Honour to declare them with Christian Charity and reprove them with Christian Modesty Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sin to fall upon him Levit. 19. 17. whether he be of a great or little Figure in the World it matters not Go tell Judah of her sins and Israel of her transgressions be who will pleased or displeased therewith By which it appears that though Reproofs and Admonitions have been the Duty of every person from the very beginning of Religion Cry aloud spare not lift up your voice like a trumpet proclaim defiance sound a challenge and charge against them shew the people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins Isaiah 58. 1. yet they are seldom or never acceptable but on the contrary get hatred to those that discover their Dalilah's their bosome sins but their comfort is that by reproving they fulfil God's Precepts and he that hateth reproof erreth is bruitish and shall die Pro. 10. 1. 15. Pro. 12. 15. Pro. 10. A most strange and unhappy temper to return hatred for good will to hate those that show the greatest kindness that possibly mortal Man can show he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured and is prudent Prov. 13. 18. Pro. 15. 5. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding ver 32. As to despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities is a great Crime to be punished by the Judges so there is a wo to them who call evil good and good evil that put darkness for light and light for darkness Isaiah 5. 20. Wherefore if they whose immediate Duty it is to tell Judah of her Sins and Israel of her Transgressions will by a sinful compliance be silent or daub with untempered Mortar not daring to declare plain Truths which is tant à monte a tacite giving consent and countenance to publick Sins and Injuries by such their connivance and dissimulation I hope they will not blame those who dare call Vices by their proper names I am ignorant of such quirks of Conscience which so much injure Justice and Piety as by such perverting the plain Truths of Religion and prevaricating with God Almighty by pleasing Men rather than Truth as if both might not and ought not to stand together as if a due respect to Men even to great Men and a just censure of Sin and Wickedness might not justly be maintained So that if any thing in this present discourse seem more harsh or severe than usual it is intended against the Vices and Abuses of the Powers not against the Persons nor any just Powers If they are Truths that I have declared I ought not to be blamed if Errors they 'l easily be discovered and refuted and the greater Truth will appear If I have committed Errors and injured Truth I am sensible of my own Infirmities and that Reason is seldom so perfectly reduced to Science but that I and all others may be mistaken Humanum est errare Let those that shall discover such Errors consider that they themselves are Men and subject to like Errors and Frailties and may be deceived and that possibly when by disquisition a greater Light may discover that that may be the Readers mistake which he esteemeth may be the Writers Error In summ All the Glory of Kings and Kingdoms ought to serve God by judging righteously by countenancing the Faithful of the Land and not suffering the Wicked to influence their Councils and by walking wisely in a perfect way and by hating the Works of them that turn aside and by not suffering those that have high Looks and proud Thoughts as being made choice of by him to administer in his Kingdom as Nursing-fathers of his people Isaiah 49. 23. God blessed for ever who setteth up Kings and removeth them doth only love the Principality and Kingdom of his own Eternity and himself continually addeth to the Glory and Enlargement thereof but willeth and expecteth the same from all Kings Princes and Governors of Temporal Scepters to do the same and that under severe Menaces and Penalties Whatever therefore of Inlargement Glory Stability the carking Cares or Designs of the great Men of the Earth may project and promise to themselves by being Kings and Princes on the Earth they are all but magnificum nihil toys gewgawes and vanity in the sight of God when put into the Ballance with that Kingdom which Christ alone loveth respecteth and desireth and unto which unless they be heartily subservient to serve and inlarge the Kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ they shall become like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor and the wind shall carry them away and the God of Gods and Lord of Kings shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people but it shall break in pieces all other kingdoms and it shall stand for ever Dan. 2. 44 45 47. If Kings will not kiss the Son nor do their Duty in purging the House of the Lord may not Eliah and the People do their duty and cast out Baal 's Priests Reformation of Religion is a personal act that belongeth to all even to every private Person according to his place they may swear a Covenant without the King if he refuse and build the Lords House themselves 2 Chr. 15. 9. and relieve and defend one another if oppressed for our Acts and duties of defending our selves and the oppressed do not tye our Consciences conditionally so the King consent but absolutely as all duties of the Law of Nature do Jer. 22. 3. Prov. 24. 11. Isaiah 1. 17. 58. 6. Be wise now therefore O ye kings be instructed ye Judges of the earth Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that trust in him Psalm 2. Therefore it becomes you that sit upon Thrones to observe and obey the true unquestionable divine Lex Regia to you it is commanded Deut. 17. 18 19 20. viz. to read in the Book of the Law all the days of your lives that you may learn to fear the Lord your God to keep all the words of the law and the statutes to do them that your hearts be not lifted up above your brethren by whom and from among whom ye your selves were chosen and set in great Glory Honour and Dignity to go in and out before them judging righteously and that you turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left do violence to no man for God hates the violent man and evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him Psalm 140. 11. Be content with your Tribute and exact no more than what is appointed you by publick consent take care that there be no violent perverting of Judgment no shamming of
all his Saints Ps 149. 4 5 8 9. It is Piety alone that enobles Kings gives them a mighty Character and establisheth their Thrones Therefore Kings ought to be like the Sun in the Firmament comfortably influencing all their Subjects by governing justly and living uprightly having their Eyes on the faithful of the land and on them that excel in virtue and not suffering those that make Kings glad with their wickedness and Princes with their Lies Hos 7. 3. to tarry in their sights it being an abomination in Kings to work wickedness for the throne is established by righteousness if Solomon the wisest King that ever did or ever will sit upon a Throne can judge Prov. 16. 12. So Pope Leo Ep. 7. to the Emperor Theodosius Tune est optimus regni vestri status quando sempiternae incommutabili Trinitati unius Dei confessione servitur Then is the State of your Kingdom in it its Glory when it serveth and acknowledgeth one eternal God in the Immutable Trinity This God hath demonstrated by an Iliad of Examples both of old and more puny daies by punishing Kings governing tyrannically more signally and especially in Nebuchadnezzar who not conforming to the Counsel of Daniel by breaking off his sins by righteousness and his iniqities by shewing mercy unto the poor was turned into a very Brute being driven from men to dwell with wild asses to eat grass with Oxen till seven times had passed over him his body wet with the dew of Heaven his hairs grown like eagles feathers and his nails like birds claws before his understanding returned unto him to bless God and to acknowledge that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men Dan. 4. So averred David a King after God's own heart Man that is in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish Psalm 49. ver 20. What this Vnderstanding is is declared Job 28. 28. The fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil that is understanding All other Wisdom in respect of this is but Brutish which made Constantine the Great to esteem all Principalities not subservient to the Laws of Heaven to be far worse than the Government of Goat-Keepers Shepherds and Cow-herds Euseb Orat. In the Kingdom of Insidels who have no right knowledge of God nor of his Laws the Supreme Law is only the safety of the Civil State and its Temporal Happiness but when a Gentile State becomes Christian then consequently it becomes also a Church whereby it loseth nothing which it had before but acquires a new Perfection by accrument of Divine Powers added to the Civil and consequently a greater Duty incumbent on the Governors thereof to seek and procure the Welfare and Happiness Such Kingdoms so united and so interwoven are in a more special manner the Inheritance and Kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ which his Father gave him as the Purchase of his bitter Passion Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession Psalm 2. 