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A42720
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The wicked petition, or, Israel's sinfulness in asking a king explain'd in a sermon at the assizes held at Northampton, March the 1st, 1680/1 / by Fr. Giffard.
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Giffard, Francis.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing G690; ESTC R195
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24,129
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36
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an animated Law hath the form of God among Men. Ecphantas one of the same Sect hath in the same Author these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stob. Ser. 46. It belongs also to a King to rule himself and to be ruled by none Otanes a Persian Noble in Herodotus speaking of Monarchy or Kingly Government says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod l. 3. Which hath a right of doing whatever it will without controul Caius Memmius Salust in bello Jugurthino a Tribune of the People says in Salust Impunè quaelibet facere id est regem esse To do what a man will with Impunity that is to be a King Cleopatra urging her Marcus Antonius to call Herod to an account Josep Anriq l. 15. he replyed That it was not fair 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To demand of a King an account of what was done in his Government for so he would not be a King The Daughters of Danaus in Aeschylus upon the common notion of Regal Authority tell the Argive King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aeschyl in Suppl Thou art the City thou the People art Being a Governour not to be judg'd Kingly Authority is in the Antigona of Sophocles called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfect Monarchy And in the same Tragedy Creon saying to Aemon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is not the City his esteem'd that Reigns He rejoins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fairly I shall add no more of this though I could spend many hours upon it save that of Horace Regum timendorum in proprios greges Reges in ipsos imperium est Jovis Hor. li. Carn 3. Od. 1. But this is Heathen Doctrine Let us try how agreeable it is to the Theology of Scripture And here Wee need look no farther than to what Samuel says upon the Business of the Text God having commanded Samuel to protest solemnly to the People of Israel 1 Sam. 8.9 and declare to them the manner as we translate it of the King that should Reign over them The Judge says to them 1 Sam 8.11 This will be the manner of the King that shall Reign over you He will take your Sons and appoint them for himself for his Chariots and to be his Horsemen and some shall run before his Chariots And he will appoint him Captains over Thousands and Captains over Fifties and to ear his Ground and to reap his Harvest and to make his Instruments of War and Instruments of Chariots And he will take your Daughters to be Confectionaries and to be Cookes and to be Bakers And he will take your Fields and your Vineyards and your Olive yards the best of them and give them to his Servants And he will take the Tenth of your Seed and of your Vineyards and give to his Officers and to his Servants And he will take your Men-Servants and your Maid-Servants and your goodliest young Men and your Asses and put them to his Work He will take the Tenth of your Sheep and ye shall be his Servants This I look upon as a Law For 1. The word Mishphat which we translate Manner as the Learned know properly signifies Right Judgment Statute and the like 2. It is in this Sense rendred here by all the Ancient Translations Arabick Syriack Vulgar Latine that of the Septuagint and the Chaldee Paraphrase 3. These Words of Samuel were either a Prediction from God only of what the King would do or a Law of what he might do If only a Prediction and not a Law then all the Kings were Tyrants and Oppressors David Solomon Asa Jehosaphat Jehoash Amaziah Vzziah Hezekiah Josiah but of the good and Pious Reign of all these the Holy Ghost gives very fair Elogies 4. These things appear to be not spoken by way of Prediction only to deter the Israelites from persisting in their Desire of a King because such frightful and horrid things might have been said upon that Subject in comparison with which these here spoken of may well seem soft pleasant and desireable 5. The Manner in which God commanded Samuel to declare these things to them speak it a Law protesting thou shalt protest to them and shew them the Mishphat of the King says God who calls his Law his Testimony 6. The Close of it is drawn in the terms of a Command And ye shall be his Servants 7. Samuel after he had declared this to them added And ye shall cry out in that day because of your King and the Lord will not hear you in that day They would have had a Remedy in their Hands when dis-eased by their King and sick of him if this had not been a Law 8. 1 Sam. 10.25 Samuel wrote it in a Book and laid it up before the Lord that is about the Arke the place of which was in the Holy of Holyes and in which were laid up the Pot of Manna the Rod of Aaron and the two Tables So I conclude because when the Pot of Manna was commanded to be laid up before the Lord Aaron laid it up before the Testimony Exod. 16 33. Now surely had it been only a Prediction of the Manner of the Kingdom and not a Divine Law it would not have been laid up with so much Tenderness Respect and Valuation more by far than all the rest of the Law of God except the two Tables all that being only put into the Hands of the Priests and Elders If any shall make any question Whether this Mishphat in the Tenth Chapter was the same with that in the Eighth because there it is called Of the King here Of the Kingdom I say First the Ancient Jews and other believed it to be the same It is render'd in both places alike 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Right of the King by the Seventy by words which signifie the Statute of the King in the Chaldee Paraphrase the Right of the King in the Syriack the Rights of the King in the Arabick Version Secondly had this been a new Law of God different from what had been spoken of before Samuel would have declared here as he did there that he had received new Instructions from God about it Thirdly had it been a new Law it would have been recited by Samuel and recorded by him as that was With Relation to this Law though not as prescribed to Israel only I cannot but think it is that Solomon says Ecles 8.2 I counsel or charge thee to keep the Kings Commandment and that in regard of the Oath of God And that First Because that Law was delivered with a most solemn Protestation from God which hath much of the Nature of an Oath Secondly Because it was laid up with the Tables of the Covenant and about the Ark of the Covenant and the Law of God hath the Name of the Covenant and the Covenant which God in giving his Law made with the People of Israel is called the Oath that he made with them Thirdly
