of every individual and particular Person singly for our good from God they are sent for our good to us they come If Kings were not we should be as the Fishes of the Sea the greater destroying the smaller or as the Beasts of the Forest the strong destroying the weaker Hab. 1. 14. Saint Chrysostom explaining these words 1 Tim. 2. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where the Apostle saith that we may live a quiet and peaceable life that is to say saith the holy Father Our Security subsists in their Safety It is worthy your notice taking that in the Book of Iudges where it is recorded that all disorder was in the Church and State the reason is so often given and repeated Because in those dayes there was no King in Israel you read it cap. 17. 6. 18. 1. 19. 1. 21. 25. Which words import not simply that there was no Government in those dayes none can be so stupid to imagine it but the Spirit of God intimateth two things to us 1. The one is that they wanted Monarchy the most excellent of Governments 2. The other is that the Government then Aristocratical was so weakened that in Church and State nothing was sound the grossest Enormities did abound and there was no strength in Authority to right it Review the story There was no King this time and consequently there was all mischief this time and therefore a fit time to shake off the old and bring in a new Religion Micah and his old doting Mother will have a Religion of their own an Idol of their own a trencher-Chaplain of their own there is nothing to let it No matter for sacred Orders if a Levite may be had it is better otherwise it skilleth not much The reason is given in the Text In diebus illis c. in those ill dayes there was no King in Israel I wish we were so happy that these Times of ours had no resemblance with that time Well but it is no great matter for Religion if every man can enjoy his Liberty his Honour his Peace live in Safety what is Religion to us If this be Religion these Times want not Professours too too many It will not rest here although every man have liberty or licence rather in Anarchy to have and to profess what Religion he will the same Scripture telleth us where no King is Rapine and Spoil will be where no King is plundering will be good Justice every man's Lands Revenues and Chattels may be fortiter occupantis the stronger may disseize the weaker you shall have the Tribe of Dan to spoil too Nor is this all The men of Gibeah will abuse the Levite's Wife nay do it avowedly abuse her to death it is no great danger to act and do what mischief you will where no King is No man's Soul Wife Life or Goods can be secured where no King is Idols may be erected Murder may be acted and allowed Men robbed of their Goods and all this good Service for the glory of God and the good Cause Consider again how universal these Mischiefs are you have a Micah a private man Gibeah a City Dan a Tribe all out of order and course Religion is defaced Justice is abused Honesty and Civil moral Conversation is shaken off Dishonesty Impiety Uncleanness are avowed Again consider Micah was at Mount Ephraim in the midst of the Land Gibeah was at one end of the Countrey and Dan at the other so that these Mischiefs were not confined to one corner but were spred over all the Land And seeing Scripture repeats it let us repeat it too all these Disorders all these Mischiefs were because in those dayes there was no King in Israel Turn it over again No better way to keep Religion sincere and incorrupt mens Lives and Wives Honour Goods and Possessions in Safety to secure them from Murder Abuse Oppression than by Kings No doubt Priests there were then but either they would not serve at all or then the Priests were over-awed by the disorderly and sinful multitude Hos. 4. or did prescribe their Text give them Commentaries taught them what to say what to preach No doubt in those dayes Judges they had but Justice was not done or if done at pleasure otherwise Judges were posted and signed with a nigrum theta marked to be stoned by a rascally multitude Though Priests be in the Church and Judges be in the Land they are not able to guard the Publick or Private from wrong wherefore it is most consonant with Scripture to say Salus Regis suprema Populi salus the Safety of the King and his Divine Royal Prerogative is the safest Sanctuary for the People Vbi non est gubernator populus corruet so readeth St. Hierom Solomon's words I refer my self in this to the Consciences and Experience of the King's Subjects what hath been the security or comfort they have had in Person State or Goods since the Lords Anointed the best of Kings hath been wronged O if they durst speak O if they would speak The Prophet Hoseah cap. 3. 4. threatneth as the greatest of Judgments in this world That the children of Israel shall be many dayes without a King Listen I pray you to what followeth and without a Prince that is there shall be no Nobility and what more and without a Sacrifice that is there shall be no Religion no true Priest The same Prophet cap. 10. 3. sheweth they shall have no King because they feared not the Lord. The Prophet Ieremy Lam. 11. 9. lamenteth first that their Kings were captives then that they had no Nobility for their Princes were captives too then the Law is no more Justice is gone with the King and then the Prophets find no Vision from the Lord Religion is gone too Will not all this lead us to better thoughts a better esteem of Salus Regis of the Safety of the King the preferring of his Divine Right and Royal Prerogative It may be our Zealots account those Prophets no better than Court Parasites Cyprian or some other ancient Author masked under his Name summeth up shortly but pithily the happiness of People in a King de 12 abusionib Saeculi cap. 9. in fine Est pax populorum tutamen patriae immâ—nitas plebis munimentum gentis cura languorum gaudium hominum temperies aeris serenitas maris terrae foeâ—unditas solatium pauperum c. The words are plain enough they need no interpretation What mean they then who magnifie this Maxim Salus Populi suprema Lex esto Let the Safety of the People be the Supreme Law to call it in a narrow sense abstracting à salute Râ—gis from the safety of the King The transcendent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all Politicks the Paramont Law that giveth Law to all Laws whatsoever that the Law of Prerogative it self is subservient to this Law and were it not conducing thereunto it were not necessary nor expedient Some more superlatively excessive commendations the
power from below from the People by Contract are ordained of men and only established by God and consequently we must change the Phrase The People have said you are Gods your Power is from below and Saint Paul's ordained of God is no better than confirmed or approved of God Nor is the Title or Right of a King better as related to God than the Title of what any man possesseth titulo humano orcato by humane Right by Contract or otherwise in Rents Moneys Revenues or what else is ordinary in the Commerce and Society civil of men In brief our Sense is The Royal Power and Sovereignty of the King is from God primarily formally immediately The Designation or Deputation of the Person is by Election Succession Conquest c. as Matthias was designed by the Apostles setting of him apart and the falling of the Lord upon him but the Apostolical Power and Preeminence was immediately and solely from Christ. The power of the High-priest-hood in Zadok was from God the Designation of the Person was from Solomon a pregnant proof and Illustration of this appeareth in Iephtah Judg. 4. 5 6 7. The Elders of Gilead and people by Covenant and Contract bring him home agree he be Judge and Governour and yet notwithstanding 1 Sam. 12. 11. The sending of Iephtah is no less given to God solely than the immediate and extraordinary sending of Ierubbaal Bedan and Samuel A Father begetteth the Child but God infuseth the Soul A Woman by her Choice and Consent designeth her Husband but the marital Power and Dominion is only from God for how can she confer or transfer that power which was never fixed in her nay by God and Nature she is to be ruled by her Husband It is more then than manifest that an humane Act may design the Person of a King and that the Power is conferred by God alone There is in true Judgement a main Difference betwixt Potestas deputativa designativa personae Regiae and Potestas collative potestatis Regiae betwixt Applicativum personae ad authoritatem potestatem and applicativum authoritatis ad personam Regis The first may be done by an humane Act as a mans hand may apply a Faggot to the fire but the other in our case is proper to God as the Fire only can make the Faggot burn It appeareth then clearly that Power may and doth come from God alone and immediately without extraordinary Revelation by the Voice of God of Angel or Prophet The Sense and Terms of our Tenet thus cleared we come in the next place to our Proofs from the Holy Scriptures in the first place God in Scripture by frequent pregnant and multivarious Expressions hath so vindicated to himself the making and constituting of Kings that he declareth fully that he will have none to share with him in this Work for he hath told us that Kings and their Sovereignty are by God of God from God that they are Gods The Children of the most High His Servants His Ministers His publick Ministers and Deputies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That their Throne their Crown their Sword their Scepter their Iudgment are Gods c. and hath expressed it in abstracto abstractly of their Royalty their Power and in concreto of themselves with a Connotation of their Persons to intimate that they and all in them their Power their Function their Charge their Person are of divine extract a Constitution of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and consequently to teach us that the Sovereign Authority of the King and the Person of the King both of them are sacred inviolable God in his Omniscience and Prescience did foresee that the Sons of Adam would be like to their Father in Transgression that nothing will content them but to be like God and before they fail they will justle him out of his Right run upon the Guiltiness of divine Vsurpation challenging to themselves the Prerogative of the Almighty Pope and People Anti-christ-like exalting themselves above all that is called God The Iesuit this day pleased for the Pope the Puritan for the People that he or they have underived Majesty by which they may enthrone or dethrone make or unmake Kings at their pleasure We begin first with the Law In which as God by himself prescribed the Essentials Substantials and Ceremonials of Piety and his Worship gave order for Justice and Piety so he commanded the appointing and constituting of the King to be reserved as a priviledged case a proper Prerogative for himself Deut. 17. 