de Regno suo concessit c. The Lord the King of his Parliament from his special grace and for the Affection he hath toward the Prelates and all others of his Kingdom hath granted I appeal to all unprejudiced Men to consider if this be the Language of an accountable Trustee Sect. 106. Coke the Regicide having told his Blood-thirsty Masters That Charles Stuart for so he called his Liâ—ge Lord that King of Blessed Memory stands now that is in their High Court of Justice to give an account of his Stewardship he thus begins to diffect his charge That the Kings of England are trusted with a limited Power to govern by Law and affirms it to be one of the Fundamentals of the Law that the King is not above the Law but the Law above the King And for the Proof of it offer'd the Coronation Oath wherein the King swears to keep and observe the Laws which the People shall chuse And then endeavouring to impute to his Sacred Majesty a Violation of his Fidelity to God and his People concludes him justly condemned by the Fundamental Law of the Nation c. and no wonder of such an Inference for as he tells us Governours are but the Peoples Creatures the Work of their hands to be accomptable as their Stewards and therefore when they prevaricate and abuse their Trust to question by what Law they call them to account is High Treason with a Witness And this is the true Tendency of that Doctrine That all Power is originally from the People and the King 's executive Power a Trust from the Two Houses of Parliament because this makes them as Coke phraseth it his Liege Lords and warrants them to exercise an absolute Power over him 'T is so naturally implied saith he that if a King become a Tyrant that he shall dye for it that this is the first necessary Fundamental Law of every Kingdom which by intrinsical Rules of Government must preserve it self This is just like the Liberty of the People which proves it self whereas the Power of the King must be proved before the Subjects ought to obey it because he hath no more than he hath received from his Sovereign Lords the People which is only founded on positive Law and if he pretend to more than they have given him he usurps upon their Liberty which they have a Right to defend and preserve by force of Arms which being a new Edition of John Coke's Doctrine the Author must needs deserve exceedingly well of the Government and cannot be worthily dealt withal unless highly promoted how agreeable this is to our Legal Constitution I refer to every indifferent Judgment who will compare it with what hath been observed concerned it and shall conclude in the Words of this Author It is indeed clear from the New Testamdnt That the Christian Religion as such gives us no grounds to defend or propagate it by force It is a Doctrine of the Cross and of Faith and Patience under it and if by the Order of Divine Providence and of any Constitution of Government under which we are born we are brought under sufferings for our professing of it we may indeed retire and fly out of any such Country if we can but if that is 〈…〉 must then according to this Religion submit to those sufferings under which we may be brought considering that God will be glorified by us in so doing and that he will both support us under our Sufferings and gloriously reward us for them By Submitting to Sufferings by what follows I hope he means a Submission without Resistance though we are strong enough to make it and then the Safety of the English Government is secured though Religion be our Property and shall chance to be persecuted because by the Constitution of our Government we may not upon any pretence whatsoever take Arms against the King Sest 107. 6. Another Objection is this a King may actually and professedly endeavour to subvert the established Government and overthrow the whole Constitution and set himself to destroy if not all nor the greatest part yet at least very considerable numbers of his People and so plainly counteract the very end of his Authority and Power and will it not be lawful for his Subjects in such a Case to resist him Ans The Sky may fall and then Larks will be good cheap Princes may become Phreneticks and be uncapable of Government and them as in the Case of a Minor that is an Hereditary Prince a Prorex is to be had during the Suspension of the Exercise of his Authority and Power Or they may be so dissatisfied with the Burthensomness of the Government that they may be weary of it Abdicate and Renounce it or they may be so intoxicated and transported with wild and outragious Passions Discontents and Prejudices against their Subjects that they may disclaim the Government of them and indeed do so when instead of administring the Government in order to their Peace and Safety they turn it to their distraction and ruine will not be the Ministers of God for good but hurt to them will not support but destroy the Foundations of their Kingdoms but then with their Subjects and Kingdoms they destroy themselves too and cease to be Princes because they that disclaim the Protection of their Subjects and wilfully resolve to destroy their Dominions can have no right to govern them They can be no Rulers who will leave nothing under them to be ruled by them and then the Resistance of them will not be a Resistance of the Higher Powers but this is a meer Platonical Idea a Case put that perhaps never was nor never is like to have a real Existence in the Nature of things Let these things be considered Sect. 108. 1. Plutarch observes Inest omni populo aliquod malignum contra Imperantes There is in all sorts of People some malignity against their Governours Such is the Pride of Man's heart that he is averse to Subjection our unwillingness to be restrained from following our own Minds and Wills and to be guided and commanded by the Mind and Will of another prejudiceth us against the Ruler of us and this as Mr. Hooker tells us makes Men very attentive and favourable Hearers to suck in any Poyson that is breathed forth against the King or the Governours which are sent forth and anon it mulriplies and every valley and obscure corner is ready to eccho it back again We must therefore be very wary now we give ear to any evil Suggestions concerning the Designs or male-Administrations of the Higher Powers Defamation begets an evil Opinion of the Prince and concludes in disaffection to him and that naturally tends unto and ends in Contempts Abhorrences and Oppositions 2. It hath ever been the Practice of seditious and rebellious minded Men to bestir themselves to ingenerate in the Minds of Subjects Jealousies and Fears concerning the Councels Designs and Administrations of their Princes and to magnify
his Servants This People would not be contented unless God gave them a King as their Neighbouring Nations had to govern them and here the Prophet represents to them how he would demean himself in his Government He would from his Prerogative royal after the manner of the Kings of the Gentiles which was such a King as they desired claim and exercise Power to dispose of their Persons and Possessions as he pleased and how causlesly soever he oppressed them and to what base Drudgeries and dangerous Employments soever he consigned them their case would be remediless for as God would not help and relieve so neither could they lawfully by resistance help and relieve one another his external Magnificence and Pomp would tempt him to very grievous Exactions and how unreasonable and intollerable soever they might seem to be there was no redress to be expected because his Power was irresistible and uncontroulable and from which no appeal could be made verse 18. Ye shall cry out in that day because of your King which ye shall have chosen you and the Lord will not hear you in that day 'T is plain therefore that the Original Charter of that Supreme Power formerly exercised over this People was not lessened and limited by the Translation of it into a Regal Dignity but this manner of Government was more inconvenient for the People because the Grandeur and pompous Magnificence thereof would be more burthensome and oppressive to them Sect. 28. 