8. And Christ doth imbrace the Glory of this his Kingdom so incorporated with so much more tenderness and affection than the Pomp and Pride of all earthly Kingdoms as that he threatneth those Kings Nations and Kingdoms that will not serve him shall perish and be utterly wasted Isaiah 60. 12. Speak every man truth in his heart to his neighbour execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates therefore love the truth and peace Zechar. 8. 16 19. are Divine Oracles and shall challenge Obedience from every Individual but more particularly and especially they seem to have respect unto those that sit at the Helm that execute the Judgment of Truth and Peace in the Gates It is no doubt as great a fault to be silent when one ought to speak as to speak when one should hold his peace sins of Omission being no less dangerous than sins of Commission I think I do no dis-service to the Publick or transgress the duty of Honesty or Loyalty if I endeavour by Pen to set the Right of Government on a sure and right Foundation when I see daily so many false Principles exorbitant Powers and Vnaccountableness attributed to Cheif Magistrates as may make very Saints to transgress in Government that happily otherwise would not and these not Written by vulgar Pens only but Preached and Printed by Ministers of the Gospel that they might be delivered with the better grace and greater authority though not without most palpable wresting of Scripture to wrong senses and purposes which in Ministers of the Gospel is the more abominable but God shall cut off all flattering lips and tongues that speak proud things Psalm 12. 3. There are so many Sermons full fraught with such Principles that they who are esteemed the Governors of our Church cannot be ignorant of them yet they whom it most concerns to take notice of true and false Doctrines being silent which seems to argue consent hath encouraged me to put Pen to Paper to assert the truth It ought not to be imputed as a Crime to any who bring the Actions of Princes Popes or Prelates to the Touch-stone of Truth Truth though it begets hatred to the Asserters thereof yet like the Sun is a publick good which neither exempteth Princes Popes private Men no nor Angels from her Laws I have followed as near as I can the Beams of that Sun by adhering close to true Principles of Nature of Reason and of Scripture If any Light I have given hath discovered false Glosses or Truth from Error no reason to quarrel either with the Truths themselves or with the Assertor of them Truth seasonably spoken can hurt no Body If false Principles are censured and adjudged by Divine by Laws of Nature and Reason and disapproved by Christian Religion be pleased or displeased who will it matters not the care is taken It being more than human Tyranny to deprive Faith and Truth of Tongue or Pen for their Defence where Truth maketh no distinction of Persons I dare not I only condemn what she doth without respect had to Persons great or small if they clash with Truth or endeavour to obscure her brightness To assert Truth is no point of Arrogance and to search for Truth when it is concealed is the beginning of Charity and to assert it with constancy when it is apparent is the consummation of Charity and to walk in the Light thereof is the beginning and consummation of Happiness For who can be more blessed than he who enjoyeth Truth in its Excellency Constancy and Immutability I am not ignorant that Fear Honour and Reverence are due to Magistrates but more to Truth for God is Truth Nor is it Reverence with base flattery or ignorant blindness to hide the publick Blemishes and Miscarriages of the Actions of great Men. No no it 's downright flattering Profaneness dissembling and betraying the Truths of God. It 's much more Christian
set a stranger over thee which is not thy brother 2. By the constant practice of the jews under the Prophets and since And not without this moral reason That one from among themselves being by their consent and suffrages set King over them that what Authority soever they grant unto Kings they may acknowledge to have had it from the People and therefore obliged more readily to imploy all their times studies strengths and endeavours for the good of them who set them over themselves to take the burden of the Government upon their Shoulders and therefore they consent to pay them all Honour allow them great Priviledges and Prerogatives and give them Munificent Tributes and Maintainance for the Support of them and the Governm nt and swearing Allegiance unto their Kings and the Kings swearing unto the People to keep Faith with them in the due performance and execution of the Laws already made and to be made The reason formerly set down doth warrant this viz. No Man hath or can have any lawful Power to Govern Kingdoms and States but he must have it either immediately from God himself which no Man now can possibly pretend unto or by consent of the Paâ—tâ—â—s The Elders of Israel being the representative 1 Sam. 10. 19. of the whole Kingdom for by that name are generally meant Centurions Captains Judges Princes of all the Tribes â—f Israel c. came to Samuel in Ramah desiring a King to 〈◊〉 in and out before 〈◊〉 like the Nations at whose instance Samuel did anoint Saul to be their King neverless Samuel that Saul might know that he was chosen by the People called all the Peâ—â—â— together in Mizpeh by their Tribes and by their Thousands where as if the farmer Election and Anointing had been insignificant they cast lots which â—ell upon the Tribe of Benjamin and Saul the Son of Kish was taken and all the People shouted and said God save the King 1 Sam. 10. 17 c. All which was done at the Peoples instanceâ— And lest the Election of the King should be attributed wholly to the chance of Lots all the People by the advice of Samuel some few grumbling Dissenters excepted having said Shall Saul reign over us 1 Sam. 11. 13. went to Gilgal and renewed the Kingdom there and made Saul King before the Lord in Gilgal ver 14. 15. Which manifests that though Saul was chosen by God himself and also by Lot yet was constituted confirmed and approved by the suffrages of the People God indeed before ever there was a King in Israel knowing that they would reject him and foolishly desire a King like all the Nations round about them prescribed Rules and Laws whereby they ought to Govern Deut. 17. So David Samuel Saul being rejected by God from Reigning over Israel by God's command anointed David at â—ethlâ—m whom God had chosen King over Israel Did David therefore Reign though so chosen by God himself and anointed by his own command No sure he was so far from it that he avoided the presence of Saul hiding himself from him and arming himself with the Sword of Goliah and armed Men against the evil designs which Saul had against him and fled from him wandring up and down and became as it were an exiled and Out lawed Person and was not King till Saul was dead nor then neither until all the People of Judah first chose him King of Judah by their suffrages And seven years after all the Tribes of Israel and all the Elders of Israel came â—o Hebron and made a Covenant with him before the Lord and then they anointed David King over Israel 1 Sam. 16. 13. 1 Chron. 11. 3. 2 Sam. 5. 3. Besides if Samuel's first anointing of David King had formerly made him King then either Saul was thereby deposed or else there were two Kings of Israel at one time which is monâ—â—ous to conceive for according to their Doctrine Kings have no Royal Power from the People but it is manifest David was not King for that after his being so anointed he oâ—ten called Saul the Lord 's anointed and that by the Inspiration of God's Spirit Moreover he neither challenged nor executed any Royal Authority till he was crowned King by all Israel at Hebron but was persecuted and hunted as a Partridge on the Mountains and that as a Rebel to Saul of which he acquitted himself when he had the Life of Saul in his power and yet would not take it which he justly might have done had he been really King and it had been a crime in him being King not to have executed his Royal Authority in doing Justice and Judgment by cutting off Saul a murtherâ—r who killed the Priests of the Lord especially seeing Saul according to such doctrine must be but a private murtherâ—r and David the only lawful King. Whereby it is apparent that not Samuâ—â— s Oil but the consent and suffrages of the People that made both Saul and David Kings Whereby it is apparent that though God appointed David to be their King yet not so Absolute but that he should be under and subject to agreements with his People and make a Covenant with them on tearms to which he should be obliged to perform with them as they with him and this before the Lord by which Covenant he was obliged to keep within the Boundaries which God and the People had set So David was twice anointed 1. By the Prophets by God's command in token of his Election 2. By the instance and suffrages of the People in Confirmation of his being constituted King by them 2 Sam. 4. 