Bodies Politick as Universities Corporations Counties Armies and Common-wealths This is God's way of Government which the wisest Governours did always imitate Thus Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them Rulers over the People Rulers of thousands Rulers of hundreds Rulers of fifties and Rulers of tens And they judged the people at all seasons the hard causes they brought to Moses but every small matter they judged themselves Exod. 18.25 26. In this Text considered with the antecedent many things as proper to Government are observable 1. There must be Laws 2. Officers 3. Courts according to the tria Jura Majestatis of Legislation making Officers and Jurisdiction These presuppose a Community and a Constitution 1. There must be a power of making Laws that belongs to the Soveraign 2. Laws by this power must be made for Administration which without them must needs be arbitrary and irregular 3. Those Laws once enacted must be promulgated that they may be known 4. Once known they must regulate both the peoples obedience and the acts of Officers and judgment of the Judges After Laws once established they must be executed and that cannot be orderly and effectually done without a division of the people For 1. they must be numbred divided into tens fifties hundreds thousands tribes 2. They must be co-ordinate and equally poised tens with tens fifties with fifties hundreds with hundreds thousands with thousands 3. They must be subordinate ten to fifty fifty to an hundred and hundreds to thousands and all unto the whole When this is done Officers by whom these Laws must be executed must be made These must first be well qualified 2. The people must chuse them Deut. 1.13 3. Moses must appoint them their places assign them their circuits give them their charge 4. They must have their Courts and Sessions judge execute the Laws and be subordinate the lesser Courts to the superiour and all to the Supream For their Causes especially if difficult must ascend till they came to Moses and he brought them to God who was their Soveraign this was extraordinary But afterwards they had their Sanhedrim and Court of Appeals This subordination seems to be implied in those words of our Saviour Matth. 5.22 But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement and whosoever shall say unto his brother Racha shall be in danger of the council but whosoever shall say Thou Fool shall be in danger of hell fire One thing in all this is considerable That Moses did not make every Division nor every Court severally independent but subordinated all unto one supream Consistory A Multitude though National therefore is no impediment to good Government especially when they are numbred divided co-ordinated and subordinated and so by a certain and fixed order made one section 11 As a Multitude is no hinderance so neither is a national distance of parts For if we should enquire into the Constitution of the Chaldean or the Persian Empires of both which we might learn much out of the Holy Scriptures especially in the Books of Ezra both first and second called Nehemiah and Ester and Daniel most of all we should find 1. That the extent of them was far more than National and the distance of the parts far greater 2. That these were divided subordinated not only in the parts less to the greater but also in their Officers both for War and Peace the Revenue and the Administration of Justice and so by order united under one Head. The Empire of Rome the parts whereof were severed at a very great distance as from the River Euphrates in the East to the Ocean upon the West of France and from Aegypt Southward to the North of the Lesser Asia was according to their principles of Policy as well governed as any European petty State at this time is The Turkish Seigniory tho' of great extent is as well ordered as divers several Kingdoms Christian confined to a far more narrow compass Their order is good their strength great their Counsel which doth manage it politick their Laws for administration of Justice certain their divisions from matters of Religion few or none and their internal strength must needs be firm and the continuance of their Dominion hath been long Some attribute the excellency of their Government to their severity in punishments and their bounty in rewards yet though these add something yet these are but the least part The Dominions of Spain are many and scattered at a very great distance round about the Globe on both sides the Line within and without the Tropicks yet all these are subjected to one supream Judicatory and are tolerably governed and by a great deal of policy have been kept together till of late France indeed is stronger because divided into thirty Provinces it 's united in one Vicinity and subject to one Monarch Yet in these vast Dominions and great Empires the union of their many parts so distant did depend not only upon ordinary means but some extraordinary acts of Divine Providence From all this it 's evident that by division co-ordination subordination the supream power of one Nation nay of many Nations may be diffused through the whole Body so as to animate it and reach every part even the remotest section 12 Yet it may be objected that all the Members of a National Church can never meet together in one place and Assembly It 's true they cannot neither is it needful Joshua called and assembled all Israel when yet none but their Elders their Heads their Officers their Judges were called and convented Josh. 23.2 Upon which place Masius thus comments Cum dictum esset omnem Israelem fuisse convocatum ipsa deinde universitas ad eos deducitur qui populum omnem repraesentabant So that all Israel met in their Representative Thus David thus Solomon did use to convocate all Israel As our State hath its Wittena Gemot the Parliament which Cambden calls Pananglium so a National Church may have a general Assembly to represent the whole And this may be so composed as to be an abridgement and contraction of the quintessence of the wisdom piety and learning of a National Church This is a most excellent way for a Community to act by This may be both the terminus à quo ad quem of all these publick acts which are of weight and general concernment By this the Nomothetical Power is exercised to this by Appeal the highest causes are brought and finally determined yet here it 's to be observed that a Representative of the whole is not the whole properly but synecdochically and an Instrument whereby the whole doth so act yet if any thing be done amiss in a former particular Assembly the whole may correct it by a latter 2. That if the Constitution of a general Representative be right and the Members thereof duly qualified and act according to their qualification there will
