farre worse then the disease they suffered And I doubt not but ere long the Rebels in this Kingdom will feelingly confesse this to be too true when they shall more deeply taste of the like miseries as they have brought as well upon many of their own friends as others If you alledge the time of Richard the third how soon he was removed and how happily it câ—me to passe that Henry the seventh succeeded I answer briefly that Richard the third was not onely a cruel bloody Tyrant but he was also an unjust Usurper of the Crown and not the right King of England and that there is a great deal of difference betwixt rebelling against our lawful Kings which God hath justly placed over us and expelling an usurping Tyrant which hath unjustly intruded himself into the royal Throne This God often hath blessed as in the case of Eglon Athalia Henry the seventh and many more which you may obviously find both in the Greek and Roman stories and the other he alwayes cursed and will plague it whensoever it is attempted After I had answered these Objections I lighted upon one more Object Goodwin in his Anti-Cavalierisme p. 8 which is taken out of 2 Kings 6.32 where the Objector saith When Ahab sent a Cavalier a man of blood to take away the Prophet Elisha's head as he sate in his house among the Elders did Elisha open his dore for him and sit still till he took off his head in obedience to the King No he bestirred himself for the safeguard of his life and called upon others to stand by him to assist him And a little after he saith Surely he that went thus farre for the safety of his life when he was but in danger to be assaulted would have gone further if occasion had been and in case the Kings Butcher had got in to him before the dore had been shut if he had been able and had had no other means to have saved his own head but by taking away the others there is little question to be made but he would rather have taken then given a head in this case I answer that who this Goodwin is I know not Sol. The Ministers of Christ should not be the incendiaries of war I could wish he were none oâ— the Tribe of Levi 1. Because I find him such an incendiary of warre and an enemy unto peace whereas the messengers of Christ have this Elogie given them Qâ—Ã m speciosi pedes Evangelizantium pacem And the Scripture saith Blessed are the Peace-makers and we continually pray Give peace in our dayes O Lord and therefore I can hardly believe these incendiaries of warre to be the sonnes of the God of peace 2. Because his objection is full of falshoods and false grounds as 1. He saith that Ahab sent to take Elisha's head The first mistake in the front of his Speech 2 Kings 6.32 If any thing more when as Ahab was dead long before it was his ghost therefore and not he But it was his son and what then what did the Prophet he shut the dore and desired the Elders to handle the messenger roughly or hold him fast at the dore Thus saith the Text and the Prophet in my judgement doth herein but little more then what God and nature alloweth every man to do not to lay down his life if he can lawfully preserve it but as the Prophet did to shut the dore or as our Saviour saith When we are persecuted in one City to flye into another to save our lives as long as we can and in all this I find no violent resistance But 2. the Objector tells us Surely if the messenger had got in Elisha had taken off his head rather then given his own I demand What inspiration he hath from God to be sure of this for I am sure John Baptist would not do so nor Saint Paul nor any other of Gods Saints that I have read of but these men are sure of every thing even of Gods secret Counsel and that is more then the thoughts of mens hearts or if this be sure which I am not sure of I answer that Elisha was a great Prophet that had the spirit of Eliah doubled upon him and those actions which he did or might have done through the inspiration of Gods spirit this man may not do except he be sure of the like inspiration for God who is justice it self can command by wâ—rd as he did to Abraham to kill his son or by inspiration as he did to Elias to call fire from Heaven and it is a sin to disobey it whereas without this it were an horrible sin to do it And we must distinguish betwixt rare and extraordinary cases that were managed by special commission from God and those patterns that are confirmed by known and general Rules which passe through the whole course of Scripture and take heed that we make not obscure Commentaries of humane wisdom upon the clear Text of holy Writ Quia maledicta glossa quae corrumpit textum Cursed be the gloss that corrupts the Text. But indeed the place is plain that Elisha made no other resistance but what every man may lawfully do to keep the messenger out of dores so long as he could and yet this man would inferre hence that we may lawfully with a strong hand and open warre resist the authority of our lawful Kings a Doctrine I am sure that was never taught in the School of Christ He makes some other Objections which I have already answered in this Treatise and then he spends almost two leaves in six several answers that he maketh to an objection against the examining the equity or iniquity of the Kings commands but to no purpose because we never deny but that in some cases though not