a coordination hereof the three estates as some have wisely done making the King one of them who yet indeed is none but properly and truly will the learned in Law soone tell us head of those three viz. the Lords spirituall temporell and Commons of this land according to the ancient usage and contrivance heretofore of Parliaments But grant it were as they would have it to talke I say of a coordination of the 3 estates in this case were in effect besides other absurdities following thereupon if the result be throughly lookt into to constitute a supreame without inferiours a King for the time not having Subjects the people all of them as it must needes follow being implicitly involved under the other two How much better would a soft complyable motion do betwixt the three and forward the dispatch of businesses most effectually It should be like that motion in the Prophet Ezekiels vision rota in rota or as of the sphaeres above which move one within another That crosse contrariant motion of the neather sphaeres to the first moveable we know how it begets a slownesse or tardity in them of their proper and naturall procession and we see by wofull experience what a stop if not a retrograde declination of civill affaires the clashing or banding of one power against the other hath wrought of late in this miserably distracted Common-wealth But falling downe as I was about to a lower pin let us next consider the people in a disgregative sence or notion those who hitherto upon all occasions have so firmely every where whether voluntarily or invited to it I meddle not adhaered as a strong support to the higher powers I meane not here to enter the lists of a particular comparison by poysing man with man person with person on either side but as we may find divers of good note be it confessed on that part so are there many more let me say it on this If Saul hath slaine his thousands David can boast of his ten thousands The muster rolle if lookt over would better determine this Quaere then I can well may they confide and rest themselves upon the affections of the vulgar sort who besides their naturall pronenesse towards Innovations ever as most an end they understand but little so are they easiliest seduced and engaged in preposterous undertakeings But for those of better ranke such as be either knowing or otherwise of more considerable qualitie here they must needs acknowledge themselves to be upon termes of disadvantage Some hereupon I have heard to terme this warre with reference to the opposite side as that of old Bellum Rusticum the Helioâ—s or the Pesants warre And questionlesse it is some encouragement when as it chanceth thus we excel not only in the goodnesse of the cause but likewise in the worthinesse of the abettors But passing by what ere other sorts of Men in their severall ranks and stations as they might be summoned up let us in our passage touch at the Divine Can they shew mee any of their chiefe Scribes or Teachers take him forth of the highest classis with them that may be thought in point of sound and deep knowledge an equall March for divers but of the second or third here Yet is Resistance the center namely whereunto this whole discourse doth bend it selfe not meerly a point of State-policie but of Conscience also even in the highest degree and being so who so fit to direct the conscience as is the Divine and of Divines the learnedst the best able Next take but into consideration the zeale or rather the fury of many of their chiefe Ministers or Agents in these affaires Religion is pretended but certainly Malice acts the businesse or if it be zeale it is a zeale I feare set on fire by a coale from beneath Those who have felt their scourge can best judge of it and had rather I beleeve fall into the hands if they needs must of some unbeleeving Ismaelite then of a too too beleeving Zelot No spleene or bitternesse of spirit like that of your hot Professour none more cruell because he persecutes wrongs his neighbour yet thinks he does God good servicein doing so Paul was not more Paul afterwards in the waies of truth sinceritie then he was Saul before a fierce eager persecuter of the Church Such was the bitter rage or fury of the Circumcelliones or preciser sort of Donatists heretofore against their dissenting yet orthodoxe brethren of the African Church as sundry of the Fathers make mention not without their deserved censures thereupon Although they be not all Saints neither I conceive who appeare on that behalfe Many there are doubtlesse who doe but Denis in diem assibus vitam aestimare as the saying is fight for pay and no more And some I understand that are not of the Protestant Religion object they back what they please branding their Adversaries with the opprobrious Nick-name of Popish Armie and yet were it so neverthelesse true native subjects they must needs confesse them enough to justifie both the tender and acceptance of their bounden service in a time of exigency nor for it therefore more then others Fourthly observe their manner of proceeding