and sinful Injustice and therefore cannot be from God. Dum contra officium facit Magistratus non est Magistratus quippe à quo non injuria sed jus nasci debet and consequently they who resist the tyrannous acts of Kings do not resist the Ordinance of God. What were it less than Blasphemously to charge God with prevaricating with his People if in Authorizing Kings to preserve them should give them liberty without all Politick restraint to destroy them Which is contrary to God's end in the Fifth Commandment that one Man a King should have absolute Power to destroy Millions of Souls and Bodies uncontrolably If the Kings of Israel and Judah were under censures and rebukes of the Prophets and sinned against God and the People in rejecting such rebukes and in persecuting the Prophets and were under and liable to all the Laws of God as all other People though their Subjects were then is their Power not above any Law nor absolute That these matters of Fact are true sit liber Judex Samuel rebuked Saul Nathan David Elias Achab. Jeremiah is sent to Prophecy against the Kings of Judah Jer. 1. 18. and the Prophets practised it Jer. 19. 3. Ahab could not take Naboths Vineyard against his will without the formality of Law and without the help of Men of Belial to boot for which violence offered to Law and Justice in the place where Dogs licked the Blood of Naboth shed by shamming of Laws by Innuendoes and false constructions of Laws the Dogs did lick the Blood of Ahab and did eat that cursed Woman Jezabel by the wall of Jezrael and her Carkass became as dung upon the face of the field A Document to all Kings and Princes for giving any countenance to Violence or Oppression or to shamming any Laws by any irresistable or prevalent Influences and the Inferior Judges ought not to accept the Persons of any in judgment whether small or great for the judgment is the Lords and their office as much of divine right as that of the Kings then certainly we may justly conclude That Kingly Power is neither above Law nor yet absolute for Kings who swear to Govern according to Law it is contrary to common sense nay impossible they should have an illimited or absolute Power either from God or the People for foedus conditionatum or promissio conditionalis mutua facit jus alteri in alterum it 's not to be thought that Kings can at one and the same time and in the same breath justly swear to Govern according to Law and at the same time interpretatively and secondarily swear to Govern absolutely and without Law. If the governed in Senates Parliaments and Dyets may call in question the Acts Previledges Charters and Commissions of Kings granted to any Persons and null and vacate them circumscribe and dock any of their Prerogatives may increase or diminish his Revenue and State may call into question any of his Friends Counsellors or Ministers of State and punish or remove them If the governed may appeal from Kings to Senates Dyets or Parliaments and may not appeal from them to Kings all which may and have been done as the publick Monuments of Laws do testifie who of sound judgment can deny the Power of the People in Dyets Senates and Parliaments to be above that of Kings If in an Interregnum Senates Dyets and Parliaments have Power and which is plain by Histories without regard had to right of Inheritance have created Kings whom they pleased and altered Successions In summ If Dyets Senates Parliaments are the Supreme Council of Nations constituted by the People indued with Power from them to this very thing that they may consult in common of the weighty matters of Kingdoms and common good and Kings therefore created that they should see executed what they did advise and agree upon quis nisi mentis inops can deny upon such plain evidence and demonstration that the People in Parliaments Dyets and Senates are not only co-ordinate and have a share in the Government but are also in some sense and some places superior to them for that they can do more than Kings Kings have their Prerogatives true and very fit they should have So have all other Governments be their Prerogatives what they will Power of the Militia making War and Peace calling of Councils Dyets Synods Senates Parliaments nominating Judges and other publick Officers of Kingdoms c. they are all derived from the People and transferred for their own good and so always expressed or implied If they make ill use of the Militia it 's a breach of trust and no obligation of Obedience and Submission is due if they make ill Leagues the People not bound to confirm or assist if they call Dyets and Parliaments it is not for their peculiar interests but for the good of the whole and nothing done therein can be of force unless the free assent of the convocated be first had Which demonstrates it is the Office and Duty of Kings to call those great Councils as oft as the People see cause and desire it and to continue them till they have the benefit designed And though the Royal Assent be desired it is but for the Honour of the business for what concerns common good safety and liberty they ought to pass by virtue of their Oaths and Office. Non negabimus non differimus cuique jus aut justitiam Chartae Artic. c. 29. Will not Kings deny Justice and may they deny just Laws Not to private Persons and yet to the Representatives of Nations Not in the Inferior Courts and yet in the Supreme They are created and elected Kings that they should do Justice to all indifferently Bracton l. 3. c. 9. Ad hoc creatus electus est ut justitiam faciat universis per eas nimirum leges quas vulgus elegerit Hence in Archivis H. 4. Rot. Parl. N o. 59. Non est ulla Regis Prerogativa quae ex justitia aequitate quicquam derogat Kings have no Prerogative which derogate from Justice and Equity And when Kings have refused to make or confirm Magnas Chartas good Laws they have been compelled by force of Arms and such Laws accounted as good and valid by the best Lawyers the reason given is That they of right and of their own accord ought to have assented unto that which they were forced to do All Courts of Judicatory are Authorized and Confirmed by Parliament in which it is Lawful for the meanest of Subjects to implead Kings in which Courts Judgment is often given against Kings which though endeavoured to be contradicted or countermanded by Kings yet the Judges by the Laws of God and Man and by their Oaths are obliged to refuse their Mandamus's and to give right Judgment for the judgment is the Lords Kings can justly Imprison no Man nor punish any Man nor seize their Goods or Estate without Citation out of Courts where the Judges not Kings have all the Power So