in all for there must be Arcana Imperii and there must be Privie Counsellours and every Peasant must not examine all the Edicts of his Prince The commands of Kings may not onely be examined but also disobeyed as the three Children did the commands of Nebuchadnezzar and the Apostles the commands of the High-Priests but though we may examine their commands and disobey them too when they are contrary to the commands of God yet I would fain know where we have leave to resist them and to take arms against them I would he understood There is a great deal of difference betwixt examining their commands and resisting their authority the one in some cases we may the other by no means we may do CHAP. VIII Sheweth that our Parliament hath no power to make warre against our King Two main Objections answered The original of Parliaments The power of the King to call a Parliament to deny what he will and to dissolve it when he will Why our King suffereth BUt when all that hath been spoken cannot satisfie their indignation against true obedience and allay the heat of their rebellious spirits they come to their ultimum refugium best strength
though approved by God for the welfare of the Common-wealth 1 Sam. 8 4 20. but as the Israelites desired a King to judge them like all the Nations that is such a King as Aristotle describeth such as the Nations had intrusted with an absolute and full regal power as Sigonius sheweth so the Kings of the Nations if they be not like the Spartan Kings were and are like the Kings of Israel both in respect of their ordination from God by whom all Kings as wel of other Nations as of Israel do reign and of their full power and inviolable authority over the people which have no more dispensation to resist their Kings then the Jews had to resist theirs And therefore Valentinian though an elected Emperour yet when he was requested by his Electours to admit of an associate Sozom. histor l 6. c. 6. Niceph hist l. 11. c 1. answered it was in your power to chuse me to be an Emperour but now after you have chosen me what you require is in my power not in you Vòbis tanquam subditis competit parere mihi verò quae facienda sunt cogitare it becomes you to obey as Subjects and I am to consider what is fittest to be done And when the wife takes an husband there is a compact agreement and a solemn vow past in the presence of God that he shall love cherish and maintain her The wife may not forsake her husband though he break his vow and neglect his duty yet if he breaks this vow and neglects both to love and to cherish her she cannot renounce him she must not forsake him she may not follow after another and there is a greater marriage betwixt the King and his people therefore though as a wife they might have power to chuse him and in their choice to tye him to some conditions yet though he breaks them they have no more power to abdicate their King then the wife hath to renounce her husband nor so much because she may complain and call her husband before a competent Judge and produce witnesses against him whereas there can be no Judge betwixt the King and his people but onely God and no witnesses can be found on earth because it is against all Lawes and against all Reason that they which rise against their king should be both the witnesses against him and the Judges to condemn him or were it so that all other Kings have not the like constitution which the Scripture setteth down for the Kings of Israel yet I say that excepting some circumstantial Ceremonies in all real points the Laws of our Land are so far as men could make them in all things agreeable to the Scriptures in the constituting of our Kings according to the livelyest pattern of the Kings of Israel as it is well observed by the Authour of the Appeal to thy conscience An Appeal to thy conscience pag 30. Our Kings of the like Institution to the kings of Israel in these four special respects 1. In his Right to the Crown 2. In his Power and Authority 3. In his Charge and Duty 4. In the rendring of his Account For 1. As the Kings of Israel were hereditary by succession and not elective Respect 1 unless there were an extraordinary and divine designation as in David Kings of England are kings by birth Proved Salomon Jehu so do the Kings of England obtain their Kingdoms by birth or hereditary succession as it appeareth 1. By the Oath of Allegiance used in every Leete that you shall be true Reason 1 and faithful to our Soveraign Lord King Charles and to his Heires 2. Because we owe our legeance to the King in his natural capacity that is Reason 2 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 Coke l. 7. Calvin's case the body of the King being invisible in that sence 3. Because in that case it is expresly affirmed that the King holds the Kingdom Reason 3 of England by birth-right inherent by descent from the bloud-bloud-royal therefore to shew how inseperable this right is from the next in bloud Hen. the 4. though he was of the bloud-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 Parliament yet upon his death-bed confessed he had no right thereunto Speed l. 9. c. 16. as Speed writeth 4. Because it was determined by all the Judges at the Arraignment of Watson Reason 4 and Clerke 1. Jacobi 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. that was not crowned till the ninth year of his Reign Speed l. 9. c. 16. and yet divers were attainted of High Treason before that time which could not have been done had he not been King And we know that upon the death of any of our Kings The right heir to the Kingdom is King before he is crowned Why the peoples consent is asked 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 Respect 2 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 Sadoc's room and Jehosaphat appointed Amariah and Zebaediah rulers of the greatest Affaires 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. 