have it used by any hand to which he conveyes it not by Humane which is always accompanied with Divine Right And so it is to be esteemed of according to God's revealed Will who never instituted other Government for Civil Regiment but commands it as other Spiritual Functions in the Church for Divine Administration there being no happy State in the perfection of Government without a Lawful King nor Glorious Church without Episcopacy Nor can any other justly intitle themselves to the having a Divine Precept or Institution for their Practise So as if others have the esse they want the bene esse of Government though men have found out many other inventions for both And therefore whosoever resist their Lawful Rulers by force purchase to themselves Damnation as they oppose the Ordinance of God though in wicked ones yet Rulers if wicked are to expect the same Reward For saith Bucer the word Subject signifies a fall and absolute Subjection to Rulers and forbids all force because as another observes u upon Tit. 3. to be subject is to obey and the rather because in the worst Government of any King the protection we receive from it doth more than ballance the Evils we perhaps might suffer under another Form w Jud. 17. And therefore saith the Apostle let every Soul as well Spiritual as Temporal be subject to Kings as the best Form of Ruling in whom by Gods Ordination the Habit of all Power resides though the Act be in his Ministers in all Causes though not over them but their Persons as Supreme and qui tentat accipere tentat decipere saith Bernard So as none but those that swear falsly in making a Covenant and fear not the Lord will say what should a King do to us x Hos 10.3 4. When as it is in the Fable of Beasts all should agree to choose the Lion for their King rather than have none For praestat unum timere quam multos And therefore it is probable God in his Providence to prevent Inter-regnums the mischiefs that did follow upon having no King y Judg. 17. and the tumultuousness of Popular Elections did settle Regal Powers in a succession of Blood first in David though promised to Abraham and prophesied of to Judah z Gen. 17.6.49.10 1 King 11.14 Jer. 41.1 2 Chro. 22.10 So as that Position of the Romanists and our new Statists Simeon and Levi Brethren in Iniquity that Princes are made by the People because made by the consent of the People and that People Originally make the Magistrate not the Magistrate the People is most false yet thus Parsons in his Dolman and many others broached that seditious Position with divers of the same nature to stir up the People against Queen Elizabeth perswading them they had power to dispose of the Crown and might depose her and transfer the Kingdom to the Infanta of Spain and since that time both Junius Brutus Buchanan and others like Sampson's Foxes have joyned with the Jesuits in this though standing as Extreams in other things But this Opinion as a most Reverend Divine of our Church hath shewed hath no Foundation in Reason nor Scripture For saith he from the Canon the Powers that be are ordained of God And how can man give the Sword the power of Life and Death over others that hath not power to take away his own life by any Natural or Divine Right For as hath been said no man can convey to another what he hath not himself So that Power wheresoever placed is an Emanation from God immediately and so to be obeyed only where orderly setled and constituted For the Powers that be saith the Apostle a Rom. 13. whether by Election or Inheritance Compact or just Conquest being once legally established are of God and may not be disturbed by their Subjects in a way of Arms or Force for any Impiety Tyranny or Oppression whatsoever they having no Power over the person once invested in and discriminated by the Power all Kings have by God's Ordination for in all changes men can only choose the person but never give the Power As Silver that is mere Plate if it be tendered for exchange may be taken or left at the liberty of him to whom it is offered but when once stampt by the King and Coyned becomes currant and not to be refused Or as Acts of Parliament whilest Voted by the two Houses have to this time been only Consents but after the King's concurrence Statutes that bind the persons that Voted them and all others and not to be altered by them without his assent So in Governments or Governours as soon as any are created by man whether Kings Elective or by Succession even St. Peter's Humane Creatures are by St. Paul called God's Ordinance b Rom. 13. and not to be resisted nor altered at the Will of