Honour to declare them with Christian Charity and reprove them with Christian Modesty Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sin to fall upon him Levit. 19. 17. whether he be of a great or little Figure in the World it matters not Go tell Judah of her sins and Israel of her transgressions be who will pleased or displeased therewith By which it appears that though Reproofs and Admonitions have been the Duty of every person from the very beginning of Religion Cry aloud spare not lift up your voice like a trumpet proclaim defiance sound a challenge and charge against them shew the people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins Isaiah 58. 1. yet they are seldom or never acceptable but on the contrary get hatred to those that discover their Dalilah's their bosome sins but their comfort is that by reproving they fulfil God's Precepts and he that hateth reproof erreth is bruitish and shall die Pro. 10. 1. 15. Pro. 12. 15. Pro. 10. A most strange and unhappy temper to return hatred for good will to hate those that show the greatest kindness that possibly mortal Man can show he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured and is prudent Prov. 13. 18. Pro. 15. 5. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding ver 32. As to despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities is a great Crime to be punished by the Judges so there is a wo to them who call evil good and good evil that put darkness for light and light for darkness Isaiah 5. 20. Wherefore if they whose immediate Duty it is to tell Judah of her Sins and Israel of her Transgressions will by a sinful compliance be silent or daub with untempered Mortar not daring to declare plain Truths which is tant à monte a tacite giving consent and countenance to publick Sins and Injuries by such their connivance and dissimulation I hope they will not blame those who dare call Vices by their proper names I am ignorant of such quirks of Conscience which so much injure Justice and Piety as by such perverting the plain Truths of Religion and prevaricating with God Almighty by pleasing Men rather than Truth as if both might not and ought not to stand together as if a due respect to Men even to great Men and a just censure of Sin and Wickedness might not justly be maintained So that if any thing in this present discourse seem more harsh or severe than usual it is intended against the Vices and Abuses of the Powers not against the Persons nor any just Powers If they are Truths that I have declared I ought not to be blamed if Errors they 'l easily be discovered and refuted and the greater Truth will appear If I have committed Errors and injured Truth I am sensible of my own Infirmities and that Reason is seldom so perfectly reduced to Science but that I and all others may be mistaken Humanum est errare Let those that shall discover such Errors consider that they themselves are Men and subject to like Errors and Frailties and may be deceived and that possibly when by disquisition a greater Light may discover that that may be the Readers mistake which he esteemeth may be the Writers Error In summ All the Glory of Kings and Kingdoms ought to serve God by judging righteously by countenancing the Faithful of the Land and not suffering the Wicked to influence their Councils and by walking wisely in a perfect way and by hating the Works of them that turn aside and by not suffering those that have high Looks and proud Thoughts as being made choice of by him to administer in his Kingdom as Nursing-fathers of his people Isaiah 49. 23. God blessed for ever who setteth up Kings and removeth them doth only love the Principality and Kingdom of his own Eternity and himself continually addeth to the Glory and Enlargement thereof but willeth and expecteth the same from all Kings Princes and Governors of Temporal Scepters to do the same and that under severe Menaces and Penalties Whatever therefore of Inlargement Glory Stability the carking Cares or Designs of the great Men of the Earth may project and promise to themselves by being Kings and Princes on the Earth they are all but magnificum nihil toys gewgawes and vanity in the sight of God when put into the Ballance with that Kingdom which Christ alone loveth respecteth and desireth and unto which unless they be heartily subservient to serve and inlarge the Kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ they shall become like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor and the wind shall carry them away and the God of Gods and Lord of Kings shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people but it shall break in pieces all other kingdoms and it shall stand for ever Dan. 2. 44 45 47. If Kings will not kiss the Son nor do their Duty in purging the House of the Lord may not Eliah and the People do their duty and cast out Baal 's Priests Reformation of Religion is a personal act that belongeth to all even to every private Person according to his place they may swear a Covenant without the King if he refuse and build the Lords House themselves 2 Chr. 15. 9. and relieve and defend one another if oppressed for our Acts and duties of defending our selves and the oppressed do not tye our Consciences conditionally so the King consent but absolutely as all duties of the Law of Nature do Jer. 22. 3. Prov. 24. 11. Isaiah 1. 17. 58. 6. Be wise now therefore O ye kings be instructed ye Judges of the earth Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that trust in him Psalm 2. Therefore it becomes you that sit upon Thrones to observe and obey the true unquestionable divine Lex Regia to you it is commanded Deut. 17. 18 19 20. viz. to read in the Book of the Law all the days of your lives that you may learn to fear the Lord your God to keep all the words of the law and the statutes to do them that your hearts be not lifted up above your brethren by whom and from among whom ye your selves were chosen and set in great Glory Honour and Dignity to go in and out before them judging righteously and that you turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left do violence to no man for God hates the violent man and evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him Psalm 140. 11. Be content with your Tribute and exact no more than what is appointed you by publick consent take care that there be no violent perverting of Judgment no shamming of