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 Smith de repub Angl. l. 2. c. 4. c. 5. are chosen and established by him as the highest immediately by himself and the inferiour by an authority derived from him The absurdiâ—ies of them that deny the Militia to the King 5. He hath the
sole power of ordering and disposing all the Castles Forts 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 apud nos habentes Smith de Repub l. 2. Cambden Britan p. 132. nec in Imperii clientela sunt nec investituram ab alio accipientes nec praeter 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 overall 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 In the Preface to a Stat. 24. Hen. 8. cap. 12 governed by one supream head and king having the dignity and royal 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 Respect 3 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 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 The duty of the kings of England 1. To have the chiefest care to defend the faith of Christ and to preserve the 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 estabâ—ished Laws neither do our Divines give any further liberty to any king but if he failes in these he doth offend in his duty Respect 4 4. As the kings of Israel were accountable for their actions unto none but onely unto God Psal 51.4 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 most idolatrous The kings of England accountable for their actions only to God tyrannical or wicked kings to any account for their idolatry tyranny or wickedness even so the kings of England are accountable to none but to God Reason 1 1. Because they have their Crown immediately from God who first gave it to the Conquerour through his sword and since to the succeeding kings by the ordinary means of hereditary succession Smith de repub l. 1. c. 9. Reason 2 2. Because the Oath which he takes at his Coronation binds him onely before God who alone can both judge him and punish him if he forgets it Reason 3 3. Because there is neither condition promise or limitation either in that Oath or in any other Covenant or compact that the king makes with the people either at his Coronation or at any other time that he should be accomptable or that they should question and censure him for any thing that he should do Reason 4 4. Because the Testimony of many famous Lawyers justify the same truth for Bracton saith if the king refuse to do what is just satis erit ei ad poenam quòd Dominum expectet ultorem The Lord will be his avenger which will be punishment enough for him but of the kings grants and actions nec privatae personae nec justiciarii debent disputare And Walsingham maketh mention of a Letter written from the Parliament to the Bishop of Rome wherein they say Bracton fol. 34. 2. b. apud Lincol anno 1301. that certum directum Dominium à prima institutione regni Angliae ad Regem pertinuit the certain and direct Dominion of this Kingdom from the very first institution thereof hath belonged unto the King who by reason of the arbitrary or free preeminence of the royal dignity and custome observed in all ages ought not to answer before any Judge either Ecclesiastical or Secular Ex libera praeeminentia Ergo neither before the Pope nor Parliament nor Presbytery Reason 5 5. Because the constant custome and practice of this kingdom was ever such that no Parliament at any time sought to censure their king and either to depose him or to punish him for any of all his actions save onely those that were called in the troublesome and irregular times of our unfortunate Princes No legitimate and just Parliment did ever question the kings of England for their actions and were swayed by those that were the heads of the most powerful Faction to conclude most horrid and unjustifiable Acts to the very shame of their Judicial authorities as those factious Parliaments in the times of Hen. 3. king John Rich. 2. and Hen. 4. and others whose acts in the judgment of all good authors are not to be drawn into examples when as they deposed their king for those pretended faults whereof not the worst of them but is fairly answered and all thirty three of them proved to be no way sufficient to depose him Heningus c. 4. p. 93. by that excellent Civilian Heningus Arnisaeus And therefore seeing the Institution of our kings is not onely by Gods Law but also by our own Laws Customs and practice thus agreeable to the Scripture kings they ought to be as sacred and as inviolable to us as the kings of Israel were to the Jews and as reverently honoured and obeyed by us as both the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul advise us to honour and obey the king CHAP. V. Sheweth how the Heathens honoured their Kings how Christ exhibited all due honour unto