the Electors who irrevocably part with their own Right as the Jewish Servant by boring made himself a Slave For if there remained in them a Power dormant to over-rule and unmake them whom they have once submitted to then where were decency and order c 1 Cor. 14. Nay what Tumults Disorders and Massacres would arise from it when Revenge would remove the one or Ambition Faction and the like set up another to compass their own ends like Herodet a Persian King who being a cruel Tyrant when he could not find out a Law to warrant his unlawful Actions found out another that he might do what he list And those that fear not God and the King conjunctim as one in regard of Divine Relation and Institution are given to such changes d Prov. 24.21 though Christ himself as man gave the example of submission and acknowledgment of the Divine Right of Caesar's and his Deputy Pilate's Power e Mat. 17.27 Joh. 9.11 the conviction of which Truth fetcht the Confession of it from a Popish Divine f Royard in Dom in 1. Advent Rege constituto non potest Populus jugum subjectionis repellere And though Bellarmine lays it as a Position as cited by Suarez g Li. 3. c. 3. p. 224. That the People never so give up the Act of Power unto the King but that they retain the Habit still in themselves it is contradicted by Suarez h Defend Fid. Cath. l. 3. c. 3. p. 225. in these words Non est simpliciter verum Regem pendere in sua potestate a Populo etiamsi ab ipso eam acceperit for he adds Postquam Rex legitime constitutus est supremam habet potestatem in his omnibus ad quae accipit etiamsi a Populo illam acceperit So Cuneris i L. de Offic Princi Principis sive Electione sive Postulatione vel Successione vel belli jure Princeps fiat Principi tamen facto divinitus potestas adest Otherways there would be Sword against Sword whereas God hath made but one because for one hand and will still be a
Repressor of the Tumults of the People which are more raging than the Waves of the Sea k Ps 65.7 For that keeps its bounds when the other will know none l Hos 5.10 11. But here it is but he that resisteth not he that obeyeth not that purchases Damnation For there may be not only a lawful but a necessary Disobedience when the Commands of our Superiours run counter to God's revealed Will m Acts 4.18 19.5.29 as in Daniel and the three Children n Dan. 3.4.5 chap. But even then resist not though a Nero under whom some think St. Paul writ his Epistle to the Romans and a little after felt some sparks of his Persecution o Ep. 3. as he was flagellum Domini p Hos 13.11 by an Ordinative Permission Nay further our submission to such should be ex animo as Aquinas glosses because the command is omnis anima For it is not an Eye but a Heart-service that God requires even to our froward and perverse Masters q 1 Pet. 2.18 Ep. 6.6 knowing that God will both recompence and protect those that suffer according to his Will and commit their Souls to him in well-doing r 1 Pet. 4.19 which made David conclude They that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not failed them that seek thee but wilt be their refuge in such times of trouble s Ps 9.9 10. Nay the duty of not resisting may also be enforced from the contrary when Christ in saying that If his Kingdom were of this World then would his Servants fight t Joh. 18.36 intimates that we owe our lives for the protection of our King 's just Rights but ought not to do any thing against them or theirs whether concerning the Person or Posterity For after the free Suffrage or Submission of a People to a Successive Monarchy the Son and next in Blood have always a just right to the Crown as in our Kingdom upon the death of his Father though wanting the Ceremony of Coronation which doth but declare not convey the Right Nor is it in the Peoples Power to revoke their former Concessions no more than a Wife when she hath taken a Husband can divorce her self or justly refuse him other duties though he grow froward and unjust And if it were otherwise how should we imitate Christ our General in his Passive Obedience as is commanded u 1 Pet. 2.21 keep our Covenant in Baptism the Epitome of Christian Religion and make many living Christians by one dying Saint in that Sanguis Martyrum est semen Ecclesiae or be Partakers of that Spiritual Good that comes by suffering even the Tryal of our Faith w 1 Pet. 1.7 and Improvement of our Glory So as the contrary Opinion must needs proceed from Infidelity or distrust when we will be our own God's Deliverers and not rely upon Providence for the Event in all Distresses in only using such means as by his word