and most properly it is only in his high Court of Parliament wherein and wherewith his Majesty hath absolutely the Supreme Power and consequently is absolutely Supreme Head and Governor from whence their is no Appeal And without doubt the Parliament may take an account of what is done by his Majesty in his Inferior Courts and therefore much more of what is done by him without the Authority of any Court. What more usual than for Parliaments to call to an account all other Courts of Justice and all Officers and Ministers under his Majesty even for such things as they shall do against the Law though by his Majesty's express command And what is this but to take an account of the discharge of his Majesty's Trust The Law exempts his Majesty from account in no other sense than it exempts him from fault because he is to do publick Affairs of the Kingdom by his Officers and Ministers of State and not by himself and they are to give an account of that which the Kings doth by them In which respect Sir William Thorp Chief Justice in Edward the Third's time was charged for breaking the Kings Oath as much as in him lay The King's Authority is above his Person and his Personal Commands ought not to controul those that proceed from his Authority which resideth in his Courts and his Laws and in his Person acting by the one and according to the other We are really such admirers and so fond of Kingship and so willing to excuse all his Peccadilloes that we retain it as a Maxime That the King can do no wrong i. e. he can do nothing but by Law which can do no wrong And if he do against the Law his personal Acts Commands or Writings oblige no more than if they were a Childs and the Books call him an Infant in Law though his publick capacity be not in non-age as the Parliament declared in Edward VI. which is not to exempt him from Errors or excuse his Crimes but to shew that he ought to be guided by his Council and that his own personal Grants or Commands cannot hurt any more than an Infant which may be reclaimed or recalled not to say corrected by the Courts of Justice or the Council of the Kingdom King James of happy memory in his Speech to the Parliament at White-Hall March 21. 1009. told them That a King Governing in a settled Kingdom leaves to be a King and degenerates into a Tyrant as soon as he leaves off to Rule according to his Laws In which case the King's Conscience may speak unto him as the poor Widow said to Philip of Macedon either Govern according to your Law Aut ne Rex â—is Therefore all Kings that arenâ—t Tyrants or Perjured will be glad to bound themselves within the limits of their Laws and they that perswade them the contrary are Vipers and Pests both against them and the Commonwealth Ibid. 531. I will ever prefer the Weal of the whole Commonwealth in making of good Laws and Constitutions to any particular or private ends of mine thinking ever the Wealth and Weal of the Commonwealth to be my greatest Weal and Worldly Felicity p. 493. The Arguments brought for Kings being appointed by God only and their Power derived from him only are grounded on some few wrested and misunderstood places of Scripture viz. By me Kings reign and Princes decree justice By me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the earth Prov. 8. 15 16. which are applicable to all other Governments as well as Regal and make only for the institution of the Kingly Office and nothing at all for the designation or application of the Person to the Office or Gods immediate nomination or appointment of Kings but for approbation of Kingly Government among other Governments by Judges or others whereby it manifestly appears that Kingly Authority hath no more of Divine Right than any other form of Government And it is manifest to all the World That God did not of his own free choice primarily erect and establish Regal Government but that of the Judges as the best Form of Government but waved his own Prerogative and Wisdom and to gratifie the publick desire of a froward ungrateful and rebellious People who were used accordingly by such their choice and felt the smart thereof accordingly as Samuel foretold so indulgent was God himself to National desires which should be a Document to Kings to comply very readily with the desires of their People in Government of their Kingdom as God here did Besides I must repeat again That no Man can have Lawful Authority to be King over any Nation but he must have it either immediately from God Almighty unto which there can be no possibility of pretence or from the publick consent of the Nation therefore Kings must have their just Authority from the People Let Scripture it self be judge all Israel made Omri captain of the host King over Israel not Zimri and his Son Achab rather than Tibni the Son of Ginath 1 Kings 16. 16 21 22. And the People made Solomon King not Adoniah though he were the elder Brother 1 Kings 1. God by the Peoples free suffrages createth such a Man King because by the Authoratative choice of the People the person is made of a private Man and no King a publick Person and a crowned King 2 Sam. 16. 18. The men of Israel said to Gideon Rule thou over us both thou and thy Son and thy Sons Son also And all the men of Sechem made Abimelech King Judg. 9. 6. So the elders of Giliad made Jepthah head over them Judg. 11. 8 9 10 11. So all the people of Judah made Azariah King instead of his father Amaziah 2 Kings 14. So in the change of Government when Israel not pleased with their Government by Judges whom God himself had appointed over them but would have a King like other Nations Wherein God so far waved his Prerogative that he complied with their publick desire and gratified them therein though contrary to his own Infinite Wisdom And Samuel said unto all Israel Behold I have hearkned unto your voice and in all that yee said unto me and have made a King over you And all the Congregation made a Covenant with the King Behold the Kings Son shall reign 2 Chron 23. 3. God himself by Moses gave the People power to chuse themselves a King and withal directions and qualifications whom and how qualified they should chuse when thou shalt say I will set a King over me like all the Nations round about me thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall chuse i. e. according to his Rules and Prescriptions and Dictates viz. one from among thy Brethren shalt thou set King over thee thou maist not set a stranger over thee which is not thy Brother Deut. 17. 15. Consider also those Kings whom God most immediately caused to be anointed Kings and it will
Pulpit it that if they do break their Covenants yet they are accountable to none but God What is this less than like false Prophets to create Subtilties and coin Evasions to rob Kingdoms of their Laws Liberties and Religion and to seduce and betray Kings to the pit of Hell even to Tophet it-self A very trick to tempt Kings to break Covenants and Perjure themselves CHAP. VIII Judges-not less essentially Judges and the immediate Vicars of God than Kings What Powers and Prerogatives Kings have they have them from the People The Peoples Prerogatives They are to be governed by Laws of their own making quas vulgus eligerit JUdges are not less essentially Judges and the immediate Vicars of God than Kings They who judge in the room of God and exercise the judgment of God are as essentially Judges and the Deputies of God as Kings Inferior Judges appointed by King Jehosaphat were commanded by him to take heed what they did for yee judg not for man but for the Lord 2 Chron. 19. 