is a Crime unpardonable and that it must be punished with the loss of Goods Lives and Estates Men to Men still But when they themselves break Faith plighted to God and Men by Solemn Oaths and do things ten thousand times worse against their Supreme Lord and Master and the Governed yet such is the wonderful perverse ends of their Judgment that they imagine themselves to be innocent and unaccountable Whereas by right they ought to hazard and spend their own Lives and Scepters in Defence of his Glory from and under whom they hold those Lives and Scepters and for Defence Support and well Governing of the Governed that they may live in Wealth Peace and Godliness they being the Church of God whose Nursing-Fathers and Mothers Kings and Queens and all other Rulers as in duty bound of right ought to be more especially if they confer Honors Dignities or Places of Profit on any of their Subjects Prerogatives given them even by the Governed if they say not as they say and do not obey all their Commands right or wrong what a huff and Fustian fume are they in What eat of their Bread drink of their Drink and live at Ease and in great Plenty and Pleasure by their Favors and Graces bestowed on them and yet so ungrateful as not to subordinate their wills to the wills of their Princes Which arises from corrupted nature and their own great mistake For Kings themselves and all their Officers are the Kingdoms Officers cloathed with their Fleece warmed with their Wooll fed with their Bread their Oyl and their Wine and paid with their Tribute And is it not much more sinful and ungrateful in them to do violence or oppress any of them Do they not Dig and Delve Plow and Harrow Sow and Reap Plant and pull up with the labour of their Hands and sweat of their Brows and all this to pay them Tribute that they may live in great Glory and Plenty that they may eat the Fat drink the Sweet lie upon the Soft chant to the sound of the Vial drink Wine in Bowles that they may be gorgeously clad and fare deliciously every day Is it not therefore much more abominable wicked and ungrateful in them to oppress or violate the Laws of them that set their Crowns on their Heads and maintain them in all their Glory and Excesses not only for necessity but for delight Consider seriously with your selves whilst you are yet on this side the Grave For there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdome in the grave Eccl. 9. 10. And all your Pomp must be brought down to the grave even Lucifer the Sun of the morning who did weaken the Nations how did he fall from heaven and was cut down to the ground Isaiah 14. 12. That you cannot oppress the Governed without being guilty of Ingratitude the vilest and basest of Crimes in the esteem both of Heathens and Christians and by the practice even of Bruits and Beasts First Gratitude is natural and therefore ungratefulness must be unnatural witness Beasts themselves not only tame and domestick but even wild and cruel among whom there are many excellent and true examples as of the Lyon towards the Roman Slave c. Officia etiam ferae sentiunt even wild Beasts are sensible of good and evil done unto them by which it is easie to guess how unnatural how unpleasing and odious how base and villanous Ingratitude is unto all Men quatenus Men only Dixeris maledicta cuncta cum ingratum hominem dixeris thou speakest all the evil that may be said of a Man when thou callest Man ungrateful It is against Nature and therefore Plato speaking of his Disciple Aristotle calleth him an ungrateful Mule it is without all excuse and cannot come but from a wicked Nature So Seneca Grave vitium intollerabile quod dissociat homines A grievous vice and intollerable which breaketh the Society of Men. If by the instinct of Nature and the examples of Bruits unreasonable Creatures Ingratitude be so vile a Crime that it becomes a reproach to Men as being reasonable Creatures how much greater reproach is Ingratitude in Men as Christians God's Commands are Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you that you may be children of your Father which is in heaven for he maketh the sun to rise on the evil and the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Matth. 5. 44 45. So Luke 6. 27 35. for he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil So ought all Kings and Rulers to love their People though Enemies out of gratitude they owe to God who hath both commanded us so to do and whose daily practice it is How doth God upbraid and reproach the ungrateful Jews Hear O heavens and give ear O earth for the Lord hath spoken I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me the Oxe knoweth his owner and the Ass his masters crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider c. Isaiah 1. What Reproaches and Woes are pronounced against those ungrateful Jews for whom God had done so much when Israel was a Child then God loved him and taught Ephraim also to go taking them by the Arms drew them with Cords of a Man with Bands of love and was to them as they that take off the Yoak on their Jaws and laid meat unto them c. Hos 11. All the Prophets testifie throughout the whole Bible that Gratitude is the universal Precept and Command of God himself and he is the Avenger of all Ingratitude and Disobedience Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Deut. 22. 6. God is so gracious as to let the Sun shine on the Just and on the Unjust to requite good for evil How ought Kings then as his Ministers his Vicegerents not to requite evil for good but good for evil How much more are Kings then obliged to God and Man by their greater Obligation to keep Faith and Covenant with their People who choose them from among themselves to be their King setting them on Thrones in a more Eminent and glorious Station and Figure above all themselves paying them all the Ensigns of Honour Duty and Majesty giving them abundant Tribute to support the same What to do to tear them with Thorns and Briars or whip them with Scorpious or grind their Faces as many have done no no but to have their Laws run in their Names and executed by legal Powers in their Names that Justice might be equally and indifferently administred to all They claim and glory in the Title of being Gods Vicegerents and Ministers and therefore their Ministrations ought more especially to be for the happiness and Salvation of their Kingdoms if otherways know that God will cut off the Spirit of Princes he is terrible to the Kings of the Earth Psal 76.
