and to whom did it belong but the King Now the Judges while they were the Higher Powers in the Nation under God did not use to take away the lives and estates of their brethren arbitrarily as Kings did but observed the Letter and the Equity of the Law and there is no Law that I can find for taxing their brethren with a monthly Assesment or otherwise I have been the larger upon this to the end you may see when a single person Reigns and Rules in the PORT POMP and POWER of an ABSOLVTE KING destroying old Laws and making new at his pleasure permitting such Laws to continue in force which do not so neerly reflect upon his Interest but suppressing all others there is more danger to a free people from him than from those who are circumscribed by the Law and have no Army at command to stand by them in case they should mis-govern at any time Thus you have seen as in a glasse of Chrystal That they who set up the PROFITABLE TRADE OF KING-CRAFT WITH MEN OF WAR TO PROTECT THEM for Saul was General as well as King â—â—y in a short time if they follow their Leader Saul the first Monarch over the Church and people of God become very rich in Silver and Gold and other substance from the Confiscations and Impositions c. which by their Prerogative Royal they lay upon the people I shall passe over Davids times briefly because he being a man after Gods own heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 13.22 and generally desiring to fulfill all his wills and not his own was by grace prevented and restrained from those outrages which his Predecessor was guilty of The matter of Vriah is excepted indeed when all his other mis-carriages were buried by an act of oblivion from the Great Jehovah as you find it 1 King 15.5 Neverthelesse for our learning as to the point in hand he took away Mephibosheths lands * 2 Sam. 16. begin zibah the Court Parasite flattereth David into an unworthy and unjust proceeding against innocent Mephibosheth without hearing the Accused and the Accuser face to face And certainly if he did such an act of injustice in the time of his streights he might have made many such instances of taking away the estates of guiltlesse subjects if the Lord had not kept him from such oppression A single Person though a Saint in the exercise of highest Power will certainly act the part of a wicked Tyrant if he hearken to wicked Informers as you find even David did to Zibah how much more if he be an Hypocrite will he persecute the Righteous who have detected his tyrannical subtle Dissimulations In the next place let us examine the Reign of Solomon the wise His Government also was very heavy herein * Solomon laid a Tribute and a heavy yoke also 2 Chron. 10.4 1 King 12.4 especially in his latter dayes for all the Congregation of Israel came to his Son saying Thy Father made our yoke grievous now therefore ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude of thy Father and his heavy yoke that he put upon us and we will serve thee It s plain the people accounted themselves oppressed and wearied with the weight of Solomons Government It is also cleerly expressed in the Text that King Solomon 1 King 5.13 did raise a levie out of all Israel and that Adoniram or Adoram who was over the Tribute being sent to quiet the Mutiny was slain by the people 1 King 12.18 inraged against Rehoboam for giving such an answer All this is past dispute Quest But what was that Tribute or Levie in particular which occasioned so fatal a Rent of ten Tribes from the house of David on such a sudden Ans So far as I can apprehend for the present by comparing things together it was that Tribute of men mentioned 1 King 5.13 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same word in Rom. 13.6 7. LXX it is varied in the Margin You may find that Solomon was exceedingly addicted to build and to plant and he imployed an hundred and fifty thousand men I suppose the most part of his Reign to build besides the house of the Lord and his own several Cities for store Cities for his Chariots Cities for his Horses c. 1 King 9.19 And though they were Tributaries and not of the children of Israel yet Vers 21. being eppressed with constant bond-service as it is called Its no marvel though they grew discontent and mutinous And although they having a reverend regard to King Solomon who first imposed this Tribute or Levie 1 King 12.16 Rehoboams continuing and going about to increase their burthen and bondage fatal to his Court-Interest would not rise up against him yet it appears they would not indure the Yoke and the Burthen to be continued upon their Necks and their Backs by his son Rehoboam However it was you see their Oppressions long continued bred discontent and that discontent broke out into that which the New King and his young Privy Counsellors would no doubt account and call Rebellion and no doubt they would have made a war upon them rather than have put up so high an affront if God himself had not sent a peremptory prohibition by his Prophet to prevent them 1 King 12.23 24. From the premises in this Instance of Solomon and his Son these following Observations may be made 1 That the most prudent Monarchs are too apt to stretch their power beyond its bounds and to advance an Assumed Prerogative to the prejudice of the people in point of Liberty and comforts otherwise 2 That all extrajudicial and illegal Impositions Taxes Tributes Levies and Assesments in any kind whatsoever do ingender very bad blood in the peoples veines which produceth dangerous discontents and distempers in the midst of them 3 A free people oppressed by violent Imprestings Imprisonments Confiscations and any Arbitrary practices though managed by the wisest States-men will watch a convenient season to obtain a just remedy or throw their Riders Issachar was compared to a strong Asse couching down between two burthens Gen. 49.14 Issachar is compared to an Asse for becoming a servant unto Tribute 1 Chron. 