parte rex praeesset So Master Harding saith that the office of a King in it self is all one every where not onley among the Christian Princes but also among the Heathen so that a Christian King hath no more to do in deciding Church matters or medling with any point of Religion then a Heathen And so Fekenham and all the brood of Jesuites do with all violence and virulency labour to disprove the Prince's authority and supremacy in Ecclesiastical causes and the points of our Religion and to transfer the same wholly unto the Pope and his Cardinals Neither do I wonder so much that the Pope having so universally gained and so long continued this power and retained this government from the right owners should imploy all his Hierarchy to maintain that usurped authority which he held with so much advantage to his Episcopal See though with no small prejudice to the Church of Christ when the Emperours being busied with other affairs and leaving this care of religion and government of the Church to the Pope the Pope to the Bishops the Bishops to their Suffragans and the Suffragans to the Monkes whose authority being little their knowledg less and their honesty least of all all things were ruled with greater corruption and less truth then they ought to be so long as possibly he should be able to possesse it But at last when the light of the Gospel shined and Christian Princes had the leisure to look and the heart to take hold upon their right the learned men opposing themselves against the Pope's usurped jurisdiction have soundly proved the Soveraign authority of Christian Kings in the government of the Church that not onely in other Kingdoms but also here in England this power was annexed by divers Laws unto the interest of the Crown and the lawful right of the King and I am perswaded saith that Reverend ArchBishop Bancroft had it not been that new adversaries did arise Survey of Discip c. 22. p. 251. and opposed themselves in this matter the Papists before this time had been utterly subdued for the Devil seeing himself so like to lose the field stirred up in the bosom of Reformation a flock of violent and seditious men How the Devil raised instruments to hinder the reformation that pretending a great deal of hate to Popery have notwithstanding joined themselves like Sampson's Foxes with the worst of Papists in the worst and most pernicious Doctrines that ever Papist taught to rob Kings of their sacred and divine right and to deprive the Church of Christ of the truth of all those points that do most specially concern her government and governours and though in the fury of their wilde zeal they do no less maliciously then falsly cast upon the soundest Protestants the aspersion of Popery and Malignancy yet I hope to make it plain unto my reader that themselves are the Papists indeed or worse then Papists both to the Church and State For Opinion 2 2. As the whole Colledge of Cardinals and all the Scholes of the Jesuites do most stâ—fly defend this usurped authority of the Pope which as I said Of the Anabaptists and Puritans may be with the less admiration because of the Princes concession and their own long possesion of it so on the other side there are sprung up of late a certain generation of Vipers the brood of Anabaptists and Brownists that do most violently strive not to detain what they have unjustly obtained but a degree far worse to pull the sword out of their Prince his hand and to place authority on them which have neither right to own it nor discretion to use it and that is Where the Puritans place the authority to maintain religion 1 In the Presbytery either 1. A Consistory of Presbyters 2. A Parliament of Lay men For 1. These new Adversaries of this Truth that would most impudently take away from Christian Princes the supreame and immediate authority under Christ in all Ecclesiastical Callings and Causes will needs place the same in themselves and a Consistorian company of their own Faction a whole Volume would not contain their absurdities falsities and blasphemies that they have uttered about this point I will onely give you a taste of what some of the chief of them have belched forth against the Divine Truth of God's Word and the sacred Majesty of Kings Master Calvin a man otherwise of much worth Calvin in Amos cap. 7. and worthy to be honoured yet in this point transported with his own passion calleth those Blasphemers that did call King Henry the eight the supreme Head of this Church of England and Stapleton saith that he handled the King himself with such villany and with so spiteful words Stapl. cont Horn. l. 1. p. 22. as he never handled the Pope more spitefully and all for this Title of Supremacy in Church causes and in his fifty fourth Epistle to Myconius he termed them prophane spirits and mad men that perswaded the Magistrates of Geneva not to deprive themselves of that authority which God hath given them Viretus is more virulent How Viretus would prove the temporal Pope as he calleth the King worse then the spiritual Pope for he resembleth them not to mad men as Calvin did but to white Devils because they stand in defence of the Kings authority and he saith they are false Christians though they cover themselves with the cloke of the Gospel affirming that