in furtherance of the publique cause what by forging by falsifying then imposing their falshoods upon the world The presse with them of late hath been so inured to this Cretian Dialect that there is question when or whether happily it may hereafter recover its ancient guise of speaking truth Newes of Plots and dangerous Conspiracies one while those too most an end strained to a very ridiculous height of Panick affrightments which yet as hitherto God be thanked neither wee nor they have felt nor had at first it may be much cause to feare Newes of some Notable victorie or other atchieved every day yet as it hath proved afterwards got ofttimes if not by Treachery then in a dreame without a battle Lying wonders I have often read of but not of Lying Victories till now Newes of Popery and Popish Ceremonies begun of late to be set up and countenanced in severall places A fiction in truth well befitting the Popish Legend and thither I commend it what may wee thinke of these men with their Mountebansk-like devices who under a masque of pretended zeale thus shamefully trade in falshoods all to cheere up their poore deluded followers and keepe them still in heart but that even their profession it selfe is but a kinde of lye or grand imposture Nor can they therefore if they marke it well so safely taxe their adversaries as they doe with those haynous crimes of swearing prophanesse since Lying Swearing are sinnes surely neere allyed and yet lying too it may seem carries a more immediate relation to Satan the author of all sinne who for this is expressely entitled the Father of lyes Io. 15. 44. Vnto this moreover note in the fifth place their bitter Raylings and invectives usually against Church and State
1. Samuel 22. 3. Whose Oxe have I taken or whose Asse have I taken or whom have I done wrong to And with St Paul though in another sense I am pure from the blood of all men Acts. 20. 26. Errors till now of late were not wont to be accounted crimes not in the meanest much lesse in Princes wholy so high at leastwise should doe above the levell pitch of common censure And yet againe hath not the King long since been pleased to descend as t were from his Throne of Majestie yeelding to a gracious revocation of whatsoever but suspectedly might seeme heretofore to have been carried in a wrong course Hee who by virtue of his place is hath been alwaies so esteemed of in former times not only {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the chiefe framer and withall dispenser of lawes but also {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the very life and soule of the law A point therefore which Maiestie useth but seldome to stoop to Princes accounting of none as competent Judges of them and their Actions save God alone since it is a true saying Rex est qui Regem Maxime non habeat He is truely a King who acknowledgeth no commanding power upon earth above himselfe Against Thee Thee onely have I sinned we know whose submission it was and to whom he tendered it Neverthelesse our King He hath done it his Royall Declarations on the one hand and his reall transactions on the other extant in so many Gracious bills passed for the good of his Subjects may serve as a sufficient pledge of this truth Had but Rehoboam done the like notwithstanding his precedent so offensively grosse extravagancies indeed mentioned 1 Kings 12. the revolted Tribes as it is imagined by the best had soone returned to their due obedience even among private Persons a mans word backed with reall performances hath ever been esteemed of as a sure Testimonie of his true and sincere intendments For all this there be some so impudently fearefull that they dare not Trust his Maiestie And it is this Diffidence amongst other things which hath been a chiefe incentive to these publique disturbances Although a vaine one if rightly considered of when as men shall goe about to undoe a Commonwealth onely because they feare and weakly suspect it may be undone Furor est ne moriare mori There being moreover provided as there is a most sure and soveraigne remedie against all such danger an effectuall {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} for what ere distempers casually arising or happening in the State that of a Trienniall Parliamentarte Convention But say I beseech you Not trust him Not your King So religious and just a King Not him whom the Lord himselfe hath trusted Whom God and the law both have entrusted with the charge of so great a people Whence Kings they are usually stiled in Scripture Pastors Fathers termes of themselves importing much trust and affiance to bee had in them That too after such solemne Protestations such effectuall imprecations made to this purpose and published by him Lastly after the many Acts of grace done by him already as sure pawnes of his reall intentions for the time to come Yet after all not to afford your Soveraigne so much credit as but what either Turke or Pagan upon like termes might rightly challenge at your hands Wonderously strange Especially that men so