Religion and yet this is evidently Invaded by Evil Councellors about the King and he is drawn to destroy Religion If this Gentleman can shew any Primitive Christian or ancient Father and Doctor of the Church who saith in this Case it is not Lawful to Defend our Religion Laws Liberties and Properties I yield the Cause Otherwise we grant all his Examples and Instances as nothing to our purpose They shew indeed the Peaceableness Meekness Humility Patience and Faith of those Primitive Christians their Zeal and Affection for the Happiness of the Empire and their Submission to the Government Laws and Usages of their Country and to their Superiours in their most rigorous Execution of them to the destruction of them and their Religion which is called the Abuse of Power and Legal Tyranny in which case we also own Passive Obedience Secondly I differ from this Gent. about Conquest He would have King William a Conqueror tho' He claims not by it And so tho he was none of them that did or durst have resisted or rebelled against King James yet after his Desertion he forsook him P. 13. Answ If the Prince of Orange had designed an Invasion and Conquest as this Gent. calls it both he and we had been bound in Conscience to Oppose him because there is a Loyalty to our Country as well as to our King And Invasion and Conquest are dismal things as well as shameful But blessed be God He came not as the Enemy of our Country but as our Friend as our Joshua our Saviour to deliver us from Popery and Slavery He ventured his Life to save us from Oppression not to Conquer us Besides if he conquered King James and this Gentleman He did not Conquer those that joyned with him which were by far the greatest part of the Nation I am sure in our County multitudes Subscribed the Association to stand by the Cause with their Lives and Fortunes not to Enslave themselves by Conquest And then it followed That they humbly desired the Prince of Orange to take the Government upon him and Circular Letters were issued out for a Convention and that Convention or Parliament Elected him King and the Princess Queen and He accepted it as a Trust and all Government is a Trust and founded in Covenant as I have elsewhere proved and then we honoured Him and prayed for Him as our King According to those Exhortations in Scripture which order us to Fear God and the King Prov. 24.21 to be subject to the higher Powers which are of God Rom. 13.1 and to pray for Kings and all in Authority that under them we may lead a peaceable and quiet life in all Godliness and honesty 1 Tim. 2.1 2. All which are as much now due to Their present Majesties as to any that ever sat on the Throne It is true by His Affection to our Nation and Zeal for our Religion and Liberties he conquered our Hearts and will for ever reign there and He merits our Lives and Fortunes but it is not for the Honour of our Nation to say He Conquered us And indeed 14000 Men cannot subdue England by force which is properly Conquest We received him as sent from God with hearts full of joy and with chearful countenances And were it not for that Doctrine of Passive Obedience in its vast extent with which many devout Christians and many Learned Pious and great Bishops and Doctors through prejudice were possessed I will not say infected the whole Nation had sounded with Songs of Triumph and our Churches and Pulpits with Praises and Hallelujahs as if we had had Heaven upon Earth So great was the Mercy of our God in delivering us and our Posterity from Popish Ignorance Error Superstition and Idolatry and restoring our Laws and Liberties For my own part I was transported with joy and I care not if all the world saith as some said in Hosea his time c. 9. v. 7. The Prophet is a Fool the spiritual Man is Mad. But surely in truth and reason they are Fools and Madmen that reject so great Deliverance and Salvation out of fondness to a silly Opinion There need no Eloquence if I could use it our great Fears and imminent Dangers are Oratory sufficient Popish Judges Popish Officers in the Army Popish Priests and Jesuits at Court Popish Heads of Colleges in the University Popish Justices of the Peace Mayors c. with the Dispensing Power might well affright us And tho' we perhaps might have spun out a slavish life without great Persecution yet our Children could expect nothing but French Dragoons and Torture or voluntary Exile if not the Marian days of Fire and Faggot But as for those who plead Conquest for the King they know not what they do in making this Plea as a Learned Man speaks For if there were no other right neither Precedent nor consequent but meerly because such an one was stronger and got it and so holds it now then whosoever is strongest at any time he hath right and if a stronger than he comes he shall have right This is no good Divinity nor Policy to Plead thus That which subjects my Conscience to such an one