the putting of all authority and power into the Civil Magistrates hands and making them masters of the Church is nothing else but the changing of the Popedome from the Spiritual Pope into a Temporal Pope who as it is to be feared will prove worss and more tyrannous then the Spirituall Pope which he laboureth to confirme by these three reasons Reason 1 1. Because the Spiritual Pope had not the Sword in his own hand to punish men with death but was fain to crave the aid of the Secular power which the Temporal Pope needs not do Reason 2 2. Because the old spiritual Popes had some regard in their dealings of Councils Synods and ancient Canons but the new Secular Popes will do what they list without respect of any Ecclesiastical Order be it right or wrong Reason 3 3. Because the Romish Popes were most commonly very learned but it happeneth oftentimes that the Regal Popes have neither learning nor knowledg in divine matters and yet these shall be they that shall command Ministers and and Preachers what they list and to make this assertion good he affirmeth that he saw in some places some Christian Princes under the title of Reformation to have in ten or twenty years usurped more tyranny over the Churches in their Dominions then ever the Pope and his adherents did in six hundred years All which reasons are but meere fopperies blown up by the black Devil to blast the beauty of this truth for we speak not of the abuse of any Prince
when they expell Aaron the chief Priest or Bishop out of their Assemblies there is but little fear of God before their eyes for if Seneca that was but Nature's Schollar could tell us that when we go about any wicked Act a grave Cato or severe Aristides standing by us would make us blush and stop the doing thereof then certainly the Christian that hath any grace will be ashamed of his evill intent and be afraid to offend God when he seeth a man of God so near him who doth oftentimes ponere obicem make a stop to stay the proceedings of the wicked that would not seldom be farre worse and do more unjustice if it were not for the company and perswasions of the Priest and Preacher The wisdom of the former age And therefore the former ages that feared God more then we and were wiser to use this means that they might fear him desired that in their greatest Assemblies of greatest affairs as Sessions Councels Parliaments and the like the Bishops and Preachers might be as the chief members of their consultations as well to witnesse the uprightnesse of their actions as to direct them in cases of conscience what is most agreeable to the divine constitution The expulsion of Bishops the cause of many subs quent mischiefs And wheresoever you see the expulsion of these men and the rejection of these helps and furtherances unto godlinesse you shall find no good success nor better fruit of their greatest Counsels than Sedition Oppression Confusion and Rebellion For it is not the least part of the Bishops office and the duty of all Preachers not onely in the Pulpit where what they say is of many men soon forgotten but also in all other meetings and assemblies and in the very instances when occasion shall be offered to do as Christ and his Apostles did perswade peace righteousnesse and obedience unto the people and the want of their association hath been the opening of many gaps to let in much injustice and impiety in many places because their present perswasion may do as much if not more good with men when they are in action then their preaching can do when they come to contemplation And therefore if any assembly hath like Corah rebelled against Aaron and cast their Bishops and Preachers out of doores I would advise them to follow the Counsell of Saint Ambrose in the like case Quod inconsultò fecerunt consultiùs revocetur what they have inconsiderately done to throw them out let them more advisedly revoke and call them in again and they whose breeding hath been in knowledge and their calling is to do justice and to teach truth will help and not hinder them to understand the truth and to proceed in righteousnesse And so you see who these men were in regard of their places CHAP. III. Sheweth the assured testimonies of a good and lawful Governour their qualifications our duties to them and wherein our obedience to them consisteth 2. How these Governours were qualified for their places 2. Points discussed 1. How they obtained their places Many u urp their places SEcondly we are to consider Quales fuere how these men were qualified for their places touching which these two points are to be handled 1. Modus assumendi the mannner of obtaining it 2. Facultas exequendi the ability and fidelity of discharging it 1. I told you before that many do obtain their places by sinful means as many of the Popes and Roman Emperours by poysoning and murthering their Predecessours have unlawfully stept the Thrones of Majesty and so did Henry the fourth by the unjust deposition of Richard the second and Richard the third by the cruell and secret murthering of his poor innocent Nephewes attain unto the Crown of England And in such manner of assuming government there is just cause of resisting and a fair colour of rebelling against them if you call it a Rebellion when men discharge their duties in defence of justice to oppose usurpation But neither Moses nor Aaron came so to the places of their government For 1. 