against the Senate who began sensibly to incroach on the Regal power that the Tribunes were first instituted to no other end but to preserve the people from unjust oppression and that their opposition to the Consuls was accounted alwayes to be against the rules of their institution and a breach of Articles And as for these Demarchi whom we spake of last that neither by their institution nor by usurpation they did oppose against the Senate in behalf of the people but executed their commands upon the people as their duty bound them So that the great imagination which the Author had of shewing to the world a view of such popular Magistrates as might incourage men of place and eminence to think themselves ordained after these examples to moderate their licentiousness of Kings and Princes is fallen directly to the ground without more ado as being built upon a weak nay a false foundation not able to support the building And more then so in case the instances proposed had been rightly chosen and that the Ephori in Sparta had been first ordained to oppose the Kings the Tribunes to oppose the Consuls and the Demarchi to keep under the Athenian Senate yet these would prove but sorry instances of such popular Officers as were ordained ad moderandum Regum libidinem to moderate the licentiousness of Kings soveraign Princes for proof of which they were produced The Ephori were not instituted in the State of Sparta till the Kings were brought under the command of the Senate and the State become an Aristocratie in which the Kings had very little left them of the Royal dignity but the empty name and were in power no other then the Dukes of Venice save that they were to have the command of the Armies which those Dukes have not And for the Tribunes 't is well known to every one who hath perused the Roman story that there were no such creatures to be found in Rome till the Romans had expuâ—sed their Kings were under the command of Coâ—suls the Monarchie being changed to an Optimatie and the people bound by solemn oaths never to admit of a King amongst them The like may be affirmed also of the Demarchi of Athens supposing that they were of as great authority as either the Ephori or the Tribunes that they were instituted in a time when the affairs of State were managed by nine Annual Magistrates all of them chosen by the people and accomptable to them In all these cases â—um non in regno populus esset sed in libertate e Livie hisâ— lib. 2. when the people had sued out their Wardship and thought themselves to be at liberty freed from those bonds which nature and allegiance formerly had laid upon them they did no more then what a wise and understanding people had good cause to do in taking the best course they could for their future safety And in my minde the people pleaded most unanswerably in their own behalf when they alleadged se foris pro imperio libertate dimicantes domi a civibus captos oppressos f Id. ibid. that fighting valiantly abroad both for their own liberty and their Countries honor against their Kings they were oppressed and wronged at home by their fellow Citizens that their condition as things stood was better in times of war then in times of peace their liberty never more assured then when they were amongst their Enemies and therefore being no otherwise bound to submit themselves to that change of Government then as it had been introduced by their own consent they had all the reason in the world to get as good terms as they could and be no losers by the bargain Which though it were the case and plea particularly of the people of Rome might be used also very fitly by the Spartans and Athenians on the self same reasons But this can no way be pretended or alleadged by those who live in an established and successional Monarchie where there is one only to command in chief and nothing left to the Subject g Tacit. Annal. praeter obsequii gloriam but the glory of obedience only and the necessity of submitting with a loyal heart to those commands and impositions which may be â—aid upon them with an unjust hand So that admitting it for true as indeed it is not that the Ephori the Demarchi and the Tribunes were ordained for the ends supposed yet it can follow by no rules of law or logick that because such popular Officers have been sometimes instituted to keep the scale upright and the balance even betwixt the Nobles and the People in an Aristocratie therefore the like are to be fancied in a setled Monarchie for moderating the licentiousness that is to say for that no doubt must be his meaning for regulating the authority of the Soveraign Prince 8 Thus have we seen a manifest discovery of Calvins purpose for setting up some popular Officers in every Kingdom to regulate the authority and restrain the power of Soveraign Princes and we may see a secret and more subtile danger included in that short Parenthesis then what is obvious at first sight to the unwary Reader For by the instances proposed and presented to us it seems to be his meaning that these popular Officers should not hâ—ve power only to restrain their Kings when they transgress the bounds of law or equity and either tyrannically oppress the Subject or wilfully dilapidate the patrimony of the Common-wealth but that they should set themselves against them and control their doings in the same way after the same manner as the Ephori did the Kings of Sparta or the Tribunes did the Roman Consuls Now we have shewn before out of several Authors h Vide chap. 2. that the Ephori did not only take upon them to appoint such Privie Counsellors about their Kings as to them seemed best to limit and prescribe them in the choyce of their wives to send them out unto the wars and recall them home as if they had been hirelings only and of no more reckoning to put them upon fine and ransome if they did any thing which was not pleasing to these humorous Gentlemen to have them at command both to come and goe as often as they whistled for them or held up a finger and finally to look for lowly reverence from them whensoever they vouchsafed to summon them to attend their pleasures but also to imprison next to banish and in fine to murder them And we have shewed you of the Tribunes i Vide chap. 3â— that after they had fortified themselves with large priviledges and grew predominant in the affections of the common people they did not only quarrel and oppose the Consuls under pretence of setting forth new laws for the peoples benefit nor were content to put the people into the possession of all the offices and honors of the Common-wealth which formerly belonged to the Nobles only whether the Consuls
THE STUMBLING-BLOCK OF Disobedience and Rebellion Cunningly laid by Calvin in the Subjects way Discovered Censured and Removed By P. H. ROM 14. 13. Offendiculum fratri tuo ne ponas Let no man put a Stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way 1 SAM 24. 6. And David said to his men The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lords anointed to stretch forth my hand against him seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. LONDON Printed by E. Cotes for Henry Seile over against St. Dunstans Church in Fleet-street 1658. THE PREFACE IT will appear to any who shal read this Treatise that it was written in the times of Monarchical Government but in the later and declining times thereof when the change of that Government was in agitation and in part effected In which respect I doubt not but the publishing of this Discourse at this present time may seem unseasonable unto some and yet it may be thought by others to come out seasonably enough for these following reasons 1. To give warning to all those that are in Supreme Authority to have a care unto themselves and not to suffer any Popular and Tribunitian Spirits to grow amongst them who grounding upon Calvins Doctrine both may and will upon occasion create new disturbances 2. To preserve the Dignity of the Supreme Power in what Person soever it be placed and fix his Person in his own proper Orb the Primum Mobile of Government brought down of late to be but one of the three Estates and move in the same Planetary Sphere with the other two 3. To keep on foot the claim and Title of the Clergy unto the Reputation Rights and Priviledges of the Third Estate which doth of right belong unto them and which the Clergy have antiently enjoyed in all and to this day in most Christian Kingdoms 4. To shew unto the world on whose authority the Presbyterians built their damnable Doctrine not only of curbing and restraining the power of Princes but also of deposing them from their Regal Dignity whensoever they shall please to pretend cause for it For when the Scotch Commissioners were commanded by Queen Elizabeth to give a reason of their proceedings against their Queen whom not long before they had deposed from the Regal Throne they justified themselves by those words of Calvin which I have chosen for the Argument of this Discourse By the authority of Calvin as my Author hath it they endeavoured to prove that the Popular Magistrates are appointed and made to moderate and keep in order the excess and unruliness of Kings and that it is lawful for them to put the Kings that be evill and wicked into prison and also to deprive them of their Kingdoms If these reasons shall not prove the seasonableness of this Adventure I am the more to be condemned for my indiscretion the shame whereof I must endure as well as I can This being said in order to my justification I must add somewhat of the Book or Discourse it self in which the canvassing and confuting of Calvins Grounds about the Ephori of Sparta the Tribunes of Rome and the Demarchi of Athens hath forced me upon many Quotations both Greek and Latine which to the learned Reader will appear neither strange nor difficult And for the sake of the unlearned which are not so well verst and studyed in forein Languages I have kept my self to the direction of St. Paul not speaking any where in a strange tongue without an Interpreter the sense of every such Quotation being either declared before or delivered after it Lastly whereas the Name of Appius Claudius doth many times occur in the History of the Roman Tribunes it is not always to be understood of the same Man but of diverse men of the same Name in their several Ages as the name of Caesar in the New Testament signifieth not one man but three that is to say the Emperor Tiberius in the Gospels Claudius in the Book of the Acts and that most bloudy Tyrant Nero in the Epistle to the Philippians Which being premised I shall no longer keep the Reader in Portch or Entrance but let him take a view of the House it self the several Rooms Materials and Furniture of it long Prefaces to no long Discourses being like the Gates of Mindum amongst the Antients which were too great and large for so small a City The Argument occasion of this following Treatise Joh. Calvini Institution Lib. 4. cap. 20. sect 31. NEque enim si ultio Domini est effrenatae dominationis correctio ideo protinus demandatam nobis arbitremur quibus nullum aliud quam parendi patiendi datum est Mandatum De privatis hominibus semper loquor Nam siqui nunc sint Populares Magistratus ad moderandum Regum libidinem constituti quales olim erant qui Lacedaemoniis Regibuâ— oppositi erant Ephori aut Romanis Consulibus Tribuni Plebis aut Atheniensium Senatui Demarchi qua etiam forte potestate ut nunc res habent funguntur in singulis Regnis tres Ordines cum primarios Conventus peragunt adeo illos ferocienti Regum licentiae pro officio intercedere non veto ut si Regibus impotenter grâ—ssantibus humili plebeculae insultantibus conniveant eorum dissimulationem nefaria perfidia non carere affirmem qua populi libertatem cujus se Dei ordinatione tutores positos norunt fraudulenter produnt NOr may we think because the punishment of licentious Princes doth belong to God that presently this power is devolved on us to whom no other warrant hath been given by God but only to obey and suffer But still I must be understood of private persons For if there be now any popular Officers ordained to moderate the licentiousness of Kings such as were the Ephori set up of old against the Kings of Sparta the Tribunes of the people against the Roman Consuls and the Demarchi against the Athenian Senate and with w ch power perhaps as the world now goes the three Estates are seized in each several Kingdom when they are solemnly assembled so far am I from hindring them to put restraints upon the exorbitant power of Kings as their Office bindes them that I conceive them rather to be guilty of a perfidious dissimulation if they connive at Kings when they play the Tyrants or wantonly insult on the common people in that they treacherously betray the Subjects Liberties of which they knew they were made Guardians by Gods own Ordinance Syllabus Capitum CHAP. I. The Doctrine of Obedience laid down by Calvin and of the Popular Officers supposed by him whereby he overthroweth that Doctrine I THe purpose and design of the work in hand II The Doctrine of Obedience unto Kings and Princes soundly and piously laid down by CALVIN III And that not only to the good and gratious but even to cruel Princes and ungodly Tyrants IV With Answer unto such Objections as are made
