affirmative In which he decedeth from the Institutions of his Masters Mariana and Suarez Suarez resp ad Apolog. pro Jur. fid The one averring that if the Tyranny be doubtful and not Manifest no man ought to offer him force how this doubt shall be resolved the other sheweth Neque enim inprivato cujusquam arbitrio ponimus c. We place it not in the Judgement of every private person nor mamy De Regis Inst l. 1. c. 5. unlesse the publick voice of the people be assenting and learned and grave men be called to Councel least saith he any one should conspire against the life of the Prince as if he were a Tyrant And so also saith Grotius maxime autem in re controversa judicium sibi privatum sumere non debet In this case above all other a private man ought not to take to himself Judgement And yet this Impostor would Father that opinion on Grotius Grotius lib. 1. c. 4. which his grave Fathers Mariana and Suarez rejected and make him like the Satyre in Aesop iisdem buccis calorem frigus efflare breath contraries to supply his purpose for Grotius doth not say where no Justice is to be had every one may be his own Magistrate and do Justice for himself for before he said the contrary Molin de Instit Fo. 1. disp 100. Grotius de sol l. 1. c. 3. and so doth Molina whom Grotius cited in that place to wit that no private man ought to take vengeance for an injury offered him eo quid unusquisque possit facile occoecari sua in causa because every one may be easily blâ—nded in his own case And therefore it is written Vengeance is mine that is God's and his Magistrates whom though we suppose them to do us injustice we ought not to resist And in that Grotius saith ubi cesset judicium where Justice ceaseth the Law of nature somtimes now hath place He doth not speak of injustice done by Magistrates in their place of Justice to private persons but of injuries and wronges that happen between private persons which appeareth by his subsequent distinctions for Justice saith he doth cease momentanè for the present moment where Justice cannot be executed without certain danger and dammage In which sence that of this Impostor is to be taken that the Law of God permitteth every man to kill a thief if he take him breaking open his House in the night because he cannot bring him to Justice without certain peril or losse Or else saith Grotius Justice doth cease continuè continually which is either by Right as in Wildernesses and Islands where there is no City and Government or by Fact if the Subjects will not hearken to the Judge as Pirates Robbers Mosse-troopers or such notorious Malefactors who are no part of a City but contemn Government and therefore as Grotius saith Grotius l. 3. c. 19. Molin ibidem may be punished by every man if we respect the Law of nature or else saith he When the Judge doth refuse to do Justice as if saith Molin in one Kingdom one City assaulteth another and doth grievous injury to it and the King being requested neglecteth or dareth not to vindicate the offered injuries In this case that City may not onely desend it self but also make Warre with the other and put the Malefactors to the Sword But cautiously addeth Non tamen auderem facultatem hanc multum extendere yet I dare not much extend this power no further then between City and City and not to give private persons the power of Magistracy and that where no Justice is to be had to do Justice for themselves no not between themselves unlesse in the causes above mentioned and therefore à fortiori not against a Magistrate as this Impostor conceiveth which opinion both Molin and Grotius utterly reject And in that he saith That it is contrary to the Law of nature that when the Law can have no place men shall be forbidden to repel force by force but to be left without all defence and remedy against injury God left not the Slave without a Remedy against the cruel Master and permitted every man to kill a Thief breaking upon his House in the night because it may be supposed he could not otherwise bring him to Justice and shall a Free People have no redresse against an Imperious Master nor an oppressing Tyrant Wherein this Impostor hath forgot the old Wise Lesson Fuit haec sapientiaÌ„ quondam Publica privatis secernere sacra profanis To distinguish between publike and private things Sacred and Profane for private persons upon any pretence of Injustice may not be their own Judges and make resistance against the publike Magistrate or the Supreame power for they are publike and Sacred persons Sanctified by the Ordinance of God Yea though they be unjust and wicked yet is there power and Authority the Ordinance of God and therefore Christ told Pilate that the power he had was given him from above John 9.11 and as Jehosaphat said to his Rulers They execute not the Judgement of man but of the Lord. The same answer may be returned to that he saith What can be more absurd in nature and contrary to all common sence to call him Thief and kill him that comes alone or with a few to rob me or to call him Protector and obey him who robs me with Regiments and Troopes as if to rove with two or three Ships were to be a Pirate but with fifty an Admiral as if the number of Adherents onely not the the cause did make the difference between a Robber and a Protector But it is not the number of Adherents puts the difference between them but the cause for the Protector as the publike and Supreame Magistrate by the Advice of his Councel or Parliament for the good of the publike may impose Assessements and Taxes on the people whom as Gods Vice-gerent we are all obliged to obey but the others in contempt of publike Authority as private persons Robbe Pillage and Plunder their Brothers and Neighbours Otherwise the Pirates answer to Alexander had been pertinent who being demanded of him by what Right they did infest the Sea and spoil Passengers said by the same Right that he with many did Robbe the whole World Whereas the Legal and publike Authority of the one did make the difference of Right and Robbery between them And as concerning the consent of the people to Taxes either made expressely by themselves or virtually in Parliament satisfaction therein hath before abundantly been given And if this Impostor will have other Remedy and satisfaction let him hearken to Grotius who will further Instruct him and tell him that Magistrates Judge private men Princes Magistrates and God Princes Grotius l. 1. c. 3. of whom he hath a peculiar care who will vindicate their offences if he Judge iâ— needful or bear with them in poenam explorationem populi for the punishment or