credulously given in matters of highest consequence should prove so diffident and distrustfull here So confident God-wards and so suspicious of his Vicegerent Strange if not an offence happily besides its arguing further some {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or innate fraudulency of selfedisposition against the rule of common Charity which lessoneth us to entertain a favourable conceit of all men 1. Cor. 13. Nay a trespasse against the knowne Lawes of nature that prompts us to deale with other men as we would be dealt with our selves to mete out to them the same measure we desire should be meted back to us The truth is yeeld them so much power into their hands whereby they may be inabled to command if not as Masters of the kingdome yet as the Masters Mate keeping the scales upright in an equall poize readie to turne at their own pleasure In a word able when they list to binde their Kings in chaines and their Nobles with links of iron as the Psal. mystically deliver it And then t is probable they will be induced to trust him but not till then I may adde it as a Corollary here Never better Prince upon no better grounds so harshly and uncivilly intreated by his subjects Yet some moreover there bee who stick not to complaine that he is still misled So runs the phrase But for Gods love by whom or how Doe they meane so as each man is drawne away and tempted as S. Iames teacheth of his own lusts and untamed desires His knowne moderation and temperance in all respects will free him as much as may bee from this imputation By those then in private which are about him If it be so without more adoe and that the old pernicious stratagem of galing and wounding the Prince through the sides of his neerer attendants be kept up although this exception might now at leastwise well be spared a greater part of the two Houses being present to assist him howbeit were it so as they pretend it seemeth in time it may prove a criminall offence to be nigh his sacred person and that which hitherto hath beene accounted an honour shall be imputed as the greatest aspersion and so by degrees every loyall true Subject at what distance so'ere shall in fine become a delinquent Time was when disloyalty or but disaffection towards the Soveraigne was made to be crimen crimine vacantium saith the observant Historian a punishable fault in such that wanted faults of accusation besides but now we may expect and justly feare the contrary It hath already thus befallen the Ministry in their kind most of the conformable worthyer sort of them in all places being thereupon and for no other reason commonly strangely Metamorphized through a wrong interpretation into a new shape and so presented to the world under the title of Popish or scandalous But therefore let us rather know in what why thus as farre as my weake apprehension will carry me The King is not pleased to grant whatsoever is demanded of him though never so unreasonable ergo he is misled Because His Majesty will not yield to an hocksing and laming of his owne Regâ—ll authority transmitted unto him entire from the hands of his illustrious predecessours To a new moulding of the state after the Venetian platforme To a new building of the Church suitable to the Genevian modell In breife to the creating of a new Heaven and a new Earth here amongst us that is a new Church and a new Commonwealth he is misled he
THE KINGS CAVSE Rationally briefly and plainly debated as it stands De facto AGAINST The Irrationall groundlesse misprisions of a still deceived sort of People 2. SAM. 2. Shall the Sword devoure for ever Know yee not that it will be bitternesse in the end Heu quantum potuit terrae pelagique parari Hoc quem civiles hauserunt sanguine dextrae Printed Ann. Dom. 1644. The Kings cause rationally and plainly debated as it stands de Facto c. COncerning the nature or quality of these unhappy distractions we have long groaned under consequently by what name or title we may best decipher them I need not to speake much A civill warre it is who sees not yea plusquam Civile more then so an unnaturall bloodie warre wherein friend stands engaged upon tearmes of defiance against his friend brother against brother even father against the sonne making good by this meanes in these last and dreggish times of the world that inevitably true prediction of our Saviour Luk. 12. 13. what the event or issue of this warre so unluckely begun and as obstinately still maintained may be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} God he knoweth The best we can probably expect unlesse the same God be pleased by a timely prevention to make up the breach must needs be a speedy overwhelming of this once flourisâ—ing Island in the generall deluge of ruine and destruction But enough of this The truth herein is too notoriously apparent to our extreame sorrow and rather requires the helpe of some kinde of healing salve then of a farther corrosive It may be worth our consideration then in the first place to observe against whom namely be these warlike armes taken up Against the King questionlesse Patrem patriae our lawfull Soveraigne the Lords annointed That {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as one expresseth it that Supream power placed in so neer a distance under God himselfe that whereas we in modesty terme Kings or Rulers here upon earth his vicegerents only he hath pleased to advance them to an higher title and plainly stiles them Gods I have said yee are Gods Ps. 82. 