are warrantable And the Weapons of our Warfare we know are not Carnal but Spiritual x 1 Cor. 10.4 2 Tim. 4.7 even our whole Panoplie being but the Girdle of Verity the Breast-plate of Righteousness the Sword of the Spirit the Helmet of Salvation and Shield of Faith y Eph. 6. by which we overcome the World z 1 Joh. 5.4 And therefore Tertullian in his Apology against forcible entrance a Text. 37. begins with an Absit and concludes We must rather be slain than slay our Superiours So Ambrose b L. 5. Ep. ad Aurent Prayers and Tears are our only Weapons And to that purpose speaks St. Cyprian c Ad Demetriad Gregory Nazianzen d Orat. 2. in Julian with all the concurrence of the Primitive times Nor are we to submit for fear unless filial or want of force but Conscience sake Nor can the New-minted Jesuitical Distinctions of differing between the Person and the Power in their Rebellions by placing it in the People and the Administration of it only in the King absolve their Consciences from the Guilt who de facto have resisted in our times it being but a Popish Riddle such as their Transubstantiation in which they turn the substance of the Regality of Kings into a mere Chymera a fancyed nothing and make Accidents to subsist without a Subject the Supreme Power without his Person a Paradox that neither the Gospel nor the Law can unriddle For they speak the contrary in making the Supreme Power inseparable from the Person of a King e 1 Pet 2. especially ours which is setled as well by Municipal as Divine Law as may appear by all the Laws of this Kingdom both Customs and Acts as well as by the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance f Cook fol. 36. 37. which condemn such Monsters of Opinion to be illegitimate g See Cook fol. 8. 35. So Pref. 4. part fol. 1. Bract. l. 1. c. 8. fol. 5. 6. 16. Ri. 2. cap. 5.24 Hen. 8. C. 12. D. c. Stu. f. 43. Dier 29. Co. 11.90.93 1 Eliz. c. 1. 5. Eliz. 1. Cook Calvin's Case f. 11. Exilium Henricide Spencer 1 Edw. 3. 3 Edw. 25. Calv. B. â—0 Cook 4. Parl. Inst fol. 46. 7 fol. 30. 2 fol. 15. 1 Jacob. c. 1.10.33 Hen. 8.21 And if the unhappiness of evil times and men have de facto done otherwise and deposed or destroyed or rejected their Princes they are to expect no Lawrels nor Trophies for it the memory and monuments of them being best buryed in Oblivion In that such Victories ought to be ashamed of themselves for though such ways may seem right to a man the end thereof are the ways of death h Prov. 14.2.16.25 And thus having taken the Timber that grows upon other Mens Soyles and squared it into a less Model for use gathered the choicest Flowers out of other mens Gardens and made them into a Nose-gay fit for every hand to refresh the Spirits of such as are fainting under the persecution of these times for their Loyalties there being little of mine but the Thread that binds them drawn my Oar out of others Mines to melt it into a small Wedg or Ingot that every one might carry a stock of Knowledg about him as a Counter-Charm to those seducing Spirits now raised among us to withdraw men from their due Obedience I desire every one to treasure up something for their use and having proved all Power to be of Divine Right and only subject to limitation in regard of Exercise with a security against Force though a Nebuchadonozor or a Jeroboam i Jer. 29 7. Hos 13.11 be over us I shall proceed to speak of the Duty of Kings in which I shall not say much since all are Doctors and read Lectures upon that subject being all Eye for without none for within to take notice of the slips and failings of their Prince which they always behold in a
of Charity in the doing or not doing it as in the Instance before of eating or not eating of Flesh at any time to the scandal of my weak Brother b 1 Cor. 8. when free in the aequilibrium of choice Yet if any necessity of nature or other great prejudice to my Person or Fortune depends upon my not eating I ought to eat Flesh though to the scandal of another rather than impair my health or bring any great mischief upon my self by the Omission of it For there though the thing be indifferent in it self it is not so to me such Natural or Moral Necessity interposing From whence I conceive I may safely conclude against the former Objection That no conscientious Obedience is due to such an exercise of Power as is there proposed no nor submission in indifferent things if done with scandal to others because not imposed by a lawful Power to determine my choice yet where my personal freedom self-preservation or any great prejudice to my Estate in which my Posterity is