Common-wealths be absolute in their own territories immediately under God or subject to one Vicar of Christ c. Whereas neither civil Soveraigns nor Popes can make the Scripture to be Law but all Christians are bound to believe the Scriptures to be the Law of God upon better grounds then civil laws or Ecclesiastical Canon or else they cannot be saved by them CAP. III. Of the third Part And 34. of the Book Of the signification of Spirit Angel Inspiration in the Book of holy Scriptures A Great part of his discourse in this division of his Book is spent in the explication of certain words and terms much used in the Scriptures and as he informs us the reason of this labour is to take away the ambiguity of the words that his inferences from them may be more clear and distinct Yet he hath done it in that manner that he hath perverted the genuine sense of Gods Word and so much as in him was made it more obscure and which is worse hath falsifyed the same These terms have been examined and explained far better by more learned men which I desire the ignorant to consult and advise with least they be seduced from the truth For Mr. Hobbs in this particular work as in others is not to be trusted But let us hear him T. H. Substance and body signifie the same thing and therefore substance incorporeal when they are joyned together destroy one another as if a man should say an incorporeal body G. L. The signification of words whereby we signifie our minds to others is of great consequence and without the distinct knowledge of the several significations of one and the same words we can neither understand the Scriptures nor any other rational Author This signification of words is either proper and Grammatical or Tropical and Rhetorical Of some words we have lost the proper sense and therefore must understand them according as they are most usually taken in the best Authors These words Body and Substance wherewith he begins his Scripture Lexicon are sometimes taken in the same sense to signifie the same thing yet neither properly nor most usually We find some of the antient Divines affirming Angels to be bodies and bodily creatures yet by body they meant substance and yet did acknowledge them to be Spirits And for my part I cannot be perswaded that either Angels or souls rational are pure forms as some nay many Peripateticks do affirm Yet they may be spirits and this nature better expressed by the word Spirits then the word Bodies And the vanity and presumption of this man is very much who would perswade us that incorporeal substance is a contradiction Some have observed that the word Guf in Arabick and Rabbinical Authors signifies 1. A body 2. A person 3. The substance or principal of a thing yet no rational man will hence conclude that body and substance are the same The next word he undertakes to explain is Spirit of which he saith T. H. That the proper signification of Spirit in common speech is either a subtile fluid invisible body or a Ghost or other idol or phantasm of the imagination But for Metaphorical significations there be many c. G. L. One word hath but one proper signification according to the first imposition therefore it s not true that there be three proper significations of this word and as for the improper there may be and are many and the same not only Metaphorical but Metonymical Ironical and Synechdochical Yet he hath observed seven distinct senses of the word Spirit in the Scripture But he fearfully abuseth some of those places alledged by him doth not reach the multitude of the significations of the same in that holy Book much less doth he reduce them into any Grammatical Rhetorical or Natural method If any man will but search the Scriptures he shall find the word Spirit therein to signifie above twenty several things The original Concordances will make this apparent to an intelligent Reader if he look but in the word Ruach which the Septuagint express and turn by 14. several Greek words the first whereof is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spirit which is used by them most frequently by far yet so as that by that one word they signifie many things And this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritus we find in the New Testament about 360. times and in many places is very differently taken The Latine use the word Spiritus in 15. several senses at least By which it doth appear that this part of the Chapter cannot be read by Schollars but with disdain and scorn and especially when he writes T. H. Other significations of Spirt I find nowhere any and where none of these can satisfie the sense of the word in Scripture the place falleth not under humane understanding c as where God is said to be a Spirit G. L. He had said that sometime the word is taken for the disposition or inclination of the mind and then infers these words when he doth not tell us whether these be proper significations usual in common speech as the three former were or they be Metaphorical If he mean that besides the three proper and these two he finds none his observation and so his learning in this kind is very poor But whereas he will not have the place of Scripture where it s used in another sense to fall under our understanding he is absurd For the place where it s said by our Saviour that God is a Spirit may be and is understood though we have no demonstrative or intuitive knowledge of the Deity in it self There is a great difference between a word and the thing signified by the word The word may be perfectly understood though the thing be not and we may know something of the thing by some measure of knowledge though we do not perfectly know it