Bernard out of that text reasoned thus with an Archbishop in France Let euery soule be subiect Ergo yours I pray who doth exempt you Bishops â—…i quiâ—… tentat excipere conatur decipere So Chrysostome Theodoret Oecumen Theophilact vpon the place Clergie men are not excepted Ergo not exempted Concerning causes Ecclesiasticall it is auowed and prooued by Protestant Diuines that a King and euery other supreame gouernour is Custos vtriusque tabulae the Lord-Keeper of both tables of Gods Law that wee may lead vnder him a quiet and a peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty We doe not imagine this of our owne heads we find it annexed vnto the Crowne by God himselfe who when he first gaue his people leaue to chuse them a King withall appoynted that the Law truly coppied out of the Leuites originall which was keptin the Tabernacle should be deliuered vnto the King sitting on his Royal seat with this Charge that booke shall remaine with the King hee shall read in it all the dayes of his life that hee may learne to feare the Lord his God obserue all the words of the Law written therein and these statutes to doe them This was not done till hee was placed in his throne so saith the text therefore this touched not the Kings priuate conuersation as a man but his Princely function as a Magistrate which stands in commanding other and not in guiding his owne person as a man he serues God one way sayth Augustine as a King another way as a man in ordering well his own life but as a King in seeing that other liue soberly toward themselues righteously toward their neighbours holily toward God So that Kings as Kings serue God in doing that for his seruice which none but Kings can do Well then if the whole Law were committed to the King as King at his Coronation It is plaine that the publishing preseruing and executing of the first table touching the sincere worship of God is the chiefe part of the Princes Charge And according to this commission and authority the godly Kings of Israel and Iudah remoued Idols razed hill alters slew false Prophets purged the land from all abominations not sparing the brazen serpent made by Moses wheÌ„ they saw it abused and by the same power they caused the Temple to be cleansed the Law to bee read the Passeouer to be kept the Leuites to Minister in their courses inuented by Dauid and by the same power Solomon deposed Abiather the chiefe Priest and set Zadock in his roome And of the Christian Church it is sayd Esay 49. 23. Kings shall bee thy nursing Fathers and Queenes thy nursing mothers And it is apparant that Constantine Iustinian Charles the great and many moe religious Princes enacted Ecclesiasticall lawes and were super-visors of the Bishops in their seuerall Empires For although a King may not administer the Sacraments or preach the word or execute the Ministers office de facto Yet as our diuines haue determined it belongs to the Kings cure de iure to see that all things concerning Gods holy worship should bee done in the Church orderly vos intra sayd Constantine the great to his Bishops ego autem extra ecclesiam à Deo Episcopus constitutus sum The last enemies vnto ciuill Magistrates are such as arme themselues and stand in actuall rebellion against authority For whatsoeuer faire pretence of doing good traytors may seeme to haue the State doubtlesse is in a miserable case when as commotioners are become commissioners and coÌ„mon woe named common wealth and a Ket obeyed more then a King Rebels are like a Bile in a body or like a sinke in a rowne gathering together all the nastie vagabonds and idle loyterers to warre with almighty God and his lieurenants and so being a beast of many heads they place treason aboue reason and make might to rule right If thy gouernour bee good vse him as thy nursing Father If bad commanding as a Tyrant that which is euill simply take vp against him a buckler and not a sword obey ferendo non feriendo suffering the payne not resisting the power impetere or competere are both vnlawfull albeit Kings deface in themselues Gods first Image in their owne soules yet no man hath leaue to deface Gods second Image imprinted in their name iudelibly Hitherto touching the Magistrates authority now for his vtilitie For thy good Higher powers are protectours of Gods Church ordeined for our temporall good and spirituall good and so consequently for our eternall good all which our Apostle sheweth in his 1. Epist to Timothie Chap. 2. verse 2. Pray for Kings and for all in authority that wee may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty our temporal good consists in a quiet and a peaceable life our spirituall good in godlinesse and honesty so that Magistrates are called of God to be Iustices of the peace for our temporall good and defenders of the faith for our spirituall good Concerning the first holy writ mentioneth a two-fold peace to wit an inward peace which is the peace of conscience proper onely to the Church and