14 15. c. When thou shalt say I will set a King over me like as all the Nations about me Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall chuse A Law sufficient to prove our Conclusion that the King and his Power are originally and immediately from God dependent from him alone and independent from all others The Power and Sovereignty is expressed in the words Set over thee This Thee is collective and includeth all and every one so Scripture knew not this new state-devised principle That Rex est singulis major universis minor above every one severally but subordinate to all joyntly The person is expressed in concreto in the Words Whom the Lord thy God shall chuse Neither is it to be slightly passed by that so peremptorily emphatically and authoritatively it is right-down said Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee c. Which peremptory Precepts dischargeth the People all and every one diffusively collectively representatively or in what capacity else is imaginable in them to intend attempt or practise the appointing of a King but to leave it entirely and totally to Almighty God Here we must take off some shifts which Iesuits Puritans and others make to elude this and other Texts of this kind 1. The first is That this was a priviledged case of the Iewish King So Suarez lib. 3. c. 2. defens orthod Fid. cont Sect. Angl. So Soto l. 4. de Instit. q. 2. art 1. So Navarrus cap. Novit Notab 3. num 33. 147. and many more as Abulensis and others The Sectary averreth the same Both of them strengthen their Argument by these Maxims Exempla specialia non valent ad inferendum regulam universalem imo solent esse exceptiones à Regula To the same purpose they adduce that Maxim of the Iurists Valet Argumentum à speciali ad inferendam regulam universalem or Exceptio firmat regulam in non exceptis The Sum and Sense is that extraordinary singular special and priviledged cases are not firm and valid antecedents to infer a general ordinary and ruled case that if we cannot make it appear that all Kings are from God by immediate Constitution the priviledged case of the Iews will infer no necessary Conclusion Suarez in the place above cited goeth a little further affirming that God amongst the Jews did reserve as peculiar to himself the election onely of the King but
Nostrils The second Corollary which the Observator deduceth out of this Principle Salus populi suprema lex esto is that it were strange if the people subjecting themselves to command should aim at any thing but their own Good in the first and last place This Consequence presupposeth two Errors the one is that the people are the immediate Authors and Donors of Sovereignty which we have already refuted the other is that the Conveyance of Sovereignty is by Trust and that in that Portion and proportion the people please the error of which we will by God's grace discover in our third Question To take this off briefly I ask of the Observator that seeing God hath ordained Rule and Subjection and directeth mankind to their greatest Convenience by Government and seeing God and Nature teach and all do acknowledge that the Good Plenty Peace and Safety of the people cannot be effected or attained to except the King be proportioned to so high a degree of Honour Wealth and Power that as Father he may protect all administrate Iustice secure from Oppression and Sedition at home and from Invasion abroad and have Main tenance proportionable to these ends whether or not in Order of Nature in the first place it is necessary that this Power Honour and Maintenance be secured to the King without which we cannot expect Safety Peace or Good to the Subject Except we have made a Divorce betwixt our selves and Reason we must grant this Truth If you will trust Saint Chrysostom hear him speak it upon Rom. 13. upon these words He is the Minister of God for good unto thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In which words two things are expressed first that the King is immediately sent from God the other is that he is sent for our Good no Safety then for us without him and for both Respects we are to honour him for all Good which we have by our Industry is by Influence from his Government and he is a co-worker with us and auxiliary in it If this be not enough turn to him upon the words Not only for Wrath but for Conscience sake where he saith that the King is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is the procurer of Peace and Base and bottom of all politick economy Innumerable good things come by Princes Government to the Society of men which if you take away there can be no Cities no Right to Lands or Revenues no House and Family can subsist no Commerce and Trade can be had all shall be overturned the stronger devouring the weaker To St. Chrysostom's Suffrage joyn St. Augustine tom 9. tract 6. in Ioh. Tolle jura Imperatorum quis audet dicere mea est illa villa aut meus est ille servus aut domus baec mea est and a little after Per jura Regum possidentur possessiones the result is this if you take away the Right of Kings none dare say the Lands are mine this Servant is mine or I have Right to this House It is by the right of Kings that all our Rights and Possessions are secured It is more than manifest then that the Right of King and Subject the Safety of King and Subject are naturally conjoyned and so intimately involved the one in the other that in the moral Notion they may be esteemed identically the same no less than Soul and Body make up one identical personal Subsistence or at least se mutuò ponunt tollunt destroy the Kings Right and Good and with the same Act the same blow you destroy the Subjects too If you provide not for the Safety of the King you cannot possibly secure the Safety of the People What God hath conjoyned let none put asunder Let it never then again be spoken or heard by Christians that the good of the Subject is the Alpha and Omega in Government and demandeth by right the first and last place The third Consequence is this That the King looking upon the whole State reflecting upon what Graces he hath granted or may grant to his People he cannot merit of it and what he hath granted if it be for the good of his People it hath proceeded but from his meer Duty Well by the Observator we see the King is placed in no better condition than a Servant nay an unprofitable Servant for when he has done all he can do he was onely done his Duty By these means Grace is not a fit compellation for Kings Acts of Iustice he may do but no Acts of Grace O misera Regum sors On the other part the People are stated in that sublime condition that they may supererogate with their Prince by doing many Acts of Bounty Favour and Grace By this Assertion a Prince is disabled from doing any courtesie to his Subjects Before this miserable distempered Age was it ever heard but that it was the greatest happiness of a King that he was able and his greatest glory to oblige his People by Acts of Grace Bounty and Courtesie But now the World is so turn'd topsie turvy that when he has done all he is able he hath onely discharged the duty of a faithful and trusty Servant Turn the Tables and then see what you will judge of the throw Do not all we Subjects owe Duty to the King Are we not tied to advance his Honour Yet upon extraordinary Services we believe we can deserve well both of King and Countrey Will you not Observator allow the King the like measure This Conceit is a popular Deceit and not virtually onely but also really destroys the ground of Beneficence in a King and the duty of Gratitude in a Subject By this it appeareth that it is a naked nay an hypocritical Complement when both Houses in Parliament after Graces granted present their humble thanks and heartily acknowledge His Majesties gracious Favours Must not the like hold betwixt a Father and his Family And shall we by these grounds be constrained to acknowledge all the Acts of a Father to his Family to be no better than Acts of meer Justice and Duty In the Dialect of Scripture and Heathen Writers Homer Odyss 9. Kings are Fathers And yet the Observator standeth not to say That the Father is more worthy than the Son in Nature and the Son is wholly a Debtor to the Father and can by no merit transcend his Duty nor challenge any thing as due from his Father for the Father doth all his Offices meritoriously freely and unexpectedly We will not be at pains now to examine this onely I demand if this hold according to his Judgment in a Father of a Family how comes it to pass that it holds not in Patre Patriae in the Father of the Kingdom The obligation to Pater Patriae to the Father of the Kingdom is stronger is straighter than to Pater Familiae to our natural Father And the School doth teach us and all Divines besides for ought I know that we are bound to love the King appreciativè by