sanctified person is a Priest to offer spiritual Sacrifice to God. Yet this doth not make any such person a Minister and publick Officer of Christ who must sequester himself from worldly business more than other men to tend his Calling to which he is consecrated and solemnly devoted With this distinction agrees that of the Clergy and Laity Whence the name Clerus the Clergy for the Ministry should have its original is uncertain The people of Israel sanctified and consecrated unto God were call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lot or Inheritance of God and the Priests and Ministers were the eminent party of this Lot and people For the people as distinct from the Pastours are called the Clergy Lot or Heritage of God 1 Pet. 5.3 in which it cannot be proper to the Ministers It 's true that the first Officer made by the Church after that Christ was glorified was made by Lot For the Lot that is Cleros fell upon Matthias Acts 1.26 From whence some think the system of Presbyters and Deacons were called the Clergy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signify one made and an Officer by Lot. As for Laity we find often in the Old Testament the people as distinct from the Priests and Levites called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Laity The Apostle and seventy Disciples were distinguished from the rest of the Disciples and Believers The Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastours and Teachers were different orders from the rest of the Church The twenty four Elders which signifie the Priests and Levites divided into orders by Lot were distinct from the four Beasts that is the main body of the Church but these are days of confusion and disorder Every one will be a Prophet and a Teacher either presuming upon their gifts yet scorning to engage themselves for the service of Christ in the poor and much despised Ministery or pretending blasphemously to the Spirit which God never gave them There is another distinction of Subjects in Nobiles Plebaeos Some are Noble some of a lower Form and Rank Nobilis is any Gentleman well descended Yet there is a difference inter Nobilem Generosum for though Omnis Generosus sit Nobilis yet Omnis nobilis non est Generosus because Generosus is not only one well born but also one vertuous In this respect the word of a Gentleman is more than the word of a Nobleman nay than the word of a King yet Nobility with us is taken more strictly and is given to none under a Baron and Peer of the Kingdom which hath right of suffrage in Parliament as one of the House of Lords The ancient Nobility of England is much diminished and decayed and many of their Estates alienated and the late Barons created by Patent do much obscure them and if these as Barons have their suffrage in the House of Lords by vertue of their Honour and not their Vertue and Wisdom I do not see how the Parliament should be Wittena Gemott the Meeting of Wise Men. It were wisdom by some strict Law to limit Jus Nobilitandi unto Vertue and Wisdom For Honours should be conferred rarely and upon merit and worth for they have great priviledges which should not be made so common and prostituted to the Lust and Ambition of every one that can pay for them The subjects of lower Rank if Freeholders have also their priviledges and one principal is a power to Elect the Knights of the County to represent in Parliaments There be other accidental differences of less moment which I pass by section 14 After these distinctions follows a division of the whole body of the Subjects into parts and this is necessary especially in respect of the Administration For without an orderly division the subjects cannot be well governed Israel was divided into Tribes Tribes into Families Families into Housholds Housholds into Persons Thus they were divided and according to this order Achan was discovered Josh. 7.16 17 18. and they had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heads of their Tribes and their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heads of their Hundreds as Masius upon the place observes The Romans were also divided in Tribus Tribus in Curias and after these we read of Centurias and Decurias We read that Alfred divided England into Counties Counties into Hundreds the Hundreds into Allotments In some Counties we find Ridings and Wapentakes yet Sir Henry Spelman under the word Hundreds understands by Wapentake an Hundred which in the Welsh is called Cantreda where he adds that the Counties were divided into Tithings Rapes and Laths and Hundreds were divided into Tithings and Friberges Upon this division made it 's said that Justice was administred with that ease exactness and severity that any man's goods might at any time be secure in any place Yea they might hang golden Bracelets in the High-way-side and in open view and none durst meddle with them To this head belongs the numbring the people by pole enrowling their Names and Estates without which Taxations cannot be justly imposed The end of this distribution was to reduce the people into a certain order according to which the equal parts were to co-ordinate one with another as Counties with Counties Hundreds with Hundreds so that one had no Jurisdiction over another The unequal were less or greater and were subordinate the less to the greater which had Jurisdiction over the less and all the parts were subject to the whole This was necessary for Judicial proceedings that Actions in Law might proceed according to the subordination of Courts For anciently with us Actions did commence in the Courts held by the Lords of the Mannors if the cause were too high or could not there be determined or Justice had Appeal was made to the Hundred Court from thence to the County Court from thence to the King's Court. In the word Comitatus Sir Henry Spelman observes this was the ancient Order and thinks it an abuse and great disorder that in our days every petty Business and Cause is brought into the King's Court at Westminster What the Division of this Nation was under the Romans is not so well known except we may conjecture of it by the ancient Division of the Provinces and the Cathedral Seas and Diocesses which much differ from these of latter times Cambden finds some divisions of England in the time of the Romans yet they are not clear and certain Under the Saxons he finds several divisisions 1. Some according to certain proportions of Lands 2. He makes the Heptarchy an argument that it was divided into seven parts At length he concludes his political Division with that of Counties which he as Sir Henry Spelman ascribes to the King Alfred But I have read that it was thus divided before his time and this is more probable because the Myrrour informs us of Counties and of Counties before there were any Saxon Kings Vt subditi section 15 distinguuntur sic distincti dividuntur educantur
Dignity or Honour without any Power The nature of it consists in Power which hath several branches concerning which he relates the Opinion and Judgment of the Philosopher of Historians of the writers of Politicks of Lawyers and in the end delivers his own mind and reduced them to certain Heads in this manner Iura majestatis sunt Majora Defensionis Gubernationis in Minora de aerario colligendo Legibus condendis Magistratibus constituendis The first division is taken from the inequality of these Prerogatives and Rights The second he seems to ground upon these words That our King may judge us and go out before us and fight our Battels 1 Sam. 8.20 Where to Judge seems to signifie to Govern by Law and Officers to go out before us and fight our Battels presupposeth in his Judgment the power of the Militia To these he adds other two concerning the ordering of Religion and Coining of Money Under these general Heads he reduceth many other particulars and so proceeds to handle 1. the greater 2. The less Prerogatives severally and that largely This with the salving of some doubts and confuting some Errours is the Scheme and substance of the whole Treatise divided into three several Books section 8 Leaving every one to his own method I will with submission to better Judgment make bold to deliver my own Majestas est Realis quae potest rempublicam Constituere abolere mutare reformare Personalis quae agit cum exteris De Bello Pace Per Foedera Legationes suis circa divina religionem ordinando humanae leges ferendo exequendo