'T is true their King was not commissioned and authorized by God to deal thus with them unless in case of extream necessity of which he was the sole Judge nor consequently could he do so lawfully and justly for God expresly forbad the Prince to take his Peoples inheritance and to thrust them by Oppression out of their Possessions Ezek. 46.18 And therefore when Ahab was guilty of such a Fact he was condemned and severely threatned for it 1 Kings 21.20 21. this description then of the manner of the King doth not primarily respect his Office but the exercise of his extraordinary Power and which necessarily belongs to all Sovereign Powers and is habitually inherent in them though never exerted for we cannot understand it simply of what the King might de facto actually do because 't is very ordinary for one private Man to oppress another we must therefore understand it of such an effect of Power as carries with it the priviledge of what is righteously and justly done that is it must not be resisted and punished Although he hath not God's approbation yet he hath thus far his tolleration that God forbids his Subjects to resist him and he hath this peculiar Right to himself that what is punishable in others is not so in him which is evidently implied in verse 19. If ye shall cry out in that day because of your King God will not hear you That is God would not allow them to resist or appeal to any Superior Power and to this Sense and Interpretation agreeth that of Solomon Eccl. 8.4 Where the Word of a King is there is Power and who may say unto him what dost thou and elsewhere he speaks of the King against whom there is no rising up Prov. 30.31 Clearly intimating that the Subjects of Israel could not lawfully resist their Kings with armed Force And this was the Reason as St. Augustine observes why David confessing his hainous Sins of Murther and Adultery both capital Crimes faid Against thee only that is God have I sinned Psal 51.4 Because being a King 't was his peculiar Prerogative to be exempted from all the Penalties which were the Effects of humane Power and to be only subject to divine Vengeance And I conceive that of Jezabel to King Ahab implieth so much too 1 Kings 21.7 Dost thou now govern the Kingdom of Israel which being spoken with reference to the obtaining of Naboth's Vineyard suggested to him that being a King he was not obnoxious to the coercive Force or Penalty of any human Law and therefore might do what he would to satisfy and please himself without exposing himself to any legal Danger of Opposition or Resistance Sect. 29. This Truth will further appear from the Consideration of the particular Case of Saul who was the first Person that was invested with the Regal Dignity according to that Fundamental Law of the Kingdom of Israel or Judah Deut. 17.15 Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shalt chuse For he was chosen by the Lord to be King of Israel and by his special Command anointed to the Kingly Office by Samuel 1 Sam. 9.16 Comp. with 1 Sam. 10.1 and for such recognized by all the People 1 Sam. 10.24 and Ch. 11.15 and that he was exempted in the Exercise of his Regal Office from the Violence of armed Force shall be manifested from the Deportment of David towards him respectively to whom he abused his Regal Power in a most stupendious manner David was by God's special Command ancinted to succeed him in the Throne long before Saul's Death 1 Sam. 16.12 13. which was well known to Saul 1 Sam. 24.20 The Case was this Saul for his Disobedience to God's positive Command was rejected decreed to be rejected from his Kingdom 1 Sam. 13.13 14. But his Kingdom was to continue to him during his life 1 Sam. 26.10 11. that is the Kingdom was translated from Saul's Family and established in Davids Saul henceforward was Tenant if I may so speak for life only of the Kingdom and David was Reversioner in Fee The common Interest therefore of the Kingdom was in an extraordinary manner included in David's Safety and he was obliged to preserve himself for the public Welfare and by the Designation of God himself 't was manifest that the exchange of Saul for David would be for the general Good of the Kingdom Sect. 30. Under all these Circumstances Saul degenerates more and more and is so stubbornly rebellious against the Commands of God that Samuel tells him plainly that God had rejected him from being King and rent his Kingdom from him and given it to one better than he 1 Sam. 15.23 and 28. that is God's Sentence of Rejection was renewed and confirmed against him but not actually executed upon him till he was slain by the Amalekite and to other provocations Saul adds a most unjust malicious ungrateful and inhuman Persecution of David and nothing less than his Death will satisfy him 1 Sam. 20.31 32. and for his sake most barbarously Murthers Fourscore and Five Priests of the Lord And Nob the City of the Priests smote he with the Edge of the Sword both Men and Women Children and Sucklings and Oxen and Asses and Sheep 1 Sam. 22.18 19. which was a most inhuman Fact and afterwards hunted after David as for a Partridge on the Mountains and drove him away from the public Worship of God and did interpretatively say unto him go serve other Gods 1 Sam. 26.19 which
45.1 2 3 4. Dan. 2.21 and 5.26 28. Rom. 13.1 and therefore are called the Ministers of God Rom. 13.4 but never the Ministers of the People and God himeself hath called them Gods Psal 82.6 to ascertain us that their Persons are Sacred to him and their Authority of his immediate Delegation and not derived from any voluntary Paction or positive Constitution made and ratified betwixt them and their Subjects which is forfeitable and revocable according to the express or tacite Tenor of the Fundamental Contract as these Men sometimes phrase it And as the first Dominion and Government of Divine Ordination was Monarchical so we have no reason to think that it was God's intention that that Species or Form of Government should be altered and another introduced because we have no instance of any other Government either of his immediate Ordination or Approbation and so far as I am instructed in divine Revelations we have no Rule for the Establishing of any other Form of Government nor direct precept to submit to any other as of his prescribing and when Men prefer their own Inventions before divine Institutions they bring forth as Aaron did a Calf instead of a God The Church of England having determined That the most high and sacred Order of Kings is of divine Right being the Ordinance of God him elf founded in the prime Laws of Nature and clearly established by express Texts both of the Old and New Testaments those pretended Sons of the Church need good foreheads who presume to affirm them to be their Peoples Creatures and to owe their Authority and Power solely to them and ought to exercise no more than they have by their Concession I hope God hath such Grace and Mercy in store for this Church and Kingdom that he will raise up Men of greater Abilities and better Opportunities than can be pretended unto by my self to defend the crowned Heads thereof from such Assailants but if these ensuing Discourses in any measure prove a Countermine to their designments and contribute any degree of assistance towards the Security of the Publick Government I shall ascribe all the Honour thereof unto God and Your Majesties will have no reason to discountenance the Honest though Weak Endeavours of Your Majesties most Loyal Subject LEWES SHARP THE Church of England's DOCTRINE OF Non-Resistance JUSTIFIED and VINDICATED c. ROM 13.2 And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation THE grand Design of Religion is the Resignation of our selves to God that it may be well with us both in this world and that which is to come and therefore the Appearance of the blessed Jesus is represented as bringing Glory to God on high on Earth Peace good Will towards Men. And the well-being of Mankind in this World greatly depending on the Safety and Peace of publick Societies the Christian Religion hath a special Regard to the Protection and Preservation of them And Civil Authority being under God a most efficacious Instrument thereof signal care is taken for its security that it be not weakened or disturbed in its being and exercise but maintained and observed by all that are subjected thereunto as my Text with its coherence doth abundantly evidence Sect. 1. In the former Verse the Apostle chargeth it as a Duty incumbent on all Mankind to be subject to the Higher Powers Let every Soul every one without exception or reservation be Subject yield Submission and Obedience to the Higher Powers the lawful Possessors and Administrators of Supreme Authority for though the Word Powers be