majestie and fortified by so many Edicts from the Court of Heaven though sometimes an unworthie person doth enjoy the same and such a one as doth dishonor it by his filthie life Nor may we think because the punishment of licentious Princes doth belong to God that presently this power of executing vengeance is devolved on us to whom no other precept hath been given by God but only to obey and suffer De privatis hominibus semper loquor Nam si qui nunc sint populares magistratus ad moderandum Regum â—libidinem constituti quales olim erant qui Lacedaemoniis Regibus oppositi erant Ephori aut Romanis Consulibus Tribuni Plebis aut Atheniensium Senatui Demarchi qua etiam fortè potestate ut nunc res habent funguntur in singulis Regnis tres Ordines quum primarios conventus peragunt adeo illos ferocienti Regum licentiae pro officio intercedere non veto ut si Regibus impotenter grassantibus humili plebeculae insultantibus conniveant eorum dissimulationem nefariâ perfidiâ non carere affirmem quia populi libertatem cujus se Dei Ordinatione tutores positos norunt fraudulenter produnt But still I must be understood of private persons For if there be now any Popular Officers ordained to moderate the licentiousness of Kings such as the Ephori of old set up against the Kings of Sparta the Tribunes of the people against the Roman Consuls and the Demarchi against the Athenian Senate and with which power perhaps as the world now goes the three Estates are furnished in each several Kingdom when they are solemnly assembled so far am I from hindering them from putting a restraint on the exorbitant power of Kings as their Office bindes them that I conceive them guiltie rather of a perfidious dissimulation if they conâ—ive at Kings when they play the Tyrants or wantonly insult on the common people in that they treacherously betray the subjects Libertie of which they know they were made guardians by Gods own Ordinance and appointment But this must always be excepted in the obedience which we have determined to be due to the commands of our Governors and first of all to be observed that it draw us not from that obedience which is due to him to whose will all the commands of Kings must be subordinate to whose decrees their strongest mandates must give place and before whose Majestie they are bound to lay down their Scepters For how preposterous were it to incur his anger by our compliance with those men whom we are bound no otherwise to obey then for his sake only The Lord is King of Kings who when he speaks is to be heard for all and above them all We must be subject to those men who have rule over us but in him alone If against him they do command us any thing it is to be of none account Nor in such cases is the dignity of the Magistrate to be stood upon to which no injurie is done if in regard of the more eminent and supreme power of God it be restrained within its bounds Dan. 6. 22. In this respect Daniel denied that he had trespassed any thing against the King in not obeying his prophane and ungodly Edict because the King had gone beyond his proper limits and being not only injurious against men but lifting up his horns against God himself had first deprived himself of all Authoritie The Israelites are condemned on the other side for being so ready to obey their King in a wicked action when to ingratiate themselves with Jeroboam who had newly made the Golden Calves they left the Temple of the Lord and betook themselves to a new superstitious worship And when their Children and posteritie with the like facility applied themselves unto the humors of their wicked Kings the Prophet doth severely rebuke them for it So little praise doth that pretence of modesty deserve to have with which some Court-Parasites do disguise themselves and abuse the simple affirming it to be a crime not to yeeld obedience to any thing that Kings command as if God either had resigned all his rights and interess into the hands of mortal men when he made them Rulers over others or that the greatest earthly power were a jot diminished by being subjected to its Author before whom all the powers of heaven do trembling supplicate I know that great and imminent danger may befall those men who dare give entertainment to so brave a constancy considering with what indignation Kings do take the matter when they once see themselves neglected whose indignation is as the messenger of death saith the wise man Solomon But when we hear this Proclamation made by the heavenly Cryer Act. 5. 29. that we ought to obey God rather then men let this consideration be a comfort to us that then we yeeld that obedience unto God which he looks for from us when we rather choose to suffer any thing then to deviate from the way of godliness And lest our hearts should fail us in so great a business S. Paul subjoyns another motive 1 Cor. 7. 23. that being bought by Christ at so great a price we should not re-inthral our selves to the lusts of men much less addict our selves to the works of wickedness 6. These are the very words of Calvin from which his followers and Disciples most extreamly differ both in their doctrine and their practise First for their practise CALVIN requires that we should reverence and respect the Magistrate for his Office sake a Sect. 22. and that we entertain no other then a fair esteem an honorable opinion both of their actions and their Counsels His followers like filthy dreamers as they are do not only despise dominion b Jude 8. but speak evill of dignities that is to say they neither reverence the persons of their Supreme Magistrate nor regard their Office and are so far from cherishing a good opinion of those higher powers to which the Lord hath made them subject that their hearts imagine mischief against them all the day long and though they see no cause to condemn their actions they will be sure enough to misconstrue the end CALVIN requires that we should manifest the reverence and respect we bear them by the outward actions of obedience c Sect. 23. and to the end that this obedience should proceed from the very heart and not to be counterfeit and false he addes that we commend their health and flourishing estate in our prayers to God d Ibid. His Followers study nothing more then to disobey them in every one of those particulars which their Master speaks of refusing to obey their laws and to pay them tribute and to undergoe such services and burdens as are laid upon them in reference to the publick safety spare not as occasion serves to manifest the disaffection of their hearts by such outward acts as disobedience and disloyalty can suggest
unto them and aâ—e so far from praying for them that many times they pray against them blaspheming God because he will not curse the King and making that which they call Prayer so dangerous and lewd a libel that their very prayers are turned to sin CALVIN requires such moderation in the subject that they neither intermeddle in affairs of State nor invade the Office of the Magistrate and that if any thing be amiss in the publick Government which stands in need of Reformation they presume not to put their hands unto the work or be tumultuously active in it e Sect. 23. His followers will not trust the Magistrates in the performance of their own Office but are all Counsellors and Statesmen and think that nothing is done well but what is done as they would have it and by their own hands too none other Whether things be amiss or not they must needs be doing Not by presenting their desires for a Reformation and making known the fault if such fault there be to their Supreme Magistrates which was the way their Master taught them but by raising tumults to affright them The attempt of the French Hugonots at Ambois upon Charles the ninth and the two tumults at Edenburgh the one about the year 1593. against the person of King James and the other in the year 1637. against the Ministers of King Charles will not be forgotten whilest Calvin and his Institutions are in print amongst us CALVIN requires that we should yeeld obedience not only to such Kings and Princes which faithfully and as they ought do discharge their Office but even to all those also which do nothing less then perform their duties f Sect. 25. not only to the meek and gentle but even unto the fiercest and most cruel Tyrant if any such be raised by God to the Kingly throne g Sect. 27. His followers resolve not to yeeld obedience to their Kings and Princes though they can charge them with no fault but their too much lenity unless it be that they have caused them to surfeit upon peace and plenty or that the people grew too rich and lived too happily and drove too great a Trade under their command and are so far from yeelding obedience to a Tyrant or a severer and cruel Prince call him which you will that neither the innocent minoritie of Charles the ninth nor the moderate Government of the Duchess of Parma in the Netherlands nor the milde peaceable temper of King James when he reigned in Scotland could save them from their insolencies and insurrections Finally CALVIN doth declare that though we be inhumanely handled by a cruel Prince or by a covetous and luxurious Prince dispoyled and rifled though by a slothful one neglected or vexed for our Religion by a lewd and wicked yet it pertains not unto us to redress these mischiefs that all the remedie that we have is to cry to God h Sect. 29. and till God takes the work in hand to obey and suffer i Sect. 31. and absolutely condemns those seditious thoughts which some men are too apt to harbour that we must deal with Kings no otherwise then they shall deserve k Sect. 27. His Followers if they think themselves oppressed though indeed they are not or that Religion is in danger though indeed it be not or the honor of the State neglected though never of so much repute nor so bravely managed will not descend so low as to cry to God or be so pusillanâ—mous and so poorly minded as only to obey and suffer that were a weakness fit for none but the primitive Christians but take the sword into their hands be it right or wrong to force their Kings to come unto a reckoning with them as if they would have reparation from them for their former sufferings and could have reparation no way but that And as for dealing with their Kings no otherwise then they do deserve although the maxime be unsafe and the very thought thereof seditious as their Master tells them would they would hold themselves to that which had they done so many Kings in Christendom had not been so unjustly handled driven from their Palaces expelled their Cities robbed of their Fortresses and Revenues assaulted in the open fields and forced sometimes to change both their Counsel and their Guards the ordinary practise by the Hugonots in France the Presbyterians in Scotland the Calvinists in the Netherlands and indeed where not had they been dealt withall no otherwise then they deserved 7. Next let us look upon them in their points of doctrine and we shall finde the Scholars and their Master at a greater distance then before we saw them at in point of practise CALVIN determines very soundly that Kings have their authoritie from none but God non nisi a se habere imperium l Sect. 25. that the supreme Magistracie is a jurisdiction devolved from God upon the person of the Magistrate or delegata a Deo jurisdictio m Sect. 22. that it is the singular work or act of God to dispose of Kingdoms and to set up such Kings as to him seems meet which he calls Singularem Dei actionem in distribuendis Regnis statuendisque QUOS ILLI VISVM FVERIT REGIBVS n Sect. 26. and finally that in every King or Supreme Governor there is inviolabilis majestas an indelible character of Majestia imprinted by the hand of God His Scholars tell us that Kings are only creatures of the peoples making and that whatever power they have is derived from them The Observator and the Fuller Answer unto Dr. Fern and almost all our later Scriblers do resolve it so They tell us secondly which must needs follow from the former that the people have the sole power of disposing Kingdoms and setting up such Kings as they list themselves and being so set up that there is no more Majestie no brighter beam of Gods divinitie in them then in other men Buchannan so affirms for certain Populo jus est imperium cui velit deferat o Buchannan de jure regni and confidently reckoneth those reverend attributes of Majestie and Highness which usually are given to Kings and Princes inter soloecismos barbarismos Aulicos p Id. in Epist ad amongst the Solecisms and absurdities of Princes Courts CALVIN determines very Oxthodoxly that though the King degenerate and become a tyrant though he infringe the subjects liberties and invade their fortunes persecute them for their pietie and neglect their safetie and be besides a vitious and libidinous person yet still his Subjects are to look upon him in all things which pertain to their publick duties with as much honour and obedience as they would do the justest and most vertuous Prince that was ever given unto a people Eadem in reverentia dignatione habendum quantum ad publicam obedientiam attinet qua optimum Regem si dareâ—ur habituri essent q Sect.