1. Moses had a twofold testimony to justifie his calling Moses had a double testimony to approve his calling to be from God The first was Internum to assure himself And the second was Externum to confirm the same unto the people For 1. When Moses said unto God Who am I that I should goe unto Pharaoh 1. Inward The Lord answered I will be with thee ad protegendum dirigendum saith the glosse and this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee After that you have brought the people out of Egypt you shall serve God upon this Mountain and that may assure thee that I have sent thee and will bring thy people unto Canaan as I have brought them into this wildernesse 2. That the people might be assured he was lawfully called 2. Outward which was a threefold sign 1. Of his Rod. God gave unto him a threefold sign 1. Of his Rod that being cast to the ground was turned to a Serpent but taken by the tayle it turned to a Rod again to shew that when the rod of Government is thrown out of the Magistrates hand People without government like Serpents the people are like the brood of Serpents a malicious and a viperous generation but being taken into the hand of government they prove a royal and a glorious Nation 2. The hand thrust into his bosom and taken out was leprous 2. Of the Hand but thrust again and taken out was made whole to signifie that a good Magistrate out of the bosom of the Law must pull out the hand of justice both to wound and to heal to kill and to make alive as the Poet saith Parcere subjectis debellare superbos To defend the innocent and to punish the wrong doer 3. The water taken out of the river and cast upon tâ—â— dry ground 3. Of the Water should be turned into blood to intimate unto them that the â—â—â—â—d which was spilt by Pharaoh when their children were murthered and drowned in the Rivers should be required and revenged upon the Aegyptians when by the government of Moses the carkasses of those outragious oppressours should be cast out of the Red Sea and laid upon the dry ground Thus Moses shewed that he was lawfully called 2. For Aaron 2. Aarons calling justified Heb. 5. the Apostle makes him the pattern of all lawful entrance into this Calling when he saith that No man taketh this honour upon him but he that is called as Aaron was and Moses manifested the lawfulnesse of his calling unto all Israel when according to the number of their twelve Tribes he caused 12. Rods to be put in the Tabernacle of witness and of all them the Rod of Aaron only which was for the Tribe of Levi was budded and brought forth buds and bloomed blossoms and yielded Almonds Numb 17.8 And so it was apparent to all Israel
Parliament who condemned and executed him for his thought Philip the first of Spain seeing a Falcon killing an Eagle commanded his head to be wrung off saying let none presume above their Soveraigne and in the Raigne of Henry the fourth of England one was hanged drawn and quartered in Cheapside London for jesting with his son that if he did learne well he would make him heire of the Crowne meaning his owne house that had the Signe of the Crowne to prove the Proverbe true non est bonum ludere cum sanctis it is not safe jesting with Kings and Crowns and it is lesse safe to resist them if you will believe wise Solomon And I have read of another King that passing over a river his Crowne fell into the water one of his water-men lept in and dived to the bottome and taking up the Crown put it upon his head that it might not hinder his swimming and so brought it to the King again who rewarded him well for his pains but caused his head to be chopt off for presuming to weare his Crown And all this is but an inanswerable argument to condemne our Rebels that neither reverence the Majesty of their King nor respect the commandment of their God 3. 3. Obedience Obedience is another principall part of that honour which we owe unto the king and this obedience of the inferiours joyned with the direction of the superiors doe make any state most successefull but when these are divorced The marriage of obedience and authority and the issue Aeschylus All must be obedient then nothing goeth right in that Common-wealth for so the Sages of Greece exprest it by the marriage that Jupiter made between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose child brought forth betwixt them was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shew unto us that when authority is married to obedience and obedience proves a dutifull and good wife to authority the fruit of that match will be happinesse to the whole Kingdome And therefore if we would be happy we must be obedient and our obedience must be universall in all things in the Lord. Jussa sequi tam velle mihi quà m posse necesse est Lucan l. 1. So the people say unto Joshua all that thou commandest us we will do Josh 1.16 and all must do it the greater aswell as the lesser the noble man as well as the meane man yea rather then the meane man for though Rebellion in any one is as the sin of witchcraft yet in a vulgar man it may admit of vulgar apologies but in a man of quality in noble men in Courtiers bred in the Kings house Noble mens Rebellion more abominable to God and man then any other in the Kings service