in the Abstract yet we are to understand them concretively as signifying the Persons which exercise Authority And 't is ordinary in Scripture by a Metonymical Phrase to put the Abstract for the Concrete the Adjunct for the Subject which was not here unadvisedly used because the Design of the Apostle is to ascertain us that every Person under Government of what Rank or Order soever he be is obliged to yield Subjection to his legally Supreme Governour howsoever he be qualified for his Religion or moral Deportment Sect. 2. And the Reason he gives doth equally effect all Subjects and equally relate to all that are advanced to Supreme Authority for there is no Power but of God and the Powers that be are ordained of God that is the Original of all Authority is from God and consequently whosoever partakes of it is to be acknowledged as God's Commissioner to rule and govern all that are placed in a State of Subjection to him and although we are to be subject and obedient to the Officer for his Office-sake yet our Subjection and Obedience immediately refers to the Officer himself because we are ruled and governed by the Officer i. e. by a Man invested with and exercising Authority over us and not simply by an Office which abstructively considered is utterly ineffective to all the Purposes of Government as 't is not the Kingship which makes and executes Laws but the King 't is not the Portrieveship or the Constableship viz. the bare Office in either respect but the Portrieve and the Constable which suppress Disorder and administer Justice in any case Sect. 3. When God therefore Commands every Soul to be subject to the Higher Powers he Commands every soul to be subject to that Person or Persons who legally possess and actually exercise by themselves or substitutes the Supreme governing Power or else in effect he Commands nothing at all because the Power abstracted from the Person cannot rule us nor consequently be a Terror to evil Works or a Praise to good Works 't is not simply the Office but the Man in office which is the Minister of God to us for good and which beareth not the Sword in vain but revengeth evil doing All which considered when the Apostle saith in the former part of the Verse to which the Text belongs Whosoever therefore resisteth the Powers resisteth the Ordinance of God his meaning must needs be That whosoever resisteth that Person or Persons who have the Right to Rule and Govern and exercise Dominion and Authority over him he resisteth the Commission and Authority of God himself because the Authority of the Magistrate is an Authority derived from God himself He therefore who affronts and opposeth the Magistrate who is God's Vicegerent affronts and opposeth God himself and then we cannot think it strange that they which thus resist should receive to themselves damnation Here are Three Things which need a little Explication 1. What the Apostle intends by Resistance or they that resist 2. What he intends by Damnation 3. What he intends by Receiving to themselves the damnation spoken of Sect. 4. 1. What the Apostle means by Resistance or they that resist 't is very manifest that Resistance is directly opposed to Subjection and includes all practicing from a Spirit of Averseness Contradiction and Opposition and consequently so far as we refuse to yield subjection to the Authority of the Higher Powers we resist them Now
as it was an horrible wickedness in Saul so a great Temptation I mean of an apt tendency to provoke David to defend himself by armed Force He might have pretended that Saul had violated all the Bonds of Reason and Religion He had not only murthered great numbers of his innocent common Subjects but also of the Lord's Priests as if he designed an extirpation of God's public Worship and that he had not only Self-preservation to engage him to a Resistance but also that the common Rights of all the Kingdom challenged his Protection Sect. 30. This was really David's case and yet when God put Saul once and again under the Power of David's Hands all the Use that he made of it was to convince Saul that he was his Faithful and Loyal Subject and though he had suffered many and great Injuries causlesly from him yet no provocation should induce him to do his Sovereign any harm Indeed David's Servants and Followers were forward enough to perswade him to dispatch him out of the way as a Fact that would make way for the accomplishment of God's gracious Promise to David and the whole Kingdom But David abhors the Motion and crys out God forbid that I should do this thing to my Master the Lord 's anointed to stretch forth mine hand against him And the Reason which restrain'd him was founded on this Fundamental Law of Sovereignty That 't is not to be resisted or controuled by armed Force Seeing he is saith he the Lord 's anointed 1 Sam. 24.4 5 6. c. And so when Abishai would have smote Saul he forbad it for the same Reason 1 Sam. 26.8 9. Abishai said to David when they found Saul sleeping within a Trench God hath delivered thine Enemy into thy hand this day now therefore let me smite him I pray thee with the Spear even to the Earth at once I will not smite him the second time and David said to Abishai destroy him not for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed and be innocent or guiltless q.d. He is our King and hath from the Lord a Noli me tangere on him and the Hand of Violence cannot be laid on without Sin and a fearful Expectation of divine Vengeance Which Words did not proceed from cowardly Fears or ignorant Scrupolity but from Conscience of Obedience to God and clear Motives of Duty to the King For David was a Man of invincible Courage and being a Prophet could not but be well instructed in his Duty and 't is said of him that he was not only wiser than his Enemies but also wiser than all his Teachers Psal 119.98 99. and wiser than all the Servants of Saul 1 Sam. 18.30 And 't is highly probable that he Penn'd about the same time the 54th and 57th Psalm as the Titles of them intimate and consequently that he was directed in what he did by the special Conduct of God's Holy Spirit and well understood both his Duty and Interest and if you consult the 23d and 24th Verses of this Chapter you shall find that he made very comfortable Conclusions from his Loyal Deportment in the Case The Lord said he render to every Man his Righteousness and his Faithfulness for the Lord delivered thee into mine hand to day but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed and behold as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes so let my life be much set by in the Eyes of the Lord and let him deliver me out of all Tribulation And his commanding Death to be executed on the Amalckite which slew Saul though Saul was mortally wounded before and 't was done at his own request to save him from further Torture and Disgrace and to preserve the Regalia is a further Evidence that David thought it an unlawful thing to assault his King with armed Force and his question to the Amalekite manifestly implies it How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord's anointed 2 Sam. 1.14 15. Sect. 31. But perhaps you may think That the very Ceremony of Anointing being done by God's special Command was that which bound up David's Hands and priviledg'd Saul from violent Resistance and Coercion because this is every where mentioned as the moving Cause of David's restraint from defensive and offensive Resistance 'T is manifest That the Priests as well as Saul were Anointed by God's Command and yet that did not exempt from being accountable for their Actions and free them from the Danger of coercive Force and Punishment It was not therefore barely the Ceremony of Anointing but the Sovereign Authority thereby signified which priviledg'd him from Resistance His Anointing was no addition to his Power but only signified God's Designation Constitution and Approbation of his Power 'T was the Nature of his Regal Dignity and Power and not the manner of collating or conferring it which exempted from coercion and correction 'T is the Essence and not the Ceremonies of Things which constitutes and denominates them For Ceremonies are things extrinsecal both to Being and Operation And although Saul and David who were the first of their respective Families that were invested with Regal Dignity were anointed yet such as succeeded by Inheritance to the Kingdom as Jehosaphat Hezekiah Josiah were not