with the most perfect knowledge Christ by these words did teach us something and if he did how can it be said that the place falleth not under our understanding For there is nothing teachable which is not intelligible And by that place we may easily understand that God is a far more perfect and excellent substance or being then any inanimate or irrational body can possibly be The next term to be explained is that of Angel whereof he saith T. H. There is no place in the Old Testament or New from whence we can conclude that Angels are any thing permanent and incorporeal or created or any thing but an extraordinary manifestation of Gods power especially by dream or vision and the Angel Gabriel was nothing but a supernatural phantasm Yet from my feeble understanding was by the plain texts of the New Testament extorted an acknowledgement and belief that there be Angels substantial and permanent G. L. Much to this purpose in this part of the Chapter we may read And in this particular he most wofully perverts several texts of Scripture eludes the plain sense
did add nothing to Gods power which before was absolute and as high as could be yet it did encrease their Obligation That which he afterwards affirms That he finds the Kingdom of God to signifie in most places of Scripture a Kingdom properly so named constituted by the Votes of the people of Israel in a peculiar manner is very false For 1. That Kingdom of Israel was not constituted by the Votes of the people 2. Suppose it had been so constituted and the word Kingdom of God used in many places of Scripture to signifie that government yet in the most places its never found so taken neither can any man find it most frequently taken in that sense For this is remarkable that it hardly ever so signifies in the New Testament where we have the most frequent mention of the Kingdome of God and the Kingdom of Heaven signifying the spiritual not any temporal Kingdome of God Redeemer by Christ T. H. From the Creation besides his natural reign over all he had peculiar subjects whom he commanded by a voyoc c. This Kingdom was continued in Noahs family after this God made a Covenant with Abraham and for memorial ordained the Sacrament of Circumcision And this was called the Old Covenant or Testament c. This Covenant was afterwards renewed by Moses c. G. L. The Kingdom spiritual is two-fold the first by the Power and Law of Creation requiring perfect obedience without promise of any pardon or Redeemer to expiate sin if man made holy should transgress but this government lasted not long because Adam did violate it and so the second Kingdom and government of God Redeemer by promise succeeded This continued from Adam to Noah and was renewed to Abraham with the addition of the solemn Rite of Circumcision and the promise of the Land of Canaan It was continued from Moses to the exhibition of the Messias yet with an especial appropriation of it to the people of Israel All this is clear out of Scripture and received by the general consent of all the Orthodox Christians And here by the way observe 1. That he makes no difference between the Kingdom of strict justice according to the Law of Creation and of that of Mercy in Christ according to the Law of Redemption 2. That with him the Covenant and promise to Abraham was the Old Covenant whereas the Apostle Rom. 4. and Galat. 3. affirms the contrary and makes the promise 430 years before the Law of Moses to be altogether different from the Law 3. That the Old Covenant was that between God and Israel at Mount Sinai and the New was the Gospel as may appear Heb. 8. from vers 6. unto the end 4. This new Covenant of the Gospel was promised 430 years before the Law and the Law could not make the promise of none effect For it continued in force in the time of the Law which was annexed unto it for certain ends till the Son of God should be incarnate 5. This Kingdom is distinct from Gods special government over Israel and Judah which was subordinate unto it till the Word should be made flesh and assume humane nature from the House of David Therefore Mr. Hobbs his discourse of Gods Kingdom over the Jews is confused false and bewrays either his great ignorance or negligence or wickedness But he begins to act the Critick and sits as Judge to pass sentence upon the Translations of those words of Scripture Exod. 19.5 6. Thou shalt be a peculiar treasure above all people and a Kingdom of Priests For so the Hebrew expresseth the priviledge of this people But he curiously distinguisheth between a peculiar treasure above all people and a peculiar people yet these in sense are the same and also between a sacerdotal Kingdom and a Kingdom of Priests or Royal Priesthood yet these do not differ And whereas the words are a promise of God engaging himself upon condition they will obey him he makes them a promise of the peoples giving their consent that God shall be the Lord and Soveraign But to whom was this promise made onely unto the Priest or to the Prince No such matter but to the whole Nation and every several person that shall keep the Covenant and obey God And this promise doth include the Covenant made with Abraham concerning Christ by faith in whom to come this promise was fulfilled to the Saints of old and by faith in him already come not onely to the believing Jews but Gentiles it was made good And so that place of 1 Pet. 2.9 is to be understood Which Text is not to be taken of Kings and civil Magistrates but all Christians truly such indeed For Christ by one offering hath perfected or consecrated the sanctified for ever Heb. 10.14 And washing us in his blood hath made us Kings and Priests to