not commonicable to the world for there is no peace to the wicked saith my God and an outward peace which is common vnto both and therfore the Lord sayd to his people whom Nabuchodonosor had carried away captiue from Hierusalem to Babel seeke the prosperity of the city whither I haue caused you to bee carried away captiue pray for it for in the peace therof you shal haue peace This owtward peace may bee disturbed either by Domesticall enemies or by forreine foes as our Apostle sayd in another case fighting without and terrours within In respect of intestine iarres vnder the gouernment of Princes we lead a life a life which is quiet and in respect of forreine wars vnder the gouernment of Princes wee lead a life which is peaceable a Prince protects the persons of his subiects from murtherers and the goods of his subiects from theeues and the good name of his subiects from liâ—…ellers and slanderers hee beares not the sword for nought but is the Minister of God to take vengeance on such as are disturbers of his subiects quiet a-against his Crowne and Dignity Now that a Christian Magistrate may put to death a traytor a murtherer and other notorious offenders we proue first by the Scriptures secondly by the Fathers and thirdly by reason The Scriptures afford precepts and examples hereof afore the Law vnder the Law and after the Law before the Law Gen 9. 6. Who so sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed The which is not a meere Prophecy that euery murtherer should come to mischiefe but a plaine precept that the Magistrate being armed by Gods authority must execute such a bloody malefactor And we read a patterne hereof in the 38. of Gen verse 24. Iuda sayd bring her
blood but against spiritual wickednesses and therefore put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the assaults of the deuill Secondly though it be true that faith and prayer are the chiefe weapons of Christians in this world yet other armes are not to bee cast away for we read that the Lord of hostes gaue victory to his Israel against Amalek Orante Mose et Iosua pugnante by the prayer of Moses and fighting of Iosua and S. Augustine giues this aduise to Bonifacius arripe manibus arma oratio pulset aures authoris and in another place some pray for you against inuisible foes and you fight for them against visible Barbarians Now there bee three conditions in an honest and honorable warre 1. Authoritas legitima 2. Causa Iusta 3. Intentio bona That it be vndertaken vpon lawfull authority for a iust cause with a good intent For the first it is determined by S. Augustine and other Diuines that Soueraigne Princes only haue power to proclaime was for the protection of their Realmes as the Kings of England France Spaine the common wealth of Venice the Dukes and Princes of Germanie which are of themselues absolute Lordes but Earles and Barons and other great Persons immediatly subiect to superiour command may not of their owne heads and authority make war and the reason hereof is very plaine for if one man sinne against another the Iudge shall Iudge it quoth old Elt If one subiect offend another appeale may bee made to superiour authority but if a King trespasse another they haue no common seat of Iustice where to complaine of iniuries and therefore they must reuenge publique quarrels and make the sword their Iudge But here diuines put a difference between offensiue wars defensiue we may not assault our forrein foes without the Princes expresse command but in a defensiue warre it is otherwise Because when any part of the land is inuaded and besieged vpon the sudden it may bee dangerous to stay for instructions from aboue as a priuate man assaulted on the high way by a thiefe hauing no meanes at that instant to complaine vnto the magistrate becomes himselfe a magistrate and may strike with his owne sword in his owne Iust and necessarie defence so good subiects oppressed by forreine force desperatly vnawares I speake rather as a School-man then a States-man hauing the Princes tacite consent need not expect his explicite direction I conclude therefore this poynt with Hostiensis and Peter Martyr bella sunt iniusta quae suscipiuntur aut non mandante aut non tacite approbante magistratu The second condition in honest and honorable warres is a iust cause Warre is full of inconueniences Plinie reports that a Dragon sucking the blood of an Elephant kils both it selfe and the beast Euen so saith one many times it falleth out in warre Pars vtraque perimit et perit Both parties receiue hurt for as he that sets a wood on fire knowes not how long it will burne and how farre the rage of the flame will reach euen so he that begins a warre knowes neither where nor when it will end A King therefore may not fight against another Prince for euery trifle but only to repell a notorious wrong done to his honour or state Cuncta prius tentanda sed immedicable vulnus Ense recidendum There be many most abhominable sinnes and