anointed and yet had as much Authority as their Predecessors and as great Priviledges Sect. 32. Those Arguments which are ordinarily drawn from the Armed Men which were with David and over which he was Captain 1 Sam. 22.2 and Ch. 23.13 which are called Helpers of the War 2 Chr. 12.1 And from his residing at Keilah a place fit to be garrison'd 1 Sam. 23.7 8 9 10 11. to prove that 't was lawful for David to resist Saul with armed Force are nothing to the purpose for David being Son-in-Law to a King expectant of the Crown in which he was like to meet with Opposition subject to private Assaults and needing good Intelligence to prevent a Surprise from Saul and his public Enemies 't was highly expedient that he should have a considerable Retinue about him to be as a Life-guard to him and to be in a readiness to serve him whensoever God by his Providence should call him to succeed in the Throne neither doth the Peoples Rescue of Jonathan from the Death his Father threatned to inflict upon him 1 Sam. 14.44 45. in the the least discover any hostile Violence offer'd to the King much less that they might lawfully assault him with armed Force Their act was an act of Mediation and not of Coercion And a learned Man observes that the Orginal Word translated they rescued him signifies they redeemed him That is Jonathan's Life by Saul's Vow being forfeited to God the People by a general Consent substituted an offering to God for the Vow according to the Law in such a Case Lev. 27.2 and so 〈◊〉 Jonathan from Death not by forcing Saul but by appeaâ—ing Goâ— This was the Case under the Jewish
Constitution which is not chargeable with weakness or wickedness because the Contrivance and Establishment of the most wise and righteous Lord of Heaven and Earth and if God doth not make the best Provision for the Rights Safety and Peace of all Men who willeth the Salvation of them all who will or can Sect. 33. And as it is evident from the instance of Saul that the Abuse of the Regal Power in male-Administration and Tyrannical Usages of the best the most innocent and serviceable Subjects is no forfeiture thereof nor warranty for the Subjects to resist with armed Force and depose their Sovereign so we shall find in the succeeding Generations after the Translation of the Regal Dignity from Saul's to David's Family that how much soever the Regal Power was abused either respectively to Civil or Religious Matters and how much soever God was provoked thereby there was no Tiberty granted or allowed for Resistance or endeavours for a Reformation of corruption in the King or his Officers I shall instance in Solomon and compare his duty with his practice You have the Kings duty described Deut. 17.16 17 18 19. He shall not multiply Horses to himself nor cause the People to return to Egypt to the end that he should multiply Horses forasinuch as the Lord hath said unto you ye shall henceforth return no more that way 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 be sitteth on the Throne of his Kingdom that he shall write him a Copy of his Law in a Book and he shall read therein all the Days of his Life that he learn to fear the Lord his God c. Let us now take a View of Solomons Practice and we shall find that he acted as if he had been under no such restraints and limitations He sent into Egypt for Horses 1 Kings 10.28 He loved strange Women together with the Daughter of Pharoah Women of the Moabites Ammonites Edomites Zidonians Hittites And he had Seven Hundred Wives Princesses and Three Hundred Concubines and his Wives turned away his Heart 1 Kings 11.1 and 2. that is after other Gods v. 4. and seven hundred Wives that were Princesses and three hundred Concubines with their respective Idol Gods could not be supported and maintained in a State of Magnificence at a cheap rate and therefore he made Silver to be in Jerusalem as Stones 1 Kings 10.27 and he had so many Vessels of Gold that their abundance made Gold to be nothing accounted of in his days v. 21. which great Treasure was probably obtained either by heavy exactions from or the great hazards of his Subjects And yet here was no suggestion that there was a justifiable occasion for his Subjects to Rebel and set up another King Indeed God threatned to rend his Kingdom from him because he had not observed the direction of the standing Law of his Kingdom but his Subjects had no Authority to controul or punish him Sect. 34. Yea you shall find that when the Jews were a Conquered People and carried away Captive into Babylon God obliged them to submit to the Sovereign Power thereof Jer. 29.7 seek the Peace of the City whither I have caused you to be carried away Captive for in the Peace thereof ye shall have Peace And in obedience to this command Mordecai discovered the Traitorous Conspiracy of Bigthana and Terish the King's Chamberlains against the King Ahasuerus Esth 2.21 22 23. compt With ch 6.2 and though they were reduced to as great an extremity as ever a People under Heaven were by a Decree obtained by Haman from Ahasuerus to destroy to kill and to cause to perish all Jews both young and old little Children and Women in one day Esth 3.13 and they were a very numerous People and could have made a considerable Defence yet Mordecai durst not think of using armed Force but resolved upon Passive Obedience unless they could obtain a Decree from the King to defend themselves The King's Decree by the Fundamental Constitution of the Medes and Persians was not reversible but must be executed Esth 8.8 Esthers Petition therefore to have the King's Letters devised by Haman to destroy the Jews reversed could not be granted Esth 8.5 but the King grants her a Decree that the Jews which were in every City might gather themselves together and stand for their Life to destroy to slay and to cause to perish all the Power of the People and Province that would assault them Esth 8.11 and being favoured with this liberty of Self-defence the Jews gathered themselves together in their Cities to lay hand on such as sought their hurt and no Man could withstand them for the Fear of them fell upon all the People Esth 9.2 and vers 16. they had rest from their Enemies and slew of their Foes seventy and five thousand And if they who were Captives of War and so well able to defend themselves from the Execution of such an inhuman bloody and undeserved a Decree to destroy them root and branch durst not defend themselves by force of Arms against Regal Power nor those thereby commissioned without liberty and allowance therefrom first granted and obtained what shall we think of those Men by what Spirit are they guided and acted who only from some particular personal or Family-grievances and some public Inconveniences and perhaps Mischiefs betake themselves to armed Force to Resist and Depose their lawful and natural Prince Sect. 35. 2. Having thus proved it utterly unlawful under the Jewish Constitution upon any pretence whatsoever to resist the Higher Powers I shall now likewise as evidently discover the unlawfulness thereof under the Christian Constitution When our Saviour first entered on his Ministerial Office the first Thing he did was to declare the Approach of a New Kingdom and the next to instruct his Disciples That this Kingdom was no Kingdom of this World for 't is said when Jesus began to preach he said Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Mat. 4.17 i. e. By an usual Hebraism an heavenly Kingdom and so called in opposition to earthly Kingdoms implying that this Kingdom which the God of Heaven was by him now setting up and which was never to be destroyed as Daniel had prophesied Ch. 2.44 Was not a Kingdom of this World was not to be founded supported and propagated by the Assumption and Exercise of any Civil temporal Power but was to be introduced and established from the Strength and Power of divine Truth and its own goodness without the help of any Civil Power or worldly Interest being altogether different in its Nature and Constitution and in its design and administration from all earthly and secular Empires Wherefore the Institution and Erection of Christ's Kingdom was no way prejudicial to the Being or Rights of any earthly Kingdom but as the Civil Governments of the World were settled before so they still