shall be upon the faithful of the Land that they may dwell with me he that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight c. Psal 101. 4 6 7. In Nature it self are found impressions of this Ordinance In Heaven amongst Angels are Principalities and Thrones Eph. 1. 21. and Michael the Archangel Jude 9. Amongst the Sphaers there is a primum Mobile one first moveable Commander of all the inferiour Orbs with his Motion Amongst Stars there are greater and lesser Lights â—â—â—ers amongst the rest the sun to rule by day and the Moon and Stars by night Nay so absolutely necessary is Government that it reaches even to Hell. Devils themselvet have their Principalities Mat. 25. 41. not only over other Creatures but respectively among themselves therefore it is said the Devil and his Angels and Belzebub the Prince of Devils Mat. 12. 24. To say nothing of Brutes amongst which yet Philosophers have observed a perfect form of Regiment and Polity among Bees a Commonwealth Locusts go out by Bands c. And see we not plainly that Obedience of Creatures unto the Law of Nature is the stay of the whole World. In man if nothing else evince it methinks that awful submission to Regiment which natural Conscience suggests to Savages sufficiently proves it As far as that Principle is heard of that there is a King of Kings and Lord of Lords wherever it is known that there is a God that judgeth the Earth it is known also and received that there are Nominal Gods on Earth with reverence next to the Supreme Majesty to be adored But above all natural Conscience amongst other common Notions hath received the impression of this natural Principle how else comes it to pass that a few extravagant Natures and profligated Consciences only excepted such awful Submission is found in all to Men of our own Mould Yet in our Apprehension clad with such venerable Majesty that the guilty scarce behold them without trembling and the Guiltless yield willing reverence to their Persons so every way God hath pleased to make known his Ordinance for Government Magistracy and Laws CHAP. II. Shews the ultimate and final end of all Government Shews the Laws of God and Nature to be the best Guides and that Covenants made between King and People are to be kept both by King and People and the breach thereof alike Penal to King and People and whoever breaks either Laws or Covenants they are Rebels to the Laws and that the People are still the Lords People HAving shewed the absolute necessity of Government it is requisite also to declare the ultimate and final end of all Governments which by confession of all is primarily and especially the Declaration of the infinite Wisdom Goodness and Glory of God propagation of the Gospel and the good of the Governed for whose good all things were created Unto these two all kinds of Governments how variously soever framed according to the different Modes Wisdoms and Understandings of Men and Nations ought to be conformable Let Christ be our great Exemplar who denyed himself his own natural will and life and bestowed himself on us that we likewise might not seek every man his own but every man the good of another imploying our selves on the benefit and service of Church and State and so grow and be built up together in love which is the Consummation and perfecting as of all Saints so of all Governments For as God who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords the only Monarch of the World and whose understanding is infinite in the Government and Administration of this inferiour World designed his own Glory together with the Good and Salvation of the whole Race of Mankind so he expects submission and perfect obedience unto his Laws Statutes and Judgments from all Kings Princes and Governours as his Ministers Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the Earth and serve the Lord with fear in all your Administrations according to the purport of his Laws and for the ends designed lest the sad Fate of Solomon betide you 1 King. 11. 11. Because thou hast not kept my Covenants and my Statutes which I have commanded thee I will surely rend thy Kingdom from thee and will give it to thy servant Now without all peradventure the Law of Nature is the best and most equal Law and most fit to be imitated which being strictly observed nothing can be wanting to any body and what every one hath is his own for ever For as those who preside over Celestial Bodies are blessed and just minds and Spirits and every one doth most justly govern his own Body so Nature being derived from those Superiour just Souls keepeth the most just and equal order in all her actings which she makes known to all the World. Now the nearer all human Laws do come to the Laws of God and Nature the more certain and the more glorious must their way of living be who live and are governed by such Laws Unto these Laws had those ancient Law-givers respect which eterniz'd their Names and Memories famous to all succeeding Ages Above the rest are celebrated the Laws of Lacedaemon by Licurgus of Athens by Solon of the Locrenses a Town in Italy by Zalencus of the Thurii a City in Greece by Garondas of the Getae a People of Scythia in Europe by Zamolxis a Scholar of Pythagoras and Divine Plato commends the Laws of Crete Isocrates of the Carthaginians but above all the Roman Laws by the Judgment of Polybiis do excel These Laws of these Law-givers tho not the self-same but differing one from the other yet they all