is Submission upon some Compact Covenant or Agreement Besides this sort of Men by flattering Monarchs and deluding the People with crying out The King the King have wholly forgotten the very Heathens Lesson It is sweet and comely to Die for our Country that is our Laws Liberty Property c. I must confess Conquest makes way for Subjection as it did in Caesar over the Jews but I hope no man will say this is our case nor do they do their King or Country any Service who put the Controversie upon this Issue Thirdly I must consider what this Gentleman saith about God's Providence in disposing Kingdoms And here I must needs say that he is honest in the main but he hath not read and digested Divinity enough to handle this subject and therefore he is very confused And I will not arrogate so much to my self as to say I have sounded this depth which hath cost me some years study and yet I must admire for I am ignorant or unsatisfied about many things concerning God's Providence I will not at this time ingage in the Controversie between the Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants God's Providence and Man's free acting are not inconsistent that is certain How they concur is most mysterious and the Highest Point in School-Divinity And I may safely say that it is above my strength to cut asunder or my wit to untie this knot But it is mine and every mans Duty to do God's Will and submit to his Pleasure who doth whatsoever pleaseth him in

defect even so theirs if they be so framed according to that which the Law of reason teacheth Secondly Those Laws are investigable by Reason without help of Revelation supernatural and divine Finally in such sort they are investigable that the knowledge of them is general The World hath always been acquainted with them It is not agreed upon by one or two or a few but by all Which we may not so understand as if every particular man in the whole world did know and confess whatsoever the Law of Reason doth contain but this Law is such that being proposed no man can reject it as unreasonable and unjust Again there is nothing in it but any man having natural Perfection of Wit and ripeness of Judgment may by Labour and Travel find out And to conclude the general Principles thereof are such as it is not easie to find men ignorant of them Now the Primary right of Nature so called cannot be changed because it is written in the hearts of men as S. Paul testifies Hence it cannot be blotted out unless Nature be blotted out and Reason cease to be Reason No Pope saith a witty Author nor Prince nor Parliament nor People nor Angel nor Creature can absolve you from it This Law Tully doth not put on one Aspect at Rome and another face at Athens but looks upon all Nations and Persons with an impartial eye It shines upon all Ages and Times and Conditions with perpetual Light It is yesterday and to day the same for ever There is but one Lawgiver one Lord and Supream Judge of this Law God blessed for evermore Natural Right is that which a man knows and can execute without peculiar Institution And the Primary Right of Nature is that which to know and execute a man is carried by an in-bred impeius or motion whose Precepts are as it were born with us As for Example In natural Theology God is to be worshipped He will reward the good and punish the wicked In Oeconomicks our Parents are to be honoured In Politicks Defend thy self against force Hence are drawn these Conclusions First No man ought to hurt us when we are Innocent Secondly If any man indeavours to hurt us when we are innocent we may defend our selves Thirdly Neither God nor Man gives Authority to Governours to hurt the Innocent Fourthly If Governours hurt the Innocent they may defend themselves by the Law of Nature So that Rom. 13. is to be understood of Authority Power or Jurisdiction in it self according to the first Institution as also when it is lawfully laid upon any person For otherwise when it is either wrongfully taken or unjustly used it may be resisted in divers cases for then it is not Lawful Authority May Papists take up Arms with Royal Countenance and Privilege and Prerogative against Law and to destroy Law And may not Protestants take up Arms to defend their Laws Surely he must needs be full of Prejudice very malicious or very weak in his Judgment who cannot see the unreasonableness of the one and the reasonableness of the other All Nations in all Ages by the very Light of Nature have constantly defended themselves by force of Arms when their Princes have turned Tyrants and by their Instruments sought to spoil them of their Liberties Privileges and Estates What Nation ever denied Defensive Arms against the unjust Incroachments Invasions and Oppressions of their Princes to be Lawful In England the Barons Prelates and Commons took a Solemn Oath to maintain their Laws Liberties and Charter yea and to wage War against the