Ground and manner of his sufferings who from a Principle of self-denial took up his Cross and meerly from a Conscientious Submission to the appointment of his Father gave himself into the Hands of the higher Powers to be dealt withal as they pleased When a Man suffers no more than what he deserves and common Justice requires there is nothing of commendation or gloriation in it but if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God And this is thank-worthy if a Man for Conscience towards God endure grief suffering wrongfully 1 Pet. 2.19 20. and ch 4.15 he suffers only as a Christian who suffers wrongfully for well-doing and then follows Christ's steps in conforming to the Manner of his sufferings when his sufferings are a probation to his patience but no provocation to his revenge will not defend himself from an unjust punishment by an undutiful Resistance Sect. 55. 'T is to be considered by every Christian That Jesus Christ was sent into the World and dwelt amongst us to be the Example of our Religion as well as the Teacher of it And there is such an exact concordance betwixt his Doctrine and Practice that the latter is a Practical Demonstration of God's determinate and unchangeable Method of dispensing eternal life and glory to the Children of Men. As Christ was brought to glory so must they and no otherwise Rom. 8.29 30. for whom he God did fore-know fore-approved and fore-acknowledged for his he also did predestinate fore-appointed according to the Purport of the Gospel to be conformed to the Image of his Son that he might be the first Born amongst many Brethren Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified In which Words is represented the Method Order and Degrees of God's Decrees Dispensations and Transactions for the Effecting of our Salvation according to the Terms of the Gospel and they shew the inviolable connexion betwixt God's acceptance of us as objects of his special love and our conformity unto Christ and that according to the immutable ordination of God whosoever answers the Call of the Gospel and obtains justification and glorification according to the Purport and Tenour of it he must resemble Christ in his doings and sufferings And this is likewise the express Doctrine of Christ himself Mat. 16.24 If any Man will come after me let him take up his Cross and follow me No wearing of a Crown with him but by bearing his Cross after him Luke 26.16 ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter so and upon such Terms into his glory And our way of enterance thereinto is the same Luke 22.29 therefore I appoint unto you a Kingdom after the same manner and upon the same Terms as my Father hath appointed unto me And is it not enough for the Disciple to be as his Master and for the Servant as his Lord Mat. 10.15 can we reasonably expect greater honours exemptions and priviledges than our Lord and Master had And may we not be well enough contented to be allowed admittance into the Kingdom of Heaven the same way with him This is the Evangelical stated way of Salvation and to a Conformity hereunto are all Christians called because Christ also suffered for them leaving them an example that they should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2.21 who when he was oppressed and afflicted opened not his Mouth when he was reviled reviled not again but was brought as a Lamb to the Slaughter and as a Sheep before her Sharers is dumb so open'd he not his Mouth Isa 53.7 Acts. 8.32 1 Pet. 21.23 and as he restrained himself from evil words as well as blows against the higher Powers so must we and however Tyrannically the higher Powers abuse their Office and Authority acknowledge with him that their Power is given them from above Joh. 19.11 and submit thereunto without Resistance as to the Appointment of God saying with him the Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it Joh. 18.11 Who calleth the most harmless Christians sometimes thus to suffer for well doing from the higher Powers but never to a violent Resistance of them Sect. 56. You cannot but well know and I would also have you to consider well the Case of Shadrach Meshach Abednego and Daniel who when they were prohibited to pray to the living God and commanded to Worship dead Idols by the Heathenish Persecutors of God's Church though they utterly refused to yield an Active Obedience to their commands yet they yielded a Passive Obedience to their Sovereign Powers without repining reviling or opposing yea they prayed for them and blessed them Dan. 6.21 Which is an Argument that they did not believe that any persecutions injurious usages or oppressions from the Sovereign Powers could exempt or discharge them from subjection to them and warrant a destructive Resistance of them and though their sufferings were in their Circumstances unavoidable and they really wanted sufficient Strength to redress and help themselves against the overpowering Force of their Persecutors and Oppressors yet the manner of their submission thereunto plainly declared that they accounted themselves as appointed and called of God by a suffering Condition to bear witness to his Truth and to demonstrate to the World that suffering was better and more eligible than sining and to give a Proof that they did not believe that God did authorize and allow any of his Servants to threaten reproach revile or resist their Rulers how hardly injuriously and cruelly soever they are treated by them but requires them to reverence their Persons acknowledge their Authority and patiently to submit to their Power when 't is exercised to the utmost Evil to them Sect. 57. And this Gospel-Call to a quiet and patient Submission to the injurious infliction of punishment from the Higher Powers is was and ever will be a Vindication of the Christian Religion from the false and scandalous Imputations charged on it by its Enemies and Persecutors who do did and will reproach it as an Engine contrived and designed for the Disturbance and Subversion of Civil Empires and Dominions Both Jews and Gentiles traduced Jesus Christ as no Friend to Caesar represented his Doctrine as dangerous to the State Joh 19.12 and reputed the Gathering of Churches the Dissolution of Kingdoms or in their own Words a turning of the World upside down Acts 17.6 That is an inversion of Order a pulling down of Rulers and the setting up of Subjects in their room which Stratagem was and may be marvellously successful to bring the Christian Religion into disgrace with the Civil Powers who are ever very watchful to endeavour to their utmost to reject and suppress all those Doctrines which they suspect to be prejudicial and destructive to their Authority and Government and how can this slanderous Imputation to the Christian Religion be more effectually confuted than by
Power in pulling down and setting up whom he pleaseth are we authorized to pull down our Superiors and to set up our selves because Christ hath redeemed us and made us Free-men of his spiritual Kingdom doth this warrant us to make our selves the Lords and Masters of the World because we must not subject our selves to serve Mens Lusts and Vices must we not therefore submit our selves to their legal Authority and Power because a State of civil Freedom is more eligible than a State of Bondage 't is better to be at our own disposal and liberty than to be in servitude and confined to the Will of another are we therefore to effect and endeavour to be above the Check and Controulment of the Sovereign Powers cannot Men be Masters of themselves but they must be Masters of their Superiors too 't is remarkable how very differently sincere and hypocritical Christians argue from the Principle under Consideration because 't is said That Christians are made free by Christ Joh. 8.36 and therefore every Christian Servant is the Lord's Free-man 1 Cor. 7.22 therefore some hypocritical Christians conclude themselves licensed to cast off all Subjection and Obedience to Magistrates and Masters and to live as discharged from all Conscience of Duty to them though by their present Circumstances constrained and necessitated externally to perform it but on the contrary part sincere Christians obey Governours as free but as servants of the Lord 1 Pet. 2.16 Serve the Lord in obeying their Governours submit themselves the one for Conscience sake to the other the highest Engagement and strongest Bond of Obedience that can be Sect. 61. I appeal to all considering Men if it be reasonable to believe that since Jesus Christ came not into the World to destroy the Law but to fulfill it Mat. 5.17 That is not to evacuate or relax