that all just Power of Government is not founded upon those two bases of Gods immediate appointment or the peoples consent as he would have it but datur tertium to wit Warre and Victory which he might have learned of the ancient Father Tertullian Imperia armis quaeri Apoll. Resp ad Apollo Jur. F. 124. Victoriis propagari that Empires are purthased by Armes and pronagated by Victories or else of his new Master Suares Solent iâ—terdum provinciae seu populi liberi involuntarie subjici regibus per bellum Provinces and free people are unwillingly sometimes made subject by Warre but this hapneth to be done justly or injustly when therefore Warre hath a just Title the people is justly deprived of the power they had and the Victor that prevaileth against them hath true Right and Dominion over them For jus est in Armis there is Right in Armes and it is the most potent Right which the Roman Civilian Cicero was at the last forced to confesse Ep. ad Atticum Nullum Jus plus potest quam arma ut enim quisque potentissimus est it a justissime dicere facere omnia videtur no Law hath more power then Armes for as every one is more potent so doth he seem to say and do all things most justly By this it is perspicuous that there are three bases of all just power of Government the immediate appointment of God Warre and Victory and the Election and consent of the people And therefore this Impostor shall give me leave to inferre his conclusion that whosoever doth arrogate to himself that power or any part of it and cannot produce any of these three Titles is not a Ruler but a Tyrant And now let this Impostor dare to ask his Highness Quis te constituit Principem Judicem super nos who made the Prince and Judge over us and he shall be fully answered to wit that he was made a Prince and Judge over us by the immediate appointment of God by the Right of Warre and by the consent of the people which two Titles dimane also from the Divine providence as shall be in the sequel showed but first of the immediate appointment of God The power of all Kings Princes and Rulers immediately proceeds from God though not by his special revelation which was onely incident to some of the Kings of Israel Rom. 13.1 yet by particular designation which is common to all and is a matter of Faith if we will believe St. Paul who saith There is no power but of God which he useth as a reason to perswade due obedience to the Prince and that God is the immediate Dispensator of that power he proveth by the Authority God hath given to a Prince to revenge and execute wrath upon him that doth evil Ib. 2.4 by depriving him of life if it be requisite as he saith that he beareth not the Sword in vain which is onely in the gift and power of God who is Dominus vitae necis the Lord of life and death for no man hath power to take away his own life without the guilt of being a Murderer and therefore are Princes called by the Prince of Poets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods Son and Schollers and by a more Divine Poet Homer Gods Dixi quod dii estis I have said you are Gods because they immediately have their power from God Solomon the Wisest of Kings acknowledged this By me Kings Raign and Princes degree Justice Prov. 14.21 And Daniel who was wiser then all the Astrologers and Magitians taught Nebuchadnezzar this lesson Thou O King art King of Kings for the Lord of Heaven hath given thee a Kingdom power strength Dan. 2.21 Apology fetcht out of Allen. and glory and that he changeth the times and seasons he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings which none will deny but he that saith in his heart there is no God but nature to which purpose speaks some of the Papists and Jesuits and especially Bellarmine Bellarm. de conc l. 2. c. 19. In regnis hominum potestas Regis est à populo c. In the Kingdom of men the power of the King is from the people which power is immediately in the multitude as in the Subject and Suares second to none in subrility says that God is said to give this power to the Prince because he hath immediately given it to the people who transferres it to the Prince and this saith he is modus maxime connaturalis optimus qui intra latitudinem naturalis rationis cogitaripotest the most connatural and best meanes Resp ad Apollo Jur. fidel F. 127. which can be thought or found within the Latitude and extent of natural reason Which to confirme he produceth Scripture that whereas St. Paul saith there is no power but of God he doth not say that every Prince is constituted of God for his saying is not of any Prince but of the power and so as he said before the power being immediately in the people from God is immediately by them conveyed to the Prince yet will he not allow the power to be immediately in the people Ex peculiari institutione donatione divina from the peculiar institution and Divine gift sed per naturalem consequutionem ex vi primae creationis but by natural consequence from the force of his first creation in which they seem to ascribe more to natural reason and production then to Divine patesaction But St. Paul is his own Interpreter for after his general Doctrine of obedience to the power he expoundeth it in the singular and applyeth it to the Prince in particular as he is the Minister of God to thee and then again that he beareth not the Sword for nought and least they should forget it he reiterateth it for he is a Minister of God c. But it is objected that though St. Peter makes the King Supreame yet he tells us the King is an humane Ordinance or creature of the people for the words are Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake but it is answered 1 Pet. 2.11 Kings may be called an humane Ordinance for being made of one of the people and not by the people and are humane in regard of their material cause though not of their efficient and if Peter had meant that Kings had been made by the people he must also have meant that the Governors had been made by the people for he saith they are sent by him not by them for the punishment of evil Doers so as the Governors are sent by the King not by the people This needs no application were it not for this Impostors exprobations for who but such a blind Bayard will question who made his Highness a Prince and Judge over us and cannot see what wondrous works the immediate hand of God hath wrought by him who as Moses delivered this captive Nation from the bondage and Tyranny
〈◊〉 that he either have a good minde to virtue or else that he be half good and not altogether vicious and doth not say that he would have him really good but that he would have him like a Prince be as good as possibly may be And whereas he saith that this half good is too great a proportion for his Highness and more then his temper will bear It is onely his saying as if his Ipse dixit like the Pope his Holy Fathers Sentence were definitive and to be rested in See the humble advice of Parl. 1656. though the contrary be humbly acknowledged by the Parliament which is of more authority then his finxit or the Popes dixit In conclusion he supposeth That if his Highness be not a Tyrant then there is no description of a Tyrant And because he hath put an if to it he hath invited me to shew him that some have affirmed 1 Kings 1.11 1. Justin l. 1. Esay 45.1 there are no Tyrants in Titulo and others no Tyrants in Exercitio and divers no Tyrants at all according to his Hypothesis And for that there are no Tyrants in Titulo some alleadge the example of Jeroboam who invaded the right of Rehoboan yet was he by Holy Writ neither reputed an Usurper or Tyrant but on the contrary that the ten Tribes were given him by God And so say they Cyrus invaded the Kingdome of Harpagus to which he had no Title though the Sonne of his Daughter and did beat him out of his Kingdome yet is he by the Prophet Esay called the Lords anointed Others to prove there are no Tyrants in Exercitio produce the example of Nebuchadnezzar whose cruelty and Tyranny in Sacred Writ is generally expressed but in especial for erecting his golden Image and commanding that they who resused to worship it should be cast into a fiery Furnace Jer. 15.9.24.17 Baruch 1. by which he would have enforced and compelled the consciences of men to his prophane superstitions which is the most execrable Tyranny Carnificina Animorum a Torture and Torment of mens Souls yet God calleth him his Servant and the Prophet Jeremy and Baruch did write to the Jews to pray for the life of him and Baltazar his Son And further say that God stirreth up the spirits of wicked Princes to do his will and that if they abuse their authority they are to be judged by God onely who is onely their Superiour yet say they God reserveth them to the sorest Tryal Horribly and suddenly will the Lord appear unto them and an hard Judgement shall they have In Gen. 10. And those who maintaine there are no Tyrants at all argue from the name of a Tyrant which as Musculus saith signifieth nothing but as a Monarch a Prince and a King though of late it hath been taken in the worser sense Act 19. 