of Parliament made by powerful Commands and either through fear or errour can make that which is against the Will and contrary to the Law of God to be no sin or free the sinner from God's wrath Or do you think that I stand against so many well-deserving Gentlemen of such means and friends and power as you are only for covetousness to gain the Rent of a few houses and no longer than the remainder of a poor old man's life Surely not any one that had but the least inch of worldly wisdom would do so For besides my pains and labour I have spent already and shall spend yet before the Church shall lose them perhaps ten times more than my span-long life shall gain by them And what of that I have done my best when I have lost them Et liberavi animam meam and shall leave to God Causam suam Let him arise and defend his own Cause but let men take heed how they strive against God or seek to obstruct his Service and cause the diminution of his Worship which I hope your Piety will never suffer any one of you to do And I shall pray for you all and assuredly remain Your affectionate friend and servant Gryffith Ossory THE CONTENTS of the Chapters Chap. I. AN Introduction shewing the occasion of this Treatise and what the Author doth therein Page 1. Chap. II. Of Sacriledge what it is how manifold it is and how it hath been alwayes punished and never escaped the Hand of the Divine Vengeance p. 4. Chap. III. The divers sorts and kinds of Sacrilegious persons And first of those that do it under colour of Law and upon the pretence of Reformation whereby they suppose their Sacriledge to be no Sacriledge at all p. 15. Chap. IV. Of two sorts of Sacrilegious persons that rob the Church of Christ without any colour or pretence of Law but indeed contrary to all Law p. 21. Chap. V. The words of King David in the 2 Sam 7. 1 2. and their divisions When they were spoken And how or in what sense Sitting and Standing are commonly taken in the Scriptures And of the two Persons that are here conferring together p. 27. Chap. VI. What the Rest and peaceable times of King David wrought The Prince's authority in causes Ecclesiastical and how they should be zealous to see that God should be justly and religiously served p. 31. Chap. VII The Objections of the Divines of Lovain and other Jesuites against the former Doctrine of the Prince his Authority â—ver the Bishops and Priests in Causes Ecclesiastical answered And the foresaid truth sufficiently proved by the clear testimony of the Fathers and Councils and divers of the Popes and Papists themselves p. 37. Chap. VIII That it is the Office and Duty of Kings and Princes though not to execute the Function and to do the Office of the Bishops and Priests yet to have a special care of Religion and the true Worship of God and to cause-both the Priests and Bishops and all others to discharge the duties of God's Service And how the good and godly Emperours and Kings have formerly done the same from time to time p. 41. Chap. IX Of the chiefest Parts and Duties of Kings and Princes which they are to discharge for the maintenance of God s Service and the True Religion and the necessity of Uathedral-Churches and Chappels for the people of God to meet in for the Worship and Service of God p. 46. Chap. X. The Answer to the Two Objections that the Fanatick-Sectaries do make 1. Against the necessity And 2ly against the Sanctity or Holiness of our Material Churches which in derision and contemptuously they call Steeple-houses p. 53. Chap. XI The Answer to another Objection that our Fanatick-Sectaries do make against the Beauty and Glorious Adorning of our Churches which we say should be done with such decent Ornaments and Implements as are besitting the House and Service of God The Reasons why we should Honour God with our goods and how liberal and bountiful both the Fathers of â—â—â— Old Testament and the Christians of the New Testament were to the Church of God p. 58. Chap. XII The Answer to another Objection that our brain-sick Sectaries do make for the utter overthrow of our Cathedrals and Churches as being so sowly stained and profaned with Popish Superstitions and therefore being no better than the Temples of Baal they should rather be quite demolished than any wayeâ— adorned and beautified p. 63. Chap. XIII That it is a part of the Office and Duty of Pious Kings and Princes as they are God's Substitutes to have a care of his Church to see that when such Cathedrals and Churches are builâ— and beautified as is fitting for his Service there be Able Religious and Honest painful and faithful Bishops placed in those Cathedrals that should likewise see Able and Religious Ministers placed in all Parochial Churches and all negligent unworthy and dissolute men Bishops or Priests reproved corrected and amended or removed and excluded from their places and dignities if they amend not p. 67. Chap. XIV Of the maintenance due to the Bishops and Ministers of God's Church how large and liberal it ought to be p. 75. Chap. XV. That the payment of Tythes unto the Church is not a case of Custom but of Conscience Whenas the tenth by a Divine right is the Teacher's tribute and the very first part of the wages that God appointed to be paid unto his Workmen and therefore that it is as heynous a sin and as foul an offence to defraud the Ministers