This though not exact may serve the turn and in some measure declare the several branches of this great Power which in it self is but one yet hath many acts and the same different in respect of several and different Objects and Subjects I only mention the chief Heads to which the rest may be reduced for the better and more distinct understanding of it I will more particularly explain my self 1. Therefore Majesty is Reall Personal Real is in the Community and is greater than Personal which is the power of a Common-wealth already constituted For as you have heard before this form of a Common-wealth is virtually in it before it be constituted and their consent is the very foundation of it And this consent whether mediate or immediate tacit or express is so necessary that though a people be conquered yet the Victor cannot govern them as men without their consent Nay more when God designed immediately first Saul then David yet the election and consent of the people did concur with and follow upon the Divine Designation As this Real Majesty is a Power to model a State so it s always inherent and can never be separated insomuch that when a form of Government is dissolved or there shall be a failer of Succession the Power of the Soveraign doth divolve unto them by the law of nature or rather it was always in the people As this Community hath the power of constitution so it hath of dissolution when there shall be a just and necessary cause Hence appears the mistake of Junius Brutus Buchanon Heno and others when they say Ejus est destituere Cujus est constituere if they meant it of the multitude and body of the Subjects as Subjects under a form of Government it can only be true of a Community where they have just and necessary cause Subjects as Subjects cannot do it because of their Subjection and Obligation whereas the Community as a Community is free from any Obligation to any particular Form either from the Laws of God Natural or Positive or from their own Consent or Oaths And though the People in this consideration are bound both by the Natural and Positive Laws of God to constitute a Government if they can yet they are not bound to this Form or that Another Act of this Majesty in the Community is when they see it necessary and just and they have not only Power but Opportunity to do it to alter the Form of the Government this Act as with us is above the Power of a Parliament which may have Personal yet cannot have this Real Majesty For a Parliament doth necessarily presuppose a Form of Government already agreed upon whereby they are made the Subject of Personal Soveraignity Therefore they cannot alter or take away the cause whereby they have their being nor can they meddle with the fundamental Laws of the Constitution which if it once cease they cease to be a Parliament If the Government be dissolved and the Community yet remains united the People may make use of such an Assembly as a Parliament to alter the former Government and constitute a new but this they cannot do as a Parliament but considered under another Notion as an immediate Representative of a Community not of a Common-wealth And thus considered the Assembly may constitute a Government which as a Parliament cannot do which always presupposing the Constitution as such can act only in and for the administration That Community is wise which doth and happy which can keep their Majesty so due unto them as to limit their personal Soveraigns so as not to suffer them to take it from them and assume it to themselves section 9 As there is a real so there is a personal Majesty so called because it 's fixed in some Persons who are trusted with the exercise of it and may and many times do forfeit to God and in some cases forfeit to the Community or the People for when it is said it may be forfeited to the People we must understand that the People is not Plebs the meanest and the lowest rank and but a part of the Community but the whole Community it self as a Community otherwise we may lay the Foundation of all kinds of Tumults Confusions Seditions and Rebellions The Person or Persons trusted with the Majesty and Power are bound to seek the good of the whole People and for that end they are trusted with it and no otherwise Hence the saying Suprema lex salus populi esto The Acts of this Power which it hath a right to exercise are many and that in respect of those without or those within the Common-wealth For agit cum exteris it dealeth and acteth with those without This is not the first but rather the last kind of acting It ariseth from the relation which it hath to other States with which it may have some society though it hath no dependance upon it The Rules of this Acting as it respects themselves and the States with whom they deal are the Laws of Nations Yet the particular Laws of every several State may determine the Rules according to which it will act with or against another State. Because one State may wrong or benefit or strengthen and help another hence it comes to pass that sometimes there is a cause of War. For when by Ambassadours or other
Politica Sacra Civilis Or A Model of Civil and Ecclesiastical GOVERNMENT WHEREIN Besides the positive Doctrine concerning STATE and CHVRCH in general Are debated the principal Controversies of the TIMES concerning the CONSTITUTION OF THE State and Church OF ENGLAND Tending to Righteousness Truth and Peace By GEORGE LAWSON Rector of More in the County of Salop. The Second Edition LONDON Printed for J.S. and are to be Sold by T. Goodwin at the Maidenhead over against St. Dustans Church in Fleet-street 1689. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Reader IN the time of our divisions and the execution of God's Judgments upon the three Nations I set my self to inquire into the causes of our sad and woful condition and to think of some Remedies to prevent our Ruine Whilst I was busie in this search I easily understood that the Subject of our Differences was not only the State but the Church This gave occasion to peruse such Authors as write of Government and to study the Political part of the Holy Scriptures wherein I found many things concerning the Constitution the Administration the Corruption the Conversion and Subversion of Civil States and Kingdoms with much of Church-Discipline There I observed certain Rules of Government in general and some special and proper to Civil or else to Ecclesiastical Polities All these according to my poor Ability I reduced to Method and applyed them to our own Church and State severally I further took notice of our principal differences both Civil and Ecclesiastical and did freely deliver mine own Judgment concerning the particular parties and their Opinions yet so that I endavoured to be of no Party as a Party And tho' in some things I differ from them yet it was not out of singularity or an humour of opposition but out of an unfeigned desire of Truth which in many things I found so evident that whosoever should not acknowledge it must needs be wilful and blinded with partiality or prejudice Whilst I go on in this work I easily perceived that as our sins and impenitency brought God's Judgments upon us so our ignorance and errours in matters of Government with prejudice partiality pride obstinacy and want of charity were the causes of our divisions which gave great advantage to our Enemies and Foreign Polititians who as formerly so now especially at this time fear our union and agreement more than ever because we are become a Warlike Nation and furnished with Gallant Men both by Sea and Land therefore their great