6. And hence further is it that we find in Scripture the seat of Royall judicature as usually termed the Throne of God as the Kings Throne nor themselves barely the Deputies or Ministers of Men but Gods Ministers his peculiar substitutes All power is from God I willingly acknowledge by some way of derivation or other but this for certaine more immediatly and in a neerer degree as being the Supreme 1. Pet. 2. 15. more determinatively too in that he alone is the disposer both of Kings and kingdomes saith the Prophet Dan. 2. 21. Dan. 4. 17. 25. even to a particular designation of the person frequently as we finde it to have been not to speake ought of exoticke governments in the Iewish commonwealth The Heathen anciently by the very light of nature found out this truth {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} saith the Poet and another yet more closely {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The King saith he is the truest and liveliest reflex or image of God upon earth that may be Humani Ioves as the Latine Comoedian speaking of such persons in a straine beyond them both And surely for this reason particularly amongst other in my poore fancie is that very title above mentioned of being called Gods bestowed upon them to wit in regard of their dominion and soveraignetie over the rest which they still retaine as a maine Relique as it were of that Gods image at first stampt and engraven upon the soule of man Now as ' I said against this Soveraigne power neverthelesse be these armes lifted up a power so sacred it seemes as not to be touched or but roughly medled with since Touch not mine annointed not the chiefe then be sure is the interdictive expresse caution of the Almightie David thus did but touch Saul by cutting off the skirt of his garment and we see how his heart smote him streight in as much as who can stretch forth his hand saith he against the Lords annointed and be guiltlesse For however to colour and disguise the businesse the King hath been all along pretended to these harsh unusuall proceedings of late as if what were done were not against him but for him yet is this in truth such a strange peece of state-Sophistry that men though of meane capacitie cannot I suppose at last but discerne easily and see through it Nuga quisquiliae unlesse they can possibly shew pro con with and against termes so widely opposite to be one and the same which yet will neither good Logick admit in the former nor scripture phrase acknowledge in the latter That saying of our Saviour Mar. 10. touching matrimoniall union Quos Deus iunxit nemo separet is in a good sense if read backwards appliable to the present divisions Q. D. S. N. jung whom God in his secret displeasure as here hath a while really divided set at distaÌ„ce let none go about in pursuance of their close unjustifiable designes by bare and emptie termes to ioyne together You say you are for the King entitle him to every act the King saith no disclaimes it utterly often and againe hath protested against it whoÌ„ may we in reason rather beleeve especially considering those grosse monstrous inconsequences which follow hereupon as that thereby he is made to set forth Edicts levie monies wage war and all against himselfe It is true I confesse in some cases as where the Prince is a Minor and under age or where he is not compos sui through weaknesse of his intellectualls this may well hold and the seeming contradiction be easily closed up The reason is for that there the party is not Master of his own actions nor can he in a legall consideration be reckoned amongst those {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} whether in Art or Nature which move of themselves but as one rather who is moved from without There both law and equitie justly commit such a one to the tuition and guidance of another But where there rules a iudicious and discerning Prince able to steere by the conduct of his own reason there to plead your being for him and yet goe crosse to his commands is such a fine peece of artifice as may serve perchance to ensnare the simple but withall occasion the wise to smile If it be here replied as some have done that this Resistance of theirs is meerely against the King his Private not his Publique his Personall not his Royall commands for as so say they he must be supposed alwaies to speak in the voice of his Parliament or else that of the law A poore shift when as they are faine to shape on this manner their evasions at the Romish forge for thus deale they labouring by a like art of Sophistrie to set up Monarchicall