tend to one and the same end the Peace Happiness and welfare of the several Nations and People tho they did not march all in one and the same Road and Path thereunto The first Law givers had always the Laws of Nature in which there 's nothing unequal to be found before their Eyes to imitate and conform to them as near as they could but when they made Judicial Laws as they were not all under one Climate nor suckt the same Air so they had not all the same Reason the same Judgment which made the difference in their Laws but yet they all tended to the good and happiness of the People and Nations for whom they were made All right being either from the Law of Nature which is the Law of God or from Custom or from Human Laws The right of Nature always stands on its own Legs by its self without the assistance of Custom or of other Laws and always points and leads to happy life and condition which every Man Society and Nation might enjoy if they would but follow her Dictates and take her for their Guide and Rule to walk by But above all Laws no Laws like to those of the Almighty who is the Lord alone of all the Kingdoms of the Earth for they had
be manifest that the People even in such choice had their share their influence and their power also as in Saul And all the People went to Gilgal and there they made Saul King before the Lord in Gilgal 1 Sam. 10. 15. And several Writers are of opinion that Saul was not only anointed with Oyle first privately by Samuel 1 Sam. 10. 12. but also at two other times before the People once at Mizpah an another time at Gilgal So David though he were anointed of the Lord by Samuel yet all the mâ—n of Israel came with a perfect heart to Hebron and anointed David King over Israel and made a Covenant with him before the Lord 1 Chron. 11. 2. 12. 38. In summ Many Writers of several Persuations from these examples conclude that the People under God make the King. Beside the want of the publick Stamp of the People made Zimri who had usurped that Title and Office no King and yet made Omri King 1 Kings 16. 16. And those whom the rulers of Jezreel at Samaria 2 Kings 10. refused to make a King were no Kings This Power of the People made Athaliah a Princess no Princess by their translation of the Crown to Joah 2 Cron. 23. There 's now no Voice no immediate Oracle from Heaven no Samuel no Elisha no inspired Prophets to anoint David not Eliab Solomon not Adoniah no particular persons and therefore no persons can have a just Title to Crowns but by choice and approbation publick God hath only ratified the Kingly Office and described fit qualifications viz. Men of truth hating covetousness c. Exod. 18. 21. Deut. 1. 16 17. but doth not now name or appoint particular Persons but hath left it wholly and freely to the People to chuse for themselves and make their own Conditions It is farther observable that Saul after Samuel from the Lord had anointed him remained a private Person and no King till the People had elected and made him a King. So David though anointed by the same Divine Authority yet remained formally a Subject and not a King till Israel made him King at Hebron So Solomon though by God designed and ordained to be King yet never was King till the people made him King 1 Kings 1. What greater demonstration can there possibly be than such Scriptural both Precepts and Examples as are here set down for justifying of the right of the People in the choice of Kings and not only in the free choice of this or that Person to the Diadem or to this or that Government but also in the alteration and granting of Succession and in the change and alteration of the very Form of Government Moreover by God's owning Kings to reign by him Prov. 8. 16. is no more than God's general owning and constituting all things else viz. thine is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in Heaven and Earth is thine thine is the Kingdom O Lord and thou art exalted above all both riches and honour come of thee and thou reignest over all and in thine hand is power and might and in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all 1 Chron. 29. 11 12. This general Right and Power of the Almighty doth not abolish or impeach the Natural Right of his People in chusing themselves a King on their own Tearms and Laws woful experience having taught them that to live by one Man's will would be the cause of all Mens miseries the truth whereof we see experienced to this very day both in the Eastern and Western Empires which constrained them to devise Laws for the Regulation of every Man 's just Right that no Man might by lawless Dominion oppress another but that all should be governed by their own consent by Laws of their own making respect always being had Christianly speaking to the Laws of the Almighty Cui plus licet quam par est plus vult quam licet A People may be without a King but there can be no King without a People and therefore Kings not particularly and immediately named by God must own their Establishment and Inthronization to the People and ought to be accountable in some cases to them for they that give Power are by just Reason accounted greater and more honourable than they that receive it according to that old Maxime Quicquid efficit tale est magis tale and though Kings are to be accounted singulis majores yet are universis minores For Kings are not Patrons of their Kingly Power but Administrators and deputed Executioners thereof Now it necessarily follows that