more for I will deliver my flock from their mouth that they may not be meat for them Ezek. 34.1 to 11. I shall insist no longer on the Magistrates Duty at present but come to his Due which is contained in those four Particulars mentioned in the Description of Magistracy Power Tribute Honour And Obedience with two Restrictions applicable to them all First The Proportion what is due Secondly The Reason Therefore I shall begin in the next Chapter with the Power of the Magistrate CHAP. VII Treating of the Power which the Magistrate is to be entrusted withall shewing that he is to have so much Power as is adequate to the end of Government relation of a publick Servant and duties of his place and that he hath no right to any Power contrary to that I Am now come to the Magistrates due or to treat of what is due to him from the People which is principally comprehended in four particulars I shall begin with the first Power By the word Power I mean not Authority but strength sufficient for the performance of that trust God and the People have reposed in him which by the Greeks is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by the Latines Vis and differs from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Authority which is mentioned Rom. 13.1 Because Power is a means of carrying on or executing Authority And therefore that word translated Power had been better rendred Authority For the Power or Strength which the Magistrate hath put into his hand is mentioned afterward in the 4th Verse under the name of a Sword And the Magistrate is said to bear the Sword because it is delivered into his hand for the performance of his duty But to be more plain in this particular I shall shew you what Power is the Magistrates due and what not 1. Then Positively The Magistrate is to have so much Power or Strength as may conduce to the Glory of God and Good of the People as is adequate to the End of Government For otherwise the Office were a vain thing if it were not invested with Power sufficient to answer the End of its Institution 2. So much Power as is adequate to the relation he is in That is a publick and painful Servant Of God and To the People For to make a Servant and give him too little Power for the relation you set him in were to set up a man of straw or the Picture of a Magistrate 3. So much Power as may enable him to perform the duties of his place to execute Justice to Punish those that do Evil and Reward those that do Well Rom. 13.4 And to defend the Nation in general and every one in particular under his charge Thus all both Superiour and Subordinate Magistrates must have Power sufficient to perform the Duties of their several stations and the Trust which the People repose in them This I think none will deny but the question will principally be what Power the Magistrate ought not to have For the greatest inconveniences of Governmently in the excess of the Magistrates Power I shall therefore spend most time about that 1. Then Negatively The Magistrate is not to have any Power which is for the Peoples hurt he was made for their good and no reason he should have any power for their hurt power enough to make the People slaves when ever he pleaseth to persecute them for doing well to take away their Estates Liberties or Lives unjustly this Power is not his due because it is contrary to the End for which he was made The Peoples good Rom. 13.4 It is a madness in any People to suffer their Magistrates to take so much Power into their hands as doth enable them when they please to hurt and oppress the People it were not safe to trust the best man alive wiâ—h so much Power as to be able to injure us if he would for it is a common thing for Governours to play the Hypocrites begin to govern well till they have cunningly established themselves and got power enough into their hands to oppress the People and then begin to Tyrannize Thus did Nero himself his first five years he reigned well And Tyberius did the same but when they had established themselves in the Throne and were possessed of as much Power as they thought sufficient murdered the Senators oppressed the People and committed all manner of outrages 2. The Magistrate is not to have so much power as is unsutable to his Relation of the Peoples Servant to have so much Power as to make himself their Lord If a People will be so unwise as to give the Magistrate Lordly Power they may well be sure he will use it to their thraldom and do we not find it by woful experience this day what are we better than slaves when upon any pretence of the Court they fetch Men out of their Houses where they are peaceably following their Callings and though they have nothing to charge them withall yet send them away to Prisons where they keep them to the utter undoing of them and their Families how many hundreds have been thus dealt withal since these men have had this exorbitant Power in their hands Is not this the very highest slavery when Men dare not pray or preach or meet together to worship God but they are haled to Dungeons Oh England this could not have been if thou hadst been so wise as to have kept thy Power in thine own hands and given no more to thy Servants than is sufficient to perform thy service 3. Magistrates