12.32 he saw that rest was good and the land that it was pleasant and bowed his shoulder to bear and he became a servant unto Tribute But afterward the men of Issachar the Asse was now become a man had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do the heads of them were two hundred and all their brethren were at their Commandement The Tribe which was most oppressed could tell when it was the best season to relinquish the house of Saul and to set up David to be King And no question those of Gods people now who beside the burden which is laid upon them in common with their neighbours are under bondage otherwise for conscience sake who are called and looked upon as Fools will have understanding given
them to cry Hosanna to the Son of David when their Brethren that hated them and cast them out for his names sake shall bee ashamed and secretly wish that the Son of David would delay his coming but this by the way The next King which I shall mention after Solomon and his Son is Asa he also oppressed the people Asa a good man in the main but a bad king in that he imprisoneth the Lords Prophets and oppresseth the people 2 Chron. 16. from vers 2. to 10. though a godly man he had taken treasures out of the house of the Lord and out of the Kings house both silver and gold and sent it to Benhadad King of Syria to help him against Israel Hanani the Seer makes bold to meddle with these matters of State reproves and threatens the King from the Lord for his sin and his folly The King was wroth with the Seer and being in a rage put him in prison and having made the SEER fast enough that he might not OVERSEE HIS STATE-AFFAIRS he oppressed the people at the same time What this Oppression was is not expressed but to me it appears by the Context and other circumstances that hee got this money which hee issued out of his Exchequer to bribe Benbadad from the people afterward by a Levie or a Tax for Kings and such like creatures who are supreme Lords do not use to be so kind-hearted as to pay a great rate for the publick peace with their own money and the people never hear of the bargain before nor after surely they have other uses for the treasures of the Kings house if they have either Son or Daughter or their own kindred to shew kindnesse to But if this Instance have some darknesse in it as to this point sure I am it is beyond all controversie Menahem a Raiser of Taxes that the condition of the people under Menahem was very sad in reference to this point of Oppression and of Taxes by name * 2 King 15. from vers 16. to 22. A sad story Menahem a cruel Usurper This Menahem smote Shallum and slew him and Reigned in his stead what this Shallum was you may see in the Text Now because a certain City called Tipbsab opened not to him therefore he smote it and all the women which were with child he ript up Oh horrible Tyranny He was resolved to be a Monarch right or wrong and woful was the calamity of that City which refused TO PROCLAIM HIS SWORD-TITLE for other Title he had none This example affrighted other Cities and poor Wretches they had bettet yeeld than resist a bold and resolute Vsurper But how did he get the Kingdome confirmed Menthem buyeth the confirmation of the Kingdom and causeth the people to pay for his purchase The rich men taxed the poor spared by Menahem He gave a Bribe of a Thousand Talents of silver to Pul King of Assyria that his hand might be with him to confirm the Kingdome in his hand But who must pay for all at last the Holy Ghost will have us to know That also Menahem EXACTED THE MONEY of Israel even of all the mighty men of wealth of each man fifty shekels of silver So the King of Assyria the head Landlord it seems took a good round fine and went away but it is worth our observation That he exacted the Tribute-money of the rich men who could spare it out of their superfluity Truly he was a good natured Tyrant to the poor if he spared them out of pity and tendernesse I wish it were a custome in this Nation We have yet a more distinct account of this raising of Taxes you shall find it recorded in the 2 King 23.35 Pharach-Nechoh put the land to a Tribute of an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold and having left Eliakim whom he had made King and called him Jehoiakim Jehoiakim a Raiser of Taxes 2 King 23.34 35. he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandement of Pharach he the said King exacted saith the Text the silver and the gold of the people of the land of every one according to his Taxation Thus you have the original and progresse of this constant Companion of Kingship hitherto in the story of the Kings and Chronicles but if you look narrowly into the Prophets The writings of the Prophers do confirm this History of Taxes Nebuchadnezzar the head of gold yet a heavie oppresfor of the Jews you will find these truths abundantly confirmed insomuch that the people had cause to cry out in that day mentioned by Samuel in 1 Sam. 8.18 because of their King which they had chosen them and because the Lord as he told them would not hear them in that day But now as for the four Monarchies under all which they were in bondage I shall give but short hints of their sufferings in this matter because I would not bee tedious to the Reader I begin with the first verse of the Lamentations of Jer. Lam. 1.1 5. v. 2. 