Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	king_n	kingdom_n	power_n	18,504	5	5.2095	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17315	A sermon preached at the generall assises in Warwicke, the third of March, being the first Friday in Lent. 1619. By Samuel Burton, Archdeacon of Gloucester. Seene and allowed by authoritie	Burton, Samuel, 1568 or 9-1634.	1620 (1620)	STC 4164; ESTC S107146	16,569	31

say of these great and eminent places in the Common-wealth Non est facile stare loco Dauidis It is not an easy matter to sit in one of Dauids thrones the bramble perhaps may thinke it a thing of nothing but the Fig-tree the Oliue and the Vine will bee afraid to venter on it And why Because they know what a burden and a charge belongs vnto it and what accounts depend vpon it For vnto whomsoeuer much is giuen of him shall much bee required saith our Sauiour God when he hath once aduanced men to places of honour and authority when hee hath taken them out of the dust and set them among Princes to inherit the seate of Glory as Hanna speaketh when hee hath made them Pillars of the earth and set the world vpon them he lookes that they should serue him more strictly then common and ordinary men he lookes for more exact obedience from them then any other There is no kind of benefit in the world but brings a kind of bondage with it And much more this the greatest of all earthly blessings And therefore of all men the Magistrate may best say Beneficium accepi libertatem amisi God hath aduanced me to this height hee hath made me a Ruler and a commander ouer others and therefor I haue lost a great deale of that liberty that is left to others Caesari cui omnia licent propter hoc ipsum multa non licent Euen Caesar himselfe because hee is aboue law because he may doe all things for this very cause may not doe many things saith the wise Seneca many things that other men may lawfully doe And as the respect of their high aduancement doth abridge their liberty so doth it agrauate their sinne For what was it else that made the sinne of Saul so haynous and vnpardonable in sparing Agag and the best things but only this circumstance of his aduancement For when thou wast little in thine owne eyes saith Samuel thou wast made the head of all the tribes of Israel And so Nathan to Dauid God hath annointed thee King ouer Israel and deliuered thee out of the hands of Saul and thou hast slaine Vriah the Hittite with the sword euen thou which wast so much bound vnto God for his loue vnto thee thou which wast taken from the Sheep-fold and from following the Ewes to be made King ouer Israel thou hast done this wickednesle Heare therefore O yee Kings and vnderstand learne yee that bee Iudges of the earth Your places are high and honourable your power is giuen you of the Lord. But if you that bee the Ministers of his Kingdome shall not iudge aright nor keepe the Law nor walke after the counsaile of God horribly and fearefully shall he come vpon you For a sharpe iudgement shall bee to them that are in high places mercy will soone pardon the meanest but mighty men shall be mightily tormented saith the Author of the booke of Wisedome Let no man therefore bee so idle to thinke that where the dignitie high calling of the Magistrate is treated of there is or can be any intent or meaning in the speaker to puffe vp his heart with the breath of vanity or that any wise Magistrate will suffer his heart to rise with it There is another end and purpose in it which is our instruction that we seing the height and excellency of his calling and being assured that it is of God might learne thereby what honour and duty and seruice we owe vnto him This is a point of duty which the dignity and high calling of the Magistrate doth plainely teach vs and as the times now are it is a point of duty then which there is nothing more needefull to be taught and learned That I may speake therefore briefly and distinctly of it As God requires at our hands not onely outward obedience in our deeds and actions but also that wee honour him with our words and that our hearts be vpright in his sight so the Magistrate that sits in Gods Seate and hath his authority in his hands may iustly challenge all these things from vs. The very height and excellency of his calling doth enforce them all For he is the Minister of God saith the Apostle therefore wee ought to obey him Hee is the Minister of God therefore wee ought not to reproch him or reuile him but to speake all good of him He is the Minister of God therefore we ought not to hate him or despise him but to carry a reuerent conceit and estimation of him 1. Now for the first of these You must vnderstand that when wee speake of obedience to humane Lawes we doe not meane obedience without exception but obedience vnder condition and limitation So long as the Magistrate commands nothing by his Lawes that is preiudiciall to our duety towards God so long we must obey But if he command vs to doe those things that are vnlawfull in that case in stead of obedience we bring subiection We must not be obedient then but euen then we must bee subiect In all other cases in matters that are apparently good in ciuill offices in affaires of the Common-wealth in matters of iustice and in all such things as are in their owne nature indifferent and those are such as are neither cōmanded nor forbidden in the Word of God we must not only be subiect but obedient also Giue vnto Caesar the things that are Caesars saith Christ. Submit your selues to all manner of ordinance saith Peter Let euery soule bee subiect to the higher powers saith Paul in the beginning of this Chapter And in the third to Titus Put them in remembrance that they be subiect to Principalities and Powers and that they be obedient to euery good worke So then wee must bee subiect simply and without exception obedient only in those things that are good Good for our selues good for the Church or good for the Common-wealth wherein we liue And we must not our selues bee Iudges what is good but submit our owne iudgement to the iudgement of our Gouernours except we find that the things commanded bee plainly and directly forbidden in the Word in which case wee must bee subiect still though not obedient This was you see the Doctrine of Christ this was the Doctrine of Peter and Paul no other Doctrine taught or thought of in the Christian world for sixe hundred yeares after Christ as may appeare not onely by the Books and Writings of all the Fathers of those seuerall ages but specially by the practice and example of all those noble and renowned Martyrs which liued in the very heate of the Furnace in those long and bloudie times contayning the succession of ten seuerall Persecutions vnder the most cruell Heathen Emperours Against whom they neuer offered to make head neuer went about to practise treason neuer attempted to take vp armes notwithstanding that they were as Tertullian witnesseth both more in number and greater in strength then any other Nation or

