Sacro-sancta Regum Majestas OR THE SACRED and ROYAL Prerogative OF Christian Kings Wherein Sovereignty is by Holy Scriptures Reverend Antiquity and sound Reason asserted by discussing of five Questions AND The Puritanical Jesuitical Antimonarchical Grounds are disproved and the untruth and weakness of their new-devised-State-principles are discovered Rom. 13. 1 2. The Powers that be are ordained of God Whosoever therefore resisteth the Powâ—â— resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist â—â—all receive to themselves damnation Dei Gratia Mea Lux. London Printed for Tho. Dring over against the Inner-Temple-Gate in Fleet-street 1680. TO THE DUKE of ORMOND MY LORD PIety and Policy Church and State Prince and Priest are so nearly and naturally conjoyned in a mutual Interest that like to Hippocrates his Twins they rejoyce and mourn flourish and perish live and dye together Sound Reformed Catholick Protestants deny justly such a Subordination of the Prince to the Priest as by any direct or indirect over-ruling Power the Crown and Scepter are under any coactive directive we acknowledge over-ruling Power of the Mitre and that Kings by any Church-man or men whatsoever Pope or Presbytery are censurable dethronable deposable Notwithstanding it is certain Religion hath a mighty Influence upon State Governour and Government that from the happiness and quiet of Religion issueth forth necessarily the happiness and quiet of the Civil State The Heathen did see this that Religion rightly ordered is the Base and Bottom upon which King and State are founded Religion is the cement of all Societies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it bindeth Families together and Cities too and is their greatest splendour and ornament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That one saith Religion is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a Christian to the same purpose Religio timor Dei solus est qui custodit hominum inter se Societatem Religion and the Fear of God and nothing else preserveth all Societies amongst men Religion teacheth Kings how to rule and Subjects how to obey maketh Obedience complete universal entire in all things not partial in some things onely it teacheth our Reverence Service and Obedience not to be outward with Eye-service but sincere for Conscience sake as in the sight of the Lord. Religion hath a powerful influence upon Laws the Heathen who termed Religion the Cement of all Society calleth it too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Cement the Strength the Vigour the Life of all Laws This made Zoroaster authorise the Laws by Horomasis Zamolxis by Vesta Trismegistus by Mercurius Minos by Jupiter Charondus by Saturnus Draco and Solon by Minerva and Apollo and Numa Pompilius by Aegeria Religion is the Nurse of the Quiet of State and Common-wealth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If all living in one Society and Kingdom were pious and religious none would wrong themselves or others Take it more fully from a Christian Emperour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If Religion be preserved in Peace it rights and facilitates all the rest of the Government Religion is the Walls Strength and Safeguard of King and Kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Overthrow me Sion Civitatem Veritatis Sanctitatis and you cannot but overthrow Ierusalem Civitatem justitiae all this is much more and solely verified of the Christian Religion a strange Wonder then it is that so many Achitophels and Achans in the World should promise to themselves undertake to Christian Kings by sacrificing the Church undoing the Solemnity of the Service and Worship of God destroying Christ his Ordinances robbing him of his Patrimony and Right to establish King and Kingdom Peace and Quiet in the Land How is it probable or possible Religion being the Base and Bottom upon which all Happiness of King and Kingdom are grounded and founded the Cement and Bond that tieth all together the Rule of Right ruling the Mother of entire and hearty Obedience the life of Laws the use of Quiet and Strength of all Defence that it being disordered King Kingdom and State can be well and enjoy any kind of Happiness If neither the Dictate of Nature nor sacred Truth revealed in holy Word should confirm this Truth the sad and doleful Experience we find we feel this day in the Acheldama of these Kingdoms has laid it open to our Eyes in Letters of Blood that he that runneth by may read it Consider how since the Sacred Hierarchy the Order instituted by Christ for the Government of his Church constituted by the Apostles and continued against any prevalent Opposition for fifteen Ages and upwards without Interruption hath been opposed that in some places it is totally overthrown in other places disgraced weakened and threatned with Abolition of Root and Branch what is the Condition of Sovereignty and Subject You shall find that the Course against it hath been a preparatory Destructive to Royalty to the Liberty and Propriety of the Subject Many are deceived and think it skilleth not what Government be in the Church it is enough if the Essentials and Fundamentals of Faith and Worship be preserved They are infinitely deceived no Society can subsist without Government and if you destroy the Government neither can the sound Faith nor the true Worship be long maintained The Apostle intimateth this Col. 11. 5. that he joyed to behold their Order and the stedfastness of their Faith in Christ. First their Order then the stedfastness of their Faith in Christ implying where right Order is non maintained stedfastness of Faith in Christ cannot continue A Holy Father to this purpose saith well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Order is the Mother and Security of the Being of all things that have Being Do we not see that the Order and Government of the Roman Church doth this day preserve their Humane Inventions and unwarrantable Superstions in such Safety that alas Truth doth not prevail much upon them are within her Communion and on the other part our Disorder and not setled Government maketh us lose too too much and gain too too little Look a little upon the Parallel and consider how since Episcopacy hath been infested and way too much given to a prevalent Faction what malign Influence this course hath had upon Sovereignty and it will make it appear that the Mitre cannot suffer and the Diadem be secured It was maintained that Episcopacy was none of Christ's Institution it was onely the positive constitution of man Hath not Royalty been thus entertained Do not our Sectaries impudently maintain that Kings are the onely Extract of the People having their Being and Constitution by derivation from them Do they not hold that howsoever Episcopacy is a tolerable government of the Church yet it is mutable at the pleasure of the Church And do they not answerably aver that the collective or representative Body of the Community may upon any real or fancied Exigent mould themselves into an Aristocracie or Democracie Others more desperately have reached higher and give out that the Sacred
