Disputes as it is now most necessary Tho God appointed David King yet he was to be chosen by the People 2 Sam. 5. 1. So Solomon 1 Chron. 29. 22. and tho the Crown of right did belong to David's Family yet the People did choose which of the Family best pleased them and that by a double Obligation as may appear by the History of Joas 2 King. 11. 4. and 17. For the King and the People by a Solemn Oath did promise to God that they would keep his Laws both Ecclesiastical and Civil Afterwards there was another Oath between King and People at which time there was a Right in the People i. e. Ordinibus Populi to call him to Account whom they had ordained King if he performed not his Duty Which is made out by Examples If it were lawful for David to defend himself from the Tyranny of Saul and for the City of Libnah the City of the Priests and inferiour Magistrates only to withdraw themselves from the Obedience of Joram the sixth Successor from David because he had forsaken the Lord God of his Fathers which City belonging to the Priests it is very apparent that their case was far different from that of the Idumaeans which hapned at the same time under the same King for it is not likely that the Edomites withdrew themselves from the Subjection of the Israelites that they might serve God whom they never served but hated him and the Israelites but desired to free themselves from thier Subjection But the Priests and Inhabitants of Libnah not being able to serve two Masters God and the Tyrant threw of his Yoak that they might the better serve God will it not naturally follow that the States of a Kingdom may lawfully defend and free themselves from Tyranny The Fact also of the Rulers over Hundreds with the Captains by the Advice of Joida against Athalia and of the Israelites against Amasia 2 King. 14. 19. whom they slew which was not seditiously but lawfully done for it is no where said that Amasius was slain by his Servants as it hapned to his Father Joas and to Ammon the Son of Manasses but by the common consent of Jerusalem and that not treacherously the end of most Tyrants but by publick force and publick Authority not tumultuously but after he had fled to the City Lachish from whence his Body was carried to the Sepulchers of his Fathers which is confirmed for that after his death we do not read of any Inquisition made how he came to be slain or that any Body was punished or called in question for it either by the People or his Children as there was for Ammon and Joas 2 King. 12. 10. 14. 5. 21. 24. but on the contrary in respect to Kingly Dignity and his Fathers Family they chose Azariah his Son King. Hence we may conclude that the chief States or Ordines of Jerusalem had a rightful Power to choose a King out of the Family of David whom they pleased and when elected him either to eject or punish according as he did or did not observe the Laws So the Danes dethroned and imprisoned Christiern their Tyrant King till he dyed and chose his Uncle in his room It is not unknown how Gustavus Erickson freed himself and his Subjects from their Subjection to the Danes and also how they kept their King Captive for Male-Government which they translated to his Brother To say nothing of England and Scotland Poland keeps its ancient Right of choosing their Kings on certain Terms and Conditions with this Salvo That it may be lawful to be quit of their Oath if the King keep not his as it may appear by their Election of Henry Brother to the King of France which agrees with Bishop Valentine Procurator for the King in that Election who in his Oration to the People publickly made and printed commended them for that they did limit and circumscribe the Power of the King by wise Laws So the Venetians whose General Council hath Authority of choosing their Duke reserving Power to themselves of deposing or punishing them if he endeavour or do any thing Tyrannically So the Venetians constitute their Duke not as an Idol but as a Prince and Monarch from whom without any danger of Tyranny all the Lawful Priviledges and Prerogatives of Kings do issue and flow Now as their General Council have all the Authority of choosing him observing their ancient Rites and Customs used therein so the same Council retain to themselves the Right of deposing or punishing him if he govern Tyrannically without which Power all the rest would signifie little So consider that Wise and Prudent Nation of Spain In the Fourth Council of Toledo cap. 74. held 1144. according to Sigibert's Computation and consisted both of Ecclesiasticks and of the States of that Kingdom it is thus recorded viz. Nullus apud nos sub presumptione regnum arripiat c. Let no Man presume to take upon him the Government of this Kingdom no Man move or stir up Sedition among the Citizens no Man design the Destruction of the King but when the King dies let the Princes and Peers of the Nation with the Priests constitute the Successor in Common Council that whilst Unity and Concord are preserved amongst us no Discord may arise But if this Admonition do not quiet our Minds and move our Hearts to endeavour the common Good then hear our Sentence Whoever of us or of all the People of this Nation shall by any Conjuration or Study violate the Sacrament of his Faith or Allegiance which for the State of his Country and of the Gothick Nation or for the Preservation of the Welfare of the King he had promised or plighted or shall compass the Kings death or divest him of his Power or by any Tyrannical Presumption shall attempt or usurp the Crown Let him be Anathema Accursed in the sight of God the Father and his Angels and from the Catholick Church which by Perjury he hath profaned and from all the Company of Christians with all his Associates in iniquity be for ever debarred because it must needs be that the same Punishment is due to all the Complices and Companions in the same Crimes which we again the second time repeat Quod iterum secundo replicamus dicentes quicunque à modo c. And therefore may it please all here present by your consent to confirm this Sentence the third time by the Universal Clergy or People it is pronounced that whoever shall presume against this our definitive Sentence Let him be Anathema Maranatha i. e. Accursed at the coming of the Lord and that he and his Fellows may have their Portion with Judas Iscariot Amen Wherefore we admonish the whole Church of God and the People that no Man presume to condemn this dreadful Sentence but that they keep their plighted Faith towards our glorious King Sisenand c. And we humbly require thee our present King and all future Princes that
