Happiness Nevertheless such was the merciful and bountiful dispensation of God in this cloudy and dark Oeconomy that sometimes thorow the thick and dark cloud of his Flesh and Infirmity some little rayes of his immense Majesty did appear as in his miraculous Operations even so in the same manner at many times and by many acts his Sovereignty was manifested and that he was truly King it was evidenced At his Birth The Wise men who came from the East worshipped him in his Swadling-clouts They are in Scripture and by the constant not interrupted course of the Church to this day commended for it In his Ministry he entred Ierusalem in Royal Pomp His Disciples and a great multitude did him obeysance gave him Royal Honour and when the Iews grumbled at it he told them that it was not onely just but necessary That if they and the People did hold their Peace the Stones would proclaim him King and do him Royal Homage In his Arraignment when he is to lay down his Soul for his Sheep he avouched himself before Pilate a King Pilate demands the Question Art thou a King Pilate understood not any Kingdom in his Question but a temporal one a Spiritual Kingdom in his conception was a meer Notion Fancy Chimaera Christ without dissimulation equivocation or mental reservation ad mentem interrogantis answereth he was a King Matth. 27. 11. Mark 15. 2. He had it written upon his Cross. Buried He had his Grave sealed as a King These things thus premised we come to prove that Kings are Christs Vicegerents and Lieutenants upon the face of the Earth 1. Our first proof is the place we insisted much in before Prov. 8. 15. by what is said it is more than apparent that By me Kings reign hath this Sense By me Wisdom the Son of God the Word that was made Flesh Kings reign you may find many Reasons by reviewing the most learned and most pious Bishops Sermons Dr. Andrews whose Memory shall ever be in everlasting Benediction 1. First Prov. 30. 4. This Wisdom is called the Son of God 2. Next this preposition Per By it is the proper and peculiar preposition of Christ. 3. Thirdly it is not very congruous that as by Christ we have all Blessings spiritual in heavenly things so by him we have Kings his Derivatives constituted the best and most eminent of temporal Blessings 4. Fourthly Christ he is Wisdom and by him all Blessings issuing from Mercy Kingdoms subsist more by Wisdom than by Power why shall we not then from this Wisdom establish Kings and their Sovereignty The proper Work of Wisdom is ordinare to order and to establish Order Why then shall not all Monarchy refer its Origine to this Wisdom 5. Lastly the original word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bi is both in me per me in me and by me to intimate as we said before that Kings are first in him and so come forth from him and yet come so forth from him that they are in him Christ in them as his Deputies They in him as their Author and Authorisâ—r He by their Persons They by his Power 2. Our second Proof we bring from that Scripture averreth that Christ is not only King of his Church but in Order to his Church King over all the Kings and Kingdoms of the Earth Christs Kingdom over his Church Psal. 11. 6. 15. in these words expressed I have set my King upon my holy Hill Sion Over the whole World in these Words v. 8. I shall give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy Possession which is not to be scantled by conceiving it only of the calling of the Gentiles to the Communion of his Church but also of his Sovereignty over all the Earth and Kings of the Earth This Ordinance is by Appointment and a decree irrepealable v. 7. I will declare the Decree The words I shall give thee demonstrate that this potestas is not aeterna interna that eternal Power which is inseparable from him as God but data externa a given and bestowed Power which is not conceivable in Christ but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as man or God-man our Saviour and Redeemer 3. A third Proof may be this that as this was foretold by Prophecy so in the Fullness of time it was really effected and accomplished Matth. 28. 18. Our Saviour saith All Power is given to me in Heaven and in Earth The word Given sheweth this Power is fixed in that Capacity by which he is our Saviour all Power in Heaven and Earth universally is expressed all Power and by Distribution exegetically amplified all Power in Heaven and Earth which will not admit nor permit that we exclude Sovereignty in Kings Vbi Lex non distinguit nemo distinguere debet Let our Adversaries shew where Kings and their Crowns are exempted or excepted from this all Power in Earth 4. Fourthly the Apostle St. Paul Heb. 1. 5. telleth us that God hath appointed the Son by whom he hath spoken to us in the last days Heir of all things If this Inheritance be not over Kings we are infinitely mistaken and if Kings refer not their Right to him as Donor they have no just Title 5. Fifthly The Scripture to take away all Cavils hath given us this Truth in terminis terminantibus in plain and express Terms Revel 1. 2. Jesus Christ the faithful Witness the first begotten of the dead is The Prince of the Kings of the Earth that again cap. 11. 27. He ruleth them with a Rod of Iron That this is meant appliable at least to Kings see and read it Psal. 11. 9. Revel 19. 12. On his head you have many Crowns an Embleme of his Sovereignty over all Kings and that all are his Deputies his Substitutes To what is said add that of St. Paul 1 Tim. 6. 15. He is the only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords That The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a note of Excellency Revel 17. 14. The Lamb he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings Revel 19. 16. And he hath on his vesture and on his Thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords Observe the words attentively How characteristically this Power is given to the Lamb to Iesus to the faithful Witness That it is written on his Thigh on his Vesture which qualifie this Power as his Due as he is the Head and Saviour of his Church It is worth your notice taking that this name is written upon his Thigh that we may learn two things the one is That this Power is fixed in Christ-man The other is That all Kings are De femore Christi from him by Generation Reason pleadeth for this Truth 1. First what is more suitable and convenient than that all Kings of all Ages should issue from him who is Rex saeculorum A King whose Kingdom endureth throughout all Ages It is the highest Dignity of Crowns to hold of this Crown
Rights of the Father natural Methinks more for the warrant of the two latter cannot be raised to any higher Constitution than humane Appointment but the other of the surrogated Father floweth and followeth the inviolable and unrepealable Ordinance of Almighty God For my part a King designed in such case ought should enjoy his paternal Right no less than Melchisedeck or Abraham I am the more powerfully inclined to this Opinion that I see in holy Writ that it pleased God in his Wisdom and Justice to transfer the Right of the first born to the younger the surrogated was not one whit lessened in his Prerogative and Power but had fully entirely what was due to the first born in whose place he was surrogated Consider this in Iudah when Reubens Right of Primogeniture was forfeited and he with his Posterity invested with it and surrogated in his place See read and consider the Royal Prerogatives by the Spirit of Prophecy bestowed upon Iudah Gen. 49. of which by Gods Grace more largely Quaest. 4. The like may be seen in David whom God preferred to Eliab his elder Brother It is a ruled case in Law Modus acquirendi non tollit jus possidendi the way by which we come to have jus quaesitum as Jurists term it the Right to any thing provided it be lawful otherwise that Maxim is of undoubted Truth Quod ab initio non valuit progressis temporis convalescere non potest long Possession cannot secure an injust Title it is not my purpose now to enter upon Vsucapio or Ius proscriptionis is not prejudiced by the way by which we obtain it Iacob had no less Right to the Birth-right having it by a just Title than Esau. The Jurists give the reason of this Quomodocunque res est acquisita possessio est de jure gentium if a man come at any thing by a legal Title by the Law of Nations that is by the Law of common Equity the Possession or Apprehension is entire and valid Now apply all this when a People disordered are without Government and destitute of a Governour to whom by a Title and Right of Nature it is due condescend to design or chuse one for their Ruler why shall he not should he not enjoy inherit the Right of the deficient Proprietor and seeing the Right Proprietor had this Right by God by Nature how can it be but howsoever the Designation of the Person is from the disordered Community yet the Collation of the Power is from God immediately and from his sacred and inviolable Ordinance And what can be said against modus acquirendi the way by which such a one elected obtaineth this right for seeing God doth not now send Samuels or Elishas to anoint or declare Kings we are in his ordinary Providence to conceive the Designation or Election of the Person is the manifestation of God's Will voluntas signi as the School speaketh just so as when the Church designeth one to sacred Orders In few words take all with you God who made all things is the Author of Order by which all things are preserved without Order there can be no Being but all must either turn to Annihilation or to a confused Chaos God in Scripture is no less the God of Order than the Creator of all things In Heaven amongst the Angels we see it established Amongst all Creatures betwixt the cope of Heaven and the center of the Earth it is a sweet subordination a sweet harmony is seen the Inferiour giving a tacite reverence a due obedience to its Superiour the Superiour having an over-ruling Power with a benign influence upon all Inferiours to it Can we then dream to ourselves that God did leave man without this mean of subsistence that it was Arbitrary to him to appoint and specifie either no Government at all or what kind or spece of Government he pleased Plato in his Republick can tell such a man that he that can think he may subsist without a Governour must either be God or something worse than nothing Hath God provided so for all Creatures in Heaven and Earth that he hath established a Government amongst all and that conform to every one's nature and hath he left man in some respects the most excellent and perfect of all Creatures the Abridgment of the whole World the Microcosme without this established order Do we not see that before the Woman came into the World or a Child was born God fixed Government in the person of Adam Did he not secure it that it should be transmitted to the first born that Government amongst mortal men should be immortal and seeing Sin with much more Misery and Mischief hath brought into the World that men should sometimes be driven from their natural and proper Father King and Sovereign that for their Subsistence in Happiness and plenty and Protection from Evil and Mischief they are forced to chuse one or more and to surrogate him or them in his place to whom by God and Nature it was due to bear rule over them that he or they coming in the place and power of the natural Father or King have his or their Sovereignty not by a voluntary Consent but by a necessary act and that the Power is not by Derivation from the Community but by immediate Donation from Almighty God CHAP. VIII That Sovereignty is not by Derivation from the Community is proved by more Reasons IF there were no more to disprove this popular Tenet That Sovereignty in a King is by Derivation from the Community this is more than enough that it is built upon a false Ground for it presupposeth and taketh as granted that in the Community whether collective of all Individuals or virtual and representative by some in place of all there is inherent a Potestas activa rectiva a ruling active Power which is most false If we will trust Philosophy Natura nalli dat virtutem sine actu cujus est potentia ejus est actus Aristot. de sornn vigil Potentia sine actu otiosa est inutilis And the Light of Nature teacheth that Deus natura nihil faciunt frustra God and Nature hath not bestowed upon any thing in the Universe a Power which is idle and to no purpose as certainly that Power must be which is never actuated But now this Power of actual ruling was never acted by the Community it was never seen nor exercised by them The collective or diâ—â—usive body comprehends with 〈◊〉 its Verge all and every individual Now how is it imaginable that in all the People in gross in commune this Potestus activa regâ—minis or Potestas activi regiâ—ninis this power of actuating Government is seaâ—ed as in its prime principal and most proper Seat and Subject Government intrinsecally essentially includes in it a specifick Distinction of regentes and recti some to be Governours and some to be governed If all and every one hath this Power above-mentioned where then are those that