19. which though it be frequent in every mans mouth and our old English Translation useth sometimes the word Tyrant yet the Authors of the New Translation have not once used the words because they find no Hebrew word in the Scripture to signifie a Tyrant Neither do Aristotle Bodin or Sir Walter Rawleigh agree in the distinction or description of Tyranny and therefore question whether any man can describe what a Tyrant is and then who can tell who was ever a Tyrant according to that description Pardon me for this digression for my intention is not to assert any of these opinions but onely to give this Impostor a glance and a touch for his if who will be of any opinions which may serve his turn But now this Impostor shall give me leave to rowl up the conclusion which things seeing they are so It is certo certius and not lyable to exception that according to his distinction and description of a Tyrant His Highness without question is no Tyrant in Titulo nor in Exertio neither in Title nor in Practice and that he is a Lawful and Legitimate Prince ordained by God warranted by the Sword and approved by the People And triplex nodus non facile est solvendus A triple wreath is not easily loosened And this is the prime and peremptory question upon which the other two depend which being defunct the other two dye with it For to refricate your memories The first Question was whether his Highness was a Tyrant or no upon which it is resolved upon the Votes of the Scripture Reason and Parliament that he is no Tyrant The second Question is If he be a Tyrant whether it be lawful for any private person to kill him Thirdly If it be lawful whether it is likely to prove profitable or noxious to the Commonwealth So as it is as cleer as the Day-star that the first question which is the Foundation of the other being resolved against him the other two which are built upon it will of themselves fall to the ground for Sublato Fundamento corruit Opus The Foundationing failing the Work falleth And now me thinks I hear my Genius calling on me Heus tu Cic. Epist ad Att. manum de tabula Hark Sir Stay your Hand and spare your Pen least it may seem over-long and troublesome And so I would were it not to be feared that some of the Impostors swearing Auditors will be made by his Enchantements Jurare in verba Magistri to swear what he saith or through simplicity or prejudice will not or cannot conceive or weigh the premisses in the golden Scales of true Judgement and distinguish real Demonstrations from glistring probalities Whereby they may be seduced to imagine his Highness to be one of his Tyrants and his Ears to be Horns and his Justice Tyranny And consequently to be lawful for every person to do Justice upon him without solemnity as he saith that is to kill him according to his seditious inference For what reverence and obedience will be given to a Prince without which what is his power when the people are perswaded that under pretences and colour of Tyranny every private Subject may vindicate his own quarrel and be a Judge and Executioner of his Right and Actions Which preposterous inconveniences to prevent I thought it necessary to continue this discourse and further to proceed in the refutation of his strange absurdites and according to my design of brevity will succinctly consider his material passages omitting his superfluous Tautologies First Therefore he proposeth that Supream Magistrates who degenerate into Tyrants are not be censured by private persons and that none of sober sense do make them Judges of their actions But he findes none have been such great enemies to Comon Justice or to the Liberty of mankind to give any kind of indemnity to an Vsurper who can pretend no title but that of being the stronger nor to have the peoples obedience upon any other Obligation then that of necessity or fear Wherin by the way I cannot supersede Sir Edward Coke's Rule of State Cooks Com.
open to their grievances By whose power afterwards a new Assembly Parliament was constituted because it seemed not to be for the good of the Commonwealth the Maior part of them thought it requisite to resigne and deliver up the said power unto the Lord General Cromwell which they received from him So as thereby all Power of Government divolved on the Lord General Cromwell as Head of the Army and by right of War descended to him as General The Supream Power being then vacant to whom all the acts and honor of the Army is to be ascribed Because as Iphicrates the General is the head without which the body cannot act and as Curtius militarem sine duce turbam esse corpus sine spiritu A Military Company without a General is as a body without a spirit and cannot be rancked and retained in its right postures without it for as the Comoedian Vhi summus Imperator non adest ad exercitum Plaut Amph. Citius quod non facto est usus fit quam quod Facto est opus And to speak truth without dawbing he was the Life spirit and head of the Army And in all his Battails led them on encountring the Enemy in the front Hostibus haud tergo sed forti pectore notus And as Fortunate as valiant who by the amplitude of his Victories overcame the envy of his Enemies for which as Romulus by the right of War upon the request and approbation of the Army he took upon him the supream dignity Ipsius certe Ducis hocque referre videtur Juvenal Vt qui fortis erit fit felicissimus idem This certes reflecteth on a Generals aim That he who valerous is thrice happy raign And as Aristotle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist lib. 3. Polit. cap. 22. it is just that such a Valourous Prince be Lord of all and King alone And this right and title also floweth from the Ocean of the Divine power for the Lord is a man of War and he in War overcometh ever it was he that girded his loins with strength and made his way perfect he taught his hands to war and his fingers to fight his gentleness hath made him great he hath given him the necks of his Enemies that he might destroy him that hates him he hath delivered him from the strivings of the Enemy and made him the head of his brethren And as his Motto and Word in battail was The LORD of Hosts So hath his Highness perpetually and piously ascribed and consecrated all his victories to the LORD of hosts The third basis upon which the just power of Government is founded is the election or consent of the people and to this title also may his Highness justly lay claim who to bar up the way against those manifold inconveniences which have been felt under many other fleeting forms of Government to reduce us as neer as may be to our antient way of