concerned be put into the Scale to weigh against an unwilling scandal I may submit for that alters the case in relation to Conscience though not the nature of the thing for there I owe a prudent submission when by the rule of Charity which is but to love my Neighbour as my self I am to prefer the well being of my self and mine to an offence taken by not willingly given to another where a compulsory Injunction and Power inforceth my submission to an indifferent thing it being agreeable to the Law of God Nature and Nations to preserve my self by all lawful ways OBJECTION III. Object 3. If it be so that honest and well-meaning men may not be in any case voluntarily instrumental under an usurped and unlawful Power to the executing the known Laws by which distributive Justice between Party and Party Religion Peace and Propriety may be maintained and perhaps some advantages gained by which they may much improve the Interest of their lawful Soveraign which they prefer in their wishes to their own Being and that if they decline a making use of such opportunities and that all men should walk by the same Rule there must necessarily follow Oppression Atheism and Anarchy the Womb of all Confusion that would reduce all things into the first Chaos so as nothing but darkness and disorder would cover the Earth which their Omissions may contract the guilt of when in acting with the present Power for these ends they do but choose the least of Evils and have no thought of doing the least Evil and so may act Answ As I said The least Evil is not to be committed nor allowed to produce the greatest good c Rom. 3.8 and that there the choice is not between Evils of Punishments where the least may be chosen but between an Evil of Sin which I have proved an outward Compliance in an Unjust Cause or with an Usurped or unlawful Power especially against a just claim to be and no Sin being as the Schools determine in the number of things eligible Malum non est in numero eligibilium propter aliud bonum in that actus peccati non est ordinabilis in bonum finem So Thomas Aquinas d 2. 2. Qu. 110. Art 3. And upon the Egyptian Midwives and Rachels Pious Ly it is concluded by St Augustine e sup Ps 5. Peter Lombard f Lib. 3. dist 38. and Thomas Aquinas d 2. 2. Qu. 110. Art 3. That no man ought to tell a Ly to preserve a Life nor for any Spiritual Good Though St. Augustine saith wittily g Tract 5. Tom. 9. super Joan. Nemo habet de suo nisi mendacium peccatum when all truth comes from the Fountain of it God h Eccles 7. Jam. 1. And St. Ambrose i Tom. 4. upon those words Quis ex vobis arguit me de peccato Omne mendacium fugiendum est tam in verbis quam in operibus c. all outward dissimulation is to be avoided when Opus exterius naturaliter significat intentionem k Aquin. 2. 2. Qu. 111. Art 11. Qu. 111. Art 2. And we should be the more careful not to make Hell the way to Heaven Vice to introduce Vertue when even lawful Actions become sins if done with scandal to others and that some higher end or duty determine not my choice in them as I have determined in another case of Conscience concerning Actions in themselves indifferent For the least defect or excess makes a lawful Action become sinful and a willing countenancing of any sin draws on the toleration of all and like the Spirits in the Blood will soon run through the whole Body of sin For with Aquinas l 2. 2. Qu. 110. Art 2. veritas aequalis est cui per se opponitur magis minus So as in doubtful Cases Gerson's rule is good m Par. 2. Reg. mor. Ab omni actu cui non est necessario astrictus teneatur desistere where scandal may be given OBJECTION IV. Object 4 Ay but Salus Populi est Suprema Lex So as I may act voluntarily with and under an usurped Power though against legal settlements and known Laws for the preservation of the Common-wealth and that by a Law of necessity which gives the Law to all Laws and warrants the doing of that which otherwise is unlawful for by this our Saviour seems to justifie his Disciples gathering Ears of Corn on the Sabbath-day and urges the Authority of David's Example for it n Mat. 12. Answ 1. It is true that Salus Populi est Suprema Lex in reference to Humane and Municipal Laws for so Kings in whom the Supreme and Legislative Power resides may for the good of their People in great Exigents act besides nay against the known National Laws of their Kingdom but not contrary to any Divine Sanction Answ 2. I acknowledg that necessity is a very powerful Argument both before God and man to excuse not justifie an ill Action For so God himself the Supreme Law-giver hath sometimes