and therefore they ought to be as Faithful as was Moses in not deviating from Gods Commandments Christ in the Scriptures is not against Superiority Kingship Government or Governours but against the haughty and insolent deportment and tyrannical abuse of the power committed to their charge as the Heathen Princes did which he rebukes here intimating that so to govern is to rule over others to their own hurt and that to such a Wo is denounced Wo to them that decree unrighteous Decrees and that write grievousness which they have prescribed to turn aside the Needy from Judgment and to take away the right from the Poor that Widdows may be their Prey and that they may rob the Fatherless But be not ye like unto the Heathen who govern after such a rate but the greater you are in Honour and Power be ye more humble and as him that serveth and being as Gods Vicegerents in which appellation you all glory and boast be ye all Imitators of him and follow his example doing good to all executing judgment and Righteousness and delivering the spoiled out of the hand of the Oppressor and do no wrong no violence to the Stranger the Fatherless nor to the Widdows neither shed innocent blood least his fury go out like Fire and burn that none can quench it because of the evil of such doings The greater you are the more humble ye ought to be and then ye shall find favour with the Lord. In lowliness of mind let each esteem others better then themselves As were his Precepts so was his example who though he was chief Priest King and Lord yet was he in the midst of his Disciples as he that serveth It is not Regality but Piety that ennobles and makes Princes in good earnest Gods Vicegerents Carry them in thy bosom as a Nursing Father carryeth the sucking Child into the Land which thou swearest unto their Fathers a prescription and document for all Emperors Kings and Princes so God to Moses whom he made Prince and Lawgiver over the Jews his peculiar People i. e. lovingly tenderly carefully which sheweth the great love mildness gentleness that should be in Governours So Christ He shall feed his Flock like a Shepherd he shall gather his Lambs in his Arms and bear them in his bosom and he shall gently lead those that are young Isaiah 40. 11. So Paul We were gentle among you even as a Nurse cherisheth her children we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a Father doth his Children 1 Thes 2. 7. 11. Accordingly the Hebrews have this Rule for all Governors It is unlawful for a man to govern with Stateliness over the Congregation and with Haughtiness of Spirit but with Meekness and Fear And every Pastour that bringeth more terror upon the Congregation than is for the name of God he shall be punished and so it is not lawful for him to govern them with contemptuous carriage although they be the Common People of the Land neither may he tread upon the heads of the holy People although they be unlearned and base they be the sons of Abraham c. But he must bear the toyl of the Congregation and their burden as Moses our Master of whom it is said as a Nursing Father beareth his Child c. Maimon in Misn tom 4. in Sanhedrim ch 25. Sect. 1. 2. When the burden of the Government grew too heavy for Moses God commanded him saying Gather unto me Seventy men of the Elders of Israel whom thou knowest to be Elders of the People and Officers over them and bring them unto the Tabernacle of the Congregation that they may stand there with thee and I will come down and talk with them and I will take of the Spirit which is on thee and will put it upon them and they shall bear the burden of the People with thee that thou bear it not thy self alone Num 11. 16 17. By so doing Moses spirit was not at all diminished for as Sol Jarchi saith Moses in that hour was like unto the Lamp that was left burning in the Candlestick in the Sanctuary from which all the other Lamps were lighted yet the light thereof was not lessened but God shewed hereby that none without gifts of his Spirit are fit for Office and Government So Jethro to Moses Choose able Men such as fear God Men of Truth hating covetousness and place such over them Exod. 18. 21. Deut. 1. 13. Acts 6. 3. The Hebrews have this rule viz. Any Synedrion King or Governor that shall set up a Judge for Israel that is not fit and is not wise in the wisdom of the Law and meet to be a Judge although he be wholly amiable and have in him other good things yet he that setteth him up transgresseth c. Maim in Sanhedrim Chap. 3. Sect. 8. to Kings and Queens not Governing as they ought Jeremy is sent Chap. 13. 18. Say unto the King and to the Queen Humble your selves sit down for your Principalities shall come down even the Crown of your Glory Obj. Submit your selves to every ordinance of men for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as a Supreme or unto Governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well for so is the Will of God thâ— with well doing yee may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men Peter writ his Epistle to private Persons strangers scattered through Pontus Galatia Gappadâ—â—ia Asia Bythinia to a People scattered through the lesser Asia being there as Sojourners and consequently not under any set Form of Government by their own consent nor indeed capable of it But what doth this concern whole Kingdoms of free-born People who are governed by their own Laws of their own making to which their Kings are as subject as themselves and that by their own consent and solemn Oaths Make ye no difference between a few dispersed People and Kingdoms of Nobles Senators Dyets Parliaments Peers of Kings that have a co-ordinate Power in the Legislative Authority and without which Kings cannot be for its the governed that make Kings not Kings the governed a King and no King. But be it that it was written to a Senate what are you the better when no Precept to which reason is adjoyned doth bind beyond or besides that reason Lex est ordo Be subject therefore for the Lord's sake What is that because Kingly Government hath a Divine stamp What to do To punish evil doers and to praise and reward them that do well for this is the Will of God. When Kings so govern there will be no complaining in our Streets no calling coram nobis Of our obligation to obey such Kings as are here described there 's no question so to obey others who govern contrarily here 's no mention no obligation the reason of this Precept appears Ver. 16. As free therefore not as slaves Turn the Tables What
is so natural an obligation that it cannot be dispensed with And for Governors to procure the good of Commonweals is but to do their duty he that is above all should be best of all for Example prevails more than Law and there can be no reason for sin violence or oppression Princes Councils Love and Hate Must do homage to the Law of State The Peoples Safety hath no Mate So King James of happy Memory in his Speech to the Parliament 1603. When I have done all that I can for you I do nothing but that which I am bound to do and am accountable to God upon the contrary For I do acknowledge that the special and greatest point of difference that is between a Rightful King and an Usurping Tyrant is in this That whereas the proud and ambitious Tyrant doth think his Kingdom and People are only ordained for satisfaction of his Desires and unreasonable Appetites the righteous and just King doth by the contrary acknowledge himself to be ordained for the procuring of the Wealth and Prosperity of his People and that his greatest and principle Worldly Felicity must consist in their Prosperity If you be rich I cannot be poor if you be happy I cannot but be fortunate and I protest that your Welfare shall ever be my greatest care and contentment and that I am a Servant it is most true that as I am Head and Governor of all the People in my Dominions who are my natural Vassals and Subjects considering them in numbers and distinct ranks so if we will take the whole People as one Body and Mass then as the Head is ordained for the Body and not the Body for the Head so must a righteous King know himself to be ordained for his People and not his People for him For though a King and People be relata yet there can be no King if he want People and Subjects but there be many People in the World that lack a Head wherefore I will never be ashamed to confess it my principal honour to be the great Servant of the Commonwealth and ever think the Prosperity thereof to be my greatest Felicity 494 495. The reason is demonstrable viz. God not the King made the People and those all equally of one and the self-same Mould but the People make Kings Nature was Father to the People but the People make some of themselves Kings and are the rightful Patrons of all their Power Honours Priviledges and Prerogatives and therefore as God ordained the Sabbath for man and not man for the Sabbath Mark 2. 