Work is to continue our Differences amongst our selves as subservient to their Interest These causes once discovered the Remedies were obvious if men were in any capacity to make use of them For sincere repentance and a real reformation private and publick with the punishment of crying sins are very effectual to avert God's Judgments And to renounce our Errours to be informed in the Truth to lay aside all pride partiality prejudice obstinacy self-interest to put on humility and charity which is the bond of perfection and to let the peace of God rule in our hearts are the only way to quench the fire of Contention and firmly to cement us together Yet though good men may propose clear truths dispel the mists of Errour perswade to repentance and pray yet there seems to be little hope of peace and settlement For after so many fearful Judgments executed upon us and severe admonitions given us from Heaven pride covetousness injustice oppression malice cruelty and abominable hypocrisie continue and nothing is reformed This is the reason why God's hand is stretched out still many persons have suffered many great Families have been ruined many feel God's heavy hand to this day but who shall suffer most and last no man knows Men of the same English Blood and of the same Protestant Profession continue obstinate in their Errors rigid and high in their Opinions resolved in their different Designs admire their own Models of Government in Church and State will not abate of their Confidence and refuse to recede from their supposed Principles Some are for a boundless Liberty and will not be confined by the rules and dictates of Reason or the common Faith revealed from Heaven these have no Principles but seem to have abandoned not only Christianity but their own reason Some are for Peace yet only upon their own terms though not so reasonable at they should be Some complain they are wrong'd and must be satisfied Others are very high and must be revenged Every party must reign or else they will be Enemies Many men of great Estates and excellent Parts who as yet have suffered little or nothing look on as Strangers and will do nothing whilst Church and State lye a Bleeding ready to breathe out their last And what can be the issue but that either we shall be brought very low made a poor and base people and willing of peace upon very hard terms and yet hardly obtain it or we shall be made a scorn and derision to the Nations round about us a prey unto our Enemies and they who hate us shall rule over us To prevent so sad a condition my humble request to all true hearted English Protestants is seriously to consider 1. What our Condition was before the Scots first entered England with an Army 2. What those things were which then the best and wisest desired to be reformed both in Church and State. 3. What Reformation we are capable of at this present time 4. Where the guilt of so much blood as hath been shed especially in Ireland doth principally lye 5. What our duty is as we are English as we are Christians as we are Protestants which amongst other things is to deliver the Gospel to our Posterity as we received it from our Fathers 6. What may be the most effectual means according to the rules of Reason and Divine Revelation to promote the publick good without respect of Persons or Parties that so no wicked men but onely such as fear God may have cause to rejoyce This is all I thought good by this Epistle to signifie unto thee at the present for the rest referring thee to the Book and remaining Thine to serve in the Lord George Lawson In opus politicum viri clarissimi Georgi Lawsonii popularis mei QVis tandem augustas regnandi digerit artes Et solidam sceptris commodat Author opem Instituit magnas subtilis pagina Gentes Dat populis pacem principibusque fidem Publica privatâ sudantur munia dextrâ Quod multi curant unius ecce labor Tam benè regna locat potuit regnâsse videri Heu major cathedrâ quà m fuit ille suâ Stant secura brevi subnixa Palatia chartâ Nec facilè amoto cardine regna labant Vendicat haec populis leges vim legibus armat Te Themi quae debes plectere sola potes Nil metuas neque jam metuaris Regule demptum est Posse nocere aliis velle nocere tibi Haec succurrisset
Man or Angel or any company yet man cannot Man solitary is very imperfect and like a Body which wants some necessary parts God knows this full well therefore he so orders Multitudes of Vicinities that he inclines them by their very constitution to Society for by it they are not only stronger and more able to defend themselves and provide for their safety but also they are better supplyed with necessaries and commodities what one hath not another hath what one cannot do another can what few are not able to effect many may and all much more But that whereby God is the immediate cause of Society is voluntary consent to which he inclines their hearts when he hath once multiplied them and cast them together This consent whether tacit or express is grounded upon Love and good Affection with an intention to do good and just things one for another according to the work of the eternal Law written in their hearts The accidental original is when by divine Providence many from several Countries are cast together in one Place or part of the Earth and that upon several occasions or for several causes these in time grow familiar and acquainted one with another and for mutual Help Safety Benefit cement into one Body and according to the dictate of natural Reason join in one common Interest this some say was the original of the State of Venice at the first Thus the several distinct Communities upon the division of Languages at Babel had their beginning Thus one part of a Community seeking some new place for their habitation becomes a distinct Community of themselves section 7 The Third thing to be considered is who are Members of a Community To say nothing of Municipal Societies Colonies Plantations Provinces Titular Members who are only Cives honorarii this is a general Rule that after a form of Government once introduced whosoever are Subjects are Cives Members of that Community and continue such though the form of Government be altered or dissolved For there are degrees of them for some are virtualiter diminutè some formaliter plenè some eminenter Cives Members of a Community that is they are either imperfectly or perfectly such The lowest rank is of such as are not sui juris sed sub potestate alienâ free and in their own Power To this form are reduced Women Children Servants Strangers whether sojourning or inhabiting out of their own Common-wealth some kind of Tenants or Vassals do so much depend upon others that they are not competent Members all these are virtually included in others upon whom they depend Formally and fully Members are all such as being Males of full Age Free Independant have the use of Reason and some competent Estate such Freeholders seem to be with us These become such by Birth Election Manumission Or they are Natural Naturalized Being once such they have Jus suffragii in publicis as our Freeholders have a Vote in chusing their Knights for the Parliament and they virtually give their suffrage in that Assembly by their Representatives Eminenter Cives are such who by reason of their Descent Estates Parts Noble Acts are not once Members but somewhat more as being fit for Honour Offices and Places of Power if once a Common-wealth be constructed section 8 There be amongst others three inseparable adjuncts of a Community as a Community Propriety of Goods Liberty of Persons Equality of the Members Propriety