4. saith that Affectionate Prophet She that was great among the Nations and Princess among the Provinces how is she become TIBUTARY And in the fifth Chanter Our inheritance is turned to Srangers our houses to Aliens we have drunken our water for money and our wood is sold unto us For men of profligate lives and such as were Traytors to their Country and to the Cause of God in their day to be punished according to their demerits and according to Law and Equity is not unrighteous but for the choisest people to be worse dealt with and more oppressed than their wicked neighbours this is heavy and yet this was the condition of the Prophets The Kings Princes of Judah oppressed broken with burdens and bondage after they had oppressed their subjects and most eminent beleevers under their Kings for the most part till at length for their abusing the Prophets and oppressing the people especially those who were quiet in the land the Kings and the Princes and the Judges and the men of War were carried into Captivity and oppressed and put under the yoke of the King of Babylon She that was Princess among the Provinces became TRIBUTARY This for the first Monarchy That bondage and burthen of Taxes and Tributes under the Persian Monarchy The people of God under Taxes and Tribute by the Perfian Monarchie is notably expressed by the Levites in the ninth of Nehemiah the two last verses and is much like the case of some Saints come lately out of Babylon at this day Behold say they to the Lord We are servants this day and for the Land that thou gavest unto our Fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof behold we are servants in it and it yeeldeth much increase unto the Kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins The Grecian Monarchie a Raiser of Taxes he who is callâ—d by that name
for the mantainance of a Monarch was computed to rise so high so that it would make them at length cry unto the Lord because of their King And indeed Kings and Sovereign Lords or what ever Titles they are known by are COSTLY CREATVRES * 1 Sam. 8.18 19 20 verses and will make the people sigh and cry too within a little while after they are gotten into the Saddle I say notwithstanding all this they said Nay but there shall be a King over us a King shall reign over us that we also may be like all the Nations * As if they should say Seeing slavery is in fashion in other Nations we will be slaves also Tyranny being the Mode in all Countries round about us we will have a Tyrant too though God himself say Nay we say Yea. Rom 15.4 And when they had gotten him they all shouted God save the King they had not known by experience the Burthensomnesse of Taxes and Tribute of Tenths and Fifteenths one time after another for they that ruled them aforetime under 〈◊〉 being Judges raised up in needful seasons were Savâ—â—â—rs and Deliverers and not Raisers of Taxes and so while they walked as his people there was not a freer people upon the face of the earth than they But now let him that readeth and those that hear the words of this History collected out of the Oracles of God observe exactly what followed hereupon for whatsoever things were written aforetime either Prophetically or Historically concerning Kings and their Arbitrary power concerning Taxe and Tribute-money as well as other matters were written for our learning that wee through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope And indeed I write in hope and not in despair as he that soweth soweth in hope that some good fruit will follow though divers sharp storms may intervene At the first entrance to this New Honor Saul behaved himself as if Samuels words would want a verification Good Man He could not bee found hee had hid himself among the stuff * 1 Sam. 10.21 he had rather have lived in a Cottage all dayes of his life people might think by this symptome of Self-denial than live in a Royal Palace and be attended and honoured like a King Besides there was no probability hee would ever oppresse the people by taking their Vineyards c. from them For whereas some brought no presents to their New King as did others but despised him saying How shall this man save us Hee held his peace * 1 Sam. 10.27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXX Plane conticuit Tre. fuit ut obmutescens he passed it by as if hee did not understand any thing of those Mysteries Hee was altogether unlike a Raiser of Taxes upon his Brethren for he did not care one would think for presents He made a fair shew in the flesh * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being a Member of the Church of God in matters of Religion and Godlinesse also For when one of the dis-affected party who would not have him to be King was called for to be put to death as a Traytor to his new Crown and Dignity The Kiâ—â—â—aid * 1 Sam. 11.12 13. There shall not a man be put to death this day for to 〈…〉 â—ord hath wrought salvation in Israel Did not this Kiâ—â—â—peak like a very godly man Did he speak as if he would be Arbitrarie in his Government 1 Sam. 9 7 21 1 Sam. 10 6.10 11. cap. 11. v. 13 15. c. 14.18 from 34. to 44. and take their goods as Samuel said without and against all Law and Equity See the Scriptures in the Margin if you would understand what a Professor Saul was while yet he was an ordinary private man and after he came to the honor of Kingship also for a good space of time But at length when he was told * 1 Sam. 15.23 26 28. The Kingdome should be rent from him and given to his neighbour that he should * Vers 30. lose his honor before the Elders and the People then he begun to appear in his proper colours First Samuel that had been so instrumental to set him up was fearful his Tyranny would break forth against him to his destruction and slaying is worse than taxing see 1 Sam. 16.2 If Saul hear it saith he that I go to anoint another to be King he will kill me The next apparent Symptome of his Tyranny we