2. Next is it not prophesied by Isaiah that Kings shall be the Nurse-fathers of his Church Reges erunt nutritii tui Is it not fit then that they hold their Crowns of Christ Is it not fit that Kings be taught so much that with the more Alacrity and Zeal they may advance the good of Christs Kingdom 3. Thirdly our Divines do acknowledge that by men in sacred Orders Christ doth rule his Church mediately in those things which primely concern Salvation And that by Kings their Scepter and Power he doth protect and preserve his Church and what concerns the external Government in Order and Decency How then can it be denied that Kings in this latter Sense are no less the immediate Vicegerents of Christ than Bishops Priests and Deacons in the former Look upon the Interpretations are given by the best and most able of our Divines upon 1 Cor. 15. 28. 4. Fourthly what is the reason that all Christian Emperours and Kings glory in the Sign of the Cross and place it upon the Top of their Sacred Crowns It is not only by this Symbolum Christianismi this ancient badge of Christianity to witness that they are Christians and not ashamed of the Cross of Christ but also to acknowledge that they have received and hold their Crowns of him Much more might be said to this purpose but for brevities sake and judging what is said to be sufficient to prove all Kings to be Christ's Vicegerents we spare with more Reasons to transgress upon the Patience of the understanding Reader Some have shunned to speak thus that Kings are Christ's Vicegerents upon Earth fearing that because of the Popes unjust Challenge to be Christs universal Vicar upon Earth it should usher in a Subordination of the Crown to the Miâ—re They scruple without just cause What need we to be afraid to speak with Scripture It is high Presumption in the Pope to challenge to himself the Title or Right of Christs universal vicar upon Earth by divine Right There is no colour almost or shew of Reason for it either in Scripture or reverend Antiquity The Pope the Bishop of Rome hath no more by Divine Right what he may have by positive Ecclesiastical Right it is not pertinent for us now to examine and discuss no higher Priviledge except it be in extent than the meanest Bishop in the World in his Diocess Doth not St. Hierom say Omnis Episcopus sive Romae fuerit sive Eugubii sive Constantinopoli sive Rhegii sive Alexandriae sive Tanis ejusdem est meriti ejusdem Sacerdotii The learned and holy Father compareth with the three great Patriarchs priviledged at that time by Ecclesiastical Canons aboveâ— all others with the Patriarchs of Antioch and the Honorary Patriarch of Ierusalem three of the meanest Bishops next adjacent to them the Bishops of Eugubium Rhegium and Tanais and averreth that by divine Right they had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal Right equal Power Nor doth that hold better that the Pope would make his transcendent and extravagant Jurisdiction over all to be grounded upon a fancied Eminency in St. Peter above his fellow Apostles ordinarie in him extraordinarie in them personal and temporarie in them but so fixed in Peter's Person that it is transmissible to his Successor and he forsooth whether God will or not must be the Pope of Rome This Paradox is against Scripture sacred Antiquity and sound Reason It is not fit now to prove it only to satisfie the judicious Reader I content my self with the Suffrage of that Holy Father and Martyr S. Cyprian who de unit Eccles. or singular Prelator saith Hoc utique erant caeteri Apostoli quod erat Petrus pari consortio praediti honoris potestatis He knew not these Differences these Novators have coyned and forged upon the Anvil of their own Hearts His Judgment was all the Apostles no less than Peter were endowed in Order to their Apostolical Charge with the same Endowment of Power and Priviledges of Honour Would God both sides in this and other Controversies would submit to the Judgment and Determination of the holy Fathers I wave the accurate discussing of these points they require more time and a more fit place To what is said I add that although we would give to the Pope of Rome to be Christ's immediate universal Vicar in spiritualibus in spiritual things there is no Danger and so to shun this Inconvenience we need not be so shie as to forbear to call Kings Christs Vicegerents Christs Lieutenants For if we should grant the Antecedent the Pope is Christs universal Vicar upon Earth which is certainly as false as Falshood it self it is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lame Consequence to make this inference Ergo all Kings Crowns are subordinated and subjected to the Pope and his Mitre Their own Authors who advance his Power as high as Lucifer do acknowledge that all power that was in Christ Secundum quod homo as he was man was not collated upon St. Peter They confess moreover that all the Power that was in St. Peter was not by him transmitted to his spurious and usurping Successor They all with one Mouth profess that potestas Excellentiae quae in solo homine Christo fuit that Power of Excellency which is solely peculiar to and personal in Christ was not communicated to St. Peter They clear and prove it by specification of instances Saint Peter say they could not confer the Effect and Efficacy of the Sacrament without the Sacrament it self nor could he institute Sacraments of himself or in his own name or others than Christ himself did institute Do they not all of them give and grant that Saint Peter did not transmit the Power of doing Miracles to all his Successors So then although it were granted that the Pope were Christ's Vicar universal it will not necessarily follow that in this that Christ is King of Kings the Pope is his first immediate and universal Vicegerent I wish the Pope who claimeth so near alliance and contingency to Christ would learn of Christ to be meek and humble in heart and so not onely should he find rest to his own Soul but a great deal of more rest and quiet should be both in Church and State It is very considerable that in Scripture it is recorded that whilst our Saviour was Minister Circumcisionis the Minister of Circumcision he both practised and taught that it was God's Ordinance that the Mitre submit to the Crown and the Shepherd's Crook to the Scepter Scarce well come into the World when he taught this by his Practice flying from Herod's Persecution to Egypt who might have commanded Legions of Angels against him to destroy him if it had not been that it was fitter he should teach us true Obedience as at his Word they published his Birth to Shepherds and sung that glorious Anthem Gloria in Excelâ—is Some it is probable may judge this to be the Act and Fact rather of Ioseph
such whatsoever to suppress whatsoever is contrary to the good intended in this Covenant and association if it be in their power so that this Sovereign maketh every man armatum magistratum to be armed with Power and the way left to himself for ought we know it may be Ravilliac's way or Guido Faux's way Surely here is a Despotical Sovereignty and more than ever was challenged by any the Turk or King of Spain without Europe This is to tyrannize over mens Souls for no man must be suffered to live or enjoy any Freedom or Life there who dissenteth in the least point of their voluminous Greed from them and if he assist not with his Monies his Arms his Hands to the loss of his Life for his Religion he is either Prelatical or Papistical and for his affection to the States a word incompatible with Monarchy and of highest Treason he is at best a Malignant At pleasure of this Sovereignty every man must give the Quota this Sovereignty prescribeth the Twentieth the Tenth the Fifth part c. must give loan of what moneys they have by them or upon Bank for the good Cause upon security of the Publick Faith a non ens which is like if God prevent it not to ruine the Reformed Orthodox Catholick Faith and moral Faith and Truth amongst men or what other they specifie and ordain What a vast Sovereignty is this the extent of it is immense for nothing shall be without the Sphere of this Power which hath no motion but eccentrick no Person without the verge of this Scepter And good reason for all this for this is God and Christ's Institution this Sovereignty is the indâ—vidual companion of the Gospel the holy discipline the discipline of Christ half the Kingdom of Christ the undoubâ—ed Note of the Church the eternal Counsel of God it is 〈◊〉 Scepter of the Son of God You see the Effect of it whâ—aâ— happy what a glorious Reformation it hath brought with it the like was never seen since the Apostles dayes this Reformation will pull down Antichrist from his Throne the hearing of the beginning of it how it enlarges it self now to be sworn too in England will make the Pope of Rome and his Cardinals knees smite one against another Quid verba audiam cum facta non videam Judge of the Tree by its Fruits as our Master hath taught us and we will find all their good words are as Jurists say Protestatio contraria facto solemn Protestations liberal Promises you know whose custom this is but slack Performances Would to God that had been allâ— no a world of mischiefs have followed upon it and it is to be feared that what is past is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beginnings of troubles The most glorious Church amongst the Reformed the staff and strength of Reformed Religion is broken in shivers where all things are lawful except to serve God and all Sects all Schisms allowed except the Orthodox Truth and Ordinances of God This Reformation is written in Letters of Bloud acted with the greatest Cruelty against not onely Innocent but Deserving men with Calumnies Rapine Robbery Cruelty that Father Mother and young ones if they have not been starved with hunger and cold have been exposed to extreamest indigency contempt and mockery I dare to say no Persecution that ever was can parallel this Persecution for Impiety Injustice and Cruelty What heart bleedeth not to see these