27 so 〈◊〉 ordained Kings and all other Governors and Governments for 〈◊〉 and not Men for Kings The prospect and foresight of the wise That to be governed by one Mans Will might become the cause of all Mens misery prevailed with them 〈…〉 and 〈…〉 Laws 〈◊〉 all might see their Duties and 〈…〉 There are that 〈◊〉 with great 〈…〉 truth that Kings receive their 〈…〉 according to Prov. 8. 15. and not from the 〈…〉 are set and that they are accountable to nonâ— bu◠〈…〉 on the just Right of all Polâ—â—â—â—k Power 〈…〉 and of Nature and of Reason is originally in the 〈…〉 use thereof from them may be transferred and deligated unto whom 〈…〉 devesting 〈…〉 their Administrator◠〈…〉 them who deligated it and to 〈…〉 countable If such Assâ—â—tor◠〈…〉 old when God by 〈…〉 the People had 〈…〉 Prophets for Rules 〈…〉 much more might have 〈…〉 yet even in those days the 〈…〉 far complied with common consent 〈…〉 change of that Government his own Wisdom 〈…〉 him and his Government 〈…〉 his peculiar People only because they 〈…〉 King over us maugre all that Samuel could 〈…〉 as Solomon was dead all Israel come 〈…〉 King who refusing to be a Servant to the◠〈…〉 for ever threatning that his little finger should be 〈…〉 would whip them with Scorpions c. they soon 〈…〉 have we in David neither have we inheritance in the 〈…〉 and see to thine house David 1 King 12. and then chose 〈…〉 Rehoboam the Son of Solomon But such choice being now quite out of doors and 〈…〉 the least pretence of Title from such Nomination and therefore 〈…〉 can only be meant the institution of the Office and not the designation 〈…〉 and cannot possibly be understood any other ways 〈…〉 instituted hath together with other Governmentâ— th◠〈…〉 And it standeth sure that all Royal Power 〈…〉 in the People as in the first Subject which they may confer on this or that Man with â—â—at â—â—mitations they please and on condition that if conditions be not performed they 〈…〉 Power they intrusted him withal And therefore no King can have 〈…〉 so just Powers as from the suffrages of the People all other Governments 〈…〉 Tyrannies and continued Injuries of which the People may ease themselves when they have just reason and a neat opportunity so to do because their just and natural Right is wrongfully invaded for that naturally no sort of Men have full and lawful Power to command whole politick multitudes of Men and therefore utterly without the Peoples consent they ought not to be at any Man's commandment living This is plain and natural reason and ought to have the stamp of a publick Law. Laws positive are mutable natural not so and therefore these Laws ought to stand unrepealed because they always bind The Kings of Israel and Judâ—â— were not so immediately and absolutely from God as that the People were 〈…〉 excluded from their Right and Power of Electing and Approving and 〈…〉 of them that had been to deprive them of that Power that God and the 〈…〉 Nature had given them to Covenant and Agree with them before they would admit of them that had been to wrong the People and to bind them up from the use of their reason by Covenanting for their own Happiness and against Tyranny in ease they should break Laws and Covenants solemnly made with them by Oath which cannot be broke without Perjury By me Kings reign was only an Index and Declaration of God's Will and Pleasure which doth not take away or destroy the Peoples Right or Liberty Saul was not King so absolutely and so immediately from God that it excluded all Election of the People but was afterwards chosen by Lot by all the People at Mizpeh And all the People shouted and said God save the King 1 Sam. 10. 17 24. and afterwards Behold the King whom ye have chosen Chap. 12. 23. Did not all the Elders of Israel Capitulate and Covenant with David before the Lord in Hebron and then and not till then anointed him King over Israel 1 Chron. 11 13. All the Men of War came with a perfect Heart to Hebron to make David King over all Israel and all the rest also of Israel were of one Heart to make David King chap. 12. 38. Did not all the People of Judah take Azariah who was Sixteen years old and made him King instead of his Father Amaziah 2
who violates them and not by him who was obliged only on Conditions and thereby becomes free of the Obligations not by his own Acts but by him who first broke the Conditions Therefore Supreme Magistrates becoming Tyrants by their own Perjury and breaking their Covenants do free their Subjects from their Oaths and Allegiance and not the People when they deservedly make use of their Power to curb thâ—m and to right themselves That Kings should not be obliged by Law is contrary to all the received Opinions and Sentences taken from the right of Nature by the most profound and judicious Lawyers Eos qui leges ferunt legibus quoquâ—â—btemâ—â—rare quod quisque juris in alium statuerit ipse ut codem jure utatur nihil â—â—perio magis conducere quam ex legibus vivatur dignam denique vocem esse Principem legâ—â—us â—â—se â—ubdâ—tum prâ—fitert Itaque quod alibi à Juris consultis dici videtur Principem esse supra leges aut Principem à Legibus sâ—lutum non nisi de legibus civilibus deque particulari privatorum jure est intelligendum verbi gratia de testamentis de detractione Trebellianae aut Falcidianae non autem de Jure publicâ— ad statum ut dici solet pertinentâ— mulcoque minus de jure naturali aut divino cui quum onâ—â—es singuli homines subjiciantur quatenus homines nati sunt omnino efficitur aut Reges homines non esse aut illos hoc jure teneri CHAP. VI. Principles and Tenets of some Divines and others destructives to all human Societies Kings made and chosen by the People and to them accountable His greatest Authority is in his Courts and not in his Personal Commands The People chuse their Kings and oblige them by Laws which they swear to keep MAchiavel I know and so doth the Ecclesiastical Polititian instruct Princes how they may treat Subjects not as Brethren but as â—â—asts as the basest Beasts of drudgery teaching them by subtilty and by the strength of the Militia to support their own will and to make meer Spunges of the publick Coffers with which his Writings are full fraught Leviathan or Malmsbury Hobs 's Positions or Sentiments smell rank of the same Leaven or more abominable if more abominable can be viz. That the Power of Kings cannot without his consent be transferred to another that he cannot forfeit it that he cannot be accused by any of his Subjects of injury that he cannot be censured by them that he is Judge of Doctrines that he is sole Legislator and Supreme Judge of Controversies chap. 20. p. 102. Some Pulpits also preach much after the same rate viz. That it is the Sacred Priviledge of Kings only for their offences to be exempt from all human Jurisdiction That Kings as such are above the Law That though they transgress yet they are not in the least liable to the censure of any Man no Tribunal under Heaven hath Power to take Cognizance of them or call them into Question p. 5. That they have Power to Dispence with the Laws at their Pleasure p. 7. That for Subjects to question the Actions though offensive or Authority of their Princes is inconsistent with the nature of the Kingly Office and diametrically opposite to the Liberty of the Subject p. 7 8. The Scepter being put into their hands by God Almighty alone and with that the Power he gives them is so great as that he maketh them capable of being accountable to none but God himself according to Prov. 8. 16. By me Kings reign p. 16. That Kings may alter Religion at their pleasure according to the old unalterable Maxime qualis Rex talis lex p. 25. William Clifford 's Sermon preached at Wakefield Octob. 30. 