libertie that other men haue to open or shut his hand as he sees cause to lead him But to preserue thee in thy right to maintayne thee in thine owne to defend thee from wrong and iniurie this is a dutie which the Magistrate doth owe vnto thee a dutie which hee may not denie thee a dutie vnto which the supreme Magistrate at the time of his Coronation and all that bee vnder him at the time of their admission vnto their places bee directly sworne a dutie for which God hath ordayned him a dutie which the nature of his place exacteth of him And therefore this must needs be the good which the Apostle meaneth in this place Now though it bee true that the Magistrate doth owe this dutie to all alike and must giue euery man his owne without respect of persons yet his care ought to bee greatest for them which are most subiect to oppression and by reason of their disabilitie to defend themselues lie open to wrong and iniurie For as for the great and mightie men here on earth the Magistrate needs not to bee so carefull for them God blesse them all and send them his grace to doe right for they will take no wrong They are able to bring all the learned councell to the Barre at an Assises They haue Kinred and Alliance in euery corner they haue witnesses ready at hand to pleasure them with an oath and Iurors at command sure Cards which though they know not how to pray for them know how to fast for them if need be These bee the helps which the great Ones of the world doe fetch out of Aegypt as the Prophet speaks which makes them altogether carelesse of taking wrong from their inferiours and I would to God it did not make them as carelesse of doing wrong vnto them For still they depopulate still they racke still they oppresse and grinde the faces of the poore Not a Cottage not a Schoole not a Colledge not an Hospitall can escape their hands And as for the Church they make no manner of reckoning what they doe vnto it All other Robberies are done out of sight but Sacriledge is committed at noone-day amongst vs in the sight and view of the whole world Now the eternall God professeth that hee hath a controuersie with these Nimrods and mightie Hunters which like vnto the Oakes of the Forrest crie out for more roome and will suffer nothing to grow vp vnder them which lay the foundation of their houses in bloud and build them vp with crueltie and fill them with the spoile of the poore and of the widdow making no difference of right or wrong or conscience of any thing I say the Lord hath a controuersie and as it were a suite of law against these kind of men and you that be Magistrates and men of power and authoritie are delegates and arbitrators and committies on Gods part And therefore as in such cases which come before you wherein the King is made a partie you are alwayes earnest and vehement as you ought to be in the Kings behalfe and will not suffer any man to pleade or speake against him so in these causes wherein it pleaseth God to make himselfe a partie if you see either the poore Tenant or the poore Minister or the poore Commoner or the poore Widow to be opprest if you find their causes to bee iust and honest you ought not to be lukewarme but hot and earnest in them and to interpose your authoritie against the mightie and not to suffer those learned Counsailors that plead before you to bestow their eloquence in defence of wrongs Non hos concessum munus in vsus a gift that was neuer bestowed vpon them to that end but to put them in mind of that speech of the Apostle Omnia possumus pro veritate contra veritatem nihil possumus that so they may auoid that fearefull Wo which God by the mouth of the Prophet Esay hath denounced against all them that call euill good or good euill This if you doe your reward shall bee sure in the hands of God and your persons shall bee reuerent and honourable in the sight of men For there is nothing in the world that procures a better opinion and winnes more honour and loue to the Magistrate then the defence and protection of the poore But if you shall neglect this dutie which God forbid remember what Mordecay said to Hester If thou hold thy peace comfort and deliuerance shall appeare to the Iewes out of another place but thou and thy house shall perish So if you that be Magistrates shall hold your peace when you see wrong and oppression God will send comfort and deliuerance from some other place and by some other meanes And so wee see hee doth For looke vpon the poore Townships that haue beene depopulated In whose hands are they now I can name you fortie for a need within a great deale lesse then twentie miles of this place whereof there is not one at this day that is in the possession of him or any of his name or bloud that did depopulate it But as they haue rooted poore men out of their dwellings so God hath rooted them out of theirs And so in euery other kind wee see a curse still following goods ill got and that commonly the third Heire neuer enioyes them But this is nothing to the Magistrate if he winke at wrong if the seate of iustice that should bee a Sanctuarie to the oppressed doe yeeld no comfort if the crie of the poore and teares of the widow be constrayned to forsake the earth and to present themselues before the Throne of God in heauen when the matter is come to this passe that all men may iustly say Now O Lord it is time for thee to lay to thine hand when the weake and needy are constrayned to crie Helpe Lord for there is no helpe in man when God is enforced to take the cause of the poore into his owne hands then comfort comes from another place and then you know what followes in the speech of Mordecay Giue mee leaue therefore to shut vp this point with the same exhortation which the Prophet Esay vsed to the Magistrates of Iudah and Ierusalem Releeue the oppressed iudge the fatherlesse plead for the widow that so these prouerbs Might ouercomes Right and As a man is friended so his cause is ended and the like may be vtterly forgotten and remembred no more amongst vs. 2. The next point of the Magistrates office is to punish malefactors and euill doers Whereunto you must not looke that wee should exhort them as wee did vnto the former as earnestly to execute wrath vpon the wicked as to protect the iust and innocent The Bishops in the primitiue Church had consuetudinem intercedendi pro reis a custome to begge Prisoners and to entreat their pardon of the Magistrate which being called in question is mightily defended by Saint Austin in an Epistle to Macedonius I will