impieries in Rome Venice Florence the which are not to be reformed by the King of Spaine for that hee is not their competent and ordinary Iudge but euery King being the protectour of his liege people may correct such offences of other nations as damnifie his subiects It is a iust cause for a King saith Augustine to warre with any state that insolently refuseth to right a publique wrong as not to restore goods taken by Pyrats or not to punish a notorious libellouâ—… dishonouring the persons and disabling the titles of Soueraigne Princes in such a case saith Augustine both the Captaines and the souldiour are the Ministers of God and they fight with his sword to take vengeance on such as doe euill But here Princes ought to consider that they should not fight vpon any doubtfull or little cause but only for some great and certaine Againe wee must here distinguish betweene the King and the subiect It is a fault in a King to fight in a quarrell which is vncertaine because warre is an act of Iustice but it is iniustice to punish a man before hee suffer a sufficient tryall and his cause bee well examined But it is not a fault in a subiect to fight vnlesse the cause bee notoriously knowen vniust It is our duty rather to presume of the Kings Iustice then in any sort to question his authority tene certum et relinque incertum is a good precept in this case Howsoeuer the title bee most vncertaine yet that euery soule should obey higher power is certaine The King then in proclaiming warre may sinne but the subiect in executing his command offend not as a Iudge in a dubious case sinnes when he condemnes an innocent and yet the hang-man may not examine the Iudges sentence but is bound to doe his duty The third condition required in warre is a good intention for seeing publique tranquillity and peace is the end of warre neither Soueraigne nor subiect ought to fight for other designes as to shed blood or to enrich themselues or to try their vallour or the like Militia may not bee quoth Bernard Malitia so S. Augustine lib. 22. Contra Faustum Chap. 74. Nocendi Cupiditas Vlciscendi Crudelitas impacatus et implacabilis animus feritas rebellandi libido dominandi et si quae similia haec sunt quae in bello Iure culpantur To these 3 conditions other adde a fourth and that is modus debitus the commendable manner of fighting in an honorable warre that wee hurt not any person which is innocent according to the rules of S. Iohn the Baptist in his charge to souldiers Doe violence to no man accuse not any falsely be content with your wages Where hee forbiddeth all iniurie done by souldiours to parties innocent either by force or fraud in their persons or goods in saying doe no violence he forbiddeth open iniury done to poore peasants in beating them or robbing them in saying accuse not any man falsely He forbiddeth iniuries by fraud as when souldiours accuse a rich man for a traytour or secret intelligencer though they know the contrary In saying bee content with your wages he forbiddeth all vniust exactions and pillage which is contrary to the law Now there be three sorts of men exempted from the cruelties of warre which a souldiour ought not to damnifie The first are such as apperteine not to the common wealth of the enemy and therefore free-booters are too blame who rob their owne friends and spoyle their allies countrey thorow
Christian is dead to sin and aliue to God Dead to sin as Iudicious Melancthon in respect of sinnes imputation and efficacie In respect of imputation for albeit some reliques of old Adam remaine in the new man yet as the Scripture speakes all his offences are couered there is no condemnatiō vnto them which are in Christ. God sees none iniquity in Iacob no transgression in Israel Num. 23. 21. As for sinnes efficacie whereas the motions of sin in an vnregenerate man haue force to bring forth fruit vnto death Rom. 7. 5. He that is borne of God sinneth not 1 Iohn 3. 9. As being a patient rather then an agent in sin saith Bernard or as Primasius he doth not liue to sin but to Christ who dyed for his sin Thus I liue quoth Paul Gal. 2. 20. Yet not I now but Christ liueth in mee Christ himselfe is the life which I now liue In this regard he and I are both one quoth Luther vpō that place this seemes a very strang manner of speaking I liue I liue not I am dead I am not dead I am a sinner I am not a sinner I liue not now as Paul but Paul is dead who is it then that doth liue the Christian our corrupt estate subiect to sin and concupiscence is called the old man But our person reformed in and by Christ is the new man Augustine pithily Christianus est quod ammodo duplex euery single Christiā susteyneth a double person as Hector Pintus vpon our text duplex est in me ego one I that liues according to the flesh and another I that liues according to the spirit As the penitent wanton in St. Ambrose who courted by his old loue Cur non respicis ego sum answered sed ego non sum ego Though you be still the same woman I am become another man I liue indeed in the flesh but not through the flesh or according to the flesh for I am Crucified vnto the world and the world is Crucified vnto mee The truth is I liue by faith in the Sonne of God I am grafted into Christ and the graft doth liue not of it selfe by the sap of the stocke Wee are twigges and Christ is the tree without him wee can doe nothing Iohn 15. 