up in the place of those mighty Monarchs And this they did on so good motives and with such success that in short time the Prelates were not only used for advice and counsel but the inferiour Clergie also were called unto imployments of the highest nature and in conclusion with the Prelates made up the third Estate in most Christian Kingdomes For being that the study of Divinitie is diffused and large and that the knowledge of Philosophie and the Arts and Histories is but attendant on the same and subservient to it there was no question made at all in the times we speak of but that a Church-man so accomplished might be as useful in the service of the Common-wealth as those who wanted many opportunities to be so versed in Books the best guides to business especially when to those helps in point of learning were joyned a suddenness of apprehension a perspicacity of judgement and which swayed most of all integritie of life and conversation These when they met together as they often did in men admitted by the Church unto holy Orders it was not either thought or found and indeed how could it that their admittance into Orders did take off from any of those natural or acquired indowments of which before they were possessed or that it was a disabling to them to make use thereof in any matter of debate or action which concerned the publick And that it hath been so of old in all Christian Kingdomes besides that it is intimated by our Author here we shall clearly see by looking over such particulars as have most influence and power in the affairs of Christendom And first beginning as of right with the German Empire Thuanus gives this note in general b August Thuan hist lib. 2. Imperium in tria omnino membra dividi that that Empire is divided into three Estates over all which the Emperour is the head or the Supreme Prince Of these the fiâ—st Estate is ex sacro Ordine of the holy Hierarchie composed of the three spiritual Electors together with the residue of the Archbishops and Bishops and many Abbots Priors and other Prelates The second is of the Nobilitie consisting of the three temporal Electors the Dukes Marquesses Lantgraves Burgraves Earls and Barons of which there is no determinate number the Emperour having power to adde dayly to them as he sees occasion Tâ—e third Estate is of the free or Imperial Cities in number 60. or thereabouts who represent themselves at the General Diets by such Commissioners or Deputies as are authorized to that purpose Now for these Diets for by that name they call their Conventus Ordinum or Assembly of the three Estates they are summoned at the will and pleasure of the Emperour only and at such place and time as to him seems meetest c Id. ibid. Where being met as all the three Estates must meet either in person or by their Ambassadours they use to treat of Peace and War of raising Subsidies and Taxes to support the State of leagues and conâ—ederacies of raising and decrying moneys of making abrogating and expounding laws and of such other points and matters as do pertain unto the honour of the Empire and the publick sasâ—tiâ— Nor is this any new authoritie which the Ecclesiastical Estate hath gained in the latter times but such wherein they were intrusted â—rom the first beginning of that Empire It being affiâ—med by Aventinus a Writer of unquestioned credit that long before the institution of the seven Electors which was in An. 996. the Prelates the Nobilitie and the chief of the people had the election of the Emperour d Aventini Annal Boâ—oâ—um l. 5. And if the Prelates were intrusted in so high a point as the election of the Emperour or the Soveraign Prince no question but they were imployed also in his publick Councels in matters which concerned the managerie of the Common-wealth Next pass we over into France and there we finde the Subjects marshalled into three Estates whereof the Clergie is the first Rex coactis tribus Ordinibus Sacerdotio Nobilitate Plebe subsidia rei pecuniariae petiit e Paul Aemilius hist Franc. l 9. that is to say the King assembling or conveening the three Estates viz. the Clergie the Nobilitie and the Commons demanded subsidies for the support of his Estate So Paulus Aemilius doth inform us Out of these three are chosen certain Delegates or Commissioners some for each Estate as often as the Kings occasions doe require their meeting the time and place whereof is absolutely left unto his disposing and these thus met doe make up the Conventus Ordinum or L' Assemblie des Estats as the French men call it in form much like the English Parliament but in nothing else the power and reputation of it being much diminished in these latter times especially since the great improvement of the Court of Parliament fixed and of long time fixed in Paris Which Court of Parliament as it was instituted at the first by Charles Martell Mayre of the Paâ—ace to the Merovâ—gnian line of France and Grandfather to Charle magne so it consisted at the first of the same ingredients of which the great Assembly des Estats consisteth now that is to say the Prelates and the Peers and certain of the principal Gentrie which they call La nobless together with some few of the most considâ—rable Officers of the Kings houshold f Anâ—â—e du Chosâ—e 8. A Court of such esteem in the former times that the Kings of Sicilie Cyprus Bohomia Portugal Scotland and Navarre have thought it no disparagement unto them to be members of it and which is more when Frederick the second had spent much time and treasure in his quarrels with Pope Innocent the fourth he was content to submit the whole cause in difference unto the judgement of this Court But being at last become sedentaire and fixed at Paris as other ordinary Courts of Justice were which was in An. 1286. or thereabouts the Nobles first and after them the Bishops withdrew themselves from the troubles of it and left it to the ordering of the Civil Lawyers though still the Peeres doe challenge and enjoy a place therein as oft as any point of moment is in agitation the Bishop of Paris and the Abbor of St. Denys continuing constant members of it to this very day But for the Assemblie des Estats or Conventus Ordinum made up of the Clergie the Nobilitie and the Commons as before I told I you he that would see the manner of it the points there handled and that remainder of authority which is left unto them let him repair unto Thuanne g Thuan hist sui temp lib. and look upon the great Assembly held at Bloys An. 1573. He shall finde it there Pass we next over the Pyrenees to the Pealms of Spain and we shall finde in each the same three Estates whose meeting they call there by the name h Bodin de
now goeth were the meetings oftner For whereas there are three Principal if not sole occasions of calling this Assemblie or Conventus Ordinum that is to say the disposing of the Regency during the nonage or sickness of the King the granting aids and subsidies and the redress of the grievances there is now another course taken to dispatch their business The Parliament of Paris which speaks most commonly as it is prompted by power and greatness appointeth the Regent f Contin Thuani An. 1610. the Kings themselves together with their Treasurers and Under-officers determine of the taxes g View of France and they that do complain of grievances may either have recourse to the Courts of justice or else petition to the King for redress thereof And for the making new Laws or repealing the old the naturalization of the Alien and the regulating of his sales or grants of the Crown-lands the publick patrimony of the Kingdome which were wont to be the proper subject and debates of these grand Assemblies they also have been so disposed of that the Conventus Ordinum is neither troubled with them nor called about them The Chamber of Accompts in Paris which hath some resemblance to our Court of Exchequer doth absolutely dispose of Naturalizations and superficially surveyeth the Kings grants and sales * Andr. Du Mesn which they seldom cross The Kings Car tel est nostre plaisir is the Subjects law and is as binding as any Act or Ordinance of the three Estates and for repealing of such Laws as upon long experience are conceived to be unprofitable the Kings sole Edict is as powerfull as any Act of Parliament Of which Bodinus doth not only say in these general terms Saepe vidimus sine Ordinum convocatione consensu leges à Principe abrogatas k Bodin de Rep. lib. 1. cap. 8. that many times these Kings did abrogate some antient laws without the calling and consent of the three Estates but saith that it was neither new nor strange that they should so do and gives us some particular instances not only of the later times but the former ages Nay when the power of this Assemblie des Estats was most great and eminent neither so curtailled nor neglected as it hath been lately yet then they carried themselves with the greatest reverence and respect before their King that could be possibly imagined For in the Assembly held at Tours under Charles the 8. though the King was then no more than 14 years of age and the authority of that Court so great and awfull that it was never at so high an eminence for power and reputation quanta illis temporibus as it was at that time yet when they came before the King Monseiur de Rell being then Speaker for the Commons or the third Estate did in the name of all the rest and with as much humility and reverence as he could devise promise such duty and obedience such a conformity of his will and pleasure such readiness to supply his wants and such alacrity in hearking unto his Commandements that as Bodinus well observes his whole Oration was nothing else quam perpetua voluntatis omnium erga Regem testificatio l Id. ibid. but a constant testimony and expression of the good affections of the subject to their Lord and Soveraign But whatsoever power they had in former times is not now material King Lewis the thirteenth having on good reason of State discharged those Conventions for the time ensuing Instead whereof he instituted an Assembly of another temper and such as should be more obnoxious to his will and pleasure consisting of a certain number of persons out of each Estate but all of his own nomination and appointment which joyn'd with certain of his Counsel and principal Officers he caused to be called L' Assembly des Notables assigning to them all the power and privileges which the later Conventions of the three Estates did pretend unto right well assured that men so nominated and intrusted would never use their powers to his detriment and disturbance of his Heirs and Successors 5. But to proceed Bodinus having shewn what dutifull respects the Convention of Estates in France shewed unto their King addes this note nec aliter Hispanorum conventus habentur that the Assembly of the three Estates in the Realms of Spain carry themselves with the like reverence and submission to their Lord the King Nay major etiam obedientia majus obsequium Regi exhibetur m Id. ibid. the King of Spain hath more obedience and observance from his three Estates than that which is afforded to the Kings of France Which being but general and comparative is yet enough to let us see that the Assembly of Estates in the Realms of Spain which they call the Curia is very observant of their King and obsequious to him and have but little of that power which is supposed by our Author to be inherent in the three Estates of all the Christian Kingdoms But this Bodinus proveth more particularly ascribing to the King and to him alone the power of calling this Assemblie when he sees occasion and of dissolving it again when his work is done according as is used both in France and England And when they are assembled and met together their Acts and consultations are of no effect further than as they are confirmed by the Kings consent Which he declareth in the same form eadem formulà quâ apud nos that hath accustomably been used by the Kings of France which is authoritative enough that is to say n Id. ibid. p. 90. decernimus statuimus volumus We will and we appoint and we have decreed The Kings of Spain though not so despotical in their Government as the French Kings are are as absolute Monarchs and have as great an influence on the three Estates to make them pliant to their will and to work out their own ends by them as ever had the French Kings on their Courts of Parliament a touch whereof we had before in the former Chapter And this we may yet further see by their observance of the pleasure of King Philip the 2d Who having maried the Lady Elizabeth Daughter of Henry the 2d of France Convocatos Castellae reliquarum Hispaniae Provinciarum Ordines o Thuan. â—ist sui temp h 23. l. calling together the Estates of Castile and his other Provinces of Spain he caused them to swear to the succession of his Son Prince Charles whom he had by the Lady Mary of Portugal and after having on some jealousies of State put that Prince to death caused them to swear to the succession of another son by the Lady of Austria And for the power of his Edicts which they call Pragmaticas they are as binding to the Subject as an Act of Parliament or any kind of Law whatever examples of the which are very obvious and familiar in the Spanish Histories For though