any moral Duty but by his Doctrine and Example to fill up and re-inforce the Authority and obliging Power thereof and to commend his quiet and patient Submission to the injurious Affronts and destructive Violence of the Higher Powers as a Pattern for us to conform unto and imitate 1 Pet. 2.21 I say this considered is it credible that he hath cancelled the Obligation of any moral Duty by his death to his Followers and discharged them from Non-Resistance of the Higher Powers when they are too strong for them Sect. 62. But since 't is generally confessed that the moral Law is of universal and immutable Obligation of which the fifth Commandement is a Part and expresly requires us to Honour our Governours as all will acknowledge how comes it to pass that the Duty of this Commandement should be released or relaxed rather than of any other Is not the Observation of this Commandement of as much account with God as the Observation of the rest Is not the Honour of God and the Safety of human Societies as much concern'd in the keeping of it now as formerly why then should Christians be more limited in the Terms of their Subjection to the Higher Powers and less restrained from resisting them than the Jewish Nation when 't was govern'd by Rulers of God's own immediate Appointment The Authority Necessity Ends and Reasons of it are still the same and how comes it to pass that the Nature Grounds and Reasons of Subjection and Obedience are alter'd and the Pretenders to the Management of the Scepter of Christ must command and dispose that of the King If Conscience as God's Vicegerent must not be forced so neither must the King who represents as my Lord Coke tells us God's own Person Why should not God's Ordinance be as irresistible in the one as in the other the one hath as great a Supremacy over us without us as the other within us Sect. 63. Moreover if we are to be guided and governed by the positive Laws and Constitutions of our own Country as proper Rules and Measures to determine and limit our Allegiance and Obedience then 't is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King and we are to abhor that Traitorous Position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those that are commissionated by him as 't is Stat. 14. Ch. 2. And since saith Grotius on Mat. 26.52 there is no Man that doth not favour himself if it be once admitted that private Men being injuriously dealt withall by the Magistrate may repel force with force all places will be full of Tumults the Authority of Laws and Judicatures will be null and void And in his Votum pro pace ad Art 16. He affirms that Subjects ought by no means to resist their King or Prince by force or ought they to take either offensive or defensive Arms against their King or Prince for the Cause of Religion or for any other cause whatsoever and further affirms that no Government can be any longer safe than whilest those who have such Sentiments want strength And how Men that are for resisting the Higher Powers can expect to be owned as Friends to Government and presume on any Trust or Favour from the Administrators thereof I cannot imagine I shall conclude this with the Affirmation of the Church of England in her fourth part of her Homily against willful Rebellion God alloweth neither the Dignity of any Person nor the Multitude of any People nor the Weight of any Cause as sufficient for the which Subjects may move Rebellion against their Princes Sect. 64. I am not altogether ignorant of the Reasonings of some discontented and interested Men to plead for the lawfulness of resisting the Higher Powers with armed Force in some cases and perhaps it may be expected that I should engage my self in the solemn Examination and Confutation of them But having proved from divine Revelation that God hath forbidden it I may warrantably say to every such Reasoner as the Apostle in another case alike depending on the Sovereign Authority of God Rom. 9.20 Nay but Oh Man who art thou that repliest against God Shall not God govern the World as he pleaseth hath he not an absolute and unaccountable Power to impart after what manner and measure he judgeth fit his own Sovereign Authority and Power to his Vicegerents and if God do not limit and restrain the Extent of their Authority and Power who shall we frequently find Jesus Christ and his Apostles endeavouring to impress on Mens Consciences a quick Sense of their Obligations to yield Subjection and Obedience to the Higher Powers but never determining or limiting the manner of obtaining their Titles or the Righteousness of their Prerogatives and Rights or their way of administring and executing them which I take to be a plain Intimation that the Welfare of Mankind and the Safety of all Societies depends on the dutiful and peaceable Deportment of the governed part thereof and that Subjects are principally concerned Conscientiousness to attend their own Duties and to leave the Menageries of the governing part of that
distinguished into several Communities and canton'd into Kingdoms or Commonwealths but every Man bath indifferently a Right to one part of the World as well as to another and is no more determined to this Kingdom or Community than to that and consequently there can be no Government but by Usurpation in no part of the World without every Man's Consent that is in the World one Man cannot alienate and surrender anothers Right without his Consent Where every Man is equally free if every Man do not equally concur to the Limitation or Resignation of it the Freedom of particulars without Usurpation will still remain entire So that the Iâ—â—â—bitants of England France Spain c. have no more right to determine of Governours Proprieties and Liberties of their respective Countries than the Inhabitants of the East or West-Indies have because by the Law of Nature they have an equal Right unto and Freedom in these Countries But suppose that the Inhabitants of particular Countries have sufficient Power to chuse and establish what Government amongst them they please yet this Principle supposed that all are equal by Nature and every Man is free born it will follow that as the Inhabitants of any Country are changed so there will be likewise answerably a Right and Power to change and alter the Governours and Government thereof and every hour a Variation being produced by the Births of some and Deaths of others there will be in all Countries in the World especially very populous Ones a Right in many Persons to with hold subjection from the present Higher Powers and to advance others in their room or else to remain Lords and Masters of themselves if it be said that the Choice and Contract of the Ancestry bind their Posterity and Fathers and Masters conclude their respective Families this plainly confutes the Principle contended for because by Nature there is neither Non-age Subjection or Servitude but the whole Race of Mankind hath equal Rights and Liberties Or if it be said that the Major part of the People is virtually the Whole or a considerable part of them meeting with no opposition presume the Whole it falls under the like Exceptions with the former for if these had Authority to conclude the rest they were not their Equals but Superiors and could without their consent limit them in their natural Rights and Freedoms which overthrows these Mens beloved Cause This I hope is a sufficient Discovery of the mischievous Consequences of the aforementioned Principle to the Safety of all settled Governments in the World Sect. 70. 