1681. Salmasius more excusably as being a stranger to our Laws dances after the same Pipe That Kings have none to judge them but God only That they are above Laws That by no Law written or unwritten natural or divine can they be made guilty of any ill by their Subjects or towards them In which Positions there is a woundy deal of wicked Policy but not one Iota of true Religion and Piety highly injurious to the Liberty and Happiness of the whole Race of Mankind for whose Happiness and Solace the whole World was created as if a few Princes and Potentates were born like Leviathan only to take their Pastimes in this World to be clothed in Purple and Scarlet to lie upon Beds of Ivory and to stretch themselves upon Couches to chant to the sound of the Vial and drink Wine in Bowles and to nourish their Hearts as in a day of Slaughter and all others to be governed with Whips and Kicks Thornes and Briers and yet we must not so much as mutter or peep against them or say What dost thou Not considering that God that made them in the Womb made these and made them all equal and that they were created out of one and the self-same Clay and redeemed by one and the same precious Blood without respect of Persons and that it was the People that differenced them by making them Kings and Queens and Princes sitting upon Thrones riding in Chariots and on Horses they and their Servants and not they the People What is this but to be brutish in Knowledge That Machiavel and Hobs should belch out such Principles I do not much wonder but that any Protestant Pulpits should Preach out such Doctrines I stand amazed To such the 21st verse of the 10th chapter of Jeremiah may justly be applied the Pastors are become brutish In populo regendo Rex habet superiorem legem per quam factus est Rex Curiam suam viz. Comites Barâ—nes Comites dicuntur quasi socii regis qui habet socium habet Magistrum ideo si Rex fuerit sine fraeno i. e. Sine lege debet ei fraenum ponere Bracton lib. 2. c. 16. â—â—â—ta l. 1. c. 17. In Government Kings have Superiors viz. the Laws by which they are made Kings and his Court of Parliament therefore if Kings are without a Bridle i. e. without the Laws they ought to have Bridles put upon them Every single Person hath his remedy by Law in the Courts of Judicature against Kings how much more just is it reasonable and necessary that if Kings injure all all should have their remedy to Bridle him It 's great simplicity to provide against petty Injuries of Kings against private Persons and yet to be lawless against common and publick injuries whereby they may destroy all without Law that by Law could not injure any single Person As for the Title of Supreme Head and Governor as it is meant of single Persons not of Courts or of the Collective body in Parliament so it is meant in Curiâ not in Camerâ in his Courts that his Majesty is Supreme Head and Governor over all Persons and in all Causes and not in his private Capacity And most truly
any Government no more have Kings for neither God nor the Law of Nature hath given any such Power to Men. And God gives Kings as a Blessing and happily as the best of Governments but if thereby the state of Slavery must uncontrolably be intailed upon them as it necessarily must be if they renounce their whole Liberty it 's a Curse rather than a Blessing but they can no more give it away than they can give away their rational Nature and deny themselves to be reasonable Creatures for it is a Power natural to preserve themselves essentially adhering to every created Being Besides they cannot resign their whole Power as Priests would have them without manifest sin God having made an express Covenant with all the People of Israel that they should be his peculiar People and he would be their God the purport of which Covenant was That all the People should take care that he should be purely worshipped throughout all the Land which Power they cannot resign to Kings unaccountably and absolutely without manifest breach of Covenant and so sin in breaking Covevant with God and thereby provoking his wrath and indignation would pull down Vengeance upon whole Kingdoms Of which more fully hereafter O! Sovereignty is not in the People no more than a whole Kingdom can be one Man Sovereignty being the Abstract and Sovereign being the Concrete What then yet the Power of giving Sovereign Power to this or that Man according to Laws is naturally and radically in the People Obj 〈◊〉 May 4 Car. 1628. the Commons having framed a Petition of Right to be presented to his Majesty and desiring the Concurrence of the Lords they made this addition viz. We present this our humble Petition to your Majesty with the care not only of our own â—â—berties but with due regard to leave intire that Sovereign Power wherewith your Majesty is trusted for the Protection Safety and Happiness of the People Which tearms of Sovereign Power were so distasteful and chagreen to the Commons that they would by no means admit of them alledging for their justification That they seemed to be another distinct Power from the Power of the Law They were never used in any Parliamentary Petition or Magna Charta or in any Confirmation thereof If they should grant it it would seem to imply a Sovereign Power above our known and established Laws which are well known to the Kingdom but they know no Sovereign Power It was a new thing and they would by no means have it inserted into the Petition And the Statute of Magna Charta did bind the King and all his Sovereign Power Upon which ground it was left out Besides Titles of Supreme and Sovereign are verba Solemnia words of course titular and complemental relating only to their Persons but confers no Power what Sovereign Power Kings have are given and limited by Laws of common consent and not absolute What other Laws of Sovereignty there are of right belonging to them nemo sit is past all understanding Absolute Sovereignty in Kings hath no warrant by any Law of God or Nature that belongs to God only who is Lord of all Kingdoms of the Earth and therefore there is no Sovereign Power wherewith Majesty is intrusted either by God or Man but only that which is for the Protection Safety and Happiness of the People which is the Suprema Lex and the cause is very reasonable for that uncontrolable Authority easily degenerates into Tyranny And that Sovereign Power which is in all Governments is in the Legislative Power of that Government settled by Laws of common consent And King James in his Speech to the Parliament March 1609. stigmatizeth Power not bounded by Laws with the black Character of Tyranny yea Tyranny accompanied with Perjury Obj. The People have not Power of life and death What then No more have Kings until impowered by Laws of common consent yet the Power of life and death is eminently and virtually in the People collectively taken though not formally yet they have Power over their own lives radically and virtually for that they may subject themselves to Magistracy and to Laws made by common consent the violation of which may be capital and sanguinary And Kings have no other lawful Power over the lives of their Subjects but by Laws made by like common consent That under the Law and since there have been mutual and reciprocal Covenants between King and People is without all dispute and beyond all contradiction 2 Sam. 5. 3. 1 Chron. 11. 3. 2 Chron. 23. 2. 2 Kings 11. 17. And that they were as equally and reciprocally binding is as true else Why should such Covenants be made publickly before the People if Kings did not in the Covenant tye and oblige themselves to the People And why so solemnly to be made before the Lord in the House of God if not intended to be kept or might uncontrolably break them at pleasure Was God to be called upon and to be a Witness to a figment nay to a cheat Ab sit no all the Covenants mentioned in Holy Writ whether between God and Kings or between Kings and People are mutual I will be your God and you shall be my Poople Levit. 26. 12. The Covenant is so strictly mutual that if the People break the Covenant God is freed from his part of the Covenant Zach. 11. 10. All Covenanters are under a Law before Men. So if Kings break Covenant with their People the People are freed of their Obligation to them If the Oath of God be broken as the Covenant between Abraham and Abimelech Gen. 21. 22 23. Jonathan and David 1 Sam. 18. 3. So the Spies profess to Rahab in the Covenant that they made to her Josh 2. 20. And if thou utter this our business we will be quit of thine Oath which thou hast made us to swear The Obligation of Kings in their Oaths and Covenants to the governed floweth from the peculiar Obligation National betwixt them and the governed and bindeth Kings as Kings for that such Oaths and Covenants are entred into and taken in relation to Government only and therefore are not taken meerly as Men as some vainly suppose but as Kings or as they are to be Kings over them because it is the specifick act of Kings that they are to be obliged unto to Govern the People in righteousness and holiness with their Royal Power which is given them by the People for no other end and they undoubtedly sin before God if they break their Oaths and Covenants made with the Common-wealth And to assert otherways is to suppose Kings to be under no Law of God and so consequently make them either above God or coequal with him which is no other than down-right Blasphemy Therefore it is undoubtedly true that Kings Covenanting with the People to Govern according to the Laws of God and their own municiple Laws and on that Condition receive Thrones Crowns Tributes c. from them and are