find to be against David these were two of the choisest men in the whole Nation The young man had no lands it seems for he calls himself a poor man 1 Sam. 18.23 but Saul finds out a way of taxing him at an hundred foreskins of the Philistims * A strange Taxe laid upon David by K. Saul but his end was to get his life neverthelesse David payes his Tax and saves his own life the Lord being with him in that desperate Design he brings two hundred Fore-skins and they gave them in full tale like so much money told out unto the King * That Tare levied and paid by David vers 27. Moreover The Spirit of God makes it plain that Samuel was a true Prophet concerning the point in hand for in the 1 Sam. 22.7 he makes this speech Will the son of Jesse give you every one Fields and Vineyards c. Where I gather Saul could do it namely at this time Indeed time was when he could not speak at that rate but now being King and Sovereign Ruler he could send for any mans estate in part or in whole as the Prophet said He could by his private Council vote men Traytors as he did and he that makes no conscience of takin 〈…〉 mens lives for pretended Treason will make as lit 〈…〉 aking away their estates And so he might quickly 〈◊〉 â—ields and Vineyards good store though not well gotten to give his Eunuchs and servants that knew well how to please his humor and serve his lusts Thus he dealt with the Priests Hee slew at once by a verbal order * Saul slayes the Priests of the Lord as Traytors by a verbal order Here were Vineyards for him to give his Court Parasites and Doegs hand eighty five persons that did wear a linnen Ephod and what was the pretended crime Oh they were Traytors for they conspired against me saith Saul and their hand is with David they gave him bread and a sword and inquired of God for him and did not come and tell him who was their King c. Having destroyed the City and the inhabitants men women and children here were rewards and gratuities for his Courtiers This was a quicker way than levying of Taxes So he dealt with the Gibeonites * The Gibeonites slain by Saul what became of their estates Kings as well as the Judges were to govern according to the Law of God See Deut. 17.18 19 20. 2 Sam. 21.1 He slew them no question they had some substance
It is to be noted that one and the same person or the same persons may be lawful higher powers by an accumulation of all these titles put together in several respects after the examples in Scripture and in other Histories They may rule over some people in the Authority of God over others by the Title of Natural Right over others by Inheritance over others by Election over other people by the Title of a Lawful War and all at the same time I could give a good account of this upon principles of Justice and Right Reason But I hasten and therefore this shall suffice concerning Higher powers lawfully such becoming so by the appointment of God of Nature or of Nations by Any or by All of these claims before mentioned or by any other warrantable plea whatsoever it may be Now concerning those Higher powers who are such de facto only and in present possession but not de jure or by any known law of God or man they also come under a Ministers confideration and have several heads of distinction whereby they may be known The Higher powers in being without lawful Title and just Authority so to be and so to Rule are such first of all by Vsurpation which shews it self either in times of Pence or in time of War And secondly by degenerating into Tyranny Vsurping Powers in times of Peace Higher Powers by usurpation are unjust attain the Government either by murther and other violence or else by fraud and flattery Of the first sort I judge Athaliah to be one Athaliah usurps the power by murther who espying her oportunity took hold of it and destroyed all the seed Royal and reigned over the Land above six years according as I compute 2 King 11.1 2 Chron. 22.10 Thus Hazael murthered his Lord and reigned in his stead 2 King 8.15 Hazael likewise even when he lay upon his sick and death-bed and afterward became a cruel Tyrant and ripped up the women with child as it is upon record 1 King 8.12 15. So Richard the third Sirnamed the Vsurper Richard the third mide himself King by murther who being Lord Pretector murthered his two Nephews that he might reign in their stead But did the Crown fit fast upon his head no about two years after his Coronation he was slain in Battel and the dead Carkass contumeliously used all men observing how he was rolled to his grave in blood and mire See the History more at large This for the first member of the distinction In the next place Higher Powers in being Usurpation of the power by fraud 2 Sam. 15.6 first verses Absolom a most traiterous Usurper by speaking lies in hypocrisie may get possession of Government or Rule by fraud and by speaking lies in hypocrisie as Absolom for a time by his fair and plausible dissimulation and officiousness telling the people what he would do if he were King his words are these First See that thy matters are good and right but there is no man deputed of the King to hear thee this was to insinuate a dislike of the lawful present Power Note again Moreover saith Absolom Oh that I were made Judge in the Land that every man which hath any Sute or Cause might come unto me and I would do him justice and he would even kiss those who did obeysance to him and thus stole away the bearts of the men of Israel that he might the more easily EXALT HIMSELF Thus the p. O.P.e. and other Vsurpers innumerable The p. O. P.es Ulurpers by speaking lies in hypocrifie that of Dan. 11.21 is considerable There shall stand up a vile person to whom they shall not give the hour of the Kingdom but