there must needs be and the same Absolute and Independent the reason hereof is because what a Man hath justly acquired is his own by the Law of Nature which a Community doth not take away and further there is no dominium eminens as in a Common-wealth there must necessarily be Liberty of Persons there is because every compleat Member is sui juris and no ways bound by the Rules of a Civil supream Power and this is more than can be in a State once constituted wherein this Liberty is bounded by Allegiance and Laws there is Equality for there is no Superiour or Inferiour in respect of Government because there is no Government no Sovereign no Subject all are fellows Et socii quatenus socii sunt aequales inequality of Superiour and Inferiour Civil ariseth from a form of Government which is sometimes Despotical that it is destructive both of Liberty and Propriety This inequality is consistent with an imparity of Birth Parts Estate for Age for this is from Nature or Providence these Civil Societies may be less or greater both in respect of the number of Persons and extent of Place Neither can the certain number of Persons nor the particular bounds of Place be well determined If it be be too large it cannot so well unite if too little it 's insufficient to protect or provide for it self and so falls under the protection of others section 9 This Community Civil considered abstractively and antecedently to a form of Government not yet introduced or upon a dissolution of a former model or upon a failure of Succession in a time doth virtually contain a Supreme Power and hath a Liberty and Right to determine upon what Form they please so that it be good though it 's true that this Power may be taken from them by a Potent Invader or some other way and here it is to be noted that when a Form of Government is altered or dissolved any Community may remain nay under a Government it retains the nature of a Community as the matter and subject of the Common-wealth wherein every Subject must be considered first as Civis a Member of the Community before he can be conceived as subditus a Member of the Common-wealth This stricter Association of a Multitude to make a particular Community doth no way hinder their Society or Communion with other Communities or with all Mankind upon the Earth so far as is possible in things which may add unto their Happiness CHAP. III. Of an Ecclesiastical Community section 1 HItherto of a Community in general and of a Community Civil that which we call Ecclesiastical follows this in opposition to that which we call Temporal and Civil is Spiritual and is such in respect of Religion for as there are matters of this life which concern us as mortals with relation one unto another so there are matters of God spiritual divine and of a far higher allay there is no Nation or People though rude and barbarous but profess some Religion by the observation whereof they acknowledge their dependance upon a superiour Power and Providence far above that of mortal man yet many contrary to the very light of Nature either worshipped that which was not truly God or with the true God a false Deity or the true God alone without any certain rule and direction from Heaven after the invention of men or the suggestion of the Devil of these there have been many Communities which I will no further mention for these were never called Churches or
or land in time of Peace or Warre To these may be referred Heralds Ambassadours publick Agents with the rest which shall be mentioned in the second Book of this Treatise And because he is no Officer which hath not some publick power and this he cannot have of and from himself therefore all Officers are made such by the Soveraign who by granting Commissions and other wayes derives their power unto them And as he gives them power so he may remove them and revoke their power or translate them or call them to account To chuse nominate propose them may be an act of the people or some of them yet to constitute them and give them their political being is an act of Majestie either mediate or immediate And because the personal Soveraign and his Officers cannot do their duty and discharge their places without sufficient maintenance therefore in this respect there is a right to command the purse For as they say he that bears the sword must have the purse And if there be not a sufficient standing Revenue and Treasury determined in the constitution the Soveraign must have a power to raise monies to defray the publick necessary charges Hence that Vniversale eminens dominium of Majesty in every State so much mentioned in the Authors of Politicks The reason of this is clear in the very light of nature that the people maintain their Governours because the benefit of the Government redounds unto them according to that of the Apostle For this cause pay you tribute also for they are Gods Ministers attending continually upon this very thing Render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom Rom. 13.6 7. It 's true that Soveraigns may have their private purse therefore some distinguish inter aerarium fiscum Aerarium is the publick Treasury which is maintained by Tribute Custom and other Impositions and this is to be raised and disposed of by the supream for the preservation of the publick Fiscus as some tell is the Soveraigns private purse whereof he may dispose at will and pleasure This publick propriety presupposeth every mans several propriety and no wayes prejudice it This right is reckoned by some amongst the lesser Prerogatives but there can be no minora Jura Majestatis in proper sense For because Majestas is Maxima potestas therefore all the essential parts and rights are so too section 13 The last is the Power of Jurisdiction whereby Justice is administred and it 's over all persons in all causes both Military Civil and Ecclesiastical so far as they fall under the Soveraigns cognisance Under this Head I comprehend not only the power of those acts of Judgement more strictly so called as Convention Discussion Decision of the cause upon evidence of the merit or demerit but the Execution To which last may be referred all penalties as well capital as not capital with Dispensations in Judgement suspension of Execution pardons To this of Jurisdiction also belongs all reservations of certain causes the receiving last appeals the final determinations and irrevocable sentences By vertue of this Power Commissions for judicial proceedings Courts the order of trial from first to last all calling of Assemblies general and provincial Civil and Ecclesiastical are determined From all this it 's evident that all Jurae Majestatis may be reduced to the Legislative Judicial and Executive Power if we understand Judicial and Executive in a larger sense than they are commonly taken And here it 's to be noted that Majesty Real is before and above all Majesty personal And by personal Majesty or personal Soveraign I do not mean only one single person as a Monarch but all Aristocratical and Polyarchical Soveraigns who are many Physically but considered as one person morally as joyntly invested with one Power Soveraign section 14 Thus far concerning the nature of Majesty after which follow some Epithets given to Majesty by Authors to signifie the properties thereof These are either included in the essence or flow from it For 1. It 's absolute and so Arbitrary Absolute soluta legibus It cannot be bound by any Lawes nor judged because the Soveraign is the Lawgiver himself and the Fountain of Jurisdiction He may bind himself by Oath to govern and judge according