and raised by the Kings favour it is Morbus complicatus a decompound sin a transcendent ingratitude and unexpressable iniquity the example more spreading and the infection more contagious because more conspicuous and the giddy attempts of an unguided multitude are but as Cardinal Farnesius saith like the Beech tree without his top soon withered and vanishing into nothing without leaders when they become a burthen unto themselves and a prey unto others therefore the contradiction of Corah Dathan and Abiram that were so eminent in the congregation was a sin so odious unto God that he would have destroyed all Israel for their sake as now he punisheth all England for the sins of those noble men that have rebelled against their King Rom. 13.1 and were alwayes like Sejanus as wayward pleased as opposed And therefore St. Paul saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every soul must be subject to the higher power and he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you must needs be subject or be obedient Rom. 13.5 Obedience pressed by a three fold argument and he presseth this obedience with many arguments as 1. From Gods ordinance because God hath set them over us and commanded us to be obedient unto them and therefore whosoever resisteth them warreth against God 2. From mans Conscience which telleth us Rom. 13 4. that he is the minister of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for good and therefore virtutis amore if we have any love to goodnesse we ought to obey our King 3. For feare of vengeance because he beareth not the sword in vain but is v. 4. How we ought to behave our selves towards wicked Kings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evill therefore this obedience to our King is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing of indifferency but of necessity for be our King for his Religion Impious for his government unjust and for life licentious as cruell as Nero as prophane as Julian and as wicked as Heliogabalus yet the Subjects must obey him the Bishops must admonish him the counsell must advise him and all must pray for him but no mortall man that is his Subject hath either leave to resist him or license to reject him unless they reject the ordinance of God and so fight against God and you know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is hard to vanquish God It is truly said by a learned Bishop si bonus est Princeps nutritor est tuus Ardua res homini est mortali vincere numen Why God sendeth evil kings if thy King be good he is thy nursing Father and it is a great happinesse to his Subjects sin malus est tentator est tuus but if he be evill he is either for the punishment of thy sins or for the triall of thy faith and therefore receive thy punishment with patience or thy triall without resistance and Aquin saith tollenda est culpa cessabit tyrannorum plaga do thou take away thy sins and God will soon take away thy punishment otherwise as for our sins we do often suffer droughts floods unseasonable weather sicknesses plagues and many other evills of nature ita luxum avaritiam deminantium tolerare debemus so when God setteth up hypocrites or tyrants to reigne over us to be the scourges of his wrath and the rods of his fury we must not struggle against God but rest contented to indure the vices of our rulers as a just punishment of our wickednesses saith Cornelius Tacitus * Et Michael Palatinus Hungariae dicebat rege coro nato etiamsi bos esses nobis obtemperandum est Bonfin dec 4. lib. 3. Foure kindes of obedience 1. Forced obedience Rom. 12.1 1 Sam. 15.22 But here you must observe that there are diverse kindes of obedience especially 1. Coacta 2. Caca. 3. Simulata 4. Ordinata 1. Forced 2. Foolish 3. Faigned 4. Well ordered 1. The first is a forced and compelled obedience meerly for feare of wrath as Children learne or Slaves do their duty for fear of the rod and this is better then resâ—stance though nothing like to that obedience which S. Paul calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because this
these Rebels not out of any love to shed bloud but out of a desire to preserve Peace not for any natural inclination to diminish their Nobility by their decollation but from an earnest endeavour to suppresse the community from unnatural Rebellion ut poena in paucos metus ad omnes that the punishment of some might have bred fear in the rest What effects the Kings clemency wrought and that fear of the King in them might keep his good Subjects from fear of being undone by them But all the World seeth our King is more merciful and hath sought all this while to draw them with the cords of love which hath bred more troubles to himself more afflictions to us and made them the more cruel and by their Oaths and Protestations Leagues and Covenants to do their best to bring the King and all his loyal Subjects into fear if they may not have their own desires But we are not afraid of these Bug-beares because we know this hath been the practice of all Rebels to linke themselves together with Leagues and Covenants as in the conjuration of Cateline and the holy league in France and the like and many such Covenants and Leagues have been made with Hell to the utter destruction of the makers as when more then forty men vowed very solemnly and they