he shall come in peaceably and OBTAIN THE KINGDOM BY FLATTERIES Also Abimelech a notorious Usurper Judg. 9. Abimeleck made himself King such an one as it was by fraud flattery and murther Judges 9. throughout This for the second sort of Vsurpers in peaceable times Vsurping Powers by force of Arms Usurpers by the means of war 1. During the War are to be reputed so either during the War slagrante bello betwixt the lawful and unlawful Power or after the end of the War extincto Bello when the Victory is obtained by him who usurpeth the power Instances of the first 2 Sam 2.9 10 are Abner and Ishbosheth Abner after Sauls death made Ishbosheth Sauls Son King I commend him he did not make himself the Monatch King over Gilead and over the Ashurites and over Jesreel and over Ephraim and over Benjamin and over all Israel over whom he reigned two years but the House of Judah followed David Now let the Reader observe carefully David onely was the lawful Power the onely Higher Power de jure of right over all Israel and though Ishbosheth reigned two years yet he was not the King de jure but only de facto and so was not a lawful Higher Power or Supreme but an Vsurper while the War lasted on his part it was an unjust war also and Abner had not a lawful military Power neither as General of the Army All was unlawful and against the express will of God This for the first The second sort of Usurping Powers by the Sword 2. After the war 2 Sam. 17. 18 chapters are so accounted who set up themselves or are set up by their Armies upon Victory in an unjust Quarrel Thus Abselom would have been an unlawful Power if he had prevailed in that Battel which he fought against his Father and there are many examples in Histories of this kind of Usurpation particularly in the History of the German Emperors But I hasten An Higher Power also 2. Head Powers 〈◊〉 unjust by â—â—generating into tyranny who hath lawful Authority at the beginning of the Government may through Tyranny or mal-administration become an unlawful and unrighteous Power afterward as King Saul and King Charls And Histories are full of it But of all Vsurpers or usurping Higher Powers who get into the Throne those are most abominable as Powers who being INTRVSTED BY A PEOPLE to deliver them from slavery and servitude and for the publick good and Commonwealth having Conquered the common Enemy or Tyrant do betray their Trust and bring their friends who paid them and prayed for them who helped to bear their burthens esteemed them as Brethren and fellow-Citizens into as bad or worse servitude and slavery than they were in before and this contrary to Oaths and all manner of Promises Protestations and other Ingagements Pretending they would make them a free people and then MOST PERFIDIOVSLY put an IRON YOKE upon their friends and upon their posterity as much as in them is But more of this abomination by and by I shall break off from this work of distinguishing of Higher Powers for the forms variations are endless the supplanting and pulling down of each other in a most wonderful manner is represented in two chapters most
mighty honor of being the Lords of the Nations and their Iron-Law-givers not so much as consulting with their faithful friends whose prayers and counsels they were wont to desire upon their entrance into great Enterprizes Quest Who knows the mind of the Lord is this secret with any of those that fear him and who walk before him with a perfect heart Answ Although I would not presume to intrude where I must not hope to be admitted yet I may give in my apprehensions in this matter with sobriety and submission to Saints of more intimate acquaintance with the Lord without offence and that in a very few words 1 The Lord may permit these things these strange mutations of mens minds that all the world may see that marching out of Egypt and entring into Canaan are motions very much differing from each other of 600000 men which came out of the house of Bondage but onely two single persons entred into the promised Land Those men who conquer Ameleck dare not encounter with Anak but had rather make a Captain to go back to Egypt than follow God their Leader over Jordan and as the Apostle phraseth it As it was then even so it is now 2 Another end of Gods leaving this unhappy new Model and their unhappy General to themselves and their own hearts lusts may be this That the poor afflicted people plainly perceiving that they will not cannot do that work which they declared for might be so much the more importunate with the King of Saints to make haste and come himself and in the mean time to provide himself of new servants to carry on that most blessed Design which his heart is set so much upon 3 That the All-wise God may take advantage to separate the precious from the vile who being so busie in beholding and wondering after this new Image of the Beast there is a rare oportunity for the faithful followers of the Lamb to leave and depart from those professors who have now demonstrated to the world that they followed Christ and his Cause for the loaves and not for the miracles which he hath done before their eyes 4 That having made this further separation from Babylon in the Army and in the Head-Quarters at King Charls his Palace He may form a peculiar people for himself to begin where the New Model left even to pour out those Vials of the wrath of God upon the Antichristion State and Seat which are next to be emptied by those Angels that come out of the Temple But if These are no part of his end propounded to himself in this matter then I exhort the Saints who are inquiring into these things to observe exactly every step of Providence Finis op ris Finis operantis that they may see what end the Lord will make