of this due as it is to detain the meat or money of the labouring-man which is one of the four Crying-sins p. 82. Chap. XVI The Answer to the Choisest and Chiefest Objections that the School of Anabaptists have made and do urge against the payment of Tythes now in the time of the Gospel p. 91. Chap. XVII What the ancient Fathers of the Church and the Councils collected of most Learned and Pious Bishops have left written concerning Tythes And of the three-fold cause that detains them from the Church p. 98. Chap. XVIII Of the second part of the Stipend Wages and Maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel which is the Oblation Donation or Free-wil-offering of the people for to uphold and continue the true service of God and to obtain the blessings of God upon themselves and upon their labours which Donations ought not to be impropriated and alienated from the Church by any means p. 105. Chap. XIX That it is the duty of all Christian Kings and Princes to do their best endevours to have all the Impropriatioâ—s restored to their former Institution to hinder the taking away and the alienation of the Lands Houses and other the Religious Donations of our Ancestors from the Church of Christ and to suppress and 〈◊〉 all the Vnjust and Covetous sâ—ttle customs and frauds that are so generally used and are so derogatory to the service of God from
Where the Puritans place the authority to maintain religion 1 In the Presbytery which have neither right to own it nor discretion to use it and that is either 1. A Consistory of Presbyters or 2. A Parliament of Lay men For 1. These new Adversaries of this Truth that would most impudently take away from Christian Princes the supreamo and immediate authority under Christ in all Ecclesiastical Callings and Causes will needs place the same in themselves and a Consistorian company of their own Faction a whole Volume would not contain their absurdities falsities and blasphemies that they have uttered about this point I will onely give you a taste of what some of the chief of them have belched forth against the Divine Truth of God's Word and the sacred Majesty of Kings Master Calvin a man otherwise of much worth and Calvin in Amos cap. 7. worthy to be honoured yet in this point transported with his own passion calleth those Blasphemers that did call King Henry the eight the supreme Head of this Church of England and Stapleton saith that he handled the King himself Stapl. cont Horn. l. 1. p. 22. with such villany and with so spiteful words as he never handled the Pope more spitefully and all for this Title of Supremacy in Church causes and in his fifty fourth Epistle to Myconius he termed them prophane spirits and mad men that perswaded the Magistrates of Geneva not to deâ—rive themselves of that authority which God hath given them Viretus is more virulent for he How Viretus would prove the temporal Pope as he calleth the King worse then the spiritual Pope resembleth them not to mad men as Calvin did but to white Devils because they stand in defence of the Kings authority and he saith they are false Christians though they cover themselves with the clâ—ke of the Gospel affirming that the putting of all authority and power into the Civil Magistrates hands and making them masters of the Church is nothing else but the changing of the Popedome from the Spiritual Pope into a Temporal Pope who as it is to be feared will prove worss and more tyrannous then the Spirituall Pope which he laboureth to confirme by these three reasons 1 Reason 1. Because the Spiritual Pope had not the Sword in his own hand to punish men with death but was fain to crave the aid of the Secular power which the Temporal Pope needs not do 2. Because the old spiritual Popes had some regard in their dealings of Councils 2 Reason Synods and ancient Canons but the new Secular Popes will do what they list without respect of any Eâ—clesiastical Order be it right or wrong 2 Reason 3. Because the Romish Popes were most commonly very learned but it happeneth oftentimes that the Regal Popes have neither learning nor knowledg in divine matters and yet these shall be they that shall command Ministers and and Preachers what they list and to make this assertion good he affirmeth that he saw in some places some Christian Princes under the title of Reformation to have in ten or twenty years usurped more tyranny over the Churches in their Dominions then ever the Pope and his adherents did in six hundred years All which reasons are but meere fopâ—eries blown up by the black Devil to blast the beauty of this truth for we speak not of the abuse of any Prince to Viretus his scandalous reasons answered justifie the same against any one but of his right that cannot be the cause of any wrong and it cannot be denyed but an illiterate Prince may prove a singular advancer of all learning as Bishop Wickham was no great Scholler yet was he a most excellent instrument to produce abundance of famous Clerks in this Church and the King ruleth his Church by those Laws which through his royal authority are made with the advice of his greatest Divines as hereafter I shall shew unto you yet these spurious and specious pretexts may serve like clouds to T. C. l. 2. p. 411. hide the light from the eyes of the simple So Cartwright also that was our English