5. But in him and through him all things Philip. 4. 13. Thus a Christian is dead to sinne dead to the law dead to the world actiuely the which exposition is entertained of many learned interpreters but that Iacob is passiuely dead vnto the world as being hated persecuted of the world as the blessed Apostle speakes of himselfe for Christs glory dying daily is the fitter and as I think the fuller glosse comming neerer home to the point and to the pith of the matter intended heere by the spirit And so by this place you may learne the meaning of another hard phrase 1. Cor. 15. 2◅ Baptized for dead that is afflicted and reputed as dead I know there bee diuerse readings and interpretations of that text but vpon an exact inquirie yee shall vnderstand this to be most agreeable to the words to the scope of Saint Paules argument To the words because Baptisme is vsed elsewhere for affliction as Luk. 12. 50. I must be Baptized with a Baptisme and how am I grieued till it bee ended and Math. 20. 22 Mark 10. 38. Ye know not what ye aske quoth our blessed Sauiour to his ambitious Disciples harkening after earthly preferment in his Kingdome Yee must first drinke of the Cup that I must drinke of and be baptized with the Baptisme that I am baptized with that is in the iudgment of Theophilact Euthymius Ardens and many more learned Diuines Ye must of necessity beare the Crosse before ye can weare the Crowne ye must enter into my Kingdome through many tribulations As for the scope Saint Paul in the words immediately following shewes that by baptized hee meant afflicted why are we Christians in Ieopardie euery houre If I haue fought with Beasts at Ephesus after the manner of men what aduantageth it me if the Dead rise not againe Wherefore should Iacob and Israel indure so many losses and crosses fightings without and terrours within troden vnder foote like wormes and reputed as dead men in this world were there not another world where they shall haue fulnesse of Ioyes and pleasures at Gods right hand for euermore So haue yee the first part of our Text explained concerning the weaknesse of the Church in respect of her selfe the second is the consideration of her strength in respect of her Sauiour Who saith feare not I will helpe thee The which is repeated often in this one Chapter and that within the compasse of a few lines not onely to shew the dulnesse of our fraile flesh needing in aduersitie promise vpon promise so well as in prosperity precept vpon precept But to set forth also the fulnesse of Gods infinite rich mercy towards vs vile Wormes It is reported Apo. 7. 2. That foure bad Angels had power to hurt the Earth and the Sea when wee heare of their number Foure wee may feare and when wee heare of their nature bad Angells wee may feare more When we doe read of a datum est power and authority giuen vnto them of God to hurt wee may feare most of all But when wee finde their power limited that they must not hurt Gods seruants wee need not feare at all I saith the Lord whose power is I am and stile I will Alas man of himselfe is not able to doe any thing hee liues and moues and hath all his being in me my grace sustaineth him by which hee is whatsoeuer is his He speakes optatiuely would to God I will if God will But I the Lord Indicatiuely Imperatiuely I will bee thou cleane I will ease you I will strengthen thee I will helpe thee I the Lord who make the mountaines to skip like Rams the litle hills like young sheepe I who measure the Waters with my little finger and the Earth with three of my fingers and the Heauens with my spanne Esay 40. 12. Before whom all the Nations of the world are but as a drop of the morning dew that falleth vpon the ground Wis. 11. 19. I that am all in all vpholding all things by my power I the Lord against whom there is no wisedome neither vnderstanding nor counsell Pro. 21. 30. No Wisedome of men or Vnderstanding of deuills or counsell of Angells is able to preuaile No Wisedome in Heauenly things or vnderstanding in Earthly things or counsell in any thing against me Neither is my will inferiour to my power for I am thy Redeemer I was borne for thee I was circumcised for thee I fulfilled all righteousnesse for thee I dyed for thee I rose againe for thee what could I haue done more for thee which I haue not done I haue so loued thee that I gaue my selfe for thee to bee both an offering
