a1538 T. Starkey Dial. Pole & Lupset (1989) 35 Pepul rude wythout polyty, can not use that same [sc. riches] to theyr owne commodyte.

1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie iii. ii. 133 The necessitie of politie and regiment in all Churches may be helde, without holding anie one certayne forme to bee necessarie in them all. Nor is it possible that anie forme of politie, much lesse of politie Ecclesiasticall, should be good, vnlesse God himselfe be author of it.

1602 Bp. M. Smith Learned Serm. Worcester 35 Thus policy overthroweth polity, that is the common weale: & thus the feare of man casteth out the feare of God.

1694 T. Rogers Common-wealths-man Unmasqu'd 33 Arumaeus..commends the Wisdom and Justice of that Constitution, in relation to true Polity, and safety of Religion.

1763 J. Brown Diss. Poetry & Music iv. 40 In the Course of Time, and the Progress of Polity and Arts, a Separation of the several Parts..would naturally arise.

1850 T. Carlyle Latter-day Pamphlets i. 23 New elements of polity or nationhood.

1868 W. E. Gladstone Juventus Mundi vi. 171 At a period antecedent to the formation of anything like polity in Greece.

1884 Christian Commonw. 6 Nov. 49/2 Oratorical stumpers are deceiving and bewitching the nation into the destruction of true polity.

2000 Social Res. (Nexis) 67 709 An act of violence stands at the origin of human polity and plays a productive role in the genesis of human civilization.

1558 J. Knox Appellation f. 18 God..did not exempt the matters of religion from the power of Moses, but as he gaue hym charge ouer the ciuile politie, so he put in his mouth and in his hand: That is, he..reuealed to hym..whatsoeuer was to be taught or done in matters of religion.

1641 J. Milton Animadversions 10 Civil politie, say you,..came from arbitrary imposers.

1659 W. Ames Substance Christian Relig. 281 A Kingdome in its general notion, is a kinde of politie or publick government and state of men, wherein one hath the supreme and chief command.

1673 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd ii. 315 Your whole Book of Ecclesiastical Politie having been Writ not with a Pen but a Stilletto.

a1732 F. Atterbury Serm. Several Occas. (1734) I. 127 They..were permitted..to retain some Shadow of their Domestick Polity and Government.

1774 T. Jefferson Instr. Virginia Conv. to Delegates in Congr. Aug. in Papers (1950) I. 142 The original constitution of the American Colonies possessing their Assemblies with the sole Right of directing their internal Polity.

1884 W. C. Smith Kildrostan 60 To..help the growth Of civil polity, and self-control.

1948 Times 13 Apr. 4/7 Our sympathies are with the American nation and those it chooses by the processes of democratic selection... Any other course would imply a bias or even an interference in internal polity.

1555 tr. H. Bullinger Serm. in tr. P. M. Vermigli Treat. Cohabitacyon Faithfull 67 Godd will not haue the gouernement of polities or howsholds disturbed.

1650 J. Trapp Clavis to Bible (Exod. xx. 17) 64 Moses his politie could not consist of true worshippers, and professed Idolaters.

1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. xix. 204 The polity abounding in accumulated wealth, may be compared to a Cartesian system, each orb with a vortex of its own.

1840 J. H. Newman Parochial Serm. (1842) V. xv. 244 The soul of man is intended to be a well-ordered polity.

1859 W. Needham in A. H. Clough tr. Plutarch Lives IV. 40 Lycurgus had formed a polity admirably designed for the peace, harmony, and virtuous life of the citizens.

1894 T. H. Huxley Evol. & Ethics 23 Those who should be kept, as certain to be serviceable members of the polity.

1936 H. A. L. Fisher Europe 183 The christianization of the Scandinavian races and their acceptance as members of the polity of Europe.

1991 A. C. Milner in Past & Present Aug. 104 It entailed new ways of thinking about the polity and about social action.

2004 Manch. Guardian Weekly (Nexis) 1 Oct. 5 Privateers, operating out of Morocco and other North African polities, who attacked Christian merchant and fishing vessels at sea.

1590 J. Penry Briefe Discov. Vntruthes 9 It appeares that you are well seene, either in the ciuill or Ecclesiasticall politie of the Iewes, which appoint these elders vnto their particuler Sinagogs.

1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxxix. 243 We preferre..the Spartan before the Athenian politie.

1644 J. Milton Areopagitica 9 We have it not, that can be heard of, from any ancient state, or politie or Church..but from the most Antichristian Council..that ever inquir'd.

1652 P. Heylyn Cosmographie Introd. sig. B3 Of this kind also are the severall Polities and forms of Government.

1714 W. Nicolson Eng. Hist. Libr. (ed. 2) i. 8 Some general accounts have been given of our English polity and frame of government.

1796 E. Burke Two Lett. Peace Regicide Directory France i.110 The whole of the polity and œconomy of every country in Europe..was drawn from the old Germanic or Gothic custumary.

1817 R. Owen New View of Society (new ed.) 178 The difficulties which may at first appear to obstruct this plan for introducing occasional national employment into the polity of the kingdom.

1876 J. Grant Hist. Burgh Schools Scotl. i. i. 3 (note) The polity of Scotland remained as yet Celtic, though it very soon afterwards became feudal.

1901 C. G. McCrie Church of Scotl. Div. & Reunions ii. 33 The polity of the Societies was presbyterian.

1957 V. W. Turner Schism & Continuity in Afr. Society x. 291 Nor is their polity one consisting of homologous unilineal descent groups.

2002 Amer. Jrnl. Polit. Sci. 46 613/2 The Southern Cone Common Market..contains a clause in its founding treaty which require members to have a democratic polity.