firebrand and his Disciples teach as Harding had done before that Kings and Princes do hold their Kingdoms and Dominions under Christ as he is the Son of God onely before all Worlds coequal with the Father and not as he is Mediator and Governour of the Church and therefore the Christian Kings have no more to do with the Church government then the Heathen Princes so Travers saith that the Heathen Princes being converted to the saith receive no more nor any further encrease of their power whereby they may deale in Church causes then they had before so the whole pack of the Disciplinarians are all of the same minde and do hold that all Kings as well Heathen as Christian receiving but one Commission and equal Authority immediately from God have no more to do with Church causes the one sort then the other And I am ashamed to set down the railing and the scurrilous speeches of Anthony Gilby Gilby in his admonition p. 69 Knox in his exhortation to the Nobility of Scotland fol. 77. against Hen. 8. and of Knox Whittingham and others against the truth of the King 's lawful right and authority in all Ecclesiastical causes For were it so as Cartwright Travers and the rest of that crew do avouch that Kings by being Christians receive no more authority over Christ his Church then they had before * Which is most false yet this will appear most evident to all understanding men that all Kings as well the Heathens as the Christians are in the first place to see that their people do religiously observe the worship of that God which they adore and therefore much more should Christian Princes have a care to preserve the religion of Jesus Christ For it cannot be denyed but that all Kings ought to preserve their Kingdoms The Gentilee Kings preâ—ervers of religion and all Kingdoms are preserved by the same means by which they were first established and tâ—â—y are established by obedience and good manners neither shall you finde any thing that can beget obedience and good manners but Lawes and Religion and Religion doth naturally beget obedience unto the Lawes therefore most of those Kings that gave Lawes were originally Priests and as Synes ep 126. Vide Arnis part 2. pag. 14. Ad magnas reipubl utilitates retinetur religio in civitatibus Cicero de divin l. 2. Synesius saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Priest and a Prince was all one with them when the Kings to preserve their Laws inviolable and to keep their people in obedience that they might be happy became Priests and exercised the duties of Religion offering sacrifices unto their Gods and discharging the other offices of the Priestly Function as our factious Priests could willingly take upon them the offices of the King or if some of them were not Priests
valley and David 1 Chron. 14. v. 1â— 17. smote them from Gibeon even to Gazer and the fame of David went out into all Lands and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all Nations 2. For the persons that are here conferring together they are said to be 2. The persons deliberating and conferring together David and Nathan the King and the Prophet two great Persons and high Offices that formerly were contained in one Person as Melchisedech was the Priest of the Mâ—st High GOD and King of Salem And as the Poet saith Virgil. l. 3. Rex Anius Rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacerdos And when God divided and distributed these several Offices to several persons he conferred them upon two brothers that is Moses and Aaron that so the King and the Priest might live and love one another like brethren as I have more amply shewed in my Treatise of The Grand Rebellion And so King David here dischargeth that his duty accordingly And so likewise not only the Heathen Kings but also the Jewish Kings the Kings of Israel and all good Christian Kings disdained not the friendly familiarity and The greatest Kings and Princes were most familiar with the Priests Orators and Philosophers conference with their Bishops and Priests especially when they consult and deliberate of Religion or any point that concerns the Worship and Service of God For as King Croesus conferred with Solon the Philosopher and Alexander King of Macedon consulted often with Aristotle and sometimes with Diogenes the Cynick and King Pyrrhus with his dear friend Cineas So Pharaoh King of Egypt called and consulted with his Priests that were the Magicians and deemed the wise men of Egypt when Moses came to treat of God's Service And though Moses appointed 70 men of the choicest gravest and wisest men that could be found of all the Elders of Israel to be the Sanhedrim and as it were a standing Parliament to end all controversies and all the civil affairs of the Kingdom Yet when the Case of Religion came in question and the differences about God's Worship came to be decided neither the Kings of Israel nor the Kings of Juda to whom the principal care and custody of God's Laws and Service was committed did ever commend the same unto the Sanhedrim to be concluded and setled But as King David here calleth and consulteth with Nathan the Prophet about the building of God's House so when Religion was corrupted and the Service of the True God neglected in the time of King Ahab he calleth not the Sanhedrim to rectifie and redress the same but he leaves the same to be determined and adjudged betwixt the Priests of Baal and Elias the true Prophet of the Lord And so did King Asa Jehosaphat 1 Reg. 18. 