that His Constitution or the collation of Royal Power was from the People properly immediately and that because the words run in the Text Deut. 17. 14 15. that the People shall set him King over them and him only whom the Lord they God shall chuse Bellarmine saith just the same To remove this first shift we deny both the one and the other We deny first that it was a proper case for the Jews to have their Kings immediately constituted and appointed by God The Scripture is for us that all Kings all Sovereign Powers are immediately from God Prov. 8. 15. By me Kings reign saith a King and the wisest of Kings and a King who had good reason to say so for if the People had right to constitute or make a King it had not been King Solomon but King Adonijah Adonijah durst say to King Solomon's Mother Thou knowest that the Kingdome was mine and that all Israel set their faces on me that I should reign 1 Kin. 2. 15. Solomon saith not of himself singularly That he reigned by God but indefinitely universally By me Kings that is all Kings reign The first two words Per me By me contain in them the Donor the Author the Efficient the Constituent of Kings and Sovereignty Possibly you will say this By me is spoken of Wisdom it is true but that Wisdom is to be taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not for an Accident or Quality but for something subsistent personally And this Solomon's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chochmach in the sense of the most Learned both Ancient and Modern is St. Iohn's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ioh. 1. 1. Saint Iohn's Word Christ the Son of God the brightness of his Glory and the express image of his Person Heb. 1. 2. The Text demonstrateth it for his Wisdom by which Kings reign is that Wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the right reading for the Original word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kanan possedit nor will the Greek reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bring home the Arrains conclusion which the Lord possessed in the beginning of his way before his Works of old vers 22. Which was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the Earth was v. 3. The Wisdom by which Kings reign is the same that was created of all things Kings are from God the Father but by the Son as from the Father by the Son all Spiritual blessing in heavenly things come to us so the greatest of Temporal Blessings By him we have Kings the best Blessing here for without them neither Godliness nor Honesty 1 Tim. 2. 2. This Per is Christ's Preposition It is worth your notice taking that Solomon saith not By the People Kings reign had it been so you know who had been King and not Solomon Nor he saith not By the High-Priest Kings reign you know he was engaged in Adonijah's Treason no He saith not By Israel nor by Abiathar nor by Zadoc nor by David nor by Nathan Kings reign But there is a Per me which is exclusive of all and to whom onely it is proper and peculiar to make Kings and to make Kings reign Solomon excludes Pope and People State and Presbytery He vindicates the creation of Kings no less to Christ than the creation of things This â—er me by me imparts not a naked Permission as if Kings by importunity of People were given way to as some blasphemous mouths and Pens have said and written and that Monarchy of all Governments is the least acceptable to God and to People most inconvenient Ignorants or malicious or both they are who dare to say so Monarchy was the first Government God ordained in the World and is yet founded in paterno Why if it be otherwise was it promised to Ahraham as the highest pitch and reach of Temporal Blessings that Kings should come of him Why doth God Ezech. 16. upbraiding the multitude of the People reckon in the last place as the highest of his Favours Temporal That they prospered into a Kingdom Why doth St. Peter urge obedience to the King because that is the Will of God 2 Pet. 11. 15. Why doth St. Paul say that he is tibi in bonum for thy good and for my good and for the good of all Saint Paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Higher Power is nothing else but St. Peter's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the King that is Supreme So Chrysostom Ambrose Haymo and others interpret it and the Government then when Saint Paul writ that Epistle was Monarchical They be a cursed brood who do maintain that this per me Reges regnant This By me Kings reign is a per me iratum by me in anger to punish a stiff-necked and rebellious People The Queen of Sheba knew it was per me propitium By me in Mercy and was better taught and sounder in this point of Divinity than the great Gamaliels amongst our Sectaries for she saith to Solomon Because the Lord thy God Loved Israel to establish them for ever therefore made he thee King over them to do judgment and justice 1 Chron. 9. 8. This per me implieth then that they are of Gods making and in mercy Kings are given to us This per me by me implieth Kings are God's and Christ's Derivatives and that God and Christ are their Institutives from God the Father by the Son their Commission their Power their Sovereignty for this cause St. Paul calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word is very pregnant and signifieth an Ordinance by high Authority not revocable nor repealable In which sense it is usually read in classical Authors Sacred and Prophane So Sinesius useth the word in Epist. ad Theoph. So Aristotle in his Problems Sect. 28. 50. Lucilius Epigr. 2. So Appian in 2. and Plutarch in Marcello useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for established Decrees of Sovereignty The word from which it is derived is so used Acts 28. Stephanus a Learned Graecian is of that mind that in this very place Rom. 13. 2. it signifieth so much The Emphasis of this per me is not yet fully explained That wonder of Piety and Learning Doctor Andrews Late Bishop of Winchester hath well observed that the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bi in me and yet beareth well in me and per me the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beth signifying both So that the meaning is Kings are first in him and so come forth from him as that they are in him He parallels it a little with that passage in the Gospel My Father in me and I in him Christ in them as his Deputies They in Christ as their Author and Authoriser he by their Persons then by his Power The other two words of the Text Kings Reign contain in them the Charter the Donation Kings is in the number of many in the plural number Solomon although the wisest of men and Kings and King of Israel knew not this time what our new Doctors know that it was a priviledged
Sovereign Power is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is by God from God under God and God's Appointment irrevocable ordinance irrepealable The three last are the Apostles the first is Solomon's for the Septuagint read the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This variety and plurality of Expressions how Sovereignty is of God and Gods the Spirit of God hath used that none presume sacrilegiously to usurp upon God his Prerogative who hath reserved this peculiarly for himself that all Kings upon Earth should be his immediate Creatures and Deputies by his own Letters Patent authorized Our Adversaries have been much puzled with this Text if they give us a new Bible it is like enough either this Text will be left out or we will have a Gloss upon it to destroy the original Text. It hath so tortured them that I cannot tell you how many ways they have coyned to themselves to elude it I have observed five main ones which I purpose by by Gods Grace to examine and refute quaests 5. now I content my self to take off one in which they please themselves much They say the Apostle speaketh abstractly not concretely of the power it felf not of the person cloathed and invested with the Power it is an ignorant shift Barcley in his Book de Regno who hath deserved well of all Christian Monarchs hath learnedly and truly observed that Saint Paul writing to the Romans did keep the Roman usual Diction in this with whom it was customable and ordinary by Potestates powers in the Abstract to express the persons authorized with this power He refers his Reader to classical and good Authors as to Pliny lib. 29. c. 4. Iuvenal Suet. in Claudio c. 21. Modest. lib. 27. de Pignorib Vlpian lib. 17. SS penult de Aedil edict Tertullian contr gent. I content my self with the Dialect of Canaan in Scripture in which frequently Expressions in the Abstract express existents in the Concrete Col. 1. 16. By him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers By Thrones Dominions Principalities and Powers uncontrovertedly Angels are meant that the Expressions are abstract is clear as the Sun-shine To say Angels were created in abstracto is to send us to search after Platonick Idea's This instance it may be is too sublime let us see then if we can hit upon one nearer us and more fitting for the Purpose in hand I pray them to cast their Eyes upon St. Peter 2. Epist. 2. 10. where giving a Character of the man with whom we have to do he saith That they despise Government are presumptuous self-willed and not afraid to speak ill of Dignities The fellow of this you have Iud. 8. These filthy Dreamers defile the Flesh despise Dominion and speak ill of Dignities In which Passages the words in abstracto Government Dominion Dignities without any Doubt do express the persons of Governours Lords and Kings It is worth your notice taking to consider how zealous St. Peter and St. Iude were for the honour and due of Sovereignty the ray of Divine Majesty upon Earth that they speak so passionately and bitterly against such as professed themselves Christians and did speak Evil of Cajus Caligula Nero monsters of men O with what a zeal would they be inflamed if living now a days they did see what we see and hear what we hear the pretended Levites expressing their Zeal to God Religion Church and State by railing against the Lords anointed the best of Kings in the World The Fathers do use the word so too St. Austin epist. 