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
cannot be darkened or corrupted and our Affections so orderly as they cannot over-rule us in a wrong course to do against that is pious and just I was ever in opinion till now that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be secured from Sin was the onely propriety of God and that it is antichristian in the Pope to lay claim to an absolute Infallibility But this new Policy will find the like in the Parliament the collective Body or Community Thirdly consider attentively and impartially what you hold and you will find it resolve into Infidelity and Impatience Infidelity that we do not trust that God is able to do it Impatience that we will not wait patiently till he do it The Heathen are nearer to Christianity in this than our glorious Reformers Tacitus saith Quomodo sterilitatem aut nimios imbres caetera naturae mal◠ita luxum vel avaritiam dominantium tolerate vitia erunt donec homines sed neque haec continua meliorum interventu pensantur The safest way in the wise Historian's judgment is to endure the Tempests of ill Government patiently as we do other Tempests falling from Heaven while men are faults will be but will not be alwayes lasting and better things will come with compensation of our losses Fourthly It is much better for us that God hath reserved this as a peculiar case to himself to punish Sovereigns and to rectifie their Errours But for us on the other part to usurp upon his Right it is no less than intrusion upon his Divine Prerogative and carrieth along with it Morbum complicatum a number of Sins against many of his most glorious Attributes 1. It wrongeth God in his glorious Wisdom that he hath not prepared such a Remedy for us in this case nay it putteth foolishness upon him that in this case he hath commanded Patience and so left us totally remediless 2. It wrongeth God in his glorious Power by making him weak that by no other means he could set aright what is disjoynted in Church and State 3. It wrongeth his Holiness who for the necessary support of Church and State by these means is necessitated for effecting the Work most concerneth him and his Glory to have and use the help of sinful men nay even of their Sins 4. To what is said add this that this Principle of theirs dishonoureth Christian Religion it turneth Religion into Rebellion Faith into Faction and Christian obedience into disloyal Treason Nothing is more powerful to deter Kings from coming to the profession of Reformed Catholick Religion than to hold that such a Superintendent Power is in People or Parliament to censure and unking Christian Kings Fifthly Christian obedience and Sobriety teacheth us to leave all Evils in Church and State to be redressed by those means God himself hath appointed and when the ordinate means do it not or do to the contrary we are to keep our selves pure possess our selves with Patience and refer the Remedy to God who hath reserved this to himself We ought not to justle God out of his Right Before we have said that Scripture affords no warrant by Precept or Practice to the Community the collective or representative Body to do it But now we add for them to do it by opposing or resisting Sovereignty is in Scripture expresly forbidden Romans 13. 2. Whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Of this more Quaest. 5. We must therefore closely adhere to what God hath commanded not turning to the left hand to obey unlawful things commanded by the Sovereign nor to the right hand with violence to resist lawful Authority Let all Subjects remember that in the day of their Accounts the charge will be to all singly or joyntly considered Who hath required these things at your hands Who hath made you Judges and Executers of matters of so high concernment And though it be pretended and possibly intended too that the work so done shall make much for the glory of God the good of the Church the liberty and happiness of the Subject it will not take us off We must not do evil that good may come of it Rom. 3. 8. To do God a piece of good service against his Will manifested is not to acquit our selves as his humble servants but to prove us his arrogant and proud Masters He is most glorified when his voice is obeyed 1 Sam. 15. 22. God standeth not in need of wicked man nor of his sinful wayes It was a pious Intention Vzza had when he put out his hand to save the Ark from falling yet because it was above his Charge God did strike him presently dead 2 Sam. 6. 6. 1 Chron. 13. 10. It is not enough for these Reformers to be assured in their Consciences that the work they intend and are about tends to a good religious and pious effect but they must have a sufficient Warrant from written Truth that they are warranted and called to this work Sixthly as it is against Piety it is against Prudence and the good of Policy Prudence doth not allow us to lose what real Good we have in present Possession for any future good which we have only in uncertain Expectation By this projected Course of our New-Statist-Divines we loose a good Conscience fall in actual Disobedience and Rebellion against the Lord and his Anointed We refuse Gods Tryal and with an unwarrantable indiscreet and unseasonable Zeal for Religion and our temporary Good come contrary to God and his Commandments We antevert nay shake off the Glory that God expecteth by our Tryals and cannot dare not expect Gods Blessing to our Endeavours If the Root be evil the Fruit can be no better Who may expect a Blessing to a sinful and rebellious Course Doth he allow us to do wrong and seek an Opportunity to do Good God acteth no Evil but only permitteth it and that because he is able to work Good out of Evil which is as inseparably proper to God alone as the immensity of his Power it is infinitely a superlative Presumption for us to presume upon the like We cannot expect any Blessing without a promise and have no Interest in the Promise but when our Acts and Works presuppose Obedience to his Precepts By such a Course as you prescribe we make the precept of God of none Effect Our excuse in this case will prove no better than the Pharisees who taught their Disciples doing things unlawful to say Corban God shall have Profit by it in the good we shall do to Church and State When we come to Judgment our Works shall witness against us and our good Intentions will not save us you know it is commonly and truly said Hell is full of good Intentions and Heaven of good works Seventhly if we look upon the practice recorded in Scripture when Gods people were delivered from Bondage or Captivity or when Grievances in Church and State were rectified and reformed God