to the Lawes not to be governed or judged by the Lawes Yet no Soveraign personal is free from the Obligation of the natural and positive Lawes of God in force and how far he is inferiour to the real Soveraign who is subject to the same Lawes I will not here discuss 2. It 's universal not only in respect of all acts of Government but of all persons within that Territory For it must be coadequate to the whole body which it must act and animate it 's neither greater nor less No persons things or actions within can be exempted from this Power nor can it extend to any thing person action without but per Accidens 3. It s supream not in respect of God nor of the power of other States but in respect of the power of Fathers Masters Officers Corporations and Societies within every several State. For by vertue of Majesty it is that Soveraigns are equal in respect of themselves superiours in respect of their Subjects and inferiours unto God whose servants and subjects they are trusted with a particle of his power and accountable unto him 4. It 's Independent yet not in respect of God upon whom all Soveraigns do not only chiefly but wholly depend but in respect of all subordinate Powers within but coadequate to them without For all power civil within the Territory is derived from Majesty Fiduciary Princes therefore as such are not Soveraigns though they may have the title of Soveraignty yet a Soveraign may be fiduciary for some part of a Country within and part of the Dominions of another Soveraign Neither can the chief Magistrate of a Commonwealth trusted at certain times with the general exercise of the Power be such Protection and Vassalage are conceived by some not to destroy Independency neither doth confederation For though the League between several States as in Switzerland and the united Netherlands Provinces may be strict and Commissioners may be made and trusted with great power in things which concern the several States jointly such the states-General of the Low-Countries be yet this is thought to be no diminution of Majesty For it remains entire in the several Republicks 5. It s indivisible for though it hath several branches which may be distinguished yet they cannot be separated For if you take away but one much more if you take away more you make it imperfect and essentially defective and insufficient to Govern For as in Philosophy Essentia est indivisibilis so in Politicks Majestas est indivisibilis sic Majestatis Jura sunt inseparabilia As these Rights are indivisible in respect of themselves so they are in respect of the Subject For divide and separate some of
of the same and Scotland vanquished In all our sad divisions which happened from first to last and are not wholly yet ended to this day Two things are worthy the serious consideration of wiser men than I am 1. What party for time past hath been most faithful to the English interest 2. What course is to be taken for to setle us more firmly for time to come For the first we must understand what the English interest is The interest of England is twofold Civil and Ecclesiastical for we are English men and Christians The Civil interest is salus populi Anglicani there is no doubt of that for the peace safety liberty happiness of our dear Country is the end whereat we are all bound both by the written and natural Laws of God to aim The interest Ecclesiastical is the Protestant Religion and the perservation of the substance thereof Prelacy Presbytery Independency much less Antipaedobaptism and other Sects are not essential but accidental to it This being the interest of England we cannot judge of the faithfulness either of the King 's or Parliaments party by the quality of the persons of either side For there were both good and bad on both sides who had their several grounds of adhering to this or that party and their several ends and neither their grounds nor ends good Nor can any man justifie all proceedings and actings of either side both had their errours Nor must we judge of them according to their protestation for both could not by such contrary means attain the same end as both sides protested to maintain the King the Parliament the liberty of the Subject the Laws and the Protestant Religion Neither in this particular must the Laws of the English Constitution and Administration be the rule for both acted not only above the Laws but contrary to the latter of them at least For no Laws could warrant the Parliament to act without the King or the King without the Parliament much less was it justifiable that there should be in one Kingdom two not only different but contrary commands supreme and from different heads and persons This was directly against the very nature of all Common-Wealths which have only one first mover and one indivisible supreme power to animate and act them section 19 The Rule therefore must be the Laws of God as above the Laws of Men and we must consider according to these divine Rules what was the state of the Controversie the justice and equity of the cause made evident and the just necessity of doing that which was done Neither must we look at the cause only as just in it self but also how it 's justly or unjustly maintained For men may use such means as shall never reach the just end intended but also such as may be destructive of the cause it self and raze the very foundation of it Besides all this before a perfect judgment can be made the secret counsels contrivances designs hidden actings of the chief Actors should be known yet these many times lie hid and are not known or if known yet to very few and some of these few cannot found the bottom Many things are charged upon the King as acting against the English interest as Civil as that he dissolves Parliaments without just and sufficient cause that he intermits Parliaments for sixteen years together that having signed the Petition of Right he acts contrary to it imposeth Ship-money calls a Parliament signs the Act of Continuance deserts it calls the Members from it calls another Parliament at Oxford challengeth a negative Voice to both the Houses raiseth a War against it though he was informed that this tended to the dissolution of the Government that whosoever should serve to assist him in such Wars are Traitors by the fundamental Laws of this Kingdom and have been so adjudged in two Acts of Parliament 11 Richard 2. and 1 Henry 4. And that such persons ought to suffer as Traitors These with other particulars charged upon him seem directly contrary unto the civil Interest of the Kingdom Again to Marry a Popish Lady upon Articles directly contrary to the Laws of England and the Protestant Religion established by Law to entertain Twenty eight Popish Priests with a Bishop to tolerate Mass in the Court to receive Three Agents from the Pope one after another Pisano Con Rosetti to maintain the Queen-mother to engage the generality of the People of England to retard the relieving of Ireland to admit divers of the Popish Irish Murtherers and Rebels into his Army to call our English Forces sent to relieve the poor distressed Protestants of Ireland out of that Nation and employ them against the Parliament of England to suffer some of the Heads of the Irish Rebels to be so near his Person to endeavour to bring in the Duke of Lorrain with his Forces into this Nation to contract with the Irish Rebels upon condition to enjoy their Religion to furnish him with Ten thousand Irish Rebels to strengthen his party in England with divers other acts like unto these is conceived to be not only inconsistent with but plainly destructive of