his natural capacity that is 2. Reason as he is Charles the Son and Heir apparent of King James when as homage cannot be done to any King in his politique capacity the body of the King being Coke l. 7. Calvin's case invisible in that sence 3. Because in that case it is expresly affirmed that the King holds the Kingdom 3. Reason of England by birth-right inherent by descent from the bloud-royal therefore to shew how inseperable this right is from the next in bloud Hen. the 4. though he was of the bloud-royal being first cozen unto the King and had the Crown resigned unto him by Rich. the 2. and confirmed unto him by Act of Speed l. 9. c. 16. Parliament yet upon his death-bed confessed he had no right thereunto as Speed writeth 4. Because it was determined by all the Judges at the Arraignment of Watson 4. Reason 1. Jacobi and Clerke that immediately by descent his Majesty was compleatly and absolutely King without the Ceremony of Coronation which was but a Royal Ornament and outward Solemnization of the descent And it is illustrated by Hen. 6. Speed l. 9. c. 16. that was not crowned till the ninth year of his Reign and yet divers were attainted of High Treason before that time which could not have been done had The right heir to the kingdom is King before he is crowned Why the peoples consent is asked 2. Respect he not been King And we know that upon the death of any of our Kings his Successor is immediately proclaimed King to shew that he hath his Kingdom by descent and not by the people at his Coronation whose consent is then asked not because they have any power to deny their consent or refuse him for their King but that the King having their assent may with greater security and confidence rely upon their loyalty 2 As the Kings of Israel had full power and authority to make war and conclude peace to call the greatest Assemblies as Moses Joshua David Jehosaphat and the rest of the Kings did to place and displace the greatest Officers of State as Solomon placed Abiathar in Sadoâ—'s room and Jehosaphat appointed 2 Chron. 19. 11 The absolute authority of the kings of England Coke 7 rep fol. 25. 6. Polyd. Virgil. lib 11. Speed Stow c. Amariah and Zebadiah rulers of the greatest Affaires and had all the Militia of the Kingdom in their hands so the Kings of England have the like for 1. He onely can lawfully proclaim war as I shewed before and he onely can conclude peace 2. There is no Assembly that can lawfully meet but by his Authority and as the Parliament was first devised and instituted by the king as all our Historians write in the life of Henry the first so they cannot meet but by the king's Writ 3. All Laws Customs and Franchises are granted and confirmed unto the people by the King Rot. Claus 1. R. 2. n. 44. 4. All the Officers of the Realm whether Spiritual or Temporal are chosen Smith de repub Angl. l. 2. c. 4. c. 5. and established by him as the highest immediately by himself and the inferiour by an authority derived from him 5. He hath the sole power of ordering and disposing all the Castles Forts The absurdities of them that deny the Militia to the King and strong Holds and all the Ports Havens and all other parts of the Militia of this kingdom or otherwise it would follow that the king had power to proclaime war but not to be able to maintain it and that he is bound to defend his subjects but is denied the meanes to protect them which is such an absurdity as cannot be answered by all the House of Commons 6. The kings of Israel were unto their people their honour their Soveraigns their life and the very breath of their nostrils as themselves acknowledge and so the kings of England are the life the head and the authority of all things that be done in the Realm of England supremam potestatem merum imperium Smith de Repub l. 2. Cambden Britan p. 132. apud nos habentes nec in Imperii clientela sunt nec investituram ab alio accipientes nec prâ—ter Deum superiorem agnoscentes and their Subjects are bound by Oath to maintain the kings Soveraignty in all causes and over all persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil and that not onely as they are singularly considered but over all collectively represented in the body politick for by sundry divers old authentick Histories and Chronicles it is manifestly declared and expressed that this Realm of England is an Empire and so hath been accepted in the world governed by one supream head and king having the dignity and royal In the Preface to a Stat. 24. Hen. 8. cap. 12 estate of the Imperial Crown of the same unto whom a body politick compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided in terms and by names of spiritualty and temporalty have been bounden and owen to bear next to God a natural and humble obedience 3. As the duty of every one of the kings of Israel was to be custos utriusque tabulae to keep the Law of God and to have a