to refute the Errour of the Canonists and others who hold that Directum Dominium the direct and primarie power supream whether Civil or Ecclesiastical is in the Pope as Christs Vicar upon earth immediately from Christ derived unto him and from Him to all Kings whatsoever mediately by Dependence and Subordination The Jesuits are ashamed of this and therefore will have the Pope only to have Indirectum Imporium an Indirect Directive and Coercive power over all Kings and States in ordine ad Spiritualia as civil Power and Businesses are related to Religion and Salvation It is a curious subtle quirk and nicity of Scholastick Invention and a jugling Trick to bring all Kings Christian at Least Kingdoms and States into Subordination and Subjection to the transcendent and extravagant power of the Pope nor doth this Expression differ from the other in re in the matter or extent of the Power but in modo rei in the manner of the thing as they claim it And cometh fully home that the Pope by this indirect Right of his related to Religion by which any civil Act or Business whatsoever with his School Formalities he may qualifie with such an Ordination and Relation to Spirituals that directly by this indirect power he may King and Unking at his Pleasure Our Presbyterians if they run not fully in this way they are very near to it I wish we were so happy this time as that we had not to do with other Impugners of Sacred and Royal Authority but Jesuits and Canonists That which we have proposed to our selves in this short ensuing Treatise is to consider the main grounds by which the Jesuit and Puritan endeavour by no less spurious than specious Pretexts of Liberty of the People and Subject of the reforming of Religion purging it from Error preserving it in Purity to rob Kings of their Sacred and divine Right Prerogative making them Derivatives from the People in whom they will have all Supream Power originally and radically primarily seated So that if Kings fail in Performance of their Duty the People may supply it at least in some cases may do it of themselves Nay that Kings are accountable to them as to their Superiours censurable punishable and dethronable too By which the Copy-hold of a Crown is no better than Durante beneplacito plebis or communitatis during the good Will of the Community for by these mens Principles the People are made Judges and may find exigents which will warrant them to resume and to exercise this power Puritan and Jesuit in this not only consent and concur but like Herod and Pilate are reconciled to crucifie the Lords anointed A thousand pities it is that our Sectaries pretending such a Zeal against Popery and who no less maliciously than confidently rub upon sound Protestants the Aspersions of Popery and Malignancy do joyn with the worst of Papists in the worst at least most pernicious Doctrines of Papists But ten thousand times more pity it is that the true reformed and sound Protestant Religion should suffer by such miscreants that sound Protestants should be charged with these Heresies in after Ages We will be forced to disclaim them and say with St. Iohn They were amongst us but were not of us and they have gone out from us It is not warrantable to be so large in our charitable Defence of any as to prejudice the inviolable and sacred Truth of Almighty God Our work is to examine and discuss some new devised State-principles set on foot in this distempered Age which have robbed Church and State of Peace and Happiness which these Kingdoms of late and long Continuance have plentifully enjoyed under the Government of our blessed King and his Predecessors to the Envy of other neighbour Kingdoms and States These may all of them be reduced to five great ones 1. First that Royal Authority is originally and radically in the People from them by Consent derived to Kings immediately mediately only from God That the Collation or Donation of the Power is from the Community The Approbation only from God 2. The second that God is no more Author of Regal than of Aristocratical and Democratical Power of Supreme than of Subordinate and that Dominion which is usurped and not just while it remains Dominion and till it be legally again divested refers to God as to its Author and Donor as much as that which is hereditary 3. The third that Sovereignty and Power in a King is by Conveyance from the People by a Trust devolved upon him and that it is conditionate fiduciary and proportioned according as it pleaseth the Community to entrust more or less 4. The fourth that Royal Power in a King is not simply supreme but in some cases there is a co-ordinate Power or collateral nay that in some cases the King is subordinate to the Community 5. The fifth and last is that the King in some cases may be resisted and opposed by Violence Force and Arms at least in a defensive way These are the main Foundations upon which all those impious Courses are built and which have had such Influence upon disaffected and less knowing Subjects to raise and cherish these Distempers and Rebellions for which all sound-hearted and good Subjects mourn Yet to add the more Lustre to them there be couched under them or added to them a number of specious general Maxims apt to ensnare the popular Faction which we shall by Gods help clear and demonstrate to be Untruths and popular Sophisms as they offer in their own proper place The contrary of what they aâ—firm we hold to be sound Divinity agreeable to the Truth revealed in Scripture consonant to the Tenets and Practice of the ancient Christian Church and grounded upon sound Reason deducted out of nature and the best Institutions of Policy and Government That we may the more orderly proceed we sum up all into five Questions whereof the first is this Whether or not Sovereignty or the Royal Power of a King be independent from all Creatures solely and only dependent from God immediately from him and neither from the Community the diffusive collective representative or vertual Bodie of the People In which by Gods grace we will make it appear that the King is the derivative of the primative King who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords The second is Whether or not God is no more Author of Royal Power than of Aristocratical or Democratical Of supreme than subordinate Of usurped and not just than of just Government and Regal In which it will appear that by Gods Institution Regal is graced and authorised above others that Aristocracy Democracy and Monarchy are not Species univocae regiminis sed analogicae not univocal Kinds and Species of Government but equivocal at best analogical are howsoever tolerable and not so perfect some way defective and that they degenerate from the true and most perfect Species of Government Monarchy in which is formalis completa gubernandi