God his Father Rev. 1.5 6. from that one place of Exod. 19.5 6. misinterpreted by two others one of Paul to Titus 2.14 the other of 1 Pet. 2.9 and all mis-applyed He concludes that the Kingdom of God is a civil government over the Israelites wherein God was King and the high Priest after Moses his death was his sole Viceroy or Lieutenant After all this done in this manner he endeavours to make his opinion good from two places Historical three Prophetical out of the old Testament and two others out of the New Testament The two first are properly to be understood of the special government of God over Israel The three Prophetical places are meant of the spiritual Kingdom of Christ and so are the two last which are most palpably abused For the first of them relates the Angels words unto the blessed Virgin signifying that her son Jesus Christ should sit on the Throne of David and should reign over the house of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdome there should be no end Luke 1.32 33. Which is meant directly of his Spiritual Heavenly and Eternal Kingdom whereof the Kingdom of David was a Type For Christ never reigned as a temporal King over Israel according to the flesh The second place is Matth. 6.10 Where our Saviour amongst other things directs his Disciples to pray Thy Kingdom come By which Kingdom is meant the Reign of Christ Incarnate and exalted at the Right hand of God which was then to come but now hath continued 1600 years and upward and yet all Christians pray for the continuance encrease and especially the consummation of the same when death the last enemy shall be destroyed and God shall be all in all and reign most perfectly without any enemy without any opposition Yet such is his intolerable boldness that from these places thus abused he confidently concludes that the Kingdom of God is a civil government managed by the Christian Civil Soveraigns of the world That Holy is the same with Publick per accidens sometimes is true But every thing that is holy is not publick nor every thing that is publick holy Therefore his
interpretation of the word Holy is not usual and at all times very Katachrestical For he can instance in no place where it s properly so taken except it be wrested from the intended sense The meaning of the words Sacred and Sacraments are known to children out of ordinary Catechisms and therefore I forbear any further discourse concerning them CAP. V. Of the third part the 36. of the Book Of the word of God and of Prophets T. H. THe word of God or man may be understood sometimes of the speaker sometimes of the subject as the book of Chronicles hath the Title Verba Dierum for the acts done in such times So in the Scriptures many times the word of God is not that which is spoken by God but concerning God c. G. L. This is the substance though not the very words of the Author in the beginning of this Chapter yet we may observe in Scripture according to the Heb e. v and the Greek That Dabar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Raema signifie things as well as words and that the word of God is either verbum Dei or verbum de Deo or both or verbum quod est Deus There is an usual distinction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an inward or outward word An outward word whereby we speak to others or an inward word whereby we speak unto our selves This inward word is either of things or acts out of our selves or of acts or operations in our selves or our own being and essence Now the word of God which is God is his word in himself of himself And this term Word signifying the eternal Son of God and the Messias is taken out of the Chaldee Paraphrast as many expressions of the New Testament are And some learned men have observed that the Chaldee Paraphrast took that term from the Prophet Esay 40.8 The word of our God shall stand for ever as also the Title of Messias from Daniel 9.25 Of this word of God it s written John 1.1 In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and ver 14. The word was made flesh Yet if we may believe Mr. Hobbs this word is the purpose of God and then the sense is the purpose of God is God and the purpose of God was made flesh and the purpose of God dwelt amongst us and we saw the glory of this purpose as of the onely begotten Son of God This is his cursed and blasphemous gloss upon these blessed Texts of Scripture whereupon depends so much our faith and eternal salvation If any man would give an accurate account of the several significations of the word of God as it s used in Scripture he ought diligently to observe how oft it s used in Scripture consider the Context and drift of those places where it s read examine the originals and find out first the Proper signification secondly the Tropical and also distinguish them The reason why we say the Scripture is the word of God written is 1. Because it was revealed by God and the writers thereof were infallibly directed And this is the most proper signification yet secondly by a Metonymie it s so called because it principally speaks of God and he is the subject of it to which all particulars may be some ways referred or reduced But let no man that loves the truth hearken unto this man least he be seduced For with some truths he mixeth abominable Errours T. H. The name of Prophet in Scripture signifies sometimes a Prolocutor sometimes a Predictor c. G. L. In the rest of this Chapter he informs us 1. Of the several senses and significations of the word Prophet 2. Of the several distinct kinds of them 3. Of Rules how to try Prophets And his end is to make a civil soveraign Christian the supreme and infallible Judge