should not have Power to pervert Justice and destroy a Land their duty is to execute Justice and defend us and are they not bereft of Reason who would give them Power to destroy and undoe us For a People to give the Power of the Militia into the hands of the King is by interpretation a giving away of their Birthright and exposing their Lives Liberties and Estates to his will For if the King may command the Militia as he pleaseth what Tyranny is too hard for him I deny not but the King is to bear the Sword for execution of Justice and defending the People but to have the Militia wholly at his disposal is not that Sword due to him for that is to have power to make the People slaves when he pleaseth And do not we find the sad effects of this at present when the Walls of our Cities are thrown down in a time of Peace after an Act of Indemnity which are the strength and defence of our Land in case of a Forreign Invasion Object We see this now but it is too late the Parliament have given the Power of the Militia to the King and since all Authority is against us what can we do Answ The Parliament are our Servants as well as the King we chuse a King to govern us for our good to preserve our Lives Liberties and Estates we chuse a Parliament send them up to consult our Safety to
cast into the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death Prov. 21.6 What shall be given unto thee or what shall be done unto thee O thou false tongue sharp arrows of the Mighty with coals of Juniper Psal 120.3 and 4. If you do not speedily repent know that you shall cry out one day for a drop of Water to cool this lying flattering tongue But I know what your wicked hearts will answer Let us alone till then and we care not know therefore that not onely God but the People will abhor you the Lord hath denounced that curse against you Prov. 24.24 He that saith to the wicked thou art righteous him shall the People curse Nations shall abhor him 2. The just and lawful Titles of Good Magistrates are not due to wicked Magistrates but they forfeit their right thereto by their Tyranny and Oppression or other misgovernment And therefore we find the Prophets Christ and Apostles giving to wicked Magistrates Titles of ignominy and disgrace suitable to their merits Elijah tells wicked Ahab to his face Thou art he that troubleth Israel 1 King 18.18 Elisha calls King Jehoram The Son of a Murderer 2 Kings 6.32 Isaiah calls the Rulers of his time Rulers of Sodom Isa 1.10 Ezekiel calls the King of Israel Prophane wicked Prince Ezek. 21.25 Christ calls Herod Fox and bids them go and tell him so Luke 13.32 Paul calls the Roman Emperor A Lyon 2 Tim. 4.17 Yea the Apostles and many thousands of Christians together for so the company of Believers was Acts 2.41 with one accord in their Prayers mention Herod and Pontius Pilate by name spread their wickedness before God and desire the Lord To behold their Threats Acts 4.27 It was no wonder the holy Prophets were so persecuted by wicked Rulers since they were such faithful plain-dealing men that knew not how to give flattering Titles unto them but called them Rulers of Sodom Troublers of Israel Sons of Murderers and Prophane wicked Persons No wonder the Governours looked upon Christ and his Apostles with an Evil eye and punished them as Seditious men since they called them Foxes Lyons and gave them such reproachful Titles as they had deserved They hated plain-dealing and reproof as all Tyrants do and would be sure to suppress that spirit if they could which dared presume to reprehend their wickedness and yet these holy Men were not afraid to give them Titles of dishonour answerable to their merits Oh you wicked flatterers that daub with untempered morter and flatter great Men for advantage see here what the holy Prophets and Apostles did and take shame to your selves for your filthiness Wo to him that calleth good evil and evil good that putteth Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness Isa 5.20 Who justifie the wicked for reward and take away the Righteousness of the Righteous from him Your root shall be rottenness and your blossom dust The Lord is no respecter of Persons and hath forbid us to be so If Kings or great Men be wicked they deserve to be called as they are Nay take notice of this that when the Christians in their assembly lift up their voice with one accord to God and boldly prayed to the Lord To behold the Threats of Herod and Pontius Pilate whom they mentioned by Name relating their wickedness the Lord shewed how exceedingly he was pleased therewith in that as soon as the prayer was ended the place was shaken and they were all filled with the holy Spirit and great Grace was upon thâ—â— all Perhaps if there were more boldness in the Assemblies of the Saints at this day in bearing a faithful Testimony for God against these wicked Rulers there would be a greater Presence of the Spirit of God among them and greater measures of Grace upon them And in like manner have the faithful Servants of the Lord in all Ages born their Testimony against the wickedness of their Rulers The Title which John Knox that famous Servant of Jesus Christ and eminent Instrument of the Scotish Reformation frequently gave to the Tyrannous