People and that there is not any one Law either in the old or new Testament that makes any exception or exemption or to free one more than another from censure if a Transgressor either against God or Man. To assert that God hath reserved to his own Tribunal the punishment of Kings and Princes more than others so as to free them from being called to an account and censured here on Earth is a false Maxime without sound reason or good authority Examine the Gospel and see if that doth allow that which the Law doth not and whether the Divine Herald of Liberty inward and outward or civil to all Christians do deliver us up also Captives and Slaves to Tyrant Princes without a power or liberty to extricate our selves from such Slavery and Thraldom We read in the Gospel that Christ at his coming should scatter the Proud Imaginations of their Hearts and put down the Mighty from their Thrones Luke 1. 51 52. but no where that he did establish the Thrones of Tyrants for good government Christ himself was born under Tyrants suffered under them made himself of no Reputation took upon him the form of a Servant and thereby purchased for us an honest and just liberty as to bear with patient minds a necessitated servitude but we no where read that he took away from us our just powers of procuring our own Liberties when oppressed but rather confirmed them Art thou called being a Servant care not for it but if thou mayst be made Free use it rather Ye are bought with a price be not ye the Servants of Men. 1 Cor. 7. 21 23. In vain therefore is the example of Christ brought for our enduring of such servitude who by the price of his Servitude purchased and confirmed our civil Liberties Christ having asked Peter at Capernaum of whom do the Kings of the Earth take Custom or Tribute of their own Children i. e. their Citizens or of Strangers i. e. though under a conquerred condition Peter saith of Strangers Jesus saith unto him then are the Children free notwithstanding least we should offend them pay for me and thee Matt. 17. 25 26 27. Thus much rationally and naturally may from hence be concluded viz. That Christ and Peter as private Persons paid Tribute to Caesar though they had no obligation to pay it nor Caesar any just right to require it yet because they would give no offence but would be at quiet and avoid trouble Christ did command payment But from hence it never can be concluded that whole Kingdoms or Commonwealths being unjustly oppressed with exorbitant Taxes contrary to Law and without their consent are therefore obliged to pay them or that they are thereby forbid or hindred to right and relieve themselves Whether by Children are meant the Citizens or Subjects of Kings according to some or by Children be meant the Children of God the whole Race of Christians according to St. Austin it matters not if Peter was of the Children or Citizens he was therefore free We also Christ testifying are free likewise either as Citizens or as Christians God certainly would never give his Vicegerents or Patres Patriae as they desire to be esteemed authority to oppress those whom he would not tyrannize over himself and for whom he made the whole Creation for their comfort and solace no nor yet so unlimited Powers as that if they did oppress or tyrannize they should by no means for such their Tyranny be questioned which is an absurdity of the same nature as great as the other Is it not a wonderful injury to Gods infinite wisdom grace and goodness towards man to suppose that God should appoint Kingly Government and oblige him to keep Laws for the well government of his Charge as his Vicegerents for whose good he is set over them and yet at the same time if he violate them all he may do it without contradiction till the day of Judgment and to aggrevate the injury they endeavour to support that injury by wresting his own word by coyning evasions and creating subtleties to overshaddow the true and genuine meaning thereof and foysting false glosses upon them No doubt but when a fair opportunity offereth it self to an oppressed People to extricate themselves out of any Tyranny Gods Providence is therein manifested and it s their own fault if they make not use of it Is not Gods Image as manifestly seen in man as Caesars on the Coyn Is not as much respect and regard to be shewed to Gods Image as to Caesars I appeal to all rational men if it be not an injury of the same nature to give Kings and Princes power to do what they list or to swear them to keep Laws and yet in the same breath to leave them accountable to God only at the day of Judgment and so leave the governed to be without remedy Caesars have their Rights and the People have their Rights also Caesars are the Ministers of God to the People for their good and to see that all render to all their reciprocal dues not to take them away from them and in those things wherein they minister otherwise they are not Ministers of God but of the Devil Rom. 13. 4. 