will read their Distinction in answering the very same Objection that Zacharias the Pope both in the Deposition of the one and Constitution of the other had a hand consensivè not authoritativè by â—a naked Assent not by authoritative interposing or Right in this Act. To shut up all this I refer you to one place by viewing of which you shall have explicitly three Iacobus Almayn Iohannes de Parisiis and Ockam all of them Doctors of Paris and breathing the same thing with the Patavin Doctor Marsilius Almayn hath it who writ for Ockam and in the words alledgeth Iohannes de Paris verbatim de Supr Pot. Eccles. Laic q. 2. c. 5. where with Ockam he grants that the Pope for Heresie may depose a King and the people for transgressing against the Commonwealth But that you may conceive all aright he saith Non licet Papae nec propter civile nec propter spirituale crimen deponere nisi de per accidens Et non pertinet ad Papam sententÃaliter deponere Imperatorem licet spectet sententialiter excommunicare finaliter per censuram Excommunicationis eos qui habent Authoritatem deponendi cogere ut illum deponant Et sic de per accidens deponit solummodo non directè The Sense is It is not proper nor lawful to a Pope to depose an Emperour either for any civil or spiritual Crime for Errors in Policy or Religion but only accidentally The Pope may sentence the Emperour with Excommunication but not with Deposition and so upon the bye may move the people or the multitude who have Authority over him to dethrone him And this is done by the Pope not properly but improperly not effectively but consecutively The like he subjoyns concerning the Emperours power over the Pope that if the Pope abuse the power he hath to the Disturbance and Hurt of the civil State the Emperour may forfeit his State confiscate his Goods and so indirectly make move and force those who have power above the Pope which in their Opinion is the whole Church or the Representative which is an oecumenical Council to depose the Pope and institute another To these I might add Gerson and others I refer you to Gerson's Considerations and amongst these that you will read the seventh I have insisted on this especially for two Reasons the one is that you may see these Tenets came not into the World with Luther and Calvin but were long before there was any Word of a Reformer Ioannes de Parisiis lived and taught at Paris in King Philip sirnamed Pulcher and Boniface the eighth's time about the year of our Lord 1296. Willielme Ockam an English born and Regius Professor in Paris who writ his Dialogue at the Request of King Philip and after his Death fled to the Emperour Lewis the fourth died as some think about 1320. Gerson Chancellor of the University of Paris lived in the time of the Council of Constance and died about 1420. And Almayn the first and chief Professor in Sorbon who took upon him the Defence of Willielme Ockam if you will believe Flaccius Illyricus wrote Anno 1512. a book against Cajetan for the Power of a Council above the Pope which was printed Coloniae 1514. All these were prior to Luther or Calvin Our Rabbies then have drawn these Doctrines out of their polluted Cisterns The other Reason is because some too charitably and to the prejudice of Verity interpret the Authors above cited and their Kinsmen If any man will take and hold them to the better Sense I will not be contentious though I profess I cannot see it yet will it appear otherwise that those are not the Tenets of the reformed Catholick Church but the Foppery of Popery See Thomas Aquinas 1. de regim princ c. 6. where he saith Si ad jus multitudinis pertineat sibi providere de rege non injustè ab eadem Rex institutus potest destitui si potestate regni tyrannicè abutatur in which Passage you have that people may make Kings unmake them in case of Tyranny This Book is suspected and for many just and pregnant Reasons not to be Thomas Aquinas's and therefore I refer you to the genuine Thomas 1 2. q. 90. art 3. q. 97. art 3. 22 ae q. 10. art 10. And if I be mistaken of his Sense blame one of his acutest Scholars who avers it Suarez l. 3. defens orth fid adv Sect. Angliae ca. 2. And long before Thomas Aquinà s Pope Zachary taught the French this Doctrine as you may read Avent l. 3. Annal. Boiariae Princeps saith he Populo cujus beneficio possidet obnoxius est Quaecunque n. habet potentiam honorem divitias gloriam dignit aâ—em à populo accipit plebi accepta referat necesse est Regem plebs constituit eundem destituere potest He practised this about the middle of the eighth Age and for ought I know is the first Divine or Pope of Rome either that said so or writ so Some charitably plead for him and shew how averse he was from giving his Consent that at first he writ to disswade them from wronging Childerick who had his Right from God and writ thus to wash his hands in Innocency I will not take pains to vindicate him I leave that Labour to the Popes parasites yet it is worth our noting that when Pipin and his Complices were about this Treason to rob Childerick of his Crown although all things were in him that might perswade to such a Course Childerick being but a weak King a silly man drowned and buried in ease and pleasures childless nor any near to him yet at this time notwithstanding of all those Circumstances the like whereof never I think occurred before so odious a Crime it was to depose and set a King by his Throne though alâ—o all France had almost conspired with him yet fearing that the whole Christian World would cry fie upon them for such an Impiety they had Recourse to the Pope that by a specious shew of his Holiness and the Authority of that holy Church this great Impiety and Treason might be countenanced and go current This President was made a leading case in after Ages both for popish and popular Usurpation to intrude nay to invade upon the Sacred Right of Sacred Kings Nay our Puritans have from hence learned to colour and lustre their ugly Treasons and Seditions with the Cloak of Religion and Righteousness With the intimating of another Opinion of some who make regal Power resident in the People and from thence derived to the King I will close this Chapter Some do hold that all Sovereign power is primarily and naturally in the universitate civium multitude from it derived to the King immediately and mediately from God Who intending the Good Peace and Safety of Mankind which cannot be obtained without preservation of Order hath commanded and by an inviolable Ordinance and Institution appointed all to submit and subject themselves to