6. By which it appears that they were Deputies in the place of the Lord and not the Kings Deputies in the formal and official acts of Judging and so owned by the King himself If they were not then Kings might command his Judges as his Servants to give what Judgment they pleased but Kings ought not to guide or limit the Consciences of Inferior Judges because the Judgment is not the Kings but the Lords the reason is demonstrable for that Kings have no Authority to command any other to do that as King for the doing whereof he hath no Power from God himself Moses appointed Judges but not as his Deputies to judge and give Sentence as subordinate to Moses for the judgment saith he is the Lords not mine Deut. 1. 17. and their directions to guide them in judgment is from God himself by Moses viz. ye shall not respect persons in judgment c. Yet the Judges may quodam sensu be termed Deputies of the Kings because they have their external call from them If Kings are to be obeyed because they are Powers from God so are Inferior Magistrates also for they also are Powers ordained of God. By me Kings reign and Princes decree justice By me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the earth Prov. 8. 15 16. By which it is apparent that the Power of Judges Nobles Princes c. all Officers of the Kingdom not of the King is as really and truly from God as that of Kings and differs not in nature from that of Kings but secundum magis minus only both being Powers ordained of God and to resist either is to resist the Ordinance of God both being Minister of God for the good of the governed both obliged so to Govern that the governed for whose good they are equally intrusted may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty 1 Tim. 2. 2. and to judge righteously between every Man and his neighbour and not to respect persons in judgment but to hear the small as well as the great and not to be afraid of the face of men and the judgment administred by all is Gods 2 Chron. 19. 6. Deut. 17. 19 20. Isaiah 1. 17. and God owneth inferior Judges as a Congregation of Gods Psalm 82. A Senate of Kings not so stiled any where Yet all are equally called Gods John 10. 35. and that rightly for as Kings are God's Deputies by the mediation of the People so inferior Judges are God's Deputies also by the mediation of Kings and of the People and we find that Judges were some time chosen by the People So Jepthah was made Judge then Jepthah went with the Elders of Gilead and the People made him Head and Captain over them Judg. 11. 11. But that God gave Power of Tyrannizing to Kings so as they cannot be resisted or called to an account which he gave not to Judges cannot be made out by any Scripture What Scripture doth warrant that the People might rise up in Arms to defend themselves against Moses Gideon Ely Samuel and other Judges should they have Oppressed or Tyrannized over the People Or that it is not lawful to resist the most Tyrannical Kings of Israel Judah and yet lawful to resist Oppressing and Tyrannical Judges But certainly God Almighty that made the whole Creation not only for his own Glory but also for the Good and Happiness of the whole Race of Mankind would never give any Power to Kingly or any other Form of Government to Oppress and Tyrannize over the governed uncontrolably and unaccountably whose Blood is always precious in his sight and in whom is all his delight It is monstrous so to conceive and derogatory to the very Mercy Justice and Purity of God that he should Create the whole World for the Comfort and Solace of Mankind in general without respect of Persons and yet at the same time subject them to Kings to be used as slaves or which is as bad not to be resisted or not to be accountable to any human Power if they at any time should Tyrannize Certainly such Opiniators and Preachers of such Doctrines do as much as in them lies to frustrate and defeat the whole design of the Creation which was designed for the benefit joy and delight of the whole Race of Mankind in general and by this Doctrine it shall be at the pleasure of every pettish haughty Prince to make every Principality every Kingdom an Aceldama a Golgetha an Iron Furnace an Egyptian Slavery what not Which God the Great and Wise Creator abhors and manifested his Wrath and Indignation against it by pouring his severe and manifold Judgments upon that very Nation which pleaded nay hectored for his Prerogative so long with God himself till he overwhelmed him and all his Hoast with his Prerogatives in the red Sea. Obj. Abstracta concretis sunt puriora perfectioria The Powers that Kings have they have it from the People who make them Kings and they having no absolute Power over themselves cannot contribute any such Power to Kings The Powers that the People have are only Natural and Legal and Political viz. to make and submit to such Laws as may preserve themselves in Peace and Godliness and from unjust Violence and Oppression by the Conduct and Management of good Rulers Now absolute Power above a Law is a Power to do ill and to destroy Nations which no People have it being against Nature that any should have a Power by the Law of Nature which is the Law of God to destroy themselves Therefore though the People should invest Kings with all the Power that they have yet if Kings Tyrannize over the People to their hurt and destruction they usurp a Power which the People never gave them it not being in their Power to give them the Power it self being against the Law of Nature and consequently against the Law of God for that all acts of Tyranny are Oppression
that in the beginning all Power did flow from the People and still doth which Tully excellently demonstrates De lege Agraria Cum omnes potestates Imperia curationes ab úniverso Populo proficisci convenit tum eas profecto maxime quae constituuntur ad populi fructum aliquem commodum in quo universi delegant quem populo maxime consulturum unusquisque ' studio suffragio suo viam sibi ad beneficium impetrandum munire possit Seeing all Powers Commands Curations i. e. potestas seu munus administrandi bona do proceed and flow from the People then those more especially which are constituted and do respect the good and benefit of the People in which the universality do chuse them whom they judge will most especially study and procure their good and every one by their study and suffrage may have easie access to obtain Justice and Favours And all Lawyers do agree and hold That all Laws repugnant to the Laws of God of Nature or of Reason are not to be accounted as Laws And whereas the Power of judging was Originally in the People and the English by no Lex Regia have at any time transferred it out of themselves no King of England hath been wont or hath Power to judge any Man unless by the known and approved Laws Fleta lib. 1. c. 17. What Power Kings have are given to them by the People that they may know by the Authority to them committed that they may do nothing contrary to the Law and keep our Laws but not impose their own Laws on us and the Kings Power is really and truly in the Courts of Law wherein the People by their Juries have their share also And their chief Power is in their Senates and Parliaments who have a Right and Authority over all Courts and Powers in all which Courts Kings may both sue and be sued and the reciprocal Causes to be indifferently tried according to established Laws If at any time Kings act any thing contrary to Laws they act then as private Men or as Tyrants and not by any Authority transferred on them by God or Man so to do Hence Bract. l. 1. c. 8. Non est Rex ubi dominatur voluntas non Lex c. 1. 