Kingdoms happy before to the Envy of other Kingdoms and States to be the mocking-stock of the World that the Canaanite and Perizzite rejoyceth to look upon our Misery to see the Desolation standing in the Holy place and those Kingdoms of late the desire of all the Earth turned into an Akeldama and no other fruit of this glorious Reformation but to kill Christians for Christ's sake and to plunder for Religions sake Lord forgive them for Christ's sake and remove our Sins and those fearful Judgments and I beg pardon of the Reader for this Digression or Regret which I have poured out with a sad heart and wish them no worse than speedy Repentance For all we have said of this Antichristian Sovereignty whereby the Puritan and Factious would exalt the Presbytery and Representative Body above all that is called God Let no man imagine that we ran to the other Extreme to privilege a King from the direction and just Power of the Church or that we would encourage him or set him on like Vzziah to intrude upon Sacred actions proper to Ecclesiastical Persons Ex vi ordinis In direction by the Word administration of the Sacraments binding and loosing in interiori foro conscientiae or in exteriori by the Spiritual Censures annexed to the Keys Sure I am no pious or knowing King as blessed be God our Sovereign is will by right of his Crown which he holdeth immediately of Christ usurp upon this but on the contrary as a Son of the Church will submit to the Church his Mother or rather Christ in Church-men reconciling him to God Elsewhere by Gods Grace if God give us Life and Leisure in a several Treatise by it self we intend to lay open this point In sum briefly we say that men in Sacred Orders In rebus purè spiritualibus in things meerly and intrinsecally of themselves Spiritual have from Christ immediately a directive and authoritative Power in order to all whatsoever although ministerial onely as related to Christ But this giveth them no Coercive Civil Power over a Prince either per se or per accidens either primarie or secundarie either principaliter or consecutive directâ— or indirectè simple or absolute that either the one way or the other directly or indirectly absolutely or respectively by it self or in ordine ad spiritualia any or many in sacred orders Pope or Presbytery can convent cite censure in case of Defailance Supply and in case of not obeying what God in Scripture hath commanded to covenant associate swear and take Sacrament upon it to resist him oppose him and force him to submit to the Scepter of Christ. This Power over man God Almighty useth not much less hath he given it to man Psal. 110. His People are a willing People Suadenda non cogenda religio nihil minùs Religionis quà m Religionem cogere Nor doth that spiritual Power which entirely we give to Bishops Priests and Deacons rob the King as he is the nursing Father of the Church of the power Christ hath endowed him with as a Christian King in externa gubernatione Ecclesiae We must not look on Kings as on others of the Flock of Christ although we may neither preach nor administer the Sacraments nor bind nor loose nor give sacred Orders nor excommunicate these are things only proper to Priests Primi secundi ordinis of the first and second Order and Degree Yet the exercise of these things freely within his Kingdom what concerneth the decent and orderly doing of all and what concerns
Course who are invested with sacred power to determine Truth in Controversies and Mysteries of highest Concernment in Councels to establish Canons to prescribe a Form of Worship a Catechism to have the power of the Keys in all censures Ecclesiastical in sum in all things Ecclesiastical to have no less power no less a Voice not only deliberativè but decisivè than Priests or Ministers as they are pleased to call them these Lay Elders are debarred from nothing but only publick Preaching and Administration of the Sacraments Baptism and the Eucharist it is expected if the independent Ministery another Head of this Hydra become the prevalent part they will justle the Presbyterian out of this and restore all the Laity who in their Divinity are no less the Lords anointed than Prince Priest or Prophet There is some hope I say that these Lay Elders a non ens in Scripture and never known to Antiquity will curb them that they shall not have way for such a vast Immunity finding already by sad and feeling Experience what a measure of Patience is required to bear their Insolency and what Prudence is necessary to disappoint their ambitious and pragmatical ends There is enough said to lay open the weakness and wickedness of this Antichristian tenet that Kings are God's but not Christ's Vicegerents They cry out much against the Pope to whom they do better service than they are aware of I pray God they were as real and true Enemies to Popery as moderate and Orthodox Protestants are whom the Pope feareth more than them and with just reason and seeing I have not much hope that what is said will work much upon them let me tell them that in their Tenet and Practice they are worse than the good Popes were and I dare say all to Gregory the Great hear it from his mouth and startle not at it he was a better Christian than any of your Sect or Sectaries thus he writeth Lib. 3. Epist. 61. to Maurice the Emperour Dominus meus fuisti quando adhuc Dominus omnium non eras Ecce pro me respondebit Christus dicens Ego te de notario countem excubitorum de comite Caesaerem de Caesare Imperatorem feci Sacerdotes meos manui tue commisi tu à servitio meo milites tuos substrahis Ego quidem jussioni vestrae subjectus legem vestram per divers as terrarum partes transmitti feci Et quia lex ipsa omnipotenti Deo minimè concordat ecce per suggestionis meae paginam Serenissimis Dominis nuntiavi utrobique ergo quae debui exolvi qui Imperatori obedientiam praebui pro Deo quod sensi minimè tacjii And in another Epistle written to Theodor. Epist. 64. He saith Valdè mihi durum videtur ut ab ejus servitio milites suos substrahat qui ei omnia tribuit dominari non solum militibus sed etiam sacerdotibus concessit Maurice was no bad Emperour and Gregory certainly was a good Bishop yet Maurice had commanded that none serving in his Wars or any Officer whatsoever accountant unto him should be admitted either to Sacred Orders or a Religious Monastical Life without his special Warrant Reason may plead for the equity of this charge because by the Bounty and Beneficence of Christian Emperours men in sacred Orders and Religious Persons had admirable Priviledges which might make his Armies weak by flying to sacred Orders and Religious Life and exempt Accountants from doing what was due in civil Justice ex Indulto Imperatorum not ex jure Divino by the gratuite concession of Princes and no direct Warrant from God or his Word Whatever this was in it self which Maurice commanded Gregory to keep and to intimate to all his Suffragan Bishops and to be published in all Churches within the verge of his Jurisdiction certain it is in St. Gregory's judgment it was unlawful and sinful for he saith Lex ipsa omnipotenti Deo minimè concordat and again Valdè durum mihi videtur yet what did he He made this Ordinance of the Emperour 's to be published throughout all his Churches here is Obedience and although it did belong properly and peculiarly to him as Bishop to admit any qualified by God Almighty to sacred Orders He submits to the restraining Ordinance of Sovereign Authority and I am confident did not transgress He pleadeth for no immunity to any sacred Person in sacred Orders nay he bringeth in Christ himself saying Sacerdotes meos manui tuae commisi I have committed to thy trust to thy power my Priests and in this case which is Spiritual enough and necessary enough for ought I can conceive at least that part of it of admitting of able men to sacred Orders he humbly obeys he pleads not that he was Christ's Vicegerent and Maurice only Goâ—'s he objects not Vzzia's attempt to sacrifice he â—onfesseth or rather bringeth in Christ speaking thus He calls him not onely His Lord but Dominus omnium the Lord of all without restraint he averreth that not onely he had by God Dominion over Souldiers but over all sacred Persons in sacred Functions Ei omnia tribuit dominari non solùm militibus sed etiam sacerdotibus concessit He knew no remedy else but per suggestionis paginam by humble supplication submiss admonition to tell the Emperour it was not right he professed his obedience and that not by compulsion an extorted a coacted one Quod debui exolvi Imperaâ—ori obedientiam praebui as he was bound he obeyed and for his humble Remonstrance he speaketh no less rightly than modestly Et pro Deo quod sensi minimè tacui He knew no more lay upon him than in humility and submiss freedom with Reverence to tell and admonish what he thought fit The poor man knew not that as Christ's Vicegerent in Christ's Kingdom he was to oppose to supplicate petition and if there were not a recalling a repealing of the Imperial Edict that they might excite the People to covenant swear and at last to present a Petition upon the point of a Pike by right as he was Christ's Vicegerent This holy man knew not this Divinity it was never heard of in his age nor any since the World began it sprang not up till many Ages after that that malicious one did sow Popple among the good Wheat of Christ's Field for a thousand years after Christ the independent Sovereignty Ecclesiastical of the Pope was never known in the Christian Church The Presbyterian Sovereignty not â—till fifteen hundred and above were run out The Parochian Pope or independent Sovereign in every Parish Christ's Vicegerent except Almighty God right in mercy what is disjoynted in Church and State is like to put the Presbyterian and Pope out of doors I may add a world of Testimonies of the Fathers who expresly call Kings Christs Vicegerents upon Earth Athanasius in the Sermon of the Blessed Virgin explaining that of the Psalm Et regnabit in domo Iacob in