and sinful Injustice and therefore cannot be from God. Dum contra officium facit Magistratus non est Magistratus quippe à quo non injuria sed jus nasci debet and consequently they who resist the tyrannous acts of Kings do not resist the Ordinance of God. What were it less than Blasphemously to charge God with prevaricating with his People if in Authorizing Kings to preserve them should give them liberty without all Politick restraint to destroy them Which is contrary to God's end in the Fifth Commandment that one Man a King should have absolute Power to destroy Millions of Souls and Bodies uncontrolably If the Kings of Israel and Judah were under censures and rebukes of the Prophets and sinned against God and the People in rejecting such rebukes and in persecuting the Prophets and were under and liable to all the Laws of God as all other People though their Subjects were then is their Power not above any Law nor absolute That these matters of Fact are true sit liber Judex Samuel rebuked Saul Nathan David Elias Achab. Jeremiah is sent to Prophecy against the Kings of Judah Jer. 1. 18. and the Prophets practised it Jer. 19. 3. Ahab could not take Naboths Vineyard against his will without the formality of Law and without the help of Men of Belial to boot for which violence offered to Law and Justice in the place where Dogs licked the Blood of Naboth shed by shamming of Laws by Innuendoes and false constructions of Laws the Dogs did lick the Blood of Ahab and did eat that cursed Woman Jezabel by the wall of Jezrael and her Carkass became as dung upon the face of the field A Document to all Kings and Princes for giving any countenance to Violence or Oppression or to shamming any Laws by any irresistable or prevalent Influences and the Inferior Judges ought not to accept the Persons of any in judgment whether small or great for the judgment is the Lords and their office as much of divine right as that of the Kings then certainly we may justly conclude That Kingly Power is neither above Law nor yet absolute for Kings who swear to Govern according to Law it is contrary to common sense nay impossible they should have an illimited or absolute Power either from God or the People for foedus conditionatum or promissio conditionalis mutua facit jus alteri in alterum it 's not to be thought that Kings can at one and the same time and in the same breath justly swear to Govern according to Law and at the same time interpretatively and secondarily swear to Govern absolutely and without Law. If the governed in Senates Parliaments and Dyets may call in question the Acts Previledges Charters and Commissions of Kings granted to any Persons and null and vacate them circumscribe and dock any of their Prerogatives may increase or diminish his Revenue and State may call into question any of his Friends Counsellors or Ministers of State and punish or remove them If the governed may appeal from Kings to Senates Dyets or Parliaments and may not appeal from them to Kings all which may and have been done as the publick Monuments of Laws do testifie who of sound judgment can deny the Power of the People in Dyets Senates and Parliaments to be above that of Kings If in an Interregnum Senates Dyets and Parliaments have Power and which is plain by Histories without regard had to right of Inheritance have created Kings whom they pleased and altered Successions In summ If Dyets Senates Parliaments are the Supreme Council of Nations constituted by the People indued with Power from them to this very thing that they may consult in common of the weighty matters of Kingdoms and common good and Kings therefore created that they should see executed what they did advise and agree upon quis nisi mentis inops can deny upon such plain evidence and demonstration that the People in Parliaments Dyets and Senates are not only co-ordinate and have a share in the Government but are also in some sense and some places superior to them for that they can do more than Kings Kings have their Prerogatives true and very fit they should have So have all other Governments be their Prerogatives what they will Power of the Militia making War and Peace calling of Councils Dyets Synods Senates Parliaments nominating Judges and other publick Officers of Kingdoms c. they are all derived from the People and transferred for their own good and so always expressed or implied If they make ill use of the Militia it 's a breach of trust and no obligation of Obedience and Submission is due if they make ill Leagues the People not bound to confirm or assist if they call Dyets and Parliaments it is not for their peculiar interests but for the good of the whole and nothing done therein can be of force unless the free assent of the convocated be first had Which demonstrates it is the Office and Duty of Kings to call those great Councils as oft as the People see cause and desire it and to continue them till they have the benefit designed And though the Royal Assent be desired it is but for the Honour of the business for what concerns common good safety and liberty they ought to pass by virtue of their Oaths and Office. Non negabimus non differimus cuique jus aut justitiam Chartae Artic. c. 29. Will not Kings deny Justice and may they deny just Laws Not to private Persons and yet to the Representatives of Nations Not in the Inferior Courts and yet in the Supreme They are created and elected Kings that they should do Justice to all indifferently Bracton l. 3. c. 9. Ad hoc creatus electus est ut justitiam faciat universis per eas nimirum leges quas vulgus elegerit Hence in Archivis H. 4. Rot. Parl. N o. 59. Non est ulla Regis Prerogativa quae ex justitia aequitate quicquam derogat Kings have no Prerogative which derogate from Justice and Equity And when Kings have refused to make or confirm Magnas Chartas good Laws they have been compelled by force of Arms and such Laws accounted as good and valid by the best Lawyers the reason given is That they of right and of their own accord ought to have assented unto that which they were forced to do All Courts of Judicatory are Authorized and Confirmed by Parliament in which it is Lawful for the meanest of Subjects to implead Kings in which Courts Judgment is often given against Kings which though endeavoured to be contradicted or countermanded by Kings yet the Judges by the Laws of God and Man and by their Oaths are obliged to refuse their Mandamus's and to give right Judgment for the judgment is the Lords Kings can justly Imprison no Man nor punish any Man nor seize their Goods or Estate without Citation out of Courts where the Judges not Kings have all the Power So
Bracton l. 3 c. 9. Regis potestas Juris est non Injuriae and nihil aliud potest Rex nisi id solum quod de Jure potest The Power that Kings have is to do right not to wrong the least of their Subjects The most ancient Records do evidence that they own what Power they have not to Force or Arms not to Inheritance not to Succession but unto the Grant of the People Records tell us that such Kingly Power was given by the People unto Hen. IV. and before him to Rich. II. Rot. Parl. 1. Hen. IV. N o. 108. And accordingly Kings by their Edicts Patents Commissions Diploma's do Authorize their Deputies Lieutenants and Presidents So the House of Commons granted to Rich. II. that he should enjoy such Liberties and Franchises as Kings his predecessors enjoyed before him which when he contrary to his Oath did violate and abuse to the subversion of the Laws was by the same Power deposed The same Roll testifieth that they gave like Power to Hen. IV. which Powers were plainly fiduciary and which the Parliament would not have given but that they had a right so to do neither would the King have been so injurious to Posterity as to have accepted of it from the Parliament had they had a just right to such Powers in themselves without such deligation which plainly shews Kingly Powers to be fiduciary acquired not innate nor inherent in their Persons such Powers as Generals of Armies Imperatores Bellici have deligated to Defend not to Subdue or Oppress them from whom their Power is deligated It were impar congressus great folly nay madness for Parliaments and People to chuse Kings and swear them to the observance of a Chart of Laws how great soever that they may have Power of the Militia absolutely in their own Power to play Rex with all unaccountably In summ Kings do not Govern by a meer Kingly or Divine Power but by a Politick Power the People being to be governed by the same Laws which they themselves do make and not by such Laws as Kings shall please to impose at their own will and pleasure In summ We are all born free and may make what Laws we please and commit the Administration and Execution of them to one or more as we please always observing one above the rest most Ancient and most Authentick even the Law of Nature ever to be had in greatest Veneration which directs all Laws all just Right all civil Impery not to the will pleasure and lust of Kings but to the Good of the governed CHAP. IX What was Lawful for the Jews to do for the keeping of the Law and maintaining and propagating of Religion is Lawful now for all Christians under the Gospel certainly God never Covenanted nor ordained Covenanting in vain whether for Religion or Civil Rights FROM what was Lawful for the People of the Jews to do and from what was commanded them by God to do concerning the keeping of the Law and observation of his Commands we may conclude that the same is now Lawful for Christian People of any Kingdom to do concerning the Care Practice and Defence of both Law and Gospel God having chose the People the Jews above all the Nations of the World to be his peculiar People made a Covenant with them That when they came into the Land of Promise they should be his People and he would be their God. This is expressed as in many places of Holy Writ so more especially Deut. 7. 