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A51170 A discourse concerning supreme power and common right at first calculated for the year 1641, and now thought fit to be published / by a person of quality. Monson, John, Sir, 1600-1683. 1680 (1680) Wing M2462; ESTC R7043 76,469 186

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Multiplying-Glass though by making too much Window they weaken the Walls and cause Factions and Divisions that the Roof might fall and then I am sure the Frame will not stand long let them seem to underprop it with never so many specious pretences painted but rotten Posts For as the firmness and uniting of the Walls support the Roof so the Roof covers and preserves them from many an ill Blast that would otherwise weaken and overthrow them But I spin this Thread too long on this Subject and therefore I here wind it up and proceed to consider CHAP. IV. What Duties Kings owe to their Subjects with the Excellency of that Government HAving endeavoured to shew as it were in Landskip and dark shadow only the Great and High Prerogatives of Kings not being able perfectly to describe them as they are in themselves without a seeming Court-flattery which yet might be forgiven given in these times and in a Garrison where Peace of Conscience is the only reward of Loyalty I shall further show you the Excellency of Regal Government by its Effects For so as the Sun in Water it is best seen in its Reflections and the just Actions of Pious Kings who are the Fountains of Honour Justice Power and all other regular subordinate motions in the lower Spheres as the Vital Spirits in the Head are of all Natural Operations of the Body are always best seen in their Piety and Moralities the industrious endeavour of which makes their Mitres rather ponderous than glorious as the Emblems of Christian Kings do show in that the Cross is always fixt but superiour to their Crown to the imitation of their Master who was Crowned indeed but with Thorns to teach them how full of vexing Cares and Troubles that Head should be subject to that as the Stern to the Ship is to guide the great Barque of the State not only in Calms but Storms which best prove the Pilot. So as we may consider the Infelicities of Good Kings with respect to this World to be more in the Scale than their happiness when they are not Lords but Stewards not Owners but Dispensers of all their glorious Attributes and Endowments For Regal is that Paternal Power in the fifth Commandment which Philo Judaeus observes confines upon both Tables that their Arms of Protection might extend to the keeping of both and the greater the Trust the more severe the Account In which there stands First a Charge of Power upon each King's Score it being one of God's communicable Attributes how he hath used the Sword God hath put into his hand which St. Peter saith ought to be a terrour to the Evil not to the Good though a Protection to all against private wrongs with the Militia and Power of making War or Peace which is seated in them and inherent by Divine Right k Num. 10. Deut. 17. as well as in our King by the known and established Laws and magna charta l C. 2.6 7. Ed. 7. C. 1. and to the Son m H. 3. succeeding him and though it be regulated in the Exercise n By 13. El. 1. c. 6 1 E. 3. c. 5. 4 H. 4. c. 13 5 H. 4. 11 H. 7. c. 1. 2 E. ● 4. 5 of P. M. ● 3. 4 Jac. c. 1. 22 E. 4. the Parliament never did pretend to give the Power but to declare it And thus Reynolds in his Comment on the 110 Psalm o Upon Ps 110.2 amongst the Jura Regalia proper honours belonging to the Person of the King which none can use but in a subordination to him doth reckon Armamentaria Publica the Magazines of all Military Provisions citing Greg. Tholos p De Repub l. 9. c. 1. Rom. 13. 1 Sam. ●0 16 by them to fence and impail God's Church and Vineyard both from the wild Boar and little Foxes and the persons of men from Injuries and Violence which are the greatest Priviledges we can enjoy in this World as may more clearly appear by the contrary Effects For things are seen carendo magis quam fruendo As in Judges q Cap. 17. where the decay of Religion advancing of Idolatry making Priests of the lowest of the People and all other Civil uncivil Disorders proceeded from the want of this Power in one man and are imputed to it as to the efficient cause though properly malum non habet efficientem sed deficientem causam And therefore we may expect great good from them when so many Evils are occasioned by their want For when there was no King in Israel every man did what seemed good in his own Eyes saith the Spirit of God disenthroning Reason and making Lust their Law and Rapes their boast r Judg. 19. So that by just consequence the having of a good King is the proper Remedy of those Evils who makes his just Power the measure of his Will not his Will the measure of his Power And therefore it is Enacted saith St. Peter in the style of a Law-giver as some observe that all should be subject to him at least in not doing his Lawful Commands be punished by him s Rom. 3 4. Eccl●s ● Esdr 7 25 26 27. Rev. 2.20 And so we find it in all the Reigns of the good Kings of Israel for there were no Micha's Idols nor High-places left no Rapines nor Violences suffered no acting of Wickedness under the Countenance of Laws and Acts but as Gods t Ps 82.6 they medled with the Affairs of God as Nursing-Fathers they nourished the Church with the two Breasts of God's Word and Sacraments through the Ministerial Administrations of Priests and as publick Ministers for good u Rom. 13. they restrained all other Uncivil Insolencies not suffering every man to be a King nay more than a King in doing what he list for a King ought not to be a Jeroboam favouring idolatry or any false Worship w 2 Chro. 10.14 but a David Learned Pious and Wise as an Angel of God x 2 Sam. 19.27 that Fraud Injuries and violence might be detected and restrained Innocency relieved Industry encouraged Vertue rewarded and Vice punished Secondly Justice Distributive is owing from a King to all his Subjects as that which establishes his own Throne saith Solomon and keeps the just Boundaries of meum tuum Common Right amongst men out of which as Seeds the large Harvest of Contentions growes For Judicium or Potestas judiciaria is a peculiar of Royalty in that the Administration is from the Prince as the Fountain of all Humane Equity under God deposited in the hands of inferiour Officers y Pr●v 20.8 For so he is interpretative in them who as his mouth are to publish the Laws and to execute those Acts of Justice and Peace which principally belong to his own sacred Breast So Reynolds still in that place alluding there to that of Joh. 5.22 27. and drawing his Parallel from Christ where he saith The Father hath
