equal and he tries the heart verse 2 3. But what signifies this to prove that Kings are accountable to none but God for Male Government Another abused place of Scripture is Psalm 51. 4. Against thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest That Men of the same temper and complexion with Leviathan should urge places of Scripture and make false glosses upon them I wonder not at all but that the Pulpits should Chime and Ring to the same Tune I am in an amaze Do they believe themselves Or have they forgot their Pater Noster Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us If one Man sin against another the Judge shall judge him but if they sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him 1 Sam. 2. 25. So 1 Cor. 8. 12. when ye sin against the Brethren to commit Murder Adultry c. and yet sin against God only happily may be good Doctrine according to the Alcoran or â—â—viathan but certainly can have no place in Scripture no not in this Psalm which is a Psalm of David's deep repentance confessing his sins to God and begging his pardon David's heart having smote him for these his sins against God and Uriah did in the bitterness and anguish of his Soul prostrate make his court to God his Judge and besought him more especially who only trieth the hearts and reins acknowledging his sins and begging his pardon who only had power of Soul and Body of Life and Death eternal and so only could acquit or punish eternally and to create in him a new heart and to renew a right spirit within him which no mortal had the like and therefore by only in this place can be meant no other but thee chiefly thee especially according to Matth. 10. Luke 12. He did not fear them which had power to kill the Body only but not able to kill the Soul but did fear him which after he had killed the Body had power to cast into hell For David had already condemned himself to death before he knew himself to be the Man mentioned in Nathan's Parable 2 Sam. 12. 5. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the Man and he said to Nathan as the Lord liveth the man that hath done this thing shall surely die Have they not read what Jonathan said to Saul Let not the King sin against his servant against David because he hath not sinned against thee 1 Sam. 19. 4. did Saul a King sin against David a private person and his Subject in seeking his innocent Blood And shall David when King covet his Neighbour Uriah 's Wife and seek the innocent Blood of Uriah himself and yet not sin against Uriah Quis discrevit Who hath made the difference who exempted him Falsest Teachers that would be esteemed Men of God Priests of the most high and yet teach Doctrines more becoming Priests of Baal Men of Belial Did not David sin against the Tenth Commandment and against his Neighbour also when he coveted his Neighbours Wife and purchased her adulterous embraces at the rate of innocent Blood may they not as well plead the like plea and justifie Ahab sinning against God only and not against Naboth when he purchased his Vineyard at the price of his innocent Blood 1 King. 21. 19. 2 King. 9. 33. 36. If David had Power to shed the innocent Blood of Uriah and debauch Bathsheba uncontrolably by Man it is either from God or not from God if it be from God it must be a Power against the Six and Seventh Commandments which God gave to David and not to any Subjects and so David lyed when he confessed it a sin which was none and consequently needed no pardon and so consequently Kings because Kings are under no Obligation of Duties of Mercy Truth Justice c. to their Subjects which is contrary to all Scripture Deut. 1. 15 20. 2 Chron. 19. 6 7. Rom. 13. 3. 4. If this Power be from God as it is unrestrainable and unquestionable by the Subject it cannot be from God at all for God cannot give a Power to do ill that is unpunishable by Men and not give that Power to do ill for in this very thing that God giveth to David a Power to kill and commit Adultery with this respect that it shall be punishable by God only and not by Men God must give it as a sinful Power to do ill i. e. a Power of Dispensation to sin and so not to be punished by either God or Man which is contrary to the whole design and purport of the Scriptures If such a Power as is not restrainable by Man be from God permissivè as in Devils and Men then it is no Regal Power nor any Ordinance of God and then to resist such Power is not to resist the Ordinance of God. For Priests to preach Kings to be Nursing-fathers of the People and to be custodes utriusque tabulae as indeed they ought to be and yet to preach that if Kings do break the Commandments yet they sin against God only and are accountable to God only is Divinity becomming only Micha's Priests that for a little better reward and hope of preferment will with gladness of heart take Ephod take Teraphim take graven Images preach any thing swallow down theft and idolatry together pervert any Text though thereby whole Nations are rob'd and despoiled of their Laws Liberties and Religion Falsest Prophets that thus flatter profaneness betraying God's truth and smothering and dissembling the strictness and purity of his ways striking at sin with the Scabboard and not with the Sword extenuating evil palliating Vice daubing with untempered Morter and by divining Lyes to seduce Kings and Princes If Kings can do no wrong to their People and are accountable to God only what made Samuel to make publick proclamation Behold here I am witness against me before the Lord and before his anointed Whose Ox have I taken or whose Ass have I taken or whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind my Eyes therewith and I will restore it to you 1 Sam. 12. 