cannot repeal it By Scripture then and Antiquity it is clear that the interposed act humane whatsoever it be whether Election Succession Conquest or any other lawful way doth not collate the Power but design or declare the person and letteth not the Power to be of immediate Collation from Almighty God as when the Church designeth or declareth a man for a sacred Function it is God only who bestoweth the supernatural Power Faculty and Ability Or it is in some case like to that when our King sendeth the honourable Order of the Garter to a Duke or Prince abroad by the hand of a Gentleman the Gentleman intimateth it to the person honoured but the bestowing or collating of the honour is from the power of the King the sole and proper Fountain of that Honour Let this suffice to remove their first scruple we come next to examine that which both Jesuit and Puritan make much of that is A private and individual Person may make away his own native and proper Liberty and enslave himself to a Lord and Master from hence they conclude Ergo a Community or Multitude may surrender their own native Liberty to one or more to rule over them See Bellarmine pressing this Argument lib. de Laicis cap. 6. and Suarez lib. 3. defens Doctr. Orthod cont Sect. Anglic. If we would grant all this yet this much we will gain that as a singular Person when he hath made away his Liberty to another he cannot resume it no although he hath made his bargain in a hard condition disadvantageous to himself then although we give that their consequence is good which we will never grant it will by as necessary consequence follow that when the People have devested themselves of that Power naturally inherent in them and invested one or more with it they cannot resume it no not though they have made it to their own disadvantage It may be they will tell us Argumentum à simili in dissimili non concludit that an Argument built upon a Similitude concludeth not in the point of Dissimilitude We will yield to them this with both our hands and upon the same ground we rejoyn that there is a wide disparity and difference betwixt the two 1. First because it is certain Nemo nascitur naturâ servus None by Nature cometh in the World in the condition of a Slave Nature in this is equally Indulgent to all But on the other side it is as true Nemo nascitur liber ab Imperio No man is born in that condition to be free from Government but with his natural Being cometh into the World subject to some Every man is born subject to his Father of whom immediately he hath his Existence in Nature and if his Father be the subject of another he is born a Subject to his Father's Superiour 2. Next there is another great difference Every man by Nature hath an immunity and liberty from despotical and herile Empire and in this may say Possum facere de meo quod volo I have this privilege by the Law of God and Nature that I am enslaved to none and consequently without his own voluntary act making away this native and natural liberty he cannot be devested of it and in his bargain and covenant may more and less enslave himself but on the other side God and Nature have laid a necessity upon all men coming into the World subesse imperio to be subject to Government Again because this Government this Empire this Sovereignty cannot protect us sufficiently to make us enjoy the sweet fruits of happy Government Peace Righteousness Plenty Godliness and Honesty except it be entirely endowed with Sovereign Power to act its Duties preserve it self protect us Almighty God as he investeth the Sovereign with entire Sovereignty so hath he set the bounds of it defined it otherwise such is the corruption and natural repugnancy of every one to it that forthwith it should be rent in pieces It is accidental to any to render himself a Slave it is occasioned either by Force as when one is taken by an Enemy he is Mancipium Servus or otherwise some extreme necessity and indigency forceth one to enslave himself to sell his Liberty to redeem him from Debt Death or any ignominious and intolerable condition to state himself in a more tolerable one In brief it is some supervenient necessity that forceth man to make away his native and natural Liberty à servitute but subesse imperio to submit and subject to lawful Government congruous to the condition of man and necessary and convenient for the happy Being of man is natural is necessary by the inviolable Ordinance of God and Nature This answer to their second Sophism cleareth the sense of their Maxim so much cryed up and so much abused Quisque nascitur liber every one is born a free man that we need not insist much upon it yet to make the general sense of the Maxim appear and to discover their adulterate and bastard sense we say it is most true that Quisque nascitur liber à servitute Every man is born a free man from slavery but Nullus nascitur liber ab imperio none is born exempted from the subjection of lawful Government without a subordination and subjection to a Superiour Christ as man was not exempted from this It is recorded in Scripture Luke 11. 51. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He did subject himself to Ioseph his putative Father and Mary his true Mother the word in the original is the same which the Apostle useth Rom. 13. 1. commanding obedience and subjection to Higher Powers It were very fit our opposites would consider what Power the Father had over the Children by the Law of God and Nature that to redeem himself from Debt from any distressed state and condition he might have enslaved his Children begotten of his Body If this Power was not by the right of Nature by the warrant of God I can see no other for it could not be by a mutual and voluntary act of Father and Children To shut up all in few words give me leave to put you in mind that the Stoicks observe three Notions of servitus of Service and Subjection 1. The one is when a man contrary to native and natural Liberty is made a Slave to a Lord or Master this they call servitutem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when a man hath power to command use dispose another man's Person as his other Goods at pleasure for this cause the Scripture standeth not to call a Servant his Master's Money 2. The other is when a man's Person is confined or committed that he is deprived of living at liberty as he lists as Criminals or Debtors this kind of servitude they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when the liberty of going where we will or doing what is lawful at pleasure is taken from us 3. The third is a Servitude as they call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consisting in Subordination in
ab actu exercito ad actum signatum or contrarywise will not always hold or to reason à potentia secunda ad primam vel è contra from the Difference in the Exercise to conclude a Difference or Disparity in the first Capacity is inconsequent To be rational in the first Capacity and natural Power is essential to all men and equal in all but in the use the Exercise of the rational Faculty there is a vast Disparity because of a great Latitude in different actual Ability Nature admits a great Variety in the use and exercise of her natural Powers that all are not alike fitted and enabled for the second Acts. In the first Capacity nature is so just so equal so indulgent to all that the native first radical power being of it self in indivisibili is equal in all no less in homine tenuissimi sensûs in the least knowing man than in him who in Sharpness of Wit approacheth nearest to Angelical and Noetical Spirits Take another Instance the face of man is not much above a Span in Length or Breath yet what an immense Variety is there in the faces of men Naturalists and Moralists do hold and not without great shew of Reason that from the first to the last man every individual hath his own proper peculiar face Can Suarez or any other from this Variety in the antecedent bring home this Conclusion in the Consequent Ergo a face is not natural to man but something casual or accidental The Result is we must pitch upon some things natural which are uniform in all and which yet admit in the multivarious Wisdom of God and large work of nature some room and place of Variety which Variety doth neither abolish nor destroy the Essentials We will find the like in Monarchy that all of them are uniform in their Essentials and accidental Varieties do not prove them to be of humane Composition or Constitution If Instances in things natural do not the Business let me entreat the Iesuit and Puritan to look upon moral things where they will find the like Vltio scelerum that gross enormous Crimes are to be punished with a condign proportioned Punishment is the Ordinance of God of Nature and common Equity This Truth is undenyable Is there not a great Variety and Difference in the measure and manner of the Punishment in different Kingdoms and Nations Theft somewhere is punished by Death somewhere by Restitution and that of Restitution somewhere twofold somewhere threefold some fourfold c. somewhere it is punished by Slavery somewhere one way somewhere another way Infinite Instances of this kind might be adduced Can you from hence conclude that the Punishment of Theft is not an inviolable Order and Ordinance of Almighty God and common Equity But that it hath all its Entity and Being by influence from humane Appointment A Country Clown would jeer you for this We deny not but Gods Works are uniform in their Essentials it a ut nec augeri nec minui possunt that if you take the least part of the Essentials if Essentials may truly be said to have parts from them they perish yet this may well subsist with some more some less power in the actuating or exercising of this natural uniform Power No understanding Iesuit will deny but acknowledge that Episcopacy with all its essential Power is immediately from God and of his Institution and yet may it not be that in actu exercito in the exercise of this Power some Bishops may have more some less power in actuating that which they are not restrained from but may do ex vi ordinis by their sacred native Power A Bishop ex vi ordinis by his inherent Power of Consecration may ordain every where in the World as many Priests as many Deacons as he will yet may he not be restrained that he shall not do it without his own Diocess May he not by the same Power ordain a Priest without a Title or Cure and yet may he not be restrained by positive Consent and Constitution that he shall not do it Is not the case possible and probable that Bishops of one particular Church may be more restrained than Bishops of another particular Church Can Suarez or any other than conclude from this Variety in the Exercise of Episcopacy that Episcopacy with it's radical Power is not immediately from God and Christ He hath more Learning and Candor than will allow him to be so absurd The Sectary feeleth no hurt by this Stroke Well let us come home to him I demand of the Sectary whether or not a Minister made I dare not say a Priest in sacred Orders or ordained by Imposition of hands this Christian Practice is Antichristianism now a-days hath not all the Power naturally inherent in him that any other Minister whosoever or wheresoever else I am confident none of them will deny it Again may he not be restrained to do no Ministerial act as to Baptize Preach c. but within his own Parish unless he be otherwise licensed No moderate Sectary if any such be doth deny this Come on In some cases of Jurisdiction I fear the Term offends the Ears and Stomach of the Precisian in some cases of Discipline I say of which by Gods Law and his calling excuse me to keep their own Diction he hath full Power within his Charge may he not be so restrained that some reserved cases this Phrase I fear be offensive that some points of Discipline be reserved as peculiar for the Classis the Presbytery and that their Judgment is only to be executed by the Parish Pope This is a known case amongst them Again may there not be some points of Discipline and Doctrine too reserved as proper and peculiar for a Provincial And again some of that high Strain and Concernment that they cannot be cognosced or determined but by a general Assembly of such a monstrous Composition a Tragelaphus such as never Christ instituted nor Christian Church knew All this holds with their Tenets their Practices Further I demand may it not be that in particular National Churches as the Church of Germany the Church of France the Church of Scotland are in these cases reserved respectively as we expressed before that there may be a great Variety and Difference Now notwithstanding of all those Restraints by which Ministers so evidently and actually differ in the exercise and actuating of their Ministerial Charge and Function The Sectary that understands himself aright will be very loath to have the Conclusion brought home that the Ministerial Power is all by humane Institution by humane Composition Contract or that his Calling is humane only conventional only pactional only As he answereth for himself I hope he will furnish us an Answer how to take off this Argument so much triumphed in both by him and his spurious Father the Jesuit I take the Observator to be a Lay Gentleman and it may be as the times are he careth not much for