by the same Reason Kings have their Authority from the People so to them they are of right to be accountable for they chuse them and covenant with them for their own good If by God Kings do reign by God also the People have right and liberties to be governed how they please for the immediate appointment of Kings by God himself by his Prophets being now ceased the application of the Powers of the governed to this or that Person is left wholly to the common consent of themselves Be the right of Kings and of the People what it will from God they both equally derive it Wherever the People create themselves a King by the same right he is accountable to them and it participates as much of Divine right for the People to curb and oppose oppressing wicked Kings as to make Kings according to the 149 Psalm 8 9. To bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron To execute upon them the judgment written this honour have all his Saints Nay God 's own People on whom he had set his Love had his own Command that when he had brought them into the Land whither they were going to possess That they should smite them and utterly destroy them and shew no mercy unto them Deut. 7. 1 2. Kings are constituted by God and Man to go in and out before them for Protection and Comfort not for Violence and Oppression and it is by righteousness that the Throne is established and iniquity will be the ruine of any Nation fury is not in him Isaiah 27. 4. And God himself hath given no Power to Kings Princes or Potentates but what is just and honest and hath tied them up and bound them by Laws viz. He shall not multiply horses to himself he shall not multiply wives to himself that his heart turn not away neither shall be greatly multiply to himself silver and gold And it shall be when he sitteth upon the Throne of his kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this Law in a Book And he shall read therein all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them That his heart be not lifted up above his Brethren and that he turn not aside from the
12. and in his due time will relieve the oppressed and afflicted If we make diligent and exact Scrutiny into other Relations of human and civil dependencies our Judgments may be assisted for the more clear apprehending of truths of Government wherein we shall find some obligations between them so strictly enjoyned that they cannot be violated without the brand of Impiety as between Parents and Children Husband and Wife Master and Servant Col. 3. 18 19. 20 21 22. Job 31. 13. between whom although by the Laws of God and Man there be many reciprocal Duties yet are they nothing if weighed in a just Ballance in comparison to what Kings themselves owe to God and the Governed who are also the Church of Christ for what ever injury is done to a Christian Commonwealth is at the same time done against the Church of God whereof Christ is Head and King and those whom we call Kings thereof are but his Substitutes and Vicegerents and ought to govern as he hath commanded and as he will do when he shall come again in Glory to reign on Earth Besides they are constituted and ordained by the Governed under Conditions Covenants and Agreement not that themselves may live at ease only and command and rule at Pleasure but as Gods Vicegerents and as Trustees and Administrators of the Governed to rule and govern according to his and their own Laws quas vulgus eligerit for what a madness should we esteem it in human Affairs if Deputies Viceroyes and Lieutenants of Earthly Kings should for their own private ends and interest prefer them before the Honour Glory and Service of their Kings They who so administer Affairs take not right measures of their Masters Glory and the Peoples good but comply with the flatteries of their own Lusts their particular Advantages sinful Ends and interests or hatred furiously transporting them to the publick ruin privati Commodi vel odii pertinacia in publicum exitium stimulante Tacit. lib. 1. hist Private Interest and concerns saith Livy always have and always will hinder publick good Councils privatae res semper officere officientque publicis consiliis Livy lib 22. The Heathen taught only by the light of Nature could discern the truth of these things and have left Monuments thereof on their Tombs and Coins They doubted not saith Valerius that Empires were made to serve holy Purposes and that all things even such where the Lustre of Supreme Majesty was to appear were to be placed after Religion Kings Princes and Governours being partakers of the same human Nature in common with their Subjects are equally obliged by the same Laws of God and Nature to keep Faith and Covenant the common Law of Nature with them and therefore the Obligation of keeping Faith and Covenant is equally obligatory both to Prince and People As by the Law of Nature so by the Law of God Covenants are inviolably to be kept and not broken by either Prince or People And as Covenants between God and the King and between God and the People so between Kings and the People which as they are most solemnly made so they are as sacredly to be kâ—pt and that under great Menaces Pains and Penalties God hath given his â—ord that â—e will never break his Covenant Jud. 2. 1. and Psal 89. 34. My Covenant I will not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my Mouth and requires and expects the like punctual performance from his Vicegerents and bitterly curses those that do infringe and break plighted Faith and Agreements Cursed be the Man that obeyeth not the words of this Covenant Jâ—r 11. 