11. 5. 13. So it is true that by God Kings Reign yet so as not without the Peoples Consent Approbation and Covenants first had that he may Reign over them for their good Besides Kings receive not their Kingship immediately from God nor the Sword because the People were first girt with the Sword. Moreover will any Christian say that the Kings of Nations who lived without God in the World did Rule and Reign by Gods immediate appointment I trow not The like is observable in Constituting Solomon King who though David 's Son and God chose him to sit upon his Fathers Throne and to be a Father unto him as he had promised David 2. Sam. 7. 13 14 15. And though David had promised his People that Solomon should succeed him and sit upon his Throne yet this was not sufficient and therefore David assembled all the Princes of Israel and the princes of the Tribes and the captains of the companies and captains over the thousands and the stewards over all the substance of the possession of the King and of his Sons with the officers and with the mighty men and with all the valiant men which bear any publick office and as it were the representative of all Israel and consequently had a share in the Government and in the Election unto Jerusalem This great congregation made Solomon the Son of David King
the Earth to stay the Righteous with the wicked Gen. 18. 25. or take vengeance on the People for the Sins of the King the Soul that sinneth it shall die Ezek. 18. 4. Every Man shall be put to death for his own Sin Deut. 24 16. was it not rather because the People did not resist or restrain but assisted Saul their King violating the Law of God and wickedly persecuting the Man after Gods own Heart and killing the Priests of the Lord. Saul desiring to inlarge thē Borders of the Tribe of Judah at his entrance into Canaan broke publick Faith with the Gibeonites and destroyed many of them the Children of Israel having sworn unto them by which he broke the third Commandment God being witness to his Covenant with the Gibeonites he broke also the sixth Commandment and so the breach of both Tables God himself would revenge the breach of which Covenant and Oath was justly laid to Saul and his Family Now Saul being dead and David constituted King 2 Sam. 21. 1 2. God sent a Famine in the days of David three Years Year after Year upon the whole Land and David inquired of the Lord and the Lord answered It was for Saul and his bloody House because he slew the Gibeonites which Famine ceased not till David delivered seven Sons of Saul to the Gibeonites whom they hanged in Gibeah of Saul unto the Lord v. 6. 8. But was the Famine over all the Land for Sauls fault only No both King and People were both punished the one for breaking Covenant the other for not resisting and not hindring the King or as being accessary to do this Evil. How came it to pass that God never punisheth the sins of the King upon the People nor the sins of the People upon the King and yet he sent a Famine on the whole Land Saul the chief Actor being Dead and consequently Actio moritur cum persona but because the People suffered so manifest a Sin to be committed by their sinful connivance and used no endeavours to resist or hinder him as they ought Can Punishment by any right be inflicted on any for a Crime whereof they are not guilty Alieni secleris quenquam poenas pati Jura non sinunt 2 Kings 14. 6. Wherein did the Israelites sin if not by tolerating Saul to do as he did when they ought and might have hindred him When Menasseh had polluted the Temple of the Lord and shed Innocent Blood which the Lord would not pardon 2 Kings 24. 4. why did the Lord threaten not only Menasseh but his People with Judgments but because they being under the same Covenants with Manasseh they would not restrain the King from persisting in his wickedness but did connive countenance and assist him in his Impieties 2 Chron. 33. 17. Herod and Pilate condemned Christ the Priests delivered him to Death yet the Curse fell upon the whole Nation and why because the People might have delivered him as well as they did Barrabas and did not but impricated Curses upon themselves and their Children It is the duty of all Nations to take care not only that Criminals be punished but that no Crimes be committed which made Hezekiah pull down the Brazen Serpent though set up by Moses when it came to be abused 2 Kings 18. 4. It being the duty of the People by common consent to hinder Kings as much as in them lies from violating the Law of God and from injuring his Church and Saints and if they do not they are guilty of the same crime and liable to the same punishment Resist they may by opposing words to words force to force stratagem to stratagem always avoiding perfidiousness which is always disallowed and hateful to God and Man. For in War it matters not whether it be managed by open Force or secret Stratagems By People is not meant the Many headed-Monster-Multitude but by the Universal People is to be understood those who have any share in the Government or any Authority from the People conferred upon them by any Laws made by publick consent as inferior Magistrates either chosen by the People or any other way constituted to take care of publick Peace and concerns of the Laws of the Land and worship of God in their several qualifications be they Tribunes of the People Ephori Praefects Praetors Judges Justices of the Peace Constables Captains of Thousands Captains of Hundreds Captains of Fifties or other inferior Officers or Magistrates which are as Consorts of the Empire and are in the vacancy of the publick Sanhedrims Dyets Parliaments c. As it were the Epitome of every Kingdom and Ephori of Kings and Conservators of the Publick Peace thereof to and among whom all the publick concerns of a Nation are referred of which sort in a manner were the Seventy Elders in the Kingdom of Israel among which there was a Chief Priest which did judge de Arduis Regni which were not to be Hobby-horsed in and out by the High Priest according as they would or would not serve a sinister turn and they were chosen out of the Seventy Families which went down into Egypt the Elders of which were first chosen and made Heads over the People Rulers of Thousands Rulers of Hundreds Rulers of Tens and the hard causes they brought unto Moses Exod. 18. 25. We read often in Scripture of all Israel of all Judah and Benjamin c. when in all probability every Individual did not at all times meet of which sort and kind there is in all well constituted Kingdoms several Congregations of the Kingdoms Officers of the Kingdom as the Privy Council Peers Patricians Judges Sessions Assizes Lord Lieutenants Deputy Lieutenants Mayors Bayliff's of Towns and Cities as the ordinary Councils and Officers of a Kingdom and as Councils extraordinary chosen out of them all to consider de Arduis Regni which are Officers of the Kingdom and called by several names in several Kingdoms as Dyets Parliaments c. which provide that no detriment come to either Church or State in which tho' every individual be inferior to the King yet the Joynt Body being the Representative of the whole Kingdom is superior and to be preferred before him For as the Council of Basil and Constance decreed that a General Council was superior to the Pope and the Chapter to the Bishop for that they which receive any Authority from any Company of Men must needs be inferior to that Company though he be personally superior to every Individual of that Society So without all doubt Israel which petitioned for and chose Saul from among themselves to be their King as a publick Actor for the common good of them all was superior to Saul When we attribute any power to the People it is to be understood of the Officers Princes Elders Parliaments Dyets that have a share in the Government and in the Legislative Power Take Athaliah 2 Chron. 24. for an Example in which Act the Kingdom was not opposed but