synecdochical and tropical Speech it is so usually spoken Nor is it unusual to the Spirit of God in Scripture to speak this way for it is said 1 Cor. 6. The Saints judge the World Now it is certain that the Judgment of the Saints is only by approving or consenting to Christs Judgment which is his only authoritativ◠properly and their act in that great Judgment at the last day is only to approve or consent rather to the righteous Judgment of their Lord yet Scripture standeth not to say The Saints shall judge the World To judge by Authority is only proper to God the Father by the Son to whom the Father hath given all Judgment and this leaveth no place no Power to the Saints to dissent The like holdeth in the Instance proposed That this is to be conceived so which is our sixth Argument to confirm that Kings and their Sovereignty are immediately from God is more than apparent that Almighty God in Scripture vindicateth to himsel◠all the Acts real and imaginable which are necessary for the making of Kings If the Iesuit make much of the Letter of the Text Deut. 17. where it 's said The Lord should chuse the King and the People set the King over them Let us consider how the Practice interprets the Letter of the Law it is an infallible Maxim with Jurists Praxis optimus Legis interpres Practice is the best Commentary of Law and it is no less a ruled case that the first president is a ruling case to all following in that kind Come then take the first Instance in Saul the first elected and constituted King by the Tenor of this Law In the practice the Phrase is varied and turned over the Election is given to the People the Constitution to God 1 Sam. 12. 13. Behold the King saith Samuel whom you have chosen and desired and behold the Lord hath set a King over you This Election of the People can be no other but their Admittance or Acceptance of the King whom God had chosen and constituted as the words Whom you have desired imply Scripture telleth us that Saul's Election and Constitution was 1 Sam. 9. 17. when God said to Samuel Behold the man whom I spake to thee of the same shall reign over my people and when Samuel took a Viol of Oyl powred it upon his head kissed him and said Is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be Captain over his Inheritance 1. Sam. 10. 1. Where you have Samuel as Priest and Prophet anointing doing Reverence and Obeisance to him and ascribing to God that he did appoint him Supreme and Sovereign over his Inheritance The same again is totally given to God 1 Sam 12. 13. The Lord hath set a King over you The Expression and Phrase is the same with that you have of Christ and his Kingdom Psal. 2. 6. I have set my King upon my holy Hill of Sion I am confident none will be so sacrilegiously impudent as to give to Church to man or Angel Creature or Creatures any share in any act of constituting Christ King over his Church and for his Church and in order to it over all the Kingdoms of the World By what is said of this first practice it is more than evident that God in that Law of making Kings Deut. 17. did vindicate as proper and peculiar to himself the Designation of the person of the King and the investing of him in royal Power and Sovereignty The People then were only to admit and accept of their King by God so designed and constituted and to yield all Reverence Obedience and maintenance necessary It was not arbitrary to them to admit or reject Saul so designed so constituted by God himself immediately reject him they could not Yet God in his wise prudent Dispensation of all things judged it expedient to complete and consummmate this Work by the Acceptation Consent and Approbation of the people Vt suaviori modo that by the smoother way he might thus encourage Saul to the undergoing of this hard Charge and make his People the more heartily without grumbling or scruple Reverence and obey him As by his Providence he doth all things powerfully so he disposeth of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the good of man in a sweet and mild way This Admittance possibly added something to the Solemnity of Saul's investing but nothing to the essential or real Constitution as the Intimation of a Law which in Laws I think hath more Interest than this Admittance here it hath no Influence upon a Law made by supreme Power yet it is useful it Puts the Subjects in mala fide makes them inexcusable if they contravene Or this Admittance was and is as the Imperialists say truly of the Popes Confirmation of the elected Emperour good ad pompam but not requisite ad necessitatem Or if you will speak with the Romanists that the confirmation is of the Pope once elected is ad solennitatem not ad necessitatem for the Solemnity not simply necessary Or to come more near and with more certainty and truth it is like the Coronation of an hereditary King which is only for solemnity not for Necessity for before that Ceremony and Solemnity his Title is as good as after it and any act of royal Power and Jurisdiction done before his Coronation is as valid as any done as after his Coronation Or if you will it is like the Enthronization of a Bishop or installing of a Canon o◠Prebend in a Cathedral Church Scripture maketh this Good plentifully elsewhere for it punctually ascribeth all Acts essentially constitutive of Kings immediately to God In one full word the making of a King is given to God 1 Kings 3. 7. And now O Lord my God thou hast made thy Servant King instead of David my Father The providing of a King is given to God 1 Sam. 16. 1. I have provided me a King The King in a proper and peculiar way is called Gods King Psal. 18. 50. Great deliverance giveth he to his King God exalteth them Psal. 89. 19. I have exalted one chosen out of the People Not the People but God findeth Kings out ibid. vers 20. I have found David my Servant Neither Priest nor Prophet nor People really anoin◠Kings God anointeth them ibid. vers 20. With mine holy Oyl have I anointed him That we conceive them not to have their Prerogative from Pope or People Priest or Prophet not they but God adopteth them ibid. vers 27. I will make him my first-born That he may cry unto him Thou art my Father my God vers 26. To shew their nearer and straiter Alliance they are taken in societatem nominis numinis potestatis into a communion of his Majesty his Name Power it is said Psal. 82. 6. I have said ye are Gods To shew their Generation their Procreation their Derivation there is a dixi to this too I have said ye are all of you the Children of the most High
Nothing can be more pernicious to mankind and opposite to God and his Ordinance who is the God of Order and not of Confusion The words in the original are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schopheâ—k dam haadam baadam damo jischaphek It is well rendered in our English Bibles Who so sheddeth mans blood by man shall his Blood be shed The old Translation is imperfect Quicunque effuderit hominâ—â—â— sanguiâ—â—m fundetur sanguis illius We will grant to Bellarmine that the Sense is not corrupted in this Translation but will never yield that it is not imperfect for the main and cardinal word Baadam per hominem by the Cardinal's Leave is omitted Let the Cardinal say what he will whom you may look upon â— 2. de verb. Dei cap. 12. Nor do we think that the Interpretation we have from the Septuagint is full enough which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui effuderit sanguinem hominis pro sanguine hominis ejus effâ—ndetur Psal. 2. And with Reverence we dissent too from Arias Montanus and Pagnin's Translations Effundens sanguinem hominis in homine sanguis ejus effundetur my Reasons with humble Submission to better Judgment and Reverence to so great men are 1. First Baadam in homine or per hominem cannot in Grammar be added to the Subject or Antecedent Effundens sanguinem but must belong to the predicate or consequent sanguis ejus effundetur and so the compleat and perfect Sense is Effundens sanguinem hominis per hominem sanguis ejus effundetur just as our Bibles english it Who so sheddeth mans Blood by man shall his Blood be shed The Reason of this because in the original the accent Zakephkathon which maketh as the Grammarians say incisum majus a Distinction is put above the word Haadam so that Baadam is to be joyned to the next the like reading you may find in the very verse immediately preceding Next this â— both in Baadam signifieth no less per than in by than in and by is the Preposition which expresseth the instrumental Cause and consequently it importeth one Gods Instrument who is authorized from him 3. Thirdly the Iews in their Thargum their Chaldee Paraphrase or Translation turn the words so that they understand this Baadam by man of the Judge who from God is authorized with Power Vnkelos turneth it thus Qui effuderit sanguinem hominis eum testibus five 〈◊〉 testes juxâ—a sententiam judicum sanguis ejus effundetur Ionathan giveth the Sense thus Qui effuderit sangâ—inem hominis per testes condemnabuâ—â— eum Iudices ad â—necem qui effuderit absque testibus Dominus mundi 〈◊〉 vindictam ab eo sumet in die Iudicii Both of them agree in this that the reading is thus Who so sheddeth the bloud of man by man shall his bloud be shed and both of them conceive it so that this Baadam this Per hominem this by man is not every man but the Judge authorized from God or both from God and his Sovereign 4. Fourthly to say Qui effuderit sanguinem hominis in homine sanguis ejus effundetur He that sheddeth the bloud of man in man his bloud shall be shed is neither so good nor so perfect and full a sense as Quicunque effuderit sanguinem hominis per hominem sanguis ejus effundetur Who so sheddeth man's bloud by man shall his bloud be shed 5. Fifthly and lastly if you value not the Testimony or Paraphrase of Vnkelos and Ionathan although Franciscus Xymenius and other Learned men judge the Paraphrase of the Thargum upon the Law true and faithful take an Argument for it uncontroulable that is our Saviour's Matth. 26. v. 52. All they that take the Sword shall perish with the Sword Saint Austin telleth us that the New Testament is veiled in the Old and Vetus Testamentum revelatur in Novo and the Old Testament is revealed in the New A better Commentary of God's Speeches and Words we cannot have than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than the Son the Word of God and that Word which is God In Christ's Speech shall perish by the Sword in the Phrase and Dialect of Scripture we can understand nothing else but the Sovereign Power that beareth the Sword Let the Apostle interpret the Master Saint Paul Rom. 13. 1. He commandeth Subjection and Obedience to Superior Powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and v. 6. He telleth you He beareth not the Sword in vain The words thus cleared we sum up our Argument thus God onely hath the Power of man's Life No man hath Power over his own Life Whoso taketh away the Life of man in God's Justice and Ordinance his Life is to be taken away again This principally and properly belongeth to God v. 5. I will require c. but God hath given this to some Deputies This Power is not given to every one as the terrour of an ill Conscience made Cain say Whosoever findeth me shall kill me This were to destroy mankind and make God the God of Disorder and Confusion Some man it is then by Distinction and Excellency who is God's Deputy and then this can be none else but he in whom is Sovereign Power and this Power is from none else but from God Almighty And if this power over Life be from God why not all Sovereign Power seeing it is homogeneous and as Iurists say in indivisibili posita a thing indivisible in its nature that cannot be distracted put away nor impaired as a Crown take any part from it is no more a Crown When God gave this Order the World knew well enough what this Baadam by man was neither before this time nor at this time knew the World any kind of Government but Monarchical And this Monarch was Noah 9. Ninthly As their Judiciary and Sovereign Power in actu signato the Execution and Exercise of Royal Power in actu exercito is given to God Almighty as to its first and proper Origine and Source so all the Acts done by Kings are ascribed to God and we find them the immediate Instruments by whom God worketh here the greatest works of Justice when he is to punish men and the greatest works of Mercy when he is to bless them That both for the one and the other they are called his Servants His axe his rod and the works they do to be such as he hath prepared of old In the work of Justice punishing his People look upon Nebuchadnezzar See whâ—â— God fore-telleth by Isaiah by Ieremy In the works of Mercy extraordinary look upon Cyrus and for the Actions both of the one and the other consider Scripture and consider if they be not particularly and immediately given to God in all their parts their acts as if they were nothing but dead and lifeless Instruments See the places above-cited which before we have named and for brevities sake we now omit To this Argument may be added the immediate working God hath upon their Hearts their Counsels