special care of his Religion and 3 Respect then to do justice and judgment according to the Law of nature and to observe all the judicial Laws of that kingdom so are the kings of England obliged to discharge the same duties 1. To have the chiefest care to defend the faith of Christ and to preserve the The duty of the kings of England honour of Gods Church as I shewed before 2. To maintain common right according to the rules and dictates of Nature And. 3. To see the particular Laws and Statutes of his own kingdom well observed amongst his people To all which the king is bound not onely virtute officii in respect of his office but also vinculo juramenti in respect of his Oath which enjoyneth him to guide his actions not according to the desires of an unbridled will but according to the tyes of these established Laws neither do our Divines give any further liberty to any king but if he failes in these he doth offend in his duty 4. As the kings of Israel were accountable for their actions unto none but 4 Respect Psal 51. 4. onely unto God and therefore king David after he had committed both murder and adultery saith unto God Tibi soli peccavi as if he had said none can call me to any account for what I have done but thou alone and we never read that either the people did call or the Prophets perswaded them to call any of their The kings of England accountable for their actions only to God I Reason Smith de repub l. 1. c. 9. 2 Reason most idolatrous tyrannical or wicked kings to any account for their idolatry tyranny or wickedness even so the kings
put away their strange Wives according to the Law The second of Christians and indeed of most Christian Kings and Princes that is of Queene Elizabeth's assisting the Hollanders against the King of Spain and of King Charles assisting the Rochellers against the King of France To both which examples and all other things that are conteined either in the Covenant it selfe or the exhortation of the Assembly thereunto annexed I do understand there shall be a full and a perfect answer made by one that hath undertaken the same ex professo yet give me leave in the interim to say this much 1. What vows and covenants are allowable First touching Covenants and Vowes it is plain enough that although the superior may with Ezra cause the inferior to Vow or swear the performance of his duty that he is bound by the law of God and nature to performe Gen. 24. 3. so Abraham caused his servant to swear fidelity when he sent him for Isaack's Wife And so the King may cause his Subjects to take the Oath Numb 20. per totum of their Allegiance and the lawful General cause his Souldiers to swear their fidelity unto him yet the inferior subject can not swear or if he swears he ought not to observe it when he doth it contrary to the command of him that hath command over him as you may see in Numb 30. throughout Therefore as children may not vow any thing though it be never so lawful contrary to their Fathers command or if they do they ought not to keepe it so no more may any Subject Vow or make a Covenant contrary to their Kings command or if they do they ought not to observe it and they are as you see absolved by God himself If you say Ezra and the Jewes did it contrary to the command of Artaxerxes Ob. Sol. 1 that was then their King I answer that it is most false for 1. Ezra was the Priest Nehem. 8. 2. and 9. and the chief Prince that was then over them and Nehemiah had his authority from the King and he was the Tirshatha that is their governour saith the text Nehem. 10. 1. and therefore they might lawfully cause them to take that Covenant 2. They had the leave and a large commission from Artaxerxes to do all that they did as you may see * See Ezra 7. 11. 22 c. 3. For so the text saith Let it be done according to the Law Ezra 10. 3. neither can you finde any syllable that Artaxerxes forbad them to do this in any place 3. This Covenant of Ezra and his people and Nehemiah's was to do those things that they had covenanted before to do which God had expresly commanded them to do and which they could not omit though they had not covenanted to do it without great offence so if our covenanters swear they will serve God and be loyal unto their King as they vowed in their baptisme they shall never finde me to speak against them but to propose a lawfull Covenant to do those things that God commandeth and is made with the leave and commission of the supreme Prince to justifie an unlawfull Covenant to do those things that were never done before never commanded by God but forbidden both by God and especially by the King in the expressest termes and most energeticall manner that might be is such a piece of Divinity as I never read the like and such an argument a dissimili that never schollar produced the like 2. The examples of Queen Elizabeth and King Charles answered 1. By way of Divinity 2. For the examples