7. The Liberty and Freedom of the People is their propriety both by the Law of God and nature born with them and ought not to be defrauded or deprived thereof by any subtilties but the rights and powers of Kings over the People are given them by the People either expressly or implyed and to be always understood for their good the Inscription upon Coins doth not confer any more right to Kings than unto the People it only denotes its intrinsick value and that it is pure and without base mixture or allay Christ therefore in this place did not so much demonstrate Subjects duty towards Kings as to tax the Pharisees who feigned themselves Just Men and took council to entangle him in his talk cogging with him crying Thou art true and teacheth the way of God in truth c. of malice and wickedness designing to betray him by taking hold of his words that so they might deliver him to the power and authority of the Governor Luke 20. 20. and therefore put that captious question to him is it lawful to give Tribute to Caesar or is it not But he knowing their Hypocrisy answered them accordingly Mark 12. 14. 15. Thus sophistically by false reasonings and counterseit glosses on plain Texts of Scripture what is it less or other then to represent the great God of Heaven and of Earth a Deceiver of his People whilst he sets Kings over us as his Ministers for our good and yet at the same time to allow them a Latitude to tyrannize over them at their pleasure without controll Can men gather Figs of Thistles or Grapes of Brambles then may these men gather such false conclusions from such right premisses as cannot yield them It s undeniable that God never gave any Power to
JVS REGIMINIS BEING A JUSTIFICATION OF Defensive Arms IN GENERAL And consequently of Our Late Revolutions AND TRANSACTIONS TO BE THE JUST RIGHT OF THE KINGDOM LICENS'D June 17. 1689. J. FRASER LONDON Printed in the Year MDCLXXXIX Benedictus sit prae caeteris Principibus Wilhelmus Henricus D. G. Magnae Britanniae Franciae Hiberniae REX Qualem nec viderunt Avi nec visuri sunt Nepotes qui advenerit ad Auxilium Jehovae contra potentes Papicolas Antichristianos tyrannorum pessimos Benedicta sit prae caeteris Heroinis MARIA Regina conjux Regni Consors Communicatis Imperii fascibus fruantur illi Sceptro Britannico Parentes liberorum laeti Aurei Seculi Authores Macti virtute conculcate Inimicos Religionis Protestantium Legum Anglorum Libertatum Parliamenti ut nomina vestra eant in Mille saecula sciantque posteri filii nascituri surgentes enarrent filiis suis semper fugiant infesti Osores à conspectu vestro Sic comprecatur sic vovet omni supplex humilitate WILHELMUS DENTON M. D. Majestatum vestrarum subditus humillimus ADVERTISEMFNT TO THE READER THIS Treatise hath been written several Years and kept close because the Government would not bear such Prints and might still have lain snug but that I daily see great endeavours by various Prints and Pamphlets casting false glosses upon a good Cause designing to bring us back to Onyons and Garlick and to Popery the worst of Tyranny Among which Prints the History of Passive Obedience at first view seems to carry in it's Front for its better countenancing of Non-resistance the most flourishing shew of our Articles Injunctions Canons Homiles Liturgy both our Universities Bishops Martyrs Confessors c. Which at first view presents a wonderful and an amazing cloud of Witnesses ready to confound the Doctrine of Resistance and Defensive Arms without farther Inquiry and to make good that enslaving Doctrine of Passive Obedience absolutely absolute without reserve of which I shall make but one or two plain Remarks leaving the rest to better Pens 1. Granting all the Quotations to be true yet are they to be understood of private Men and of private Authority only and not of Ordines Regni States and Kingdoms and Commonwealths 2. Calvin though quoted in this History as an Assertor of such Passive Obedience of which he Treats very Learnedly giving it all its just Allowances and Dimensions yet concludes notwithstanding all those specious Expressions which seem to favour Passive Obedience That he is to be understood always speaking of private Men For if there be at this time any Magistrates for the behalf of the People as the Ephori amongst the Lacedaemonians or Tribunes at Rome as the Demarchi at Athens or the same Power also which peradventure as things are now the Estates have in every Realm when they hold their Dyets Parliaments principle Assemblies he doth not forbid them according to their office to withstand the outragious licentiousness of Kings And farther he affirms That if they wink at Kings wilfully ranging over and treading down the poor Commonalty their dissembling is not without wicked breach of Faith because they deceitfully betray the Liberty of the People whereof they know themselves to be Protectors appointed by the Ordinance of God. Calvin Instit lib. 4. c. 20. par 32. Likewise his Quotation of Dr. Jackson in the Chapter of the Bounds of Christian Obedience will serve his turn as little as that out of Calvin for in the same Chapter p. 929. it being objected to him by the Author of the Prince and Prelate That many besides the Separatists and Enthusiasts many of note in reformed Churches have published in writing that Kings and Princes may in some cases be deposed which saith Dr. Jackson if spoken universally their Doctrine is false and for such condemned by our Church if thus they taught indefinitely only as that some Kings some chief Magistrates may be deposed he knows no Church that justly condemns them But for Divines to determine or dispute what Princes in particular may be deposed or in what cases is matter without their Commission unless commanded by their Princes p. 927. And I think he knew the Doctrine of this and other Churches as well as the Author of this History So Bishop Jewel explains St Paul