31. and God for the breach of Covenant gave the Princes of Judah and the Princes of Jerusalem the Eunuchs and the Priests and all the People of the land into the hands of the Enemies and into the hands of them that sought their lives and their Bodies for meat unto the Fowls of Heaven and to the Beasts of the Earth Jer. 34. 19 20. Besides God is no respecter of Persons Kings and Peasants are all alike to him all the Works of his own Hands all made of the same Mould all redeemed with the same previous Blood all his own Images and Temples and shall stand in an equal distance before his Tribunal who will judge all breakers of Covenant whether Kings or Peasants according to his own Righteous Judgment Neither Kings nor People have any Priviledge or Prerogative to break Covenant and they that do be they Kings or be they People are justly esteemed Rebels to the Laws and Covenants and the injured Persons have just Cause to right and defend themselves if oppressed by such Violation Kings accounting themselves as Gods Ministers and Vicegerents and Fathers of their Countries ought so to govern in good earnest and they being placed on their Thrones as such by the People ought to keep Laws and Covenants punctually with them and which they cannot break or sham without being perjured and becoming guilty of Tyranny and Oppression No Kings nor Princes can be so indulgent nor so really fond and ambitious of their Peoples Love and Welfare as God is of the Love of Mankind like as a Father pittieth his Children so the Lord pittieth them that fear him Psal 103. 13. testified by his making them a little lower than the Angels and crowning them with Glory and Honour and giving them Dominion over the works of his Hands and by putting all things under their Feet all Sheep and Oxen c. Psal 8. And indeed the whole Creation for his own Glory and the good and Solace of Mankind Did he not command Moses to carry his people in his Bosom as a Nursing Father beareth his sucking Child Num. 11. 12. Can a Woman forget her sucking Child that â—he should not have compassion on the Son of her Womb yea they may forget yet will not I forget them Isa 49. 15. If God hear but Ephraim bemoaning himself how passionately doth he expostulate with himself Is Ephraim my dear Son is he a pleasant Child For since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my Bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord Jer. 31. 20. Doth God who is Lord alone of all the Kingdoms of the Earth make known his excessive fondness of his People by such Bowels of Compassion How then dare his Vicegerents requite evil for good contrary to Gods own Commands and Practice and not seek the Good and Welfare of their People without having Hearts harder than the nether Millstone Again How shall I give thee up O Ephraim How shall I deliver thee O Israel my Heart is turned within me my Repentings are kindled together Hos 11. 9. Tho you will neither turn nor repent yet how shall I give thee up So desirous is he of his Peoples Repentance that he beseecheth them till he is weary of repenting Jer. 15. 6. even passionately with Oaths doth he expostulate with
Laws or prevaricating with false constructions of Laws or by Innuendoes lest thereby the Lives and Fortunes of your Subjects be taken away and it shall be your Wisdom and your Understanding and all your People will call you Blessed and it will be your Comfort at the end of your Days a time speedily approaching when all Crowns Scepters and Royalties must be resigned to God the Judge of all Men when you shall all stand in an equal distance with those you now call Vassals and use rather like Beasts than Images of God and Christians before his Tribunal when no Titles of Honour no Eminency of Station no Treasures of Wealth no Strength of Armies or Dependencies will accompany any of you into the Presence of the Lamb to stand between you and the Judgment of the great Day for God is no respecter of persons and will not be mocked Be wise now therefore O ye Kings even to day whilst it is called to day before the irreversible Decree of Wrath be gone forth and esteem that Lex Regia all his other Laws Statutes and Judgments more than your necessary Food and that they may be sweeter to you than the Hony and the Hony-comb lay them up in your Hearts and in your Souls bind them for a sign upon you hands that they may be as frontlets between your eyes that you may teach them to your subjects as was commanded to Josiah Deut. 17. 17. speaking of them when you sit in your houses and when you walk by the way when you lie down and when you rise up write them upon the door-posts of your houses and upon your gates bind them upon your hearts and tie them about your necks and make them your continual Ornament that when you go they may lead you that when you sleep they may keep you and that when you awake they may talk with you and teach you to keep sound wisdom and discretion that in all your ways and conditions they may be your Safeguards your Companions and your Comfort Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the Earth Let your provident care reach beyond the forecast of the Fool in the Gospel even for immortality it self make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof for there is but one thing only necessary Do not desperately slight and condemn the purity and simplicity of the Gospel but abstain from all appearance of evil and resist unto blood striving against sin Be not like those Fools that make a mock of sin and so cursedly cruel to your immortal Souls as to dote on Mediocrities of Grace by understanding God otherways then he will be understood and so delude your own Souls and be forced at last to sing Lachrymae when you shall see the poor despised righteous stand in great boldness in the presence of the Lamb and you your selves thrust out with A go ye cursed and then cry when it is too late We fools counted their lives madness and their ends to have been without honour and now how are they numbred among the Children of God and their lot is among the Saints Wisdom 5. 