Queen who ruled the Land was Bondslave of Satan and he constantly prayed in publick in words to this purpose That God would deliver her from the Power of Satan to whom she was now a bondslave John Hus that glorious Martyr of Jesus Christ was not afraid to affirm to the Emperors face That wicked Kings were not worthily Kings before God Acts and Mon. Vol. 1. Pag. 807. And pag. 813. he sayes That Subjects and common People ought openly and publickly to detect and reprove the Vices of their Rulers having Power given them of Christ and Example of Paul so to do The Bishop of Burgen in his Oration which he made in the Counsel of Basil layes down this assertion It is absurd for a King to be of more Authority than his Kingdom and he that ruleth not for the Good of his Subjects is not to be counted a King but a Tyrant Eleutherius in the Letter which he sent to Lucius King of this Island about 170. years after the Death of Christ affirms the same in these words A King hath his Name of Ruling not of having a Kingdom and so long shall you be a King indeed while you rule well which if you do not the Name of a King shall not remain with you but you shall lose it Acts and Mon. Vol. 1. Pag. 139. Which Eleutherius is in high esteem by Ecclesiastical Historians for the Eminency of his Wisdom and Piety both as indeed that very Epistle doth sufficiently evidence he deserves to be Thus you see several eminent Lights in the Church of God concur in the same Perswasion That wicked Magistrates have no right to the Titles of such Magistrates as rule well Nay the Antient Laws of this Nation give full testimony to this Truth For in the Chapter of the Laws of King Edward commonly called the Confessor by whom most of the good Laws we enjoy were made treating of the duty of the King the Law saith thus The King because he is the Vicegerent of the highest King is appointed for this purpose to reverence and rule the Kingdom the Lords People and holy Church and to defend them from injurious persons to pluck away evil-doers utterly to scatter and destroy them which if he doth not perform the Name of a King shall not agree to him but he looseth the title of a King Well then let no man be so foolish and perverse as to charge this assertion with novelty or singularity for you see what abundant Evidence there is both from Scripture and Reason That a wicked and unrighteous King forfeits his right to the Title of a King And though the perfidious Parliament or rather mock Parliament have lately betrayed their own Trust and our Liberties making it Treason for us to mention the cruel Tyranny and Oppression we groan under yet by
is one and the same they are both Servants to the People though in a different kind of Service Object But are not Magistrates called Gods How then can they be the Peoples Servants Sol. That is a Metaphorical Expression spoken not by way of Property but Resemblance we know Magistrates are not properly gods it were blasphemy to say so the names or attributes of God cannot without blasphemy be given to them it were blasphemy to call a King Jehovah or Lord God or the like or to give him any of God's Properties Omnipotent All-wise All-sufficient Eternal or the like they are called Gods because true Magistrates do in some higher Measure than private persons resemble the Wisdom Power and Justice of God which is the utmost can be proved from that Title this doth no way contradict their proper Title of Servants to the People For when a Magistrate is a terror to evil works and a praise to good Rom. 13.3 he is a Servant to the People for good ver 4. and in this service of his he represents the justice of God who rewards every man according to his works We must beware of straining Metaphors the proper title of the Magistrate which describes his relation is a Servant Of God To the People The Metaphorical Title of God describes his Virtues and Duties the Wisdom Faithfulness and Justice which a true Magistrate is indued with and rules in and the proper and metaphorical Titles are not repugnant to each other but this observe by the way that he that is destitute of those Virtues or neglecteth those Duties wherein a true Magistrate resembleth God may be more justly called a Devil than a God because he resembleth the Devil more than God If it be said that an unrighteous Magistrate by reason of his great power and external glory resembleth God I answer It is false for God hath no unrighteous or oppressive power neither hath given any such to Magistrates and therefore there is no resemblance between the power of a Tyrant or Oppressor and the Power of the Most Just and Righteous Jehovah The same I say of his external Glory for the Glory of God is in his Wisdom Justice Faithfulness and other attributes and the Works of Goodness Mercy and Righteousness which he doth which the outward powers and splendor of an unrighteous Magistrate doth no way resemble but it doth most aptly resemble the power and glory of the Devil whose Servant he is and whose works he doth Object But if the King be the Peoples Servant why is it that we read so often in Scripture that the People were used to salute the King with this Title My Lord the King and say they were his Servants Sol. Those are expressions