and himself in the very same Quotation viz. That whosoever striketh with the Sword by private Authority shall perish with the Sword which Opinion if rightly considered is the sense or meaning of all or most of this Historians Quotations and are so to be understood Bishop Bilson how slightly soever represented by this Historian was as profound a Scholar and Divine as ever sate upon that See in his Book of Christian Subjection and Unchristian Rebellion treats of nothing else but of Passive Obedience and Non-resistance at large and no Man better or more solidly in defence of them yet will not rashly pronounce all that resist to be Rebels If a King should go about to subject the Kingdom to a Foreign Realm which happily is not much dissimular to our present constitution and transactions to change the Form of a Commonwealth from Impery to Tyranny or neglect the Laws established by common consent of Prince and People to execute his own pleasure in those and other cases if the Nobles and Commons join together to defend their Ancient Liberties Regiment and Laws they may not well be accounted Rebels very modestly expressed p. 520. And more at large to the same purpose may be read in several places of this Book which Opinion of these great and learned Men are a justification of the present Transactions of our Ordines Regni who have so considerable a share in the Government that no Law can or ought to be made without them And I may truly say without prejudice that those very Authors being all of the Historians own quoting have written as profoundly and solidly for Passive Obedience and Non-resistance as it will bear or that all his other Quotations do or can make out And Bishop Bilson that great Scholar and Divine printed his Book 1585. and dedicated it to Queen Elizabeth of ever blessed Memory whose happy Government was such as she did not think such Resistance unlawful and therefore she soon promoted him to be Bishop of Worcester Anno 1595. and soon after viz. Anno 1597. translated him to Winchester And I think these Men understood the Doctrines Articles Canons Liturgy Homilies Universities c. of this and of other Churches abroad as well as this Historian or as any of the other Authors as he hath named Besides Queen Elizabeth did not only approve the publication of such Doctrines in her Government but being willing to avoid the Curse that bitter Curse of Meroz on her and her Kingdom she gave this farther Testimony and Demonstration by her owning and countenancing such Resistance and by her enâ—ring into Contract with the Protestants of France against the Mighty by sending Mony and
set a stranger over thee which is not thy brother 2. By the constant practice of the jews under the Prophets and since And not without this moral reason That one from among themselves being by their consent and suffrages set King over them that what Authority soever they grant unto Kings they may acknowledge to have had it from the People and therefore obliged more readily to imploy all their times studies strengths and endeavours for the good of them who set them over themselves to take the burden of the Government upon their Shoulders and therefore they consent to pay them all Honour allow them great Priviledges and Prerogatives and give them Munificent Tributes and Maintainance for the Support of them and the Governm nt and swearing Allegiance unto their Kings and the Kings swearing unto the People to keep Faith with them in the due performance and execution of the Laws already made and to be made The reason formerly set down doth warrant this viz. No Man hath or can have any lawful Power to Govern Kingdoms and States but he must have it either immediately from God himself which no Man now can possibly pretend unto or by consent of the Paâ—tâ—â—s The Elders of Israel being the representative 1 Sam. 10. 19. of the whole Kingdom for by that name are generally meant Centurions Captains Judges Princes of all the Tribes â—f Israel c. came to Samuel in Ramah desiring a King to 〈◊〉 in and out before 〈◊〉 like the Nations at whose instance Samuel did anoint Saul to be their King neverless Samuel that Saul might know that he was chosen by the People called all the Peâ—â—â— together in Mizpeh by their Tribes and by their Thousands where as if the farmer Election and Anointing had been insignificant they cast lots which â—ell upon the Tribe of Benjamin and Saul the Son of Kish was taken and all the People shouted and said God save the King 1 Sam. 10. 17 c. All which was done at the Peoples instanceâ— And lest the Election of the King should be attributed wholly to the chance of Lots all the People by the advice of Samuel some few grumbling Dissenters excepted having said Shall Saul reign over us 1 Sam. 11. 13. went to Gilgal and renewed the Kingdom there and made Saul King before the Lord in Gilgal ver 14. 15. Which manifests that though Saul was chosen by God himself and also by Lot yet was constituted confirmed and approved by the suffrages of the People God indeed before ever there was a King in Israel knowing that they would reject him and foolishly desire a King like all the Nations round about them prescribed Rules and Laws whereby they ought to Govern Deut. 17. So David Samuel Saul being rejected by God from Reigning over Israel by God's command anointed David at â—ethlâ—m whom God had chosen King over Israel Did David therefore Reign though so chosen by God himself and anointed by his own command No sure he was so far from it that he avoided the presence of Saul hiding himself from him and arming himself with the Sword of Goliah and armed Men against the evil designs which Saul had against him and fled from him wandring up and down and became as it were an exiled and Out lawed Person and was not King till Saul was dead nor then neither until all the People of Judah first chose him King of Judah by their suffrages And seven years after all the Tribes of Israel and all the Elders of Israel came â—o Hebron and made a Covenant with him before the Lord and then they anointed David King over Israel 1 Sam. 16. 