17 18. 19 20. 2 Chron. 15. 2. 8 c. Mâ—tâ— 2. 4. and Ezechias consulted not with their lay Lords or the Sanhedrim but with Azariah the son of Oded the Prophet and with Esay and the rest of God's Prophets Nay when the Wise men came to inquire for Christ Herod that sought to destroy Him and his Religion inquireth not of any but of the Chief Priests and Scribes Where Christ shâ—uld be born And so all the Wise and Christian Emperours Constantine Theodosius Justinian and the rest as you may find it in Bâ—sebius Socrates Zozomen and other Ecclesiastical Historians had always some special Bishops with whom they conferred and consulted about matters of Religion as Charles the Fifth did with Cassander and Henry the Eighth with Bishop Crammer For they conceived that their Crowns had the greater Lustre when it was in conjunction with the Miter And therefore in no great Councel was the Man of God ever baulked but that they might be sure to serve God before themselves and be assured that while the Church prospered the Bishops directed and they had God and his Messengers amongst them all would go right and be safe and therefore in all or most Courts of Conscience where the Law reached not they thought none so fit as these men of conscience to decide all differences Neither could I ever find that the Church of God was so much pestered with miseries and poisoned with Errors Heresies and Sects or Divisions until the lay Lords and Gentlemen like the Long Parliament neglected their proper Offices to look into the affairs of the Common-wealth and to see Justice and Judgement truly executed among the people and began immittere falcem in alienam messem to thrust their sickles into other mens harvest and to intermeddle with that which concerns them not as Esay 1. 12. The Church of God never became more miserable then when the lay-people undertook to conclude and determine points of Religion to chop and change Articles of Religion and to set down and compose points of faith when the Lord saith Quis requisivit haec Who hath required these things at your hands It is your duty to come into the Temple and to perform the service that David and Nathan the King and the Bishops shall prescribe unto you and to confirm those Articles of Religion and cause them in all things to be observed as the Parliament did in Queen Elizabeth's dayes the 39. Articles of our Religion when they are as those were setled and concluded by the Bishops and the rest of the Clergy in their Convocation for the Lord tells us plainly That the Priests lips should keep knowledge and they that is the people be they what and whom you will Sanâ—edrim of the Jews or Parliament of any other Nation should seek the Law that is the Law of God at his mouth because he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts that is to declare his will and to expound his Laws unto the people But what saith the Lord in this Case when the people be they what you will shall usurpe the Priests Office and begin to make new Orders and Ordinances for the Service of God that never required such things at their hands He tells them plainly You are departed out of the way and you have caused many to stumble at the Law that is by your false glosses and injoyned observations thereof and you have corrupted the Covenant of Levi saith the Lord of Hosts that is you have wronged and quite thrown out the Bishops and Priests from their Offices which is to consult with the King to see God rightly worshipped And therefore saith the Lord I have Malach. 2. 7 8 9. also made you contemptible and base before all the people according as you have not kept my wayes but have been partial in the Law that is by making Religion and my Service like a nose of wax to turn which way you please when as every one should do the duties that belong unto him Curabit praelia Conon CHAP. VI. What the Rest and peaceable times of King David wrought The Prince's authority in causes Ecclesiastical and how they should be zealous to see that
compendious and short that they might not be forgotten for which cause the Ten Commandments are styled decem The Commandments are very short that we should not forget them verba ten words and these ten words are contracted into one word which is but one syllable and all the Commandments of God are comprehended in that one syllable Love For love is the fulfilling of the Law There is no reason we should look that all the inclusive particulars contained in that one word or in those few short precepts should or could be particularly expressed therein But they are alwaies left to be understood and explained by the Pâ—eachers and Commentators As when he saith Thou shalt love the Lord thy God the Sanctifying of the Sabbath you must confess is therein concluded and yet that the Sabbath shall be the seventh day is not therein mentioned So when he saith Thou shalt have none other gods but me the Tythes that are a special means to uphold and further his outward service must of necessity be understood to be therein comprehended though in direct terms the tenth part is not expressed And Further I answer to their fourth Objection That although a Judicial and a Ceremonial