by all means set over thee a King him whom God shall chuse from among thy Brethren shalt thou set King over thee In this Sence the Syriack Version renders it To the same purpose the Targum of Ben. Vzziel Ye shall seek Learning or Instructions of the Lord and after that shall set over you a King It is not lawful to set a Stranger over you who is not of your Brethren Let us here by the way observe It is not said Thou shalt set under but over and the People are here spoken of in the Singular Number as one Congregate Body So that the King that should be Constituted was to be to the whole imbodied Society not an Inferior Minister but a Superior Magistrate To this General Body of the People God's Words are so far from allowing them a Liberty of setting up what Government they would that they altogether deny it to them Had God left them to chuse whether they would set up Monarchy or Aristocracy or Democracy or some Mixture of them he would certainly have spoken of the rest as well as he does of the First but whereas he propounds to them only a King and gives them Rules only about him especially since no where in Scripture God gives them any Measures for any other Supreme Governors or Government it is plain he intended they should have no other Supreme Government but that of a King A true Paraphrase of the Words take thus in short When you shall be well setled in your Habitations and shall in a fitting manner declare your selves to have a mind to set over you Regal Government but not any other I am pleased that you should and by all means you shall set over you that Government but not any other but then you shall set over you a King whom I shall chuse c. Then he goes on to give Rules for the King to observe and concludes them thus To the end that he may prolong his days in his Kingdom he and his Children in the midst of Israel by which Words God plainly exprest what Good Will he had for a Kingdom and that an Hereditary one and for the Right Possessor of it and his Heirs and how Advantageous the Continuance thereof would be to the People According to this Sence of this place the Masters of Hebrew Learning say that of three Commands which God gave the People of Israel to execute as soon as they were well settled in the Land of Canaan this was the First That they should set a King over them I shall only add on this Head that the Throne of the Kings of Israel 1 Chr. 29.33 2. Chr. 13.8 is called The Throne of the Lord and their Kingdom The Kingdom of the Lord. Thirdly God in Scripture declares himself in Favor of a Monarchy set up by Force against a Government mix'd of Aristocracy and Democracy and against the Wills of those that were invested herewith Such every one that is acquainted with History must necessarily believe the Government of the Roman Emperors to be And yet the Holy Ghost gives the Emperor the Name of Augustus which was a Name of Holiness as appears by Macrobius calling the Dedicated Table in the Heathen Temples where were their epulae libationes et stipes Mensam Augustatam And he gives that Name Luke 2.1 Acts 27.1 1 Tim. 2.2 1 Pet. 2.13.17 not only to Caius Octavius but also if I take aim aright to Nero he gives either Claudius or Nero or both the Name of King which the Emperors for a long time shun'd because the Romans disliked it as signifying the Loss of their Liberty 1 Tim. 2.2 He commands Prayers and Thanksgiving to be offer'd up for the Roman Emperor Rom. 13. 1 Pet. 2.13.17 and as Tribute and Honor so also Submission to be paid to him and this as Supreme and for the Lord's Sake He says also in relation to him when either Claudius or Nero wore the Diadem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 13. the Powers the Authorities that are at present existing are ordained of God and that whoever resisted him resisted the Ordinance of God and that he was the Minister of God Fourthly Kings are represented standing in a much nearer Relation to God than any other Secular Governours But this is too full a Subject to be now discoursed Fifthly It is God's Charge to all to have a most awful Respect for the King and not to be of their Party who vary from it or who enterprise any Alteration from Kingly Government And this by the Rule of having a most Awful Respect for the true God and of not joyning with such as vary from it or as enterprise any Alteration from his Monarchy they being Duties that are closely linked together and because hasty Destruction and such ill Fortune as no Body knows before-hand what it shall be or perhaps will apprehend when it comes certainly attend and will unawares befall as well the Sinners of the former sort as those of the latter So must those Words of Solomon be understood My Son Prov. 24.21 fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with those that are given to Change For their Calamity shall rise suddainly and who knoweth the Ruine of them both Both Changers from the Fear of the Lord and Changers from the Fear of the King Sixthly God speaks of Regal Government as alone justly agreable to the business of Government which in regard to those that are to be Governed is that they may live a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty Godliness first in paying God his Rights then Honesty So far is salus Populi from being Suprema Lex What less can we think when we find it said twice in the Book of Judges Judge 17.6 21.25 In those days there was no King in Israel but every man did that which was Right in his own Eyes especially considering what grievous Confusions then prevailed and what impious and flagitious Enormities were then committed in the Relations of some of which it is said Judg. 18.1 19.1 In those days there was no King in Israel a Signification that they were to be ascribed to the want of a King though at the same time Judg. 21.16 Judg. 20.28 there were both Elders of the Congregation and a Renowned High-Priest What less can we think when we read in the same Book They came to Laish and saw the People that were therein how they dwelt careless after the manner by the Law of the Zidonians quiet and secure Judg. 18.7 and there was no Magistrate in the Land that might put them to Shame considering unto what Mischiefs we find them betrayed by that State of Affairs and that the two words which we translate Magistrate properly denote an hereditary Possessor of Supreme Government For to signifie such a Government is the word Esar used in Scripture particularly in the Business of the Text whence I cannot but think