Prophets in Scripture are true or false for false Prophets have the name True are extraordinary ordinary Extraordinary are such as either were Penmen of the Scripture or such only as whose Prophesies are related in Scripture These Prophets he divides into supreme and subordinate Yet the Prophets extraordinary as such can admit of no such distinctions Amongst the supreme he reckons Moses the high Priests Kings Yet the high Priests were neither supreme nor Prophets except very rarely That God did make use of the Priest with the Vrim and Thummim in giving his answers did not make the Priest a Prophet in proper sense That David and Solomon were Prophets seems peculiar to them That some of the Kings also called for the Priest to consult with God according to the ordinary way Instituted by God who promised to give answer so as he did to no people in the world it could neither make Kings or Priests supreme Neither did Solomon take the Priesthood from Abiathar but for his treason suspended him ab offi io That the Christian Soveraign should now be the supreme Prophet in whose Judgement all their subjects must acquiesce is to be derided and rejected as a thing which neither can be proved or approved CAP. VI. Of the third part The 37. of the Book Of Miracles SOmething he hath taught his Reader that had not learned so much before concerning the nature and end of Miracles And in this particular he is more Orthodox then in other points That Miracles are immediate works of God we believe and such as wherein he doth not make use of natural causes for to do them Neither can any created cause reach them These are not ordinary works of God neither are they usually done but seldom and upon some special occasion and for some special end This end in general is the same with that of all his works and that is the manifestation of his glory yet in a more special manner to awaken mens sleepy minds and stir up attention to perswade and confirm the truth of those Doctrines which are above the reach of reason by this perswasion to work faith and conversion These Miracles are works either of judgement or mercy and do really differ and far excell all enchantments strange works done by natural causes delusions of the Devil and such like which seem to be Miracles and are not any such thing And they are never done to confirm an errour or perswade the doing of evil For his Almighty power is the immediate cause of them and is exercised according to the counsel of his will and subservient alwaies and only to his truth and glory CAP. VII Of the third Part. And the 38. of the Book Concerning eternal life hell salvation the world to come and redemption THAT there is eternal life we believe as also that it is an excellent glorious blessed estate and the same to be enjoyed by certain persons c. in some certain place and that there shall be no end either of the persons or estate or the enjoyment we are fully perswaded
because God hath said it That the place is not this earth we have some reason to think because our Saviour ascended into heaven and whilest he was on earth made intercession for us saying Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am John 17.14 And to comfort the hearts of his Disciples sad and troubled because he said he must leave them he useth these words In my Fathers house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am there ye may be also John 14.23 If eternal life shall be enjoyed on earth why need Christ ascend to heaven there to prepare a place for us and when he shall return from thence why will he not stay here and leave us on the earth and never trouble himself with any translation of us into any other place where he shall ever abide and we be ever with him Hell in Scripture and as we understand God in that Book to teach us is an estate directly contrary to eternal life And we believe that it is a most miserable condition of such as shall suffer eternal punishments and that in some certain place and our chiefest imployment in this life is to use all means whereby we may be freed from that condition and enjoy the contrary Concerning the particular ubi and distinct place we do not as we need not much trouble our selves To prove that both eternal rewards are to be enjoyed and eternal torments to be suffered perpetually on earth he doth most wofully wrest and abuse several places of Gods Book and with so little solidity of judgement that children may answer him And because this eternal life is prepared by God for such as are by reason of their sin in danger of hell and eternal death therefore in Scripture it s sometime called salvation and also redemption which is a freedom and deliverance from all the evil consequents and effects of sin one and the principal whereof is to be deprived of eternal bliss which consists in full communion with our God Yet the consummation of both these conditions is reserved by God for the world to come which will follow the universal resurrection The times of the Gospel in respect of the Law may be called the world to come and so some understand the words of the Apostle to the Hebrews 2.5 where we read that God hath not unto Angels subjected the world to come c. This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sometimes it s taken for the time following the resurrection and final judgement as Mark 10.39 Luke 18.30 This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Redemption is taken in another sense for the expiation of sin upon satisfaction made by Christ unto his heavenly Father as supreme Judge who accepted his death as a sufficient penalty to avert his wrath and procure his mercy for all such as should believe