3. So Lewis IX for his great Piety and Devotion sirnamed the Saint the French King being fully satisfied in his Conscience that Sovereigns are responsible by Laws both divine and human for all the miscarriages of themselves and of their subordinate Ministers caused to be publish'd through all his Kingdom That whoever had suffered any wrong or damage by him or by any belonging to him should make it known and he would give them satisfaction out of his own Estate which was punctually performed accordingly To me 't is a wonder and I am in an amaze how any Man can be so biassed or corrupted in Judgment except possessed with an evil Spirit as to draw such Conclusions from such Premisses Can any thing be
shall be upon the faithful of the Land that they may dwell with me he that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight c. Psal 101. 4 6 7. In Nature it self are found impressions of this Ordinance In Heaven amongst Angels are Principalities and Thrones Eph. 1. 21. and Michael the Archangel Jude 9. Amongst the Sphaers there is a primum Mobile one first moveable Commander of all the inferiour Orbs with his Motion Amongst Stars there are greater and lesser Lights â—â—â—ers amongst the rest the sun to rule by day and the Moon and Stars by night Nay so absolutely necessary is Government that it reaches even to Hell. Devils themselvet have their Principalities Mat. 25. 41. not only over other Creatures but respectively among themselves therefore it is said the Devil and his Angels and Belzebub the Prince of Devils Mat. 12. 24. To say nothing of Brutes amongst which yet Philosophers have observed a perfect form of Regiment and Polity among Bees a Commonwealth Locusts go out by Bands c. And see we not plainly that Obedience of Creatures unto the Law of Nature is the stay of the whole World. In man if nothing else evince it methinks that awful submission to Regiment which natural Conscience suggests to Savages sufficiently proves it As far as that Principle is heard of that there is a King of Kings and Lord of Lords wherever it is known that there is a God that judgeth the Earth it is known also and received that there are Nominal Gods on Earth with reverence next to the Supreme Majesty to be adored But above all natural Conscience amongst other common Notions hath received the impression of this natural Principle how else comes it to pass that a few extravagant Natures and profligated Consciences only excepted such awful Submission is found in all to Men of our own Mould Yet in our Apprehension clad with such venerable Majesty that the guilty scarce behold them without trembling and the Guiltless yield willing reverence to their Persons so every way God hath pleased to make known his Ordinance for Government Magistracy and Laws CHAP. II. Shews the ultimate and final end of all Government Shews the Laws of God and Nature to be the best Guides and that Covenants made between King and People are to be kept both by King and People and the breach thereof alike Penal to King and People and whoever breaks either Laws or Covenants they are Rebels to the Laws and that the People are still the Lords People HAving shewed the absolute necessity of Government it is requisite also to declare the ultimate and final end of all Governments which by confession of all is primarily and especially the Declaration of the infinite Wisdom Goodness and Glory of God propagation of the Gospel and the good of the Governed for whose good all things were created Unto these two all kinds of Governments how variously soever framed according to the different Modes Wisdoms and Understandings of Men and Nations ought to be conformable Let Christ be our great Exemplar who denyed himself his own natural will and life and bestowed himself on us that we likewise might not seek every man his own but every man the good of another imploying our selves on the benefit and service of Church and State and so grow and be built up together in love which is the Consummation and perfecting as of all Saints so of all Governments For as God who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords the only Monarch of the World and whose understanding is infinite in the Government and Administration of this inferiour World designed his own Glory together with the Good and Salvation of the whole Race of Mankind so he expects submission and perfect obedience unto his Laws Statutes and Judgments from all Kings Princes and Governours as his Ministers Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the Earth and serve the Lord with fear in all your Administrations according to the purport of his Laws and for the ends designed lest the sad Fate of Solomon betide you 1 King. 11. 