3. c. 9. Rex est dum bene regit tyrannus dum populum sibi creditum violenta opprimit dominatione c. ibid. Exercere debet Rex potestatem Juris ut vicarius minister Dei potestas autem injuriae Diaboli est non Dei. Cum declinat ad injuriam Rex Diaboli minister est As nothing contrary to the Laws of God and Reason can be accounted a Law so neither can a Tyrant be a King nor a Minister of the Devil be a Minister of God seeing therefore Law is but the product of right Reason and Obedience is due to Kings as the Ministers of God so by the same Reason and Law Tyrants and Ministers of the Devil may be censured and resisted Either the People to be governed have a Right and Power to chuse their own Governor or they have not If they have not then Kings chosen by them are not Kings but Usurpers and Oppressors If they have Power to chuse then they have Power to oblige him to what Conditions they please and to keep them and if they fail of performing then they are free of the Covenant as it was between Rahab and the Spies FINIS ERRATA PAge 6. line 18. dele it ibid. l. 50. for Iliad r. Myriad p. 9. l. 11. f. doth only r. not only ib. l. 38. f. the way r. the right way p. 11. l. 15. f. our r. your ib. f. Black-guard r. Peasants p. 13. l. 3. dele and. p. 14. l. 28. f. this r. those p. 17. l. 23. f. Zalencus r. Zaleucus p. 16. l. 43. r. St. Edward p. 22. l. 20. r elegerit alibi ib. l. 58. r. Martyrs p. 24. l. pen. f. the r. thy p. 25. l. pen. dele to p. 28. l. 25. dele in the Posterity of ibid. l. 31. f. did r. should p. 30. l. 22. f. taking r. taken ibid. l. 58. dele hundred p. 31. l. 17. f. Timens r Fabius ib. l. 32. r. Fabius p. 33. l. 24. f. or r. and. ib. l. 46. f. never r. ever p. 42. l. 12 r. Commonwealth p. 43. l. 38. dele Obj. p. 44. l. 46. f. necesset r recesset p. 46. l. 10. r. elegerit p. 47. l. 16. r. perfectiora p. 48. l. 35. r. differemus cui quam p. 51. l 43. dele we p. 56. l. 41. f. magis r. majes ib. l. 46. r. saies p. 57. l. 57. f him r. them ib. l. 33. r. proscribed p. 60. l. 38. dele the second no. p. 61. l. pen. f. beareth r. bear p. 62. l. 47. after yet r. God. p. 63. l. 19. r. prepossessed p. 69. l. 27. f. ye r. yea p. 75. l. 18. f. his r. their p. 76. l. 5. in the Contents f. returns r. return ib. 5. in the Chapter f. was r. were ibid. l. 33. f. lawful r. unlawful p. 78. l. 19. f. Proplancio r. pro Plancio p. 82. l. 7. r. is seated p. 87. l. 23. f. Florentio Dianysio and Coss r. Florentio Dianysio Coss ibid. l. 35. f. Valerius r. Valeria In 4â— printed 158â— Arlstotle Pindarus Tuâ—â—y Plato alias Lex Regia v. Dr. Sherrock c. 4. n. 9. p. 282 283. Lex P. Vallerii 2. Martii Fab. Maximi Scyllae C. Gracchi plebiscitum Lex Annaria c. Vid. A. A. A. lib. 4. cap. 6. p. 181.
Sinners his great Enemies As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the Wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die Ezek. 33. 11. Would ye would but consider the price and value of this his fondness you wovld never harrass his People as you do God himself thought it worth the Incarnation of his own Son by sending him out of his own bosom and so the Word was made Flesh Joh. 1. 1. of which God gave abundant and signal Testimony when he smote Egypt in their First born and brought oppressed Israel from among them with a strong Hand and stretched out Arm and divided the Red Sea into parts and made Israel to pass through the midst of it but overthrew Pharoah and his Host in the Red Sea who led his people through the Wilderness and smote great Kings and slew famous Kings Sihon King of the Amorites and Og King of Bashan and gave their Land for an Inheritance even an Heritage to Israel his Servant and redeemed them from their Enemies Psal 136. Thus hath God done and thus will God do when he shall stand up in the quarrel of his Covenant and arise to shake terribly the Earth The whole History of the Bible is full of such exemplary punishments and of frequent delivery of his oppressed People And as God so ought all his Vicegerents to be tender and watchful over all their Governed So Moses whom Philo reckons among Kings as doth the Scripture Deut. 33. 5. And he was King in Jesurun for tho he had not the name yet he had the Power and Authority yet even in that Power he was no more Regal then in his Tenderness over the People which was so great towards them that at Tabera because he could not do them so much good us he desired he besought the Lord to kill him out of hand Num. 11. 15. At another time he was so concerned with the fear of their destruction that he requested of God either to forgive them their sin or to blot him out of the book of Life Ex. 32. 32. hereby shewing himself not only the Miracle of Nature as Philo calls him but of Grace too in plighting for them that which was more worth than his life his very Salvation So transcendent is the Example of David who besides that he urgeth it in most Psalms the peace of Jerusalem the salvation of Israel the Felicity of Gods chosen the blessing of the people wrestled with God near the threshing floor of Araunah 2 Sam. 24 16 17 for his mercy and favour towards his People that he cries out It is I even I that have sinned and done this evil c. let thine hand I pray thee O Lord my God be on me and my Fathers House but not on thy people that they should be plagued 1 Chro. 21. 16 17. Consider yet farther how passionately fond God who is jealous even to fury for the good of his people hath demonstrated himself for his People over whom he hath made you his Vicegerents Did he not send his own Son out of his own bosom to take on him the form of a servant and to become obedient unto the shameful death of the Cross both for them and you Can Kings then imagine that if they oppress them by violent perverting of Justice and Judgment or multiply unjust Exactions or chastise them with Whips or Scorpions that they shall escape unpunished I tell them nay that except such Kings that so tyrannize do repent the time will come that they shall bemoan themselves in vain when their groans shall be as the groans of a deadly wounded man and their hopes as the giving up of the Ghost Was not Christ our Common Purchaser Did he not take our Rags our Sores our Diseases our pains upon him Was he not wounded for our transgressions bruised for our iniquities that with his Stripes we might be healed Why do you not then imitate him in being Nursing Fathers not in name only but in deed and in truth to the people and do not oppress and tyrannize over them in denying them just Rights and Liberties by condemning many more Righteous than your selves to Inquisitions Goals Gallies to beg their Bread in strange Countries Chastising them with Whips and Scorpions and with divers sorts of Tortures as grievous as tearing their flesh with the Thorns and Briars of the