Tyranny which Conspiracy though acted so very privately and as it were by stealth yet blamed neither by God nor Man but justified by all Writers both Sacred and Prophane and the success answered the end designed As the King so all Israel as one Man the several Cities as parts of the Kingdom and their Magistrates did covenant with God to keep his Laws c. Joshua when old and near his end congregated all Israel in Sechem in the Presence of the Lord for the Ark of the Covenant was there and called for the Elders of Israel and for their Heads and for their Judges and for their Officers and they presented themselves before God Josh 24. 1. And he said unto them fear the Lord and serve him c. and the People answered and said God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other Gods ver 14. 16. And Joshua said unto the People ye are witness your selves that you have chosen you the Lord to serve him And they said we are Witnesses ver 22. So Joshua made a Covenant with the Lord that day and set them a Statute and an Ordinance in Sechem And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God and took a great Stone and set it up there under an Oak that was by the Sanctuary of the Lord and Joshua said unto all the People Behold this Stone shall be a Witness unto us for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us it shall be therefore a Witness unto you least you deny your God ver 24 25 26 27. Hence it is evident that as every individual Person so more especially all Officers in a Kingdom that have any publick Authority ought every one in their several stations to take care that God's Law be fulfilled and of the Peoples happiness which Officers are Officers of the Kingdom from whom they have their Authority according to Laws of their own making and to them they are accountable If the Ark of God be to be brought back then all of the Congregation of Israel are to be summoned and consulted and to give their help 1 Chron. 13. 2 Chron. 15. So if a Temple be to be built to the Lord the chief of the Fathers and Priests of the Tribes of Israel and the Captains of Thousands and of Hundreds with the Rulers are summoned and moved to offer willingly 1 Chron. 29. So that there is no power committed to Kings to alter or change the Laws Covenants or Worship of God. So in the Covenants under Joah and Josiah between God the King and the People all the Kingdom were present and all were particularly bound to keep and stand to the Covenant so that not the King only but the Kingdom nor the Kingdom in general only but all the Parts thereof promise Faith and Allegiance to God Almighty Not the King only but Israel not Israel only but the Cities and chief Governours of them did secretly bind themselves to God to do him homage and leige Services against all Infractors of his Laws 2 Kin. 11. 23. 2 Chron. 23. For Example Libnah revolted from Jehoram because he had forsaken the Lord God of his Fathers 2 Chron. 21. 10. So Mattathias and all they that fled from the Persecution of Antiochus joyned themselves together and smote sinful men in their anger and wicked men in their wrath and they pursued after the proud men and the work prospered in their hands So they recovered the Law out of the hand of the Gentiles and out of the hand of Kings neither suffered they the sinner to triumph 1 Macc. 2. 42 47. saying We will not hearken to the Kings word to go from our Religion either to the right hand or to the left verse 22. So his Son Judas Maccabeus was valiant for the truth and fought for the People and the Sanctuary so prosperously Deo favente against Antiochus that he recovered Jerusalem and restored the pure worship of God from the Gentiles 1 Macc. 3. Though others took part and were obedient to Antiochus and they fell together with the Persecutor for their so doing by the edg of the Sword. When Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord he sold them into the hand of Jabin King of Canaan whom they served twenty years a fair prescription for a Kingdom worshipping strange Gods among whom especially were the Tribes of Reuben Ephraim Benjamin Dan Asser c. who adhered to Jabin Nevertheless Deborah who judged Israel at that time levied force with the assistance of the other Tribes of Zabulon Napthaly and Issachar over whom they made Barack Captain and went along with them being ten thousand men and discomfited the Hoast of Sisera Captain of Jabin and restored the true Worship of God to Israel and then sang Deborah c. Judg. 4. 5. Happily some may say that these Facts of Deborah Jael Mattathias and Libnah ought not to be drawn into imitation and practice as being stirred up by motions extraordinary like that of Phineahs and the Book it self but Apochypha and not so Authentick as Scripture What then It 's certain that not only the King but all Israel and the parts thereof viz. the several Cities and their Magistrates as in Josh 24. covenanted before God and did swear to worship the true God according to his Law which Covenant is expresly in force to this day in all Christian Kingdoms where King and People Covenant each with other and tacitely or interpretatively also where Kings Rule Vi Armis or by fraud or any other unjust way which is down-right Tyranny The People are the People of God and obliged in the first place to God and then to the Kingdom and to the King and though the King have the formality and executive part of Power all Writs Executions Proclamations c. issuing in his Name yet the People have the true Dominion originally Sunt enim universa in Regis Imperio non in Patrimonio Seneca lib. 7. de Benef. c. 6 7. Omnia Rex imperio possidet singuli dominio Consult all Histories search all Antiquity and you will find the true cause of all Rebellion in all Ages and in all Countries to have risen originally and most especially from the abuse of Power first and not from the disobedience of Subjects to the lawful commands of Kings If Kings command unlawful things as they have no Authority so to do so Subjects have no Obligation to obey When Covenants between Prince and People are of such a nature as cannot be broken or violated by either King or People without doing manifest Injury to the other The injured party may seek his Redress and Relief though it be vim vi repellendo which is always to be understood of unjust Force For if the Force be unjust the Defence must be lawful and contrariwise if the Force be just the Defence must be unlawful So that Kings and Princes if transgressors are as truly Transgressors and Invaders
Kingdoms being devolved on one or more chosen from among the Governed if abused naturally returns unto them again who by their good will pleasure and suffrages conditionally conferred it on them and they cannot devest themselves of it Power from them who injures others by the most just law must pass unto them who suffer the Injuries for all Men are equally tied by Laws than which nothing can be more just mortal Gods to do what they list without control there are none among us Without all peradventure they who have right to constitute Magistrates over themselves by devolving and deligating their own power on them to manage and govern them according to their own Laws to see them executed according to the simplicity and sincerity wherewith they were made without shams or tricks or shaping or wresting them to wrong ends and purposes which they are obliged by Oaths the most sacred tye among mortals to observe To them of necessity and of just right doth belong the right of examining and censuring their Actions and of calling them to an Account and to deal with them accordingly Vide Judicium Lutheri Theologorum I. C. Wittiber-gentium de hac questione Tom. Jenens Germ. ap 384 ad p. 396. Martyr comm in cap. 1. Jud. p. 37. cap. 3. p. 60 61. No Law forbids it no Law excepts them Reason Justice and God himself command all Transgressors to be punished without respect or difference of Persons CHAP. XIII Duty of Kings who have Authority from Men. The Right of Legislation The Law of Nature is the Law of God. Kings accountable The Laws and Practices of Antient Kingdoms Roman Grecian Lacedaemonian Carthaginian what severe Laws they made against Arbitrary Power IF Kings did rightly consider as they ought to do their own true interest both in respect of this world and the next they would con their High Prerogative-assertors very little thanks for such their exaltations thereof but would rather esteem them as the very worst Friends they have for whilst they magnify Kingly Powers unto the Skies above the Laws and are not accountable for Mal-government they thereby alarm their Subjects to awaken out of the supposed Dreams of their just Liberty and Interest and to provide for themselves and to shake off the bondage of such unlook'd for Servitude wherewith they would seem to surprize them by such Doctrines And whilst they teach such Infinite Power to be the Right of Kings they thereby render that power to be the more intollerable Whilst they teach Kingly Power to be Omnipotent they excite the People to throw it off rather than to submit to so unjust domination to be the Right of Kings whom they have set over themselves for their good and comfort and not for their vexation As all Kingdoms and Republicks have their Authority in these our days by the Laws of Men to govern so they are obliged by the strictest Bonds of divine and humane Laws to manage their Government in the first place to the glory of God observing his Commandments in general to fear him to walk in all his ways and to love him then to order the Government aright for the good of the Governed by well ordering of Laws according to their simple meaning and true intent without shamming or tricking exemplary encouraging and exhorting their Subjects to Honesty Piety and Justice punishing all such as trangress Gods Commandments especially those of the Decalogue for this Power is not Arbitrary nor given them for their own use only to manage as