Sovereign Power is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is by God from God under God and God's Appointment irrevocable ordinance irrepealable The three last are the Apostles the first is Solomon's for the Septuagint read the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This variety and plurality of Expressions how Sovereignty is of God and Gods the Spirit of God hath used that none presume sacrilegiously to usurp upon God his Prerogative who hath reserved this peculiarly for himself that all Kings upon Earth should be his immediate Creatures and Deputies by his own Letters Patent authorized Our Adversaries have been much puzled with this Text if they give us a new Bible it is like enough either this Text will be left out or we will have a Gloss upon it to destroy the original Text. It hath so tortured them that I cannot tell you how many ways they have coyned to themselves to elude it I have observed five main ones which I purpose by by Gods Grace to examine and refute quaests 5. now I content my self to take off one in which they please themselves much They say the Apostle speaketh abstractly not concretely of the power it felf not of the person cloathed and invested with the Power it is an ignorant shift Barcley in his Book de Regno who hath deserved well of all Christian Monarchs hath learnedly and truly observed that Saint Paul writing to the Romans did keep the Roman usual Diction in this with whom it was customable and ordinary by Potestates powers in the Abstract to express the persons authorized with this power He refers his Reader to classical and good Authors as to Pliny lib. 29. c. 4. Iuvenal Suet. in Claudio c. 21. Modest. lib. 27. de Pignorib Vlpian lib. 17. SS penult de Aedil edict Tertullian contr gent. I content my self with the Dialect of Canaan in Scripture in which frequently Expressions in the Abstract express existents in the Concrete Col. 1. 16. By him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers By Thrones Dominions Principalities and Powers uncontrovertedly Angels are meant that the Expressions are abstract is clear as the Sun-shine To say Angels were created in abstracto is to send us to search after Platonick Idea's This instance it may be is too sublime let us see then if we can hit upon one nearer us and more fitting for the Purpose in hand I pray them to cast their Eyes upon St. Peter 2. Epist. 2. 10. where giving a Character of the man with whom we have to do he saith That they despise Government are presumptuous self-willed and not afraid to speak ill of Dignities The fellow of this you have Iud. 8. These filthy Dreamers defile the Flesh despise Dominion and speak ill of Dignities In which Passages the words in abstracto Government Dominion Dignities without any Doubt do express the persons of Governours Lords and Kings It is worth your notice taking to consider how zealous St. Peter and St. Iude were for the honour and due of Sovereignty the ray of Divine Majesty upon Earth that they speak so passionately and bitterly against such as professed themselves Christians and did speak Evil of Cajus Caligula Nero monsters of men O with what a zeal would they be inflamed if living now a days they did see what we see and hear what we hear the pretended Levites expressing their Zeal to God Religion Church and State by railing against the Lords anointed the best of Kings in the World The Fathers do use the word so too St. Austin epist. 48. saith Potestas humana saepe est divinae potestati inimica humane power is too often contrary to the Power of God Almighty The holy Father was not so bad a Divine as to think that Potestas in abstracto that Government which is Gods own Ordinance can be in Opposition or Enmity with God St. Austin then infallibly by the word Potestas Power meant him or them who are authorized with power from above If this doth not content our Adversaries I would entreat them to look upon St. Paul's Text and I hope they will find that St. Paul meant by being subject to higher powers to be subject to him who is invested with the Power Doth not he term them v. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rulers Higher Powers then and Rulers are with saint Paul equivalent terms Doth he not after call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ministers immediate and peculiar Servants of God v. 6. and even Nero himself is Gods Minister for thy Good Doth he not say v. 4. That he beareth not the Sword in vain which is non-sense if you conceive it of higher Powers in abstracto The like may be said of paying Tribute c. God did fore-see by his eternal Omniscience how apt man was to coin Distinctions to deceive himself and to wrong Gods Ordinance that mercifully to us he hath expressed in Scripture that both Sovereignty and the person cloathed with Sovereignty are of him by him and from him immediately and this that both the one and the other may be reverenced by us as sacred and inviolable The Apostle speaketh in abstracto Be subject to the Higher Powers The Powers that are are ordained of God He that resisteth c. Again the Spirit of God by Solomon saith In concreto with the Connotation of the Subject By me Kings reign I have said you are Gods c. What shall we judge then of this new-coyned Distinction to make a Difference betwixt the King and his Authority betwixt his personal Will and his Royal and Authoritative Will to pursue his Person with a Cannon-bullet at Edge-hill and to preserve his Authority at London or elsewhere These Fig-tree Leaves will not cover our Rebellion and Treason in the day of our Accounts before the Lord of Lords and King of Kings Remember his strait Charge Touch not mine anointed and do my Prophet no harm CHAP. III. The same Truth is proved by more Arguments from Holy Scripture THE Scripture hath not delivered any truth more purposely more apertly more frequently than this The Spirit of God knew well that if the Sacred Sovereignty of Kings be not preserved Religion Justice and Peace cannot be maintained This is the reason St. Paul gives to perswade us to pray for Kings That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty 1 Tim. 2. 1 2. It is observable that Solomon Prov. 8. speaketh first of the establishment of Government before he speaks of the Works of Creation to intimate it is better not to be at all than to be without Government For the same reason God fixed Government in the Person of Adam before Evah or any else came into the World and how Government shall be and we enjoy the happy fruits of it it is not conceivable except we preserve