been pleased in a Gracious Condescention to man's infirm condition to dispence with his own Laws as well as Kings with theirs in Cases of great necessity as may be instanced But this hath been ever in things only mala quia prohibita evil because forbidden as in Ceremonial and Judicial Laws never in any thing that is malum in se prohibitum quia malum evil in it self and forbidden because specifically so Such as are Schisms Heresies Idolatry Rebellion Usurpation Oppression Murder Sacriledg and the like for in these God never leaves his Servants without a just way of extricating themselves from any such necessity of acting by enabling them to dare to dye rather than do any thing that in its nature is evil and by suffering according to the Will of God to commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator o 1 Pet.
for those many hearts I have submitted unto you when you shall appear in Power and Majesty and this to speak the near ground of Relations between God and his Vice-gerent and instruct us that we ought to be Sons to the King in our Duties if we will be Heirs to God and Inheritors of his Glory For as in that where he said The Poor ye shall have always among you Christ did not only foretel but propose it as a Glass to represent God's bounty to us and an Object for the exercise of ours to him so in promising Kings should be our Nursing-Fathers he doth as it were promise us some Beams of his Majesty and Goodness should shine through that Glass and always be amongst us for the comfort of his people and commands our Reflections of Gratitude and Obedience to himself in them For when we look upon the Actions of Kings we terminate not our selves in their persons but the power of God working in them when lawfully deputed which makes the Schooles call Rebellion Sacriledge in that King's Persons are sacred and that God is opposed and violated in them who hath given them a right of propriety in Power not an usufructuary one only such as one King may gain in another's Kingdom by a just War yet of right he ought only to hold it till Reparation be made for the first Injury done and the Expence he hath been forced upon for the Vindication of himself and his Rights OBJECTION IX Object 9. But if a Nation be invaded when under an Vsurped Power by a Foreign King or People without either just Title or Ground of War I ought to assist the Vsurper in the defence of it Answ In this Case I ought only to joyn with any Force to defend my self and the Kingdom against any such Invasion so as I neither fight for the Usurper's Interest and Establishment nor against those of my lawful Soveraign But out of this Bough many Branches spring that afford Fruit of excellent taste and nourishment could I but gather and press them but I leave them for an abler hand and period my Lines and the Reader 's trouble in what I have exprest already In which Resolutions if I have been too severe and rigid I shall willingly and readily retract my errour upon the Evidence and Conviction of better Reasons For I only hold forth this Glow-worm-shine and little twilight to afford some glimmering in these benighted times by which men may guess at the way they should choose to walk in though difficult and rugged and to provoke some of the great Luminaries who had a fixation in the Orb of our late glorious Church or other Orthodox Divines Stars too though of a lesser magnitude to send forth some clearer Beams and more wholesom Influences both to guide and refresh us in this Wilderness we walk in inhabited rather by Beasts than rational Creatures there being no subject more proper and useful to these times wherein if we should but see Diogenes in his buisie search and ask what he strove to find he would answer Hominem quaero Nay I confess I am wholly excentrick in my motion being out of my own Sphere and have nothing but Pious Intentions and a Holy Zeale for a Rachel's Mantle to cover this weak Essay with and to hide it from the severe censure of a more exact Inquisition Only the Rule I propose to my self is in all doubtful and controverted Cases of Conscience to determine in that which is the strictest and hath most of self denial in it in regard of the proneness of Man's Nature to strain his Fetter and pass his Bounds and because the least sin like the falling of the first drop in the Orifice or the first Sand in the Hour-Glass disposeth to and prepares the way for more and many times if allowed proves the most dangerous in that it refers more to Infinity it self and grows into Habits because repeated without notice or purpose of limitation when great