6. 14 2. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special and peculiar People unto himself above all People that are upon the face of the Earth And the force of the Covenant was That all the People should take care that God should be purely worshipped and served of all the Tribes and that he should have a pure Church in the midst of them Deut. 27. 9. where Moses and the Priests and Levites as Ministers and as in God's stead spake unto all Israel saying Take heed and hearken O Israel this day thou art become the People of the Lord thy God thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the Lord thy God and do his Commandments and his Statutes which I command thee this day Deut. 17. 9 10. But more fully yet in Joshua who gathered all the Tribes of Israel to Sechem and said unto all the People thus saith the Lord God of Israle your Fathers c. Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth c. And the People answered We will serve the Lord for he is our God. And Joshua said unto the People ye are witnesses against your selves that you have chosen you the Lord to serve him And they said We are witnesses the Lord our God will we serve and his voice will we obey So Joshua made a Govenant with the People that day Josh 24. 2 14 18 22 24 25. and Joshua read all the words of the Law the Blessings and Cursings over against mount Gerazin and mount Ebal according as they kept or violated the Covenant There was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua read not before all the Congregation of Israel with the Women and the little Ones and the Strangers that were conversant among them And all the People answered Amen Deut. 27. Which Premisses will yield this natural conclusion That this Stipulation did not oblige one single Person only but all the People of every Nation to take care that God's Laws and Covenants be kept and performed and that Idolatry Superstition c. be banished and destroyed For the same reason all the Tribes did Encamp and pitch their Tents round about the Ark where it lodged to shew that that which was recommended to the care of all should be governed and defended by all Numb 2. 2 17. Consider the practice hereof The Gibeonites having abused the Levites Concubine to death the Levites divided her into Twelve pieces and sent her into all the coasts of Israel then all the Children of Israel went out and the Congregation was gathered together as one Man in Mispeh considering that so great a sin committed in Israel ought to be expiated and punished by all to whom after the Levite had declared the wickedness they by common consent resolved to have satisfaction of Gibeah and the Benjamites which being refused they fought against them and destroyed them to which God gave incouragement and success Judg. 19. 20. Thus was the breach of the Second Table of the Law expiated on a whole Tribe which had so offended by all Israel So ought all Nations to do their utmost to revenge such Impieties We have the like Example for the breach and violation of the First Table Josh 22. When the Children of Ruben and the Children of Gad and the half Tribe of Manasseh had built an Altar by Jordan verse 10. Which when the Children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh to go up to War
that in the beginning all Power did flow from the People and still doth which Tully excellently demonstrates De lege Agraria Cum omnes potestates Imperia curationes ab úniverso Populo proficisci convenit tum eas profecto maxime quae constituuntur ad populi fructum aliquem commodum in quo universi delegant quem populo maxime consulturum unusquisque ' studio suffragio suo viam sibi ad beneficium impetrandum munire possit Seeing all Powers Commands Curations i. e. potestas seu munus administrandi bona do proceed and flow from the People then those more especially which are constituted and do respect the good and benefit of the People in which the universality do chuse them whom they judge will most especially study and procure their good and every one by their study and suffrage may have easie access to obtain Justice and Favours And all Lawyers do agree and hold That all Laws repugnant to the Laws of God of Nature or of Reason are not to be accounted as Laws And whereas the Power of judging was Originally in the People and the English by no Lex Regia have at any time transferred it out of themselves no King of England hath been wont or hath Power to judge any Man unless by the known and approved Laws Fleta lib. 1. c. 17. What Power Kings have are given to them by the People that they may know by the Authority to them committed that they may do nothing contrary to the Law and keep our Laws but not impose their own Laws on us and the Kings Power is really and truly in the Courts of Law wherein the People by their Juries have their share also And their chief Power is in their Senates and Parliaments who have a Right and Authority over all Courts and Powers in all which Courts Kings may both sue and be sued and the reciprocal Causes to be indifferently tried according to established Laws If at any time Kings act any thing contrary to Laws they act then as private Men or as Tyrants and not by any Authority transferred on them by God or Man so to do Hence Bract. l. 1. c. 8. Non est Rex ubi dominatur voluntas non Lex c. 1. 3. c. 9. Rex est dum bene regit tyrannus dum populum sibi creditum violenta opprimit dominatione c. ibid. Exercere debet Rex potestatem Juris ut vicarius minister Dei potestas autem injuriae Diaboli est non Dei. Cum declinat ad injuriam Rex Diaboli minister est As nothing contrary to the Laws of God and Reason can be accounted a Law so neither can a Tyrant be a King nor a Minister of the Devil be a Minister of God seeing therefore Law is but the product of right Reason and Obedience is due to Kings as the Ministers of God so by the same Reason and Law Tyrants and Ministers of the Devil may be censured and resisted Either the People to be governed have a Right and Power to chuse their own Governor or they have not If they have not then Kings chosen by them are not Kings but Usurpers and Oppressors If they have Power to chuse then they have Power to oblige him to what Conditions they please and to keep them and if they fail of performing then they are free of the Covenant as it was between Rahab and the Spies FINIS ERRATA PAge 6. line 18. dele it ibid. l. 50. for Iliad r. Myriad p. 9. l. 11. f. doth only r. not only ib. l. 38. f. the way r. the right way p. 11. l. 15. f. our r. your ib. f. Black-guard r. Peasants p. 13. l. 3. dele and. p. 14. l. 28. f. this r. those p. 17. l. 23. f. Zalencus r. Zaleucus p. 16. l. 43. r. St. Edward p. 22. l. 20. r elegerit alibi ib. l. 58. r. Martyrs p. 24. l. pen. f. the r. thy p. 25. l. pen. dele to p. 28. l. 25. dele in the Posterity of ibid. l. 31. f. did r. should p. 30. l. 22. f. taking r. taken ibid. l. 58. dele hundred p. 31. l. 17. f. Timens r Fabius ib. l. 32. r. Fabius p. 33. l. 24. f. or r. and. ib. l. 46. f. never r. ever p. 42. l. 12 r. Commonwealth p. 43. l. 38. dele Obj. p. 44. l. 46. f. necesset r recesset p. 46. l. 10. r. elegerit p. 47. l. 16. r. perfectiora p. 48. l. 35. r. differemus cui quam p. 51. l 43. dele we p. 56. l. 41. f. magis r. majes ib. l. 46. r. saies p. 57. l. 57. f him r. them ib. l. 33. r. proscribed p. 60. l. 38. dele the second no. p. 61. l. pen. f. beareth r. bear p. 62. l. 47. after yet r. God. p. 63. l. 19. r. prepossessed p. 69. l. 27. f. ye r. yea p. 75. l. 18. f. his r. their p. 76. l. 5. in the Contents f. returns r. return ib. 5. in the Chapter f. was r. were ibid. l. 33. f. lawful r. unlawful p. 78. l. 19. f. Proplancio r. pro Plancio p. 82. l. 7. r. is seated p. 87. l. 23. f. Florentio Dianysio and Coss r. Florentio Dianysio Coss ibid. l. 35. f. Valerius r. Valeria In 4â— printed 158â— Arlstotle Pindarus Tuâ—â—y Plato alias Lex Regia v. Dr. Sherrock c. 4. n. 9. p. 282 283. Lex P. Vallerii 2. Martii Fab. Maximi Scyllae C. Gracchi plebiscitum Lex Annaria c. Vid. A. A. A. lib. 4. cap. 6. p. 181.