13. 1 Chron. 11. 3. 2 Sam. 5. 3. Besides if Samuel's first anointing of David King had formerly made him King then either Saul was thereby deposed or else there were two Kings of Israel at one time which is monâ—â—ous to conceive for according to their Doctrine Kings have no Royal Power from the People but it is manifest David was not King for that after his being so anointed he oâ—ten called Saul the Lord 's anointed and that by the Inspiration of God's Spirit Moreover he neither challenged nor executed any Royal Authority till he was crowned King by all Israel at Hebron but was persecuted and hunted as a Partridge on the Mountains and that as a Rebel to Saul of which he acquitted himself when he had the Life of Saul in his power and yet would not take it which he justly might have done had he been really King and it had been a crime in him being King not to have executed his Royal Authority in doing Justice and Judgment by cutting off Saul a murtherâ—r who killed the Priests of the Lord especially seeing Saul according to such doctrine must be but a private murtherâ—r and David the only lawful King. Whereby it is apparent that not Samuâ—â— s Oil but the consent and suffrages of the People that made both Saul and David Kings Whereby it is apparent that though God appointed David to be their King yet not so Absolute but that he should be under and subject to agreements with his People and make a Covenant with them on tearms to which he should be obliged to perform with them as they with him and this before the Lord by which Covenant he was obliged to keep within the Boundaries which God and the People had set So David was twice anointed 1. By the Prophets by God's command in token of his Election 2. By the instance and suffrages of the People in Confirmation of his being constituted King by them 2 Sam. 4. 11. 5. 13. So it is true that by God Kings Reign yet so as not without the Peoples Consent Approbation and Covenants first had that he may Reign over them for their good Besides Kings receive not their Kingship immediately from God nor the Sword because the People were first girt with the Sword. Moreover will any Christian say that the Kings of Nations who lived without God in the World did Rule and Reign by Gods immediate appointment I trow not The like is observable in Constituting Solomon King who though David 's Son and God chose him to sit upon his Fathers Throne and to be a Father unto him as he had promised David 2. Sam. 7. 13 14 15. And though David had promised his People that Solomon should succeed him and sit upon his Throne yet this was not sufficient and therefore David assembled all the Princes of Israel and the princes of the Tribes and the captains of the companies and captains over the thousands and the stewards over all the substance of the possession of the King and of his Sons with the officers and with the mighty men and with all the valiant men which bear any publick office and as it were the representative of all Israel and consequently had a share in the Government and in the Election unto Jerusalem This great congregation made Solomon the Son of David King
the Earth to stay the Righteous with the wicked Gen. 18. 25. or take vengeance on the People for the Sins of the King the Soul that sinneth it shall die Ezek. 18. 4. Every Man shall be put to death for his own Sin Deut. 24 16. was it not rather because the People did not resist or restrain but assisted Saul their King violating the Law of God and wickedly persecuting the Man after Gods own Heart and killing the Priests of the Lord. Saul desiring to inlarge thē Borders of the Tribe of Judah at his entrance into Canaan broke publick Faith with the Gibeonites and destroyed many of them the Children of Israel having sworn unto them by which he broke the third Commandment God being witness to his Covenant with the Gibeonites he broke also the sixth Commandment and so the breach of both Tables God himself would revenge the breach of which Covenant and Oath was justly laid to Saul and his Family Now Saul being dead and David constituted King 2 Sam. 21. 1 2. God sent a Famine in the days of David three Years Year after Year upon the whole Land and David inquired of the Lord and the Lord answered It was for Saul and his bloody House because he slew the Gibeonites which Famine ceased not till David delivered seven Sons of Saul to the Gibeonites whom they hanged in Gibeah of Saul unto the Lord v. 6. 8. But was the Famine over all the Land for Sauls fault only No both King and People were both punished the one for breaking Covenant the other for not resisting and not hindring the King or as being accessary to do this Evil. How came it to pass that God never punisheth the sins of the King upon the People nor the sins of the People upon the King and yet he sent a Famine on the whole Land Saul the chief Actor being Dead and consequently Actio moritur cum persona but because the People suffered so manifest a Sin to be committed by their sinful connivance and used no endeavours to resist or hinder him as they ought Can Punishment by any right be inflicted on any for a Crime whereof they are not guilty Alieni secleris quenquam poenas pati Jura non sinunt 2 Kings 14. 6. Wherein did the Israelites sin if not by tolerating Saul to do as he did when they ought and might have hindred him When Menasseh had polluted the Temple of the Lord and shed Innocent Blood which the Lord would not pardon 2 Kings 24. 