Government by supream Magistrates Parliaments did at the request intreaty of divers persons of honor quality of many of the chief Officers of the Army for the good of the Commonwealth under the name title of the Lord Protector take upon him the supream Government and was by the consent and in the presence of the Commissioners of the great Seal the Judges the Lord Mayor and Aldermen for the City of London the Souldiers divers Gentlemen Citizens and many other people and persons of quality confirmed in the same with whom being accompanied to Westminster-Hall he did promise in the presence of God to the best of his understanding to govern these Nations according to their Laws Statutes and Customes seeking their peace and causing Justice and Law to be equally administred whereupon the Commissioners and Judges received their commissions from him by vertue of which they have ever since acted and as all the Justices of Peace did also act by his Commissions so did all the Sheriffs according to his Commands and Precepts and all which came in by process issued out by the Sheriffs consented to it and all the Justice in this Nation hath been administred by this authority besides his Highness had the approbation of the Army in England Scotland and Ireland by Remonstrances and under signature the Souldiers at that time being a very considerable part of the three Nations besides he had the Congratulation of the great City of London by way of invitements which was very great high and publike and by a numerous body of those who are known by the names of several Corporations and Societies in that City as also the greatest County in England the County of York with many other Cities and Burroughs and many other Counties assembled in the publique and general Assizes gave him thanks for the undertaking of that Burden These and many more were the presentary and explicite Testimonies of the peoples general approbations congratulations manifested to his Highness upon his gratious acceptance of this Government And which of late hath been more amply indiciously remonstrated declared in Parliament by the Knights Citizens Burgesses confirmed ratified and established by an Act that upon publication of the premisses all and every person and persons of what quality soever are strictly charged and commanded to take notice of the same and to conform and submit themselves to the Government established which Proclamation being published at the magnificent and glorious inauguration of his Highness in Westminster-Hall with great solemnity in the presence of the Lord Embassador extraordinary of France and the States General of the United Provinces and divers other noble and honorable personages the people made great several acclamations with loude shouts God save the Lord Protector and the like congratulations and acclamations with the expressions of their â—â—â—tions wishing to his Highness long life were made by the people 〈…〉 City of London and so did all the Cities of England Scotland and Ireland upon the sâ—lemn Publication of the said Proclamation With what brazen brow can the Impostor now deny but any that his Highness may also lay claim to this Title if this be not a visible publike and general approbation and consent of the people then was never publisht any in Poland Scotland Denmark or any other Dominion or Territory of the Universe and if there be any refractory or repugnant to the same they are such as this Impostor and his Accomplices malignant men of Belial And this also is the Lords doings who prepared the hearts of the people and touched them to appear and follow their Prince and Protector as he did the Band of men that went with Saul after the Lord had chosen him so as his Highness Councel or Parliament as he vainly vaunts nor any one else shall not be much troubled to answer his Interrogations and Questions which appear so frivolous and nugatory But here this Impostors malice ceaseth not for though he confidently concludeth his Highness to be a Tyrant
in titulo as he falsely supposeth yet will he have him also a Tyrant in exercitio and as compleat a Tyrant as ever had been since the first Societies of men for so he brazeth it but as he faileth in the first so doth he falter in the latter and doth but labour and blot paper in vain though he daubs it on with artificial cunning to make the delusion the stronger for thus he cunningly argues Is it not Tyranny to change the Government without the peoples consent to dissolve their representative by force and to disannul their Acts to give the names of the peoples Repraesentative to confederates of his own to establish iniquity by Law to take away mens Lives out of all course of Law by certain Murderers of his own whom he names an High Court of Justice to decimate mens Estates and by his own power to impose upon the people what taxes he pleaseth and to maintain all this by force of Arms Which criminations as they are by him expressed are malicious and contumelious for he did not dissolve their Representatives by force or disannul their Acts but upon necessary grounds and urgent occasions neither did he give the name of the peoples Representative to confederates of his own to establish iniquity by a Law but he purged the Parliament of its unfound and putrified members and setled in it sincere and sound persons who might act nothing but what was agreeable to Law and equity as is in the premisses expresly proved neither did he take away Mens Lives by certain Murderers of his own but did make Commissioners erect an High Court of Justice to take away the Lives of such Rebellious murdering persons as this Impostor his Accomplices are who would have taken away the life of their Prince and Protector which he justly might do neither did he decimate Mens Estates and impose upon the people what taxes he pleased by his own power but he by the power was given him by the Army with the consent of many honorable people aswell as others at his installation at Westminster-Hall and in other places by whom he was created Lord Protector did by advice of his Councel for the maintenance of the Army and Navy and defraying of other necesâ—â—â—â— charges which concerned the honor and safety of the Commonwâ—â—â—â—â—â—ecimate mens Estates impose upon the people necessary taxes All which as he truly saith he maintained by force of Arms out of all course of Law as by right of War and his second Title he might as hath been fully debated Ploy f. 19. Tholosan Syn. l. c. 18. and 28. and decided Besides though upon acceptance of this Government with the consent and approbation of the people his Highness hath promised to govern these Nations according to the Laws Statutes and Customes yet is it a Rule in the Divine Civil Canon and the Common Laws that necessity hath no Law and that Necessitas facit licitum quod alioquin fuerit illicitum and that necessity maketh that lawful which otherwise should not be lawful and Princes strained with imminent and urgent necessity for the dignity and safety of the Commonwealth no established Law providing for a present remedy may justly do those Acts which otherwise by the course of Law were unlawful as to decimate Mens Estates and by his power with the advice of his Councel to impose such Taxes as are convenient and necessary And as the learned Legist Davis Rep. fol. 12. Sir John Davis saith The King by his Prerogative Royal to support the necessary charges