of Queen Elizabeth and King Charles assisting Subjects for their Religion sake against their lawfull Princes two things may be said the one in Divinity the other in Policy First for Divinity I say vivendum est praeceptis non exemplis we have the sure word of God to teach us what we should do and no examples unless they be either commended or allowed in Gods word ought to be any infallible patterne for us to follow 2. By way of Policy Secondly for Policy which may be justified to be without iniquity I doubt not but those men which knew the secrets of State and were privy to the causes of their actions are able to justifie the proceedings of these Princes in their assistance which perhaps they did not so much simply in respect of their Religion as of some other State Policy which we that are so far from the helme have no reason to prie unto Besides you may know that neither King Charles nor Queen Elizabeth were Subjects to the other Kings but were every way their equall if not more and independent Princes And to bring the actions of such absolute Monarchs the one How wickedly they deceive the simple against the other to justifie the actions of Subjects against their Soveraigne is such Logick as the other example was Divinity Queen Elizabeth did so against the King of Spain ergo any Subject may do so against his king or rather Queen Elizabeth did that which for ought we know was most lawfull to be done against the king of Spain ergo the Earl of Essex may do that which we do know to be most unlawfull against King Charles This is the doctrine that they teach their Proselytes but that they give this poyson in a golden cup and hide their falsehood under a shew of truth but I hope ere long you shall have these things more fully manifested unto you CHAP. XX. Sheweth how the Rebellious Faction for swore themselves what trust is to be given to them how we may recover our peace and prosperity how they have unking'd the Lords anointed and for whom they have exchanged him and the conclusion of the whole AND now having committed all these things and much more wickednesse then I though I had the tongue of Angels can expresse I am perswaded many of them seeing the miraculous mercies of our God in protecting and assisting His Majesty far beyond their thoughts and imaginations do begin to think on peace and accommodation which they presuming on the Kings lenity made sure to themselves whensoever they pleased and indeed dâ—lce nomen pacis and the Esay 52. 7. feet of them that bring tydings of peace are more specious then the fairest countenance Psal 85. 10. Rom. 1. 7. 1 Cor. 3. 2 Cor. 2. c. of Aurora then the sweet face of Helen But seeing righteousnesse and peace have kissed each other and the Apostle joyneth grace and peace alwayes together as two deare friends saith S. Aug. so deare that si amicam pacis non amaveris neque te amabit pax ipsa and these men are filled with all unrighteousnesse and have trampled the grace of God and their King under feet and having sworne and forsworne themselves over and over as at their baptisme that they would keep Gods Commandments whereof this is one to be obedient unto our Rom.
Government of the Common-wealth CHAP. VIII That it is the Office and Duty of Kings and Princes though not to execute the function and to do the Offices of the Bishops and Priests yet to have a speciall care of Religion and the true Worship of God and to cause both the Priests and Bishops and all others to discharge their duties of Gods service And how the good and godly Emperours and Kings have formerly done the same from time to time BUt as God hath given unto the Kings and Princes of this world a Power and Authority as well over his Church and Church-men be they Prophets Apostles Bishops Priests or what you will as over the Common wealth and all the lay persons of their Dominions So they ought and are bound to have a special care of Religion and to discharge their duties for the glory of God the good of his Church the promoting of the Christian Faith and the rooting up of all Sects and Heresies that defile and corrupt the same for as Saint Augustine saith and I shewed you before In Aug. contra Crescon l. 3. c. 51. hoc Reges Deo serviunt herein Kings and Princes do serve God if as they are Kings they injoyn the things that are good and inhibit those things that are evil and that Non solum in iis quae pertinent ad humanam Societatem sed etiam ad divinam Religionem and again he saith that Kings do serve Idem Epist 48. Christ here on earth when they do make good laws for Christ and Athanasius said unto the Emperour Jovinian Conveniens est pro principe studium amor rerum divinarum It is meet and convenient for a good Prince to study and love Heavenly things because that in so doing his heart shall be alwaies as Solomon saith in manu Dei in the hand of God and Saint Theodoret l. 4. c. 3. Cyrill tells the Emperours Theodosius and Valentinian that Ab ea quae erga Deum est pietate reipublicae vestrae status pendet the state and condition of Prov. 21. 