another creature should make the Creator and his power is giuen neither to Angell nor Archangell but onely to the holy Priests A doctrine sayth our Church Art 28. Repugnant to the plaine words of Scripture ouerthrowing the nature of a Sacrament and giuing occasion to many superstitions out of doubt as S. Paul telleth vs the lesser is blessed of the greater I demand then of a Romanist how the Priest can blesse the bread after consecration when it is actually transubstantiated and so consequently made Christ. Answere is made that this Priest also represents Christ in that action and so Christ consecrating may be considered as greater then Christ consecrated If this be so then either Christ must bee in the bread as in the Priest only representatiuely or else they must make a new transubstantiation of the Priest into Christ otherwise the bread must be greater then the Priest the bread being the true body of Christ the Priest only representatiue Christ thus as we speake in the schooles one absurdity being granted a thousand follow Lastly for though I were so strong as Hercules I could not at one blow cut off all the heads of this hissing Hydra they remoue the bounds of the Prophets and Apostles in suppressing their writings forbidding Gods people to read them in a knowne tongue wherein as one sayd they deale like cunning theeues who comming to rob an house will be sure first of all to put out the candle lest the light discouer them as the Philistines hauing put out Samsons eyes made sport with him Euen so the Popish Priestes hauing blindfolded the people prohibiting them to read the Scripture which is a lanterne to their feete and a guide to their pathes and suffering them in the businesse of religion to see nothing but only through spectacles haue made themselues exceeding merry the scripture saith Paul is the peoples instruction the scripture say the Papists in a vulgar translation is the peoples destruction the scripture sayth Paul doth make the man of God absolute the scripture say the papists in a knowen tongue makes men heretical and dissolute but the bible makes men Hereticks as the sunne makes men blind and therefore Wickliffe sayd truely To condemne the word of God in any language for Heresie is to make God an Hereticke They well vnderstand that the Scripture would shew their praying in a strange tongue by tale to be most idle their traffique for soules very sacriledge their miracles to be meere iuglings their indulgences to be blasphemies their incontroleable Lord of Rome to bee that Imperious bewitching Lady of Babylon and their worshipping of Images and Saints is flat Idolatry The Princes of Iuda saiâ—…h Hosea were like those that remoue the bounds Hosea 5. 10. Ribera the Iesuite construeth it from Theodorete and Theophilact they forsake the lawes of God and embrace traditions of men or as Theodorus Antiochenus they transpose the honour of the liuing God and giue it to dead Idols from which obseruation I will argue thus they who remoue the Bible may bee sayd to remoue the bounds but the Papistes haue remoued from the handes of Gods people the Bible forsaking the fountaines of liuing water and digging pits that can hold no water Ergo the Papists are they that remooue the bounds as they giue you too much Sacrament and too little too much Christs transubstantiated body taking away the cup euen so they giue you too much Scripture and too little too much adding to the Canon Apocrypha too little clapsing it vp that ye may not read it and what is this but to thrust you from the path of Paradise for as Hierome sweetely the Prophets are the way to Christ and Christ is the way to God As the Lord then once sayd to the Iewes If I be your Father where is mine honour So the Prophets and Apostles may well obiect against the Papists If ye repuâ—…e vs Fathers why doe ye remoue the bounds which we haue set If our moderne Papistes admit the Primitiue Bishops of Rome for the Fathers here mentioned our plea still is the same that they haue remoued the ancient bounds and not wee 30. Popes at the first planting of the Church layd downe their heads vpon the blocke successiuely to seale the bond of conscience with the blood of innocencie The Martyrd Popes laying downe their necks at the persecuting Emperours feete but afterward the Mitred antechristian Popes set their feete vpon the good Emperours necks The late learned Earle of Northampton openly deliuered at Garnets arraignment that the Church of Rome in the beginning agreed with Daniels Image in the head of gold for godly gouernment in the breastes of siluer for vnspotted conscience and in the legges of brasse for incessant industry But in succeeding ages the heads of Popes saith hee grew humorous their breastes auaritious and their legs idle Gregrory the great did account him the forerunner of Antichrist that should call himselfe vniuersall Bishop auowing that none of his ancestors euer vsurped that insolent stile censuring it for a title of Nouelty errour impiety blasphemy the poyson of the Church But euery Pope now doth exalt himselfe aboue all that is called God his Soueraigne supremacy is the supreme difference vnto which all