of the Crown may decree Imposts and Impositions payable upon Marchandizes and so have Princes heretofore by their Prerogatives to encounter suddain dangers and mischiefs which would not endure so much delay as the assembling of the great Councel of the Commonwealth used their Edicts and Proclamations which Mr. Pym a grave and prudent Senator of this State stileth the most eminent power of a Prince and the most glorious beams of Majesty Mr. Pym his Speech in Parl. 1642. fo 31. in commanding Obedience and Subjection which he calleth Leges Temporum and onely disallowes them for the abuses in being exercised for the maintaining enjoying of sundry monopolies and other graunts exceeding burthensome and prejudicial to the people And therefore how can this Impostor answer his Highness Question in this point Whether the people should prefer the having of their wills though it be their destruction rather then to comply with things of necessity which as he truly Divines he should wrong his Native Countrey to suppose unless he will suppose the necessity to be faigned imaginary See his Highness Speech 22 Jan. 1654. See his Highness Speech the 12 of Sept. 1654. which his Highness acknowledgeth to be the greatest cousenage that men can put upon the Providence of God and which his Princely and Paternal care abhorreth Besides his Highness acted nothing in this Kind but by the advice of his Councel who are the Trustees of the Commonwealth in all Intervals of Parliament and hath an absolute negative upon the Supream Power in the said Intervals as the Parliament hath in the sitting so as it is not his own but a mixt Act by the advice of his Councel who in all probability would not advise him to any thing but what is necessary and expedient and if they should the offence would lie at their door And thus are the preterit Ordinances of his Highness fully cleared from the unjust aspersion of this Impostor in giving him the title of the Violation of Laws and Exercise of Tyranny and Robberies See the humble Pet. and advice of the Parl. c. the 17 of Sept. 1646. And for the future to prevent all ensing mistakes and suspitions of the necessity of imposing Taxes on the people upon provision made for the support of the Government and Safety of these Nations It is declared and enacted that no charge be layed nor no person be compelled to contribute to any gift or loan benevolence tax tallage ayde or other like charge without common consent by Act of Parliament But to proceed in the canvasing of this Impostors Calumniations and whereas he saith That notwithstanding his Highness hath done all these things yet for his preservation the people must pray as if it were impiety in the people to pray for him Our Saviour Christ was of another mind Mat. 5.45 whose Councel is to pray for them who despitefully use or persecute you And so was his selected Apostles who exhorteth that first of all prayers supplications intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for the King and those that be in Authority And who had rule over them at that time but Nero a reputed Tyrant 1 Tim. 2.1 Swarez responsad Apolog. pâ—â— Jur. fidel and for persecuting Christians supposed to be Antichrist wherein by the fruits we may perceive of what spirit this Impostor is for he hath not the fruits of
for us thither and there bore through our ears at the Dore-posts For for whom did his Higness send for thither but for such refractory and turbulent spirits as his is and there by godly and moral instructions did labour to bore them through their consciences and reclaim them or otherwise by custody to secure them to prevent future combustions in the Commonwealth And let this Impostor take heed that his Highness find not his hole wherein he lurketh and send for him to Westminster-Hall and there cause him to be mounted on the top of a pillory and his ears and tongue too to be bored through and his forehead stigmatized for his impudent and eminent scandals Next he sheweth the condition wherein a Tyrant standeth with the Commonwealth to wit that a Tyrant is no part of the City nor member of the Commonwealth and therefore in all reason to be reckoned in the number of those savage beasts that fall not within any other harde that have no other defence then their own strength making a prey of all that is weaker and by the same reason being a prey to all are stronger then himself But if we grant that a Tyrant is no part or Member of a Commonwealth which I can neither finde in Aristotle or Grotius whom he quoteth in his margent yet is he not for that reason a Tyrant for injury should be offered to a Prince saith Aristotle L. 1. Pol. c. 9. who excelleth others in virtue and valour to esteem him apart of the City Commonwealth seeing there is Impar in eis virtus Unequal virtue in them for such a man ought to be esteemed a God among men And so also is there in Tyrants who as he also saith for their Virtue and Valour were at the first made Tribunes or Leaders of the people Regis Just 1. cap. 5. And though they be Eccentricque and above the other Sphaere and Orbe yet do they like Primum Mobile Rowl about and sway all the Inferiour Orbes with their Motion and rule And therefore the comparison of Tyrants with wild beasts which he borrowed of his Master Mariana is incongruous and absurd because there is not the same Reason of both parium eadem est ratio for among wild beasts there is no rule or goverment Lib. 1. Hist but promiscuous confusion and dilaniation whereas in Tyranny there is a Form of Rule and Government though not so just and equal as it ought to be Kek. Pol. fol. 21 And for that Reason saith Tacitus Praestat esse sub malo Principe quam sub nullo It is to be better under an evil Prince then none and a Tyranny is better then an Anarchy for where there is no Government at all men like brute beasts indeed by wounds and slaughters snatch and catch what they can to themselves And for the same infirm Reason pag. 9. he in the ensuing page assevereth that no Society and no Faith is to be kept wit Tyrants nor no Religion of Oath to be observed because as Seneca saith that whatsoever was of Mutual Obligation between us his destroying the Lawes of Humane Society hath dissolved but I wonder much that he who seemes so well versed in Grotius Grotius lib. 3. cap. 2. L. 5. Tuscan should not observe that he utterly rejecteth that opinion of Seneca and also of Cicero's which in that Place he also citeth Nulla nobis Societas cum Tyrannis sed summa potius distractio That no Society is to be had by us but rather extream distraction For saith he Tyrants have had Society with the people and by compacts and agreements with them established their power by granting them Liberty And which is more to be admired the Impostor seemeth to countenance the Error of Michael Ephesus which as Grotius saith proceeded from that Fountain That Adultery is not committed with a Tyrants Wife and graceth it it with a jeer if she have no other guard for her chastity but age and deformity But he will finde that if his Wife have not the guard for her chastity of age and deformity a Tyrant may with lesse offence and danger commit Adultery with his Wife if he have any In the next place he produceth another argument of the same nature that a Tyrant making himself above all Law and defending his injustice by a strength which no power of Magistrates is able to oppose becomes above all other punishments