the English Protestant Interest And if this be true it must needs be so Yet it might be said that the King endeavoured to maintain his own regal Power the Episcopacy and Liturgy established by Law and that he did not oppose the Parliament but a seditious party in the Parliament and other Sectaries whose principles were destructive both of all civil and also Ecclesiastical Government and without the judgment of able Lawyers and learned Divines he did not undertake the War either against Scotland or England or any other It 's true that of those who adhered to the King and liked not the Parliaments proceeding there were some consciencious persons who judged the King an absolute Monarch and did not like many things done by that party yet they thought it the Duty of Subjects to suffer and that it was no ways lawful to resist But the Casuists say That Ignorantia excusat a tanto non a toto their Ignorance might make their Crime less yet no ways free them from all Guilt It was not Invincible they might easily have known that the King of Enland was no absolute Monarch seeing he could not impose any Subsidy upon the Subject nor make or repeal a Law without the Parliament neither could he by his Letters or personal Command revoke the Judgment of any Court. And though they might be Civilians or read Foreign Writers which take our Kings for absolute Sovereigns yet no ancient Lawyers no Parliaments did declare them to be such Nay they might have known that they themselves obeying the King 's personal Commands disobeyed him as King and that serving him in the Wars they were guilty of High Treason against the Kingdom and against the King's Crown and Dignity Of these Royalists some have been high and cruel against their Brethren the Parliamenteers and have censured them
Scot and the Independent began to clash So the state of the controversie seemed to be altered For both these Parties at the first professed themselves enemies only to Popery and arbitrary Government which all true English Protestants were bound to oppose and by the Laws of the Land might justly do it But neither Presbytery nor Independency could be for our true interest but rather against it The truth is they were not unanimously resolved what they should build up though they agreed well enough in pulling down And surely it 's not wisdom to pull down and raze to the ground an old House which being repaired might serve the turn before they had a new one and the same better ready to set up or rather finished to their hands Yet this was not all the difference between the Parties but after the Conquest of Hambleton and all the Royal party rising and ready to joyn with him yet some of them who were real and cordial and did really joyn together laying aside for the time the difference of Presbytery and Independency in subduing the Adversary were willing to joyn with the King upon certain terms in the Isle of Wight They thought that such an agreement if it might be made was the only way to settle us in peace Others conceived that such an agreement if once made was destructive of all former designs and proceedings and that if the King was guilty of so much blood and other crying sins as the Parliament and especially the Kirk of Scotland had charged them withal then to agree with him was to destroy the English interest and bring innocent blood upon themselves and the Nation Therefore in an order for a solemn Thanksgiving made by the Kirk one particular mercy to be remembred in that Service was that the Treaty with the King in the Isle of Wight did not take effect From this fearful guilt if justly charged upon the King and his party some would dare to conclude That they who attempted to make an agreement with the Enemy so guilty could not be so faithful as those who refused all such reconciliation and endeavoured to take away all causes of future danger Yet if these latter after a full and final ruine of the malignant party as they called them should not proceed impartially to reduce the Government to the primitive Constitution and labour to settle the Protestant Religion for the substance and the good Laws of the Common-wealth they might prove more faithful in destroying than in building and laying the Foundation of our future happiness For to pull down one arbitrary Power to erect another and neglecting the substance of the Protestant Religion to protect Sectaries and erect new models of their own brain can be no act of fidelity I will not enter upon particulars nor reflect upon any person or persons for my intelligence is not so perfect as to know the secret designs and hidden motions of several parties which if I did know I might the better regulate mine own judgment in this point though I could not satisfie others Therefore I will leave all to the judgment of the Eternal God and pray for future peace and humbly request him for to bless and prosper all such as with an upright heart have endeavoured and do still labour to establish a wise and just Government And I further desire all those whom God hath preserved and blessed with great success to make a right use of God's mercies lest in the end they suffer the same or like judgments as God by them hath executed upon others for their sins Though it be material to know who have been most faithful and by whose means under God for the present we enjoy peace and the Gospel yet it may be of more moment and also more useful to take notice of the errours mistakes and miscarriages both of Parliament and Army from first to last For by the knowledge hereof we gain some advantage and wise men may easily understand how to avoid the like and to prevent such miseries for time to come as we have suffered in time past 2. To observe God's proceedings and the order which he hath observed in all our confusions and the end whereat he aims and the duties he expects after so many judgments executed 3. To consider what Families and persons God hath punished in these sad times and for what sins and if we after so great success fall into the same sins we must expect the like punishments 4. Not to mention the great alterations in the Dominions of Spain Turkey China of late days let 's consider in brief the strange works and proceedings of the Almighty with us in this corner of the world To this end let us take a short view of the Wars 2. The Parliaments 3. The King. 4. The Civil Government 5. The Church 6. Our present condition 1. The Wars are Civil or Foreign Civil in England Ireland Scotland The Royal Standard of England marcheth into Scotland where an Army is ready to oppose Yet no blow given no blood shed After this we see two potent Armies in England and only a little skirmish at the first a pacification is made the National League concluded both the Armies disbanded But after this no man fearing it a bloody massacre of two hundred thousand in the space of one month besides many thousand slain and butchered afterwards begins the Tragedy in Ireland Forces are sent to revenge that blood and thousands of the bloody Irish are sacrificed to expiate the former murthers At length a Civil War is commenced in England the same very bloody continues long many thousands are slain the Sword rageth in every corner the cry goes up to Heaven The Parliament desiring not only to defend it self but to relieve bleeding Ireland is brought very low is ready to submit calls in the Scot recovers prevails beats the King's party in the field reduceth all their Garrisons and obtains a total Victory in England Ireland almost lost is recovered again first in field-battel then by reducing all their Garrisons And in that Kingdom from first to last millions are slain the ancient great Families cut off and the Land for the greatest part made desolate which was a dreadful judgment of the most just Judge of Heaven and Earth Scotland where the fire began to smoke at first scaped long at last felt the bottoms and cruelty of a bloody War managed against them by Montross who at first was one of their Covenantiers Yet this fire is quenched They invade England twice and are twice scornfully foiled and shattered to pieces in England and at length wholly subdued by our English Forces in Scotland and remain subject to our Power to this very day Never so many fearful Judgments executed never so many bloody Wars in so short a time can we read of in all our former Histories Before these Wars are ended they beat the Netherlanders the most potent people by Sea in the World. 2. Parliaments
