Selected quad for the lemma: parliament_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
parliament_n	act_n	law_n	royal_a	3,099	5	7.8289	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53100	The common interest of king and people shewing the original, antiquity and excellency of monarchy, compared with aristocracy and democracy, and particularly of our English monarchy, and that absolute, papal and Presbyterian popular supremacy are utterly inconsistent with prerogative, property and liberty / by John Nalson.	Nalson, John, 1638?-1686.	1677 (1677)	Wing N92; ESTC R10092	110,919	290

Superior nor owes either Tribute or Homage to any other besides the Almighty Sovereign the Supreme Majesty of Heaven and Earth from whom as the King receives it so to him only is he accountable for the managery and administration of it The King is the sole Fountain of all Honour The greatness of his Power according to Laws and the Foundation of all Law nay the very Soul and Life of it for by his Royal word he gives it a Being and by his * Le Roy le veult Affirmative breath that which before was a dead and inanimate Bill becomes a living and an Active Law And in like manner by his powerful negative or ‖ Le Roy s' avisera suspending his consent any intended Sanction becomes abortive and never sees the Sun And as it is both his and his Peoples happiness that his Will is not his Law but that his Law is his Will so it is but highly reasonable that he should have the liberty and freedom of the choice of those Laws by which he obliges himself to Rule and Govern In him is the sole Power of the Sword the Power of making Peace and War and in order thereunto of raising Forces granting Commissions both for Land and Sea In him is the sole Power of Calling Adjourning Proroguing and dissolving Parliaments when and where he judges it most expedient In his power it is to remit the severities of the Penal Laws whereby he may manifest his goodness and clemency as well as his greatness and justice by graciously pardoning both the smaller breaches of his Laws and the more capital offences which he might most justly punish From him all metals receive their Impress and according to the Standard he puts upon them they become valuable and currant Coin From him all places of high Trust derive their Authority by his Commission they Act and put his Commands and the Laws in execution And in short without him or against his Will and Consent nothing can be legally acted or done The Person of the King most Sacred AND as his Power is thus Great so his Person is most Sacred and is therefore most strictly guarded by the Laws which like Solomon's Lions stand on each side of the steps and ascents of his Imperial Throne 13 Car. 2. and with no less Terror than Majesty declare That it is High Treason within or without the Realm to Compass Imagine Invent Devise or Intend Death or Destruction or any bodily harm tending to death or destruction maim or wounding imprisonment or restraint of the Person of the King or to deprive or depose him from the Stile Honour or Kingly Name of the Imperial Crown of this Realm or any other of his Dominions or Countries or to levy War against him within or without the Realm or any other of the Kings Dominions or Countries being under his Obeysance THESE amongst many others are the principal Jewels which adorn the glorious Diadem of the English Sovereigns whose Government being so remote from Arbitrary that it is altogether by the exact Rule of Law Justice and Equity as it must needs be easie for the people so it contributes extremely to the Happiness and prosperous tranquillity of the Princes Reign And were it possible to add one Prerogative more to the Crown That the King might rule in the Hearts and kind affections of his People as well as over their Persons certainly there could no greater happiness befall both the King and his Subjects in this World And as such a blessed Union and Agreement would be their great and Common Interest where the one ruling with Love the other should obey their Ruler from a principle of affection so it is to be hoped that time and a right understanding of the most obliging Temper of their Prince or some other wise expedients will at last allay that dangerous Democratick fury the only present visible obstacle to this desired Happiness which whereever it prevails or enters possesses men with the principles of Usurpation upon many other but more especially upon this fundamental prerogative of the Sovereign by devesting him of the loyal and sincere affections of his People HAVING thus taken such a short view of it as the dazling Lustre of Majesty will permit let us pass from the Sovereign to the Subjects and there likewise we shall most convincingly see the effects of the most prudent easie safe and happy constitution of the English Government under which there is no person who lives in obedience to it who escapes the particular care and cognizance of the Laws The Priviledges of the People first in the sending their Representatives to the Parliament THE first great and fundamental Priviledge of the Subjects consists in the free Choice which the Commons of England have of Delegates or Representatives to be