1. their Common-wealth doth wholly depend according to that piety and Religion which they bear towards God Because as Cardan truely saith Cardanus do sapientia lib. 3. Summum praesidium Regni est justitia ob apertos tumultus Religio ob occultos Justice is the best defence of a Kingdom and the suppressor of open tumults because righteousness exalteth a Nation and Religion is the only Protector and safety against all secret and privy Machinations because as Minutius Minut. Fâ—l in Octav. Foelix saith What the Civil Magistrate doth with the sword of justice to suppress the nefarious doers and actours of wickedness Religion rooteth The want of the fear of God the only thing that maketh Rebells out and suppresseth the very thought of evil which a Godly and a Religious man feareth as much and more then a wicked and prophane man doth dread the punishment of his offence and so Religion Piety and the fear of God keepeth the very hearts and souls of the subjects from swelling against their Soveraign and from the least evil thought of Rebellion and it is the want of the fear of God and true Religion whatsoever men pretend that makes Rebels and Traytors in every place because the true Religion Rom. 13. 1. tels us plainly that every soul that is every man unfainedly from his heart should be subject to the Higher Powers And the true Religion teacheth us as Tertull. saith Colere Imperatorem ut hominem à Deo secundum Tertul. ad Scapul solo Deo minorem To acknowledge and to serve the Emperour and so our King and our Prince as the next person to God and inferior to none but to God When as he is Omnibus major solo Deo minor above all men and below none but only God And therefore it is most requisite that all Kings and Princes should have How requisite it is for Kings to have a care to preserve Religion care of the true Religion and the service of God and with the Prophet David to build Temples and Churches for him that hath given their Crowns and Thrones unto them and to provide maintenance for those servants of God that serve at his Temple as they do for those that serve themselves and so both to be Religious themselves and to see that their subjects so far as it lieth in them should be so likewise and this their own piety and goodness in the service of God will make them famous amongst all posterities and their names to shine as the Sun when as Saint Ambrose saith Nihil honorificentius quà m ut Imperator filius Dei dicatur nothing Ambrosius Epist 32. can be more honorable then that the Emperour or King should be named and called the Son of God which is a more glorious Eâ—logie then Homer The fruits and benefits of maintaining true Religion in a kingdom could give to the best Heroes of all Greece or that Alexander Julius Caesar or the like could atchieve by all their military exploits or the best domestick actions that they have done and their making provision for the Teachers of the true Religion and the promoters of Gods service the Bishops and Ministers of Christ his Church which makes their subjects both Loyall and obedient unto them and also Religious towards God will preserve the peace and procure the happiness of their Kingdoms And according as God hath given this Authority and laid this charge How many former kings were very zealous to uphold Religion upon all Kings and Princes to have a care of his Religion and the Ministers of his Church so we find very very many both in former times and also of latter years and so both of Gentiles Jews and Christians that were exceeding zealous for the Honor of God and the upholding of them that served at his Altar as 1. Gentile kings 1. The Gentile Kings as Pharaoh King of Egypt that in the extremity of that dearth which swallowed the whole Land he made provision for Gods Priests so that they neither wanted means nor were driven to sell The great bounty of king Croesus to the god Apollo and to his Priests their Lands And so Croesus King of Lydia was so wounderfull zealous of the Honor and the worship of the god of Delphos and so bountifull to Apollo's Priests that Herodotus saith that he made oblation of three thousand choice Cattel such as might lawfully be offered and caused a great stack of wood to be made wherein he burnt Bedsteads of Silver and Gold and Golden Maysors with purple rayment and Coats of exceeding value and he laid the like charge upon the Lydians that every man should consecrate those Jewels which he possessed most costly and pretious from which their Sacrifice when as the streams of liquid and molten Gold distrained in great abundance he caused thereof to be framed half slates or sheards