3. Although there are sometimes Agreements and Contracts betwixt Sovereign Princes and their Subjects by which they become mutually obliged to each other and the Subjects have their Rights Proprieties and Priviledges as well as Princes their Prerogatives and Preheminencies and none are more strongly bound to perform their Agreements and Covenants than Sovereign Princes not only from Motives of Piety and Justice but also from Reasons of State because the conscientious and strict Observation of them prevents or eradicates all those jealous Fears which ordinarily arise from their Subjects apprehensions of a Power they have to wrong them creates in them a mighty Esteem and Veneration of them strong and vigorous Affections to them a clear and stedfast Confidence in them and renders them couragious resolute stedfast and chearful in their Adherence and Obedience to them yet the Existence of their Sovereignty depends not on it because that which cannot escheat to a Superior is not forfeitable Vnumquodque dissolvitur eo modo quo contrahitur saith our Law Now as it is God alone which sets up Kings and gives them Kingdoms Dan. 2.21 27. Prov. 8.15 Jer. 27.5 6. So 't is God alone that can dethrone and take Kingdoms from them 1 Sam. 28.18 for as Sovereign Princes judge not for Men but for the Lord 2 Chr. 19.6 so neither can they be judged by Men but by God only and 't is his peculiar to execute Vengeance on them for evil doing Rom. 12.19 and as their Power of Life and Death was only from God so it is God only who gave it to them can take it from them Sect. 71. The Supreme Sovereign Power is a simple undivided Thing and can be but one for as in the natural so in the political Body there must be only one common Principle of action it must be one Sovereign Will guided by one directive Judgment assisted by one Power of the Sword which is invested with all the legislative judicial and executive Authority of every Community or else there can be no certain regular Administration 〈◊〉 Affairs amongst them And consequently as the Sovereignty hath no Superior so it can have no equall A conditional Sovereignty is indeed none at all a conditional King is only the Pageant of a King a meer titular nominal King one in appearance officially a King but divested of the Authority and Power proper to it and the Reason is evident because he is a Subject to a Superior Power and is disposed of at anothers Will and Pleasure and he that is subordinated cannot be supreme who but our Superior can prescribe and impose upon us Conditions and Measures of having holding and exercising governing Power and exauctorate and punish us for Non-observance and Disobedience to them but some Mens Brains are so impregnated with Ideas of Bargains and Contracts that they will have all Authority and Subjection to depend upon them and all the relative Duties of Princes and People to be measured and determined by them as if God and Nature had made no provision for the Safety and Happiness of Mankind without them Sect. 72. 4. That no more Authority and Power is to be claimed and exercised by Soreign Princes than can proved and that the Liberty of the Subject proves it self doth not only imply that all Authority and Power is from mutual Contracts and Agreements but also according to the Judgment of such Men that all Authority and Power is radically and originally in every single Person and therefore I take it to be a most groundless and prodigious Presumption If Power must always be proved but Liberty proves it self the Case of the Sovereign is very lamentable and despicable for how is Power to be proved by what Evidence by the Princes own Testimony or by the Testimony of the Subject I know of no Medium and 't is probable partiallity will be pretended and what is to be done then then Might must be Right and then the Prince must to the Wall Ay but there is another way of proving Power and that is by the Fundamental Charter the Original Magna Charta which was by the mutual Agreement and Contract of Prince and People made and established when the Government was at first formed and constituted But what if the very Being of such a Thing be questioned how will it be proved I am apt to believe the Sovereign Prince of England as well as of other Dominions may
search all the days of their lives and not be able to discover when or where such a Charter ever was in Being but suppose there were such a Charter who shall be the Interpreter of it and judge how far the Power of the Prince extends it self and during the Dispute how shall the Government be administred doth not this in effect authorize the Subjects to do at pleasure what is right in their own eyes for if they demur against the Prince's Power he is to act at his peril But on the other side the Subject stands on a firm Bottom for his Liberty proves it self this is a Self-evident Principle and when the Subjects pretend it the Sovereign Powers durst not contradict and contest it for in this case every Subject if it be not a Contradiction so to speak is a Sovereign because so far as his liberty is not expresly given away it always remains entire The Sovereigns Power is originally from the Subject but the Subjects Liberty originally from himself the Princes Power is derived from the Subjects Will but the Subjects Liberty from his Nature And wo to that Prince who shall violate and usurp on the Laws and Liberties of Nature Sect. 73. But if every Man by Nature equally partake of Sovereignty then no body can be obliged to Subjection for where all are equal there can be no Subordination neither Superiors non Inferiors and is not he a strange Supreme who hath no body under him Moreover if it be so then every Man is born in a State of Anarchy and the God of Order hath sate no bounds to Mankind the relative Duties of Superiors and Inferiors might never have had any foundation in Nature and were only presumptively from Arbitrary Contracts and Agreements limited and determined by the Fifth Commandment and not only every Nation but every City Town Parish Family may chuse what Government seems best to them yea every particular Person may live independently if he will altogether free from the Circumscriptions of all sorts of governed Societies and if any attempt be made to restrain him without his consent he is oppressed in his natural Liberty And is not this Doctrine of a sovereign Tendency to maintain mutual Amity and Peace amongst Men Sect. 74. 5. That Subjects in political Monarchies and under other Sovereign Powers have Rights Immunities and Priviledges as unalienable Properties without their concurrent consent is very manifest but these do not proceed from any Reservations made in a presumed fundamental Constitution composed and ratified by a mutual Compact and Confederacy betwixt the Sovereign and Subjects but from the Sovereign's Condescentious Acts of Grace which having the Establishment and Security of his Laws he cannot invade and violate without Injustice to his Subjects dishonour to himself provocation to God loss of Reputation with his Allies and Confederates abroad and exposing himself as a Person of no Faith 'T is well observed by Fortescue that the Kingdom of England is not meerly Regal or meerly Politick but partly Regal and partly Politick Regnum Angliae ex Bruii comitivâ Trojanorum in Dominium politicum regale prorupit The Kingdom of England out of Brutus his retinue of Trajans brake out into a politick and regal Dominion And elsewhere tells us Rex Angliae principatu nedum regali sed politico suo populo dominatur the King of England governeth his People not only by a Regal but a politick Principality Ch. 9. So that though the King of England in some cases exercise an absolute and arbitrary Power like a despotick Prince as in making War and Peace Summoning Adjourning Proroguing and Dissolving of Parliaments Coinage of Money c. Yet in other cases he exerciseth a bounded and limited Power as in the imposition and repealing of Laws Taxes and Levies of Mony c. and therefore ought in Conscience to regard his Duty as a Politick King as well as his Power as a Despotick King and such hath been the Moderation of the English Government hitherto that it is acknowledged to be the most easy and safe of any in the World These particulars being duly considered I am confident the forementioned Objection is sufficiently answered and no warrant can thence be taken for Subjects to resist with armed Force the Sovereign Powers Sect. 75. 