11. Because thou hast not kept my Covenants and my Statutes which I have commanded thee I will surely rend thy Kingdom from thee and will give it to thy servant Now without all peradventure the Law of Nature is the best and most equal Law and most fit to be imitated which being strictly observed nothing can be wanting to any body and what every one hath is his own for ever For as those who preside over Celestial Bodies are blessed and just minds and Spirits and every one doth most justly govern his own Body so Nature being derived from those Superiour just Souls keepeth the most just and equal order in all her actings which she makes known to all the World. Now the nearer all human Laws do come to the Laws of God and Nature the more certain and the more glorious must their way of living be who live and are governed by such Laws Unto these Laws had those ancient Law-givers respect which eterniz'd their Names and Memories famous to all succeeding Ages Above the rest are celebrated the Laws of Lacedaemon by Licurgus of Athens by Solon of the Locrenses a Town in Italy by Zalencus of the Thurii a City in Greece by Garondas of the Getae a People of Scythia in Europe by Zamolxis a Scholar of Pythagoras and Divine Plato commends the Laws of Crete Isocrates of the Carthaginians but above all the Roman Laws by the Judgment of Polybiis do excel These Laws of these Law-givers tho not the self-same but differing one from the other yet they all tend to one and the same end the Peace Happiness and welfare of the several Nations and People tho they did not march all in one and the same Road and Path thereunto The first Law givers had always the Laws of Nature in which there 's nothing unequal to be found before their Eyes to imitate and conform to them as near as they could but when they made Judicial Laws as they were not all under one Climate nor suckt the same Air so they had not all the same Reason the same Judgment which made the difference in their Laws but yet they all tended to the good and happiness of the People and Nations for whom they were made All right being either from the Law of Nature which is the Law of God or from Custom or from Human Laws The right of Nature always stands on its own Legs by its self without the assistance of Custom or of other Laws and always points and leads to happy life and condition which every Man Society and Nation might enjoy if they would but follow her Dictates and take her for their Guide and Rule to walk by But above all Laws no Laws like to those of the Almighty who is the Lord alone of all the Kingdoms of the Earth for they had
them when limited to Kings but must consider them as things meerly Divine the greatest tye in the World above all human Laws Consent and Comprehension then all Nations are equally Slaves and born to no more Liberty than the Subjects of Rex Asinerum whose Wooden Shoes and Canvas Breeches proclaim what a blessedness it is to be born under a meer divine Prerogative But the surest Basis of all right Government is common consent and the most just and honourable End is common good and not such a divine Prerogative as none can understand nor possible for any Mortal to prove God is not more the Author of Regal then of Democratical Aristocratical or any other Form of Government or Power nor more the Author of Supreme than of Subordinate Powers Subordinate Magistrates have their Power as much from God as Kings have and as responsible to God only as they and yet their Powers are not beyond human reprimand and determination Laws are not now to be understood to be any special Ordinances immediately sent from Heaven as of old by the Ministry of Angels or Prophets they now can be nothing else amongst Christians but the Pactions and Agreements of such and such Politick Societies and Power nay the very Essence of Power is so Originally inherent in the People that they cannot justly without injury to God and Natures Law devest themselves wholly of it and it is nothing else but the Might and Vertue which such or such a Society of Men contains in it self and when by such and such Laws of Common consent and Agreement it is derived and deligated into such and such Hands God confirms that Law and so Man is the free natural and voluntary Author the Law is the Instrument and God is the Establisher of both All other Powers not derived from common consent of the People are but Sophisticate and Adulterate in all Princes and they that imbrace such Powers imbrace a Cloud instead of a Juno The Fountain or Efficient Cause of Power is most certainly in the Governed And from hence the inferrence is just That Kings though singulis majores yet are universis minores for if the People be the true efficient cause of Power as undeniably they are its a Rule both in Nature and Politicks quicquid efficit tale est magis tale Hence it 's manifest that as the Governed are the efficient cause so they and their happy estate and condition are the final end of all Governments And it were strange nay monstrous that in conferring and deligating their own Power and Vertue to this or that Man or to these or those Persons to command in Chief for Order and Regulation sake only should aim at any thing but at their own Good and Happiness both in the first and last place Or to express it in another Dialect the Publick Power and Authority of all Societies is above every individual contained in the same Societies of what quality soever Kings or not Kings All Imperial and Royal Dignities are instituted by the Commonwealth to preserve it self and not erected to preserve Royal Dignity otherwise or farther than it conduces to the Honour Safety and Happiness of the Commonwealth And that which is the End is far more honourable and valuable both in Nature and Polity than that which is the Means which leads us to the transcendent Law of Salus Populi to which all Imperial and Prerogative Laws are justly subservient and were they not conducing to those ends they were neither necessary nor