consideration may be rendred for the payment of Tythes among the Jews As that equality might be preserved among the tribes of this people that because in the Division of the Land of Canaan the Levites had no part of the Land Moses thought it fit the Tythes which were to be paid to God should be given to them out of every tribe and that would make their estate and maintenance proportionable to the other tribes yet this judicial consideration of paying the Tythes unto the Levites doth no waies infringe or weaken the equity and morality of this precept for the perpetual payment of the Tythes to Christ and his Ministers to further and uphold the service of God And besides the equity and morality of this precept seeing Moses was Any Kinâ—dom may take laws from other Kingdoms when they are seen good so just and so excellent a Law-giver far beyond and much better then all the Law-givers of the Gentiles Greek or Latin there is no reason why other Kingdoms or Nations should not use the same judicial Laws as were used among the Jews for the politick powers of any Kingdom may take Laws from any other Kingdom where they see the best Laws made as the Romans took their Law of the twelve Tables from the Athenians and the Cities of Germany from the Venetians and then Sicut leges quas Athenis Romani transtulerunt cum ab ipsis comprobatae confirmatae fuissent eas nihilominus Jus Civile Romanorum nominarunt As the Laws which the Romans took from Athens when they were received and confirmed by the Senate of Rome they were styled The Civil Laws of the Romans saith the Câ—â—us de jâ—re Râ—gis Ecclesiast Lord Cook so when any Kingdom or Common-wealth takes those Laws of the Jews that were meerly Judicial and not any waies Moral precepts or the like politick Laws of any other Nation and confirm them for Laws to be observed in their Territories they have the force of binding-Laws and may not with a safe Conscience of any of the Subjects of those Dominions where they have their Sanction be voyded or violated CHAP. XVII What the ancient Fathers of the Church and the Councils collected of most Learned and pious Bishops have left written concerning Tythes And of the three-fold cause that detains them from the Church ANd now having seen by the Testimony of the Holy Scripture and by What the Fathers say of Tythes and Oblarions Iren. l. 4. c. 34. many Reasons that the Tythes are by a Divine right due to Christ and his Ministers Let us hear what the Fathers and Councils and the Canons of the Church have said of this point concerning Tythes and I do find that Irenaeus who was Scholler to Polycarpus that was the disciple of S. John the Evangelist saith Offerimus Deo bona nostra ut signa gratitudinis pro illis donis quae à Deo recepimus We offer to God our goods that is our Tythes and Oblations to God as the signs and tokens of our thankfulness unto God for those gifts which we receive from God And Origen saith Origen in num Hom. 11. Qui colit Deum debet donis oblationibus agnoscere cum Deum datorem omnium He that Worshippeth God must by his gifts and oblations that is his Tythes and Offerings acknowledge God to be the Lord and giver of all things And Innocentius saith Deus speciali titulo decimas sibi-ipsi reservavit Extra de deâ—â—mâ—c Cum non sit in signum dominationis jurisdictionis super omnia God hath by a special title reserved and kept unto himself the Tythes of all things to shew and put us in mind of that Vniversal power right and Dominion that he hath over all things Itaque Judaei decimas persolvendo testabantur quod omnia sua seque ad cò ipsos Deo autori omnium bonorum largitori deberent And so the Jews by the payment of their Tythes testified that they owed all that they had and themselves also to God the Author and the giver of all good And what God hath reserved to himself he hath resigned and given to his Ministers that do serve at his Altar because the Lord requireth none other reward from us but what tendeth to his Worship to Praise him and magnify him for ever And it is an argument of his Infinite loving kindness that for all the fruits and profits that he bestoweth upon us he requireth by way of precept as a Rent-charge to maintain his publick Worship but the tenth part to be restored back to him again and that only to this end that his people might not forget him to be their God and the giver of all the good that they have And in that respect S. Gregory saith Cum non ab hominibus sed à Deo ipso decimae sunt institutae quasi debitum exigi possunt Seeing the commandment of paying Tythes is not from men but from God himself they may be required by Gods Ministers as due debts that do belong unto them But to let pass what I might collect from all the rest Saint Augustine Decret Greg. l. â— tit 30. c. 34. that in my judgment is the most learned and most judicious of all the Fathers is most plain and plentiful in this point saying Haec est Domini justissima consuetudo Si tu illi decimam non dederis tu ad decimam revocaberis id est daemonibus quae est decima pars angelorum associaberis This is the just proceeding of the Righteous Lord that if thou wilt not pay thy Tythes to him thou shalt be reduced unto the tenth and associated unto the Devils which is the tenth part of the Angels and in the interim the mean while Dabis