for it is good to understand the end of the action if we must not know the end of the Agent or efficient Cause So much in reference to the consideration of those ends which the Lord might propound to himself in this strange passage of Providence I have not yet finished the explication of this clause There is somewhat yet further to be unfolded and communicated to my Brethren in the Lord throughout all the Churches of the Saints who are spirited for Generation-work On that I might be anointed with fresh oyl to speak forth to the advantage of the truth and work of Christ what I have received of the Lord that so others might hear and fear and do no more either so foolishly or so presumptuously as lately they have done But first I must premise a few words for a Manuduction thereunto Thus I apprehend the thing and thus I expresse my mind One part of a Nation may for their own ends accept of that person or those persons for a supreme or a subordinate power which another part of the people may lawfully refuse to close withal or accept for their Rulers or their Governors though thereunto required or otherwise attempted by their Brethren There is a famous Instance of this in the 1 King 16.16 Zimri a Souldier of great command in the Army but not then General conspired and smote and slew the King and reigned in his stead The people who were incamped against Gibbethon hearing hereof made Omri the Captain of the host or their General King over Israel that day in the Camp Here was part of the Souldiers had made Zimri King and the greater part I suppose made Omri King But this is not that which I intend for my Instance the quarrel being betwixt the Souldiers in this place King Omri overcame King Zimri for they shall have that Title seeing the Holy Ghost saith of the one and the other that they did reign though Zimri reigned but seven dayes And then this is my Instance the people of Israel were divided into two parts Half of the people followed Tibni the Son of Ginath to make him King and half followed Omri-Surely the Spirit of God intends some instruction to us by this punctual Narration of such a matter 1 King 16.21 I conceive for my part that upon Considerations which might be offered they could not impose a King upon each other being equally free who had the better Title it is hard to say for the one had as many votes as the other the people being equally divided At length Omri obtained the Crown and so all must consent or be silent which in a sense is as much as consent for the present We may put the case thus Suppose half the free people of England are for the setting up of a Monarch with a guard of thirty thousand men to protect him in his Honour and Power Suppose half the people are for a Commonwealth what Law of God or man will justifie the first half that have declared for Monarchy to impose upon the other half who knowing the manner of all Kings from the infallible Oracles of God refuse to be governed by Kingship and accordingly declare against it considering they are as free as themselves who presume to impose and have more from Scripture and the Law of the Land for their rejecting of a King than the others for imbracing him especially if imposed upon them by their Equals Equals in that point of Freedome Verily if a small inconsiderable number of the Free-men of England not to mention other Considerations do oppose by all Arguments such an Imperious power from their Brethren insulting over them I do not see how any honest man can draw a sword against these dissatisfied Free-men and if the sword forbear I make no question but Scripture Law and Reason would prevail But it is worthy of Observation That the Captain of this Host is not yet advanced so far towards the setling of this new Yoke upon the Nation as Omri was in that 1 King 16.22 for adbuc sub Judice lis est And the Army together with their Partakers in the late declared strange Government not having made
hitherto a perfect Law according to their own pleasure and principles for the setling thereof we wait to see and to know what the Lord will do and how far he will permit them to march in this dangerous path for the compassing of their ends who have been the chief Actors and Contrivers in this unparalled earthly Design to say no worse of it for the present But to leave those who have the spirits of Free-men if there be any shut up or left to dispute with their tongues and pens against the Souldiers Swords I shall proceed according to the latitude of my Commission from the Lord Jesus and direct my discourse to those people of God who have openly testified that the Lord is their Judge that Jehouab is their Lawgiver that Jehovah is their King Isa 33.22 and that he will save them I mean those Elders and Brethren of the Churches of Christ who have professed to make a compleat and perfect that is a total and final separation from the Mother of Harlots and from the Beast that carries her Rev. 17.5 7. and this they have done according to the Counsel and Call of God in the book of the Revelations And unto them I say on the behalf of their Lord and mine Brethren Ponder the paths of your feet for every particular step of every separated Saint in this Nation since the Twelfth of the Tenth Month 1653. hath been and is of very great moment and according to their walking since that day and hour when the Word and Spirit of Jehovah received so high and so desperate an Affront they may rationally expect extraordinary consequences for good or for evill coming toward them and remember this which you now read is neither Dream nor Fancy although the Rulers of this world will so account it till the God of heaven compel them to change their minds It cost the Six hundred thousand very dear even all that