King if he refused and to compel him to confirm their Charter in the year 1214. Likwise in King Henry the Third's days in the year 1258 and they threatned Death to all that resisted Again in the reign of King Edward the Second they confederated to live and die together for Justice and to their Power to destroy the Traitors of the Realm especially the two Spencer's All the Reformed Churches have taken Arms to defend themselves The Lutheran Churches against the Emperor Charles 5th and they were justified by Luther Melancthon and other Divines The Protestants in France defended themselves against the French King 1559. The Netherland Provinces against the Duke of Alva and the Spanish Tyranny And Queen Elizabeth King James the First and King Charles the First did countenance and aid all these Which any well minded man ought to presume they would not have done so constantly and deliberately if they had thought Defensive Arms had not been Lawful And Dr. Bilson who was a zealous Defender of our Church and Realm both against the Papists and against the Puritans in his Book of The True Difference between Christian Subjection and Vnchristian Rebellion Perused and allowed by Publick Authority P. 3. Page with me 279. saith I will not rashly pronounce all that resist to be Rebels The Case may fall out even in a Christian Kingdom where the People may plead their right against the Prince and not be charged with Rebellion If the Prince should go about to subject his Kingdom to a Foreign Realm or change the Form of the Commonwealth from Impery to Tyranny or neglect the Laws established by common consent of Prince and People to execute his own pleasure In these and other Cases which might be named if the Nobles and Commons joyn together to defend their ancient and accustomed Liberty Regiment and Laws they may not well be counted Rebels Fifthly The Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Non-resistance is the high way to bring in Popery and Arbitrary Power For if the King is a Papist and Zealous for the Propagation of his Religion the Jesuites who account Protestants damned Hereticks will never cease to stir up such a Prince to promote his own Principles and to discountenance those that resolutely adhere to the established Religion And what will Prayers and Tears signifie to such a Prince when his Prejudice or his erroneous Conscience or his Priests or his Desire of being Absolute or some such like Affections furiously carry him to promote the Catholick Cause as they call it Yea this Perswasion may tempt a just Prince other ways for all Kings have Flatterers to forget his Faith and Promise and to take such courses as will in the event ruin and subvert his Crown and Dignity I wish Experience did not confirm this Now to say We may and ought to deny Obedience to such Commands of the Prince as are unlawful by the Law of God as all grant yea by the established Laws of the Kingdom as few will deny This doth no way destroy Arbitrary Government but rather erect it Saith a Learned Author For Government is not said to be not Arbitrary because the Subjects may deny in word and so left to suffer For then the Turkish Government is not Arbitrary for when the Great Turk Commands his Subjects to do any thing if they will deny and suffer for their denial they may and do sometimes deny their Obedience If

I shall shew that it was just to depose Nebuchadnezzar To this purpose we must consider 1. That all Government is a Trust 2. That all Government is for the safety and good of the Community 3. That there may be such crimes as may forfeit the Crown and Throne and reduce all to first Principles 1. We must consider that all Government is a Trust The Dominion of one man over another is by consent and is founded in Covenant All men are free by the Law of Nature to chuse what kind of Government they think most convenient And the Positive Law of God hath left this to their Election The Nomination of the person and the Limitation of the power is originally and radically in the Community Hence some Nations have Lords Dukes c. their supream Governours Some Nations have Kings by Election every Reign Others have Succession in one Family Some have Queens to rule over them others will not allow Women to reign Some are absolute Monarchs others are limited Some have Aristocratical others Democratical Government And almost all Nations vary in these Circumstances It is true Authority is from God There is no Power but of God saith St. Paul Rom. 13.1 And By me Kings reign and Princes decree Justice saith God by Solomon Prov. 8.15 But tho' the Donation of the Power is of God yet the Designation of the Person and the Limitation of the Power how much or how little or in what manner Mankind must be ruled and give Obedience and owe Submission is wholly by Positive Law and Agreement at the first Constitution or afterwards Thus we read 2 Sam. 5.3 All