of courtesie and respect commonly used not only to the King but private persons yea sometimes our inferiors Rebecka calls Abrahams Servant My Lord Gen. 24.18 Jacob calls his Brother Esau My Lord eight times in two Chapters Gen. 32. and 33. Obadiah calls Elijah My Lord 1 Kings 18.7 13. The very same Title that is usually given to the King and the same word in the Hebrew in all these places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Levite in a way of courtesie sayes to the old man that came from his work out of the field Thy Servant Judg. 19.19 It is used so Gen. 42.10 2 Kings 1.13 and Chap. 2.6 And so it is to be understood when we read the People call the King My Lord and say they are his Servants it is an expression of courtesie not that they are in a strict and proper sence and in point of duty his Servants or the King their Lord for it is nothing so Thus we read 1 Kings 12.4 the People come and tender their Service to Rehoboam upon condition that he would ease them of their burdens they came with respectful courteous language unto him and thought to win him thereby but when he refused to perform his duty to them they make him know that in a strict and proper sence they were his Masters and could punish him for his faults and did deprive him of his Crown ver 16. And so the Parliaments of England and often the People without the Parliament have in their Addresses to the King given him the Title of Lord in a way of honour and respect but when he hath refused to perform his duty to them and endeavoured by his unlawful Prerogative to abridge them of their Liberties they have made him understand his Relation and by force of Arms asserted their own Priviledges and sometimes compelled the King to perform his duty other times deposed him from the Government as the People of Israel did Rehoboam upon the same account and so have most if not all the Nations in the World done the same How common a thing is it in our ordinary Salutations to say we are such a ones Servant in a general and respective sence and in point of courtesie whose Servant we are not in a strict sence and point of duty Object But why may not Princes be Lords over the People as well as Masters Lords over their Servants for the word translated Master Ephes 6.5 Col. 3.22 signifies Lord Sol. 1. Because the Servant is inferiour to his Master and by his place obliged to serve his Master but here it is the contrary for the Magistrate is inferiour to the Commonwealth because he is made by and for them and his Office as I have shewed before is to be a Servant to the People Now a man cannot be in one and the same respect Lord and Servant 2. The Master pays the Servant his wages so doth not the Magistrate the People but the People pay him his wages So that this Objection is justly retorted upon those that urge it and in stead of proving the Magistrate to be the Lord and the People to be Servants proves the contrary that the Magistrate is the Servant and the People Masters Which not only the Philosophers and wise sort of the Heathens understood but many of the greatest Emperors in the World have confessed Augustus Caesar one that had the Empire of the world of whom we read Lu 〈…〉 1. would not suffer the People to call him Lord. Tiberius Caesar who succeeded him in the Empire of whom we read Luk. 3.1 forbid any man to call him Lord and took it as a reproach cast upon him for any one to call him so And in an Oration he made to the People he useth these words I have often do still afirm that a good and virtuous Prince whom you have entrusted with so great and large authority ought to serve the Senate and all the Citizens often and many times particular Persons neither do I repent of what I have said And I have acknowledged you for my very good and favourable Lords and do still acknowledge the same Thus you see the greatest Emperors of the world confessing themselves to be the Peoples Servants and the People their Lords or
assert our Liberties and Priviledges to make Laws for the Glory of God and our Good these our Servants conspire against their Masters and have wickedly robbed us of our Power and shared it among themselves we are no more bound to submit to their unjust and most prefidious Acts than a Master is bound to stand still and let his Servant give away his Goods and undoe him What Authority had a Parliament to give away our Birthrights to enslave the Corporations and Counties that sent them up to assert their Freedoms and to expose us to the lusts of wicked Oppressors to give away the Militia of the Land to the King to he disposed of for our slavery for who knowes not that it is put into the hands of bloody Papists and Sons of Cruelty and Oppression in most parts of the Land Did God give them this Authority who dares so to blaspheme Did the People give them any such Commission not in the least and therefore I conclude they had no authority at all to do it That they have no authority from the People I make good thus 1. There is no People can be supposed to be so destitute of reason and such Enemies to themselves their Little-ones and Posterity as to send up Trustees to enslave them and undoe them to give away their Birthrights and Priviledges to expose their Lives Liberties and