4. why did the Lord threaten not only Menasseh but his People with Judgments but because they being under the same Covenants with Manasseh they would not restrain the King from persisting in his wickedness but did connive countenance and assist him in his Impieties 2 Chron. 33. 17. Herod and Pilate condemned Christ the Priests delivered him to Death yet the Curse fell upon the whole Nation and why because the People might have delivered him as well as they did Barrabas and did not but impricated Curses upon themselves and their Children It is the duty of all Nations to take care not only that Criminals be punished but that no Crimes be committed which made Hezekiah pull down the Brazen Serpent though set up by Moses when it came to be abused 2 Kings 18. 4. It being the duty of the People by common consent to hinder Kings as much as in them lies from violating the Law of God and from injuring his Church and Saints and if they do not they are guilty of the same crime and liable to the same punishment Resist they may by opposing words to words force to force stratagem to stratagem always avoiding perfidiousness which is always disallowed and hateful to God and Man. For in War it matters not whether it be managed by open Force or secret Stratagems By People is not meant the Many headed-Monster-Multitude but by the Universal People is to be understood those who have any share in the Government or any Authority from the People conferred upon them by any Laws made by publick consent as inferior Magistrates either chosen by the People or any other way constituted to take care of publick Peace and concerns of the Laws of the Land and worship of God in their several qualifications be they Tribunes of the People Ephori Praefects Praetors Judges Justices of the Peace Constables Captains of Thousands Captains of Hundreds Captains of Fifties or other inferior Officers or Magistrates which are as Consorts of the Empire and are in the vacancy of the publick Sanhedrims Dyets Parliaments c. As it were the Epitome of every Kingdom and Ephori of Kings and Conservators of the Publick Peace thereof to and among whom all the publick concerns of a Nation are referred of which sort in a manner were the Seventy Elders in the Kingdom of Israel among which there was a Chief Priest which did judge de Arduis Regni which were not to be Hobby-horsed in and out by the High Priest according as they would or would not serve a sinister turn and they were chosen out of the Seventy Families which went down into Egypt the Elders of which were first chosen and made Heads over the People Rulers of Thousands Rulers of Hundreds Rulers of Tens and the hard causes they brought unto Moses Exod. 18. 25. We read often in Scripture of all Israel of all Judah and Benjamin c. when in all probability every Individual did not at all times meet of which sort and kind there is in all well constituted Kingdoms several Congregations of the Kingdoms Officers of the Kingdom as the Privy Council Peers Patricians Judges Sessions Assizes Lord Lieutenants Deputy Lieutenants Mayors Bayliff's of Towns and Cities as the ordinary Councils and Officers of a Kingdom and as Councils extraordinary chosen out of them all to consider de Arduis Regni which are Officers of the Kingdom and called by several names in several Kingdoms as Dyets Parliaments c. which provide that no detriment come to either Church or State in which tho' every individual be inferior to the King yet the Joynt Body being the Representative of the whole Kingdom is superior and to be preferred before him For as the Council of Basil and Constance decreed that a General Council was superior to the Pope and the Chapter to the Bishop for that they which receive any Authority from any Company of Men must needs be inferior to that Company though he be personally superior to every Individual of that Society So without all doubt Israel which petitioned for and chose Saul from among themselves to be their King as a publick Actor for the common good of them all was superior to Saul When we attribute any power to the People it is to be understood of the Officers Princes Elders Parliaments Dyets that have a share in the Government and in the Legislative Power Take Athaliah 2 Chron. 24. for an Example in which Act the Kingdom was not opposed but
Kings and Princes but what is just and right and equal Righteousness and Judgment are the Basis and establishment of his own Throne and shall Kings pretend to govern otherwise When the Pharisees pretending kindness but designing mischief to Jesus advised him to depart out of their Coasts for that Herod sought to kill him Luke 13. 32 33. Christ did not depart nor yet return any low pittiful answer but boldly answered Go tell that Fox I do cast out Devils and do cures to day and to morrow c. thereby intimating that Kings have no lawful Power to wrong their Subjects or to hinder any from doing good to others or their duty towards God though by Fox-like advisoes they usurp dominion beyond all just right and that God himself esteems them no other or better than Bruits according to Psal 49. 20. Man that is in honour and understandeth not is like the Beasts that perish now what is here meant by understanding is declared by Job the greatest man of the East Job 28. 28. The fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil that is understanding So David a King tells us the same Psal 111. 10. and so King Solomon the wisest of men Prov. 1. 7 8 9. ch 10. with promises of great Blessings He that feareth the Lord his soul shall dwell at ease and his seed shall inherit the Earth and the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant Psal 25. 12 13 14. All other wordly wisdom that hath not respect to eternity is but foolishness and bruitish and the esteem that God himself hath of the greatest men on earth without this wisdom is but as that of Bruits So John Baptist esteemed the Pharisees and Sadducees but as a generation of Vipers Matth. 