Wilderness Consider I say well with your selves and that in very good earnest it being your truest Interest and of everlasting Consequence whilst you are on this side Hell and the Grave in which there is no wisdom How contrary do Kings Tyrants act and govern to God Almighty whose Precept and Practice it always hath been and still is to do good for evil and not evil for good as all Tyrants do Hath he not mitigated the rigour of the Law which was once published with thunder fire tempest and darkness by removing the curse from it as it was a killing Letter and Ministry of death And hath he not published it in the hand of a Mediator Doth he not woo us by his Spirit tho we resist it Court us by his Mercies tho we abuse them threaten us in much Mercy by his Judgments to forewarn us to fly from the Wrath to come Doth he not daily cry unto us by his Prophets tho we despise them proffers to teach us tho we stop our Ears to lead us tho we pull away our Shoulders to convert us tho we harden our Hearts and millions more inexpressible Mercies showr'd down daily upon his people committed to your care and charge manifesting his fondness and tenderness over them which considered I cannot but wonder then how his Vicegerents have dared to act quite contrary by returning evil for good by violent perverting of Justice and Judgment and by multiplying unjust exactions on them Have they made their peace with death or their Agreement with Hell can they bribe their Tormentors or can they dwell with devouring fire or everlasting burnings or can they quench the flames of Tophet which is ordained of old yea for Kings it is prepared he hath made it deep and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it Isa 30. 33. Are Kings the Anointed of the Lord and boast thereof so are the People He suffered no man to do them wrong yea he reproved Kings for their sakes saying Touch not mine anointed and do my Prophets no harm Psal 105. 14 15. Whoso toucheth them toucheth the Apple of his eye Zech. 2. 8. The Lord taketh pleasure in his people so should all Kings and he will put a Sword into their Hands to execute vengeance upon the Heathen and punishment upon the people to bind their Kings with Chains and their Nobles with fetters of Iron to execute upon them the Judgment written this honour have
Honour to declare them with Christian Charity and reprove them with Christian Modesty Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sin to fall upon him Levit. 19. 17. whether he be of a great or little Figure in the World it matters not Go tell Judah of her sins and Israel of her transgressions be who will pleased or displeased therewith By which it appears that though Reproofs and Admonitions have been the Duty of every person from the very beginning of Religion Cry aloud spare not lift up your voice like a trumpet proclaim defiance sound a challenge and charge against them shew the people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins Isaiah 58. 1. yet they are seldom or never acceptable but on the contrary get hatred to those that discover their Dalilah's their bosome sins but their comfort is that by reproving they fulfil God's Precepts and he that hateth reproof erreth is bruitish and shall die Pro. 10. 1. 15. Pro. 12. 15. Pro. 10. A most strange and unhappy temper to return hatred for good will to hate those that show the greatest kindness that possibly mortal Man can show he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured and is prudent Prov. 13. 18. Pro. 15. 5. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding ver 32. As to despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities is a great Crime to be punished by the Judges so there is a wo to them who call evil good and good evil that put darkness for light and light for darkness Isaiah 5. 20. Wherefore if they whose immediate Duty it is to tell Judah of her Sins and Israel of her Transgressions will by a sinful compliance be silent or daub with untempered Mortar not daring to declare plain Truths which is tant à monte a tacite giving consent and countenance to publick Sins and Injuries by such their connivance and dissimulation I hope they will not blame those who dare call Vices by their proper names I am ignorant of such quirks of Conscience which so much injure Justice and Piety as by such perverting the plain Truths of Religion and prevaricating with God Almighty by pleasing Men rather than Truth as if both might not and ought not to stand together as if a due respect to Men even to great Men and a just censure of Sin and Wickedness might not justly be maintained So that if any thing in this present discourse seem more harsh or severe than usual it is intended against the Vices and Abuses of the Powers not against the Persons nor any just Powers If they are Truths that I have declared I ought not to be blamed if Errors they 'l easily be discovered and refuted and the greater Truth will appear If I have committed Errors and injured Truth I am sensible of my own Infirmities and that Reason is seldom so perfectly reduced to Science but that I and all others may be mistaken Humanum est errare Let those that shall discover such Errors consider that they themselves are Men and subject to like Errors and Frailties and may be deceived and that possibly when by disquisition a greater Light may discover that that may be the Readers mistake which he esteemeth may be the Writers Error In summ All the Glory of Kings and Kingdoms ought to serve God by judging righteously by countenancing the Faithful of the Land and not suffering the Wicked to influence their Councils and by walking wisely in a perfect way and by hating the Works of them that turn aside and by not suffering those that have high Looks and proud Thoughts as being made choice of by him to administer in his Kingdom as Nursing-fathers of his people Isaiah 49. 23. God blessed for ever who setteth up Kings and removeth them doth only love the Principality and Kingdom of his own Eternity and himself continually addeth to the Glory and Enlargement thereof but willeth and expecteth the same from all Kings Princes and Governors of Temporal Scepters to do the same and that under severe Menaces and Penalties Whatever therefore of Inlargement Glory Stability the carking Cares or Designs of the great Men of the Earth may project and promise to themselves by being Kings and Princes on the Earth they are all but magnificum nihil toys gewgawes and vanity in the sight of God when put into the Ballance with that Kingdom which Christ alone loveth respecteth and desireth and unto which unless they be heartily subservient to serve and inlarge the Kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ they shall become like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor and the wind shall carry them away and the God of Gods and Lord of Kings shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people but it shall break in pieces all other kingdoms and it shall stand for ever Dan. 2. 