1 4 5. Break no Laws nor Covenants made with your People Consider with what terrible Solemnity God published his Laws and Covenants on Mount Sinai with Thunder and Lightning Fire and Tempest Smoak and Darkness with expectation of an exact performance of all his Laws and tho in much Mercy Pity and Compassion to us he hath since removed the curse from it as it is a killing Letter and ministry of death and hath now published it in the hand of a Mediator And consider withal that he hath so great a detestation and hatred against sin that it amazed the very Soul of Christ himself and made him who had more strength then all the Angels in Heaven to shrink and draw back and to pray with strong cries and bloody drops against the Cup of his Fathers Wrath and against the work of his own mercy and to decline the business of his own coming Now or never be wise O ye Kings and be instructed ye Judges of the Earth and consider that what I have written is for the true interest of your immortal Souls and is of everlasting consequence and that within a few years you must bid an everlasting farewel to all your Kingdoms and Glories that your Winter-houses and your Summer-houses that your Houses of Ivory and your great Houses shall be smitten and have an end and as you brought nothing with you into the world so shall you carry nothing out but your own Consciences which will be as a thousand Witnesses to testifie against you and that Heaven and Hell will divide the whole World and when God makes Inquisition for blood he will remember the cry of the poor Psal 9. 12. and revenge the Persecutions and Blood of his Saints shed either in War or Peace Think not more highly of your selves than you ought to think but think soberly that at the day of Judgment you shall have no more favour than the meanest of your Black-Guard Humi-repentis est Indolis nunquam insanire sine timida Apologia and yet not quite mad most Noble Kings Princes and Potentates for if you will seriously and Christianly consider your own most true and eternal Interest and that unum necessarium which is and ought to be the greatest and deepest concern of all Princes as well as of all Peasants you will find that I have written the words of truth and soberness and am so far from doing you wrong that it will lead you to the true way of happiness both here and hereafter and to give up our Accounts with comfort at the great and dreadful day of Accompt Consider how mighty prevalent your Examples are to good or evil more than Twenty thousand Pulpits The sins of the Vulgar hurt little by infection but the sins of the Mighty are pestilential and poysonous I have done only beg your favour that what I have written I have written as Advisoes and Admonitions not as Imputations Hear therefore O ye Kings and understand learn ye that be Judges of the Earth give ear ye that rule the People and glory in the multitude of Nations for power is given you of the Lord and sovereignty from the Highest who shall try your works and search out your Councils because being Ministers of his Kingdom you have not judged aright nor kept the Law nor walked after the Council of God. Horribly and speedily shall he come upon you for a sharp judgment shall be to them that be in high places for mercy will soon pardon the meanest but mighty men shall be mightily tormented for he which is Lord over all shall fear no mans person neither shall he stand in awe of any mans greatness for he hath made the small and great and careth for all alike but a sore Trial shall come upon the mighty Unto you therefore O Kings do I speak that you
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
respect not to this life only but to that of a better even to Eternity which no other Lawgivers had therefore Moses exhorted the Israelites that when they should possess the Land whether they were going that they should keep and do the statutes and judgments as the Lord had commanded him and it should be their wisdom and their understanding in the sight of the Nations which shall hear all those statutes and say surely this great Nation is a wise and understanding people And what Nation is there so great that hath Statutes and Judgments so righteous as all this Law which I set before you this day Deut. 4. 