other poynts betweene them and vs are subordinate that is the very soule of Popery The Pope forsooth is now the vicar of Christ and vicegod Christ was the Lord of Lords but hee behaued himselfe as a seruant the Pope cals himselfe a seruant but carrieth himselfe as the Lord of Lords Christ the word was made flesh but now flesh is made the word so the Papists our Lord God the Pope To conclude this argument we professe ingeniously with our Iudicious and gracious Soueraigne that wee doe not further depart from Rome then Rome departs from herselfe in her flourishing estate Wee doe not remoue the bounds of old Rome but only shake off the bonds of new Rome Wee confesse the faith of ancient Rome but wee renounce the faction of Antichristian Rome the one being so vnlike the other that we may well exclay me with Ouid. Hen quantum haec Nobie Nobie distabat ab illa If the Papists vnderstand here by Fathers those whom vsually we call Fathers the most ancient doctours of the Westerne and Easterne Churches in life spotlesse in learning matchlesse yet our plea still is the same that they not wee remooue the bounds Not wee for it is a Canon of our Church An. 1571. That no preacher shall vent any doctrine but such as is agreeable to the scriptures according to the collections and expositions of the Catholike Fathers and ancient Bishops but they contrariwise for First we prooue that in stead of true Fathers they cite fayned doctours as Aâ—…philochius Abdias Hipolitus authors altogether voyd of authority Fathers lately found out long looked but neuer missed 2. Wee demonstrate by their owne purging
so for God and therefore when an earthly Prince commands against an heauenly trueth it is a Christians duty to be patient and not agent This humouring of the Chiefe Magistrate is a court sinne properly called adulatio quasi adaulatio but countrymen offend also sometimes in giuing too much vnto the subordinate magistrat giue me leaue to reprehend one fault in this kind which I haue noted in diuerse congregations among vs and that is your rising vp in the mids of your religious prayers vnto God to performe ciuill obeysance to men of worth and worship beloued there is a time for all things and a season appointed for euery purpose vnder heauen a time for your deuotions vnto God and a time for reuerence vnto men a time to fall downe before your maker and a time to bend vnto the magistrate Now what manners is it to neglect Gods owne businesse in Gods owne house to worship his Minister in our parts especially where gentlemen haue so learned Christ as that they neither expect nor respect any such vnseasonable duty from you To leaue those who giue too much vnto the Magistrate there be three sortes of people who giue too little 1. Anabaptists who deny the very calling of ciuill Magistrates 2. Papists who maintaine their calling but mangle their Iurisdiction 3. Traytors in actuall rebellion who both acknowledge their calling and Iurisdiction ouer al persons and in all causes and yet vnder pretence to reforme the Common weale with-hold their obedience Tumultuous Anabaptists affirme most absurdly that the Calling of Magistrates is vnlawfull and this they seeme to proue by Scriptures and by reasons The Scriptures wrested by them are chiefly two The first is Mat. 17. 25. Christ asked Peter of whom doâ—… the Kings of the earth take tribute or polle money of their children or of strangers Peter sayd vnto him of strangers then sayd Iesus vnto him the sonnes are free The second is Luke 22. 25 The Kings of the Gentiles reigne ouer them but it shall not be so among you To the first Orthodoxe Diuines answere that Christ in that place speakes of himselfe and so prooues directly that hee needed not to pay tribute for that hee was the Sonne of a King yea the Sonne of God which is the King of Kings Hee was not bound by the Law yet out of his obedience and loue that hee might not offend the receiuers of poll-money He commanded Peter to fish for a peece of twenty-pence saying that take and giue vnto them for mee and thee And it is well obserued that Christ neuer did any miracle about honour or moneys except this one in giuing tribute to Caesar and Mat 22. 21. Hee commands expresly to render vnto Caesar the things of Caesars and his Apostle S. Paul in this Chapter exhorteth vs to pay tribute to whom tribute custome to whom custome honour to whom honour is due To the second place the Kings of the nations reigne but yee not so wee say that Christ in saying so prohibited neither titles of honour nor ruling but only so ruling that is such a tyrannous kind of gouernment as the Gentile Kings vsed and that ambitious desiring of the same which reigned in them and that Christ ought to bee so construed is playne by three reasons collected out of the context it selfe 1. Hee saith Matth. 20. 25. and Matth. 10. 