48. saith Potestas humana saepe est divinae potestati inimica humane power is too often contrary to the Power of God Almighty The holy Father was not so bad a Divine as to think that Potestas in abstracto that Government which is Gods own Ordinance can be in Opposition or Enmity with God St. Austin then infallibly by the word Potestas Power meant him or them who are authorized with power from above If this doth not content our Adversaries I would entreat them to look upon St. Paul's Text and I hope they will find that St. Paul meant by being subject to higher powers to be subject to him who is invested with the Power Doth not he term them v. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rulers Higher Powers then and Rulers are with saint Paul equivalent terms Doth he not after call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ministers immediate and peculiar Servants of God v. 6. and even Nero himself is Gods Minister for thy Good Doth he not say v. 4. That he beareth not the Sword in vain which is non-sense if you conceive it of higher Powers in abstracto The like may be said of paying Tribute c. God did fore-see by his eternal Omniscience how apt man was to coin Distinctions to deceive himself and to wrong Gods Ordinance that mercifully to us he hath expressed in Scripture that both Sovereignty and the person cloathed with Sovereignty are of him by him and from him immediately and this that both the one and the other may be reverenced by us as sacred and inviolable The Apostle speaketh in abstracto Be subject to the Higher Powers The Powers that are are ordained of God He that resisteth c. Again the Spirit of God by Solomon saith In concreto with the Connotation of the Subject By me Kings reign I have said you are Gods c. What shall we judge then of this new-coyned Distinction to make a Difference betwixt the King and his Authority betwixt his personal Will and his Royal and Authoritative Will to pursue his Person with a Cannon-bullet at Edge-hill and to preserve his Authority at London or elsewhere These Fig-tree Leaves will not cover our Rebellion and Treason in the day of our Accounts before the Lord of Lords and King of Kings Remember his strait Charge Touch not mine anointed and do my Prophet no harm CHAP. III. The same Truth is proved by more Arguments from Holy Scripture THE Scripture hath not delivered any truth more purposely more apertly more frequently than this The Spirit of God knew well that if the Sacred Sovereignty of Kings be not preserved Religion Justice and Peace cannot be maintained This is the reason St. Paul gives to perswade us to pray for Kings That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty 1 Tim. 2. 1 2. It is observable that Solomon Prov. 8. speaketh first of the establishment of Government before he speaks of the Works of Creation to intimate it is better not to be at all than to be without Government For the same reason God fixed Government in the Person of Adam before Evah or any else came into the World and how Government shall be and we enjoy the happy fruits of it it is not conceivable except we preserve
Nothing can be more pernicious to mankind and opposite to God and his Ordinance who is the God of Order and not of Confusion The words in the original are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schopheâ—k dam haadam baadam damo jischaphek It is well rendered in our English Bibles Who so sheddeth mans blood by man shall his Blood be shed The old Translation is imperfect Quicunque effuderit hominâ—â—â— sanguiâ—â—m fundetur sanguis illius We will grant to Bellarmine that the Sense is not corrupted in this Translation but will never yield that it is not imperfect for the main and cardinal word Baadam per hominem by the Cardinal's Leave is omitted Let the Cardinal say what he will whom you may look upon â— 2. de verb. Dei cap. 12. Nor do we think that the Interpretation we have from the Septuagint is full enough which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui effuderit sanguinem hominis pro sanguine hominis ejus effâ—ndetur Psal. 2. And with Reverence we dissent too from Arias Montanus and Pagnin's Translations Effundens sanguinem hominis in homine sanguis ejus effundetur my Reasons with humble Submission to better Judgment and Reverence to so great men are 1. First Baadam in homine or per hominem cannot in Grammar be added to the Subject or Antecedent Effundens sanguinem but must belong to the predicate or consequent sanguis ejus effundetur and so the compleat and perfect Sense is Effundens sanguinem hominis per hominem sanguis ejus effundetur just as our Bibles english it Who so sheddeth mans Blood by man shall his Blood be shed The Reason of this because in the original the accent Zakephkathon which maketh as the Grammarians say incisum majus a Distinction is put above the word Haadam so that Baadam is to be joyned to the next the like reading you may find in the very verse immediately preceding Next this â— both in Baadam signifieth no less per than in by than in and by is the Preposition which expresseth the instrumental Cause and consequently it importeth one Gods Instrument who is authorized from him 3. Thirdly the Iews in their Thargum their Chaldee Paraphrase or Translation turn the words so that they understand this Baadam by man of the Judge who from God is authorized with Power Vnkelos turneth it thus Qui effuderit sanguinem hominis eum testibus five 〈◊〉 testes juxâ—a sententiam judicum sanguis ejus effundetur Ionathan giveth the Sense thus Qui effuderit sangâ—inem hominis per testes condemnabuâ—â— eum Iudices ad â—necem qui effuderit absque testibus Dominus mundi 〈◊〉 vindictam ab eo sumet in die Iudicii Both of them agree in this that the reading is thus Who so sheddeth the bloud of man by man shall his bloud be shed and both of them conceive it so that this Baadam this Per hominem this by man is not every man but the Judge authorized from God or both from God and his Sovereign 4. Fourthly to say Qui effuderit sanguinem hominis in homine sanguis ejus effundetur He that sheddeth the bloud of man in man his bloud shall be shed is neither so good nor so perfect and full a sense as Quicunque effuderit sanguinem hominis per hominem sanguis ejus effundetur Who so sheddeth man's bloud by man shall his bloud be shed 5. Fifthly and lastly if you value not the Testimony or Paraphrase of Vnkelos and Ionathan although Franciscus Xymenius and other Learned men judge the Paraphrase of the Thargum upon the Law true and faithful take an Argument for it uncontroulable that is our Saviour's Matth. 26. v. 52. All they that take the Sword shall perish with the Sword Saint Austin telleth us that the New Testament is veiled in the Old and Vetus Testamentum revelatur in Novo and the Old Testament is revealed in the New A better Commentary of God's Speeches and Words we cannot have than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than the Son the Word of God and that Word which is God In Christ's Speech shall perish by the Sword in the Phrase and Dialect of Scripture we can understand nothing else but the Sovereign Power that beareth the Sword Let the Apostle interpret the Master Saint Paul Rom. 13. 1. He commandeth Subjection and Obedience to Superior Powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and v. 6. He telleth you He beareth not the Sword in vain The words thus cleared we sum up our Argument thus God onely hath the Power of man's Life No man hath Power over his own Life Whoso taketh away the Life of man in God's Justice and Ordinance his Life is to be taken away again This principally and properly belongeth to God v. 5. I will require c. but God hath given this to some Deputies This Power is not given to every one as the terrour of an ill Conscience made Cain say Whosoever findeth me shall kill me This were to destroy mankind and make God the God of Disorder and Confusion Some man it is then by Distinction and Excellency who is God's Deputy and then this can be none else but he in whom is Sovereign Power and this Power is from none else but from God Almighty And if this power over Life be from God why not all Sovereign Power seeing it is homogeneous and as Iurists say in indivisibili posita a thing indivisible in its nature that cannot be distracted put away nor impaired as a Crown take any part from it is no more a Crown When God gave this Order the World knew well enough what this Baadam by man was neither before this time nor at this time knew the World any kind of Government but Monarchical And this Monarch was Noah 9. Ninthly As their Judiciary and Sovereign Power in actu signato the Execution and Exercise of Royal Power in actu exercito is given to God Almighty as to its first and proper Origine and Source so all the Acts done by Kings are ascribed to God and we find them the immediate Instruments by whom God worketh here the greatest works of Justice when he is to punish men and the greatest works of Mercy when he is to bless them That both for the one and the other they are called his Servants His axe his rod and the works they do to be such as he hath prepared of old In the work of Justice punishing his People look upon Nebuchadnezzar See whâ—â— God fore-telleth by Isaiah by Ieremy In the works of Mercy extraordinary look upon Cyrus and for the Actions both of the one and the other consider Scripture and consider if they be not particularly and immediately given to God in all their parts their acts as if they were nothing but dead and lifeless Instruments See the places above-cited which before we have named and for brevities sake we now omit To this Argument may be added the immediate working God hath upon their Hearts their Counsels