44 45 47. If Kings will not kiss the Son nor do their Duty in purging the House of the Lord may not Eliah and the People do their duty and cast out Baal 's Priests Reformation of Religion is a personal act that belongeth to all even to every private Person according to his place they may swear a Covenant without the King if he refuse and build the Lords House themselves 2 Chr. 15. 9. and relieve and defend one another if oppressed for our Acts and duties of defending our selves and the oppressed do not tye our Consciences conditionally so the King consent but absolutely as all duties of the Law of Nature do Jer. 22. 3. Prov. 24. 11. Isaiah 1. 17. 58. 6. Be wise now therefore O ye kings be instructed ye Judges of the earth Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that trust in him Psalm 2. Therefore it becomes you that sit upon Thrones to observe and obey the true unquestionable divine Lex Regia to you it is commanded Deut. 17. 18 19 20. viz. to read in the Book of the Law all the days of your lives that you may learn to fear the Lord your God to keep all the words of the law and the statutes to do them that your hearts be not lifted up above your brethren by whom and from among whom ye your selves were chosen and set in great Glory Honour and Dignity to go in and out before them judging righteously and that you turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left do violence to no man for God hates the violent man and evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him Psalm 140. 11. Be content with your Tribute and exact no more than what is appointed you by publick consent take care that there be no violent perverting of Judgment no shamming of
any Government no more have Kings for neither God nor the Law of Nature hath given any such Power to Men. And God gives Kings as a Blessing and happily as the best of Governments but if thereby the state of Slavery must uncontrolably be intailed upon them as it necessarily must be if they renounce their whole Liberty it 's a Curse rather than a Blessing but they can no more give it away than they can give away their rational Nature and deny themselves to be reasonable Creatures for it is a Power natural to preserve themselves essentially adhering to every created Being Besides they cannot resign their whole Power as Priests would have them without manifest sin God having made an express Covenant with all the People of Israel that they should be his peculiar People and he would be their God the purport of which Covenant was That all the People should take care that he should be purely worshipped throughout all the Land which Power they cannot resign to Kings unaccountably and absolutely without manifest breach of Covenant and so sin in breaking Covevant with God and thereby provoking his wrath and indignation would pull down Vengeance upon whole Kingdoms Of which more fully hereafter O! Sovereignty is not in the People no more than a whole Kingdom can be one Man Sovereignty being the Abstract and Sovereign being the Concrete What then yet the Power of giving Sovereign Power to this or that Man according to Laws is naturally and radically in the People Obj 〈◊〉 May 4 Car. 1628. the Commons having framed a Petition of Right to be presented to his Majesty and desiring the Concurrence of the Lords they made this addition viz. We present this our humble Petition to your Majesty with the care not only of our own â—â—berties but with due regard to leave intire that Sovereign Power wherewith your Majesty is trusted for the Protection Safety and Happiness of the People Which tearms of Sovereign Power were so distasteful and chagreen to the Commons that they would by no means admit of them alledging for their justification That they seemed to be another distinct Power from the Power of the Law They were never used in any Parliamentary Petition or Magna Charta or in any Confirmation thereof If they should grant it it would seem to imply a Sovereign Power above our known and established Laws which are well known to the Kingdom but they know no Sovereign Power It was a new thing and they would by no means have it inserted into the Petition And the Statute of Magna Charta did bind the King and all his Sovereign Power Upon which ground it was left out Besides Titles of Supreme and Sovereign are verba Solemnia words of course titular and complemental relating only to their Persons but confers no Power what Sovereign Power Kings have are given and limited by Laws of common consent and not absolute What other Laws of Sovereignty there are of right belonging to them nemo sit is past all understanding Absolute Sovereignty in Kings hath no warrant by any Law of God or Nature that belongs to God only who is Lord of all Kingdoms of the Earth and therefore there is no Sovereign Power wherewith Majesty is intrusted either by God or Man but only that which is for the Protection Safety and Happiness of the People which is the Suprema Lex and the cause is very reasonable for that uncontrolable Authority easily degenerates into Tyranny And that Sovereign Power which is in all Governments is in the Legislative Power of that Government settled by Laws of common consent And King James in his Speech to the Parliament March 1609. stigmatizeth Power not bounded by Laws with the black Character of Tyranny yea Tyranny accompanied with Perjury Obj. The People have not Power of life and death What then No more have Kings until impowered by Laws of common consent yet the Power of life and death is eminently and virtually in the People collectively taken though not formally yet they have Power over their own lives radically and virtually for that they may subject themselves to Magistracy and to Laws made by common consent the violation of which may be capital and sanguinary And Kings have no other lawful Power over the lives of their Subjects but by Laws made by like common consent That under the Law and since there have been mutual and reciprocal Covenants between King and People is without all dispute and beyond all contradiction 2 Sam. 5. 3. 1 Chron. 11. 3. 2 Chron. 23. 2. 2 Kings 11. 17. And that they were as equally and reciprocally binding is as true else Why should such Covenants be made publickly before the People if Kings did not in the Covenant tye and oblige themselves to the People And why so solemnly to be made before the Lord in the House of God if not intended to be kept or might uncontrolably break them at pleasure Was God to be called upon and to be a Witness to a figment nay to a cheat Ab sit no all the Covenants mentioned in Holy Writ whether between God and Kings or between Kings and People are mutual I will be your God and you shall be my Poople Levit. 26. 12. The Covenant is so strictly mutual that if the People break the Covenant God is freed from his part of the Covenant Zach. 11. 10. All Covenanters are under a Law before Men. So if Kings break Covenant with their People the People are freed of their Obligation to them If the Oath of God be broken as the Covenant between Abraham and Abimelech Gen. 21. 22 23. Jonathan and David 1 Sam. 18. 3. So the Spies profess to Rahab in the Covenant that they made to her Josh 2. 