like Demas imbracing this present World or like Baalam loving the wages of unrighteousness or perhaps doing worse then those Apostatizing like Julian and starting aside like Ecebolius or devising wicked Heresies like Arius or renting the unity of the Church like Donatus then as Solomon deposed Abiathar and divers of the good Emperours deposed wicked Pâ—pes and the godly Kings have pull'd down ungodly Bishops as our late Queen Elizabeth did degrade Bishop Bonner and divers other Popish Prelates so should all good and godly Kings reprove and correct and if they amend not expel and remove all scandalous and ungodly Bishops and the Bishops do the like to all deboyst and dissolute Ministers that so the old and sowre leaven may be purged out of Gods Church and the builders of Gods Tabernacle be like Bezaliel and Aholiab such as can and will do the work of the Lord carefully and Religiously CHAP. XIV Of the maintenance due to the Bishops and Ministers of Gods Church how large and liberal it ought to be THirdly When the Kings and Princes which are the Supreme Magistrates 3. To provide sufficient means for the Church-men and as Tertullian saith Homines à Deo secundi solo Deo minores are the men that are next to God in power and Authority and therefore ought to have the prime and chiefest care of Gods Honour and his worship in the Church of Christ have as I have formerly shewed with King David and Solomon provided that Temples and Churches be erected Colimus imperatorem ut hominem à Deo secundum so lo Deâ—minoâ—em Tertul. ad Scapulam and beautified as fit houses of God for his people and servants to convene and meet in them to Worship God and have likewise taken care in the next place to see that good men and godly Bishops be appointed over those Churches as their substitutes to Rule Govern and Teach the people of God how to live and to believe as they ought to do and to require the Bishops and Prelates also to see that all the inferiour Clergy do the like then that they may be inabled with joy and comfort to discharge their duties and to perform Gods service aright they should do their best indevour to see that there should be large and liberal maintenance provided and set out sufficiently for them to sustain and keep themselves and their families to keep Hospitality to relieve the poor and to do all the other works of piety and charity which they are injoyned to do and which without such means and maintenance they are no waies able possibly to discharge For if such liberal maintenance be not provided for them the want thereof will make the whole company of the Clergy men to be contemptible their names in obloquy and their unworthy and poor condition will fright away the better sort of men from imbracing this calling that in it self is so Honorable a function as to be the Embassadours of Jesus Christ for though the name of a Bishop and the Priest or Minister of Jesus Christ be great And Jâ—venal saith Quis enim vâ—â—wem amplectâ—tur ipsam Pâ—â—mia si tollas Juvenal l. 4. Satyr 10. and of great account in Gods book and with the Saints of God yet men are but flesh and blood whose nature is to be inticed and toled on with rewards as the best Sollicitors and mediators to spur them forward to undertake any profession and they are most apt and ready to undertake that which they see most profitable and makes them best able to live in the world And therefore Cicero the best of the Orators said Honos alit artes That Reward and Honor is the nourisher of Arts and Sciences and makes the Schollars to fall to their Study and Aristotle the chiefest of all the Philosophers confirmeth what the Orator said and addeth that Honos est praemium Virtutis Virtue and learning ought to be honored and rewarded and when it is rewarded it will flourish and be increased and Martial the best Epigrammatist justifieth what the others affirmed saying Sint Mecoenates non deerunt Flacce Marones Virgiliumque tibi vel tua rura dabunt Which I may with leave thus Translate Where Patrons well present their Clerks there Preachers will abound In every Town and Village then good Prophets shall be found And therefore the wisest men have alwayes promised great Rewards to all that would attempt any great Service as Caleb said He that smiteth Kiriath-sepher and taketh it to him will I give my daughter Achsa to wife Josh 15. 16. 1 Sam. 17. 25. 2 Sam. 5. 8. And Saul promised to do the like to him that vanquished Golias And so King David promised no small Reward to him that got up to the gutter and smote the Jebuzites in the siege of Hierusalem because the wages and reward that men expect for their labour are as the spurs that drive and prick them forward to every profession and to every work and great Exploit And on the other side when the World seeth the Ministers of the Gospel rewarded none otherwise now when we have a gracious King than the Levite in the old Testament was when there was no King in Israel with bare meat and drink and a single simple suite of apparel and ten Shekels of Judg. 17. 