arms submit thy self unto thy Soveraign and know that as the Kings of Israel were merciful Kings so is the King of England 1 Kings 20. 31. thou shalt find grace in the time of need but delay not this duty lest as Demades saith the Athenians never sate upon treaties of peace but in mourning weeds when by the losse of their nearest friends they had paid too dear for their quarrels so thou be driven to do the like for except the sinnes of the people require no lesse satisfaction then the ruine of the Kingdom I am confident and am ready to hazard life and fortunes The Authours confidence of the kings victory in this confidence that the goodnâ—sse of our King the justnesse of his cause and the prayers of all honest and faithful Ministers for him and our Church will in the end give him the victorie over all those his rebellious enemies that with lyes slanders and false imputations have seduced the Kings subjects to strengthen themselves against their Soveraign and all the world shall see that as Christ so in sensu modificato this Vicegerent of Christ shall rule in the midst of these his enemies and shall reign untill he puts them all under his feet And because we never read of any rebellion not this of Corah here A rebellion that the like was never seen which of above six hundred thousand men had not many more then 250. Rebels nor that of Absolon against David who had all the Priests and Levites and the best Counsellors and a mighty Army with him such as was able to overthrow Absolon and twenty thousand men in the plain field nor Israel against Rehoboam because they did but revolt from him and not with any hostile Arms invade him nor the Senate of Rome against Caesar though he was the first that intrenched upon their libertieâ— and intended to exchange their Aristo-democracie into a Monarchie nor any other that I can remember except that Councel which condemned Christ to death that was grown to that height to be so absolute and so perfect a Rebellion in all respects as that a whole Parliament in a manner and the major part of the Plebeians of a whole Kingdom should make a Covenant with Hell it self yea and which is most considerable that as I understand the beginning of this rebellion in this Kingdom of Ireland was the Commonalty therein should so fascinate the Nobility as to allure them so long to confirm their Votes till at last they must be compelled in all things to adhere unto their conclusions that they whose power was formerly most absolute without them must now be subordinate unto them that the strength of the people may defend the weaknesse of the Nobility from that desert which they merited by their simplicity to be seduced to joyn with them to rebell against their King Therefore if any faction in any Parliament should thus combine against the Lord and against his annointed there is no question but their reducement to obedience will make that Majesty which shall effect it more glorious to posterity than were any of all his Predecessors And therefore I say again Return O Shulamite return and remember I pray thee remember lest my words shall accuse thy conscience in the day of judgement that we are often commanded in many places of the Scriptures to obey our Kings but in no place bidden nor permitted to rise up and assist any Parliament against our King If thou sayest Thou dost not do it against thy King but against such and such that do abuse the King I told you before that whosoever resisteth him that hath the Kings authority resisteth the King and therefore the whole world of intelligible men laugheth at this gullery and he that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh it to scorn when with such equivocation men shall think to justify their rebellion and I hope the people will not still remain so simple as to think that all the Canon and the Musket shot which the enemies of a King should make at him must be understood to be for the safety of his person And as neither private men nor any Senate nor Magistrate nor Peers That the Pope hath no power to licence any man to make war against the King nor Parliament can lawfully resist and take Arms against their King so neither Synod nor Councel nor Pope have any power to depose excommunicate or abdicate or to give immunities to Clergy or absâ—lution to subjects thereby to free them from their duty and due allegiance and to give them any colour of allowance to rebell and make warre against their lawful King And this point I should the more largely prosecute because the natives of this Kingdome are more addicted to the Pope and his Decrees then any others of all the Kings Dominion But the bulk of this Pareus in Rom. 13. Johan Bede in the Right and Prerogatives of Kings And the Treatise intituled Gâ—d and the King Treatise is already too much swelled and I hope I may have hereafter a fitter opportunity to inlarge this Chapter and therefore till then I will onely referre my Reader unto Pareus John Bede and abundance more that have most plentifully written of this Argument And so much for the persons against whom they rebelled Moses their King and Aaron their High-Priest or chief Bishop both these the prime Governours of Gods people whom they ought by all laws to have obeyed and for no cause to have rebelled against them CHAP. XI Sheweth what these Rebels did How by ten several steps and