iron hands Iotham's curse who for ought we read was the onely man durst speak against the course will come at 〈…〉 and devoureth Sichem and a fire cometh out from Sichem and destroyeth Abimelech The first stroke of Vengeance is upon the first Covenanters and Associates By the means and strength of the Sichemites Abimelech is made King over Israel The first divisive motion is there the Text saith God sent an evil spirit betwixt the men of Sichem and Abimelech and the men of Sichem dealt treacherously with him v. 23. The first who gave him the Kingdom sware and covenanted with him are the first Traytors or rather the scourge of God to begin his Mischief But how I pray you goeth this work on you have Covenant after Covenant The first Oath was unlawful now treacherously they sware another Oath against him What is the Solemnity They keep a solemn Festival Religion must ever be a stalking horse They go to the House of their God they seal a new Covenant a new Association they not onely unking him but also excommunicate him too v. 27. No Covenants no Associations seal them strengthen them with Oaths as many as you will with Sacraments too making Sacramenta pietatis vincula iniquitatis the seals of Piety the Bonds of Iniquity they will neither bind sure nor make unlawful pacts or compacts lasting Read and consider Psal. 11. Psal. 83. The story is worthy your looking on Come on then Zabul Abimelech's Governour at Sichem is over-awed he must comply with the second Covenant Abimelech advanceth with his Forces towards Sichem killeth them that sallied out man 's the Gates enters the City kills all in the City except such as flee to the Tower they escape not all of them are consumed with fire You see then how the first Authors 〈…〉 When he hath done Vengeance upon them he blocks up Thebez God having done Vengeance by him upon the Faction he taketh Vengeance upon Abimelech kills him by the hand of a Woman a dishonourable end for a King a Souldier and that by a piece of a Milstone which crushed his Skull To shun Ignominy he calls to his Armour-bearer to kill him by his Sword that it be not said hereafter that he died by the hand of a Woman This is the first King we read of in Scripture that was the Creature of the People How he atchieved it how he managed it and what end both he and they had is enough to make us fall out of love with popular Kings the Donatives of the People To this same purpose some bring the Example of Ieroboam who hold that Ieroboam was King only by Gods Permission and not by his Commission over the ten Tribes and that to punish Solomon in his Posterity for his Uncleanness and Idolatry Many things might be said Pro and Con we purpose not to dispute the point accurately The Reasons which incline some learned men to hold this Opinion amongst others are these That there is no anointing bestowed on Ieroboam at his Entry to the Kingdom The symbolical Ceremony of his Entry is expressed by renting of a Garment in twelve pieces he taketh ten of them to himself Scripture mentioneth not the giving of them The People grieved pitch upon Ieroboam either by him to get redress of their Grievances or otherwise if that be refused to assume him to be their King Consider how the Change is effected There is a specious shew made of a glorious Reformation of easing the Subjects of many great Pressures with which they were overburthened in Solomon's Reign by heavy Impositions laid upon them to build the Temple Solomon's Palaces and to entertain the Magnificence of his Court never so rich as in Solomon's Reign and never more grudging complaining These Pretences were no less specious and real than the specious and spuririous Pretences of our glorious Reformers and zealous Patriots to day great Promises are made great Hopes of better things are conceived but behold the Issue God in his secret but just Providence left Rhehoboam to the power of bad Counsellors he refuseth Redress of Grievances the ten Tribes revolt enthrone Ieroboam and made him King To bring all to a wished end the People and their new King begin at Religion Religion must ever be pretended whatever be the work whatever be the Intention How is Religion entreated By King and People it is subordinated to Policy Religion is made as Hangings for the House New Calves new Altars new Feasts are erected and instituted with a specious Protestation and Profession that God may be more frequently more fervently served and the People with more ease to attend to frequent the Service To this purpose the Calves are erected at Dan and Bethel The way of serving God before established was too too troublesome the true cause was the King feared if Gods Ordinance were kept and the ten Tribes should go to Ierusalem to keep the solemn Feasts do God service according to his Prescript true Religion preserved would reduce the ten Tribes to their due Obedience to the house of David New devices in State in Government necessitate the Authors and Abettors to new devices in Religion That this work may have no Rubbs the old Priests must be gone the Tribe of Levi must be rooted out Root and Branch It cannot be but the old Levites will cross the new established Government The basest of the people Tinkers Coblers Coachmen Mechanicks c. become Ieroboam's and his new Subjects Priests This done he and they take as much Authority over and above their God as before they did over and above their King A Calf must be their God What is the Success Here is a thorow Reformation in Church and State all is unanimously agreed upon by King and People Consider the Consequents They make to themselves a King to remedy their Grievances the King maketh them cast-aways They banish from them the true Levites they place in their stead the Scum and Dross of the vulgar By him and his Successors all the erroneous Religions amongst their Neighbours are admitted and received any Religion is allowed except the only true one But what Is not the King by this made glorious at home and terrible abroad No no such thing He is made the Reproach of all Kings his Motto for ever is Ieroboam that made Israel sin This is all his Excellency we read of in Scripture this is the Horn of his Exaltation How fare the People free-born people under a lawful and just King of their own setting up a King of themselves wrought and effected at last their own their Kings their States utter Extirpation and of free-born Subjects become the Slaves of strange Kings and Kingdoms This Story duely considered is able to rectifie the Errours of this time if mens minds be not fore-stalled with damnable Prejudice It layeth open to us that Kings when they are Peoples Donatives are not Succesful and discovereth how popular Reformations so much now in this