intended to do it very cunningly that they would neither eat nor drinke until they had killed Paul for so they might be without meat until the day of judgement Act. 23.12 if they would keep their Oath and so these Covenanters may undo themselves by such hardening their faces in their wickednesse The Rebels Covenants shew they are grown desperate because this sheweth they are grown desperate and are come to that pass that they have little hope to preserve their lives but by the hazarding of their soules as if they thought the Devil for the good service they desire to do him to overthrow the Church to destroy thousand souls may perchance do them this favour to preserve their lives for a time to bring to passe so great a worke whereas we know the Church is built upon a Rock and God hath promised to defend his Anoynted so that all the power of hell shall never prevail against any of these Wherefore to conclude this point seeing God hath put a sword into the hand of the king and the King bears not the sword in vain Rom. 13.4 but though it be long in the sheath he can draw it out when He will and recompence the abuse of His lenity with the sharpnesse of severity let us fear or if you would not fear do well saith the Apostle return from your Rebellion V. 3. and from all your wicked wayes and you may yet finde grace because you have both a merciful God and a gracious king 2. To have an high and good esteeme of our King and to make others to have the like 2 Sam. 15.6 2. As we are to feare so we are to reverence our King that is to have an high esteeme of His Majesty and to manifest the same in our termes speeches and communications accordingly to gain the love of the rest of His Subjects towards Him and not as Absolon did by cunning and sinister expressions to steale away the hearts and affections of His People for to make mention of him either in our prayers or Sermons or in any other familiar talke so as if he were a friend to Popery an enemy to the Gospell and carelesse of Justice and the like as too many of our Sectaries most falsely and most malitiously have done is rather to vilifie and disgrace him to work an odium against him and a tediousness of him then to procure an honourable esteeme and reverence of him Cassiodorus saith stipendium tyranno penditur praedicatio non nisi bono Principi Tribute is due to Tyrants and ought to be paid unto them but honour and reverence much more to a good Prince Rom. 12.14 Matth. 5.44 and the spirit of God bids us bless them that persecute us and our Saviour saith blesse them that curse you that is speak well of Tyrants that oppress us and speak not ill of them that speak ill of you especially if they be your Magistrates or your King whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you are commanded to honour even with the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore no doubt but with the same honour as we are commanded to honour our Father and our Mother The fifth Commandment is the most obliging of all the Commandments of the second Table Ephes 6.2 How the heathens honoured their kings C. Tacitus lib. 14. Seneca de benefic l. 30. The reason of their reverence because the King is our Politicall Father and is therefore commanded to be reverenced by this precept which as the Divines observe is of greater moment and more obliging then any of the rest of the Commandments of the second Table not onely because it keepeth the first place of all these precepts but is also the first Commandment with promise as the Apostle observeth And not onely the Scriptures command us thus to honour and to reverence our King but the very Heathens also did so reverence them that they did adore the Statues and Images of their Kings and Caesars as Tacitus reporteth and it was Treason for any man to pull away or violate them that fled unto them for sanctuary yea it was capitall for a man that had the Image of his Prince stamped in silver or ingraven in a Ring to go to any uncleane or unseemly place and therefore Seneca saith that under the Empire of Tiberius a certain Noble man was accused of Treason for moving his hand that had on his finger a Ring whereon was ingraven the portraiture of the Prince unto his privie parts when he did urine and the reason of this great reverence which they bare unto their Princes was that they beleived there was in Kings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some divine thing which above the reach of man was ingraffed in them and could not be derived from them Raderus Comment in Quint. Curt. for so Raderus tells us that this divine Majesty or celestiall sparke was so eminent in the countenance of Alexander that it did not onely terrifie his enemies but also moved his best Commanders and greatest Peeres to obey his commands and the like is reported of Scipio Africanus A Macedonian Law and I finde the Macedonians had a Law that besides the Traitors condemned to death five of their next Kinsfolkes that were convicted of conspiracy against their King and a Gentleman of Normandy confessing to his Frier how such a thought came once in his minde to have killed King Francis the first A Gentleman hanged for his thought but repenting of his intention he resolved never to do it the Frier absolved him of his sin but told the King thereof and he sent him to his