they please but for the good and benefit of the Governed which they are obliged to do by the Laws of God and Man. Preachments and apprehensions to the contrary may cause even Saints to be misguided and to act beside their Rule and to deem themselves Arbitrators of the Government wherewith they are intrusted by the true Patrons thereof and confirmed and ratified as necessary for the good of the governed by God himself for that over a multitude of People consisting of many and sundry Families as every politick Society doth impossible it is that any should have compleat lawful Authority but by consent of Men or immediate appointment of God who hath power over all and who by the natural Law hath made all subject The lawful Power of making Laws to command whole Politick Societies of men belongeth so properly unto the same intire Societies that for any Emperor Prince Potentate or Captain General of what kind soever on earth to exercise the same of himself or to act contrary to Laws made by publick consent and not either by express Commission immediately and personally received from God unto which it is now utterly impossible that any just pretence can be made or else by authority derived from their consent upon whose Persons they impose Laws it is not better than down right Tyranny Laws nor Powers there can be none lawful which publick approbation hath not made so and the publick power of all Societies is above every Individual contained in the same Societies of what quality soever they be I may confidently divine that no People ever were or ever will be well pleased with Governours that mind more their own benefit pomp and pride of Life than the good and solace of the governed it being the natural and fundamental right of the Governed to deligate as much of their own power without devesting themselves thereof as they think fit to Kings or Republicks subject nevertheless to the trusts reposed in them to be always improved and imployed for the welfare of the Governed All People generally bear and are contented with a moderate Yoak but from too heavy a bondage all naturally endeavour to free themselves by all means though indirect The History of Nodus Gordianus is applicable to all humane tyes and obligations of Governments and sometime or other will have the same fate Therefore it is very indiscreet Zeal in any and much more in Ministers of the Gospel to preach up such Prerogatives to be in the hands of Princes which are always prone to end in the dishonour of God and in publick confusion Lycurgus a Spartan King observing his Neighbouring Princes struggling to get all Power into their hands and thereby ruining themselves and their Citizens he thought it his wisest course to take the Senate to be his Consort in Government and the Power of the Ephori as a check upon himself whereby he established and transmitted a firm Kingdom to himself and his Successors for many Generations Likewise the moderation of Theopompus King of the Lacedaemonians who lived more than One hundred years after Lycurgus was such that he constituted the popular Government of the Ephori above his own Regal Power and gloried that he had left and established a more firm and durable Kingdom to his Children and Posterity No inconsiderable examples if rightly considered nor unworthy to be imitated No Law ever established one Man King and Lord above all Laws neither could they
he breaking his Covenant God became free and discharged of his promise and rent his Kingdom from him The same Jeroboam erecting twâ— Calves in Dan and Bethel became â—in unto the House of Jeroboam even to cut it off and was first punished by the death of his Son and then destroyed it from off the face of the Earth 1 Kings 13. 34. And why Because they kept not God's Covenant The Scripture is full of such Examples of the Kings of Israel and Judah As the Gospel succeeded the Law so Kings Christian are in the place and stead of Jewish Kings and are under the same Covenants the same Pacts and the same Punishments and the same God is the same Revenger of all Perjuries and Perfidiousness and Covenant-breaking As the Jewish Kings were strictly obliged to the observation of the Law so Kings Christian to the observation and propagation of the Gospel unto which they Swear at their Inauguration Herod who ought to have advanced the Kingdom of the Lord Christ fearing Christ himself as a Competitor for his Kingdom condemned him to Death Behold how soon he miserably perished and lost his Kingdom How soon was Julian the Apostate in despight of all his obstinacy and perversness brought to his scornful Exclamation and Acknowledgment of Vicisti Galilae Histories both Sacred and Profane Old and New are full of such fearful Examples which may teach all Kings and Princes That though they set themselves and the Rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed which are his People Psalm 105. 14 15. yet he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh them to scorn and the Lord shall have them in derision and in his due time shall break them with a rod of Iron and shall dash them in pieces like a potters vessel and make all their enemies their foot-stools Psal 2. 100. And they shall confess the Lamb Christ Jesus to be King of kings and Lord of lords and that they that be with him to be the chosen and faithful Rev. 17. 14. It is wonderful and ineffable to consider that the great God of Heaven and of Earth did not create Men only a little lower than the Angels and in his own Image and give them also dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth Gen. 1. 26. but such was his admirable Love to Mankind that he hath in some measure given him a share and part with himself in the External and Worldly Administration and Government of themselves and of the things below in directing them to a Government according to his own Pattern displaied in the Old and New Testament and given them Laws to Govern themselves and Honours and dignifies them with the Title of his own Lieutenants and Vice-gerents nay of Gods I have said ye are Gods c. Psalm 82. 6 7. viz. By me Kings reign and Princes decree justice Prov. 8. 15 16. who in the days of the Prophets and since hath left them unto their own free choice and discretion still observing his Laws and Commands against which no Law can have force And God himself remembring his Covenant the Word which he swore to a thousand Generations became a Pattern to all his succeeding Vicars and Vice-gerents to imitate When he sent Joseph before him into Egypt in his due time to bind Princes at his pleasure and teach his Senators wisdom when he sent Moses his Servant and Aaron whom he had chosen to hector proud Pharaoh King of Egypt and bring out his people Israel with a high hand and stretched out arm and deliver them out of the Iron furnace and Egyptian bondage reproving Kings for their sakes saying Touch not mine Anointed and do my Prophets no harm when he led them through the wilderness by spreading a cloud for their covering and fire to give light in the night when he made the red sea a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left and at the same time overthrew Pharaoh and all his hoast in the midst of the same so that there remained not so much as one of them but brought Israel forth with Gold and with Silver and not one feeble person among their Tribes and gave them the Land of the Heathen for their inheritance and uttermost parts of the Earth for their possession Of such vast and near consequence and concern was the Happiness and Welfare of the People of the Jews though a rebellious generation unto God himself that he used â—his Almighty Power and wrought Miracle after Miracle rather than not deliver them from the Hands of their Enemies and cruel Bondage A notable Document to all Christian Kings who pride themselves and glory in being stiled and esteemed his Vice-gerents to imitate God and his Vice-gerent Moses in all their Governments in keeping Covenants and being in good earnest Nursing-fathers to the governed and carry them in their Bosoms as Nursing-fathers bear their sucking Children and not vex them with their Wyles nor yet with any Oppressions or Tyranny CHAP. III. The true Basis and Foundation of all Governments and right of Legislation is consent of Parties who may delegate and devolve the use of their own power on one or more Persons without devesting themselves of the Supreme Dominion thereof And that common Good is the main end of all Governments Kings made by the People THESE things thus premised I lay this for an undeniable Truth as the Basis of all true Government viz. That Paternal Government excepted to which within their own private Families Nature hath given a Supreme Power throughout the World even from the first Creation thereof and have ever been reputed as Lawful Governors therein no Man nor any number of Men can have compleat Lawful Power or Authority over any number of society of Men but by consent of Men or by immediate appointment of God which position will justice all subsequent Superstructures all other Governments being unnatural violent and usurped and therefore unlawful whereby it is manifest that the whole Right and Power of Government is originally in the Governed who may transfer and vest as much of their own Power as they please on one or more Governors without devesting themselves absolutely of the Supreme Dominion thereof which still remains virtually in them they delegating the Use only not the Patronage and Dominion of their own Power for the better Execution Administration and Regulation of those Laws which by common consent they should make and chuse for the sake of Justice Peace Order and Piety Common good being the main end for which Societies and Governments were instituted by God and Man and without they tend unto that end they are not perfect And in all such delegations salus populi the good of the governed is and so ought to be the Supreme Law and is always so expressed or imployed and so to be undertaken and understood This