sent to the most Honourable Assembly of the Parliament there to make known the just grievances of the People and to offer such good wholsome and necessary Bills in order to their being promoted into Laws by the Royal Will as may be most for the advantage and happiness of those whom they represent By reason whereof all those Laws by which the people are governed for the present or are to be Governed for the future are such as they themselves have a share in the propounding and preparing there being nothing that can by the Royal assent pass into an obliging Statute or Act of Parliament either against or without their knowledge and consent as is evident from the Proem to most of those Acts which compose our statute-Statute-Law which are in these or the like words Be it Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty by the Advice and with the Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same So that they must be the most unreasonable amongst mankind who are not contented to be obedient to those Laws which are by their King Enacted and Established not only according to their own preparation and with their free and full assent but at their earnest request and humble Importunity NOR are they only highly irrational but most barbarously treacherous and perfidious who make no account of such mutual stipulations and lawful contracts with which they have obliged themselves as the whole Nation does when by the Parliament they Petition the King to make such or such Laws and upon that condition that he will please to give them the force and power of Laws they will live in obedience to him according to the direction of those Laws For Obedience is the end of all Laws and solemn Faith of Contracts is the essential Foundation upon which all Government and Happiness in this World does depend and there can no Bill pass into an Act of Parliament but it obliges Universally all Subjects to obedience by vertue not only of Royal Authority but of every individual persons promise For whoever gives his Voice

travel so far back as to unravel all the German History the late ruinous affairs of the Crown of Poland which being one of the Bastions of Christendom seems to have been therefore preserved from the Infidels by a miracle and most miraculous Prince are capable to satisfie any person who is the fondest of Elective Monarchy And if he has not either deposed Reason the King of his Soul and elected in its place Prejudice or Passion to Govern there or if he dare credit the Universal experience of the World he may easily be convinced of the great necessary and desperate inconveniences of a long Interregnum and Elective Monarchy BUT to proceed secondly from this bounty of our Princes and for the advantage of Counsel and that all Estates and Conditions who are under the obedience of this happy Monarchy may receive such ample satisfaction as they can rationally desire Of the Interest which the three Estates have in preparing Bills for the Royal Assent to be by that past into Laws the King is pleased according as in his wisdom he judges it expedient and the necessity of publick affairs requires it to call together the Nobility of the Realm the great Lords both Spiritual and Temporal who are two of the three Estates of Parliament to sit in common consultation and to advise about the weighty and difficult affairs of State And by their prudent deliberations and suffrages to discharge that duty they owe to their Prince and the Publick by preparing wholsom Bills in order to their passing into Laws by the Royal Assent for the good safety and prosperity of the Community As also to remonstrate to Royal Authority what former Laws are by experience found to be useless or inconvenient in order to their alteration repealment or abrogation THIS priviledge the Spiritual Lords enjoy by vertue of their Temporal Baronies to which for their eminent Piety Learning Prudence and Integrity they are by the Bounty of their Sovereign and his Illustrious Predecessors elevated and promoted And they are more particularly in that Place interessed and consulted in all debates which may arise about the affairs of Religion and the Holy Church though they are not at all excluded from a voice in the concerns of all Civil and Politick Sanctions And this cuts off the hopes of Turbulent Factious Ambitious Spirits from aiming at those High places of Trust and Council in Church and State to which none are in a probable capacity of arriving who do not tread the paths of sublime vertue and merit which are the only steps and ascents which lead to this excellent Temple of Honour into which any persons rarely are permitted to enter of whose ability and fitness for such high and honourable Offices a long tract of knowledge and experience has not given a fair character and advantageous testimony and where no person arrives but by the gradual progressions of several lower employs as a state of probation to fit him for those high advancements and eminent dignities AND however the malice of some people may suggest the contrary who are enemies to their Office and eo nomine not to be credited yet is there not the least probability that any persons should arrive at these great Temporal