a compulsion in it as may appear by the Apostle t Gal. 2.14 and like Poyson in the Blood that runs through all the Veins taints and discolours them infects the very Air of our Conversation And therefore on the contrary let us as we ought rather suffer all for the Elect's sake with St. Paul u 2 Tim. 10. and expose our selves to all personal hazards in a strict walking according to this rule than comply in any unlawful act against Kings for those are not Children of the most Voices but of the most highest as hath been said the Peoples Approbation serving only ad Pompam but not ad necessitatem Thus the first King Melchisedech was said to have no Father in regard of his Office to shew that Regal Power is an emanation from the Deity it self and therefore the People cannot depose their Kings nor their Progeny because they are not of their making For cujus est instituere ejus est abrogare but still owe them Obedience and all things tending to their outward glory and support But our Royal Soveraign having also a Civil Right by the Municipal Laws of this Nation both to the Crown and all his other Regalia Rights and Revenues none can but by a complication of many sins as Rebellion Oppression and the like invade him in any of them nor acquit themselves from the guilt of it without opposing them that do it by all lawful means being bound to it by the Law of God and of this Kingdom and a Natural Obligation and common Charity which tyes every man not only to commiserate but relieve another that suffers under unjust pressures so as those neutral men that stand upon a safe Shore while the Ship is in danger and afford it no help cannot be found guiltless because they have not endeavoured to deliver him that had no helper nor broken the Jaws of the Wicked and pulled the Prey out of their Mouth w Job 29● And if Damnation be to be pronounced against sins of Omission at the last day as for not helping not comforting those to whom we owe it but by a single Obligation of Charity what Hell is hot enough for those that act against so many clear convictions and endeavour to enforce others to approve of or seemingly to Covenant and engage for their Tyranny and Oppression and like those that have a Plague-sore desire to dilate and spread their Infection their sin to others when he that maintains or approves of an unlawful act done repeats it and sins it over again espouses the sin and makes it so habitually his as not to admit of any Divorce but as he that sets upon his house by Oppression or Injustice entails a Curse upon it to the Fourth Generation x Exod. 20.5 So he that countenances or confirms another in any unjustifiable Action and always approves it doth as much as in him lyes to make his whole life but one continued act of Wickedness and entails it upon his Posterity Nay our Charter for Heaven hath this condition in it That we speak the truth from our hearts y Ps 15. and in our hearts too in Words Actions and Desires for my inclination to a sin makes me guilty without the Act in that there is an Eye-Adultery and a Mental-Idolatry the Devil 's single mony and the connivance at much more complyance with another's sin in out-ward appearance makes it mine and so in God's account though my heart dis-allow and detest it For every Hypocrisie Dissimulation Guile and the like multiplies the sin and makes it two to me approving it in any for I contract both the guilt of the sin I countenance in another and the Lye I am guilty of in my self by it for my Hand or Eye or Foot or any fictitious Action may tell a lie as well as my Tongue But then every untruth is not a Lye when I believe what I say upon fair and probable grounds because mendacium consistit in voluntate every thing having only so much more of inordinateness and obliquity in it as it departs from what we believe or acknowledg to be truth 9. Ninethly we must not comply in any thing ill nor do the best Action if we believe it bad a Rom. 14.23 nor countenance an ill cause though to a good end in that the man is by it divided the heart and the hand moving several ways and becomes guilty of dissembling which is no less as hath been said than a real acted Lie and that every Lie is a sin that ought not to be given way to b Rev. 22. out of the contemplation of the greatest good even the saving of Souls c Rom. 3.8 For the Ark must fall rather than be supported by Vzzah's hands d 2 Sam. 6.6 any undue means and no Sacrifice must be offered to God rather than Disobedience e 1 Sam. 15. So that we must be sure that what we do be not only bonum but bene good in respect of the means as well as end For with St. Augustine f lib. 4 cap 7. tom 5. Quod est secundum se malum ex genere nullo modo potest esse bonum licitum Because as Aquinas saith ad hoc quod aliquid sit bonum requiritur quod omnia recte concurrant in that Bonum est ex causa integra malum vero ex singularibus defectibus A single defect making an Action sinful when all Circumstances are required to concur in a good one in that omne verum est omni vero consentiens quicquid non licet certe non oportet So Cicero g Pro Balbo For potest aliquid licere non expedire expedire autem quod non licet non potest h Aug. de Adult Conjug cap. 15. So that I will conclude with St. Augustine i Tom. 4. cap. 10. de mendatio and Thomas Aquinas excellently Non licitum mendacium dicere ad hoc quod aliquis alium a quocunque periculo liberaret And therefore with the Divine Poet Mr. George Herbert let us Dare to tell truth there 's nothing needs a Ly A Fault that needs it most grows two thereby and let us purifie our hearts Jam. 4.8 as well as cleanse our hands if we will draw nigh unto God k Jer. 17. the Law of God requiring an inward universality of the Subject to walk in as well as an Universal Obedience of the Precept to walk by 10. Tenthly Yet all this doth not by way of Obligation extend to the speaking of the whole truth at all times as in Abraham's calling Sarah his Sister to disguise his Relation to her as a Husband l Gen. 20 when God is not dishonoured nor my Brother damnified by it in that it may be but a concealing of something I am not bound to reveal when Mendacium est quippe falsa significatio cum voluntate fallendi m Aug. tom 4. l. 2. And therefore I