Kings receive all Royalty from the People and for behoof of the People and that by a special Trust of safety and liberty expresly by the People limited and by their own Concessions and Oaths ratified as for certain they do then Emperors and Kings cannot be said to have so unlimited and high a property in our Lives Liberties and Possessions or in any things else appertaining to their Crowns as the Governed have in their Dignity or in themselves The safety of Kingdoms is to be valued above any right of any Monarch as the end is to be preferred above the means It is not just nor possible for any Nation so to enslave it self to resign its own Interest to the will of one or many Lords as that they may destroy or abuse it without Injury and yet to have no right to preserve or right it self For since all natural Power is in those that obey they which contract to obey to their own Ruine or Slavery or having so contracted they which esteem such contract before their own preservation are fellonious to themselves and rebels to Nature Livy lib. 1. ab V. C. describing the beginning of the Roman Kingdom Records that among those Hundred named Kings after the Death of Romulus who succeeded and governed that People successively That if they did not please the People it was ordained by common consent that the People should chuse their Kings and that the Authority of the Senate should confirm them It 's manifest that Kings being set up by the People on conditions which if they perform not the People being Convocated according to their distinct Orders and Ranks by the same Authority they had to set up Kings on Tearms and Conditions by the very self-same Authority they may curb and dethrone them which they made good against proud Tarquin their last King. Moreover Seneca observes out oâ— Cicero de Republica that Appeals do lie from the King to the People as in the case of Horatius that killed his Sister who by Delegates appointed by Tullus Hostilius the King was condemned yet was afterwards absolved and quitted by the People Dionysius testifies the same that Romulus when he consulted about settling the Kingdom did declare That the King was the keeper of the Laws yet in the mean time that the Power of creating Magistrates making Laws War and Peace was still left with the People as inherent in them Populi suffragia sunto Magistratus creanto leges sciscunto pacem bellumque jubento Calv. 985. Which farther appears by the History of Collatinus who first was Consul with Brutus that the People by which Title is understood the Plebeian State which now is called the Third State as among the Romans viz. Patritian Equestrian Plebeian had the same Power against the Consuls although they had the Supreme Power when there were no Dictators To this Livy lib. 2. ab V. C. gives Testimony Timens the Consul fearing to be called to Account at the end of his Consulship quitted it But Collatinus the Consul though accused of no crime yet being of the Name and Family of the Tarquins was suspected and removed by the People Hence it is easily gathered that the People would much more use their Authority on any Consul if criminally accused although by the Law they were not to be questioned till their time was ended It 's true after the Decemvirate was constituted which was Anno 302. no Appeal did lie from them to any other Magistrates But when they alternately Governed it was lawful to Appeal from the Judgment or Sentence of one to the Judgment and Sentence of another So far unpleasing was an unlimitted Power to the Romans that at last the Decemvirate was forced to quit their Power It 's true no Appeal lay from the Dictatorship but that Power was never erected but in very perillous times and extreme oppression necessitating and lasted but a very little while Cal. 1050. Semestre scilicet And which is yet more admirable if at any time an Appeal to the People from the Supreme Power of the Dictator was brought he of his own accord consented As may appear by the Transactions between L. Papyrius Dictator 2. Fabias Anno ab V. C. 429. Tho' Julius Caesar violently obtained his Power over the Romans yet would seem and did pretend to have had all his Dignities and Gifts according to the ancient custom from the People for which Usurpation he was afterwards slain So Augustus no Heir of the Empire but adopted by him to be his Successor pretended that he was of right chosen by the consent of the People Neither did Tiberius by any other way succeed him and after him Caligula was chosen by the consent both of the Senate and the People but Claudius first obtained the Empire and the Military Power by Bribes but did not govern without the consent of the People Nero having poysoned him succeeded him and reigning tyrannically the Senate resumed their Power which had a long time slept condemned him as an Enemy to the Roman State By all which it appears that Caesars becoming Tyrants may lawfully be resisted and censured and tho their Empire seem very large by the Lex Regia made for Augustus and confirmed for Vespasian yet it was circumscribed and limited neither was it approved of without exception as long as there were places for Law and Equity So the Athenians when they changed their Democracy into an Aristocracy they set over themselves first Thirty then Ten who abusing their Poower they soon removed and punished them by the same Power by which they created them The Lacedaemonian Kings having been wont to be chosen out of the Family of the Heraclides which Lysander endeavoured to have altered but could not Plutarch their Kings being chosen on Terms and Conditions the People appointed certain called Ephori to be a Bridle to them These Ephori sometimes deposed banished and beheaded till at last Cleomenes the Tyrant traiterously slew them all Zenophon records of the Lacedaemonians that both the Kings and Ephori were wont every Month mutually to swear to each other these in the Name of the People and the King in his own Name That he would govern according to the Prescript of their Laws and that they would keep the Citizens true to him if he kept his Oath This was the Right Power and Practice of the Heathen of which more hereafter Let us now consider the State of the Israelites the most perfect Government in the World if they would have been contented with it for they had God for their only Monarch not only because he was Lord of the whole World but because he chose them to be his peculiar People in that he gave them Laws by Moses and gave them the promised Land by Jeshua who governed them by Judges at which time the Government was Monarchical tho by the Ministry of the Judges which if Kings would now imitate and govern accordingly there would be no need of these
be manifest that the People even in such choice had their share their influence and their power also as in Saul And all the People went to Gilgal and there they made Saul King before the Lord in Gilgal 1 Sam. 10. 15. And several Writers are of opinion that Saul was not only anointed with Oyle first privately by Samuel 1 Sam. 10. 12. but also at two other times before the People once at Mizpah an another time at Gilgal So David though he were anointed of the Lord by Samuel yet all the mâ—n of Israel came with a perfect heart to Hebron and anointed David King over Israel and made a Covenant with him before the Lord 1 Chron. 11. 2. 12. 38. In summ Many Writers of several Persuations from these examples conclude that the People under God make the King. Beside the want of the publick Stamp of the People made Zimri who had usurped that Title and Office no King and yet made Omri King 1 Kings 16. 16. And those whom the rulers of Jezreel at Samaria 2 Kings 10. refused to make a King were no Kings This Power of the People made Athaliah a Princess no Princess by their translation of the Crown to Joah 2 Cron. 23. There 's now no Voice no immediate Oracle from Heaven no Samuel no Elisha no inspired Prophets to anoint David not Eliab Solomon not Adoniah no particular persons and therefore no persons can have a just Title to Crowns but by choice and approbation publick God hath only ratified the Kingly Office and described fit qualifications viz. Men of truth hating covetousness c. Exod. 18. 