government in the Church as these endeavour to pull it downe in the Commonwealth To this end have they divided who knowes not the Pope even from himself by considering him as he is a Man as he is Pope As hee is a private man say they he may erre but as he is Pope and sitting in the chaire he is infallible Such cob-web thin-spun distinctions as these I have ever thought fitter for speculative disputes then at any hand to bee drawne into outward practise They carry somewhat with them the sound but are altogether void of substance Otherwise by the same rule I might slay my brother not apprehending him as one of Adams progenie as my selfe am but under the common notion of some sensitive kinde of creature or say I le rob him of his substance not conceiving of him as my neighbour but as of some professed enemie And yet againe when or where will they be able I mervaile to finde the King on this wise divested of a Royall influence into all commands of state not repugnant to the lawes already being Or moreover not alike stil whether placed in his Throne or out of it representative of a publike person These are nicities that require a ray or two of further illustration from them Be it further urged that notwithstanding this their resistance to his commands yet they love and honour his person as in duty they are bound to doe Not so certainely neither I am sure our Saviour Io. 5. 15. teacheth another doctrine If yee love me saith he keep my Commandements Mark the consequence and Iehu 2. Kings 9. 30. about to destroy wicked Iezabel who is on my side saith he who and immediatly wee finde his commands fulfilled V. 13. True love towards our governours ever begets an inward obedience or subjection of the soule obedience straight breaks forth into outward performances Obedientia according to the Etymologie quasi Obaudientia The word imports a willingnesse of hearkning and ready submitting our selves to the commands of our Superiours In briefe it is our duty not over hastily to dispute but obey their Mandates otherwise of subjects wee become Iudges both of them and their actions Being thus driven from either of those two former holds they betake themselves for refuge to a third and that indeed the weakest We have not taken up armes plead they against the King but against the Malignants and evill Councell which is about him Here I cannot but remember the manner of certaine Fencers or Swash-bucklers in Rome anciently called the Retiarti whose fashion it was in fight when as pressing eagerly upon the adversary and endeavouring to cast their net wherewith they were fitted for the purpose upon him that so they might entangle him to crie Piscem peto non tepeto I make at the fish a fish it seemes there being engraven on the others helmet and not at thee So these men they pretend a war against the Malignants but they pursue the King yet doth not the King write them friends whom they terme Malignants Doth he not owne and uphold them in their proceedings So as their being against them argues manifestly their being against him It is a Gospell inference Mat. 25. 40. For in as much as yee have done it to one of these litle ones the least of these my bretheren saith our Saviour speaking of his poore distressed Saints yee have done it unto me so likewise V. 45. Act. 9. 4. Howbeit they still goe on seize on his ships and Magazines force his Townes and Castles from him yea shut the gates against him unlesse happily as it befell Phaedria in the Comoedian from his kind Mistris who pra amore exclusit foras as it is there They likewise may be thought to have done whatsoever hath been acted in these affronting waies meerely out of the zeale and tendernesse of their pure affections This was the first consideration I made chice of to propose concerning the Person namely against whom this war is undertaken the King next I would have it considered that as it is the King so he is a King interressed to his crowne by virtue of Inheritance a King as I may say natus non factus borne so not made what the difference in this ease may be as touching the validitie of interest or right to their dominions between an Elective and Hereditary King this for certaine being the more Absolute and unconditionall of the two moreover the conditions what ere condescended to Essentiall there and Necessary constitutive to the very essence of Soveraigntie here for the most part meere Volunâ—ary and Subsequent acts of grace and so lesse censurable by man upon the breach and forfeiture then there they are I will not make it the argument of my present discourse nor doe I produce this Topick as meaning thereby to adde any strength of supportance to his sacred title That needs not but only as willing upon all true just grounds to improve that dutie and loyall respect in the mindes of reasonable men which they owe to their Soveraigne It was somewhat surely at leastwise the Poet thought it so that Agamemnon doth so boast of the antiquitie and descent of his Scepter fetching it downe from Vulcan to Jupiter from Jupiter to Mercury from Mercury