yet expedient Plea of Force or Conquest cannot acquit Princes of that which is due to the People who are the Authors and Ends of all just Power for meer force ought not to alter Laws of Nature or frustrate the tenor of Laws of God or Man and if it could yet there were more reason why the People might justifie force to re-gain their undeniable Rights and Franchises than the Imperialists might to subvert the same It being unnatural that any Nation by it's own inherent and natural Virtue and Prowess should meerly establish Tyranny and countenance Slavery and to make that which is most Excellent subservient to that which is most Vile or to advance one from among themselves to the Throne that they themselves might be brought under Axes and Harrows Even Heathen Princes that have been Absolute have acknowledged themselves Subject and Servants to the Publick and born for that service as being well satisfied Populi rem esse non suam No Captain-General hath such unlimited and uncircumscribed Power but that if he should turn his Cannon upon his Soldiers they were ipso facto absolved of all Oaths of Allegiance and bound by a higher Duty both to God and Nature to preserve themselves by Resistance and Defence such tacite and implicite Trusts and Reservations are in all Publick Governments though of the most Absolute Nature and there must be these necessary conditions viz. that the Governed be Safe Free and Happy There is in all Laws a literal and an equitable sense No Government did ever give Power to their Kings for their woe but for their happiness If by the Letter of the Law Kings mis-improve their Power against the equity thereof then they give liberty to the commanded to refuse Obedience to the Letter for the Law taking abstract from its Original Reason End and Equity becomes a Shadow without a Substance a Body without a Soul which distinction if not allowed the very end of all Laws which is to minister impartial Justice indifferently to every Man and to give bounds and limits to the exorbitant wills of Princes and Governors will be disappointed Salus Populi being the Suprema Lex Execution of Laws according to their Equity and Reason is the Spirit that gives life to Authority the Letter kills Equity is so naturally implied in all Laws that are not meerly imperial from the Analogie that all bodies Politick hold with the natural whence all Government and Governors borrow a proportionable respect except we deem Obedience binds Men to cut their own Throats or their Neighbours For Kingdoms must not be without means to preserve themselves which always is intrusted in some certain hand with a Power to provide in an orderly way for the good and safety of the whole All the Priviledges Prerogatives and Authorities conferred on Kings by any People are but as so many Trusts reposed in them to improve for the good and glory of King and Kingdom and not to abuse or use at their own pleasure what ever the exegency of the Kingdom should be If that were so all our Laws would signifie little and therefore if Kings Govern not according to Equity and the Trusts reposed in them that Nation or it's Representatives may demand an Account and Redress For Kingdoms by no Law of God or Nature are to be left without a power and means to preserve themselves The Charter of Nature entitles all Subjects of all Countries to safety and freedom by its Supreme Law. If
God had promised to make of him a great Nation though he should destroy them yet he besought God so earnestly that if he would not forgive their sin that he would blot him out of the Beâ—k of Life If Magistrates now adays had the like zeal for the good of the Bodies and Souls of their People how happy would Kings how happy would the People be When the Israelites by reason of the ill Government of Samuels Sons desired a King like all the Nations God whom by such desires they had rejected yet told them the manner and custom of those Kings Heathens you may be sure who knew not God nor his righteous Judgments 2 Sam. 8. 11 12 13. was very Arbitrary governing by an Army that they may go in and out before them and fight their Battels and judge them Arbitrarily yet so peremptory were they that they rejected the just and a righteous and easy Government that God had appointed over them Nay but we will have a King over us as other Nations and they had one that used them accordingly Therefore Solomon might well say as in Ecclesiastes I counsel thee to keep the Kings Commandment for he doth whatever it pleaseth him Where the word of a King is there is Power and who may say unto him What dost thou It being then the manner of the Kings of Nations Heathens so to govern volenti non fit injuria which manner remains even to this day among the Eastern Princes and let them that delight to be so governed have their Belly full of it But God hath provided better Laws Judgments and Statutes for his People whom he hath chosen out of all Nations to be a Peculiar People Redeemed by the Blood of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ blessed for ever Where the Word of a King is there is Power and who may say unto him what doest thou This he wisely advised to those who would be so governed and to Single Persons but not to whole Kingdoms or their Representatives the practice was otherwise even by Gods own command Elisah told Ahab that he and his Fathers House had troubled Israel 1 Kings 17. 18. Samuel told Saul thou hast done foolishly 1 Sam. 13. 