on him In this Chapter he hath imposed upon many places of Scripture a sense never intended and this may be evident to any that can and will examine the places according to the originals and the context And he drives at this to deprive Christ of his regal power which at the right hand of God he now doth exercise and to invest civil powers with it till such time as he hath brought Christ from heaven that he may here on earth begin his personal raign Sr. Thomas Mores Vtopia is somewhat rational this discourse is void of reason and so much the more unsufferable as the matter is so sublime and this sacred Book of God so much profaned by him CAP. VIII Of the third Part And the 39. of the Book Of the significations of the word Church in Scripture IN the former Chapter he turned heaven and hell into the earth and in this he hath transformed the Church which is a spiritual politie into a civil State and that will easily appear from his definition of this excellent and divine Society T. H. A Church is a company of men professing Christian Religion united in the person of one Soveraign at whose command they ought to assemble and without whose authority they ought not to assemble G. L. Many are the significations of the word Ecclesia in the Scriptures of the New Testament as it is applyed to Christians which he hath in part yet not fully observed Yet amongst them all from the beginning to the end of the New Testament its never found to be taken in this sense for as he hath not so he cannot alledge one place where it so signifies This definition is such as never any gave before you can read it in no Author neither can you prove it out of Scripture Only the first words seem to have something of a description but it s no perfect explication of the quiddity and nature of the Church Christian For that is a society or community of persons who believe in Jesus Christ and subject themselves unto him as their Lord and King A bare profession will not make a man a subject of this spiritual Kingdom A sincere profession of that faith which is seated and rooted in the heart comes up higher and is more fit to express the being of a Member of this Church This Church as Catholick or Universal subject unto Christ is like a similar body and therefore the parts may bear the name of the whole as the Church of Corinth the Church of Ephesus and the Church in such an house Some part of this Church is under a form of discipline to be exercised in foro exteriori as the School-men and Casuists use to speak some parts are not so happy For this is not of the Essence of a Church It s not of the being though it tends to the well-being of the same Some of these are subject unto a civil Soveraign who is a Christian some are not For as a Christian State may have Heathen or Mahumetan subjects so Christians may be under the civil power of an Heathen or Mahumetan Prince Both these therefore to be under a form of discipline and subject to a Christian civil power are but accidental and these accidents are separable and often actually separated and therefore I know no reason why they should be part of a perfect desiâ—â—tion or so much as mentioned in it This may be sufficient for to discover the vanity of the man and the absurdity of the definition Yet notwithstanding his definition be faulty I for my part do grant that Jus religionis ordinandae doth belong to all Civil Governors and powers But with limitation 1. That no Soveraign hath power to order maintain and promote any Religion but that which is instituted from heaven 2. That they must not intermeddle with it for to order it further then its ordinable by the sword which cannot reach Religion and
sin of man and merited for himself eternal power and glory and for us eternal life and all effectual means for the certain attainment thereof All the rest of his acts performed by him as King Priest and Prophet tended unto the application of his sacrifice that we by faith might be partakers of the benefit thereof This is the sum of that Doctrine of Redemption delivered clearly and more fully in several places of the Scripture especially of the New Testament Yet this Innovatour hath obscured the same several ways and determines the Kingdom of Christ to begin when the world doth end because Christ said to Pilate My Kingdom is not of this world Joh. 18.36 From whence he concludes T. H. That the Kingdom of Christ is not to begin before the general Resurrection G. L. This is a gross mistake and mis-interpretation of a place which is clear in it self For by his gloss he makes the Scripture to contradict it self Christ was then Candidatus imperii and was King when he gave this answer unto Pilate yet he began to reign and exercise his Royal power more eminently when he was set at the Right hand of the Father yet his Kingdom was not of this world that is not civil but spiritual and as Austin upon the place It was Hic non hinc in the world not of the world in the world yet not worldly but divine and far more excellent then the Kingdoms of the world This is the genuine sense of the words That Christ doth reign now and hath reigned since his ascension and sitting at the right hand of God is evident Before his Ascension he lets his Apostles know that all power in heaven and earth was given him and according unto and by vertue of that power he gave Commission to his Apostles to teach and baptize and perswade men to the obedience of his commands Mat. 28.18 19 20. He that hath an universal power in heaven and earth who makes officers and gives them power who makes Laws Institutes Sacraments and sends down the Holy Ghost must needs reign and his Kingdom is begun already