20. And if thou utter this our business we will be quit of thine Oath which thou hast made us to swear The Obligation of Kings in their Oaths and Covenants to the governed floweth from the peculiar Obligation National betwixt them and the governed and bindeth Kings as Kings for that such Oaths and Covenants are entred into and taken in relation to Government only and therefore are not taken meerly as Men as some vainly suppose but as Kings or as they are to be Kings over them because it is the specifick act of Kings that they are to be obliged unto to Govern the People in righteousness and holiness with their Royal Power which is given them by the People for no other end and they undoubtedly sin before God if they break their Oaths and Covenants made with the Common-wealth And to assert otherways is to suppose Kings to be under no Law of God and so consequently make them either above God or coequal with him which is no other than down-right Blasphemy Therefore it is undoubtedly true that Kings Covenanting with the People to Govern according to the Laws of God and their own municiple Laws and on that Condition receive Thrones Crowns Tributes c. from them and are
obliged to the People for the just performance of the same Omnis promittens facit alteri cui promissio facta est jus in promittentem Whoever maketh a Promise to another giveth to that other a right or jurisdiction to challenge the performance of the same Promise But if Rehoboam will make his little finger thicker than his Fathers loins and chastise Israel not with whips only but with Scorpions And will send Adoram to gather tribute without the common and free consent of Israel Israel will stone such Ministers to death and will rebel as in the Text or fall away as in the Margin recesset saith St. Jerom defecerunt say Junius and Tremelius from the house of David and will make Jeroboam King over all Israel as they justly might and without the just imputation of Rebellion And though Rehoboam did raise 180000 Men intending by Force of Arms to bring the Kingdom again to Rehoboam the Son of Solomon yet God would countenance no such act and therefore forbade them by Shemaiah the man of God 1 Kings 12. 19. 2 Chron. 11. 12. Which demonstrates that if Kings keep not Covenants with their People they may withdraw their Tribute and Obedience and chuse another King or another Government and be no Rebels This is not to assert or justifie that for every act of Male government or a few acts of Tyranny or Oppression Kings may be dethroned and devested of their Royal Power but upon supposition that the Violencies Oppressions and Tyrannies are of such a Nature as that thereby the whole intention and ends of the Covenants and Agreements made with the People for the Government of themselves viz. the safety of the People the Laws of God and of the Commonwealth are thereby endangered to be frustrated and that on presumption of such usages and outrages the People would never have conferred their Crowns upon them David held Saul for his Prince and acknowledges him to be the Lord 's anointed so long as the People had not recalled their grant of Royal Dignity so that no single Person though Six hundred Men with him may lawfully Assassinate any King. All Governments are likened to the History of the Gordian Knot which if not so hard tied but that the People may have some ease some relaxation they ordinarily are willing to endure some reasonable bonds but if excessive they ever have and I doubt ever will endeavour to free themselves though by means indirect If the People as God's Instruments Crown Kings on Conditions that he will rule them according to God's Word then are Kings made Kings by the People conditionally and are but adopted Fathers Tutors Politick Servants or Royal Watch men of the Commonwealth and the Royal Honour and Royal Tributes given to them are Rewards of their Labours and Kingly Hire and so expressed by Paul Rom. 13. 6. For this cause pay you Tribute also there is their Wages for they are God's Ministers attending continually upon this very thing Qui non implet conditionem a se promissam cadit beneficio The People setting of Kings over themselves is an act warranted by God himself Deut. 17. 15. Rom. 13. 1 2. Which act though done without written Conditions or Oaths and only by a Vive le Roy or God save the King yet even such choice can never be understood or interpreted an Investiture of them with an Absolute but with a Conditional Power for that such a Power is against the Law of God and Nature a preposterous and absurd Power to do good and yet to work wickedness impune Besides the Common Law of Mankind allows all Donors to Interpret and Expound their own meaning why they Crowned Kings over them and why they give such large Tributes so great Priviledges and Prerogatives and certainly they will never Interpret that they conferred Royal Power on them to Oppress Persecute and Destroy themselves without controul and leave themselves without a remedy The Covenant made by Asa and all Judah and Benjamin 2 Chron. 15. 13. that whosoever would not seek the Lord God of their Fathers should be put to death whether small or great man or woman Which did equally oblige the King as also the Princes and People to performance And therefore Asa as in duty bound removed Maacha his Mother from being Queen because she had made an Idol in a grove which Asa also cut down stampt it and burnt it at the brook Kidron verse 14. Diodorus Siculus lib. 17. saith that the Kings of Persia were under an Oath and that they might not change the Laws and so were the Kings of Egypt and Aethiopia The Kings of Sparta which Aristotle calleth just Kings renew their Oaths every Month. Romulus so covenanted with the Senate and People Carolus V. Austriachus sweareth he shall not change the Laws without the consent of the Electors nor make new Laws nor dispose of any thing of great concern belonging to the Empire without the publick consent 1 Sam. 8. 11. This will be the manner of the King who shall reign over you which place is brought to prove the absolute Power of Kings and the unlawfulness of Resistance Which words being rightly interpreted can have no such meaning It only declares what the Manner and Custom was what they would do not what of right they might do For God had long before in Deuteronomy prescribed them what Laws they should Govern by and in this place is only described the Tyranny of Kings what they would do not what they might justly do And to aver that God hath given Power to Kings to Tyrannize Worry Oppress and Destroy Subjects is Blasphemy for God hath not given nor can give any Moral Power to do wickedly which is License to sin against his own Law which is inconsistent with his Holiness and therefore no such Power can be from God. And all best Expositors declare the Law of Kings to be described in Deut. 17. And in 1 Sam. 8. is described the usurpation and tyranny of Kings So it only demonstrates their wicked Usages or Customs not a Law prescribed by God. And it is obvious to common sense that God by his Prophet in this place was not instructing Kings in their Duty but by fore-telling the Israelites the evil of Punishment that they should suffer under tyrannous Kings thereby terrifying them if possible from their wicked purpose of seeking a King and thereby reject not Samuel only but God himself and farther menacing and declaring That in the day when they should cry out because of their King that the Lord would not hear them verse 18. And therefore God did protest against their unlawful course yet nothing at all would prevail nay but we will have a King over us verse 19. If Samuel in this place did not dehort them from Kingly Government how could they be said to refuse to hear the Voice of Samuel In summ All God's Covenants are Yea and Amen and so ought his Vice-gerents to be And for Priests to