3. 7. So God by Jeremy to the voluptuous when he had fed them to the full they then committed Adultery and assemble themselves by Troops in Harlots Houses they were as fed Horses c. Jer. 5. 8. So David Dogs have compassed me the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me Psal 22. 16. So Isaiah calls ignorant and blind Watchmen Dogs ye greedy Dogs Isaiah 56. 10 11. And Christ forewarned them not to give that which is holy unto Dogs neither cast Pearl before Swine Matth. 7. 6. So was Paul's caution to the Philippians 3. 2. Beware of Dogs beware of evil workers whereby it is apparent that there is no mean between a Saint and a Bruit be they great or small rich or poor Heaven and Hell will divide the whole world without respect of Persons And therefore the advice of David a King is to be followed Be ye not like Horse and Mule which have no understanding Psal 32. 9. A Bruitish man knoweth not neither doth a Fool understand this Psal 92. 6. All the Machiavilians and Leviathans and time-serving Pulpiteers of the world and their Council without such understanding are but as Bruits and Bruitish void of true sense and understanding Christ suffered under a Tyrant true but how could be suffer but under a Tyrant that feared neither God nor Man Christ came into the world in the form of a Servant and to suffer what for not to bring us under but to free us from the yoke of Bondage both Spiritual and Temporal Consider well the answer which Christ gave to the Mother of Zebedee's Children desiring that her two Sons might sit the one on his right the other on his left hand in his Kingdom viz. Ye know that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and they that are great exercise Authority over them but it shall not be so among you but whoever will be great among you let him be your Servant even as the Son of Man came not to be ministred unto but to minister Zebedee's Sons dreaming of a Kingdom that Christ should suddenly have on Earth and affecting to be chief in that Kingdom and next unto him there arose among them a strife through Pride cometh Contention who should be greatest among them whence that proud demand that one might sit on his right hand and the other on his left But Christ gently rebuked their proud aspiring humour and in them all Christians shewing that the Princes of the Gentiles did domineer and play Rex among their Brethren a temper very ill beseeming Christians but it shall not be so among you in whom the spirit of the living God should dwell but whoever will be great among you let him be your Minister and whoever will be chief among you let him be your Servant and made himself the great exemplar of so great humility who came not to be ministred unto but to minister of which he gave real testimony through the whole course of his life first coming down from Heaven his Imperial Residence then refusing to be made a King here on Earth when 5000 designed to have taken him by force to have made him a King. Then by washing his Disciples feet breaking Bread unto them And to consummate all he became obedient to death even that shameful death the death of the Cross for us men and for our Salvation and indeed the whole course of his Life was but administration of all good to all Rich or Poor without respect of Persons which is the proper duty of all Kings But it shall not be so among you i. e. Proud and aspiring domination ought not to be among Christians though they bear the glorious Titles of Evargitae or Benefactors nay of Emperors Kings or Princes Kings Christians especially though Kings by name and title yet in truth are but Servants to the governed So Moses who certainly had as great and as unquestionable authority over the Israelites as ever mortal had to whom God himself did dictate Laws yet did he never proudly domineer over them tho' provoked to the uttermost so that he desired God to kill him that he might not see his wretchedness to their prejudice or detriment but did bear the burden of them all carried them in his bosom as a nursing Father beareth the nursing Child and pleaded importunately with God himself to save them from destruction when the Fire of the Lord was consuming them at Taberah and prevailed worthy the imitation of all those who stile themselves Gods Vicegerents then should the governed have no oppression no complaining in our Streets but should every man sit quietly under his own Vine and under his own Fig-tree So Plato called Magistrates not Lords but Ministers and Servants of the People and calleth the People not Servants but Benefactors as those that allow and give them in gratitude and recompence for their service wherewithal to keep a Kingly State and Grandeur and depute them also their Conservators and Executioners of their Laws So Aristotle calls them Ministers and Keepers of their Laws the Apostles call them Ministers both of the Laws of God and of the People and no doubt but they are so