above all other Justice then that he receives from the stroak of some generous hand And by the Law of Nature where no Justice is to be had every one may be his own Magistrate and do justice for himself which he learned of his Master Suarez who giveth the same reason for the lawfulness of every private mans authority in such a case Quia Suarez Resp ad Apologiam pro Jur. fidel Fol. 415. saith he per Naturalem Legem Deus dedit unicuique potestatem defendendi se Because God by the Law of Nature hath given power to every man to defend himself where no remedy is to be had against him from their Superior But herein is this Impostor catched in his own ginne by falling from his first principle which was that it is Lawful for every private person to kill Vsurpers or Tyrants in Titulo but not supream Magistrates who degenerate into Tyrants and be Tyrants in exercitio whereas by this reason every private person may as well kill the one as the other for a Tyrant in exercitio is also above Law and defendeth his injustice by a strength which no power of inferiour Magistrates is able to oppose and by his successive Title becomes more potent and irresistible in his Acts of Injustice for no Injustice can be had against him also for his Compulsory Contributions Loanes Benevolences Assessements Taxes or other the like Impositions and may as well be stiled magna Latrocinia great Robberies as well as the other In which Argument this Impostor seemeth to have lost his sober senses for he saith None of sober sense makes private persons Judges of the Actions of those that degenerate into Tyrants which by this Argument he doth And further in this case the Impost or saith that every one may be his own Judge and do Justice for himself for the question is not whether a private man may take upon him to be his own Judge whether a Magistrate doth him wrong or not for that is denied of Grotius and Bodin Grotius l. 1. c. 3. Ne occasio sit majoris tumultus faciendi least it should be an occasion of greater tumults And therefore Cicero compares such resisters of Magistrates to the Titans Qui ut illi Caelestibus adversantur Magistratibus Cic. lib. 3. de Legibus who oppose Magistrates as they did the gods But the question is Whether every private person may take upon him to be his Judge in punishing an usurper that hath no just Title to Magistracy which this Impostor resolveth in the
That such was the State of the Commonwealth that that of necessity must be governed by the Councel and eare of one And Necessitas est Lex temporis Necessity is the Law of the times which we are forced to obey and against which as one saith Ne dii quidem pugnare possint App. Alexand. de Bello Civilis And therefore the Senate and People of Rome after the Conquest of Pompey as Appian saith did not onely create Caesar perpetual Dictator but with the Dictatorship gave him the perpetual Consulship to the Consulship the Title of Emperour and the sirname of Pater Patriae whereof Cicero was one Neither could the Senate plead any excuse for Caesar's murder whom they themselves acknowledged Supreme But condemned it as an horrid parricide Onely the prevaricator Cicero who as this Impostor saith if he was not conscious of that design yet he affected the honour to be thought so as appeareth by his Philippick and invective Orations for which he justly paid the mult of his head which forged them and his hands which pressed them and were both fastned to the Rostrum wherin he made them which may be the Impostors penalty in the end for his prevaricative and invective pamphlet and that jure who is as faithless and calumnious as the other Insomuch as if Caesar was an Invador as this Impostor conceiveth yet was he rightly fixed and seâ—led in the Majesty of the Empire by the Decree of the Senate and consent of the people who were so enraged at his death that they unanimously flocked to the houses of the Parricides to punish and tear them in pieces Plut. Vit. Caesaris But I will conclude this Question with the determination of Tholosanus Exempla Tyrannicidarum Syntag. l. 6. c. 20. saith he non hic sunt sequenda The Examples of Tyrannicides are not here to be followed which happened in a free Commonwealth which had no King nor did not subject themselves to him or that those things which were done rashly be measured by the success which this Impostor seems to acknowledge in that he saith That now he will conclude with authorities are much more authentick and Examples we may much more safely imitate as if it were not very safe to imitate the former And now Ventum est ad triarios He is driven to his last refuge The ranks of his many battails are broken and his humane arguments routed and forced to his last reserve and to bring up his triaries and divine authorities into the field on which he chiefly relies but they like a staff of reed will fail him and though primo impetu at the first dispute they seem more then men yet at the second they will prove Minus Faeminarum Weaker then Women and soon overcome But to encounter them in the same order they are ranked Deut. 17. Ch. 12. Ver. The first is drawn from the Law of God which decreeth certain death to that man that doth not hearken as he saith or submit himself to the Judge or the Decision of Justice and thence inferreth that neither that nor any other Law is in force if there were no way to put it in execution and against a Tyrant processe and citation have no place neither have any formal remedies against him and therefore includes that every man may kill him Joan. Sarisb de nug Cur. l. 8. c. 20. But he rowls the same stone he did before and the same answer will satisfie both That a Tyrant is the Minister of God whom any private man ought not to resist but is to be left to the Judgement of the Lord who will either take vengeance on him or permit him for our punishment or trial to remain Regum timendorum in proprios greges Horat. Reges in ipsos Imperium est Jovis The next is taken from the example of Moses every English man saith he hath more cause and as much call as Moses had to slay the Aegyptian But as he hath no cause as hath been manifested so hath he no such call for Moses from the inspiration of God obtained his authority who moved him to this slaughter that he might begin to shew himself an avenger of his people and to kill the publick Enemy which is the interpretation of the best Commentators according to the harmony of the Scriptures For Stephen saith that Moses seeing one of his Brethren suffring wrong Acts 7 Chapt. 