devastating Sins Allarms the Soul to a speedy discounting them by repentance and as great Fish-bones that are not easily swallowed stick in the mouth and are spit out again How Conscientious then ought we to be in every Action since the doing of an Act good in it self becomes sin to me if I be not fully perswaded of the lawfulness of it and the Complyance with others in any thing that is evil in it self though I do believe it lawful makes their sin become mine For so St. Augustine e Serm. 6. de verb. dom saith the Scriptures do attribute to one what he acts by or approve of in another's person Thus the Prophet attributes the Murder of Naboth to Ahab in saying Thou hast killed him f 3 King 20. because he disallowed it not when done though it was not he but Jezabel that contrived and acted it without his knowledge And thus the Jews are charged by St. Peter to have killed the Lord of Life though they did it not actually nor was it lawful for them as they confessed to put any man to death yet their guilt was more than the Romans in that they had Malice in their hearts to prosecute it when the other had hands only dipt in his Blood Therefore walk saith the Apostle with all Circumspection or Preciseness as the word bears it g Eph. 5.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 recoyling from all sorts of Evils in their first approach as the Blood in the Body will do from any apprehended danger to fortifie the most vital parts For if we must account for every vain thought h Jam. 4. Jer. 4.14 though thought be so near nothing as no man can think what it is how should we avoid the least act of scandal to our Brethren or complyance in the most minute sin when the smallest sins many times prove more dangerous than greater as is before expressed For like Worms they get insensibly into the heart of the Fruit and destroy it when the great Birds that fall upon the Tree are watched and driven away Thus small Distempers many times kill where a strong Feaver would not in that they infuse their Venom by gentle insinuations not to be discovered when the other by Assaults gives Allarm to our watchfulness Nay great sins discounted or not repeated are not so dangerous as the least multiplyed without our care or notice in that as I said they refer more to infinity it self when augmented without purpose of limitation For thus our pale-fac'd weak but repeated sins become many times more deadly than our scarlet and impudent ones repented of Therefore let us be so far from making little account of great sins as to make great account of little ones For if the owning or patronizing the least minute Atom aiery sin be so dangerous and when alone sits in State and draws a whole Train of Vices after it what hope is there of those men who on the contrary are so far from making great account
By Analogy 2dly Deputation 3dly By Participation Thus Tertullian c Lib. ad Scapalum Cyrillus d Ep. ad Thro. prefix lib. advers Julian Chrysostom e Hom. ad Pop. Antioch Gregory f L 9. Decret 1 Tit. 3.3 which is the reason of those high Titles of Prerogative the sacred Word styles them with after the Israelites rejection of Samuel as that of God in regard of the immediate rule they were to exercise over them after their desire of a King for before the Power was not vested in the Person of any but ministerially only in regard of Exercise which still proceeded from immediate and Divine Directions But after he placed the Power in the person of the King g 1 Sam. 8. to be accounted for only to God h Psal 51. as a punishment of the Peoples Rebellion against him and desire of innovating their Form of Government Nay he then dignified the person of the King with all the Attributes of Majesty to show that he left the power of ordering all things to the conduct of Man though with an over-ruling Providence which before derived immediately from himself so establishing Monarchy but no other Form of Government by any Divine Commission And then he styles them First Children of the most high i Psal 82. to show from whom the Inheritance of their Crowns descends and that they are a middle thing as it were between Heaven and Earth like a Cloud in the Air above Man and below God Secondly The Lords Anointed k 1 Chr. 4.18 1 Sam. 24.16 and so Sacred by Consecration Thirdly The Angels of God l 2 Sam. 14.20 in regard of Wisdom Fourthly The Light of Israel m 2 Sam. 21.17 in regard of comfort and influence Fifthly The Kings of Nations n Luk. 12.25 in regard of their vast Empire Sixthly Nursing Fathers and Nursing Mothers o Isa 49.23 in regard of their tender Care and Affections to their People and to sit in the Throne of God p 2 Sam 3.1 1 Chron. 