Course who are invested with sacred power to determine Truth in Controversies and Mysteries of highest Concernment in Councels to establish Canons to prescribe a Form of Worship a Catechism to have the power of the Keys in all censures Ecclesiastical in sum in all things Ecclesiastical to have no less power no less a Voice not only deliberativè but decisivè than Priests or Ministers as they are pleased to call them these Lay Elders are debarred from nothing but only publick Preaching and Administration of the Sacraments Baptism and the Eucharist it is expected if the independent Ministery another Head of this Hydra become the prevalent part they will justle the Presbyterian out of this and restore all the Laity who in their Divinity are no less the Lords anointed than Prince Priest or Prophet There is some hope I say that these Lay Elders a non ens in Scripture and never known to Antiquity will curb them that they shall not have way for such a vast Immunity finding already by sad and feeling Experience what a measure of Patience is required to bear their Insolency and what Prudence is necessary to disappoint their ambitious and pragmatical ends There is enough said to lay open the weakness and wickedness of this Antichristian tenet that Kings are God's but not Christ's Vicegerents They cry out much against the Pope to whom they do better service than they are aware of I pray God they were as real and true Enemies to Popery as moderate and Orthodox Protestants are whom the Pope feareth more than them and with just reason and seeing I have not much hope that what is said will work much upon them let me tell them that in their Tenet and Practice they are worse than the good Popes were and I dare say all to Gregory the Great hear it from his mouth and startle not at it he was a better Christian than any of your Sect or Sectaries thus he writeth Lib. 3. Epist. 61. to Maurice the Emperour Dominus meus fuisti quando adhuc Dominus omnium non eras Ecce pro me respondebit Christus dicens Ego te de notario countem excubitorum de comite Caesaerem de Caesare Imperatorem feci Sacerdotes meos manui tue commisi tu à servitio meo milites tuos substrahis Ego quidem jussioni vestrae subjectus legem vestram per divers as terrarum partes transmitti feci Et quia lex ipsa omnipotenti Deo minimè concordat ecce per suggestionis meae paginam Serenissimis Dominis nuntiavi utrobique ergo quae debui exolvi qui Imperatori obedientiam praebui pro Deo quod sensi minimè tacjii And in another Epistle written to Theodor. Epist. 64. He saith Valdè mihi durum videtur ut ab ejus servitio milites suos substrahat qui ei omnia tribuit dominari non solum militibus sed etiam sacerdotibus concessit Maurice was no bad Emperour and Gregory certainly was a good Bishop yet Maurice had commanded that none serving in his Wars or any Officer whatsoever accountant unto him should be admitted either to Sacred Orders or a Religious Monastical Life without his special Warrant Reason may plead for the equity of this charge because by the Bounty and Beneficence of Christian Emperours men in sacred Orders and Religious Persons had admirable Priviledges which might make his Armies weak by flying to sacred Orders and Religious Life and exempt Accountants from doing what was due in civil Justice ex Indulto Imperatorum not ex jure Divino by the gratuite concession of Princes and no direct Warrant from God or his Word Whatever this was in it self which Maurice commanded Gregory to keep and to intimate to all his Suffragan Bishops and to be published in all Churches within the verge of his Jurisdiction certain it is in St. Gregory's judgment it was unlawful and sinful for he saith Lex ipsa omnipotenti Deo minimè concordat and again Valdè durum mihi videtur yet what did he He made this Ordinance of the Emperour 's to be published throughout all his Churches here is Obedience and although it did belong properly and peculiarly to him as Bishop to admit any qualified by God Almighty to sacred Orders He submits to the restraining Ordinance of Sovereign Authority and I am confident did not transgress He pleadeth for no immunity to any sacred Person in sacred Orders nay he bringeth in Christ himself saying Sacerdotes meos manui tuae commisi I have committed to thy trust to thy power my Priests and in this case which is Spiritual enough and necessary enough for ought I can conceive at least that part of it of admitting of able men to sacred Orders he humbly obeys he pleads not that he was Christ's Vicegerent and Maurice only Goâ—'s he objects not Vzzia's attempt to sacrifice he â—onfesseth or rather bringeth in Christ speaking thus He calls him not onely His Lord but Dominus omnium the Lord of all without restraint he averreth that not onely he had by God Dominion over Souldiers but over all sacred Persons in sacred Functions Ei omnia tribuit dominari non solùm militibus sed etiam sacerdotibus concessit He knew no remedy else but per suggestionis paginam by humble supplication submiss admonition to tell the Emperour it was not right he professed his obedience and that not by compulsion an extorted a coacted one Quod debui exolvi Imperaâ—ori obedientiam praebui as he was bound he obeyed and for his humble Remonstrance he speaketh no less rightly than modestly Et pro Deo quod sensi minimè tacui He knew no more lay upon him than in humility and submiss freedom with Reverence to tell and admonish what he thought fit The poor man knew not that as Christ's Vicegerent in Christ's Kingdom he was to oppose to supplicate petition and if there were not a recalling a repealing of the Imperial Edict that they might excite the People to covenant swear and at last to present a Petition upon the point of a Pike by right as he was Christ's Vicegerent This holy man knew not this Divinity it was never heard of in his age nor any since the World began it sprang not up till many Ages after that that malicious one did sow Popple among the good Wheat of Christ's Field for a thousand years after Christ the independent Sovereignty Ecclesiastical of the Pope was never known in the Christian Church The Presbyterian Sovereignty not â—till fifteen hundred and above were run out The Parochian Pope or independent Sovereign in every Parish Christ's Vicegerent except Almighty God right in mercy what is disjoynted in Church and State is like to put the Presbyterian and Pope out of doors I may add a world of Testimonies of the Fathers who expresly call Kings Christs Vicegerents upon Earth Athanasius in the Sermon of the Blessed Virgin explaining that of the Psalm Et regnabit in domo Iacob in
Rights of the Father natural Methinks more for the warrant of the two latter cannot be raised to any higher Constitution than humane Appointment but the other of the surrogated Father floweth and followeth the inviolable and unrepealable Ordinance of Almighty God For my part a King designed in such case ought should enjoy his paternal Right no less than Melchisedeck or Abraham I am the more powerfully inclined to this Opinion that I see in holy Writ that it pleased God in his Wisdom and Justice to transfer the Right of the first born to the younger the surrogated was not one whit lessened in his Prerogative and Power but had fully entirely what was due to the first born in whose place he was surrogated Consider this in Iudah when Reubens Right of Primogeniture was forfeited and he with his Posterity invested with it and surrogated in his place See read and consider the Royal Prerogatives by the Spirit of Prophecy bestowed upon Iudah Gen. 49. of which by Gods Grace more largely Quaest. 4. The like may be seen in David whom God preferred to Eliab his elder Brother It is a ruled case in Law Modus acquirendi non tollit jus possidendi the way by which we come to have jus quaesitum as Jurists term it the Right to any thing provided it be lawful otherwise that Maxim is of undoubted Truth Quod ab initio non valuit progressis temporis convalescere non potest long Possession cannot secure an injust Title it is not my purpose now to enter upon Vsucapio or Ius proscriptionis is not prejudiced by the way by which we obtain it Iacob had no less Right to the Birth-right having it by a just Title than Esau. The Jurists give the reason of this Quomodocunque res est acquisita possessio est de jure gentium if a man come at any thing by a legal Title by the Law of Nations that is by the Law of common Equity the Possession or Apprehension is entire and valid Now apply all this when a People disordered are without Government and destitute of a Governour to whom by a Title and Right of Nature it is due condescend to design or chuse one for their Ruler why shall he not should he not enjoy inherit the Right of the deficient Proprietor and seeing the Right Proprietor had this Right by God by Nature how can it be but howsoever the Designation of the Person is from the disordered Community yet the Collation of the Power is from God immediately and from his sacred and inviolable Ordinance And what can be said against modus acquirendi the way by which such a one elected obtaineth this right for seeing God doth not now send Samuels or Elishas to anoint or declare Kings we are in his ordinary Providence to conceive the Designation or Election of the Person is the manifestation of God's Will voluntas signi as the School speaketh just so as when the Church designeth one to sacred Orders In few words take all with you God who made all things is the Author of Order by which all things are preserved without Order there can be no Being but all must either turn to Annihilation or to a confused Chaos God in Scripture is no less the God of Order than the Creator of all things In Heaven amongst the Angels we see it established Amongst all Creatures betwixt the cope of Heaven and the center of the Earth it is a sweet subordination a sweet harmony is seen the Inferiour giving a tacite reverence a due obedience to its Superiour the Superiour having an over-ruling Power with a benign influence upon all Inferiours to it Can we then dream to ourselves