42. Yee know that the Kings of the Gentiles speaking of these Rulers they knew they were Tyrants and oppressours as Pontius Pilat who condemned Christ an innocent in whom he found no fault and Herod Antipas who beheaded Iohn the Baptist a lust and holy man whom hee reuerenced and in many things heard willingly at the request of his Minion and Herod the great who had butchered all the male children in Bethlehem and in all the coastes thereof from two yeeres old and vnder and out of a pretence to worship eagerly sought to worry Christ in his cradle Yee know that these kings now reigne but ye not so that is I would not haue you so to reigne 2. Catecurienemi vsed in Mat. ind Marke signifies not simply to gouerne but to tirannize so Musculus Erasmus Aretius Beza in their annotations and so the word is vsed in other places of the new Testament as namely 1. Pet. 5. 3. and Acts 19. 16. 3. Christ expoundeth himselfe thus in the words immediatly following Let the greatest among you bee as the least and the chiefe as hee that serueth As if hee should say the Kings of the natious are Tyrants in their gouernment making mischiefe their Minister and Lust their law But I would haue you to beare rule so moderatly that euen the Soueraigne may behaue himselfe as a seruant and the master as a Minister I would haue Princes among you to bee nursing Fathers vnto the Church and Prelats among you to be Pastours of my people Secondly the fond Anabaptists impugning the Magistrats authority that they might insanire cum ratione be mad as it were with reason argue 1 From examples affirming that most Princes abuse their authority to the dishonour of God and hurt of the common wealth as Nimrod Pharao Nabuchodonosor Saul Rehoboam and that after the diuision of the kingdome nothing of Israel was good Answere is made 1. That Princes are not generally bad Adam Noe Melchisedech Abraham Isaac Iacob Ioseph Moses Iâ—…sua were men of God and good gouernours So were most of the Iudges of Israel and many Kings of Iuda Now Christ in the new Testament who chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and the weake things of the world to confound the mighty things and things that were noâ—… to bring to nought things that are suuffered his deare people to bee persecuted by cruell Emperours for the space of 300 yeeres that his Church might appeare to bee the plant of his owne hand and not the worke of man in the Primitiue times as Augustine notes Christ would haue that part of the second Psalme to be fulfilled The Kings of the earth stand vp and the rulers take counsell together against the Lord and against his anoynted But in succeeding ages another part of the same Psalme to be verified Bee wisâ—… now O yee Kings bee learned yee that bee Iudges of the earth for hee raysed vp Constantine Gratian Theodosius Charles the great Ludouicus pius and many moe among which I may not forget Blessed Queene Elizabeth and our renowned King Iames to bee nurses vnto his Church by which hee defended his seruants as it were with a shield Psalme 47. 9. 2. Though it should bee granted that most abuse their authority yet that abuse proues not their calling either vnlawfull or vngodly gluttons and drunkards abuse dayly meate and drinke yet both are the good creatures of God Heretikes abuse dayly the Scriptures vnto their condemnation and yet the Gospell is the power of God vnto saluation adulterers abuse marriage
dayly yet wedlocke is Gods institution and worthy to bee honoured among all men and though vngodly Princes abuse their Empire Yet the powers that bee are ordeyned of God And in this case let vs alwayes remember the saying of Gregory secundum merita subditorum disponit Deus corda praepositorum Almighty God in whose hand the hearts of all Kings are disposeth of them according to the merits of their people so that if higher powers be not good it is for our sinnes and for our saks who gouerne our owne families ill and our persons worse 3. Bad Princes often benefit the State more then hurt for many good Lawes haue bene by them enacted and many good deeds acted in the dayes of vsurpers and impious gouernours Finally it is better to haue a bad King then none according to that of Solomon Vbi non est gubernator corruit populus Where no gouernour is the people perish For whereas in a corrupt Monarchie there is one Tyrant in an Oligarchie some few Tyrants In a Democratie many Tyrants In an Anarchie all are Tyrants And it is vndoubtedly more safe to liue in a place where nothing is lawfull then where all things are lawfull a bad husband is better then none the worst Emperour is the Minister of God and if thou be wise for thy good Their second reason is ab efficiente from the founder author of authority for they maintain that Magistracie is not ordeyned giuen of God but only vsurped by men so wee read that Nimrod and Nabuchodonosor and Caesar by vexing and oppressing their countrey became Kings as a Pirat told Alexander the great I am called a robber on the Sea because I sayle in a little boate but you are called Emperors because you infest and spoyle the whole world with a great Naâ—…ie the difference is not in our fault but in our fortune To this obiection answere is made Prouerb 8. 