that their heart is in the hand of the Lord as a Boat in the Rivers of Waters how God sendeth them in their Expeditions their Wars maketh them in his day his appointed day to set their face against Ierusalem or otherwise casteth his hook in their nostrils to bring them back with shame To this Argument may be referred that when God is to bless a People he sendeth them good Kings the Sons of Nobles when he is to scourge them naughty Kings weak children c. The Testimonies of Scripture for all these are infinite many and obvious which we remit to the Reader 's memory or dilligent search 10. Tenthly Nor is to be passed by that the Sovereign immense Majesty of God is expressed by stiling and denominating him King and his Supreme glory is represented by sitting on a glorious Throne See Isaiah see Daniel and the Prophets Let us beware then that we make not God a Derivative too of the People and a Creature of mens making 11. Eleventhly In the Scripture we read that onely three kinds of men were anointed Kings Priests Prophets Let any give an instance of a fourth besides those three It is granted of all that Priests and Prophets have Sacred Charges and are Sacred Persoâ—s of God's immediate making and Constitution why then shall not Kings have the same Prerogative to be immediately from God Sacred in themselves Sacred in their Charge by Divine Ordinance and Appointment 12. Lastly To close up this first part of our Proof from Scripture it is a strong Reason to perswade Sovereignty Authority and Majesty to be from God immediately and independently from any others in what consideration soever that the irreverence disobedience contempt rebellion or any wrong whatsoever offered to their Persons to their Authority is wrong and contempt offered to God himself See 1 Sam. 8. This made David say Who can touch the Lords Anointed and be innocent This made the Apostle say Rom. 13. 2. Whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist receive to themselves damnation The like Phrase to the first you have of the Sacred Ministry in the Apostles 1 Thess. 4. 8. He therefore that despiseth despiseth not man but God When the People murmured against Moses and Aaron in the Law you have They murmure not against you but me The like you have in Samuel The result of all is That as the Sacred Ministry is by Collation immediately or independently from God although the designation of the Person may be by men and the Church so Kings may be personally designed and deputed to Royalty and Sovereignty by Election Succession Conquest or any other lawful possible way but their Sovereignty and Power is by Donation and Collation immediately and solely from God and refers to him as the only Donor and Author Again as the Person and Function of such as are lawfully invested with Sacred Power and in Sacred Orders is Inviolable and Sacred so are the Persons and Sovereignty of Kings Our order proposed in the beginning of this Treatise chargeth us now to produce our Proofs from Reverend Antiquity But I must beg leave of the Christian Reader to discover the weakness and wickedness of a new-devised trick of our Sectaries That the King is God's but not Christ's Vicegerent CHAP. V. All Christian Kings are dependent from Christ and may be called his Vice-gerents WHereas hitherto by express Scripture and by Arguments from thence by necessary consequence deduced we have proved That Kings and their Sovereignty are immediately dependent from God and dependent from no other Conceive it not so that hereby we seclude Christ and him considered not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 personally as the Second Person in the Trinity but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his Capacity as God-man the Saviour and Redeemer of the World Our Sectaries have found out a quirk or trick rather of late to hold and argue That Kings are Gods not Christ's Lieutenants upon Earth Their purpose is the same in substance with the Romanists although they differ in something for the Romanists and Puritans both of them erect in every Kingdom another Sovereign not onely besides the true Sovereign but also above In this they agree and are like Sampson's Foxes who have their Tails knit together and do carry this Fire-brand to consume Church and State In one other they differ extremely for the Romanist and Iesuit will have it to be the Pope the Puritan and Sectaries fix this Sovereignty in the Presbytery We believe with warrant of Scripture and sound Antiquity that all Crowns and Scepters Kings and States are dependent from Christ the Son of God as he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and man the Saviour of the World and Head of the Church We intend not at this time to discuss that curious Question Whether or not by Hereditary Right Christ was born King of the Iews We are speaking at this time of Christs Kingdom as the Head of the Church in order to all the Kingdoms of the World The Kingdom we speak of is not what was due to him as the Son of David but as he was the Saviour and Redeemer of David and all the World The right to which he had by Hypostatical Vnion and his perfect Merit and plenteous Redemption Some very Learned men do hold that Christ was not entitled to this Kingdom till his Resurrection and that then he had Ius quaesitum as the Jurists speak There is not much danger to hold this or deny it but with reverence to their great Parts and humble submission to better Reasons I dissent from them and do think however it may be granted that then he came to exercise it fully and perfectly or if you will that a new Title and Right did accrue to him that what he had before by Hypostatical Vnion onely now he had it by another supervenient Right of Merit and so had it duplioi Titulo as Saint Bernard saith of him in another case yet for any thing I could yet see I am of the mind from the first instant and moment of his Incarnation as God-man the Head of his Church By the grace of Hypostatical Vnion he was King of Kings and Lord of Lords It cannot be denied that while he was in the form and state of a Servant in statu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the state of Humiliation as by the no less mysterious than admirable and wise Oeconomy of God the Glory of his Deity did not conspicuously and ordinarily shine thorow the veil of his Flesh no more did this Majesty and Glory of his Sovereignty and Kingdom shine forth to the Eyes of men God in his unsearchable Wisdom having appointed that the Kingdom of God should not come with observation and that the Iews might be rectified in their judgment who did not expect a spiritual King and Deliverer but a Messiah to reign temporally over them and by him to enjoy all external Plenty Peace and
Solomnities which were peculiar 〈◊〉 some Families only as Fornicalâ—â— and Paliâ—ia 〈◊〉 which it is manifest that Salâ—â— Regis in this Law 〈…〉 as well as Salus 〈…〉 and you are not by the one to exclude 〈◊〉 other Vâ—pian the great 〈…〉 But in that that is 〈◊〉 he defineth the contrary way that 〈◊〉 is that that be longeth ad singulâ—â—um 〈◊〉 to the singular anâ— peculiar good of every one singâ—y as 〈◊〉 saith L. iâ—â— de rer drâ—is L. 1. P. â—it 8. Publiâ—â—â— rer nulliâ—s in hoâ—â—â— esse contra quae suâ—it singalorum and M. Terentiles 〈◊〉 hath observed Aliud esse populi universi personarum aliud singulorum quod populus est in sua Pâ—tâ—state understand him to speak where Democracy is the supreme Government singuli in illius With what is said see how it can subsist that Salus populi is to be conceived of the safety of the Subject without respect to or consideration of the safety of the Governours In Latine Authors the sense is this Salus publica suprema lex estâ— In Vlpian's Sense it is Salus rei Romanae suprema lex esâ—o The same is the signification of the Greek word 〈◊〉 for where Iustinian SS Plebiscitum de jure nâ—turae gentium explaineth the word Populus to contain in it all Orders and Conditions of men within the Empire his Paraphrast useth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which cometh from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bind together that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Chain or tye and no tye to keep a Multitude together in one without Government and Governours I do not deny but the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes in Greek â—ignifieth the meaner sort of 〈◊〉 people and Homer and others take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for an ordinary common man to which they oppose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a King and Nobleman and the Latines sometime use the word a popular man for 〈◊〉 Plebeian man or a man of low Condition So Plautâ—â—â— Praestat divitem popularem esse quam nobilem mendicum Notwithstanding in its proper first and most used Sense it comprehendeth all men and Conditions of 〈◊〉 not excluding Governours more than Subjects and so is to be taken in the Law of the 12 Tables Salus populi suprema lex esto Let us come and examine Literam Legis as the Jurists speak the Letter of the Law Salus populi I find here is Lex a Law and Suprema Lex the paramont and transâ—endent Law then it cannot be racked further nor wind up to a higher pitch than to be a Law and a supreme Law The Substantive is Lex the Law the Epithet and Adjective is Suprema the supreme Law Then this Law of Salus populi of the safety of the People is only a Law which is supreme and above all other Laws it doth not trench upon the Prerogative of the Suprema potestas upon Sovereignty which giveth the Law Transcendent it is above all Laws but seeing it is only Lex a Law it is not transcendent above Rex the Sovereign in a Monarchy To interpret it thus it giveth to the Law an heterogeneous Sense and is de genere in genus leaping from one kind to another Do not our Adversaries acknowledge that during the Democratical Government of the people of Rome the people had Summam Majestatem