came out of Egypt Num. 14. who were of twenty years and upwards yea the righteous as well as the wicked their making of a Captain to carry them back again to Egypt when an oportunity was offered by God to passe over Jordan into the Promised Land But let me in brotherly love expostulate the case with you for I am through grace a fellow-member of the same Body Suppose the three Nations generally WILL be like the Israelites when they rejected Jehovah from being their King and WILL joyn with those earthly-minded men who said and proclamed it Wee WILL have a new kind of King to Reign over us and we WILL compel our Brethren by Fire and Sword by Jaylors and High Courts of Injustice to accept of that Monarch whom we have chosen for our selves Will you vote with these men and comply with these Apostates and Hypocrites You have given up your names to the Lords Jesus to be a peculiar people unto him are you not or should you not be an holy Nation in the midst of the Nations walking in the name of your King as the men of the world walk in the name of their Monarch Was it not for your sakes chiefly That Jehovah rebuked Kings and Princes of late yeers Is it not for his Sons sake Psal 105. and his Saints sake that he hath pulled down the whole structure of the old Government of these Nations yea he hath so ordered things that the very foundations are destroyed which not long since were accounted sacred and to the maintenance whereof the people were bound by Oath and solemn League and Covenant except a few who fore-saw that God himself was ingaged against the Old Heavens and the Old Earth in these Islands Were not these wonderful changes and desolations brought forth and finished when the Officers of the Army in their own names created formed and set up a Supreme Power after their own inventions and then after some few months when some choice spirits were resolved to proceed in that work which the New Moael had begun viz. to remove the remaining Rubbish of Heathenish and Popish Customes which obstructed the grand Design against Babylon and the Kings of the earth did not the Sword-men of that once famous New Model break in peeces and annihilate their own creation and that in the sight of Heaven and Earth without blushing and then tell the world a fable about Resignation whereas no agreement vote order or act passed in that Assembly to any such purpose But I must sigh out this complaint Very many of those who professe and pretend to be the Saints of the Most High have eyes and see not they have ears and hear not they have hearts and understand not unto this very day The veil is upon their hearts in the reading of the Prophecies of the Old 2 Cor. 2.14 and the New Testament And assuredly the Lord hath a great controversie with many of his own people because of this who will find him walking contrary unto them because they have walked contrary unto him in this particular What call from God or man have we to joyn with the Nations in setting up a New Image of worldly Government especially at this time of the day when that which our Ancestors built our God hath broken down and what our Fore-fathers had planted the Almighty hath plucked up even the principal Pillars and Foundations of the former Frame and is it an imployment worthy of us to help to repair the Tower of Babylon in this Land after these Earthquakes or to heal the deadly wound which the Beast hath received Consider doth it become us to help mingle the Iron and the Clay together that the Image may not want one of its Ten Toes Should you not rather unite with one another to help consolidate that Little stone which is to smite the Image upon its feet And put on the whole Armor of God that you may be ready at an hours warning to follow the Lamb who will ere long appear as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and make lamentable havock with the scarlet Whore and the scarlet coloured Beast upon which she Rides whose Ten Horns at length or some of them shall be guided to push the mother of the Abominations of the carth into a Pit of destruction prepared for her by the Lord. Besides all this which hath been spoken would it not be found to be part of our glory and perfection at the appearance of Jesus Christ to imitate the Apostles and Churches of Christ in the first times when they were so eminently taught of God in reference to this particular For when the Apostle Peter spake that word of Exhortation Act. 2.40 That they should save themselves from this untoward Generation Assuredly he intended not only a separation from the Doctrine Worship and Government of the Jewish Church but from the State also and Government thereof for now they had accepted of the Lord Jesus as their Prince to govern them as well as their Saviour to
a stone of the Babylonish building For a corner nor a stone for foundations for Babylon shall be everlasting Desolations saith the Lord Jer. 51.26 And if it be asked how this shall be the Preacher and Doctor aforesaid will tell you and hath told us in part And I hope I may have liberty to give in my sense also for further explication We shall reward Babylon as she hath rewarded us And among other wayes of recompence we shall by the Spirit and Providence of God be led and encouraged to go on in prying into every corner with the candle of the Lord. We shall look and search narrowly to finde out the Babylonish leaven the Popish mixture the Antichristian morter which is yet remaining in these States and Kingdoms for as sure as the Lord liveth there is much of all this even in this nation notwithstanding all these Earthquakes and wonderful Revolutions Yea I will say it boldly and truely the Relicks of Popery are maintained and protected by the present Powers But to