10. Silver which was his yearly pension for all his pains then as Juvenal saith Quis quis virtutem amplectitur ipsam Praemia si tollas Who will be willing to enter into the Ministery and to imbrace this high Calling especially when they do throughly perceive how this inexcusable covetousness the unresistable power of the men of War doth still increase more and more to eat up and like a canker to waste and consume the possessions of the Church and the maintenance of God's Ministers whereby the Honour of God is blemished his Worship obstructed the people deprived of the spiritual food of their souls and the poor of their relief and food of their bodies which the Bishops and Ministers of Christ if they were made able are bound to bestow upon them as the men that best know the duty of charity how acceptable it is in the sight of God For as when it was demanded Why there were no Professors of Physick Why there were no Physitians in Athens in the City of Athens whereby the whole Art and Profession was decayed the answer was made It was because there was no Reward or Stipend set out and allotted for the Teachers of that Science So when the reward and maintenance of the Bishops and Ministers is purloyned and taken away by Souldiers * For they are the men that hold our lands and seek to take our houses from us or any others then certainly the Ministery of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will insensibly decay And how the Church-robbers will answer this to God or defend themselves with their swords before him let them look unto it I would not be
the Statutes of England 25 Edw. 3. c 2. And as you know it was one of the greatest Articles for which the Earl of Strafford was beheaded that he had actually leavied warre against the King The Nobles and Gentry Lords and Commons of both Houses of Parliament in all Kingdomes being convicted in their consciences with the truth of this Doctrine do in all their Votes and Declarations conclude and protest and I must believe them that all the leavies moneys and other provision of horse and men that they raise and arm are for the safety of the Kings person and for the maintenance of his Crown and Dignity Nay more then this the very Rebels in this our Kingdom of Ireland knowing how odious it is before God and man for subjects to rebell and take armes against their lawful King do protest if you will believe them that they are the Kings souldiers and do fight and suffer for their King and in defence of his Prerogatives But you know the old saying Tuta frequensque via est per amici fallere nomen The Devil deceiveth us soonest when he comes like an Angel of light and you shall ever know the true subjects best by their actions farre better then by their Votes Declarations or Protestations for Quid audiam verba cum videam contraria facta When men do come in sheeps cloathing and inwardly are ravening wolves when they come with honey in their mouths and gall in their hearts and like Joab with peace in their tongue and a sword in their hand a petition to intreat and a weapon to compell I am told by my Saviour that I shall know them by their works not their words And therefore as our Saviour saith Not he that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven So I say not he that cryeth peace peace is the son of peace but he that doth obey his Prince and doth most willingly whatsoever he commandeth or suffereth most patiently for refusing to do what he commandeth amisse This is the true subject Well to draw towards the end of this point of our obedience to our Soveraign That is when the Commonalty guide the Nobility and the Subjects rule their King Governour I desire you to remember a double story The one of Plutarch which tells us how the tayle of the Serpent rebelled against the head because that did guide the whole body and drew the tayle after it whithersoever it would therefore the head yielded that the tayle should rule and then it being small and wanting eyes drew the whole body head and all through such narrow crevises clefts and thickets that it soon brought the Serpent to confusion The other is of Titus Livius who Titus Livius Decad. 1. l. 2â— tells us that when the people of Rome made a factious combination to rebell against their Governours Menenius Agrippa went unto them and said that on a time all the members conspired against the stomack and alledged that she devoured with ease and pleasure what they had purchased with great labour and pain therefore the feet would walk no more the hands would work no more the tongue would plead no more for it and so within a while the long fast of the stomack made weak knees feeble hands dimme eyes a faltering tongue and a heavie heart and then presently seeing their former folly they were glad to be reconciled to the Stomack again and this reconciled the people unto their Governours I need not make any other application