3. So Nathan told David thou art the Man. 2 Sam. 12. 7. Obj. But these Men were extraordinarily commissionated Sol. Be it so so are all they Commissionated that follow their Example though not immediately from God himself yet tacitely by his general Commands universally and eternally true Viz. Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him Levit. 19. 17. Is it fit to say to a King thou art wicked and to Princes ye are ungodly Saith Job 34. 13. Reprove not a Scorner lest he hate thee rebuke a Wise man and he will love thee Prov. 9. 8. These are prudential Documents how to manage rebukes but exempts not Kings and Princes from being rebuked He that rebuketh the wicked getteth himself a Blot ver 7. In such case the Apostles give good Advice Give not that which is holy unto Dogs neither cast Pearls before Swine lest they trample them under their Feet Indeed if Kings and Princes are such Bruits then Tophet is prepared for them and shall be their Doom Isa 30. 33. And Men will be wiser than to run their Heads against Brick Walls But Truths seasonably spoken can do no man no wrong and ought graciously to be received Solomons intimation is good Where the word of a King is there is Power and who may say unto him what doest thou Eccl. 8. 4. Indeed it is a folly in any Man to contend with any Man King or not King that is mightier than he Eccl. 6. 10. But all these Apothegms relate chiefly to Private Persons not to whole States and Kingdoms who have just Power to defend their just Rights against Princes that usurp more Power to themselves than ever God and the People gave them And to urge Samuel a Prophet in a wrong sense is with the Witch at Endor to raise a False and Counterfeit Prophet 1 Sam. 28. 11 12. Can it ever be imagined that God gave countenance or encouragement to Kings to work Wickedness to oppress or violate all Laws and Covenants and yet be blameless and unaccountable here on earth He hath commanded no man to do wickedly neither hath he given any man licence to sin Eccl. 15. 20. God never breaks his own Covenants but keeps them for ever and always punished them that did and shall they who call themselves his Vicegerents like Wild Boars of the Forrest or like Bears robb'd of their Whelps break through all Laws and Bounds and yet be blameless and unaccountable to them who made them Kings designedly to be subject to Laws and not to destroy them or like Foxes of the Wilderness by craft and subtilty by shamming Laws or perverting Righteous Judgment or by packing an Alteration in Government and slide thereinto insensibly by tricks and querks of Law or to draw Arguments from the manner and custom of Kings Heathen for Jus Regium to be the Right of Kings Christian to do as they list quod libet licet uncontrolably is as much as in them lies to do as the Rebellious and Ungrateful Israclites did vilify set at naught and reject the Government which God established by his infinite Wisdom Where such Doctrines are embraced as true what better conditions are Christians under than Heathens nay then Brutes Did God think you create the whole Race of Mankind without respect of Persons after his own Image a little lower then the Angels and crown them with Glory and Honour and give them dominion over the works of his hands and put all things under their Feet and yet at the same time to subject them to Axes and Harrows to Thorns and Briars to the lusts and pleasures of a few Kings chose by themselves from among themselves for the sake only of Order Peace and Well-fare of them all It 's true that seeing the Israelites notwithstanding God cautionating of them were so fool-hardy as to reject God in rejecting his Government yet he did gratify them but in his displeasure in what they desired and they felt the sad effects thereof But from Deut. 17. 14 16. it may be gathered and concluded that the People have a just Right and Title to choose whether the Commonwealth shall be governed by one or more and may change it from one kind of Government to another as shall best please themselves But in all Governments God is always to be President i. e. His Laws are always to be had in remembrance and observed and they who govern otherwise are not to be accounted as Kings but as Enemies not as Gods Vicegerents but as the Devils and may be proceeded against accordingly O but ye shall be his Servants 1 Sam. 8. 17. Very well and well they deserved to be so and Slaves to boot as they
a wonderful deliverance of Israel and venture his own and his Peoples Lives and for what for but the bondage of his Enemies and satisfaction of his Lusts And if Herods Son stand in the way of his ambitious security it were better be his Hog than his Child Melius Herodis Porcum esse quam Filium Macr. Satur. 72. So that the Advocates of Arbitrary Power must justify Pharoah in all his opposition against God and oppression of Israel Moreover Pharaoh had more to say for the Justification of his Tyranny than some other Zamzummims can pretend to viz. that he was under no tyes of Civil or Religious engagements no reciprocal Oaths between him and Israel but having them in Bondage he seems to have something like a right of imposing his will for Law upon Israel yet accounted this Tyranny and Wickedness in Pharaoh Exod. 3. 