24 25. Ver. defended him and smote the Egyptian who oppressed him supposing his Brethren would have understood that God by his hand would have delivered them but they understood not Though Moses did know that he was ordained a Captain from God to vindicate the Hebrews and that he should prepare himself by this slaughter to that charge And though he did fly out of Egypt yet as the Apostle saith by Faith Moses forsook Egypt Heb. 11.27 and feared not the feirceness of the King for he endured as he that saw him which is invisible that is he did it not for fear but believed in his time to deliver Israel What imprudence or impudence is it therefore in this Impostor to aver that Moses had no other call we read of but the necessity his Brother stood in of his help when the contrary is cleared by the Scriptures that he had his call in this action immediately from God who by the smiting of the Egyptian was prepared and animated to the deliverance of Israel The example of Ehud followeth which both his Masters Mariana and Suarez principally urge Suarez in Apol pro Jur. fidel Mor. de Rege Inst l. 1. c. 6. Grotius l. 1. c 4. that he as a private person killed Eglon the King of the Moabites to free the Israelites from his Tyranny But as Grotius saith Sacred authority doth plainly justifie that he was raised by God and by his special command to avenge the Tyranny of the Israelites And that God also by what Ministers he pleased did execute his Judgements against other Kings as he did by Jebu against Joram neither doth it appear saith he that the King of the Moabites had no right to rule by compact which seemeth probable by the whole eighteen years time he ruled them that some consent might passe between them And wâ—ereas he saith That a Tyrant is not a Devil to be cast out by prayer and Fasting but by a Dagger of a cubit long yet was it the onely and pious meanes the people of God used to free themselves from the Tyranny and Slavery of Nebuchadnezzar and other Princes which at the last they obtained without the helpe of a Dagger but he had rather run to the Devil for a Dagger to execute his revenge then fly to God by prayer for his deliverance Judg. 10. This same answer also may be given to his Example of Sampfon for it is perspicuous by his miraculous acts that he was raised by God to begin to deliver Israel out of the hands of the
the end and portion also of his accomplices that unless as he saith in the contrary sense they repent they shall also perish as their precedent Assassinates have and justly suffer in the same place where they shall act such an high offence and therefore admonish them with the Poet by others dangers to be wisely cantious Vos ego nunc moneo faelix quicunque dolore Tibull Alterius disces posse carere tuo Yet will he not conclude this Story of Athaliah without observing that Jehojada commanded that whosoever followed her should be put to death and generally applies it to all are confederates with his Highness but more especially to his Chaplines and Tryers who as he saith will admit none to the ministery that preach liberty with the Gospel though indeed they admit all that will preach not onely civil Peace and Liberty but also Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience and onely bar those who will preach uncivil sedition and tyranny of conscience And yet doth he compare them with Baal's priests because as he saith they do sacrifice to our Idol of a Magistrate and preach for Tyrants when as they preach nothing but sound Doctrine according to the Scriptures in defence of the Supream Power and yet would have them hanged before their Pulpits as Matten Baal's priest fell before the Altar but it he is a Jesuit as he showeth himself to be he is one of Baal's Priests Et saepe in Magistrum sceler a redierunt sua And what he designes to others may fall on himself who with his popish Priests and Jesuits for preaching continually like Baal's Priests Idolatry and practising it in their Masses principally for sowing the Cockle of Sedition among his Highness Leige People as Baal's Priests did wil certainly as then heretofore have been we hanged drawn and uarteted at Tyburn if once discovered which they also may be pleased to take notice of and to use his own phrase that unless they also repent they shall all likewise perish Sed tandem amoto quaeramus seria ludo And now he begins seriously to consider what he above hath said and hath found out two Objections which he hath made stronger then he is able to answer The first is That those Examples out of the Scriptures are of men that were inspired of God and that therefore they had that call or authority for their actions which we cannot pretend to And so that it would be unsafe to us to draw their actions into Examples unless we had likewise their justifications to alledge to which he answereth That if God commandeth these things it is a sign they were lawful and commendable But if he had answered that these were lawful and commendable in them whom the Lord had commanded to do them Non Apollonis magis verum quam hec veâ—pâ—nsum Apollo's answer had not been more true But to say they are commendable and generally lawful and to be drawn into Example as a General precept by every one is more incertain then a Paradox and absonant from the harmony of the Scriptures and are no more set down for our imitation then Jehu's slaughter of Joram which was done by the expresse Oracle and Revelation of God For otherwise every private person may by that Example slay his true Prince such as Joram and Ahaziah were if they degenerate into Tyrants which this Impostor himself saith none of sober sene will averre Thus is the Bee drowned in his own honey and intangled in his own words and his own mouth hath condemned him yea his own lips testifie against him What shall I say of the Israelites robbing of the Egyptians or Sampson's self murther or Jonas casting himself into the Sea or any other Prophetical precedents or priviledged commandments of which fort there are many recorded in Holy Writ but that they were otherwise heynous offences by the Law of God and out of the general precept and therefore unlawful for us ordinarily to follow unless that as he saith we had their justifications to alledges The other Objection is That there being no opposition made to the Government of his Highness the people following their callings and traffique at home making use of the Laws and appealing to his Highness Court of Justice that all this argues the peoples tacite consent to the Government But this Objection is not rightly stated and something he hath not fully expressed as to stile that a tacite which is more then a tacite and implicite consent for it is more then a tacite and implicite consent for the Judges and Justice of Peace to take their Commissions from his Highness and the Sheriffs to act by his Processe and the people to come in upon the Processe issued out by the Sheriffs and appealing to his Court of Justice For there are two main Pillars of Government Imperare Obedire to Rule to Obey which are Relatives and cannot be severed And there can be no Rule without Obedience nor no Obedience without Rule Sint quibus Imperat. And when subordinate Magistrates are created for the Meum Tuum of the whole Land to which the people actually submit an active obedience it is more then a tacit and implicite consent And in the stating of the Objection something he hath omitted for he should have premised that in that his Highness at the request of divers persons of honour and quality and many of the chief Officers of the Army did take upon him the Supream Government which afterward was seconded by the general consent of the people and by them created the Supream Magistrate of these Nations as before hath been acknowledged and demonstrated The people therein have openly and explicity declared their actual and real consent to the Government of his Highness which would have made the Objection stronger and altogether unanswerable But now to examine his Answer which is that if commerce and pleading were enough to argue the Peoples consent and give Tyrants the name of Governments there was never yet any Tyranny of any long standing in this world which in his sence may be true speaking of a Tyrant in Titulo who so soon as he hath gained the peoples consent without any prescription of time is no longer a Tyrant even by the judgement of Learned Grotius as he not unworthily stileth him whereof commerce pleadings and obedience to him and his Magistrates is one clear argument which the general concurrence of the peoples consent makes invincible And therefore impertinently doth he produce the Examples of Nero and Caligula who were not Tyrants in Titulo but Exercitio who if they had been Tyrants in Titulo the consent of the Senate and People had cleared them of that odions name And as to the Example of Eglon whom the Israelites as he saith served eighteen years no question but he by his so long continuance of time and the consent of the people might have challenged the Right of Government aswell as by conquest neither can