but to wish and to advise us all with the people of Rome to submit our selves unto our Heads that are our Governours lest if we be guided by the tayle we shall bring our selves with the Serpent unto destruction And to remember that excellent speech of S. Basil The people through ambition are fallen into grievous Anarchie whence it happeneth that all the exhortations of their rulers do no good no man hath any list to obey but every man would reign being swelled up with pride that springeth out of his ignorance And a little after he saith that some sit no lesse implacable Basilius de Spiritu Sancto c. ult scil 30. An argument of obedience drawn from the fifth Commandement and bitter examiners of things amisse then unjust and malevolent Judges of things well done so that we are more brutish then the very beasts because they are quiet among themselves but we wage cruel and bloody warres against each other And let us never forget that the Lord saith Honour thy father and thy mother and I must tell you that by father in this precept you must not onely understand your natural father but also the King who is yâ—â—◠〈◊〉 cal father and the father of all his subjects and the Priest your spiriâ—ual father and those likewise that in loco patris do breed and bring you up 1 Chron. 2. 24. and though natural affection produceth more love and honour uâ—to those fathers that begat us yet reason and religion oblige us more unto the King that is the common father of all and to the Priest that begat us unto Christ then unto him that begat us into the world for that without our new birth which is ordinarily done by the office of the Priest we were no Christians and as good unborn as unâ—hristened that is unregenerated and What we are and should be without King or Priest without the King that is Custos utriusque tabulae the preserver both of the publick justice and of the pure religion our fathers can neither bring us up in peace nor teach us in the faith of Christ and therefore if my father should plot any treason against the King or prove a Rebel against him I am bound in all duty and conscience to preferre the publick before the private and if I cannot otherwise avert the same to reveal the plot to preserve the King though it were to the losse of my father's life and therefore certainly they that curse that is speak evil of their King are cursed and they that rebel against him shall never have their dayes long in the land but shall through their own rebellion be soon cut off from the land of the living For mine own part I have often admired why the subjects of King Whether for the liberty of Subjects we can be warranted to rebell In the dicourse of the differences betâ—ixt King and Parliament CHARLES should raise any civil warre and especially turn their spleen against him If any say it is for their liberties I answer that I am confident His Majesty never thought to bring any the meanest of his subjects into bondage nor by an arbitrary government to reduce them into the like condition as the Peasants of France or the Boores of Germany or the Pickroes of Spain are as some do most fâ—lsely suggest but that they should continue as they have been in the dayes
the whole Kingdom into my hands then they do all answer We are willing to do all this And then he saith again Therefore from hence-forth oris mei sermo gladius meus erit the word of my mouth shall be the sword of my power then all the people do applaud him And a little after he saith in ejus manibus seu potestate omnia sunt all things are in his hands and power no Aubarus l. 8. p. 141. man dare say this is mine or that is his no one man may dwell in any part of the Land but in that which is assigned unto him by the King Nomini licèt imperatoris verba mutare nomini latae ab illo sententiae qualicunque modo contraire and no man dares alter the Kings words nor gain say his sentence whatsoever it is And we read that the Turk is as absolute in his Dominions and as readily obeyed in his commands as the Tartar and yet these Subjects learn this duty of honour and obedience unto their Kings onely by the light of nature and if grace and the Gospel hath made us free from this slavish subjection should we not be thankful unto our God and be contented with that liberty which he hath given us but because we have so much we will have more * And as the Poet saith Like Subjects arm'd the more their Princes gave They this advantage took the more to crave Lucan lib. 1. and seeing God hath delivered us from the rage of tyrannous Kings we will free our selves from all government and disobey the commands of the most â—lâ—ment Princes We may remember the fable of the Frogs where they prayed unto Jupiter to haue a King and what was the success thereof omnia dat qui just a negat and he that undutifully denyeth his due obedience may unwillingly be forced to undue subjection as the Israelites not contented with just Samuel shall be put under an unjust Saul So God may justly deal with us for our injustice towards our King to deny that honour unto him which God commanded to be given and the very Heathens have not detained from their Kings But 3. â—est with Saint Paul we should be blamed though unjustly for bringing 3. Christians the uncircumcised Greeks into the Temple for alleadging the disorderly practice of blinde Heathens to be a pattern for these zealous Christians which thing notwithstanding our Saviour did when he preferred Sodom and Gomorrha before Capernaum yea Tyrus and Sidon before Corazin and Bethsaida we Matth. 