degrees 1. Pride 2. Discontent 3. Envy 4. Murmuring 5. Hypocrisie 5. Lying 7. Slandering 8. Rayling 9. Disobedience 10. Resistance they ascended to the height of their Rebellion and how these are the steps and the wayes to all Rebellions and the reason which moveth men to rebell 3. WE are to consider Quid fecerunt what these Rebels did Cajetan 3 Part. What these Rebels did saith Zelati sunt Tâ—rinus saith Irritaverunt The vulgar Latin saith Aemulati sunt Our vulgar English saith They angred Moses and our last English saith They envied Moses And indeed the large extent of the original word and the diversity of the Translation of it sheweth the greatnesse of their iniquity and the multiformity or multiplicity of their fin And therefore that you may truly understand it you must look into the History * Numb 16. and there you shall see the whole matter the conception birth strength and progresse of their sin for 1. This sinne was begotten by the seed of Pride they conceived an opinion of their own excellency Excellency that bewitcheth men to rebell thinking that they are inferiour to none equall to the best if not superiour unto all and therefore they disdained to be governed and aspired to the government of Gods people And then Pride as the father Pride the beginning of rebellion begat Discontentment as his eldeâ—t sonne they liked not their own
and to prevent civill dissentions to govern them according to the rules of justice and equity which all other Kings are bound to do but neither did nor can do it so fully and so faithfully as the Christian Kings because no Law either Solons Lycurgus Pompilius or any other Greek or Latine nor any Politique Plato Aristotle Machievle or whom you will old or new can so perfectly set down and so fairly declare quid justum quid honestum as the Law of Christ hath done and therefore seeing omnis honos praesupponit onus the honour is but the reward of labour and that this labour or duty of Kings to maintain true Religion well performed and faithfully discharged brings most glory unto God and the greatest honour to all Kings when it is more to be with Constantine a nursing father to Gods Church then it is to be with Alexander the sole Monarch of the known world I will first treat of their charge and care and the power that God hath given them to defend the faith and to preserve true Religion And 1. Care of Kings to preserve true Religion Aug. de utilitate credendi cap. 9. 1. Religion saith a learned Divine without authority is no Religion for as Saint Augustine saith no true Religion can can be received by any means without some weighty force of authority therefore if that Religion whereby thou hopest to be saved hath no authority to ground it self upon or if that authority whereby thy Religion is settled be mis-placed in him that hath no authority at all what hope of salvation remaining in that Religion canst thou conceive but it is concluded on all sides that the right authority of preserving true religion must reside in him and proceed from him by whose supreme power and government it is to be enacted and forced upon us and therefore To whom the charge of preserving religion is committed 3 Opinions now the question is and it is very much questioned to whom the supreme government of our Religion ought rightly to be attributed whereof I finde three several resolutions 1. Papistical which leaneth too much on the right hand 2. Anabaptistical which bendeth twice as much on the left hand 3. Orthodoxal of the Protestants that ascribe the same to him on whom God himself hath conferred it 1. That the Church of Rome maketh the Pope solely to have the supreme 1. Opinion government of our Christian Religion is most apparent out of all their writeings Vnde saepe objictunt dictum Hosii ad Constantium Tibi Deus imperium commisit nobis quae sunt ecclesiastica concredidit Sed hic intelligitur de executione officii non de gubernatione ecclesiae Sicut ibi manifestum est eùm dicitur neque sas est nobis in terris imperium tenere neque tibi thymiamatum sacrorum potestatem habere i e. in praedicatione Et an gelii administratione Saâ—ramentorum similibus and you may see what a large book our Country-man Stapleton wrote against Master Horn Bishop of Winchester to justifie the same And Sanders to disprove the right of Kings saith Fatemur personas Episcoporum qui in toto orbe fuerunt Romano Imperatori subject as fuisse quoniam Rex praeest hominibus Christianis ver ùm non quia sunt Christiani sed quia sunt homines episcopis etiam ex ea parte rex praeesset So Master Harding saith that the office of a King in it self is all one every where not onely among the Christian Princes but also among the Heathen so that a Christian King hath no more to do in deciding Church matters or medling with any point of Religion then a Heathen And so Fekenham and all the brood of Jesuites do with all violence and virulency labour to disprove the Prince's authority and supremacy in Ecclesiastical causes and the points of our Religion and to transfer the same wholly unto the Pope and his Cardinals Neither do I wonder so much that the Pope having so universally gained and so long continued this power and retained this government from the right owners should imploy all his Hierarchy to maintain that usurped authority which he held with so