that God did leave man without this mean of subsistence that it was Arbitrary to him to appoint and specifie either no Government at all or what kind or spece of Government he pleased Plato in his Republick can tell such a man that he that can think he may subsist without a Governour must either be God or something worse than nothing Hath God provided so for all Creatures in Heaven and Earth that he hath established a Government amongst all and that conform to every one's nature and hath he left man in some respects the most excellent and perfect of all Creatures the Abridgment of the whole World the Microcosme without this established order Do we not see that before the Woman came into the World or a Child was born God fixed Government in the person of Adam Did he not secure it that it should be transmitted to the first born that Government amongst mortal men should be immortal and seeing Sin with much more Misery and Mischief hath brought into the World that men should sometimes be driven from their natural and proper Father King and Sovereign that for their Subsistence in Happiness and plenty and Protection from Evil and Mischief they are forced to chuse one or more and to surrogate him or them in his place to whom by God and Nature it was due to bear rule over them that he or they coming in the place and power of the natural Father or King have his or their Sovereignty not by a voluntary Consent but by a necessary act and that the Power is not by Derivation from the Community but by immediate Donation from Almighty God CHAP. VIII That Sovereignty is not by Derivation from the Community is proved by more Reasons IF there were no more to disprove this popular Tenet That Sovereignty in a King is by Derivation from the Community this is more than enough that it is built upon a false Ground for it presupposeth and taketh as granted that in the Community whether collective of all Individuals or virtual and representative by some in place of all there is inherent a Potestas activa rectiva a ruling active Power which is most false If we will trust Philosophy Natura nalli dat virtutem sine actu cujus est potentia ejus est actus Aristot. de sornn vigil Potentia sine actu otiosa est inutilis And the Light of Nature teacheth that Deus natura nihil faciunt frustra God and Nature hath not bestowed upon any thing in the Universe a Power which is idle and to no purpose as certainly that Power must be which is never actuated But now this Power of actual ruling was never acted by the Community it was never seen nor exercised by them The collective or diâ—â—usive body comprehends with 〈◊〉 its Verge all and every individual Now how is it imaginable that in all the People in gross in commune this Potestus activa regâ—minis or Potestas activi regiâ—ninis this power of actuating Government is seaâ—ed as in its prime principal and most proper Seat and Subject Government intrinsecally essentially includes in it a specifick Distinction of regentes and recti some to be Governours and some to be governed If all and every one hath this Power above-mentioned where then are those that
a worse an unlawful hand The Effects are more bitter the Charge is infinitely above all we or our Predecessors did complain of in many past Ages the pressures are intended and multiplied and total ruine to the Kingdom is threatned onely this difference is observable that where before with a less bountiful Duty Religion and Royalty Justice and Peace might have been maintained nothing could be obtained to strengthen Sovereignty but now we are become so lavish so prodigal we give twenty ten five parts of our Goods our Revenues spare not our Jewels our Ear-rings to make up a molten Calf so apt so prone is our corrupt Nature to a wicked course And whereas before we were like Rachel in the streets in our shops crying we are undone with Subsidies Monopolies c. saying with Micah we are robbed of our Silver which either we made or were to make our god now in pressures voluntarily undergone which infinitely transcend all pressures before seen or felt we are as speechless as the unworthy Servant in the Gospel In this we are not unlike to little children who when they fall of themselves and hurt themselves pitifully cry not at all but if any touch them and they fall wth little or no hurt they cry out bitterly You see then how easie it is upon this ground maintained by our Sectaries our Adversaries to disquiet State and Kingdom to unking Kings at pleasure And that it is so would to God the Lecture is read to us this time in the deplorable state of this Kingdom did not with much grief and sorrow make it appear to the least-seeing Eye and did not cry it aloud in the deafest Ear. That the best of Kings most pious and just in themselves and of sweetest temper are liable to these mischiefs this black day of ours confirmeth it by-gone Stories evidence it Was there ever a meeker a milder Governour upon Earth than Moses the meekest of men sensible of no injury done against himself zealous of wrongs done to God and quick enough when Aaron was wronged Was there ever a greater Treason hatched and set on foot against any than him Corah Dathan and Abiram with two hundred and fifty Princes of the Congregation lead the People to Sedition then to Rebellion telling him in his Face he and the Tribe of Levi took too much upon them God to vindicate Sacred Sovereignty did interpose by a miraculous way never heard of before that the Heads are swallowed up living in Body and Soul into Hell a fearful Example the first Rebellion we read of and so exemplarily punished that Optatus Bishop of Milevis writing against Parmenian observeth that the like is not to be found to be read again in Scripture To Moses add David not onely a man but a King according to God's heart and one as apt and inclinable to pardon offences committed against his Person that the like you find not except it be the Example we have this day before our Eyes yet what Treasons were intended acted and attempted against him Scripture doth plentifully record Zedekiah was not one of the worst Kings of Iudah yet was he so over-ruled or over-awed rather by his Lords and Councellours that he confesseth of himself The King was not he that could withstand them that he was forced to deliver up Ieremiah the Servant and Prophet of God into the hands of their Power and Malice Many more may be adduced Augustus the sweetest of Heathen and Roman Emperours Titus the love and delight of mankind were tossed and beaten with the same Tempests It is infallibly then certain that the best of Kings cannot be secured where this Tenet of our Adversaries is maintained especially when Divines do preach it as a Truth revealed from Heaven to aver that Rebellion is obedience nay a necessary Duty which God commandeth and Jurists and Lawyers hold it is consonant to Justice the established and practised Laws and Customs of the Land the Divine secureth their Consciences and the Jurist their Estates and Persons that they are put out of all fear of Evil here or in the Life to come They will find at last that those blind Guides with their People misled will fall in the ditch God have mercy upon the poor multitude who are deceived the Deceivers have need of great Repentance before they can have mercy with God or should find it with the King What a fearful thing it is to put Princes and the best of Princes most usually under this Tyranny that the People may lord over them needeth no other confirmation but to consider a multitude in its nature which is either the cruellest or tamest of Beasts Quod non audent singuli audent universi Livie telleth us that this is the natural temper and constitution of a multitude Vt serviat humiliter aut dominetur superbâ—â— Libertatem quae media est nec spernere modicè nec habere sciunt Et non fermè desunt irarum ministri indulgentes qui avidos atque intemperantes plebeiorum animos ad sanguinem caedes irritant We need not English it the Expression is full in what we have said In sum by these new-devised State-principles no Kingdom no State can be long in quiet in peace no Kings no Governours can be secured by these Maxims we may change Kings and Governours as often as Moons learn the Policy of the Goths and practise it too that if we be not successful in War or have not a plentiful Year or be troubled and infested with any Tempest more than ordinary all may be laid upon the misfortune demerit or mis-government of the King and he Ionas-like thrown into the Sea to appease the Tempest another enthroned to live and reign no longer than we please A goodly Tenure for a Kiug Another Argument I bring against this Paradox which is this by this Principle if it hold good all Title to a Kingdom by right of Conquest is made void for this cannot be said to be derived from the Community by contract and voluntary consent Notwithstanding Scripture is clear and full for the lawful Title of a Sovereign by Conquest Otherwise we must deny David's Title over Aram and other Neighbour conterraneous Kingdoms to Israel God by his Prophet Ieremy commanded submission subjection and obedience to Nebuchadnezzar and enjoyned them to pray for him and for Peace to his Government I hope none will deny his Right to be just and that by no other Title than Conquest Our Saviour did submit to Caesar's Government over the Iews paid Tribute and by his Ius Regale his Royal Prerogative of Coin proved Caesar's just Title that he silenced the Iews as much at that time miscarried that by their Native Liberty and God's special Favour they were not to submit to any stranger as we are now adayes upon our fancied Conceits The Jesuits will not deny that Conquest by War is Iustus modus acquirendi Imperium a right way to come by a Crown if the War be justly waged and