Forces to their aid and assistance She did the like by sending Succours to the Scots whereby she delivered them from Slavery and Popery against Mary Queen of Scots and the Guises So she did most earnestly mediate and interceed by Letters and Embassies with the King of Spain who had violently Tyrannized and Oppressed the Netherlanders by his bloody Edicts both in their Laws Liberties and Religion and not prevailing she sent them Mony and Arms and took them into her Protection by which she relieved and established them in that flourishing Condition they now are in both able and willing gratefully to return the same Kindness to this our Kingdom in her great distress by the like bloody Papists In which she had not only the Judgment and Assistance of her Parliaments but their Purses also And also the Opinion and Approbation of her Clergy in their Convocation with their Subsidies all which they would not have done if they had held all Resistance unlawful And sure this Historian will not deny that the Queen and her Parliaments and Convocations were true Church of England Men so he may make it the Corner-Stone and distinguishing Character if he please of a true and of a mungril Church of England Man And if he do I doubt he will approve himself no Nathaniel no true Church of England Man. To what then doth all this Bravado of Articles Canons Homiles Liturgies c. tend but to the bespattering of the purest Church in the World with such Doctrines as she is no ways guilty of and to introduce and usher in Popery again which was rushing in upon us with a mighy torrent by the slight of such prevaricating wits that lay in wait to deceive until his Majesty did Abdicare se magistratu but thanks be to God we are not such Children as to be tossed to and fro and carried away from the Truth with such cunning Craftiness Happily King James I. if consulted may be found to favour the same Opinion when in his Speech in Parliament 1603. declares himself to be a Servant and that as he was Head and Governor of all the People in his Dominions who were his natural Vassals and Subjects considering them in Number and distinct Ranks but considering the whole People as one Body and Mass then as the Head is ordained for the Body and not the Body for the Head so must a righteous King know himself to be ordained for his People and not his People for him and therefore professeth that he will never be ashamed to confess it to be his principal Honour to be the Servant of a Commonwealth and ever to think the Prosperity thereof to be his greatest Felicity And in his Speech at White-hall Anno 1609. March 21. saith That every just King in a settled Kingdom is bound to observe the Paction which God made with Noah after the Deluge therefore a King leaves to be a King and degenerates into a Tyrant as soon as he leaves off to Govern by his Laws as the poor Widow to Philip of Macedon Either Govern according to your Laws Aut ne Rex sis Therefore all Kings that are not Tyrants or Perjured will be glad to bound themselves within the limits of their Laws And they that persuade them to the contrary are Vipers and Pests both against them and the Commonwealth Which Premisses do naturally yield this Conclusion without wresting viz. That Kings not Governing according to their Compact and Laws made by their Subjects are Perjured and become Tyrants and may be curbed opposed and withstood Thus much only by way of Specimen to incourage other more learned Pens to make farther proof it being every Mans Duty to contribute what he can towards the support of that Government under which he lives no Government being obliged to support those who will not support it which incourageth me to cast in my Mite also and the rather because I observe some Prints so virulent as to ill-characterize the greatest Wisdom and wisest Men of the World and to make common Sense and truest Equity and the most undoubted Right of the whole World Treason and Rebellion and so to be owned and practised in Extremities by all Nations Vim vi repellendo Which being always to be understood of unjust Force the Defence must be just and it 's impossible to be made either Treason or Rebellion by any other Law than that the Foxes Ears were Horns And others would make this wild conjecture of Passive Obedience without reserve as the Corner-Stone and distinguishing Character of the Church of England from all other reformed Churches which deserves a Sponge and Reprimand and not an Answer AN ADMONITION TO ALL Christian EMPERORS KINGS PRINCES c. ALL Emperors Kings Princes and Governors ought most seriously to consider That tho' by the Providence of God and good will and choice of Men they are set on high yet they are not Kings and Lords and Princes in their own right and in such manner as that they are not obliged to acknowledge a Superior Dominion What are they but Vassals to God by whose Providence they hold their Crowns and Scepters Lives and all by fealty and homage And what are they but Administrators and Trustees of the Governed to see the Laws made by them indifferently and equally executed for the Peace and Happiness of whole Kingdoms And who knows not that in recompence of their Care and Pains that this is one of the chief Conditions or Laws of Subjects that they do Support their Kings and Governors and that they keep Fidelity with and pay Tribute Reverence and Service unto them So strict is this Obligation that in all cases of danger Subjects are bound to aid and assist them and to yield all the Duties of Honour Friendship Reverence and Respect and to take up Arms on their behalf against their very Bretheren and Children and to pay them Tribute for their Grandeur and Support where Faith and Honour are concerned an Eternal blemish will remain on the violation thereof If they offend their Kings by unjust contrivances and blemish their Dignity and Honour by unjust aspersions if they plot contrive and wage War unjustly against them if they desert them in a time of danger if they treacherously conceal any that endeavour to kill imprison or damnifie them if they do not deliver them when in danger if it be in their power to do it they are then guilty of Treason Seeing therefore Kings require so much Fidelity from their Subjects for defending their Persons States and Dignities who are but Men on both parts in how much greater Obligations and under what severer Penalties are Kings themselves bound towards the giver and bequeather of their Crowns and Scepters for the defence of his Kingdom and People against all Rebels and Traitors to his and their Laws But ah the misery of human blindness All Princes are ready to cry out that when any Man becomes guilty of such breach of Faith towards them it
and most properly it is only in his high Court of Parliament wherein and wherewith his Majesty hath absolutely the Supreme Power and consequently is absolutely Supreme Head and Governor from whence their is no Appeal And without doubt the Parliament may take an account of what is done by his Majesty in his Inferior Courts and therefore much more of what is done by him without the Authority of any Court. What more usual than for Parliaments to call to an account all other Courts of Justice and all Officers and Ministers under his Majesty even for such things as they shall do against the Law though by his Majesty's express command And what is this but to take an account of the discharge of his Majesty's Trust The Law exempts his Majesty from account in no other sense than it exempts him from fault because he is to do publick Affairs of the Kingdom by his Officers and Ministers of State and not by himself and they are to give an account of that which the Kings doth by them In which respect Sir William Thorp Chief Justice in Edward the Third's time was charged for breaking the Kings Oath as much as in him lay The King's Authority is above his Person and his Personal Commands ought not to controul those that proceed from his Authority which resideth in his Courts and his Laws and in his Person acting by the one and according to the other We are really such admirers and so fond of Kingship and so willing to excuse all his Peccadilloes that we retain it as a Maxime That the King can do no wrong i. e. he can do nothing but by Law which can do no wrong And if he do against the Law his personal Acts Commands or Writings oblige no more than if they were a Childs and the Books call him an Infant in Law though his publick capacity be not in non-age as the Parliament declared in Edward VI. which is not to exempt him from Errors or excuse his Crimes but to shew that he ought to be guided by his Council and that his own personal Grants or Commands cannot hurt any more than an Infant which may be reclaimed or recalled not to say corrected by the Courts of Justice or the Council of the Kingdom King James of happy memory in his Speech to the Parliament at White-Hall March 21. 