Estates to Tyranny 2. If any People should be so foolish to send up Trustees with a Commission of this nature yet it were unlawfully done it were against the Law of God and Nature and the Grant it self null and void It were a wicked and treacherous thing for any man to give away the Power of preserving his own but especially his Wise his Children and Posterities Lives Liberties and Estates because both the Law of God and Nature oblige a man to preserve all these to give away the power of self-defence from my self is most abominable treachery to my self To give it away from my Wife and Children is most cursed and unnatural treachery to them and if a man should give away this Power to another yet the other hath no right to it by that grant it is as if it had been never given There are two infallible Maximes which make this good Whatever a man gives if it were not in his power to give it is not obliging But it is not in our power to give away self and family-defence and therfore if a man should do it yet the grant were not obliging Another Maxime as certain is that Against the Law of God or Nature nothing binds But to give away the Power of Self and Family-defence to a King or Parliament or both or to any other Person or Persons is against the Law of God and Nature And therefore if a People should be so ignorant as to do it yet it doth not at all bind them Suppose a Man should give the King or Parliament an absolute Power over himself his Wife and Children and they should come to ravish his Wife or murder his Children before his face were he bound to stand still and suffer it no such thing the Law of God and Nature binds him to rescue his Wife and Children if it be in his power notwithstanding that unlawful Act of his in giving them away before The Parliament had no Authority from God to betray our Rights and Liberties for God ordained Magistrates not for our hurt but good Rom. 13.4 They could have no authority from us because the Law of God and Nature obligeth us to defend them and therefore there is indeed nothing but a pretence of Authority which is as meer a cheat as any in the world and we have the same right to all our Freedoms and Priviledges that we had before they gave them from us and as soon as we can it is not only our Liberty but Duty for the sake of our Wives Children and Posterity to resume them again and to turn these unfaithful Stewards out of our Service with wages suitable to their merits The Lawyers say there are some cases wherein though the King make a Grant to a person by his Letters Patent yet nothing passeth to the Patentee I am sure if Scripture or Reason or both may give Judgement in our case though the Parliament have given away our Birthrights perfidiously to the King yet nothing passed of right to the King thereby The Parliaments giving our Birthrights to the King is just of as much force as if the Convocation of Prelates or Council of Bishops should give our souls to the Devil they have as much Power to do the latter as the Parliament have to do the former for both are against the Law of God and Nature and the King hath just as much right to our Liberties by the Parliaments Donation as the Devil hath to the souls of those whom the Bishops excommunicate and curse Let us not be such Children in understanding as to be frighted with a Pretence of Authority to oppress us for they have no other Authority but what is derived from the Devil and our perfidious Servants the Parliament who have sold us for nought CHAP. VIII I Come from the Power due to the Magistrate to the Tribute and I shall resolve this as I did the former 1. Positively 2. Negatively 1. Positively First So much Tribute as is necessary for prosecuting the Ends of Government viz. the Glory of God and Good of the People that is due to the Magistrate and the People are in justice bound to render unto him Secondly So much as is suitable to the Relation he is in Servants must have sufficient Wages to perform their Service yea it is their due in point of Equity Magistrates are our Servants and Wages competent to their Office is their due from us Many Towns Cities and Nations have been destroyed because their Magistrates had not Wages enough to perform their Service Constantinople was made a prey to the Turk by the Covetousness of the Citizens who would not furnish the Emperor with Money sufficient for the defence of the City Thirdly So much Tribute as is necessary for the several Duties of Magistrates is due to them to carry on Justice and protect the Land which varies according to the greatness of their trust and various Emergencies of publick affaires which is the rule by which the Magistrates Wages is to be proportioned 2. Negatively What-ever Tribute is indeed hurtful to the People is not due to the Magistrate because it is contrary to the End for which Magistracy was ordained he was made for their good therefore they are not bound to maintain him to their hurt If a Magistrate will have a Tax to maintain a standing Army which shall keep the People in slavery they are not bound to pay it because it is for their hurt If a Tax should be levied for building Pauls or any other Superstitious business which is burdensome to the People they are not bound to pay it