21. Deut. 1. 16 17. but doth not now name or appoint particular Persons but hath left it wholly and freely to the People to chuse for themselves and make their own Conditions It is farther observable that Saul after Samuel from the Lord had anointed him remained a private Person and no King till the People had elected and made him a King. So David though anointed by the same Divine Authority yet remained formally a Subject and not a King till Israel made him King at Hebron So Solomon though by God designed and ordained to be King yet never was King till the people made him King 1 Kings 1. What greater demonstration can there possibly be than such Scriptural both Precepts and Examples as are here set down for justifying of the right of the People in the choice of Kings and not only in the free choice of this or that Person to the Diadem or to this or that Government but also in the alteration and granting of Succession and in the change and alteration of the very Form of Government Moreover by God's owning Kings to reign by him Prov. 8. 16. is no more than God's general owning and constituting all things else viz. thine is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in Heaven and Earth is thine thine is the Kingdom O Lord and thou art exalted above all both riches and honour come of thee and thou reignest over all and in thine hand is power and might and in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all 1 Chron. 29. 11 12. This general Right and Power of the Almighty doth not abolish or impeach the Natural Right of his People in chusing themselves a King on their own Tearms and Laws woful experience having taught them that to live by one Man's will would be the cause of all Mens miseries the truth whereof we see experienced to this very day both in the Eastern and Western Empires which constrained them to devise Laws for the Regulation of every Man 's just Right that no Man might by lawless Dominion oppress another but that all should be governed by their own consent by Laws of their own making respect always being had Christianly speaking to the Laws of the Almighty Cui plus licet quam par est plus vult quam licet A People may be without a King but there can be no King without a People and therefore Kings not particularly and immediately named by God must own their Establishment and Inthronization to the People and ought to be accountable in some cases to them for they that give Power are by just Reason accounted greater and more honourable than they that receive it according to that old Maxime Quicquid efficit tale est magis tale and though Kings are to be accounted singulis majores yet are universis minores For Kings are not Patrons of their Kingly Power but Administrators and deputed Executioners thereof Now it necessarily follows that by the same Reason Kings have their Authority from the People so to them they are of right to be accountable for they chuse them and covenant with them for their own good If by God Kings do reign by God also the People have right and liberties to be governed how they please for the immediate appointment of Kings by God himself by his Prophets being now ceased the application of the Powers of the governed to this or that Person is left wholly to the common consent of themselves Be the right of Kings and of the People what it will from God they both equally derive it Wherever the People create themselves a King by the same right he is accountable to them and it participates as much of Divine right for the People to curb and oppose oppressing wicked Kings as to make Kings according to the 149 Psalm 8 9. To bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron To execute upon them the judgment written this honour have all his Saints Nay God 's own People on whom he had set his Love had his own Command that when he had brought them into the Land whither they were going to possess That they should smite them and utterly destroy them and shew no mercy unto them Deut. 7. 1 2. Kings are constituted by God and Man to go in and out before them for Protection and Comfort not for Violence and Oppression and it is by righteousness that the Throne is established and iniquity will be the ruine of any Nation fury is not in him Isaiah 27. 4. And God himself hath given no Power to Kings Princes or Potentates but what is just and honest and hath tied them up and bound them by Laws viz. He shall not multiply horses to himself he shall not multiply wives to himself that his heart turn not away neither shall be greatly multiply to himself silver and gold And it shall be when he sitteth upon the Throne of his kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this Law in a Book And he shall read therein all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them That his heart be not lifted up above his Brethren and that he turn not aside from the
of the Lord renewed the Covenant viz. If yee will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the Commandment of the Lord then shall both yee and also the King that reigneth over you continue following the Lord your God. But if yee shall still do wickedly yee shall be consumed both you and your King 1 Sam. 12. 14 15 25. By wickedness in this place is most especially meant in that they had rejected the Government which God himself had appointed as best for them and chose a King to be set over them and we rebelled against God. The reason assigned is because they were God's own peculiar People hereby it 's manifest that both King and People were both equally joined in the Stipulation So Asa King of Judah by the Prophecy of Azariah the Prophet congregated all the People viz. Judah and Benjamin where were also many of Ephraim Manasseh and Simeon and made a solemn Covenant to seek the Lord God of their Fathers with all their heart and with all their soul that whoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death whether small or great man or woman 2 Chron. 15. 12 13. Deut. 13. 9. 17. 7. Here you see the King himself is not exempted These Examples with those before and those that follow will justifie this Kingdom in all that they have done to free us from unreasonable and cruel Men and Popish Tyranny and also the Auxiliary Expedition of the Prince of Orange to be the most glorious and most righteous Action that ever Prince undertook because he came to help the Lord against the mighty who both at home and abroad had in their imaginations and endeavours designed the Inslaving of all the Protestants of Europe which Action God hath hitherto signalized by prospering his Arms with very little Blood. Whoso is wise and will observe these things shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord Psalm 107. CHAP. X. Whole Kingdoms and Nations have Power to reform Faith equally plighted between King and People ought equally to be kept Care of Religion Peace Justice Safety Liberty c. are incumbent on all the People especially on the Ordines Populi The common and true Cause of Rebellion is abuse of Power not Disobedience to the lawful Commands of Kings Obedience to unjust Commands of Cesars is sin and to assist in such is to make themselves Participes Criminis Opposition to Popes or Kings tyrannizing is not Rebellion against Christ's Vicars or Vicegerents but opposition to wicked Men acting wickedly Defensive Arms justified by Authorities NOW who should have Power to reform things done amiss by Kings but all the People to whom he hath sworn as solemnly as they to him and both to God Almighty who is witness between them So Josiah the King with the Priests Prophets and all the People both small and great went up into the house of the Lord and made a Covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord c. and all the People stood to the Covenant 2. King. 23. 