they reduced all matters they commonly declin'd the Kings judgement and his Courts of Judicature as altogether incompetent appealing from them either to their own Presbyteries or to the next general Assembly of their own appointing and standing so wilfully to those Appeals that some of them had like to have paid dear for it after that Kings coming into England if the King had not been more mercifull to them then they deserved at his hands If no man whatsoever he be can lawfully acquit himself from this subjection as is said by Chrysostome what will become of Calvins popular Magistrates and of the great authority which he gives them over Kings and Princes those popular Officers being included equally with the rest of the people in St. Pauls injunction It 's true that Calvins popular Officers may seem to have some colour for it both from our English Translation and the vulgar Latine by which obedience is required sublimioribus potestatibus to the higher powers and all such popular Officers whatsoever they be may warrantably be lookt upon as higher powers in respect of the residue of the people But first the words in the original viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do not so properly signifie the higher as the supreme powers and so the word is rendred in the first of St. Peter cap. 2. vers 13. in which submission is required to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be unto the King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to the Supreme or unto such as are sent by him c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Peter in the singular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Paul in the plural number both words proceeding from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Nominative Case and consequently being of the same sense and signification But secondly permitting them the benefit of these translations yet will they finde but little colour for that coercive power that soveraign Authority and Jurisdiction which Calvin hath assigned to the three Estates or any other popular Officers over Kings and Princes For though such popular Officers may warrantably be lookt upon as higher powers in respect of the residue of the people as before was said yet are they lower powers in respect of the King from whom as they receive all the Authority which they have whatsoever it be so unto him they are to render an accompt of their actings in it whensoever he pleaseth So that these popular Officers may be compar'd not unfitly unto the Genera subalterna in the Schools of Logick each of them being subordinate to one another the Constable to the Maior or Bayliff in a corporate Town or to the Justices of the Peace in the County at large the Maiors and Justices to the Judges in their several Circuits the Judges in their several Circuits and their Courts of Judicature to the Lord Chancellor for the time being and he unto the three Estates when convened in Parliament till they end all in genus summum in that supreme power which is subordinate to none and unto which the rest are Species subalternae as the Logicians phrase it in their several orders till they end all in Specie infimâ even in the lowest of the People Less comfort can I give them from the Apostle of the Jewes from the words of St. Peter in which submission is required as before was said to every ordinance of man whether it be unto the King as unto the Supreme or unto Governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evill doers and for the praise of them that do well Now those which are thus authorised and sent by Kings to the ends and purposes before mentioned may very properly be resembled unto Jehosophats Commissioners in the Kingdome of Judah 2 Chron. 17. 7. or the itinerary Judges in the Realm of England and can neither claim nor exercise any other Authority then what in their Commissions and instructions is assigned unto them And certainly no King did or will ever grant any such Commission whereby his Vnder-officers and inferior Magistrates may challenge any power above him or exercise any jurisdiction or Authority over him If any thing in this Text may be thought to favour Calvin in this strange opinion it is that Kings are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 humana creatura saith the vulgar Latin an ordinance of man as the English reads it and being but a Creature of the peoples making the rest may think themselves as good men as he The Rhemists will have Kings to be called humane creatures because elected by the people or holding their Soveraignty by birth and carnall propagation ordained for the wealth peace and prosperity of the Subjects to put a difference betwixt that humane Superiority and the spiritual Rulers and Regiment guiding and governing the people to an higher end and instituted by God himself immediately Christ having expresly constituted the form of Regiment used ever since in the Church Whereunto Dr. Fulk for want of a better doth return this Answer viz. That though there be great difference between the government of Princes and Ecclesiastical Governors yet the Apostle calleth not Princes an humane creation as though they were not also of Gods Creation for there is no power but of God but that the form of their Creation is in mans appointment All the Genevians generally do so expound it and it concerns them so to do in point of interesse The Bishop of that City was their Soveraign Prince and had jus utriusque gladini as Calvin signified in a Letter to Cardinal Sadolet till he and all his Clergy were expelled the City in a popular Tumult Anno 1528. and a new form of Government established both in Church and State So that having laid the foundation of their Common-wealth in the expulsion of their Prince and the new model of their Discipline in refusing to have any more Bishop they found it best for justifying their proceedings at home and increasing their Partizans abroad to maintain a parity of Ministers in the Church of Christ and to invest the people and their popular Officers with a chief power in the concernments and affairs of State even to the deposing of Kings and disposing of Kingdoms But for this last they finde no warrant in the Text which we have before us For first admitting the Translation to be true and genuine as indeed it is not the Roman Emperor and consequently other Kings and Princes may be said to be an humane Ordinance because their power is most visibly conversant circa humanas Actiones about ordering of humane Actions and other civill affairs of men as they were subjects of the Empire and Members of that Body politick whereof that Emperor was head Secondly to make soveraign Princes by what name and Title soever called to be no other then an humane Ordinance because they are ordained by the people and of their appointment must needs create an irreconcileable difference
to the Regal Throne he doth sufficiently declare his will to be that he would have that man to reign over us Some general testimonies of this truth are in holy Scripture Prov. 24. 2 For thus saith SOLOMON For the transgression of a land many are the Princes thereof Job 12. 18. and JOB He looseth the band of Kings and girdeth their loins with a Girdle Which if confessed there is no remedy at all but we must serve those Kings if we mean to live There is another text in the Prophet Ieremie by which the people are commanded Jer. 29. 7. to seek the peace of Babylon whither God had caused them to be carried away captive and to pray unto the Lord for it for in the peace thereof was their peace to be Behold the Israelites being dispoiled of their estates driven from their houses carried into exile and plunged in a most miserable thraldom are yet required to pray for the prosperitie of the Conquerour not only as we are commanded in another place to pray for them that persecute us but that his Empire might continue in peace and safetie that they themselves might quietly enjoy the protection of it Thus David being appointed King by the Lords own Ordinance and anointed with his holy Oyl when undeservedâ—y he was persecuted and pursued by Saul would not give way that any corporal hurt should be done to that sacred person whom God had raised unto the Kingdom 1 Sam. 24. 6. The Lord forbid saith he that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lords anointed to stretch forth my hand against him seeing he is the Anointed of the Lord. Again But mine eye spared thee aâ—d I said I will not put forth my hand against my Lord for he is the Lords Anointed And again who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords Anointed and be guiltless As the Lord liveth the Lord shall smite him or his day shall come to die or he shall descend into battel and perish The Lord forbid that I should stretch my hand against the Lords Anointed This reverence and dutiful regard we ought to carrie towards our Governours SECT 29. to the very end however they may chance to prove Which therefore I repeat the oftner that we may learn not to enquire too narrowly into the men but to rest our selves content with this that they sustain that place or person by the Lords appointment in which he hath imprinted and ingraved a most inviolable character of sacred Majestie But some will say that Rulers owe a mutual dutie to their Subjects That hath been formerly confessed from which if any should infer that no obedience must be yeelded but to their just and legal power he were a very sorry disputant Husbands are bound in mutual bonds unto their Wives and so are Parents to their Children Suppose that both neglect their duties that Parents who are prohibited by God to provoke their Children unto wrath be so untractable and harsh to them that they do grieve them above measure with continual sowreness and that husbands who are commanded to love their wives and to give honour to them as the weaker vessel should use them with contempt and scorn should therefore children be the less obedient to their Parents or wives less dutiful to their husbands We see the contrary that they are subject to them though both lewd and froward Since thereâ—ore nothing doth concern us more then that we trouble not our selves with looking into the defects of other men but carefully endevour to perform those duties which do belong unto our selves more specially ought they to observe this rule who live under the authority and power of others Wherefore if we are inhumanely handled by a cruel Prince or by a covetous and luxurious Prince dispoiled and rifled if by a slothful one neglected or vexed for our Religion by a lewd and wicked let us look back upon our sins which God most commonly correcteth with this kinde of scourges the thought whereof will humble us and keep down the impatience of our angry spirits Let us consider with our selves that it appertains not unto us to redress these mischiefs that all which doth belong to us is to crie to God in whose hands are the hearts of Kings Prov. 21. 