or State who that hath read Scripture or by Experience hath remarked the Temper and Constitution of the Multitude can believe that Almighty God hath committed such a Trust to them Is there one of a thousand if you trust Iob or Solomon amongst them of understanding Was ever any act done by them but in a tumultuary way And is not their Reformation attended with Fury and Violence Impiety against God sacred Persons sacred Places sacred Things Have not these mis-called Reformations been acted prosecuted with open and crying Injustice not only against innocent but well deserving men Secondly I desire them to shew me in Scripture or in Ecclesiastical and authentick Story any popular Reformations of Church or State happy and successful what they alledge in this last Age are the Instances controverted and till they give instances extra propositum not questioned by their Favour they only beg the Question When God established both Policy and Church after the Deliverance of his People from the House of Bondage he would not do it but by Moses his Sovereign Viceroy King of Ieshurun Deut. 33. Ioshua did the like Ios. 24. The Judges raised by God as they delivered the people from their Slavery so they rectified what was amiss in Church and State What Desolations were there in Church and State in Saul's Reign Both State and Church in the Solemnity and Sincerity of the Worship in the days of David came to their Zenith to their highest Perfection aâ—d Beauty Read you I pray you of any doing in it but by David the King with the Advice and Direction of some Church-men Afterwards when it was corrupted who made the Reformation None but he who was King or Sovereign as Ioash 2 Chron. 24. Ezechias 2 Chron. 29 30 31. Iosias 2 Chron. 34. 35. Ezra Esd. To make Covenants against King or Sovereign pretending or intending if you will so the Reformation of Religion where read you it The first Covenant of a people formed into a politick Body is that you read Exod. 34. Had either the Community the collective or representative Body any other hand in it than to obey as Moses King of Ioshurun commanded Ioshua made another Iosh. 24. consider the place and see if either Tables or Parliament framed it urged it You have another 2 Chron. 15. but it is done and pressed by the royal Authority of Asa the King You have another 2 Chron. 34. but it is the Act of Iosiah the King The like you read of Esdra Esd. 10. If any object the Covenant of Iehojada in the Non-age of Ioash Let them be pleased to remember that this was the High Priests act not as High Priest but as Governour to the King By the same Power he did it by which he dethroned Athaliah armed the Subjects and enthroned Ioash Shew me one Covenant in the book of God which was made without the King except it be a Covenant with Hell and Death or as Iudas covenanted with the Iews to sell and betray his Master Or such a Covenant as the Prophet Hosea speaketh of Chap. 10. vers 3 4. For now they shall say we have no King because we feared not the Lord what then should a King do unto us They have spoken words swearing falsely in making a Covenant thus Iudgment springeth up as Hemlock in the furrows of the field Lastly Reflect upon Popular acts invading Sovereignty and attempting Reformation and you will find them as sinful as little successful as Kings of Popular Election It is recorded in Exodus that Moses the Sovereign of the People of Israel being absent forty dayes in the Mountain with God the People notwithstanding that they had lately sworn a lawful Covenant forced Aaron to make them Gods a molten Calf and forsake the true and living God Exod 11. Here you have a glorious popular Reformation in Religion Take another Reformation in the State and see if it be better The People of Israel living under the happy Government of David by the suggestions of Absalom and his fellow-Traytors possessed a Prejudice of David and his Government that Justice was not done and the State might be better ordered assemble without Warrant of the King a Treason if any thing else if we look on Scripture to Absalom under pretence of a Vow shake off David and acknowledge themselves Subjects to Absalom the Traytor the Usurper 1 Sam. 15. The ten Tribes after the death of Solomon supplicate Reboboam for a Redress of their Grievances not answered to their mind rebel against Rehoboam To strengthen their Kingdom and Policy they set up a new Religion make new Priests of their own Their Religion is the same their Fathers attempted in the Wilderness Exod. 32. and this is the second glorious Reformation of Calvesworship what was the issue I pray you it pursued them to their utter extirpation What can be said oâ— that abominable act of the Iews who to save themselves condemned Christ Are not Communities subject to dangerous Inclinations from private Incitements Are not their Representatives subject to mis-leading Factions and ambitions of private ends They are too much transported with the love of a popular estate who can so over-rule their Understandings as to force themselves to think that Communities or their Representative bodies are not molested or transported with corrupt judgments and affections for private ends To conclude Seeing then to establish the People to be the last and best Remedy to rectifie all Errours in State in Church establisheth so many Absurdities and Paradoxes and hath no warrant by Scripture sound Reason or Experience we can neither believe it nor approve it for to aver and affirm that a Community diffusive collective or representative is a perfect Republick to preserve it self and to right what is amiss abstracting the notion of a Republick from the Sovereign Governour or Governours is a notion not imaginable nor ever used by any who ever wrote or spoke right in Policy It secureth the multitude from Errour both in matters concerning Church and State There is neither Precept nor Practice in Holy Writ to warrant that the multitude have such a superintendent Power above their Sovereign Nay Scripture commandeth us the contrary not to assume this Power or to resist the Higher Powers under no less pain than Damnation This Maxim resolves into infidelity that we trust not God can do it or will do it and into Impatience that we will not wait patiently till he do it Christian obedience and Sobriety teacheth us to reserve the rectifying of the Sovereign and his Errours in Government to God himself We must not serve God against his Will nor without an express Warrant for our doing so By doing as our new Statists warrant us we run into Rebellion and lose a good Conscience in dutiful obedience and humble submission and prejudice God of that glory he expects by our tryals We must not do evil that good may come of it nor upon pretences of good intentions and good effects