29.23 2 Sam. 12.7 Isa 62.3 in regard of protection as the Spring and Fountain from whence all Justice doth flow And therefore the Queen of Sheba acknowledged of Solomon That he was King as hath been said not only from but for God to do Justice and Judgment q 2 Chron. 9.8 for ever r Job 36.7 Custos moderator utriusque Tabulae And not only so neither though these are great Prerogatives but even as God two Constellations in one Hemisphere God and Man neither eclipsing the light of the other For so said Jacob to his Lord Esau s Gen. 33.10 vidi faciem ut faciem Dei that is saith the Chaldee as a Reverend Divine observes God in him as he was the Prince For Rex est animata Imago Dei saith St. Augustine And for this Cause it was said of Moses who with the Patriarchs and Judges had the exercise of Regal Power successively before Saul's Inauguration the Scepter he held was God's not his own virga Dei in manu t Exod. 17.9 God and Caesar u Mat. 22.21 Prov. 24.21 being to be obeyed tanquam conjunctae Personae Nor is it St. Peter's calling all Magistracy an Humane Creature and St. Paul's styling it God's Ordinance contradictory one to the other For one speaks of the Authority w Rom. 13. the other of the Laws or Ordinances made by such as he hath impowered to it whether it be the King or those Commissioned by him which St. Peter calls Humane Ordinances most properly because made by Men but intends not the King himself as if he were made by the People x 1 Pet. 2. nor his Power but the exercise of it which in regard of Circumstance as Time Place Actings c. is by Custome or Municipal Laws become Humane And now after so great Light hath shined into the World is it not strange that Men should seal up their Eyes and choose to walk in darkness of Errour should trace the Paths of Disobedience and Rebellion and by a daring Impiety heaping of one sin upon another as the Gyants of old did Pelion upon Ossa should mount this Throne of God by force and violence y 1 Chron. 29.23 to overthrow and divest him of all his Regalia and Soveraign Power on Earth pulling the Crown from his Head the Scepter and Sword from his Hand in the Person of our Sacred King who as the sum and recapitulation of the Virtues of all his Predecessors or as so many Lights in one Constellation shows the Glory and Lustre of all when a Heathen by the Light of Nature even Aristotle z 1 Eth. c. 2. as well as Calvin a 4 Inst 20. Sect. 33. did see something Divine in the Officers of Governours who are called b Sap. 6 4. The Officers of God's Kingdom From whence the Schools conclude That any the least Irreverence to a King as to question our Obedience to him may justly be called Sacriledge And since Sacriledge is a violation or taking away of something that is Holy it is evident that the Office and Person of a King is Sacred so as one observes Those Men that are most Sacrilegious against God and his Church are most likely always to offer Violence to the Honour and Persons of their Princes as too late experience hath taught us and to deny themselves the greatest Blessing c Jer. 22.34 Num. 23.21 Isa 49 22 23. to introduce the greatest Curse Licentiousness and Confusion d Prov. 28.2 Isa 3.5 All which sad Effects are but the airy Off-spring of a Platonick Speculation a wild and untaimed seemingly wise Folly in affirming that the People are in their Representative above the King contrary to St. Peter's Doctrine e 1 Pet. â— 13. our known Laws as may be seen in Bracton and all our ancient Sages the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance which they have sworn and his just Title being ever acknowledged by all Carolus but Dei Gratia Charles by the Grace of God not Election nor Suffrages of the People Though were it admitted that in some places as in Elective Kingdoms or here in case of Escheat if there were none living that by lawful descent were right Heir of the Crown the choice of their King were in the People they can only hold forth the Person to the Power if God have so in his Providence ordained it f Deut. 17.15 not give the Power to the Person which is not habitually in them though by them mediately not immediately conveyed but in God's Unction and Approbation of the person For Power like the Soul in the Body when reduced to its first Element returns to God that gave it And as in the Ordination of Bishops though the choice sometimes was perhaps in the People God was the Author and other Bishops by laying on of hands and Prayer the immediate Instruments only of conveying the Power of