1. and he turneth them whither soever he will He is that God which standeth in the Congregation of the mighty and judgeth amongst the Gods before whose face all Kings shall fall and be confounded and all the Judges â—f the earth who do not reverence his CHRIST but make unjust laws to oppress the poor and offer violence to the man of low condion and make a spoil of Widows and a prey of Orphans And here we may aswell behold his goodness SECT 30. as his power and providence For sometimes he doth raise Avengers from amongst his servants and furnisheth them with power sufficient aswell to execute vengeance on such wicked Rulers as to redeem his people so unjustly vext from the house of bondage and sometimes useth to that end the fierce wrath of others who think of nothing less then to serve his turn Thus he redeemed his people Israel from the tyrannie of Pharaoh by the hand of Moses from Cushan Kâ—ng of Syria by Othoniel from other thraldoms by some other of their Kings and Judges Thus did he â—ame the pride of Tyre by the arms of Egypt the insolence of Egypt by the Assyrians the fierceness of Assyria by the Chaldeans the confidence of Babylon by the Medes and Persians after that Cyrus had before subdued the Medes Thus did he sometimes punish the ingratitude of the Kings of Judah and Israel and that ungodly contumacie which they carried towards him notwithstanding all his benefits conferred upon them by the Assyrians first the Baâ—ylonians after But we must know that though these several instruments did the self same work yet they proceeded not in the self same motives For the first sort being thereto lawfully authorized and called by Almighty God by taking up Arms against their Kings did nothing less tâ—â—n violate that sacred Majestie which is inherent in a King by Gods holy Ordinance but being armed from heaven did only regulate and chastise the lesser power by the help of the greater as Princes use sometimes to correct their Nobles The later sort though guided by the hand of God as to him seemed best so that they did unknowingly effect what he had to do intended only the pursuit of their own designs 5. But whatsoever their designes and intentions were SECT 31. the Lord did justly use them to effect his business when by their means he broke the bloudie Scepters of those insolent Kings and overthrew their wicked and tyrannical Empires Hear this ye Princes and be terrified at the hearing of it But let not this afford the least incouragement unto the subject to violate or despise the authoritie of the Magistrate which God hath filled so full of
25. His Scholars sing another song and use all arts imaginable to excite the people to rise against them and destroy them The Author of that scandalous and dangerous Dialogue entituled Eusebius Philadelphus doth expresly say that of all good actions the murther of a Tyrant is most commendable r Euseb Philadelph Dial. Buchannan accounts it a defect in Polities proemia eorum interfectoribus non decerni Å¿ Buchannan de jure regni that publick honors and rewards are not propounded unto such as shall kill a Tyrant and some late Pamphleters conclude it lawful to rebel in the case of tyrannie because forsooth If a King exercising tyrannie over his subjects may not be resisted that is to say if the subject may not take up Arms against him he and his followers may destroy the Kingdom And now we are fallen upon the business of resistance CALVIN allows of no case for ought I can see in which the Subject lawfully may resist the Soveraign quandoquidem resisti magistratui non potest quin simul resistatur Deo t Sect. 23. for as much as the Magistrate cannot be resisted but that God is resisted also and reckoning up those several pressures whereof Samuel spake unto the Jews and which he calls jus Regis as himself translates it he concludes at last cui parere ipsi necesse esset nec obsistere liceret u Sect. â—6 that no resistance must be made on the Subjects part though Kings entrench as much upon them both in their liberties and properties as the Prophet speaks of His Scholars are grown wiser and instruct us otherwise Paraeus saith that if the King assault our persons or endevour to break into our houses we may as lawfully resist him as we would do a Theif or Robber on the like occasions x Paraeus in Rom. cap. 13. And our new Masters have found out many other Cases in which the Subject may resist and which is more then so is bound to do it as namely in his own behalf and in Gods behalf in behalf of his Countrey and in behalf of the laws and in so many more behalfs that they have turned most Christian Kings out of half their Kingdoms But to go on CALVIN determines very rightly that notwithstanding any contract made or supposed to be made between a King and his people yet if the King do break his Covenants and oppress the subject the subject can no more pretend to be discharged of his Allegiance then the wife may lawfully divorce herself from a froward husband or children throw aside that natural dutie which they owe their Parents because their Parents are unkinde and it may be cruel Those which doe otherwise conclude from the foresaid contract he calls insulsos ratio cinatores y Sect. 29. but sorrie and unsavorie disputants and reckoneth it for a seditious imagination that we must deal no otherwise with Kings then they do deserve nec aequum esse ut subditos einos praestemus qui vicissim Regem nobis non se praestet z Sect. 27. or to imagine that it is neither sense nor reason that we should shew our selves obedient subjects unto him who doth not mutually perform the dutie of a King to us His Scholars are grown able to teach their Master a new lesson and would tell him if he were alive that there is a mutual contract between King and Subjects and if he break the Covenant he forfeiteth the benefit of the Agreement and he not performing the dutie of a King they are released from the dutie of subjects As contrary to their Masters Tenet as black to white and yet some late Pamphlets press no doctrine with such strength and eagerness as they have done this Nor have the Pulpits spared to publish it to their cheated Auditories as a new Article of faith that if the Ruler perform not his dutie the contract is dissolved and the people are at liberty to right themselves What excellent uses have been raised from this dangerous doctrine as many Kings of Christendom have felt already so posteritie will have cause to lament the mischiefs which it will bring into the world in succeeding Ages Finally CALVIN hath determined and exâ—eeding piously that if the Magistrate command us any thing which is contrarie to the Will and Word of God we must observe S. Peters rule and rather choose to obey God then men and that withaâ—l we must prepare our selves to endure such punishments as the offended Magistrate shall inflict upon us for the said refusal Et quicquid potius perpeti quam a veritate defiectere a Sect. 32. and rather suffer any torments then forsake the way of Gods Commandements The Magistrate as it seems by him must at all times be honoured by us either in our active obedience or in our passive if we refuse to do his will we must be content to suffer for it His Scholars are too wise to submit to that and are so far from suffering for the testimony of the Gospel and a good conscience that they take care to teach the people that it is lawful to rebel in behalf of God to preserve the true religion when it is in danger or when they think it is in danger by force of Arms and to procure the peace of Hierusalem by the destruction of Babylon Which being so the difference being so great and irreconcileable between the Followers and their leader in the point of practise between the Master and the Scholars in the points of doctrine me thinks it were exceeding fit the man were either less admired or better followed that they who cry him up for the great Reformer would either stand to all his Tenets or be bound to none that they would be so careful of the Churches peace and their own salvation as not to swallow down his errors in his points of discipline and pass him by with a Magister non tenetur when he doth preach obedience to them and doth so solidly discourse of the powers of Government b Tully Philip. 2. Aut undique religionem suam tollant aut usquequaque conservent as Tully said of Antony in another case But of this no more 9. Hitherto CALVIN hath done well few better of the Genevian Doctors none ne unus quidem not so much as one But there 's an herb which spoils the pottage an HERB so venomous that it is mors in olla unto them that taste it The figs in the next basket are evill Ierem. 24. very evill not to be eaten as it is in the Prophets words they are so evill In that before he did exceeding soundly and judiciously lay down the doctrine of obedience unto Kings and Princes and the unlawfulness of Subjects taking Arms against their Soveraign In this to come he openeth a most dangerous gap to disobedience and rebellions in most States in Christendom in which his name is either reverenced or his works esteemed of For having fully
would or not but sometimes clapt them up in prison and sometimes forced them to flie the Senate-house for their lives and safety and sometimes threw them down headlong out of their Chairs of State to the great danger of their lives and disgrace of their persons Princes should be in worse condition then their meanest subjects if they were under the command of such powerful masters who being exalted from mean fortunes and ignoble families little acquainted with good manners and less with any thing which is brave and royal would think themselves unworthy of so great an Office should they not Lord it to the purpose and exercise all kinde of tyrannie on their captived Kings which insolence and malice could suggest unto them If Jack be once in office he must be a Gentleman and gallop to the Devil if he get on Horse-back Asperius nihil est humili cum surgit in altum as the Poet hath it k Juvenal Sâ—i If once the bramble come to have Dominion over the trees of the Forrest he will not only rob the Olive of his fatness the Vine of his rich Wines and the Fig-tree of his sweetness but also will devour the Cedars l Judg. c. 9. even the Cedars of Lebanon No King or other Supreme Magistrate shall dare to stand before them or if he do a fire shall come out of the Bramble and consume him utterly Such popular Officers as those of whom Calvin speaks are of such credit and authority with the common people whose Officers they are in name but in fact their masters that if they do but blow the Trumpet and say We have no part in David nor no inheritance at all in the son of Jesse m 2 Sam. â—0 every man will unto his tents and forsake the King or Supreme Magistrate to follow after them though men of Belial And this I do believe the rather to be Calvins meaning because G. Buchannan who built on his foundation and pursued â—is Principles doth not only exceedingly commend the act of Theopompus in setting up the Ephori in the State of Sparta and the Answer which he made his wife when she murmured at it but thinks it very meet and reasonable that a free people as all Subjects are in his opinion should be armed with the like authority in reprimenda tyrannidis acerbitate n De jure regnâ— apud Scotos for the suppressing of tyrannical Government in which themselves must be Judges which the Ephori enjoyed at Sparta and the Tribunes in the City of Rome For though he durst not go so far in terminis as to advise the instituting of such popular Magistrates as Calvin speaks of in this place yet he comes very neer it to a tantamont For that which Calvin doth ascribe to his popular Magistrates Buchannan gives to the whole body of the people generally to whom he doth allow as much authority over the persons of their Kings Quod illi in singulos è multitndine habent o Id. ibid. as they have over any one of the common people and thinks it both unreasonable and absurd that they should not be called to accompt before the ordinary Judges of their several Kingdomes which must supply the place of these popular