this end that there may an utter extirpation of all those Popish Remaines A Glorious Evangelical inquisition shall be set up in due time and the Ministers of the Gospel shall be Gospel-inquisitors I speak in allusion to the Spanish Popish Inquisition and then we shall have recourse to the Law and to the Testimony to the Law of God and to the Testimony of Jesus and that being the Touchstone what we find contrary to sound Doctrine and the power of Godliness contrary to or destructive of the liberties and priviledges wherewith Christ our Lord our Judge our Law-giver our King hath made us free and endowed us by those TWO INSTRUMENTS OF HIS GOVERNMENT and the Magna Charta of his subjects I say we shall have recourse to the word of Christ and what is found opposite or contradictory thereto we shall discover it and and reveal it openly as the Lord shall give oportunity and Spirit thereunto When we are once anointed with fresh cile for these new motions and expeditions we shall intermeddle so as to examine and inquire into the Oaths and contracts of the State We shall bring the old known Laws of the Land made most of them when Reason and Religion also were at the lowest Ebb when Kings and Parliaments were the Protectors of the Beast and Whore and so into the customs in all Courts of Justice and Judicature of which though many are faln asleep and are rotting in the grave of oblivion yet others remain alive and are confirmed by oath and solemn ingagement All Acts of State will be medled with and the Edicts of the Rulers of the people brought to the tryal And let the Powers assure themselves whatsoever Oaths or Branches of Oaths whatsoever customs or Relicks of customs or Traditions they have received from theirs our Popish Ancestors which have the stamp and superscription of Antichrist or the Man of sin upon them and are still underpropped and supported by the present Commanders and Lords of the Nation we shall in the power of Christ Jesus the Lord and of his Truth and Spirit so far meddle with all of them as that we our brethren and companions in the Kingdom the cause and the work of Christ shall never be satisfied or well pleased till they are broken all to pieces suppressed and consumed to nothing But lest some Readers should censure me as too peremptory and malapert in my expressions Let us hear what our Author before mentioned saith further to this point Although in those passages which I have transcribed he seems to content himself that there should be onely a shaking 2 brushing and a cleansing of States and Governments from the morter aforesaid Yet in another part of his Sermon he comes more home to the truth where he saith that no Atonement shall be made for the blood of the Saints slain under the Notion of Hereticks nor Expiation be allowed whilest a TOE OF THE IMAGE OR A BONE OF THE BEAST IS LEFT UNBROKEN I assure you this is somewhat a severe expression this is much more then brushing off the morter and the Cement I wish he himself would fall upon the Image if it were but upon one of the little toes of it in England with the hammer of the World Would to God it were the Genius of all the University-Doctors to fall upon the bones of the Beast as here in the 22 page he doth express himself such a Brush were as bad as a downright Blow But what if the Lord should espie some of the most forward prosecutors of the Beast in times past and who gave him many a dry Blow to be turned Artificial Chirurgians and to be very busie in healing those deep wounds which were lately made and very careful to bind up the Bruises which the Image received on some of his Ten Toes the Lords eyes are upon all their wayes he knows their works and their thoughts and unto him I refer them for the present without further disquisition and return from whence I have made this short digression The Ministers of Christ understanding this that no expiations will be allowed c. and that yet they cannot meddle with Antichrist nor indeed come at him or at the Beast and his Horms but they must of necessity meddle with State-affairs the Beast and the States or ten Horns being so neerly related each to other and making up but one Body politick or Corporation Let no man imagine that the zealous faithfull Ministers of the Lord Iesus will give over or leave off their medling in State-matters because of the Clamors and importune suggestions of those preachers or professors whose senses are not exercised by reason of use to discern betwixt the good and the evil in this important point of Gospel-Truth For without doubt As the Pastors and Teachers in asserting the Priestly office of Christ may lawfully meddle with the Popish Priesthood and shew the contrariety thereof unto the Scripture and thereby discover the rottenness and vileness of all those principles which are maintained by them for the upholding of the Affairs of the Papacy which concern their Priests of all sorts and sizes and their Masses Pilgrimages Purgatory Processions and such like ridiculous Inventions Customs and Traditions In like manner there is no question to be made among knowing Christians but in handling the Doctrine of the GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM in the latitude of it they may interpret and apply all Scriptures of that nature to the Just Disparagement of the Kings of the Earth as the Lord constantly stiles them by that Diminishing Title and of the Princes of this world who shall come to nothing as Paul saith And for the better and more effectual advancing of the Name and glory of Christ in the world they may endeavor to lessen the esteem of the little Horn and all the Adherents to it yea they may meddle so far with the Higher Powers and their Acts of State or Statute-Laws as to