Honours and Ecclesiastical Offices by the favour and bounty of their Prince but that they must be such as have either highly obliged him by their eminent fidelity and services in a lower sphere or who for their excellent qualifications draw the discerning and judicious eye of Majesty upon them and are by those Honours and Estates enabled to be more serviceable to his which is the publick Interest than they could possibly be in the meaner condition of private men and narrow fortunes I KNOW this is not a Rule without an Exception and that it has been the great misfortune of the best and wisest of Princes sometimes to have been mistaken in conferring Honours and Favours both upon Temporal and Ecclesiastical persons who in the succeeding actions of their lives have manifested that they did not deserve them But these are rare and extraordinary examples of Ingratitude rather than Inability and they must be extraordinary Artists in Hypocrisie and Dissimulation who appearing the best whilest they are the worst of men do thereby sometimes deceive the best and most wary and cautelous Princes and certainly they must have tempers of the basest allay upon whom the bounty and Majesty of a Prince are not able to make such impressions as are capable by such high obligements to change their Natures into what he mistook them for when he conferr'd his kindnesses upon them Which doubtless no Prince ever does upon any person but he rationally supposes either that he does or at least will most zealously endeavour to merit that bounty and esteem by all possible fidelity and future services THE Temporal Lords by a Right of Hereditary succession enjoy this Favour of their Prince as a priviledge of their Illustrious Birth and honourable Extraction and therefore being sensible from their early Age of the Honour and Dignity to which they are intituled and the heavy as well as honourable charge they are to sustain in those great deliberations about publick affairs it puts their Parents upon the performance of their duty in giving them that generous and vertuous Education which may render them the ornaments of their Noble families and may qualifie them to be useful to their King and Country to which they are incouraged by the consideration that there is no Subject so great but may still hope for advantages and accession both of Honour and Estate upon the account of serviceableness and merit either as to Counsel in times of Peace or Conduct and Courage in time of War Which are such considerable incouragements to vertue and greatness of mind as will quickly give the young Nobility a delightful and tempting prospect of the High Honourable and advantageous Employments at which they may arrive and by what ways and methods they must hope to obtain them AND if we could uncharitably suppose them either to be defective as to the natural endowments of mind or apt to be mis-lead by the heats and prevailing extravagancies of warm and sull veins or the luxuriant spirits of youthful years yet certainly there is no such School either for Wisdom or Vertue as that Illustrious Assembly of the English Nobility in Parliament And the repeated wise deliberations of those great Senators are capable of elevating even the lowest parts beyond all expectation And constant experience in the conduct and management of the greatest Affairs will in a little time be capable of advancing the slowest Natures to be prompt and addressful in the dispatch and performance of them And besides those constant Lectures and Examples which they will there meet with of Justice Temperance Magnanimity Honour Fidelity and Loyalty must if any thing be capable of effecting it be able to change the very Natures of Men of Reason and not only to

for such a person to represent him in Parliament as all the Freeholders in behalf of the rest of the inferior Commons do does thereby transfer his own right to the Representative and gives him as ample power and Authority to act for him and in his Name as to him shall seem expedient both for his private and the common Interest as if he did act in his proper person for himself And he who did not give his voice for the elected Representative being ingaged in an opposite interest to give his suffrage for another yet upon the prevailing number of the Poll even he likewise gives his suffrage for him and the person so elected is as much and truly the Representative of those who voted for another as of those who gave their voices for him For though there may be many Candidates to the office but one only can be chosen and it is by the common consent of all such as have a vote in such Elections tacitly before-hand agreed that he who has the plurality of voices shall be their Representative in Parliament And therefore in hopes of the benefit of that implied agreement all the several Interests and Parties at such Elections repair to the usual time and place appointed to see the decision and final determination of that affair So that the person who is chosen a Knight or Burgess by the major part though my voice was against him for another is after such a trial as much a Knight or Burgess and as truly my Delegate and has as full power to act in my Name as if I had