of every individual and particular Person singly for our good from God they are sent for our good to us they come If Kings were not we should be as the Fishes of the Sea the greater destroying the smaller or as the Beasts of the Forest the strong destroying the weaker Hab. 1. 14. Saint Chrysostom explaining these words 1 Tim. 2. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where the Apostle saith that we may live a quiet and peaceable life that is to say saith the holy Father Our Security subsists in their Safety It is worthy your notice taking that in the Book of Iudges where it is recorded that all disorder was in the Church and State the reason is so often given and repeated Because in those dayes there was no King in Israel you read it cap. 17. 6. 18. 1. 19. 1. 21. 25. Which words import not simply that there was no Government in those dayes none can be so stupid to imagine it but the Spirit of God intimateth two things to us 1. The one is that they wanted Monarchy the most excellent of Governments 2. The other is that the Government then Aristocratical was so weakened that in Church and State nothing was sound the grossest Enormities did abound and there was no strength in Authority to right it Review the story There was no King this time and consequently there was all mischief this time and therefore a fit time to shake off the old and bring in a new Religion Micah and his old doting Mother will have a Religion of their own an Idol of their own a trencher-Chaplain of their own there is nothing to let it No matter for sacred Orders if a Levite may be had it is better otherwise it skilleth not much The reason is given in the Text In diebus illis c. in those ill dayes there was no King in Israel I wish we were so happy that these Times of ours had no resemblance with that time Well but it is no great matter for Religion if every man can enjoy his Liberty his Honour his Peace live in Safety what is Religion to us If this be Religion these Times want not Professours too too many It will not rest here although every man have liberty or licence rather in Anarchy to have and to profess what Religion he will the same Scripture telleth us where no King is Rapine and Spoil will be where no King is plundering will be good Justice every man's Lands Revenues and Chattels may be fortiter occupantis the stronger may disseize the weaker you shall have the Tribe of Dan to spoil too Nor is this all The men of Gibeah will abuse the Levite's Wife nay do it avowedly abuse her to death it is no great danger to act and do what mischief you will where no King is No man's Soul Wife Life or Goods can be secured where no King is Idols may be erected Murder may be acted and allowed Men robbed of their Goods and all this good Service for the glory of God and the good Cause Consider again how universal these Mischiefs are you have a Micah a private man Gibeah a City Dan a Tribe all out of order and course Religion is defaced Justice is abused Honesty and Civil moral Conversation is shaken off Dishonesty Impiety Uncleanness are avowed Again consider Micah was at Mount Ephraim in the midst of the Land Gibeah was at one end of the Countrey and Dan at the other so that these Mischiefs were not confined to one corner but were spred over all the Land And seeing Scripture repeats it let us repeat it too all these Disorders all these Mischiefs were because in those dayes there was no King in Israel Turn it over again No better way to keep Religion sincere and incorrupt mens Lives and Wives Honour Goods and Possessions in Safety to secure them from Murder Abuse Oppression than by Kings No doubt Priests there were then but either they would not serve at all or then the Priests were over-awed by the disorderly and sinful multitude Hos. 4. or did prescribe their Text give them Commentaries taught them what to say what to preach No doubt in those dayes Judges they had but Justice was not done or if done at pleasure otherwise Judges were posted and signed with a nigrum theta marked to be stoned by a rascally multitude Though Priests be in the Church and Judges be in the Land they are not able to guard the Publick or Private from wrong wherefore it is most consonant with Scripture to say Salus Regis suprema Populi salus the Safety of the King and his Divine Royal Prerogative is the safest Sanctuary for the People Vbi non est gubernator populus corruet so readeth St. Hierom Solomon's words I refer my self in this to the Consciences and Experience of the King's Subjects what hath been the security or comfort they have had in Person State or Goods since the Lords Anointed the best of Kings hath been wronged O if they durst speak O if they would speak The Prophet Hoseah cap. 3. 4. threatneth as the greatest of Judgments in this world That the children of Israel shall be many dayes without a King Listen I pray you to what followeth and without a Prince that is there shall be no Nobility and what more and without a Sacrifice that is there shall be no Religion no true Priest The same Prophet cap. 10. 3. sheweth they shall have no King because they feared not the Lord. The Prophet Ieremy Lam. 11. 9. lamenteth first that their Kings were captives then that they had no Nobility for their Princes were captives too then the Law is no more Justice is gone with the King and then the Prophets find no Vision from the Lord Religion is gone too Will not all this lead us to better thoughts a better esteem of Salus Regis of the Safety of the King the preferring of his Divine Right and Royal Prerogative It may be our Zealots account those Prophets no better than Court Parasites Cyprian or some other ancient Author masked under his Name summeth up shortly but pithily the happiness of People in a King de 12 abusionib Saeculi cap. 9. in fine Est pax populorum tutamen patriae immâ—nitas plebis munimentum gentis cura languorum gaudium hominum temperies aeris serenitas maris terrae foeâ—unditas solatium pauperum c. The words are plain enough they need no interpretation What mean they then who magnifie this Maxim Salus Populi suprema Lex esto Let the Safety of the People be the Supreme Law to call it in a narrow sense abstracting à salute Râ—gis from the safety of the King The transcendent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all Politicks the Paramont Law that giveth Law to all Laws whatsoever that the Law of Prerogative it self is subservient to this Law and were it not conducing thereunto it were not necessary nor expedient Some more superlatively excessive commendations the