Magistrates as often as any of their subjects shall accuse them of murder or adultery or neglects in government or whatsoever else they shall charge them with instancing in no fewer then twelve Kings of Scotland who either were condemned to perpetual prison or else by voluntary death or exile Justas scelerum poenas â—ugerunt escaped the punishment which was most justly due unto them as he most impudently saith for their wicked lives 9 If any ask as some justly may what might induce our Author to these different courses to laâ— so sure a ground-work for obedience in the first part of his discourse and afterward to build upon it such a superstructure as absolutely pulls up his own foundation the answer is that the man was very much distracted between his reason and his passion his conscience and his private interess Aliudque cupido mens aliud suadet His reason and his conscience told him that every subject was to yeeld obedience to the authoritie and commands of the Soveraign Prince and that if any other doctrine should be plainly preached it would conduce both to the scandal and the hinderance of the Reformation And his experience in the world could not choose but tell him that many of the chief Reformers by their heat and violence had given too great advantage to the publick Enemy and made the Protestant Religion to be much suspected Nil aliud quaerere captare quam Seditionum opportunitatem p Calvin in Epistola Dedic ad Franciscum l. 1536. for giving too much ground to seditious courses and publishing some doctrines which were inconsistent with the rules of Government This made him write so soundly of the Subjects duty even to wicked Princes and the unlawfulness of resisting in the way of Arms though open force and violence were offered to them by ungodly Tyrants and this he doth so well that few do it better Utinam sic semper errasset CALVINUS as once the learned Cardinal said of him in another case But then his interess in the cause and quarrel of Geneva who by the help of some such popular Officers as he speaks of here had not long before expelled their Bishop who had also all the jurisdiction of a temporal Prince within the City and the territory which belonged unto it inclined him to say somewhat which might serve to defend that action and give the like advantage unto other Cities to follow the example which was laid before them The case is briefly touched by Thuanus thus q Thuan. Hist sui temp l. Jus Supremi Dominii in Civitatem Genevae Episcopos semper penes se retinuisse donec mutata religione Syndici qui sub Episcopali autoritate libertatem antea tuebantur illud proprium sibi fecere ejectis Episcopis sub imperii patrocinio Rempub. administrabant The Soveraigntie saith he or Supreme Dominion over the City of Geneva the Bishops still kept unto themselves till in the alteration of Religion the Syndiâ—ks who before preserved the libertie of the people under the government of the Bishops assumed the same unto themselves and absolutely casting out the Bishops governed it like a Commonâ—wealth under the patronage or protection of the German Emperours In which it is first clear on the Bishops side that they had jus Supremi Dominii the Soveraigntie or Supreme Dominion of the City And so much is affirmed by Calvin in another place Habebat jus gladii alias civilis juridictionis r Calvin in Epistola ad Sadoletum partes He had saith he the power of the Sword and other parts of temporal jurisdiction but as he thinks but foolishly and against all records Magistratâ—i erâ—ptas either by fraud or force extorted
serve for all This is enough to let us see how irreconcileable an hatred these of the Calvinian faction bear against Kings and Princes how well they play the part of the very Antichrist in exalting themselves against whatsoever is called God and that the special reason why they affect so much to be called the Saints is out of a strong probable hope to see the day in which they shall binde Kings in chains and all the Princes of the earth in fetters of iron Finally such is their disaffection unto sacred Monarchie which they have sucked out of the grounds and principles here laid down by Calvin that we may justly say of them what was most truly said of the ancient Romans quasi nefas esset Regem aliquem prope eorum terminos esse u Justin hist l. 29. they have bestirred themselves so bravely in defiance of the Regal Government as if they did account it an unpardonable sin to suffer any King though most good and gracious to border near them Which lest they should not be of power to compass by their popular Magistrates or by the Judges or the Peers or the People severally which make the main Battel for this combat let us next look on the Reserve and see what hopes they have to effect the business by the three Estates conjoyned in Parliament or by what other name soever we shall call their meeting which CALVIN in the last place doth reflect upon but cautiously with a qua forte or a peradventure as in that before CHAP. V. What are the three Estates in each severall Kingdome of which CALVIN speaks and what particularly in the Realm of ENGLAND I Of the division of a People into three Estates and that the Priests or Clergie have been alwaies one II The Priests employed in Civill matters and affairs of State by the Egyptians and the Persians the Greeks Gaules and Romans III The Priests and Levites exercised in afaffairs of Civill Government by Gods own appointment IV The Prelates versed in Civill matters and fairs of State in the best and happiest times of Christianity V The Clergie make the third Estate in Germany France Spain and the Northern Kingdomes VI That anciently in the Saxon times the Ecclesiasticks of this Realm were called to all publick Councels VII The Prelates an essential fundamental part of the English Parliament VIII Objections answered and that the word Clerus in the Legal notion doth not extend unto the Prelates IX That the inferior Clergie of the Realm of England had anciently their votes in Parliament to all intents and purposes as the Commons had X Objections answered and that the calling of the Clergie to Parliaments and Convocations were after different manners and by several writs XI The great disfranchisement and slavery obtruded on the English Clergie by the Idepriving of the Bishops of their Votes in Parliament XII A brief discussion of the question whether any two of the three Estates conspiring or agreeing together can conclude any thing unto the prejudice of the third BUt first before we fall on the point it self and search into the power ascribed by Calvin to the three Estates of every Kingdome we must first see what kinde of men they are and of what condition who constitute the said Estates which being fiâ—st setled and determined we shall the better be inabled to proceed accordingly in the inquiry after that authority which our Author gives them of regulating the proceedings of the soveraign Prince and putting a restraint on the exorbitant power of Kings In which we shall presume for granted what our Author gives us viz. tres Ordines in singulis Regnis that in each several Kingdome there are three Estates and those three we shall prove to be though our Author is no otherwise to be understood the Clergy the Nobility and the Common people which distribution of the Subject into three Estates as 't is very ancient so was the distribution of them into three neither more nor less founded on good prudential motives and grounds of Polity For as judicious Bodin very well observeth should there be only two Estates and no more then so either upon such differences as might rise between them the one side would be apt to compell the other by force of violence or else aequatis Ordinum suffragiis a Bodin de Repub. l. 3. cap. uâ—t the ballance being even between them their meetings would be many times dissolved without producing any notable effect to the benefit of the Common-wealth In which respect the counterpoise or addition of a third Estaâ—e was exceeding necessary ut alterutri sese adjungens utrumque conciliet that joyning unto either of the other two it might unite them both into one opinion and advance the service of the publick And on the other side were there more then three opinionum multitudo the difference of opinions and pretence of interesses would keep them at perpetual distance and hinder them from pitching upon any point in which all their purposes and aims were to be concentred So that the casting of the body of a people into three Estates seems most convenient for the furtherance of the publick service and of those three three Estates the Priests or Clergy as we call them since the times of CHRIST have generally been accounted one For though Hippodamus whom Aristotle justly taxeth for defects b Aristot Politic l. in Politic ordained his three Estates to be the Souldiery the Handicrafts-man and the Husbandman yet wiser Statists saw no reason that the two last should passe for severall estates or ranks of men being that both might be more fitly comprehended under the name and rank of the common people And therefore the Egyptians did divide the people into these three ranks the Priest which is respondent to the Christian Clergy the Souldier who carrieth most resemblance to the State of Nebles and those which lived by trades and labours whom by one generall name they called Operarii c Diodor. Siculus as we now the Commons which coursâ— we finde to be observed also by the ancient Gaules dividing their whole body into these three orders d Caesar de Bel â—o Gallico l. 6. the Druides who had the charge of matters which concerned Religion the Equites who managed the affairs of war and then the Plebs or common people who were subordinate to the other two and directed by them How this division hath succeeded in the States of Christendom we shall see hereafter 2 In the mean time we may take notice that the Priests of Egypt the Druides of Gaul and those who had the ordering of those services which concerned the gods by whatsoever name or title they were known and called in other Countreys were not so tied unto the Altars and other ministerial Offices which concerned the gods as not to have some special influence in ordering the affairs of the Common-wealth The Priests of Egypt as we read in Aelian an
Repub lib. 3. c. of Curia the Court 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or by way of ominencie consisting of the Clergie the Nobilitie and the Commissioners of the Provinces and most antient Cities But we must tell you by the way that long before the institution of these Courts and long before the division of Spain into so many Kingdomes the Prelates of that Church were of such authority that a chief stroke in the election of their Kings did belong to them For in the eighth Council of Toledo summoned by Recesvinthus the 25. of the Gothish race of the Kings of Spain An. 653. so long agoe in which were present 52 Bishops 12 Abbots and the Delegates or Vicars of ten other Bishops who could not personally attend the service it was ordered with the Kings consent that from thenceforth the Kings of Spain should be elected in the Regal City or in what other place soever the King should happen to decease by the joynt suffrages of the Prelates and the great Lords of the Court Majores Palatii as the Canon calls them i Concil Tolet. VIII Can. 10. But take the whole Canon with you for the more assurance and you finde it thus Abninc ergo deinceps ita erunt in Regni gloria praeficiendi Rectores ut aut in urbe Regia aut in loco ubi Princeps decesserit cum Pontificum Majorumque Palatii omnimodo eligantur assensu But after Spain became divided into several Kingdomes and that each Kingdome had its Court or Curia as they call their Parliament the Clergie were esteemed in each for the third Estate the first indeed of all the three and either in person or by their Proxies made up the most considerable part in those publick meetings For proof of which we need but look into the General history of Spain translated out of French by Grimston and we shall finde a Court or Parliament for the Realm of