Selected quad for the lemma: parliament_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
parliament_n house_n king_n officer_n 2,496 5 7.4181 4 false
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
B01385 An answer by an Anabaptist to the three considerations proposed to Mr. William Penn, by a pretended Baptists, concerning a magna charta for liberty of conscience. 1688 (1688) Wing A3275A; ESTC R224289 11,692 18

There is 1 snippet containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

their Nature so invariable That as our Lawyers tell us Acts of Parliament made against them are void in themselves And if this Opinion be true these Fundamental Maximes of Law whether in Spirituals or Temporals tho they may be for a season by a particular Act of Parliament interrupted they are not thereby vacated but still retained and will at one time or other again discover their Vigor Acts not contradictory to these Fundamental Laws may be useful for a season but not having that innate Stability as Fundamental Maximes have may afterwards become useless improper and grievous to be put in Execution hence those common distinctions between Malum in se malum prohibitum And subsequent thereto in many cases a power or no power of Dispensing That which is unlawful in it self to be done as Murther Th●ft Trespass and the like cannot be made lawful by any Law or Dispensation whatsoever That which is lawful in it self but becomes unlawful because prohibited by a particular Statute may be Dispensed with so as no particular Person be Damnified by that Dispensation and not otherwise Among the many Vicissitudes of Succession to the Crown between the two Houses of York and Lancaster Do you think there were no Laws in being made in the Raign of a King of one of these Branches in Fact dispens'd with by his Successor of the other Branch till they came to be Repealed in Parliament Were the Oathes of Fidelity and Obedience made to the Line Interrupted required to be taken by all Judges Justices Sheriffs and other Officers Commissionated by the other Line which succeeded until they were Repealed in Parliament In the various changes of the National Religion between the Reigns of King Henry the the Eighth and Queen Elizabeth were all Penalties imposed by Laws respecting Religion exacted without any Relax or Suspension till those Laws were Abrogated in Parliament In the first Year of King Henry the Fourth a whole Parliament held in the Twenty first of Richard the Second was Repealed In one of which Laws then made divers Pains of Treason were ordained whereby as the Act of Repeal says No Man did know how he ought to behave himself to Do Speak or Say for doubt of such Pain and if that Law had been Religiously observed till the moment of its Repeal It could never have been repealed In the Second Year of Richard the Third a Statute made in the First of the said King was Dispensed with by Proclamation Vaugh●● 〈◊〉 pag. 353 Now I would gladly hear wh●● cause my pretended Brother Bap●● has to Quarrel at his present Maje●●● gracious Dispensing with Laws in●●●ing Temporal Penalties for Ecclesiatical Matters and rendring then use● less for the present in that respe●● only till they can be Repealed Parliament And wherein the exceed of this Dispensing Power has exce●●ed what has been in Fact done by 〈◊〉 Royal Predecessors and admitted may be lawfully done by our greatest Lawyers But to proceed Shall your New Charter have a Pe●●ty inserted to be inflicted on the Infringe● or Breakers of it or no If not W●● will your New Charter signifie N●● three skips of a Lowse And if it 〈◊〉 a Penalty Cannot any King by his Prerogative and Authority Royal Dispence 〈◊〉 the Penalty And what will it sign●●● then This pretended Baptist's Resolution of the first of these Questions is 〈◊〉 Weak as it is Idle and both that an● the others may receive a satisfactory Answer Such a New Charta as is desired i● no Penalty be annex'd may be very significant in many respects 1 〈◊〉 may be materially good and oblig●● to Obedience by its innate Vertue o●● pain of Condemnation by the Divin●● Law and in that respect of greater signification and much more desirable then such Laws as are materially ●●d and cannot be obeyed without Brea●● of a Law of God. 2 This Ne●●●●●●ter may without annexing any ●●lties Repeal all those Penalties 〈◊〉 which Persons are compelled to ●●rm Acts of Divine Worship ●●ary to their Understanding 〈◊〉 and a Good Conscience and put 〈◊〉 of the Power of any Dispensa●●●●o revive those Laws or to im●● Penalties of the like kind 3 〈◊〉 a New Law may without any Pe●●s by its simple Declarations put ●●e to that which is now unrea●ly made the ground of all our ●ests and confirm to us all those 〈◊〉 by which our Liberties and ●●rties are preserved 〈◊〉 presuming it may also have Pe●● inserted to be inflicted on the ●●gers or Breakers of it These ●●e so qualified as not to be Dis●● with if under the colour ●●●f evil minded Men do not prac●●on the Soveraign Power For 〈◊〉 a case if the Soveraign Power 〈◊〉 Dispence with the Penalty of a 〈◊〉 Laws it may be divested of such 〈◊〉 as are necessary for its own Pre●●on but in any ordinary case if ●●rson or Body Corporate receive ●●lar Damage by the breach of New Law He or They may if the ●●tors please be Intitled to a ●●lar Action by the same Law and recover Damages against the Breakers of it 〈◊〉 Rep. 〈◊〉 342. at the Kings Suit by ●●ent or Presentment or by a 〈◊〉 Action with which the King 〈◊〉 Dispence 〈◊〉 Instance you give to put us ●f Doubt in Mr Langhornes 〈◊〉 touching the Kings Right in Dispensing with Penal Laws I shall not Repeat but only observe That the Opinion you cite however you may do it in scorn carries such an Evidence in it for a Dispensing Power not in ordinary Cases as that Author has well observed but upon extraordinary Occasions when the King in his Wisdom shall find it necessary as calls for more Cunning then I yet perceive in you to raise any material Objection against it Qu. Now where is the assurance then of Mr Penn's New Charter Ans Our Assurance will lie not only in the Authority of the Legislators equal to any other Law but also in the Authority of the Matter which will command an Assent in every Mans Conscience assoon as he reads it Not to do that to another which he would not have done to himself Our Assurance will be in our Love and Affection One towards Another as Neighbours concern'd to promote the common Interest of the Realm In the Watchfulness of all Parties against any one particular Faction if any such should rise up and attempt to in thrall the Consciences of all the rest in our thankful and dutiful Behaviour towards our Soveraign for breaking off those intolerable Yoaks we could not bear and setting us upon such a lasting Foundation both for our Civil and Religious Liberties as with a discreet Care and Managemant of them may remain firm to Perpetuity Qu. But who can tell what King we may have after our present Soveraign whether so mercifull or so just Or what SheriffS the next King may chose and what Returns of Parliament Men they may make For you know the Forfeiture on the Sheriffs making a false Return is no great matter