given my Vote for him in regard I did not come to that Election before I had given my consent to that Preliminary contract that he should be the common Representative or Parliament-man for the whole Body of the people of that place who should by the greatest number of qualified voices appear to have the justest Right And those persons who do not think themselves obliged to stand to such a solemn Contract as this or that they are not bound in Foro Conscientiae to be obedient to those Acts of Parliament which as is plain are by their Petition and Assent as much their proper Acts and Contracts as if they were under their most authentick Hand and Seal however they may pretend Religion and Conscience for their Disobedience are so far from being true Christians that they are not yet good enough for Heathens and scarcely deserve the name of Men if Rationality be the thing that differences them from Brutes for amongst all Nations it has been esteemed a Maxim upon which the security of Mankind is built Fidem esse servandam That Fidelity in solemn Contracts is to be observed and preserved sacred and inviolable for otherwise Men could have no Commerce no Government no Peace no Safety no Property no Laws because no confidence one of another or of any truth in the most deliberate Contracts and mutual Stipulations Cicer. Off. I. To this purpose is that of Tully The Foundation of all Justice says that excellent Heathen is Faith And Faith or Fidelity is the Constancy and Truth of all our Words Promises and Contracts Off. 3. And he tells us That Regulus returned to Carthage although he was not ignorant that he went back again to his most cruel Enemies and most exquisite Torments only because it was his judgment that Faith in solemn Promises and Contracts ought to be observed and kept How will these Generous Heathens rise up in Judgment against the Men of this Generation who are so far from making it a scruple of Conscience to break their Faith as to Obedience to Laws and Government their own voluntary Contracts and Stipulations that they esteem it the greatest and most Essential part of their Religion to break the Laws and be disobedient to Government Certainly that Heroick Seneca was much a better Saint than such Christians and almost perswades me to believe he will either have a share in Heaven or a more tolerable Hell than they who could so nobly say Senec. Ep. 88. Solemn Faith is a Good so Sacred to Humane Nature that it cannot that is it ought not to be compelled by any necessity nor corrupted by any Rewards Burn Cut Kill me I will not be a Traitor to my Faith bat the further and deeper these torments search for it by so much will I more diligently and safely endeavour to preserve and hide it Expressions capable of making many who call themselves Christians blush at their Religious Treachery Disobedience and Infidelity to their own Promises and Contracts if they had not at once abandoned all remainders of Modesty as well as Loyalty and Fidelity IT is a subject capable of giving astonishment rather than admiration that there should be any persons who enjoy so fair a Priviledge as to be admitted by their Sovereign to consult their own concerns and to offer unto him such Bills as they judge most advantageous for their own Interest and Petition him to establish them as Laws who yet when he has condescended to gratifie them in it cannot be contented unless they may have a Prerogative with the guilded Title of Liberty of Conscience whereby at their pleasure they take the freedom to break and abrogate those very Laws and thereby do not only exalt their power above that of their Sovereign but subject all that is great and sacred in Laws and Government to the idle Caprichio of every private Humorist who has but the confidence to face it with Religion Let them take care lest the dangerous consequences of this later Priviledge so destructive to all Society and which they maintain by Usurpation do not in the end oblige Authority for its own preservation and the publick security to disrobe such dangerous people of that which they do and may if they will be quiet with it long and lawfully enjoy Let them remember Aesop's Dog and the Moral of the Fable in our English Proverb All covet All lose The second Priviledge of the English Subjects Property secured A SECOND priviledge of the Subjects of England consists in their Property secured which is so surrounded with the Laws that one may truly say of an English Commoner as the malicious spirit the envious surveyor of his happiness said to God Almighty concerning his upright servant Job Hast thou not made a hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side In some Monarchies the Subjects cannot say their Estates are their own as under the Ottoman Mogul Russian and Tartarian Empires in others they cannot say their Bodies are their own as amongst all the barbarous Indian Nations and in some places according to our Adage men dare scarcely say their Souls are their own certainly not their lives amongst all the Governments before named and many others so great are the Arbitrary Tyrannies and lawless and sometimes even wanton cruelties of their Superiors to whom they are as absolute slaves