2. Another Objection near of kin to the former though in different words to plead the Cause of Rebellion is this that all Real Majesty being only in the Community all Personal Majesty is transfused or delegated from thence and consequently the Personal Majesty is nothing but a Trust accountable and forfeitable to the Community and therefore if the Administrators of Sovereign Power abuse their Trust they may not only be resisted but deposed Upon this Ground it was that the Rebellious Lords and Commons when King Charles the First sate up his Standard in the Defence of himself and the Government adjudged it a Breach of his Trust and Treason against the State and Kingdom And answerably one of their Advocates tell us That their Generals Commission to seize the King's Person was a strong Capias utlegatum a Judgment passed against him as out of the Protection of the Kingdom and Aid of the Law And in truth granting what they suppose to be true That the King was not the Officer of God but of the Community received his Authority not from God but them and made War against the Kingdom whose Trustee he was and the inference seems to be rational That Power which is derived from the Civil Constitution being in an Hostile manner employed against it or administred to dissolve and destroy it is forfeited and lost and those who were subjected to it absolved from their Allegiance Ans Having represented this Objection in its full Strength to the best Advantage of the Patrons of it I shall endeavour to assoil it and I doubt not but I shall confute it to the satisfaction of every unprejudiced Person Sect. 76. By a Community these Men understand not a Society of Men actually conâ—enting and formed into a public Government but only a Society of Families and Vicinities voluntarily rationally and justly assembling and associating themselves from mutual benevolence in order to the common Good and Safety thereby putting themselves into an immediate capacity of receiving a public Government under some Form or other such as they themselves shall judge most expedient for them Be it now considered that Sect. 77. 1. This pretended Real Majesty in the Community of a Multitude so associated as hath been said must either be the Product of the Law of Nature or of some positive Law of God or of some human Compact or of some other Cause I will reflect briefly on each of these and if neither of them be assignable as the Ground Reason or Cause thereof I shall be so bold asconclude that 't is a Platonical Idea which hath no existence 1. There is no dictate of Nature which ascribes a greater Authority to a
this Preamble At the Request of the Commonalty by their Petition made before the King in his Parliament c. so again in 9 Edw. 3. 'T is thus prefaced Whereas the Knights Citizens and Burgesses desired our Sovereign Lord the King in his Parliament by their Petition and many of the Statutes are penned in this Imperial Stile The King Commands The King wills Our Lord the King hath established Our Lord the King hath ordained And of his special grace hath granted c. See 3 Edw. 1. and 6 Edw. 1. and 25. Edw. 3. Statute of Marleburdg 52 Hen. 1. and Statute of Quo Warranto A sufficient Evidence That all our Laws owe their Being to the King's Authority only Sect. 99. 2. All the judicial Courts of England are the King's Courts and derive all their Authority originally from him and are obliged to refer the Exercise of their respective Jurisdictions finally for the Preservation of his Person Crown and Dignity and consequently the High Court of Parliament is the King's Court too and depends on him for that Authority which is there exercised And 't is well observed by my Lord Coke That the King is Principium Caput Finis Parliamenti and answerably in the Parliament writ the King calls it Quoddam Parliamentum nostrum Thereby signifying a Subordination of the Estates convented in Parliament under him sitting there in his Royal Political capacity And consequently the Acts of the Two Houses of Parliament without an impress of Royal Authority are nothing worth to the Purposes of Government 'T is no Argument that the Two Houses of Parliament have a Co-ordination with him in his legislative Authority because he hath restrained himself from the Exercise and Use of it without their Request and Consent for it is no more than a Conditio sine qua non which hath only the Force of a Negative without the Concurrence of which the principal Efficient obtains not its Effect Sect. 100. 3. The Measures or Degrees of all Civil Authority and Power are to be taken either from the express Laws of any State or the immemorial Customs and Prescriptions thereof from a long Possession or from the Oaths the Subjects swear to their Princes This is acknowledged by the Author who pleads for a Co-ordination of the Houses of Parliament with the King in the Legislative Authority of the Kingdom as a proper Rule by which to judge where the Legislative Power of a Nation is lodged and this being impartially attended will evidently discover That the Legislative Power is in the King only For 1. If we consider what the Laws determine we shall find that they ascribe it wholly to the King See to this purpose the afore-quoted Preface to a Statute in 24. Hen. 8. where 't is thus said For by divers Old Authentick Histories and Chronicles it is manifestly declared and expressed that this Realm of England is an Empire and so hath been accepted in the World governed by our Supreme Head and King having the Dignity and Royal Estate of the Imperial Crown of the Same unto whom a Body Politick compact of all sorts and degrees of People divided in Terms and by Names of Spiritualty and Temporalty have been bounden and ought to bear next to God natural and humble Obedience he being also in Statute and furnished by the Goodness and Sufferance of Almighty God not of the People with Plenary whole and entire Power Preheminence Authority Prerogative and Jurisdiction to render and yield Justice and final determination in all Causes Matters and Debates Likewise in the Statute of the 35 of Eliz. this Submission after Non-conformity to divine Service is to be made openly in some Church I do acknowledge and testify in my Conscience that no other Person hath or ought to have any Power or Authority over His Majesty Which Statute was declared to be in full force in the 16 of Ch. 2. 2. This Authority and Preheminence as the former Statute mentioned implies is of immemorial Custom and Prescription and was so far as I can discover never questioned in any Parliamentary Convention of the States till 1642. and then by the Two lower States only too and then the Co ordination in the Legislative Power was asserted to warrant and justify one of the most unreasonable and barbarous Rebellions that ever was in this Kingdom 'T is declared by the Statute of 16 Rich. 2. That the Crown of England hath been so free at all times that it hath been in no earthly Subjection but immediately subject to God in all things touching the Regality of the same Crown and to none other and if to none other then not to the Two Houses of Parliament and in 1 Jam. 1. The High Court of Parliament wherein as they speak the whole Kingdom in Person or Representative was present i. e. all Estates and Degrees call themselves his Majesty's Loyal and Faithful Subjects and declare his Majesty to be their only Liege Lord and Sovereign and agnize their constant Faith Obedience and Loyalty to his Majesty and Royal Progeny And I will be so bold as to challenge this Author to shew from any Parliamentary Record that ever the Two Houses claimed or pretended to a Co-ordination with the King in the Legislative Power till the time above mentioned 3. What can be more evident for the Determination of this matter than the Oath of Supremacy by which every Subject is obliged to testify and declare in his Conscience that the Kings Highness is the only Supreme Governour of this Realm and of all other His Highnesses Dominions and Countries as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Things or Causes as Temperal as He is Supreme He hath no Superior and as He is only Supreme He can have no equal they that wrest the Supremacy of the King's Government to import only the executive part of Government manifestly subvert the primary Design of the Oath which was to restrain and preserve the King's Subjects from a Submission to the usurped legislative and juridical Authority of the Bishop of Rome So that if the Bishop of Rome pretended to both parts of Government as 't is certain he did and still doth then the Oath directly intends an opposition to both and consequently ascribes the only Supremacy appropriately to the King both respectively to the Legislative and Executive part of the Government Sect. 101. 4. Suppose contrary to all this plain evidence that the legislative Power is lodged between the King and Two Houses of Parliament how will this prove a Superior Authority in them above that in the King Par in Parem non habet potestatem An Equal is no Superior Indeed according to our Authors affirmation here are Two to One which is very great odds if he intended to press to his Service that Maxim Major pars obtinet rationem totius the major part of the Legislators virtually are the whole For this will at the Pleasure of the Two Houses render the Concurrence of the King