to Pelops and so onwards {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} We behold with a kind of Reverence some high and loftie long growne Oake yet not so much for its height as for its continuance and as it were conquest gained upon time which since man himselfe by reason of his naturall frailtie cannot attaine to we reverence it in his off-spring Thus it fares in private families and thus should it be much more in the line of Princes who are Patres familiarum and so commended to us in Scripture under the title of being the Heads of their Tribes The point I drive at is this Princes by inheritance as they have taken deep root and are firmely seated in their Throne through virtue thereof accordingly may they challenge a firmenesse of duty and alleagiance in the hearts of their people In the third place let it be considered that as he is an Heaeditarie King so Hee is a Good and Gracious KING a Prince singularly accomplisht throughout Malice her selfe for ought I could ever heare hath not in this particular whereon she can justly discharge her envenomed rancour look upon him in his owne line up to the top of his ancient and long renowned pedigree treading through the whole series of his famous predecessours Or look upon him in a Collaterall line and compare him with the neighbouring Princes about and without offence I suppose take him but in all respects I may parallel if not preferre him to the best Quaeris Alcidae parem Nemo est nisi Ipse what Zenophen hath delivered of Princes in the Idea for morall virtues requisitely behoofefull in them and what Synesius with others for Christians we
according to the established wholsome lawes of the kingdome I must returne the same answer For what then Davus sum non Oedipuâ— I desire that some good men or other would be pleased to help me out where there occurres not danger of our Religion nor of our Liberties nor yet of our Estates to be invaded or trenched upon as neither can the Master Architects of these miserable distractions I suppose though having artificially perswaded others fully perswade themselves there is there to take up hostile armes you may if you please stile it a just Resistance but what terme it deserves of right let the world judge Besides then the groundles surmises feares jealousies of certaine Melancholy overworking heads as may be well imagined since Prona est timori semper in pejus fides And those too many of them it is to be thought like false fires raised of purpose by the industry of cunning projectors only to amuze the simpler people no other ground or reason can I finde of these publique commotions unlesse what remaineth it may be the distemper'd and perverse ambition of some particular person I burthen none with this heavie charge But so it is in the generall that men of discontented humours or otherwise ambitiously disposed had at all times rather hazard the common peace and safetie of the whole then fayle of their proposed private designes Publicis incendiis patriae clarescere as he speaks hath alwaies been more for encouragement then a stop to the proceedings of such kinde of spirits chiefly wheÌ„need a decayednes of fortune help to sharpen and whet on this froward ambitious humour of theirs And as there so likewise is it where men have casually embarqued themselves further into great affaires then that they are able with safety to come off There they stagger and faulter up and downe as much uncertain what course to take yet still make onwards and rather then perish alone desperately put all into a generall confusion with Sampson taking his last Revenge against the Philistines they pull down the house though necessarily it fall upon their own heads causing thus the guiltlesse ruine of a whole Nation oftimes to wait upon the Herse of their deserved overthrow Notwithstanding all this the King say they for certaine hath formerly tranâ—gressed in the premises by declining from the manifest and knowne Rules of the Law I will not here argue the just Prerogative of Kings what they may happily challenge to themselves either praeter or sup 〈…〉 a besides or above the law This would be censured streight such is the malitious wit of jealousie as a plea made for the establishment of an Arbitrary Goverment yet so Machiavell may teach or his associates perchance but not I Thus much only then I shall say in this matter What ere priviledges the Prince is possessed of whether derived unto him by custome or as grounded upon the law it self favore amplianda sunt is an authentique saying borrowed from Canonists They ought of right rather to bee improved then any way diminished by us without any curb or bouÌ„ds at all imposed froÌ„ law to regulate them by did Kings we find anciently and in those heroick purer times of the world thence rightly termed {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} with the like governe the people subjected to them But and this farther There can be no state so exactly framed composed according to the rule of law but that it will require some kinde of a