1009. told them That a King Governing in a settled Kingdom leaves to be a King and degenerates into a Tyrant as soon as he leaves off to Rule according to his Laws In which case the King's Conscience may speak unto him as the poor Widow said to Philip of Macedon either Govern according to your Law Aut ne Rex â—is Therefore all Kings that arenâ—t Tyrants or Perjured will be glad to bound themselves within the limits of their Laws and they that perswade them the contrary are Vipers and Pests both against them and the Commonwealth Ibid. 531. I will ever prefer the Weal of the whole Commonwealth in making of good Laws and Constitutions to any particular or private ends of mine thinking ever the Wealth and Weal of the Commonwealth to be my greatest Weal and Worldly Felicity p. 493. The Arguments brought for Kings being appointed by God only and their Power derived from him only are grounded on some few wrested and misunderstood places of Scripture viz. By me Kings reign and Princes decree justice By me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the earth Prov. 8. 15 16. which are applicable to all other Governments as well as Regal and make only for the institution of the Kingly Office and nothing at all for the designation or application of the Person to the Office or Gods immediate nomination or appointment of Kings but for approbation of Kingly Government among other Governments by Judges or others whereby it manifestly appears that Kingly Authority hath no more of Divine Right than any other form of Government And it is manifest to all the World That God did not of his own free choice primarily erect and establish Regal Government but that of the Judges as the best Form of Government but waved his own Prerogative and Wisdom and to gratifie the publick desire of a froward ungrateful and rebellious People who were used accordingly by such their choice and felt the smart thereof accordingly as Samuel foretold so indulgent was God himself to National desires which should be a Document to Kings to comply very readily with the desires of their People in Government of their Kingdom as God here did Besides I must repeat again That no Man can have Lawful Authority to be King over any Nation but he must have it either immediately from God Almighty unto which there can be no possibility of pretence or from the publick consent of the Nation therefore Kings must have their just Authority from the People Let Scripture it self be judge all Israel made Omri captain of the host King over Israel not Zimri and his Son Achab rather than Tibni the Son of Ginath 1 Kings 16. 16 21 22. And the People made Solomon King not Adoniah though he were the elder Brother 1 Kings 1. God by the Peoples free suffrages createth such a Man King because by the Authoratative choice of the People the person is made of a private Man and no King a publick Person and a crowned King 2 Sam. 16. 18. The men of Israel said to Gideon Rule thou over us both thou and thy Son and thy Sons Son also And all the men of Sechem made Abimelech King Judg. 9. 6. So the elders of Giliad made Jepthah head over them Judg. 11. 8 9 10 11. So all the people of Judah made Azariah King instead of his father Amaziah 2 Kings 14. So in the change of Government when Israel not pleased with their Government by Judges whom God himself had appointed over them but would have a King like other Nations Wherein God so far waved his Prerogative that he complied with their publick desire and gratified them therein though contrary to his own Infinite Wisdom And Samuel said unto all Israel Behold I have hearkned unto your voice and in all that yee said unto me and have made a King over you And all the Congregation made a Covenant with the King Behold the Kings Son shall reign 2 Chron 23. 3. God himself by Moses gave the People power to chuse themselves a King and withal directions and qualifications whom and how qualified they should chuse when thou shalt say I will set a King over me like all the Nations round about me thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall chuse i. e. according to his Rules and Prescriptions and Dictates viz. one from among thy Brethren shalt thou set King over thee thou maist not set a stranger over thee which is not thy Brother Deut. 17. 15. Consider also those Kings whom God most immediately caused to be anointed Kings and it will
the Earth to stay the Righteous with the wicked Gen. 18. 25. or take vengeance on the People for the Sins of the King the Soul that sinneth it shall die Ezek. 18. 4. Every Man shall be put to death for his own Sin Deut. 24 16. was it not rather because the People did not resist or restrain but assisted Saul their King violating the Law of God and wickedly persecuting the Man after Gods own Heart and killing the Priests of the Lord. Saul desiring to inlarge thē Borders of the Tribe of Judah at his entrance into Canaan broke publick Faith with the Gibeonites and destroyed many of them the Children of Israel having sworn unto them by which he broke the third Commandment God being witness to his Covenant with the Gibeonites he broke also the sixth Commandment and so the breach of both Tables God himself would revenge the breach of which Covenant and Oath was justly laid to Saul and his Family Now Saul being dead and David constituted King 2 Sam. 21. 1 2. God sent a Famine in the days of David three Years Year after Year upon the whole Land and David inquired of the Lord and the Lord answered It was for Saul and his bloody House because he slew the Gibeonites which Famine ceased not till David delivered seven Sons of Saul to the Gibeonites whom they hanged in Gibeah of Saul unto the Lord v. 6. 8. But was the Famine over all the Land for Sauls fault only No both King and People were both punished the one for breaking Covenant the other for not resisting and not hindring the King or as being accessary to do this Evil. How came it to pass that God never punisheth the sins of the King upon the People nor the sins of the People upon the King and yet he sent a Famine on the whole Land Saul the chief Actor being Dead and consequently Actio moritur cum persona but because the People suffered so manifest a Sin to be committed by their sinful connivance and used no endeavours to resist or hinder him as they ought Can Punishment by any right be inflicted on any for a Crime whereof they are not guilty Alieni secleris quenquam poenas pati Jura non sinunt 2 Kings 14. 6. Wherein did the Israelites sin if not by tolerating Saul to do as he did when they ought and might have hindred him When Menasseh had polluted the Temple of the Lord and shed Innocent Blood which the Lord would not pardon 2 Kings 24. 4. why did the Lord threaten not only Menasseh but his People with Judgments but because they being under the same Covenants with Manasseh they would not restrain the King from persisting in his wickedness but did connive countenance and assist him in his Impieties 2 Chron. 33. 17. Herod and Pilate condemned Christ the Priests delivered him to Death yet the Curse fell upon the whole Nation and why because the People might have delivered him as well as they did Barrabas and did not but impricated Curses upon themselves and their Children It is the duty of all Nations to take care not only that Criminals be punished but that no Crimes be committed which made Hezekiah pull down the Brazen Serpent though set up by Moses when it came to be abused 2 Kings 18. 4. It being the duty of the People by common consent to hinder Kings as much as in them lies from violating the Law of God and from injuring his Church and Saints and if they do not they are guilty of the same crime and liable to the same punishment Resist they may by opposing words to words force to force stratagem to stratagem always avoiding perfidiousness which is always disallowed and hateful to God and Man. For in War it matters not whether it be managed by open Force or secret Stratagems By People is not meant the Many headed-Monster-Multitude but by the Universal People is to be understood those who have any share in the Government or any Authority from the People conferred upon them by any Laws made by publick consent as inferior Magistrates either chosen by the People or any other way constituted to take care of publick Peace and concerns of the Laws of the Land and worship of God in their several qualifications be they Tribunes of the People Ephori Praefects Praetors Judges Justices of the Peace Constables Captains of Thousands Captains of Hundreds Captains of Fifties or other inferior Officers or Magistrates which are as Consorts of the Empire and are in the vacancy of the publick Sanhedrims Dyets Parliaments c. As it were the Epitome of every Kingdom and Ephori of Kings and Conservators of the Publick Peace thereof to and among whom all the publick concerns of a Nation are referred of which sort in a manner were the Seventy Elders in the Kingdom of Israel among which there was a Chief Priest which did judge de Arduis Regni which were not to be Hobby-horsed in and out by the High Priest according as they would or would not serve a sinister turn and they were chosen out of the Seventy Families which went down into Egypt the Elders of which were first chosen and made Heads over the People Rulers of Thousands Rulers of Hundreds Rulers of Tens and the hard causes they brought unto Moses Exod. 18. 