of the same much and dangerously corrupted many things may be lawfully done which under a well-setled Government will prove very unlawful For though where there is no outward form of ordinary Vocation and Ordination established that which Volkelius maintains against Swinglius for one that is vitae inculpatae idoneus ad docendum to take upon him the charge of a Minister and do Christ what service he is able may be lawful Yet to do so where there is an Eutaxie in a setled Church must be unjust because amongst other things such an one shall trangress the Rule of Decency and Order 14. Though Christ and his Apostles did deliver unto us all the essential and fundamental Rules of Church-Government and we find them in the Scripture yet many accidentals were left to sanctied reason to be directed to the general Rules And in this respect we must make use of our Christian prudence both in modelling and reforming of Christian Churches But if we stand upon these Rules of prudence in accidentals and circumstantials as of Divine Institution and Obligation we cannot be excused 15. Though there may be several orderly ways and means to attain the chief end of Church-discipline yet those are the best which most observe the essentials of Government and the general Rules and are most effectually conducing to that end 16. Seeing therefore there may be several and different means in respect of accidentals and they severally may attain and reach the end it 's the duty of us all 1. To unite our selves in the bond of Charity 2. Observe the fundamental and essential Rules of Government which are clearly known 3. With a meek humble and pure heart seek out such particulars as are not yet made clear unto us and wherein we may differ for the present till at length we may satisfie one another CHAP. XIV Of the extent of a Particular Church section 1 AFter the examination of the several Titles of such as challenge the supream Power of the Keys and the declaration of mine own Judgment the third thing proposed was the Extent of a particular Church That there is a supream power of the Keys that there is a primary subject of this power that this power is in the Church that it 's disposed in this Church in a certain order and manner in one or more purely or mixtly few if any will deny But that it is disposed in the whole Church after the manner of a free State so that every particular Christian Community is the primary subject of it is not so easily granted though I conceive it as many other worthy and excellent men do to be truth delivered unto us by Christ and his Apostles Yet let this be agreed upon yet there is another difference concerning the bounds and extent of this Church This is not the proper place I confess to handle this particular For extent presupposeth a Church constituted and in being and it 's an accident of the same therefore pars subdita which is the second integral part as of a State so of a Church should first have been spoken of In this point I find a threefold difference for some extend this Church which is the primary subject of the power of the Keys very far and make it to be the universal Church of all Nations Others confine it to be a single Congregation A third party will admit of a Diocess or a Province or a Nation and be contented to stay there This Question if we understand it presupposeth Union and Communion There is an Union and also a Communion in Profession and Worship an Union Mystical an Union in Government external which we call Discipline An Union in Profession and Worship there is and ought to be of all Orthodox Christians in the World. For they all profess the same Faith and worship the same God in Christ hear the same Word celebrate the same Sacraments It 's true they do not neither can they so meet in one place as to partake of the same individual Ordinances for there is no necessity of any such thing Yet whosoever shall refuse to joyn in the same individual Worship of the same God in Christ according to the Gospel when it may be done as when one converseth with Christians in some remote parts he cannot be free from Schism For all refusal of Communion with Christ's Saints and Servants without just and sufficient cause is a Schism So if any party or persons shal not admit of other Christians only upon this account because they agree not with them in some accidentals which are neither necessary nor in themselves considered conducing to Salvation they must needs be Schismaticks For any Separation which hath not sufficient and evident warrant from some Divine Precept is unlawful There is a mystical Union of all true Believers for there is one body one spirit one hope of calling one Lord one faith one baptism one God and Father of all who is above all through all in all Ephes. 4.4 5 6. There is an Union for Government external of this the question is to be understood And this Union is so necessary in every Common-wealth whether Civil or Ecclesiastical that it 's no Common-wealth if it be not one and so one that every particular person especially in a Church be subject to one and the same supream independent Judicatory Concerning the universal Extent there are as you heard before two Opinions They first make one Church the Church of Rome to have power over all other Churches and invests the Bishop of that Church with an universal power of Legislation and Jurisdiction this is a Popish Errour indeed The second Opinion subjects all particular Churches to the universal whereof they are but parts this is no Popery nor do the present Popes and Church of Rome like it This universal Church cannot act but by a general Representative and such a general Representative there yet never was since the Church was enlarged from Sea to Sea and from the River unto the World's end Such a general Council and Court either standing or occasional few I think do expect As for the Councils of Nice Chalcedon Ephesus Constantinople they were no such Councils nor general in proper sence they were confined within the Roman Empire and if well examined they left out several parts of that too The meaning therefore of some who submit particular Churches to the universal is this That so many several parts and particular Churches as can combine in one Synod may in some extraordinary cases and difficulties especially if they be of general concernment submit unto such a Synod as being of greater authority and ability if rightly constituted Yet if these particular Churches have their proper independent Judicatories this submission is but a voluntary act and rather like a Reference or Transaction than any Appeal When and in what cases such References are fit to be made I will not here enquire Besides these Universalists if we