moderating dispensative power left in the hands of the supreame Magistrate Since the law is generall nor can it therefore possibly extend to a through determination of all particulars And in such a case I had rather if I needs must be under the power governance of one then of many Easier was it for Athens to suffer the Arbitrarie dominion of one Tyrant then as they did a while of Thirty and for Rome upon emergent occasions the Dictatorship or absolute government of a single Magistrate then that of the Decemviri It is confest that where the way is plaine and open no obstructions or difficulties to hinder there for the Magistratet o walk {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as the Philosopher prescribeth is the safest course But this cannot alwaies be I presume in the best Commonwealth though never so well ordered by the square and advice of the wisest Lawgiver And now for their objection more particularly Grant the King hath heretofore somewhat swerved from the knowne Dictates of the law yet not to that height neither will themselves say as either of Tyrannie or grosse Idolatry howbeit the onely just causes of Resistance doubtlesse were there any just what finde we not David and Solomon the best and wisest of Kings to have digressed oftimes into sundry by-paths of sin and errour from the law of God even to the highest pitch Take in Ahab Manasses with others of the worser sort nor yet questioned thereupon by their subjects streight for their fowle and truly insufferable misdemeanours in point of Regall government yet were they as strictly bound by solemne covenant both towards God and Man entred into at their severall inaugurations to a performance of certaine conditions as Kings at present be nor doe we generally finde Gods Priests and Prophets then the ordinary sole interpreters of his hidden pleasure upon any termes what ere freeing the people in the least degree from that indissoluble tye of their duty and subjection to their lawfull Soveraigne unlesse occasionally by virtue of some particular Expresse or other from the very mouth of the Almightie as it happened in Jehues case rising up against Ioram 2. Kings 9. or in that of Jeroboam doing the like by his Liege Lord 1. Kings 11. which with the like extraordinary and immediate commands from God unusuall for these times our Enthusiastis theÌ„selves will not I hope in modesty offer to pretend to in their present undertakings And say must Princes then be brought upon the stage and subjected to the danger of being Resisted by the people upon a supposall of every slip or petty errour committed by them Princes they may be pleased to know as they are {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or Patres familiarum as was said before so have they a large family to governe and supervise Adde hereto the many intricate and perplext mysteries those Arcana imperii which they have to deale with in the management of the Sate so as they see not alwaies what they doe neither can they but by other mens eyes nor heare they but by the eares of others but are forced to use the subservient help and assistance of their Ministers Can they shew me wherein the King hath knowingly and willingly broken in upon the received lawes of the Land and that without a full perswasion of what he did to be just and warrantable Hic nodus vindice dignus for as so I am confident hee may safely proclaime it aloud with old
have here in some sort fulfilled in the History But I must be sparing in the point for feare of censure Nor needs in truth a gemme so resplendent and eminently apparent of it selfe much labour in the setting of It is no more then whatinteffect I have observed to drop from the pen of one of their own party Omni exceptione major grants he A Prince in his own naturalls or proper constitution beyond all exception Only thus much then by way of Aphorisme O Fortunati nimium bona si sua Thrice happy we of this nation if we rightly knew how to value herein and esteem our own happinesse which on the by might well give check to many of our seditious pamphleters others in their crude indigested pasquils who notwithstaÌ„ding the scripture its so frequent Caveats in this kinde against despising dominions speaking evill of dignities nay but ill thinking of them they as it were carried aloft in the strength of their unmannerly brain-sick zeale make at the highest and as the Iewes once dealt by our Saviour Christ forbeare not to spit in the face of Majestie it selfe Vpon such as these hath the Apostle St Iude pronounced that heavie doome which I could wish they did seriously consider of allotting them as a just reward of their ill demeanours the blacknesse of darknesse for ever Iud. 13. Fourthly I wish it may be considered how that He is a peacefull King Peace doubtlesse is a great blessing to a Kingdome and so is a peacefull King O pray for the peace of Ierusalem saith holy David and St Paul follow peace Heb. 12. ver. 13. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the word implying thus much that men should pursue and hasten after it like as they doe for the prize in some race or game of contention {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in some such sense ofttimes in Homer Now hath not the King been thus zealous for the peace of our Ierusalem Hath not he likewise though in vaine thus pursued and hasted after it Witnesse the manie overtures or rather entreaties for peace made by him And all this really unfainedly not dissemblingly or under a vizard as those of Davids enemies whoÌ„ therefore he deservedly complained of that whilst they spake of peace they had war in their hearts Ps. 110 7. Had others been as forward as he to imbrace termes of peace to tread in that viâ lacteâ wee had ere this my conscience gives me all closed in a peacefull end yet no mervaile in it for a peacefull sonne to proceed out of the loynes of a peacefull father His Motto was Pacificus neither doth our Soveraigne I confidently beleeve it desire rather to have his browes encircled about with the lawrell of victory then of peace and concord with his people The fifth consideration shall be whether these armes so taken up be Offensive or Defensive Defensive say they and will not be perswaded to the contrary There is the maine {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} of the businesse with them a speciall point indeed let us a litle examine it Civilians teach us that a Defensive resistance is when as the Defendant is no way the cause or occasion of the conflict by some kinde of former provocation and then afterwards in the very Act he doth but propulsare injuriam stands meerly upon his guard as t were ayming rather at his own safetie then the others ruine In a word neither provokes nor pursues his enemie This is the nature of a true defensive resistance Otherwise suppose I kill a man to say I did it in mine owne defence having yet provoked pursued and then assaulted him would prove I feare me but a slender kinde of plea even at the barre of Common justice The case comes neerly home to our purpose for be it examined on Gods name with an impartiall judgement and let not Actions so apparently done in the face and eye of the world be either grossely denied or cunningly shifted off Who first ministred the occasion of this unnaturall war by tumults and seditious riots in the open streets Next who first drew sword gave the onset as it were thus putting fire to the fuell now prepared and laid together Who lastly hath ever since most hotly Pursued and followed the businesse at first so unfortunately begun The King all this while almost sueing and intreating for peace if so peace might have been obtained upon faire and honourable termes consistent with Majestie what town or sort at the beginning did or at least needed to have feared his entrance Nay what Towne or fort may yet justly feare it if as they have unwarrantably taken up armes so in acknowledgment of their error they shall submit peaceably lay theÌ„ down Civilia bella Vna acies patitur gerit Altera All the offensivenesse I can descry in the King as touching the whole matter is that being at length enforced thereto he would not suffer himselfe and his good subjects to be overborne with a tempest and not make head against it If this be it he is censured for it calls to minde that story of him who having first smitten his neighbour with his fist afterwards sueth him because his head was hard and hurt his hand Passion say Philosophers in any subject is not without some manner of Reaction joyned to it nor can we defend our selves but it is most likely we shall in some sort or other offend the assaylant But the nature as I said of a simply Defensive resistance is to be tried at the test of the premised circumstances Sixthly and lastly it will be worth our consideration to examine upon what Grounds these armes be lifted up â—t is an axiome in state policie and ever hath been that better to connive at and suffer some inconveniences in a Church or Common-wealth then to expose either to the manifold dangers of Alteration And one of their own outlandish Doctors in a Tract of his upon the like argument though pleading for Resistance yet layes it downe for a principle or sure Maxime without all peradventure I must confesse mine owne ignorance as not having Lynceus his eyes about mee and therefore desire to be informed by others whereupon this so urgent necessitie of a civill war may be thought to have been grounded otherwise I shall easily be induced to beleeve that with him in the history they doe but pursue their owne Shadowes or shoot at a mark which themselves through the errour of their weake fancies have set up Is it for matter of Religion as it was maintained in the best and purest times of a Reformation The King hath promised it himselfe doth practise it and I heartily wish the best of his ill-affected subjects were but herein followers of his good Example Is it for the Libertie and freedome of our persons The King hath likewise passed his word upon it Is it for a Property in our goods and estates to be enjoyed by us