11. 21. cannot want the example of good Christians and a multitude of most holy Martyrs 1. Christ himself exhibited all due honour unto wicked kings to shame the practice of these prophane hypocrites For 1. Christ himself the authour and the finisher of our faith never left any plainer mark of his religion then to propagate the same by patience as on the other side there cannot be a more suspitious sign of a false Religion then to enlarge it and protect it by violence and therefore when the Inhabitants of a certain Samaritane village refused to admit Christ and his Disciples into their Luke 9. 54. 1 Reg. 18. 2 Reg. 1. Town and so renounced him and his Religion James and John two principal members of his Court remembring what Elias did in the like case asked if they should not command fire to consume them as Elias did that is if they should not use their best endeavours and be confident of Gods assistance to destroy those prophane rejecters of Christ and refusers of his religion Our Saviour though ever meeke yet now moved at this their unchristian thought rebuked them with that sharpness as he did Saint Peter when he committed the like errour and said You know not what manner of spirit you are of as if he had said Matth. 16. 23. you understand not the difference betwixt the profession of Elias and my religion for he was such a Zelot that jure zelotarum and the extraordinary instinct of Gods spirit that was in him might at that time when the Jews were governed by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Josephus saith and God presiding as it were their King amongst them and interposing rules by his Oracles and other particular directions that should oblige and warrant them as well as their standing Law do this or the like act though not authorized by any ordinary Law and those actions thus performed are as just and as legal as any other that proceed from the authority of the supreame Magistrate but that dispensation of the Prophets is now ended and the profession of my Disciples must be far otherwise for I do not authorize my servants to pretend to the spirit of Elias or to do as Phineas and others extraordinary men among the Jews have done but they must learn of me to be meeke and lowly in heart and rather to suffer wrong of Matth. 11. 29. others then to offer the least injury unto their meanest neighbour much less to resist their supreame Magistrate And when Christ was apprehended not by any legal power of the supreme How Christ carried himself before Pilate and the High-Priests Magistrate but by the rude servants of the High Priests and Saint Peter as zealous for his Master as our Zealots are for their Religion drew his sword and smote off Malchus ear a most justifiable and commendable act a man would think to defend Christ and in him all Christianity our Saviour bids him put up his sword and he adds a reason most considerable to all Christians for all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword that is all they that without lawful authority take the sword to defend me and my religion with the sword they deserve to suffer by the sword and it is very well observed by the Author of resisting the lawful Magistrate upon colour of religion that the two parallel places Pag. 6. quoted in the margent of our Bibles are very pertinent to this purpose for that Law concerning the effusion of bloud being not any prohibition to the legal Gen. 9. 6 cutting off of Malefactors is notwithstanding urged against S. Peter to shew that his shedding of bloud in defence of religion was altogether illegal and prohibited by that Law and the other place where immediately after these words He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword the Holy Revel 13. 10. Ghost adjoyneth here is the patience and the faith of the Saints doth most clearly shew that all forcible resistance is inconsistent with the religion of the Saints because their faith must be ever accompanied with their patience and it is contrary to their profession to save themselves by any violent opposition of them that have the lawful authority But that example which is unparallel'd is the suffering of Christ under Pontius Pilate for the whole course of their proceeding against Christ was illegal when as no Law can be