the one way of Episcopacy nor the other way of Presbytery nor the third of Independency nor any other way imaginary or imaginable in the Church we must therefore some other way satisfie him Then let me entreat him to consider what Variety and Difference is found in oeconomical Government if he will look upon the exercise either of marital or paternal Power View it if in different Kingdoms in diverse Nations he find not and acknowledge a great immense Variety or will he look upon both at home not almost one Family uniform and alike with another and that according to the various Temper of Fathers and Husbands their different Abilities some being more indulgent some more rigorous some keeping the equal mean Some being more intelligent knowing and prudent some of less Knowledge Prudence and Government The Observator will find some wives like Sarah with Reverence and Submission calling their Husbands Lord some Michols lording over their Husbands some Fathers like Eli too too indulgent to their Children others like Iob happily and piously breeding his Children and sacrificing for them when they are feasting In brief look upon the oeconomy of all Families within your Knowledge and you shall find that in Government not one looks like another Doth it then from hence follow necessarily that paternal or marital Authority is not from God and Nature but appointed at the pleasure and Constitution of men The result of all is this That seeing in things natural things moral things ecclesiastical and spiritual and in things oeconomical this accidental and supervenient Variety in their exercise destroyeth not the true Essence and inseparable Essentials of the things themselves but naturally they are uniform and equally the same So in the different Monarchies of the World the Disparity and Difference of the exercising of monarchical power which is accidental maketh them not specifically and essentially different and diverse What these prime radical essential Constitutives of Monarchy are it will be proper to express quaest 4. We content our selves with three which are agreed upon to be in all Speces of Sovereign Power whether Aristocratical Democratical or Monarchical The 1. First is that it is Potestas suprema that it is subordinate to none but Almighty God dicit negationem superioris in terris it admitteth no coordinate collateral coequal or corrival Power 2. Next it is Perpetua potestas a perpetual Power He cannot fall from his Sovereignty but whilst he lives he is the Lords Anointed 3. Thirdly the Power of all Monarchs and of every Monarch is Legibus soluta subject to no over-ruling Power of man Conceive it not so that Kings are free from the direction of and obligation to the Law of God Nature and common Equity but from Coercion humane or any humane coactive Power to punish censure or dethrone them The Hebrews call these and what particulars come within their verge Majus Imperium the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and where those are equal in all Monarchy no accidental variety can change the nature of Monarchy in all and every one of them As for other particulars virtually and naturally included in these three howsoever in actu signato in their first capacity they be propriè propriissimè radically and properly in Sovereignty and in Monarchies yet in actu exercito in the exercise of them they may be entrusted to the Subject Ita ut non defluat radix supremae potestatis so that they have it onely by Delegation and Trust communicativè by communication not privativè not so that these Delegates are invested so with it as the King is totally divested Who can deny but Iudiciaria potestas the Power to judge in all Causes Criminal Civil which concern the Subjects and Kingdom is inherent essentially in the Crown and Scepter of the King and the King to ease his burthen and that Justice may the more readily and easily be done intrusteth his Judges with it And here is not the Trust less and more as it pleaseth the King to give it Is it not different in some onely for such and such Cases and Causes in others for some others different And doth there not lie to the King extrema appellatio the last Appeal or if that be not to make Justice more expedite is there not the equivalent reserved that the Party hurt may by Petition and humble Remonstrance make his Case and Cause evident to the King that he in his Sovereignty may redress what is wrong and punish the Judge abusing his Trust By which it is more than apparent that this and the like Restraints the King putteth upon the exercise of his Native Power is onely ad minuendam solicitudinem not ad minuendam Majestatem to facilitate his Charge and not to denude or disrobe himself of that Sacred Right and Prerogative God hath given to him as his Vicegerent upon Earth Again it is not slightly to be passed by that there be many Kings many times too indulgent Fathers to their People and Subjects who give away too much of their Sacred Right which when Subjects have come at being more than they should zealous of their Liberty will not part with it again but detain it sacrilegiously If a man could be allowed to speak truth in this distempered Age it may be said without sin against God or crime of laese-majesty against King or People that where Monarchy has been too much straitened and weakened by loss of its natural and native Prerogative it hath been done by imprudent at least inconsiderate acts of too good Princes and of voluntary concession and in the end as they prove derogatory to Sovereignty so they prove destructive to the Peace and Protection the Liberty and Propriety of the Subject Review all the Grants of Princes in this kind and you shall find upon Authentick Record that they be meer Concessions of grace If as much could be shewn upon as faithful and unquestionable Record to prove our King a pactional and conventional Prince your Plea should be more specious in the Eyes of the World And if you could by authentick Evidence make it appear that such bounds and limits are put to Sovereignty as it is more than manifest that what you claim is by acts of voluntary Humanity you should do somewhat which probably would take the People more but I must tell you withal you totally destroy Monarchy and must say right down our gracious Sovereign is no Monarch which is against Reason Sense all Records extant and the universal testimony of all knowing men in other Kingdoms and States It is great Discourtesie to change Princes acts of grace bestowed upon Subjects into acts of Duty and Debt nor is it a ready way to obtain more grace to prove unthankful and not acknowledge prior graces received Lawyers and Jurists do tell you that from actus humanitatis voluntatis from acts of Courtesie and voluntary Concession you may not reason to conclude actum necessitatis an
Jesuits all for ought I know do ascribe this to the Community The Sectaries do differ infinitely some warrant any one Subject any individual Person to make away a King in this case and that such a work is no less to be rewarded than when one killeth a ravenous Wolf Some will have it in the whole Community with the Jesuit Some will have it in the Collective Body but how not met together by the Warrant or Writ of Sovereign Authority but when necessity which is often fancied and imaginary of reforming State and Church calleth them together Some will have the Power in the Nobles and Peers of the Land Some in the three States assembled by the Kings Writ Some in the inferiour Judges In sum every one fancieth it to himself as he resolveth to Idol or serve corruptly the humour and state of the People where he liveth When these Classical Authors agree in one they will make us think their Tenets â—ounder and their courses more warrantable which I never hope to see because this Spirit of Discord God hath put as a Judgment upon all Masters of Errours I dispute not whether this Power be in the Community or in the Collective Body or in the Peers and Nobles or in the inferiour Judges or in the Parliament or where else you can imagine it for I know no where it is to punish or curb Sovereignty but in Almighty God Onely I demand of the Jesuit and Sectary that seeing wheresoever they put it they make it the last remedy the onely remedy to supply all Defect to redress all Wrongs to set aright whatever is dis-joynted in Church or State The Subject of this superintending Power must be secured from errour in Iudgment from errour in Practice and how happy are we now that in these late dayes we have a Pope in Temporalibus who is no less assisted and endowed with the gift and grace of Infallibility than the Pope of Rome determining ex Cathedra He is too much in love with a Community or with Nobles or with Parliaments or with inferiour Judges c. who thinketh or judgeth that they or any of them are secured from Errour in the reformation of State or Church But on the other side if the Multitude the Peers the Judges the Parliaments are liable to Errour and many times actually do err when they err in this glorious work of Reformation of Church and State doth not the perfect condition of a perfect Republick require that there be some authorized with a superintendent Power to rectifie their Errours and to punish their misdemeanours otherwise God hath left Church and State remediless they must name this Remedy and by all appearance this must be the Sovereign again and so Impius ambulat in circuitu If they will say that to eschew such a ridiculous regress and circle betwixt King and People and People and King and to shun Ne detur progressus in infinitum that if the Community or Parliament err the remedy is to be left to the Wisdom and Justice of God Why will not the Sectary acknowledge that it is as fit when the Sovereign transgresseth against the right Rules of Government that People and Subjects submit in Patience and wait till God send a Remedy either rectifying or removing the bad Governour Where ever you place this Superintending Power above a King I care not much for it is but an Idea by this same Power they who are authorized with it by God and Natures Right may call a King to account censure and punish