We read that Christ must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death And when all things shall be subdued unto him then shall also the Son of man be subject unto him that put all things under him that God may be all in all 1 Cor. 15.25 26 28. Where first from Psal 110.1 The Apostle tels us That Christs Kingdom did Commence at the time of Christs sitting at the right hand of God 2. That with him to sit at the right hand of God is to reign 3. That he must reign by Word Sacraments Spirit Ministry till all enemies whereof death is the last be destroyed 4. That when death is destroyed he shall deliver up his Commission and kingdom in respect of this administration by Ordinances 5. That at the Resurrection this manner of reign shall end when Mr. Hobbs saith it shall begin 6. That then God shall be all in all that is reign perfectly in his Saints without any enemy without opposition without Ordinances and more immediately Before that time indeed he will not proceed to the final and universal sentence and execution of the same Yet there are many acts of government besides judgement and many acts of judgement be sides those of the general Assizes and last Sessions To make Laws reduce men to subjection appoint Officers pass sentence and execute the same in the very souls of men are acts of one that reigns as likewise to subdue enemies Sin Satan and the world to protect the Church And in this manner Christ hath reigned since his Ascension And many Millions do adore him subject themselves unto him and obey him to this day Yet with this man Christ doth not yet reign Let him read Psalm 2. throughout It began to be fulfilled upon his Resurrection and Ascension as appears out of the Acts of the Apostles and their Epistles And if he or any other shall deny the present reign of Christ they must expect with his Iron Scepter to be dasht in pieces like a Potters Vessel CAP XI Of the third Part the 42. of the Book Of Ecclesiastical Power AFter he had enthroned Civil Soveraigns cap. 40. Dethroned Christ in the former Chapter In this he takes away all power from the Church and invests the Christian civil powers with it And herein it may be a question whether his ignorance or presumption is the greater for he is highly guilty of both He that will determine the controversie concerning the power of the Church must distinguist the universal power of God the spiritual power of Christ incarnate and exalted to the Throne of glory and the power deligated from Christ unto the Church universal here on earth as subject unto Christ as Lord and Monarch and also that which every particular Independent association of Christians is trusted withal for to preserve the Society and the Ordinances of God from profanation This he hath not done and therefore little or rather nothing can be expected from him This last power of particular Churches is called the power of the keys in foro exteriori in the particular government of their several combinations for there is no supreme universal Independent judicatory on earth to which all Churches in the world are bound to appeal in this outward visible administration General Counsels can be no such thing Neither was there ever any Oecumenical Synod in proper sense since the Gospel was preached to all Nations This power of outward Discipline is challenged by the Pope by the Clergy by the people Christian and by the States civil and Soveraigns of the world And in this last party is the Author deeply engaged but upon what reason I know not except he intends to side with the strongest for such are they which bear the sword The power of ordaining Ministers preaching the Word administring the Sacraments was in the universal Church since the time of the Apostles And in every particular Church reduced to a form of outward discipline there is a power of making Canons of jurisdiction of making Officers so far as shall conduce unto the better ordination of Ministers the preservation of the purity of Doctrine and the right administration of the Sacraments least they be profaned and Christ offended by the admission of ignorant scandalous and unworthy persons There is a power also of disposing and dispensing of those goods which are given to the Church for the maintenance of Christian Religion Civil Christian States may and ought to make civil Laws to confirm the just Canons and jurisdictions of the Church And those Laws may be a fence unto it against these who shall oppose or persecute Yet when all this is done those Laws are but Civil though the object of them be Ecclesiastical matters This might suffice for to confute and make void the main body and break in pieces
of 600. years was alone called Soveraign had the title of Majesty from every one of his subjects and was unquestionably taken by them for their King was notwithstanding never considered as their Representative that name without contradiction passing for the title of those men which at his command were sent up by the people to carry their petitions and give him if he permitted their advice G. L. This man deserves to be a perpetual slave his intention is to make men believe that the Kings of England were absolute Monarchs their subjects slaves without propriety of goods or liberty of person the Parliaments of England meerly nothing but shadows and the members thereof but so many carriers of letters and petitions between home and the Court What he means by subordinate Representatives I know not I think his intention is to oppose those who affirmed King Peers and Commons to be co-ordinate not subordinate powers and all of them joyntly to make up one supreme Subordinate Representatives or powers