summam potestatem and Legibus solutam had the supreme Power that Majestas was populi the People were so much Master of the Law that they might abrogare derogare obrogare stop the Execution of any Law take from it add to it or totally abrogate it at their pleasure And will they be so unjust to force this upon us in a Monarchy with a contrary Sense destructive of Sovereignty and Supremacy in a King If we will be pleased to look more narrowly upon the true meaning of this Law Salus populi suprema lex esto it will be so far from putting a curb upon Sovereignty wheresoever it be fixed in one few or many and license the People to right Sovereignty upon real and fansied Exigents in Necessity that upon the other part it will advance Sovereignty It is most true that all Laws should be proportioned to the publick Good of the Sovereign and People and so this Law is a transcendent Law for it is found intrinsecally in all Laws as the transcendent Affections unum verum and bonum are found intrinsecally in all and every Entity But this is not that which is meant in Salus populi suprema lex esto The meaning is that the Kingdom or State not only possibly and probably but really and existently may be such that the Sovereign must exerce and exercise an arbitrary Power not stand upon private mens Interest or transgressing of Laws made for the private good of Individuals but for the Preservation of it self and the publick may break thorow all Laws This case may be and sometimes is as when sudden foreign Invasion or strong home-bred Sedition threaten King and Kingdom State and Republick with present and almost unavoidable Ruine As you see in a natural Body the Physician will rather cut off a gangrened Member and the Patient resolve to endure it than that that Cancer corrupt and destroy the whole Body Look upon the Romans practice which the Jurists say is Optimus legis interpres and you will find this is the just Sense of the Law Do not Livie and Dionysius Haâ—icarn tell us that it was ordinary to the Romans in case of extream danger to chuse a Dictator the greatest Sanctuary they had in all Extremities who according to his own Prudence Arbitrement and Discretion was to command and do what he thought fit to be done and to act for the Preservation of himself and the State His Commission runs at large Videat dictator ne quid detrimenti Respublica capiat which Videat was not a charge given for Discharge of which he was not accountable to any but a full Sovereign intire Commission to rule in Peace and War in Life and Death over Persons and Estate Goods and Honour without Controulment Reluctation or Contradiction the rule being none else but Arbitrium boni viri He was subordinate to none none was co-ordinate with him nor after the expiring of six Months was he accountable to Senate Consuls Tribunes any many or all nor controulable by Man by Law by Statute by Custom or what else in that kind is imaginable What can be more apparent then than that this Lâ—w was never made of purpose to warrant People in a real or fancied exigent of necessity to rise against their Prince but to allow to Sovereign Power wheresoever fixed a more transcendent Power in the case of extreme Danger and Difficulty Nature teacheth that in Necessity this is equitable If any attempt to wound the Head Arms and Hands Legs and Thighs will defend with the loss of themselves before the Head be wounded
fidei but they are bound to another as propugnatores fidei that is to see that the Purity of Faith and Worship be preserved with that Solemnity and Decency of sacred Places sacred Things sacred Persons sacred Gestures as God hath prescribed and the holy Catholick Church hath practised and allowed The Preservation of the sacred Right and Prerogative royal is that secureth and preserveth the Right and Liberty of the Subject and it is the maintaining and preserving of God's and holy Church's Right that preserveth Kings and their Crowns Happy is the King who with David can say Psal. 26. 8. Lord I have loved the Habitation of thy House and the place where thine Honour dwelleth upon this he may with David confidently pray vers 9. Gather not my Soul with Sinners nor my Life with bloody men If the King's delight be in the Sanctuary of the Lord although Trouble fall upon him yet Help will come to him out of the Sanctuary that will save both him and his Crown Psal. 20. The highest Honour the greatest Happiness that ever David attained to was to bring back again the Ark of God to leave a great Treasure for building of the Temple 1 Chron. 13. 15. 28. and to raise the Church and establish the Worship and Order in it's height of Perfection 1 Chron. 24. 25 26. when he finished this Work he rejoyced more than ever Then he said Psal. 84. 10. A day in thy Courts is better than a thousand elsewhere it was better be a door-keeper in the house of the Lord than to dwell in the Tents of Wickedness It was this that made God send to his King Deliverance out of his Troubles Psal. 18. vers ult It was this that established his House and Kingdom for ever it was this that crowned him with a Crown of pure Gold here and of immortal Glory in Heaven Kings at their Coronation offer their Crowns Scepters and Swords to God at his Altar and receive them from thence the one Ceremony signifieth that their Sovereignty cometh to them immediately from God the other signifieth that they offer all first for the Service of God It is a Vow or Dedication of themselves and their Power for the Advancement of Gods Glory To this add that this is solemnly sworn by them to maintain the Purity of the Faith and Worship and the Priviledges and Rights of holy Church and lastly all is sealed with the receiving of the Sacrament off the Altar What then can free Kings from these Ties And how fearful a thing is it for them to be principal Actors or accessary to bad Counsels and Courses to give up a Church or to wrong Christ and his Rights There be a great many that practise Machiavel's Politicks affirming Princes are no more tyed to Church and Religion than as both of them are subordinate and subservient to the politick Government and good Temporal These are truly Atheists who Ierobâ—am like care not at all for God nor Religion who abuse them to their own private ends they may for a short time flourish but in the end God will root out them and their Posterity and their Memory shall be had in Execration as Pilate is remembred in the Creed and Iudas recorded in the Gospel There be others who seem more moderate whose Counsels are no less pernicious because they seem to speak in a favourable and more specious way like to the Devil transforming himself into an Angel of Light these advise Kings to maintain a Worship an Order a Church but that it is not best to be too sumptuous and prodigal in the Maintenance or endowing the Church richly nor is it necessary punctually and precisely to adhere to all Gods Ordinances and in some cases say they a Prince at some Times at some Exigences may give way to the undoing of some Ordinances of God and Christ he may permit some of the Beauty and Solemnity of the Worship to be eclipsed devest the Church and Church-men of some Priviledges and Rights which by immemorial Possession they and their Pedecessors have enjoyed and to which besides Dedication and Consecration the Church is by all positive Civil Law and Right entituled no less if not more than Noblemen Gentlemen Corporations or any Subject or Subjects whatsoever These Counsels for a time may prevail and the Church may be a little for a little time suppressed and depressed but if God have Mercy in Store for that Kingdom it will not continue long These Achitophels tell Kings that if Moses's ten Commandments the Apostles twelve Articles of the Creed and the six Petitions of the Lord's Prayer be preserved it skilleth not for other things whether Bishop or no Bishop whether good Christians preach and do ministerial Acts or only men in sacred Orders authorised by Consecration and Imposition of hands whether any Solemnity in the publick Worship or not whether in sacred Church consecrated or in a private House or Barn whether Christ have a Patrimony or his Servants be allowed only a Competency at the Disoretion of Lay-men c. These Counsels and Courses if they be not repented forsaken and the Church righted will prove destructive to Kings to their Crowns to their Posterity and to their Authors and Abettors King Saul for ought we read did not restrain nor pollute the Worship he found nor took from their Priests what was their due but it is manifest he did neglect God and his Church his Worship and his Servants had less Esteem of God's Servants than of any of his Subjects besides and yet this is punished with the Forfeiture of Crown and Kingdom to him and his Posterity and God provideth a man a King according to his Heart to right the Church to order the Service aright which established his Kingdom and Crown for ever The Church was the Alpha and Omega of his Government he consecrated the beginning of his peaceable Reign with bringing home the Ark he spent the most of his Reign in ordering and establishing the Service of God with it's Solemnity and ended his Life and Reign exhorting Solomon to do the like to build the Temple and leaving by Legacy a great immense Treasure consecrated to this purpose If any will look upon these Counsellors he will find that they have a mighty Zeal and Care of their own Honour and Wealth how much they remit their Zeal towards God and his House they intend it as much for themselves and what concerneth their private they will not willingly dwell but in Houses of Cedar and can see the Ark of God within Curtains this maketh them that they can suffer the Church to be spoiled if by her Spoils they or theirs can be enriched Christians they cannot be whatsoever they profess they are in a contrary a contradictory way to Christ of him it was said The Zeal of thine House hath eaten me up of them it is verified that their Zeal hath eaten up the house of God If these men can enjoy their own make