2 3 4. Why should the Common consent of all the People be so solemnly required Why should Israel and Judah be so strictly obliged to the observation of Gods Holy Laws and Commandments Why should they so sacredly promise to be the Lords People unless Power and Authority were given to them also to free themselves from Covenant breaking and from Perjury and to defend Holy Church Wherefore was a Covenant made with the People that they should be the People of God zealous of good Works if they must obey the unjust Commands of Kings it may be to worship strange Gods or to permit monstrous sins to reign among them if it be not lawful to put to their assistance and endeavour to hinder and reform And why should they be blamed or Judgments poured upon them if they have no Power from on High to perform what was so solemnly required and so solemnly promised that God should so solemnly require their Vow and Promise and yet not give them Power and Authority to perform is monstrous to conceive God never requires more than he gives Brick without Straw that is the Property of Pharaoh and his hard Task-masters It s much more agreeable to truth that all Covenants of like nature and purport are equally obliging both to King and People and the care and Authority of each over the other for adjusting of performances is reciprocal and equal it being a Gospel Principle That Gods peculiar People which are his true Church ought to be sollicitous not only to abstain from evil themselves but also to prevent it in otheers A notable Example whereof is before mentioned in the People of Israel Josh 22. who out of abundant Caution minding the Concerns of their Brethren as their own when they heard that the Reubenites Gadites and half the Tribe of Manasseh had erected an Altar not for worshipping as they truly protested but for memorial and witness So fearful they were of Gods Wrath falling on them that they soon dispatched an Embassy to their Brethren to prevent their sin as before Hence it is that the Prophets of old standing in the Gate of the Children of the People whereby their Kings came in and by which they went out did so often put them in mind of their Duty and of keeping Covenant and not only that they should not sacrifice to Baal but that they should destroy both Baal and his Priests and root them out of the Land whether the King will or no for when Ahab had killed the Prophets of God Eliah the Prophet congregated all Israel not tumultuously but by publick Authority and common consent unto Mount Carmel and the Prophets of Baal Four hundred and fifty and the Prophets of the Grove Four hundred which did eat at Jezabels Table and had convinced them of their Idolatry and to be false Prophets the People at his command killed them all at the Brook Kishon 1 King. 18. whereby it appears that the King neglecting his Duty all Israel as obliged ought to discharge theirs On the contrary as often as Kings violated their Covenants or profaned the Worship of God and the People of Israel as we said before of Covenants where the breach of one party manifestly prejudiced the other Covenanters threatning Ruin and Destruction to the Innocent through Negligence sinful Connivance or any other sinister By-end or Respect did not restrain him their Judgments came also upon the People as well for their non-performance as on Kings for theirs which mostly hapned for that the People are more apt to follow the Examples of their Kings than to repent and amend or mind him of the Errors of his ways Wherefore did the Hoast of Israel with Saul and his two Sons fall down slain in Mount Gilboa by the Philistines 1 Sam. 31. Would God think you revenge the Sins of the King upon the People if innocent Far be it from the Judge of all
and sworn and be accountable to the same Laws and to them from whom they derive their Authority and Power for whose good and benefit and by whom they were first and primarily enacted and constituted Magistrates are created and appointed by Men. Hence Peter calls both Kings and other Magistrates a human Creation or human Ordinance So Hâ—sea 8. 4. They have set Kings up but not by me th â— have made Princes but I knew it not In the Hebrew Commonwealth and Kingdoms only where they had several ways of resorting unto and consulting God Almighty they might and did refer the Nomination of their Kings unto him but concerning other Nations we have received no such like Custom or Mandate The Precept that God himself gave to the Children of Israel for the choice of their King did more especially respect the Qualifications of Kingship than the Nomination of the Person viz. When thou art come into the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee and shall possess it and shalt dwell therein and shall say I will set a King over me like as all the Nations round about me thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee which is a manifest Allowance and Commission to appoint their own Kings whom the Lord thy God shall chuse not personally not by his nomination but according to such and such qualifications viz. one from among thy Brethren shalt thou set King over thee thou maist not set a stranger over thee which is not thy Brother But he shall not multiply Horses neither shall he multiply Wives to himself that his heart turn not away neither shall he greatly multiply to himself Silver and Gold. And it shall be when he sitteth upon the Throne of his Kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this Law in a Book and it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of this Law and these Statutes to do them that his heart be not lifted up above his Brethren and that he turn not aside from that Commandment to the right hand or to the left to the end that he may prolong his days in his Kingdom he and his Children in the midst of Israel Deut. 17. From hence it is evident under what Laws and Precepts Kings are and ought to govern and if not so qualified and so chosen they can have no just Right to govern Vid. Dr. Sherrock de Officiis c. 4. N o. 8. p. 289. Sometimes the very Form of Government may be vicious and faulty sometimes they that obtain the Power may be so which may proceed from Men and from the Devil And the Devil taking Jesus up into a high Mountain shewed unto him all the Kingdoms of the World in a moment of time And the Devil said unto him All this power will I give thee and the glory of them for that is delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will I give it Hence is he called the Prince of this World John 12. 30. 14. 31. Rev. 13. 2. The Dragon gave unto the Beast Power and his Throne and great Authority yea the God of the World 2 Cor. 4. 4. Wherefore when it is written that there is no Power but of God it is always to be understood not of all Powers whatsoever but of all lawful Powers such as he there described and of the Powers themselves not always of the Persons that have the Power So St. Chrysostom the Powers that are are ordained of God who by his essential Wisdom and Goodness and by the express Warrant of his Ordinance never ordained any but what were good and behooful for the governed therefore the Apostle in this place will be understood of lawful Powers God may and doth permit unlawful Powers for the punishment of wicked doers even by wicked Men which are God's Sword but never ordained such but as his Rod and Scourges Wickedness and Vice and Sin being things inordinate it 's not possible that God should Ordain them and yet be sinful and vitious still he that resisteth the Power viz. lawful Power resisteth the Ordinance of God which Precept equally binds and obligeth Kings as well as Subjects that resist or transgress or obstruct the Laws or endeavour to sham them either by Force or coining Evasions I appeal to Heaven if they that resist Powers not lawful or abusers or overturners of lawful Powers do resist the Ordinance of God or not I do think that no Man in his right senses will say so The Apostle yet makes it more plain that he treats of lawful Powers when he says that Rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil And he is the Minister of God to thee for good for he beareth not the Sword in vain a revenger to execute wrath on them that do evil Who unless Heathens or Persons of profligated Consciences will refuse to be subject to such Powers not only out of fear of punishment but for Conscience sake for without Civil Government not possible to live in Peace and Happiness But what Power what Magistrates soever ordains or acts contrary can never properly be said to be ordained i. e. allowed and approved of God and therefore this is no Precept no Command to yield Obedience to such neither is it any Precept or Command to forbid us prudently to resist defend and right our selves for in such cases we do not resist the Powers but human Errors of Kings and Princes nor the Magistrates that are ordained of God who ought to be such as the Apostles decipher but either Usurpers or Tyrants or betrayers of the Trust reposed in them who yet notwithstanding if they must be termed Magistrates in that only they have Power to vex revenge and ravage over God's People by the very self-same Logick the Devil is our Magistrate Of one thing only there can be but one true definition if therefore Paul doth here rightly define Magistracy and Magistrates as he doth most accurately then certainly by the same words he cannot define Tyranny Oppression Male-Government things Diametrically opposité and contrary one to the other then certainly to such Magistrates only as the Apostles here describes do we owe Subjection Tribute Honour c. and not to their contrary Reasons assigned are For this cause pay you Tribute also for they are God's Ministers attending continually on this very thing render therefore c. The labourer is worthy of his hire and they that hire ought to have their service and work well done so that if Magistrates fail of their Duty Subjects may slacken their Tribute which is given them only as a recompence of their Watchfulness Pains and Care in well Governing Therefore simple and absolute subjection is not here required but subjection with reason subjoyned which reasons are the Rule and Square of our subjection We are often told by our Priests that Prayers and Tears are the Weapons