he may safely and must grant in all States The word Representative he either doth not understand or if he do he intolerably abuseth his unwary and unlearned Reader by that term A Representative in the Civil Law called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is one who by his presence supplies the place of another that is absent for some certain end as to act that which another should do but in his own person doth not yet with the consent of the person represented so far as that the thing is judged to be done by him And in this sense the person representing is Judged to be one with the person represented by fiction of Law And one may represent another as a Superiour who may represent another in any act so far as that other is in his power or as an inferiour by a power derived from his superiour or as an equal by consent so far as the person will undertake to act for him In all these representations the Representeé and the Representer are judged one person In a free-State a Parliament is a Representative of the whole body of the people this we call a general Representative The reason of this representation is because the whole body of a people cannot well act personally What kind of Representative the Parliament of England was is hard to know except we knew certainly the first institution which by tract of time and many abuses of that excellent Assembly is now unknown It was certainly trusted with the highest acts of Legislation Judgement Execution The whole body consisted of several orders and ranks of men as of King Peers Commons the Clergy Whether they might meddle with the constitution or no is not so clear it s conceived they could not alter it though they might declare it what it was Their power was great without all doubt yet not so great but that it was bounded and a later Parliament might alter and reform what a former had established which argues That the 40. Counties and the whole body of the people whence all Parliaments have their original and being as they are Parliaments were above them In this great assembly the Knights and Burgesses did represent the Connties and the Burroughs the Convocation the whole body of the Clergy the Peers by antient tenure their Families Vassals and Dependants But whom the King should represent is hard to determine If the Law did consider him as an infant and this according to the constitution he could represent no other person or persons And if this be so then there is plain reason why he never should have the title of Representative yet evident reason there is why the rest should be called a Representative and the people are not Representers as he fondly imagines but the persons represented It s affirmed by the Author 1. That our Government is a Monarchy 2. The King had the Soveraignty from a descent of 600. years 3. Was alone called Soveraign 4. Had the title of Majesty from every one of his Subjects 5. Was unquestionably taken by them for their King 1. Our Government is called a Monarchy is true and he himself in this Chapter confesseth that Elective limited Kings are called Monarchs and their Kingdoms Monarchies yet he saith they are not so Again Monarchy is Regal over free-men Despotical over slaves and servants not by a Legal but an Arbitrary power If he say its Regal then the King is no absolute Monarch as he would have him to be If he say its Despotical its false and we know it so to be false And the Doctrine of Dr. Sibthorp and Mannering or Martin affirming this was condemned by a whole Parliament and that by men who have been as great Zealots for the King in these civil wars as any other 2. The King of England had Soveraignty by a descent of 600. years But first what doth he mean by Soveraignty If he understand an absolute supreme power it s not true the Kings of England have no such thing It s true that many of them did challenge so much power as they could acquire and keep and as their sword was longer or shorter so their power in possession was more or less Yet by the constitution of Law and the best custom it was alwaies determined within certain bounds Secondly Whence will he commence the date of 600. years and how will he derive the Soveraignty If from the Conqueror the date of so many years is not yet expired the Succession is interrupted if not cut off by the sword upon a civil war If he derive this power from the Conqueror as Conqueror all free English men will deny it the Kings themselves durst not challenge it upon those terms and by consent they never had it Therefore the Soveraignty the time of the commencement the title it self doth vanish He saith something proves nothing that he was called Soveraign doth neither prove that he was really such nor that he was absolute and that by his own confession 3. The King had the title of Majesty from every one of his subjects The title or name doth not prove the thing for we know very well that the title is constantly given to divers Princes who have not the thing no more then our Kings had the Kingdom of France though they had the title of the Kings of France France was so civil as to grant the title and the word but never part with the thing The Dukes of Venice as Contarene tells us had insignia sed non potestatem regis Majestas is sometimes maxima dignitas and this no subject denyed to the King He had his Scepter and his Throne his Robe and Diadem but all these are far short of supreme power Majestas is Personalis aut Realis Real he had not Personal he might have Yet personal Majesty might be his either in respect of dignity as it was or in respect of power and that also two waies either in respect of the whole power and all the