substract from their Princes what they please nostrum est ferre modice Populi voluntates c. It is our duty modestly to submit to the good wills of the People So Tertullian in his Apolegetico to an Ethnick Emperor boklly told him that an Emperor ought not to be called Lord Augustus saith he Imperii formator ne dominum quidem dici se volebat hoc enim Dei est Cognomen c. Augustus was the Founder of the Empire and yet would not be called Lord because it was the Sir name of God Almighty and if he be Father of his Countrey how can he be Lord thereof O but Athanasius the Egyptian Bishop says that it is a most wicked nefarious thing to call Kings of the Earth before Tribunals What then when the Authority of Men though had in great veneration are trumpt up to justify any opinion without producing the grounds and reason of such their opinions it is but magnificum nihil makes a noise and a pudder but neither proves nor convinces Here 's not a word out of Scripture to prove it and in this there 's as little credit to be given to Athanasius as when at the end of his Creed he boldly affirms that that Creed to be the Catholick Faith which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved A Creed which many doubt whether he understood it himself or be yet intelligible to any other however to place the certainty of Salvation upon such mysterious expressions believe it quicunque vult I am sure vulgar capacities cannot reach it and they are the greatest part of Christians So St. Ambrose of a Proconsul and Catechumen called to be Bishop of Milan is brought upon the Stage to serve the same turn either unskilfully or flatteringly interpreting against thee only have I sinned Psal 51. 4. who would have all People subject to the Emperor and yet the Emperor be subject to him How did he treat Theodosius the Emperor forbidding him to come into the Church thereby demonstrating himself to be a Novice i. e. newly come to the faith from being a Proconsul and a Catechumen in the Doctrine of the Gospel and lifted up with pride whom at last prostrate at the Bishops feet having obtained his pardon and restored to the participation of holy duties and standing without the Rails magisterially and sawcily told him O Imperator interiora loca tantum Sacerdotihus attributa quae caeteris contingere non licet In this his demeanour he shewed himself rather a high Priest of Jewish Rites and Customs than a true Bishop of the Gospel who ought to be blameless and not lifted up with Pride lest he fall into the condemnation of the Devil I wonder in what Gospel the Bishop found such authority to be his right to treat Emperors after such a rate This Bishop attributed absolute dominion to the Emperor over others but it seems reserved Power over the Emperor to his own Tribe of Prelates and therefore repulsed Theodosius as subject to him saying Coaequalium hominum es Imperator conservorum unus enim omnium Dominus Rex Creator Very well the Murder is now out that mystery which the subtilty and craft Ecclesiastick had long kept in the dark the indiscreet to say no worse Zeal of this otherwise Pious Learned Bishop hath brought to light And this very St. Ambrose being commanded by Valentinian the Emperor to depart the City of Milan refused to obey and being compassed with a company of Armed People he defended himself and House against the Emperors Commanders and so resisted the Supream Powers against which he had taught As to that place of the Psalmist Psal 51. 4. Against thee only have I sinned whereof before certainly every Individual hath the same right to the same Plea and then I appeal unto and adjure all Ecclesiasticks plainly to tell us if Kings should treat their Wives or Daughters after the same rate whether they do really and truly believe that Kings so treating them as David did Vriah did sin only against God and not offend them also Surely they dare not be so confident as to assert it no offence to them and yet such there are If this be currant Doctrine in this particular it will as certainly hold in all other Sins such Priests as preach such Doctrines do manifest themselves to be Priests of Baal rather than Priests of the most High God. What mischiefs such Preachments have done in the Christian world let the world it self be Judg look upon allthe Courts and lives of all Emperors Kings and Princes Christian and tell me if we may not very probably judge by their Lives and Governments that they think their Authority an Immunity from all obedience to the Laws of God and Man and no wonder when such Parasites and Sycophants Preach and Print such Doctrines That evil Kings are constituted by God be it so and so are all other evils shall there be Evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it Amos 6. and yet the same Prophet bids us hate the evil and love the good and therefore for that reason have they God only for their Judge What above all Laws written and unwritten natural and divine and by no Laws to be called to Account by their Subjects and be found guilty though so Wherefore certainly no Law of God forbids it no Law excepts or exempts them Reason Right Justice Religion true Policy and Government reprove all indifferently without distinction or respect of Persons I have not as yet read or known any Law written or unwritten natural or divine brought to forbid the same And why should not reproofs and censures of sin and vices and wrongs be executed against them because forsooth though wicked yet are constituted of God wretched perverse reasonings I have created the Waster to destroy Isaiah 54. 16. Are Destroyers therefore above all Laws Consider well with your selves if the reasons and consequences be not the very same How many Kings in Scripture constituted by God himself have we known punished and that by Men Are not Popes Tyrants in the Church after the same manner constitued by God as prima sedes anemine judicabitur 77 and yet how powerfully can the same men plead for dethroning them and yet plead impunity for Kings Tyrants How ridiculous is it to plead thus against Baal whose Province is conscience only to be removed out of the Church and yet Tyrants over our Bodies Lives and Fortunes Consciences and Liberties must be continued without control If otherwise then Kingdoms and States would be turned topsy turvy be it so if for the better why not If Tyranny and abuse of Power must still continue setled on its Dregs and Lees then Actum est A Dieu to all the happiness of the Governed if things once reduced quo jure quave injuria unto an il habit or figure must they for ever so continue without contradiction God forbids it the same power be it in free States or