Aragon consisting of the Bishops Nobles and Deputies of Towns and Commonalties having place in the said Estates conveened by King James at Saragossa Anno 1325. for setling the Succession and declaring the Heir k Gen. hist of Spain l. 14. another at Monson where the Estates of Aragon and Catalogne did conveen together 1236 to consult about the conquest of Valentia l Id. lib. 11. and before that another Assemblie of the Bishops and Noblemen called at Saragossa by Alfonso the Great touching the War against the Moores m Id. lib. 9. And as for the Realm of Naples and Sicily being appends on this Crown there is little question to be made but that the Bishops and Clergie of both enjoyed the place and priviledges of the third Estate both Kingdomes being antiently holden of the Pope and of his Erection and the Italian Bishops as lying directly under his nose more amply priviledged for the most part then in other Countries Thus for Castile we finde a Parliament of Lords Prelates and Deputies of Towns summoned at Toledo by Alfonso the Noble An. 1210. upon occasion of an invasion made by the Moores n Id. lib. 10. another before that at Burgos under the same King Anno 1179. for levying of money on the people to maintain the Wars n that great Convention of the States held at Toledo by Ferdinand the Catholick 1479. for swearing to the succession of his Son Don John in which the Prelates the Nobility and almost all the Towns and Cities which sent Commissioners to the Assembly are expressly named o Id. lib. Thus finally doe we finde a meeting of the Deputies of the three Estates of Navarre at the Town of Tasalla Anno 1481. for preserving the Kingdome in obedience to King Francis Phoebus being then a minor under age p Id. lib. 22. and that the Deputies of the Clergie Nobilitie Provinces and good Towns of Portugal assembled at Tomara An. 1581. to acknowledge Philip the second for their King and to settle the Government of that Kingdome for the times to come q Id. lib. 30. Now let us take a view of the Northern Kingdomes and still we finde the people ranked in the self same manner and their great Councels to consist of the Clergie the Nâ—bilitie and certain Deputies sent from the Provinces and Cities as in those before In Hungarâ—e before that Realm received the Gospel we read of none but Nobiles Plebeii r Bonfinius in hist Hungar. Dec. l. 1. the Nobilitie and common people who did concur to the election of their Kings but no sooner was the Faith of Christ admitted and a Clergie instituted but instantly we finde a third Estate Episâ—opos Sacerdotum Collegia s Id. ibid. Deâ— 2. l. 2. Bishops and others of the Clergie super-added to them for the election of the Kings and the dispatch of other businesses which concerned the publick t Id. Decad. 2. l. 3. as it continueth to this day In Danemark we shall finde the same if we mark it well For though Pontanus seem to count upon five Estates making the Regall Family to be the first and subdividing the Commons into two whereof the. Yeomanry makes one and the Tradesman or Citizen the other u Pontan in Doriae descript yet in the body of the History we finde only three which are the Bishops the Nobility and Civitatum delegati x Id. in histor Rerum Danic l. 7. the Deputies or Commissioners of Towns and Cities Take which of these Accompts you will and reckon either upon Five or on three Estates yet still the Ecclesiastick State or Ordo Ecclesiasticus as himself entituleth it is declared for one and hath been so declared as their stories tell us ever since the first admittance of the Faith amongst them the Bishops together with the Peers and Deputies making up the Comitia or Conventus Ordinum In Poland the chief sway and power of government next to the King is in the Councell of Estate Secundum Regem maxima Augustuissima Senatus autoritas as Thuanus hath it y Thuan. hist sui temp l. 56. And that consisteth of nine Bishops whereof the Archbishops of Guisna and Leopolis make alwaies two of fifteen Palatines for by that name they call the greater sort of the Nobility and of sixty five Chastellans which are the better sort of the Polish Gentry who with the nine great Officers of the Kingdome of which the Clergy are as capable as any other sort or degree of subjects doe complete that Councell The Common people there are in no authority a procuratione Reipub. omnino summota not having any Vote or suffrage in the great Comitia a Thuan. hist sui temp l. 56. or generall Assemblies of the Kingdome as in other places For Sweden it comes neer the government and formes of Danemark and hath the same estates and degrees of people as amongst the Danes that is to say Proceres Nobiles the greater and the lesse Nobility Episcopi Ecclesiastici
the Bishops and inferiour Clergy Civitates universitates the Cities and Towns Corporate for so I think he means by vniversitates as Thuanus b Id. lib. 131. mustereth them And in this Realm the Bishops and Clergy enjoy the place and priviledges of the third Estate notwithstanding the alteration of Religion to this very day the Bishops in their own persons and a certain number of the Clergy out of every Sochen a division like our Rurall Deanries in the name of the rest having a necessary Vote in all their Parliaments And as for Scotland their Parliament consisted anciently of three Estates as learned Camden doth informe us that is to say the Lords spirituall as Bishops Abbots Priors the Temporall Lords as Dukes Marquesses Earles Vicounts Barons and the Commissioners of the Cities and Burroughs c Camden in descript Scotiae To which were added by King James two Delegates or Commissioners out of every County to make it more conforme to the English Parliaments And in some Acts the Prelates are by name declared to be the third Estate as in the Parliament Anno 1597. Anno 1606 c. for which I do referre you to the Book at large 6 And now at last we are come to England where we shall find that from the first reception of the Christian Faith amongst the Saxons the Ecclesiasticks have been called to all Publick Councels and their advice required in the weightiest matters touching the safety of the Kingdome No sooner had King Ethelbert received the Gospell but presently we read that as well the Clergy as the Laity were called unto the Common Councell which the Saxons sometimes called Mycell Synoth the Great Assembly and sometimes Wittenagemots d Coke on Liâ—l 2. sect the Councell or Assembly of the Wise men of the Realm Anno 605. Ethelbertus Rex in fide roboratus Catholica c. Cantuariae convocavit commune concilium â—am Cleri quam populi c. e H. Spelman in Concil p. 126. King Ethelbert as my Author hath it being confirmed in the Faith in the year 605. which was but nine years after his conversion together with Bertha his Queen their Son Eadbald the most Reverend Archbishop Augustine and all the rest of the Nobility did solemnize the Feast of Christs Nativity in the City of Canterbury and did there cause to be assembled on the ninth of January the Common-Councell of his Kingdome aswell the Clergy as the Lay Subject by whose consent and approbation he caused the Monastery by him built to be dedicated to the honour of Almighty God by the hand of Augustine And though no question other examples of this kinde may be found amongst the Saxon Heptarchs yet being the West Saxon Kingdome did in fine prevail and united all the rest into one Monarchy we shall apply our selves unto that more punctually Where we shall finde besides two Charters issued out by Athelstan Consilio Wlfelmi Archiepiscopi mei aliorum Episcoporum meorum f Ap. eund p. 402 403. by the advice of Wlfelm his Archbishop and his other Bishops that Ina in the year 702. caused the great Councell of his Realm to be assembled consisting ex Episcopis Principibus proceribus c. of Bishops Princes Nobles Earls and of all the Wise men Elders and People of the whole Kingdome and there enacted divers lawes for the Weal of his Realm g Apud eund p. 219. Thus do we read that Egbert who first united the seven Kingdomes of the Saxons under the name of England did cause to be conveened at London his Bishops and the Peers of the highest rank pro consilio capiendo adversus Danicos Piratas h Charta Whitlafii Merciorum Regis ap Ingulf to advise upon some course against the Danish Pirates who infested the sea coasts of England Another Parliament or Councell call it which you will called at Kingsbury Anno 855. in the time of Ethelwolph the Son of Egbert pro negotiis regni i Chart. Bertulfi Merc. Regis ap Ingulf to treat of the affaires of the Kingdome the Acts whereof are ratified and subscribed by the Bishops Abbots and other great men of the Realme The same King Ethelwolph in a Parliament or Assembly of his States at Winchester Anno 855. Cum consilio Episcoporum principum k Ingulfi Croyland hist by the advice and counsell of the Bishops and Nobility confirmed unto the Clergy the tenth part of all mens goods and ordered that the Tithe so confirmed unto them should be free ab omnibus secularibus servitutibus for all secular services and impositions In the reigne of Edred we finde this Anno 948. In Festo igitur nativitatis B. Mariae cum universi Magnates regni per Regium edictum summoniti tam Archiepiscopi Episcopi ac Abbates quam caeteri totius regni proceres optimates Londoniis convenissent ad tractandum de negotiis publicis totius Regni l Id ibid. p. 497 edit Lond. viz. That in the Feast of the Nativity of the blessed Virgin the great men of the Realm that is to say Archbishops Bishops Abbots Nobles Peeres were summoned by the Kings Writ to appear at London to handle and conclude about the publick affaires of the Kingdome Mention of this Assembly is made againe at the foundation and endowment of the Abbie of Crowland m Id. p. 500. and afterwards a confirmation of the same by Edgar Anno 966. praesentibus Archiepiscopis Episcopis Abbatibus Optimatibus Regni n Id pag. 501. 502. in the presence of the Archbishops Bâ—shops Abbots and Peers of the Kingdome Like convention of Estates we finde to have been called by Canutus after the death of Edmund Ironside for the setling of the Crown on his own head of which thus the Author o Rog. Hoveden Annal pars prior p. 250. Cujus post mortem Rex Canutus omnes Episcopos Duces nec non principes cunctosque optimates gentis Angliae Londoniae congregari jussit Where still we finde the Bishops to be called to Parliament as well as the Dukes Princes and the rest of the Nobility and to be ranked and marshalled first which clearly shewes that they were alwaies reckoned for the first Estate before the greatest and most eminent of the secular Peers And so we finde it also in a Charter of King Edward the Confessor the last King of the Saxon race by which he granted certain Lands and priviledges to the Church of Westminster Anno 1066. Cum consilio decreto Archiepiscoporum Episcoporum Comitum aliorumque Optimatum p Ap. H. Spelman in Concil p. 630. with the counsell and decree of the Archbishops Bishops Earls and others of his Nobles And all this while the Bishops and other Prelates of the Church did hold their Lands by no other tenure then in pura perpetua eleemosyna q Camden in Brit. or Frank almoigne as our Lawyers call