him for any errour or misdemeanour whatsoever for any one act of injustice Why might not the People of Israel or Peers or Sanhedrim c. have convented David before them judged and punished him for his Adultery with Bathsheba and his murther of Vriah The Romanists and greatest part of Antimonarchical new Statists do acknowledge no case lawful but either in Heresie or in Apostasie or in Tyranny the first two the Romanists would have it to the Popes Power and at his Discretion the last of Tyranny all of them do qualifie thus Vt sit universalis manifesta cum obstinatione that it be in such Tyranny onely which is intended endeavoured attempted for the whole and total destruction of the Publick which cannot fall into the thoughts and attempts of any but a mad man What is recorded in story of Nero his wish in this kind may be rather judged the expression of a transported Passion than a fixed Resolution Next this case must be evident and clear as the Sun-shine at Noon-day Thirdly it must be joyned with such pervicacy and obstinacy that it is inseparable and invincible by any ordinary humble Remonstrance and Supplication to the contrary Although we give it that it were lawful in a case so qualified for the Community or any else to resume their Power and use it to remedy themselves and to rectifie what is amiss which we cannot grant we are very confident that all the Wit of the Opposites cannot make it appear that their case is such at this time Upon their grounds we see not how by sound reason not onely in such case as is expressed onely but also in every case of male-administration whatever it be they who have this pretended and fancied Power may not use and exercise this superintendent and transcendently extravagant Power I pray you if this Superintending Power in the People Peers or Parliament c. resumable in the exigent of great necessity be the onely means and last remedy allowed and so necessary that without it neither Church nor State can be preserved in their integrity how cometh it to pass that we have neither Precept nor Practice for it in Holy Writ Deus Natura non desunt in necessariis God and Nature are not deficient in things primely necessary Nothing can be conceived more necessary for State and Church than such a Remedy If then we cannot hit upon express and clear warrant by Precept or Practice in Scripture for a matter of so high and necessary concernment who can be so stupid in a Pythagorean way to believe this upon an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon your Rabbies bare assertion or trust it upon an Anabaptistical Enthusiasm There is nothing more certain than that there is not any thing in Scripture tending that way If it be our Adversaries are bound to produce it for affirmanti incumbit probatio He that affirms it to be so is bound to make his proof appear Next this tenet argues too great a confidence of our selves as if to be left to our own natural Providence were the onely sufficient competent and perfect means of Safety and Redress of Church and State We hereby presume upon our own strength that by our selves we are able to rectifie and preserve both Church and State It is Arrogancy too for hereby we are puffed up with an overweening conceit of our own Piety and Integrity as if our Judgment were so sound as that it
His Sovereignty and their own Dependency from and Subordination and Subjection to him so it is the good will and pleasure of God that all Subjects should in Testimony of their Subjection to Sovereignty and in true Acknowledgment of their Supremacy contribute some of their Means for the Maintenance and honour of the King this is the Apostles Doctrine Rom. 13. 6. For for this Cause pay you Tribute also for they are Gods Ministers attending continually upon this very thing What can be more fully said They are immediately from God They are Gods Ministers for this Cause then we are bound to pay Tribute And let the for in the Frontispiece of the verse make you reflect your eyes upon that which goeth before and you will find it is not an arbitrary Right they have to this which is given upon them by a voluntary Compact or Grant or extorted by Fear the Apostle sheweth this we do not only for Wrath that is for fear of Punishment for in their Power it is to punish those who will not do this Duty but for Conscience sake This our Lord and Master both taught and practised paying Tribute to Caesar and commanding to render to Caesar the things that were Caesar's due to him as Caesar not by grant or compact from the People And Reason it self evinceth that this Maintenance should be proportioned to that high Degree and Measure as may preserve his Glory and Majesty that it be not lessened or contemned and as may sufficiently enable him to act and effect the happy works and Fruits of Royal Government to preserve all in Peace and Plenty See to this purpose Iustin Martyr Apolog. 2. and St. Chrysostom upon Rom. 13. passim This Doctrine that Kings are immediately from God and independent from all other Creatures whatsoever teacheth also that it is high Rebellion against God to oppose or resist the King This Consequence the Apostle thus deduceth Rom. 13. vers 1. The Powers that be are ordained of God vers 2. Ergo Whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation Pardon me to cite Chrysostom upon the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that obeyeth not the King fighteth against God what do they then that come in Arms against him who by his Law hath established Obedience and not Resistance and the Apostle every where always and upon all Occasions endeavoureth this mainly that our Obedience to Kings is not arbitrary conditional or by compact but necessary and imposed upon us by God Holy Scripture is so careful we oppose not sacred Authority that it hath forbidden it in all it's kinds all it's degrees 1. We are not to think a bad Thought of them in our Hearts Eccles. 10. 20. 2. The Tongue is not to speak Evil of them Exod. 22. 28. Iud. 8. Consequently neither Pen nor Press are to write or print to their Disgrace and Disadvantage 3. We are not with Iudas to lift up our heel 4. David's Heart smote him when he smote Saul's Garment 5. The hand cannot stretch out it self against the Lords Anointed and the Actor be innocent 6. It is to fight against God for he that rebelleth against the King rebelleth against God He that blasphemeth the King blasphemeth God 1. Kings 21. The Prodigal in his Return acknowledgeth he sinned no less against Heaven than his Father God hath taken them in Societatem nominis in societatem numinis Psal. 82. 6. 7. The greatness of the Sin may appear that the greatest of Judgments fall upon Traytors and Rebels Scripture is plentiful in Examples of this kind and all Story witnesseth for it Remember the Story of Rudolph Duke of Suevia who sware Allegiance to Henry the fourth by Pope Hildebrand was loosed from his Oath but miserably died he and before his Death the right hand with which he sware was cut off and say he could to the Bishops This is the hand was lifted up when I sware Allegiance to my Emperour justly cut off for my Perjury and Rebellion for which you are to answer who put me upon this mischievous Course and Rebellion See Aventine and others infinite Examples may be alledged If they escape the Judgment of men by their scarce warrantable Meekness and Clemency God hath Executioners in store and ready for them He will revenge for his own Interest If the King will not do Justice against a Traytor God will make his own Friend do it and if that fail his own Breast or both of them This was Absalom's case 2 Sam. 18. 14. Thy Confederates will do it This was Sheba's case 2 Sam. 20. 22. Before an Executioner be wanting thy own hand shall do it This was Achitophel's case who hanged himself 2 Sam. 17. 23. And Zimri's case too 1 Kings 16. 18. If no man will do it Earth and Hell will do it This was the case of Korah Dathan Abiram and their Complices Numb 16. 23. This is the first Rebellion in Scripture recorded against Prince and Priest And take with you Optatus Bishop of Milevis's note upon it no Sin in Scripture recorded hath a Judgment parallel to this If all Creatures should fail to be Executioners God will do it by his immediate hand from Heaven Psalm 144. 8. To shut up this God allowed no Sanctuary for Treason and Traytors as is manifest in the case of Ioab pulled from the Altar and Justice done upon him Lastly seeing the King is sacred in his Person in his Power in his Royal Christian Prerogative it is high Sacriledge and Intrusion upon God and the King to rob him of any part of his Sacred Right The ancient Church did judge so Hosius writing to Constantius an Arrian Emperour saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Holy Father and the whole Church in his time did account it a Theft and an Opposition to God and his Ordinance by Fraud or Force to cheat or extort from a King any thing due to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Empire his Sovereignty It was not dreamed of then that an Excellency could be set up against a Majesty or a Coordinate power erected with Sovereignty In the happy time of the Christian Church this was the greatest Robbery the highest Sacriledge the most violent Intrusion upon God and his Anointed The best and readiest way for all Happiness to a Kingdom is when the King considereth that his Greatness and Glory consisteth in the Happiness of his Subjects and proportioneth all his Actions and Government to their Peace and Plenty and the People on the â—ther part when they level their Intentions Actions Enâ—eavours and Obedience to preserve his Sacred Person His Sacred Right and Royal Prerogative Let none â—ivide those things God hath conjoyned When People are thus affected it will move Kings for the good of their People with Saul to be ready to sacrifice Ionathan or with Codrus to dye himself for the Safety of his People or with David in great Judgments from God