up a state upon the Ruines of the Church or better a prior estate they care not although Levites usurp upon Priests Presbyters upon Bishops and Christ and his Patrimony be both put out of the World Ten shekels of Silver and a Sute of Apparel Micah's allowance Iudges 17. 10. is enough and too much for the best of God and Christ's Servants All in the end will prove Aurum Tholosanum like the collop the Eagle brought from the Altar to feed her young ones so much Fire came with it that it consumed the Nest and the young ones too When the Church of God is in this distress it is not onely sin to be accessary to these Counsels and Courses but such as may and are able to prevent these mischiefs and do it not God will charge them with it Some there be who profess that they like not the course against the Church but for reason of State way must be given to the current of the stream and a fit opportunity waited to right what was amiss I will not search the hearts of such men I leave them to him who trieth the reins and knoweth our thoughts afar off onely let me put them in mind that sins of Omission of necessary Duties are high sins in the balance of the Sanctuary Meroz is cursed that came not out to help the Lord and Matth. 25. They are to be condemned in the last Day who fed not Christ when he was hungry no less than those who robbed him of his Food It is the highest Service to God with the Church of Thyatira not to deny the Faith where Satan's seat is where Antipas sufereth for the truth Rev. 11. 13. If God hath endowed any with Wisdom Power and Trust by Princes and in such time they withdraw their help from God and his Church it is like they will call to him in the day of their trouble and God will not hear them Remember after the reducing of the People from the Captivity the Prophets did charge the re-building of the House of God the Princes of Iudah answered The time is not come the time wherein the Lord's House should be built None was so impudent to come directly contrary to this Charge but they meant we are poor newly come out of Captivity we have strong Enemies about us we must wait a better opportunity a more seasonable time a jugling trick it is to cross good Works and crush them substantially by opposing them onely circumstantially Notwithstanding all this the Prophet chargeth them Is it time for you O yee this compellation is very emphatical to dwell in your cieled Houses and this House lie waste Read the Judgments I cease to repeat it I love not to apply it and wish it be not the Judgment of our Times See Hag. 1. vers 1 2 3. Ã vers 6. ad vers 12. Do not deceive your selves with that imposture that you will wait upon an opportunity to right all that is disjoynted in Church you are not to tempt God to put him to extraordinary Providence when he has put you in the ordinary way to serve him and to prevent these mischiefs Is it lawful and warrantable to you to do Evil or give way to Evil and to wait opportunity to do good afterward to salve all this Or can you expect that God will honour you to make you fit instruments to repair again what is wrong Certainly you neither deserve it nor can lay any claim or interest to it If these men fear Covenants and Associations I desire them to remember that as in Scripture the first and happiest Covenant is the Covenant of Mercy and Grace so in the next place we have in Holy Writ mentioned A Covenant of Levi which is the means ordinary God hath appointed to preserve the other The Scripture telleth us that it is an high impiety to corrupt the Covenant of Levi Mal. 11. 8. Both the one and the other Covenant are Covenants of Salt that is of everlasting durance from which it followeth necessarily that whatsoever Covenant destroyeth the Ordinance of God in the necessary Government of the Church the Ordinances of the Worship and its Solemnities cannot be from God from whence then it comes you may easily guess Of all impieties in this kind there is no higher transgression than if the Tribe of Levi for some subsistence to themselves and theirs and to gain popular applause and credit with the Faction assure Kings they may give way to a popular current and flood to suffer God's Ordinances to be destroyed the Solemnity of the Worship defaced till a better opportunity offer I beg pardon to speak truth in humility and reverence and first to Kings that although Church-men advise Kings upon such exigents to do such unwarrantable Acts yet it will not excuse them in the Day of their Accounts no more than it excused Achab that had the warrant of Zedekiah 1 Kings 22. 11. Nor did it excuse Pilate who had the representative Body of Priests and State to warrant him they had a Law and by their Law Christ was a Malefactor and worthy to dye Next let me tell the Tribe of Levi who for their own good and popular applause do comply with a popular Eaction and set their brains on work to make specious shews of Reason and inducements to perswade or warrant Kings by permission and giving way or by actual concurrence with their Authority to permit and do Acts destructive to Christ's Ordinances or derogatory to the Worship are near to the sin of Apostacy and another of an higher degree which I fear to name But of all Levites those are the most miserable who being advanced to the highest of Sacred Orders having enriched themselves by the Patrimony of the Church to keep their purchase have abjured that Sacred Order as Antichristian and yet make not restitution of what they have purchased I wonder how such mens Repentance could be admitted for in such cases they cannot truly repent without Restitution Non dimittetur peccatum nisi restituetur ablatum These men come short of Iudas this Repentance who was not onely contrite for betraying his Master but restored the Money which unjustly he had purchased by his Villany By the detention of their purchase their Converts declare themselves Mercenary and their Fathers by receiving them into their Communion publish to the World they care not what they lose in truth if they can deceive the People to make them think by such a goodly access their evil Cause is strengthened I refer these Apostate Bishops to read the story of Ecebolus I wish them not to be in like condition and cease to apply the story I thank God there is no rancour in my heart against them nor their Fathers Converters my imprecations are no other but to pray Almighty God to give them true Repentance and to forgive them The sum of what we have said is this that neither King nor Kingdom can be happy if Kings fear not
externum hominem by coactive Power or externam gubernationem Ecclesiae the external Government of the Church in appointing the use of things arbitrary and indifferent and what else is of this strain are so due to the Prerogative of the Crown as that we must not rob him of it nor may the Priest without highest Rebellion against God intrench or usurp upon the King A King in the State and Church is a mixed Person not simply Civil but Sacred too They are not only Professores fidei Professors of the Truth that they have in the Capacity of a Christian but they are also Propugnatores fidei Defenders of the Faith which is proper to them in the Capacity of a King What is the meaning of that that in Scripture they are honoured with more than the Stile of a Son of the Church they are called by Isaiah or rather God himself The Nurse-fathers of the Church This is not to be so scantled as if there were no more Influence from Kings upon the Church but by Honour and Riches other great men may and have done the like it is meant by some Influence from their Crown their Sword their Scepter What meaneth that Charge Psal. 2. 10 11 12. Be wise O ye Kings serve the Lord with Fear kiss the Son left he be angry and ye perish from the way When his Wrath is kindled but a little I will believe Saint Austin more than all the glorious pretended Reformers of this happy Reformation or Deformation rather writing to Boniface Quomodo enim saith he Reges Domino serviunt nisi ea quae contra jussa Domini fiunt religiosâ severitate prohibendo atque plectendo Aliter n. servit quà homo est aliter quà etiam Rex est Quia homo est ei servit fideliter vivendo quia vero etiam Rex est servit leges justa praecipientes contraria prohibentes convenienti vigâ—re sanciendo Sicut servivit Ezechias Lucos templa idolorum excelsa quae contra praecepta Dei fuerunt constructa destruendo Sicut servivit Iosias talia ipse faciendo Sicut servivit Rex Ninivitarum universam civitatem ad placandum Dominum compellando Sicut servivit Darius idolum frangendum in potestatem Danieli dando inimicos ejus Leonibus inferendo Sicut servivit Nebuchadnezzar de quo jam diximus omnes in regno suo positos à Blasphemando Deo legi terribili prohibende In hoc ergo serviunt Domino Reges in quantum Reges cum ea faciunt ad serviendum illi quae non possunt facere nisi Reges The Passage is plain and hath more for the Right of Kings than Iesuit or Puritan will allow them who will have them to be Ministri and Executores their Servants to put in Execution what they ordain and command To make Pope or Presbytery as the immediate Vicegerents of Christ and to authorize them with a coactive or a coercive Power to confirm their Orders to force him to repeal his own Laws and in case of Defailance or Refusal after Remonstrance is made or Supplication as they call it although possibly presented on the point of a Sword or Pike to stir up people against the Lords anointed to Sedition to Rebellion howsoever they deceive the simpler sort to make them believe they dye Martyrs is truly the Disgrace of Religion the highest of Treasons against God and man and to make poor People die Traytors to both If you make two Sovereigns in one Kingdom Independent one from another there is no more Peace or Quiet to be expected than was in Rebecca's Womb whilst Iacob and Esau did strive for the Prerogative of the first born Nay if you make the Sovereign and Supreme managing of Religion and religious Affairs to depend upon and properly belong either to any foreign power without the Kingdom as to the Pope or to any Power domestick within it as to the Presbytery or Assembly you commit and entrust to their managing the greatest and highest Affairs of Kingdom and State and if you take from the King the Regiment in Religion you take from him that which in its own nature is the mainest the chiefest and most excellent thing in Government as may appear by what is subjoyned Religion is the Base and Bottom on which all the Steadiness and Happiness of King and Kingdom are seated Religio Timor Dei solus est qui custodit hominum inter se societatem It is Religion and the Fear of God alone which preserveth all Society and consequently King and Kingdom Lactant. de Ira Dei c. 12. Religion is the Base and it is the Cement too of all other Societies besides this Plutarch saith that Religion is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which bindeth all Societies together and giveth Strength to all Laws Religion it hath a mighty Influence upon Laws it worketh hearty sincere and compleat Obedience Religion rightly ordered maketh the Prince rule well and people yield true real and perfect Obedience This made Aristotle say Polit. l. 7. c. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first care in Policy should be that of Religion and things divine Religion rightly ordered is the Preserver Nurse and Defence of the Quiet of King and State I say Religion rightly order'd for Superstition is a mad and madding thing Seneca ep 24. Superstitio error insanus est Trismegistus saith apud Lactant. Institut lib. 11. c. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Piety and the fear of God is the safety and only Defence of all things Religion in Sum is the only thing to make private and publick Affairs to prosper Which thing being infallibly true it must necessarily follow that Religion is the most important of all Affairs of State and Kingdom How can it then subsist and consist with Reason that the King shall have no more hand or Power in Religion than to execute at the Command of Pope or Presbytery To do it or do worse Christ did never institute such a Sovereignty in Ecclesiastical persons either Pope or Sectaries Independent from King and Sovereign with which they are invested with Power from Christ from above immediately If it were so the Pope or Presbytery were in better Condition than the King The Ecclesiastical Sovereignty hath the Souls in subjection under no less Sanction than with Assurance of Salvation eternal in case of Obedience and Damnation eternal in case of Disobedience and both of them to be extended both to Soul and Body Religion is seated in the Soul and is a mighty Ruler there the civil Sovereignty holdeth only a dead Dominion over the Bodies That Sovereignty which hath the Soul in Subjection the Conscience at his Devotion must over-rule Royal Civil Sovereignty and shall be able at any time so to limit weaken lessen yea disable it that it shall be no more fearful abroad nor glorious and powerful at home with it's Subjects than the spiritual Sovereignty shall permit It is most true and consonant to our