first by these who first ventured on the expression or were improvidently looked over I can hardly say Certain I am it gave too manifest an advantage to the Antimonarchical party in this Kingdome and hardned them in their proceeding against their King whom they were taught to look on and esteem no otherwise than as a Joynt-tenant of the Soveraignty with the Lords and Commons And if Kings have partners in the Soveraignty they are then no King such being the nature and law of Monarchy that si divisionem capiat interitum capiat necesse est m Lactant Institut Div. l. 1. c. if it be once divided and the authorities thereof imparted it is soon destroyed Such is the dangerous consequence of this new Expression that it seemeth utterly to deprive the Bishops and in them the Clergy of this Land of all future hopes of being restored again to their place in Parliament For being the Parliament can consist but of three Estates if the King fall so low as to pass for one either the Bishops or the Commons or the Temporal Lords must desert their claim the better to make way for this new pretension and in all probability the Commons being grown so potent and the Nobility so numerous and united in blood and mariages will not quit their interesse and therefore the poor Clergy must be no Estate because lesse able as the world now goeth with them to maintain their title I have often read that Constantine did use to call himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 n Euseb de vita Constant the Bishop or Superintendent of his Bishops and I have oft heard our Lawyers say that the King is the general Ordinary of the Kingdome but never heard nor read till within these few yearrs that ever any King did possess himself of the Bishops place or vote in Parliament or sate there as the first of the three Estates as antiently the Bishops did to supply their absence By which device whether the Clergy or the King be the greater losers though it be partly seen already future times will shew 2. This rub removed we next proceed to the examination of that power which by our Author is conferred on the three Estates which we shall find on search and tryal to be very different according to the constitution of the Kingdome in which they are For where the Kings are absolute Monarchs as in England Scotland France and Spain l Bodin de Repub. l. 1. c. the three Estates have properly and legally little more authority than to advise their King as they see occasion to represent unto his view their common grievances and to propose such remedies for redresse therof as to them seem meetest to canvass and review such erroneous judgements as formerly have passed in inferiour Courts and finally to consult about and prepare such laws as are expedient for the publick In other Countries where the Kings are more conditional and hold their Crowns by compact and agreement betweeen them and their Subjects the reputation and authority of the three Estates is more high and eminent as in Polonia Danemark and some others of the Northern Kingdomes where the Estates lay claim to more than a directive power and think it not enough to advise their King unless they may dispose of the Kingdome also or at least make their King no better than a Royal Slave Thus and no otherwise it is with the German Emperors who are obnoxious to the Laws m Thuan. hist sui temp l. 2. and for their Government accomptable to the Estates of the Empire insomuch that if the Princes of the Empire be perswaded in their consciences that he is likely by his mal-administration to destroy the Empire and that he will not hearken to advice and counsel n Anonym Script ap Philip Paraeu in Append. â—d Rom. 13. ab Electorum Collegio Caesaria potestate privari potest he may be deprived by the Electors and a more fit and able man elected to supply the place And to this purpose in a Constitution made by the Emperor Jodocus about the year 1410. there is a clause that if he or any one of his Successors do any thing unto the contrary thereof the Electors and other States of the Empire sine rebellionis vel infidelitatis crimine libertatem habeant o Goldast Constit Imperial Tom. 3. p. 424. should be at liberty without incurring the crimes of Treason or Disloyalty not only to oppose but resist them in it The like to which occurs for the Realm of Hungary wherein K. Andrew gives authority to his Bishops Lords and other Nobles sine nota alicujus infidelitatis p Bonfinius de Edict publ p. 37. that without any imputation of disloyalty they may contradict oppose and resist their Kings if they do any thing in violation of some Laws and sanctions In Poland the King takes a solemn oath at his Coronation to confirm all the Privileges rights and liberties which have been granted to his Subjects of all ranks and orders by any of his Predecessors and then addes this clause quod si Sacramentum meum violavero incolae Regni nullam nobis obedientiam praestare tenebuntur which if he violates his Subjects shall no longer be obliged to yield him obedience q Bodin de Rep. lib. 1. cap. 8. Which oath as Bodine well observeth doth savour rather of the condition of the Prince of the Senate than of the Majesty of a King The like may be affirmed of Frederick the first King of Danemark who being called unto that Crown on the ejection of K. Christian the 2d An. 1523. was so conditioned with by the the Lords of the Kingdome that at his coronation or before he was fain to swear that he would put none of the Nobility to death or banishment but by the judgement of the Senate that the great men should have power of life or death over their Tenants and Vassals and that no Appeal should lye from them to the Kings tribunal nor the King be partaker of the confiscations nec item honores aut imperia privatis daturum c r Id. ibid. nor advance any private person to commands or honors but by authority of his great Counsel Which oath being also taken by Frederick the second made Bodinus say that the Kings of Danemark non tam reipsa quam appellare Reges sunt were only titular Kings but not Kings indeed Which character he also gives of the Kings of Bohemia Å¿ Id. ibid. p. 88. But in an absolute Monarchy the case is otherwise all the prerogatives and rights of Soveraignty being so vested in the Kings person ut nec singulis civibus nec universis fac est c. that it is neither lawful to particular men nor to the whole body of the Subjects generally to call the Prince in question for life fame or fortunes t Id. ibid. p. 210. and amongst these he reckoneth the kingdoms of France
Spain England Scotland the Tartars Muscovites omnium paene Africae Asiae imperiorum and of almost all the Kingdomes of Africk and Asia But this we shall the better see by looking over the particulars as they lye before us 3. But first before we come unto those particulars we will look backwards on the condition and authority of the Jewish Sanhedrim which being instituted and ordained by the Lord himself may serve to be a leading case in the present business For being that the Iews were the Lords own people and their Kings honored with the title of the Lords Anointed it will be thought that if the Sanhedrim or the great Councel of the seventie had any authority and power over the Kings of Iudah of whose jus Regni such a large description is made by God himself in the first of Sam. cap. 8. the three Estates may reasonably expect the like in these parts of Christendom Now for the authority of the Sanhedrim it is said by Cardinal Baronius that they had power of judicature over the Law the Prophets and the Kings themselves u Baron Annal. Eccl. An. 31. §. 10. Erat horum summa autoritas ut qui de lege cognoscerent Prophetis simul de Regnibus judicarent Which false position he confirms by as false an instance affirming in the very next words horum judicio Herodem Regem postulatum esse that King Herod was convented and convicted by them for which he cites Iosephus with the like integrity I should have wondred very much what should occasion such a grosse mistake in the learned Cardinal had I not shewn before that as he makes the Sanhedrim to rule the King so he hath made the high Priest to rule the Sanhedrim which to what purpose it was done every man can tell who knoweth the Cardinal endeavoureth nothing more in his large Collections than to advance the dignity and supremacy of the Popes of Rome x Id. in Epist dedicator But for the power pretended to be in the Sanhedrim and their proceedings against Herod as their actual King Iosephus when he cite's is so far from saying it that he doth expresly say the contrary For as Josephus tells the story Hyrcanus was then King not Herod and Herod of so little hopes to enjoy the Kingdom that he could not possibly pretend any Title to it But having a command in Galilee procured by Antipater his Father of the good King Hyrcanus he had played the wanton Governor amongst them and put some of them to death against Law and Justice For which the Mothers of the slain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did often call upon the King and people in the open Temple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 y Joseph Antâ—q Judic l. 14. cap. 17. c. that Herod might answer for the murther before the Sanhedrim Which being granted by the King he was accordingly convented by them and had been questionlesse condemned had not the King who loved him dearly given him notice of it on whose advertisement he went out of the Town and so escaped the danger This is the substance of that story and this gives no authority to the Court of Sanhedrim over the persons or the actions of the Kings of Iudah Others there are who make them equal to the Kings though not superiour Magnam fuisse Senatus autoritatem Regiae velut parem z Grotius in Matth. cap. 5. v. 22. saith the learned Grotius And for the proof thereof allege those words of Sedechias in the Book of Ieremie who when the Princes of his Realm required of him to put the Prophet to death returned this Answer a Jerem. 38. 5. Behold he is in your hâ—nd Rex enim contra vos nihil potest for the King is not he that can do any thing against you Which words are also cited by Mr. Prynne to prove that the King of England hath no Negative voyce b Prynne of Parl. pt 2. p. 73. but by neither rightly For Calvin who as one observeth composed his expositions on the book of God according to the doctrine of his Institutions c Hookers preface would not have lost so fair an evidence for the advancing of the power of his three Estates had he conceived he could have made it serviceable to his end and purpose But he upon the contrary finds fault with them who do so expound it or think the King did speak so honorably of his Princes ac si nihil iis sit nequandum d Calvin in Jerem. c. 38. v. 5. as if it were not to deny them any thing Not so saith he it rather is amerulenta Regis querimonia a sad and bitter complaint of the poor captivated King against his Counsellors by whom he was so over-ruled ut velit nolit cedere iis cognitur that he was forced to yield to them whether he would or not which he expresly calls inexcusabilem arrogantium an intollerable piece of sawciness in those Princes and an exclusion of the King from his legal rights 4 Let us next take a view of such Christian Kingdomes as are under the command of absolute Monarchs And first we will begin with the Realm of France the government whereof is meerly Regal if not despotical such as that of a Master over his Servants which Aristotle defineth to be a form of Government 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c Aristot Politic. l. 3. wherein the King may do whatsoever he list according to the counsel of his own mind For in his Arbitrary Edicts which he sendeth abroad he never mentioneth the consent of the People or the approbation of the Counsel or the advice of his Judges which might be thought to derogate too much from his absolute power but concludes all of them in this Regal form Car tel est nostre plaisir for such is our pleasure And though the Court of Parliament in Paris do use to take upon them to peruse his Edicts before they passe abroad for d View of France by Dallington Laws and sometime to demurr on his grants and patents and to petition him to reverse the same as they see occasion yet their perusal is a matter but of meer formality and their demurs more dilatory than effectual It is the Car tel est nostre plaisir that concludes the business and the Kings pleasure is the Law which that Court is ruled by As for the Assemblie des Estats or Conventus Ordinum it was reputed antiently the Supreme Court for government and justice of all the Kingdome and had the cognizance of the greatest and most weighty affairs of State But these meetings have been long since discontinued and almost forgotten there being no such Assembly from the time of K. Charles the eighth to the beginning of the reign of K. Charles the ninth e Thuanus hist sui temp which was 70 years and not many since And to say truth they could be but of little use as the world