4 5 6 7 8. Having declared the necessity usefulness and benefit of Government and the final end thereof it is now requisite to show the true and efficient cause and right of Government where and in whom the just right of appointing Governours and Government is undoubtedly inherent and instated God beyond all contradiction reigns by his own Plenipotentiary Power and doth whatsoevor he pleaseth in Heaven above and in Earth beneath and in the Waters under the Earth Kings and other Governours only precariò at the good will and pleasure of others God by himself Kings by God and the Governed God by his own Jurisdiction Kings by deligated Authority from others the Jurisdiction of God is immense that of Kings limited So the power of God infinite that of Kings not so the Kingdom of God endless boundless that of Kings limited to certain Regions and fading When God sets Kings upon Thrones he sets them there as his Substitutes to go in and out before his people and to do Judgment and Justice 2 Chron. 9. 8. and upon condition that the governed should still be the Lords people 2 King. 11. 17. 2 Chron. 1. 10. So that God still remains Lord and Proprietor of the same People but sets Kings and other Magistrates over them to govern and feed them like good Shepherds not to pill poll and fley them so all good Kings acknowledged as David Solomon Jehosaphat and others So Nebuchadnezzar tho an Ethnick did acknowledge Dan. 2. 47. Hence it necessarily follows that Kings are set over a People to nourish and cherish them as God himself and not to wrong or oppress them So Jehojada made a Covenant between the Lord and the King and the People that they should be the Lords People and between the King also and the People 2 King. 11. 17. In the Inauguration of Joae we read of a holy Covenant between God and the King and the people as it is elsewhere expressed between Jorada the chief Priest and all the people and the King that they should be the people of God. So Josiah and all the people made Covenant with God 2 King. 11. 11. 2 Chr. 23. 13 16. 2 King. 23. from which is to be understood that the high Priest in the name of God covenanted between the Lord and the King and the People that they should be the Lords People and between the King also and the People that God should be truly and purely worshipped by both King and People of Judah And was not the King so to reign that he should suffer the People to serve God according to the Law of God and the People so to obey the King that in the first place they were to obey God and both King and People sworn by Solemn Sacrament in the first place to worship God and keep his Laws matter of Fact doth manifest it And all the People of the Land went into the House of Baal and brake it down his Altars and his Images brake they in pieces c. and restored the Worship of God the sum of the Covenant being that all should worship God and all should take care that God be worshipped according to his own Precepts and Prescript which if they did perform God would be with them and bless them if not then he would destroy them So Moses before his death rehearsâ—th the Conditions of the Covenant made with their Forefathers and all the Blessings and Curses attending the breach or performance thereof Deut. 29. 30 31. commanding them to take the book of the Law and put it in the side of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God that it may be there for a witness against thee c. Deut. 31. 26 27 28. After Moses was dead God himself constituted Joshua to go in and out before his People on the same conditions Josh 1. which if they transgressed they should be delivered into the hands of the Canaanites One and the self-same Covenant which was made between God and the People under the Judges was made under and with the Kings After Saul was constituted King Samuel said to the People Fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart but if you shall still do wickedly ye shall be consumed both ye and your King Josh 12. 24 25. thereby shewing that God expects as strickt performance of his Laws from Kings as from the People Saul being rejected because he brake Covenant David was constituted King on the same Conditions and so Solomon his Son which Covenant was That if they and their Children kept his Commandments and observed his Statutes they should sit on the Throne of Israel for ever if otherwise they should be destroyed 1 Kings ch 2. ver 12. 2 Chron. 6. 16. ch 7. 17. Hence the Book of the Law found in the Temple in the days of Josiah is called the Book of the Covenant of the Lord which he commanded his People to deliver to the King 2 King. 23. 2. Deut. 7. 18. which Samuel did to Saul 1 Sam. 10. 25. and Josiah accordingly did covenant before the Lord So the Law which was kept in the Ark is called the Covenant of the Lord with the Children of Israel who being delivered from the Babylonish Captivity renewed their Covenantwith God which they had violated 2 Chron. 6. 11. whereby it is manifest that Kings as Vassalls to the Law of God solemnly swear to be obedient thereunto We make a sure Covenant and write it and our Princes Levites and Priests seal unto it Nehem. 9. 38. the breach of which Covenant is a like penal to King and People which is manifested in Saul who for offering Sacrifice and for sparing Agag King of the Amalekites was accounted a Rebel and punished accordingly 1 Sam. 13. 12 13. and thereby taught that Kings if they break the Laws are as truly Rebels as Subjects and that obedience is better than sacrifice thou hast rejected the wâ—rd of the Lord and the Lord hath rejected thee from being King over Israel 1 Sam. 15. 26 27. which crime doth not terminate only in the Persons of Kings so rebelling but is extensive also to their Children So God did rend the Kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and gave ten tribes to his servant Jeroboam because he forsook God and worshipped 〈◊〉 c. 1 King. 11. 32 33.