the Elders of Israel came to the King to Hebron and King David made a League with them in Hebron before the Lord and they anointed David King over Israel Here was an Assembly or Parliament who chose David King and covenanted with him God and Man are not opposite but subordinate in this case That which is of God saith a learned Divine may be of Man also For the second cause doth not exclude the first or contrarily Because the fruits and increase of the Earth are obtained by the care and labour of Man therefore are they not given of God So that as the Prophets and Apostles in old time were called immediately by God not by Men but other Pastors and Bishops of the Church being not immediately called by God but by men yet cease not to have their Vocation from God Because God ceaseth not to do what he doth by means As God designed Timothy Bishop not immediately as Paul but by the Imposition of the hands of Paul and the Presbytery So God in old time by an immediate call set Magistrates and some Kings upon the Throne as Moses Joshua the Judges David Jehu c. But he gave Power and doth not cease to give Power to others as to the seventy Elders by Man's counsel and means and that according to the Laws and received Customs of the People either by Election and the consent of the Senate as now the Roman Empire or by the Suffrages of the People as Consuls Governours of Cities either meerly or mixtly Democratical or by the will of the Souldiers as the old Empire of Rome or finally by Hereditary Succession as the Kings of France of Spain and of Great Britain c. and the Princes of the Empire For there is no Power but of God And certainly the Authority of one or a few in humane Consideration would not suffice to govern and contain so many in Duty and many times very cruel and evil Men unless there were something of the hand of God in it Therefore God himself is the proper and first Cause of Magistracy tho' Men are the next Cause The Prince is bound saith no mean Divine to look to the safety and welfare of the Kingdom as is agreed by all And therefore he is bound to it because he receives this Power originally I speak not in opposition to God but I say originally from the People themselves as appears by the Government of Judah and the Kings of Israel For Judg. 8.22 The men of Israel came to Gideon to make him their King It is true Gideon refused this offer saith Mr. Rogers in his Commentary with great resolution and wisdom telling them that the Lord should rule over them v. 23. His meaning was that the Order that God had set of Governing by such as had no continued Government should stand and not be perverted by or for him or his but contrarily to his Power he would hinder it And God reigned indeed in the Commonwealth of Israel which flourished in Gideon's time wherein the Elders were chosen by common consent some Ecclesiastical to give the meaning of the Law and others Civil and Temporal as men call it to rule the people thereby c. And if any War fell out the Lord himself stirred up Guides and Judges and they were not chosen I suppose he means only or in a usual course by Men as appears c. 1. v. 1. neither did their Children succeed them And thus the Lord both in Peace and War ruled over them and so Gideon meant that the Office of a Judge was no ordinary Magistracy such as the King is but a Temporary and Occasional much like to the Dictatorship of the Romans in respect of the use whereto it served tho' otherwise of divine Election immediately not by Men. And Judg. 9.6 They gathered together and made Abimelech their King And Judg. 11.8 9 10 11. the people covenanted with Jephtha and made him their King And as for Saul tho' he was designed by God for the Kingdom yet the people themselves chose the kind of their Government first when they said Give us a King to rule over us after the manner of the Nations After that God had anointed Saul it is said 1 Sam. 11.15 And all the people went to Gilgal and there they made Saul King before the Lord in Gilgal And as for David tho' he was anointed King by Samuel yet we find that he continued subject unto Saul after that And 2 Sam. 2. He came to Hebron thither the men of Judah came and there they anointed David King over the House of Judah v. 4. After that he was thus anointed by Judah to be King over them yet he did not rule over Israel till the other Tribes also went out and made him King over them 1 Chro. 12.38 It is said That all these men of war came with a perfect heart to Hebron to make David King over all Israel And as for Solomon tho' he was designed by God to the Kingdom yet it is said of him also 1 Chro. 29.22 That all the Congregation did eat and drink before the Lord and they made Solomon the Son of David King the second time and anointed him to the Lord to be Chief Governour Solomon being dead 2 Chro. 10.1 it is said of Rehoboam that he went to Shechem where all Israel