7 8. So caitiff and prevalent a sin is the impetuous desire of Impery and Revenge tho to our utter ruin and destruction We all naturally love Domination and our Lusts better than our Lands we had rather part with Thousands of Rams and Ten Thousand Rivers of Oyl with the Fruit of our Bodies than with the Sins of our Souls which was the Leaven which fermented and boyled in the breasts of these Lawless Hectors And doth not the same leaven of Haughtiness of Oppression and Revenge ferment and boyl in the Hearts and Breasts of those in our days who so rule and so reign and ravage over whole Nations their Subjects Is it probable that God who having seen the afflictions of his People and heard their groaning and after he had shewed wonders and signs in the Land of Egypt and in the Red-sea and in the Wilderness Forty Years who for their sakes smote great Nations and slew mighty Kings Sihon King of the Amorites and Og King of Bashan and all the Kingdoms of Canaan Thirty one in number Josh 12 and gave their Land for an Heritage unto Israel his People Psal 135. 10 11 12. and taught them Statutes and Judgments to do and govern themselves by and in that good Land which he had given them in possossion which were so righteous that no Nation under Heaven had the like and which all Nations would confess that this great Nation was a Wise and Understanding People who hath God so nigh unto them Is it probable I say that God after he had delivered them so miraculously from so great thraldoms of quod libet licet should yet subject them to the like Lawless Persons or Governments in the world Examine all his Laws observe all his Statutes search all his Judgments and you 'l not find any the least footsteps that way tending only he foretold them what their Kings would do therefore they conclude that it was their just right so to do And because he said they shall be his Servants 1 Sam. 8. 17. therefore he had Right to make them his Slaves and use them like Bruits whereas nothing probably is thereby meant more than that they should be his Servants to pay Tribute Gen. 49. 15. and to serve in his Army when he went out to sight their own Battels Gen. 49. 15. But if Slaves be meant thereby yet it was violent and tyrannous because they had no Law of God or man to entitle them justly so to rule over them so that the Prophet did only declare what they would do not what was their Right to do Now if it be lawful to cry unto God for deliverance it is lawful also to use any rational lawful means and endeavours to extricate and relieve themselves They that will choose a King to the displeasure of God Almighty it s but just they should endure the Iron Furnace without his Relief Can any men not brutishly prepossed believe that God who never breaks his Covenants but keeps them even with his greatest Enemies and Rebels even with the most ungrateful and stiff-necked Jews and yet should establish a Right in Kings and Princes not only to break theirs but to leave the People without a Remedy till Doomes-day in the Afternoon till the day of Judgment there 's no doubt then but that they would be all of the Welsh-Mans mind and cry Let her alone till then and drive on still When Samuel told the Israelites the manner of the King that was to reign over them was it any more or other than what Elisha told Hazael when he should be King what he would do unto the children of Israel viz. Their Strong Holds wilt thou set on Fire and their Young Men wilt thou slay with the Sword and will dash their Children and rip up their Women with Child Did Elisha by this his Prophesy declare that Hazael when a King had just right so to do Surely no for Hazael being convinced of the contrary with great Indignation answered What is thy Servant a Dog that he should do this great thing 2 Kings 8. 12. 13. And yet to urge Samuel for proving an unlimiting power to be of right in Kings to do what they list uncontrolably what is it less then matchless Impudence and horrible Impiety When the Prophet Jeremiah told Coniah this hath been thy manner from thy Youth that thou obeyest not my voice Jer. 22. 21. Did he by telling him of that wicked manner and custom of his in not obeying his voice reproach him or declare a right that he had to do so No more did Samuel by telling the Jews the manner of the Heathen Kings derive a right to the Jewish Kings so to do but be the true meaning what it will what doth it concern Christians who choose Kings Princes Dukes Emperors and Captains general from among themselves grant them Commissions give them Tribute grant them Powers oblige them by solemn Oaths to govern it's true in their own names but by their Power conferred on them and for their Goods which if they abuse it devolves and returns back to them who gave it and they cannot devest themselves of it in which God concerns not himself immediately with it either by Dreams or Vision or by Urim or by Prophets but hath 1 Sam. 26. 6. given them general Precepts in holy Writ to govern themselves by to choose able men such as fear God Men of Truth hating Covetousness and place such over themselves c. Exod. 18. 21. and hath given Laws and Bounds to Kings c. Deut. 17. 17 18 19. which Laws tho' they most particularly concern Kings yet they are not thereby disobliged from the observation from all the other Laws of God to which the whole race of Mankind without respect of Persons is bound to observe and keep so that since the days of the Prophets the Christians neither ask a King by them neither do receive any one by his immediate appointment but make Kings of one from among themselves according to the Law of Nature and of Nations observing Gods holy Laws and Precepts When Samuel 1. 10. 25. told the People