Three words viz. Bellarmine thou L. CHAP. XI Kings not lawless but bounded by Laws and are accountable to those who intrusted them with their own Power Oaths and Covenants between King and People are equally binding Reciprocal Duties between Parents and Children Masters and Servants King and People The Power of the People is by the Law of Nature that of Kings is from the People and fiduciary As the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God so the Sword of the Magistrate is the Law of God and of Man. Obedience is a Holy thing when yielded to just commands but void and sinful when referred to unjust and then natural Defence succeeds in its room No mean between a Saint and a Bruit Law by the Judgment of the wisest Heathen is both Lord and Kings of Men. Vujust force may lawfully be resisted by force WHAT hath been hitherto written is diametrically opposite to that Pulpit Leviathan Doctrine of quod libet licet and that Kings are obliged to no Laws nor accountable to any but to God. So Julia the Mother-in-law to Antoninus Basianus Caracalla the Emperor her Son-in-law most impudently Si libet licet nescis te imperatorem esse leges dare non accipere Dost thou now know that thy Will is a Law and that it is thy right to give not to accept Laws from any And he acted accordingly If this be good Doctrine that Jure Regio they are absolved of all Laws and though they violate all human Constitutions yet are guiltless or unaccountable to any but to God alone certainly then there never was a Tyrant nor ever can be if they had been so capacitated by any Law of God or Nature as some most impudently have printed God would never have prescribed them Laws nor have punished them for breach of them What is this less than to render Mankind made a little lower than the Angels and after the similitude of God himself to be governed no better than Bruits Can it ever be supposed that God would ever subject his own similitude the Race of Mankind for whom he hath done such great things to be harrassed pilld poled governed tyrannically without any hope of Redress till the day of Judgment Or that any People should be so void of Counsel and Sense as voluntarily to subject themselves and their Posterity to such abominable slavery and to make Kings to govern and Laws to be governed by and both sworn to the observation of them in the presence of God Almighty and yet to esteem Kings not obliged by those Sacred Ties to keep them The Basis and Establishment of God's own Throne are righteousness and judgment and mercy and truth go before his face Psalm 89. 14. 97. 2. And if they who call themselves God's Lieutenants or Vice-gerents govern by Violence and Oppression as they all do that govern not by an immediate appointment of God or by common consent of the governed a fire shall go before them and burn them up as enemies to God and man Psalm 97. 3. And whoever acquires a Power over any People whether by dint of Sword or by cunning Craft or by consent of Parties and useth it to the detriment and not for the good of the People are not to be esteemed as rightful Kings but as Enemies and Tyrants Be it so say the Pulpiteers but by what Law shall they be punished or reproved Even by them and by the same Right and Law that they themselves are there 's no exceptions And no Law of God or Nature ever prescribed Impunity for Oppression and Tyranny and Wickedness over Men He that ruleth over men must be just ruling in the fear of God. So spake the rock of Israel unto David himself a King 2 Sam. 23. 3. It 's righteousness that establisheth the Throne and it 's an abomination for Kings to work wickedness So King Solomon Prov. 16. 12. When Solomon Eccl. 8. 2. 34. prescribes to keep the Kings commandment and that in regard of the Oath of God and not to stand in an evil thing for he doth whatsoever pleaseth him and where the word of a King is there is Power and who may say unto him What dost thou All these are ever to be understood of things lawful to be commanded and of things lawful to be done otherwise this undoubted Truth is to be observed viz. we ought to obey God rather than man Acts 5. 29. Besides Solomon's counsel here was to single and particular Men not to Assemblies and Dyets and Senates and Parliaments and great Councils who have a share in making Laws and consequently co-ordinate in the Government Though all Writs Processes of Law Executions and Edicts pass under the Title of one single Person for the sake of order yet he that sendeth out Writs is to be obedient to those very Writs and to those Laws as well as they to whom they are sent Besides what Generation of Christians in the World so void of Reason as to swear Fealty and Allegiance to Kings except they again reciprocally swear to observe the Laws Divine and of their Country So the Rubenites and the Gadites and the half Tribe of Manasseh promised obedience to Joshua but as they did to Moses on condition that God be with him as he was with Moses Jos 5. 17. If they can shew a Patent from Heaven as Moses and Joshua had by an immediate Call and God's Promise to be with them as he was with Moses and Joshua never to fail them nor forsake them then may we all lay our hands on our mouths and proceed no farther Job 40. 5. And yet if they had the like Patents yet from such Patents no Authority could be drawn to oppress or tyrannize over any People but if not so nor so why should not Christians in whose inward parts God hath put wisdom and who hath given understanding to their hearts who make Kings from among themselves and take Oaths of them for performance of Agreements maintain and defend their own just Rights and Liberties God never broke his Covenants but punished the People that brake theirs and why should his Vicegerents break their Covenants and yet be thought guiltless or unquestionable The Jews who were the most stif-neckt most rebellious and most ungrateful Nation under the Cope of Heaven and provoked God to the uttermost as if they did it purposely to non plus and pose his very Mercy and they provoked Moses also the Man of God and the meekest Man upon Earth beyond all his Patience so that he cast the very Tables of the Testimony the Work of God and the Writing of God graven upon the Tables out of his hands and brake them beneath the mount Exod. 32. 11 16 19 32. yet was he so far from oppressing or tyrannizing over them that he wrastled with God Almighty with strong and importunate Prayers for their Good Why doth thy wrath wax hot against this People nay so importunate was he for their Pardon that though