time corroborate a principality where the antient of dayes will change it And to the Example of Athaliah who reigned six years it may be answered that though traffick pleadings and all publick Acts of Justice were exercised by and under her for the same time yet wanted she the complete consent of the people all the people generally disaffecting and disliking her Government which was apparent by their publike rejoycing at her death Besides Jehoiada by the impulse of God as a publike Magistrate and Tutor of the Prince to whom by the decree of God the Kingdom of Judah did remain which was irrepealerable might lawfully Act what he did against Athaliah Got. de Jur. l. 1. c. 4. though her Raign had been of longer continuance as Grotius seemeth to intimate To the third question Whether the removing of a Tyrant is like to prove of advantage to the Commonwealth or not he can scarce perswade himself to say any thing because he thinks that needless and all one to enquire whether it is better the man dye or the impostume be launched or the Gangreen Limbe be cut off yet be there some saith he whose cowardice and avarice furnish them with some Arguments to the contrary and would feign make the world believe that to be base and degenerate is to be cautious and prudent and what indeed is a servile fear they basely call a Christian patience and that with continuance in slavery they have lost their courage and with their courage their Fortuâ—â— And thus would he perswade his Auditors to precipitate themselves into mortal dangers upon the rumination of his precepts as Cleombrotus vainly did on Plato's without any prudential circumspection or caution But he might have Learned a more wary Lesson of his Master Mariana who though he Fathers his impious principles De regnis Inst J. 1. c. 6. yet adviseth he every man to be cautious how he enterpriseth such a dangerous attempt Artentè saith he cogit andum est we ought seriously to consider what moderation and reason is to be observed in expelling a Tyrannical Prince least one evil be heaped on another and one impiety avenged by another and the safest and expeditest way is if a publike assembly may be called to deliberate by common consent what is to be determined And especially the Prince is to be admonished to be recalled to health who if he obey and satisfy the Commonwealth I think it fitting to desist and not use bitter and sharp Remedies But his Master Mariana's provident Instructions are too dilatory for this Monsters heady Resolution who will rather hearken to the Counsel of his prime Apostle Machiavel That men deceive themselves saith he to mollify arrogancy with humility a Tyrant is never modest but when he is weak 't is in the Winter of his fortune when the Serpent bites not we must not therefore expect cure from our patience and suffer our selves to be cousened with hopes of amendement though our Saviours Counsel is that if our Brother trespasse against us Matt. 18.15 we should first tell him of his fault privately and if he hear us not to tell him of it before witnesses and if he refuse them to tell it to the Church but if he refuse the Church also let him be as an Heathen and Publicane These are the degrees of charity every Christian is to observe in admonishing his Brother before he exerciseth the severity and extremity of Justice because as our Saviour saith by that means we may win our Brother and he is little less then an Infidel Publicane that resuseth so to do Nay God himself never strikes but he denounceth his admonitions that they might repent as he did by Eliah to Ahab by Jado to Jeroboam by Jeremiah to Zedekiah and by Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar and in civil affaires admonition ought to precede Processe Non autem de necessitate sed de urbanitate honestate Tholos Synt. l. 32. c. 3. not for necessitie sake but for civility and honesty so as this Impostor seems in this suddain fit to be void of all Piety Civility and Honesty and like a Brain-sick Mountebanck will cut off the Limbe before it appeares to be a Gangrene or immedicable and lance the Impostume which with Soveraign Salves may be cured and Judge that a Gangrene and Impostume which is none Yet this Impostor saith Nemo unquam impertum flagitiis quaesitum bonis artibus exercuit never did any man Mannage the Government with Justice that got it by wicked meanes The longer a Tyrant lives the more the Tyrannical humor encreaseth in himself Tac. l. 1. Hist But this is part of Pisos speech against Othe who was a competitor with him for the Empire and therefore the lesse authentical And if Flagitiis is understood by force and might as this Impostor in this pamphlet seemes to take it then this position is not generally true for Julius Caesar who gained the Empire by force and is stiled by Victor Invasor was as he saith tam pacis bellique artibus clarus Vict. vita Caes imprimis clementia longe clarissimus most famous in Peace and Warre and especially in clemency most famous Ib. vita Aug. And though Augustus was Dominandi supra modum avidissimus and by might obtained the Empire yet for his candid Demeanor and civil Justice was he so beloved and honored after his decease by the people that they wished ut non nasceretur aut non moreretur that he had not been born or had not died besides Grotius saith Grot. l. 3. c. 14. Tyranni interdum libertatem reddiderunt Tyrants sometimes have restored Liberty Tacitus himself in the same sense Vitia erunt donec homines Hist l. 4. sed nec haec continua sed interventu meliorum pensantur there will be Vices as long as there be men but these are not continual but are recompensed by the intervening and supply of better things But what saith he would succeed if a Tyrant should be removed I will tell him that cura pejor sit morbo the cure may be more dangerous then the disease And as his Master Mariana saith one evil may be heaped on another and one Impiety avenged by another and all Historians will shew him the lamentable events of such preposierous and precipitated mutations which many times beget effusion of blood ruines and sacking of Cities and sometimes the destruction of Cities and Kingdoms But I will rather instance in some ancient Examples then Novel which as yet adhere in the minds and mouthes of men It is not unknown to those who are versed in Annals that of all the Grecians none were more renowned then the Spartans either for the glory of Military or severity of Civil discipline but they when they could not endure the Dominion of Agis because it seemed to be a Tyranny conspired against him and openly slew him But what were the Fruits of this unhappy Slaughter Cic. Tull. Offic.