15. By me Kings reigne Dan. 2. 37. The God of heauen hath giuen thee a kingdome power and strength and glory And St. Paul in this present Chap. at the 1. verse There is no power but of God The manner of getting kingdomes is not alwayes of God for Alexander the 6 obteined the Pope-dome by giuing himselfe to the deuill Phocas by sedition got his Empire Richard the third came to the Crowne of England by butchering his Nephewes and other of the blood Royall Yet the power of it selfe is euer from God as Christ told Pilate thou couldest haue no power except it were giuen thee from aboue So some kingdomes in respect of their wicked ends which vsurpe them are most vniust as Augustine writes Latrocinia Yet in respect of Gods purpose and prouidence who brings light out of darkenesse and disposeth of wicked men and wickednesse it selfe to his good ends They bee iust and necessary Salmanazer Senacherib Nabuchodonosor and other Tyrants oppressing Gods Israel and leading them into captiuity did herein offend with an high hand and yet almighty God ordered their ambition and cruelty to the setting foorth of his greatnesse and to the good of his chosen And therefore God sayd of Nabuchodonosor that hee was his seruant and of Cyrus that hee was his anoynted whose right he did vphold to subdue nations before him and of Ashur that he was the rod of his wrath Esay 10 â—… Their third reason is taken ab origine that one man should haue dominion ouer another was not so from the beginning in the state of innocency but after the fall of man in the state of sinne God sayd at the first vnto man rule ouer the fish of the Sea and ouer the soules of the Heauen and ouer euery beast that mooueth vpon the earth He sayd not exercise gouernment one ouer another Answere is made that if Adam had continued in his innocency yet notwithstanding there should haue beene higher powers and that is plaine by these three reasons 1. There should haue beene generation encrease and multiply Gen. 1. 28. Ergo Disparity of sexe necessarily preceding generation and Disparity of age necessarily following generation If disparity of sexe the woman is subiect vnto the man in Gubernatione though his mate in generatione the husband is the wiues head as Christ is head of the Church Ephes. 5. 23. If Disparity of age following generation necessarily then also Disparity of wit and goodnesse for euen in that estate men vndoubtedly should haue bene wiser then children and some men excelling other in grace Now the light of nature teacheth vs that the young is to be gouerned by his elder and he which is lesse good by those which are more good and hee which is a little wise by those which are a good deale wise See Thom sum 1. part quaest 96. art 3. Secondly wee say there bee certaine distinctions and degrees of Angels in the quire of heauen as reading in Holy Scriptures of principalities and powers and thrones and dominations and Seraphins and Cherubins and Belzebub is termed Prince of deuils Matth. 12. 24. Which authority he did not obtaine by sinne but had in the beginning ouer those spirits that fell with him If then there bee subiection and Soueraignty betweene the blessed Angels in heauen why should there not haue beene the like among men in the state of inocency Thirdly politique gouernment is so neessary for mankind that without it his nature would be destroyed because man is by nature a sociable creature and what society can there be without order Beastes are both armed and clothed by nature by nature they build their nestes and by nature they be Physitians vnto themselues by nature they can liue alone without others company But man is borne naked ful of wo ful of wants not able to helpe himselfe to cloth himselfe or feed himselfe or arme himselfe so that it is impossible for him to liue alone the which his very speech bewrayes for had hee bin borne to liue solitarily hee should not haue needed any language Well then if mans nature require societie doubtlesse society requires gouernment for what is society but a multitude well ordered consisting of some that command and others that obey Thus I haue shewed against Anabaptists and Libertines that the Magistrate is the Minister of God instituted by him in the beginning and to bee continued in his Church vnto the worlds end I come now to the Papists who although they well allow the calling of the Ciuill Magistrate yet doe they curtall his power exempting from his censure both Ecclesiasticall persons and Ecclesiasticall causes As for the Persons of the Clergie wee say with our Apostle Let euery soule bee subiect vnto the authority of the higher powers Euery soule that is euery man putting the principall part for the whole So Gen. 46. 27. All the soules of the house of Iacob which came into Aegypt are seuenty that is as Moses expoundeth himselfe Deut. 10. 22. Seuenty persons and