25. We read often in Scripture of all Israel of all Judah and Benjamin c. when in all probability every Individual did not at all times meet of which sort and kind there is in all well constituted Kingdoms several Congregations of the Kingdoms Officers of the Kingdom as the Privy Council Peers Patricians Judges Sessions Assizes Lord Lieutenants Deputy Lieutenants Mayors Bayliff's of Towns and Cities as the ordinary Councils and Officers of a Kingdom and as Councils extraordinary chosen out of them all to consider de Arduis Regni which are Officers of the Kingdom and called by several names in several Kingdoms as Dyets Parliaments c. which provide that no detriment come to either Church or State in which tho' every individual be inferior to the King yet the Joynt Body being the Representative of the whole Kingdom is superior and to be preferred before him For as the Council of Basil and Constance decreed that a General Council was superior to the Pope and the Chapter to the Bishop for that they which receive any Authority from any Company of Men must needs be inferior to that Company though he be personally superior to every Individual of that Society So without all doubt Israel which petitioned for and chose Saul from among themselves to be their King as a publick Actor for the common good of them all was superior to Saul When we attribute any power to the People it is to be understood of the Officers Princes Elders Parliaments Dyets that have a share in the Government and in the Legislative Power Take Athaliah 2 Chron. 24. for an Example in which Act the Kingdom was not opposed but
against their Kingdom and their Laws as the People are against them and the Laws when they transgress Do Subjects obey the commands of their Princes which they may lawfully command and which they of right ought to obey without intrenching on God's commands Do they pay them Tribute Sute and Service not contrary to God's Laws as they ought So to obey Cesar is just lawful and praise-worthy But to obey Cesar's exceeding their just bounds commanding without warrant of Law affecting and designing a greater Impery without the consent of the governed or if they invade or violate the Laws of God perverting the right Worship of God who is above all Kings and Governments it is unjust and to assist Cesar's in such cases is unlawful and they that do make themselves partakers of other Men's Crimes Anno Domini 1300. Pope Boniface VIII challenged some Regalia which belonged unto Phillip the Fair King of France whereupon Philip sharply reproved the Pope by his Letter even in those days when the Pope was accounted the Vicar of Christ on Earth and Head of the Universal Church according to Communis error Juris loco erat Notwithstanding the Sorban answered That both King and Kingdom might safely withdraw themselves from their Obedience to the Pope without any guilt of Schism because not Separation but the Cause made Schism and that they did not oppose the Vicar of Christ but a wicked Man guilty of many Crimes Sieur de Mezerai Annales Franciae Archivae Camerae Ratiociniorum Lutet L. Barbar Ph. de Senat. If the Cause be just the Separation is from the high Priest or Bishop not from the Church Or more properly from Boniface not from the high Priest Unless such distinctions and discriminations are allowed for true and Authentick how can the Souls of whole Kingdoms be distinguished and separated from the Church If Kings invade the Rights of God Almighty and oppress his People who are the Temple of God with servitude denying their Rights Priviledges and Liberties which God hath given them and for which Christ died we may much more use the same distinction and in opposition to such Kings or rather Tyrants we may justly say That not the King but the Tyranny is opposed Anno 1408. Benedict XIII did grieviously oppress the Gallican Church with Tributes and Exactions whence a Convocation of the French Clergy being called by Charles VI. they decreed That the King and Kingdom ought not to obey Benedict as being an Heretick and Schismatick and unworthy of any honour which the States of the Kingdom allowed and the Parliament of Paris approved by their Arrest Annales Car. 6. Monstreletus Moreover they whom Benedict did excommunicate as Enemies of the Church they judged them forthwith absolved of such Excommunications and that thereby they were not excluded or deprived of any Benefit or Priviledge of the Church Ibid. The like we read to have been done as at other times in France so in other Kingdoms Which evidently shews That if Kings and Princes or States do tyrannize or extend their Power beyond it's just bounds Subjects may without any just imputation of Delinquency or Rebellion withhold their Tributes withdraw themselves from their Obedience or resist their Tyranny It being one thing to resist an evil Pope another thing to resist the Church one thing to resist a King another thing to resist a Kingdom or Tyranny We read That Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah and made a King over themselves And Libnah revolted from Jehoram 2 Kings 8. 20 22. yet after the true Worship of God was restored we find Libnah numbred among the subjects of Ezekiah Chap. 19. 8. If this distinction be of force when the Pope who arrogantly assumes to himself Superiority over Kings and Princes invades their Rights or the Rights of the Church is it not much more just if Princes I might say Vassals invade the Rights and Regalia of the great God of Heaven and of Earth It stands therefore sure that Princes commanding unlawful things or forbidding Holy things or introducing a False or Idolatrous worship the People or rather Parliaments Dyets Senates the several Officers or inferior Magistrates having a share in the Government and intrusted with the common concerns of the Kingdom by the People both may and ought to hinder or resist unlawful commands All or at least the Governing Magistrates of Kingdoms and Cities as first impowered by God and then constituted by Princes by Authority derived from the People ought to promote in their several Stations and Provinces first the Glory of God and of Holy Church and then the Good and Welfare of Kingdoms Cities and Free States and if they do not it is in them Crimen laesae Magistatis and they become participes criminis by such their sinful connivence Let us now consider what Bishop Bilson Bishop of Winchester as learned and as honest a Bishop and as sound a Divine as ever sate on that See and who hath written a most learned Treatise of the difference between Christian Subjection and Unchristian Rebellion in the days of Queen Elizabeth The Romans did not love the name of King and the Commonwealth of Venice Millan Florence and Genoa are of the same mind many States have Governors for Life and for Years and yet a Sovereignty still remaining in the People or Senate or in the Prelates and Nobles that elect or assist the Magistrate who hath his Jurisdiction allotted and prefixt unto him and may be resisted and recalled from any tyrannous excess by the general and publick consent of the whole State. In Germany the Emperor himself hath his bounds appointed him which he may not pass by the Laws of the Empire and the Princes Dukes and Cities that are under him have Power to use and govern the Sword as God's Ministers in their own charges And though for the Maintenance of the Empire they be subject to such orders as shall be decreed in the Convent of all their States and according to that direction are to furnish the Emperor with Men and Mony for his necessary Wars and Defences yet if he touch their Policies infringe their Liberties or violate the Specialties which he by Oath and Order of the Empire is bound to keep they may lawfully resist him and by force reduce him to the Ancient Government or else repel him as a Tyrant and set another in his place by the Right and Freedom of their Country Bilson's Subjection p. 513. Zuinglius saith That if the Empire of Rome or any other Sovereign should oppress the Truth and they negligently suffer the same they shall be charged with contempt no less than the Oppressors themselves Zuingl lib. 4. Epist Zuing. Occol f. 186. And elsewhere when Kings rule unfaithfully and otherwise than the Rule of the Gospel prescribeth they may with God be deposed as when they punish not wicked Persons but especially when they advance the ungodly and idle Priests such may be deprived of their Dignity as Saul