much advantage to his Episcopal See though with no small prejudice to the Church of Christ when the Emperours being busied with other affairs and leaving this care of religion and government of the Church to the Pope the Pope to the Bishops the Bishops to their Suffragans and the Suffragans to the Monkes whose authority being little their knowledg less and their honesty least of â—all all things were ruled with greater corruption and less truth then they ought to be so long as possibly he should be able to possesse it But at last when the light of the Gospel shined and Christian Princes had the leisure to look and the heart to take hold upon their right the learned men opposing themselves against the Pepe's usurped jurisdiction have soundly proved the Soveraign authority of Christian Kings in the government of the Church that not onely in other Kingdoms but also here in England this power was annexed by divers Laws unto the interest of the Crown and the lawful right of the King and I am perswaded saith that Reverend ArchBishop Survey of Discip c. 22. p. 251. Bancroft had it not been that new adversaries did arise and opposed themselves in this matter the Papists before this time had been utterly subdued for the Devil seeing himself so like to lose the field stirred up in the bosom of Reformation How the Devil raised instruments to hinder the reformation a flock of violent and seditious men that pretending a greaâ— deal of hate to Popery have notwithstanding joined themselves like Sampson's â—oxes with the worst of Papists in the worst and most pernicious Doctrines that ever Papist taught to rob Kings of their sacred and divine right and to deprive the Church of Christ of the truth of all those points that do most specially concern her government and governours and though in the fury of their wilde zeal they do no less maliciously then falsly cast upon the soundest Protestants the aspersion of Popery and Malignancy yet I hope to make it plain unto my reader that themselves are the Papists indeed or worse then Papists both to the Church and State For 2. As the whole Colledge of Cardinals and all the Scholes of the Jesuites 2 Opinion Of the Anabaptists and Puritans do most stifly defend this usurped authority of the Pope which as I said may be with the less admiration because of the Princes concession and their own long possession of it so on the other side there are sprung up of late a certain generation of Vipers the brood of Anabaptists and Brownists that do most violently strive not to detain what they have unjustly obtained but a degree far worse to pull the sword out of their Prince his hand and to place authority on them
portion is fit for every one and what service is required from him I answer that the voice of equity and justice tells us that a generall Law Sol. doth never deâ—ogate from a speciall priviledge or that a priviledge is not opposite to the pâ—inciples of common right and where the Law it selfe gives this priviledge as our Law doth it yet enâ—y it selfe can never deny this right unto the King to grant his dispensation whensoever he seeth occasion and where the Law is tacite and saith nothing of any priviledge yet seeing in all Lawes The end of every Law is chiefly to be respected as in all other actions the end is the marke that is aimed at and this end is no oâ—her then the publique good of any society for which the Law is made if the King which is the sole Law-maker so as I shewed in my Discovery of Mysteries seeth this publique good better procured by granting dispensations to some particular men doth he not performe thereby what the Law intendeth and no wayes breake the Law of common right as if a mans absence from his proper Cure should be more beneficiall to the whole Church then his residence Reasons of dispensations upon his Charge could possibly be as when his absence may be either for the recoveâ—y of his health or to discharge the Kings Embassage or to do his best to consute Heretiques or to pacific Schismes or to consult about the Church affaires or some other urgent cause that the Law never dreamt of when it was in making shall not the King whom the Lawes have intrusted with the examination of these things and to whom the principal care of Religion and the charge of all the People is committed by God himselfe and the power of executing his own Lawes have power to grant his dispensations for the same Certainly they that would perswade the world that all Lawes must have such force that all dispensations are transgressions of them as if generall rules should have no exceptions would manacle the Kings hands and binde his power in the chaines of their crooked wills that he should not be able to do that good which God and Right and Law it selfe do give him leave and their envy towards other mens grace is a great deale more then either the grace of humility How God doth diversly bestow his gifts Matth. 25. 15. Gen. 43. 34. or the love of truth in them for doth not God give five talents to some of his servants when he gives but one to some others and did not Joseph make Benjamins messe five times so much as any of his brethren's and have not some Lords six or eight or ten thousand pounds a year and some very good men in the Common-wealth and perhaps higher in God's favour not ten pounds a year and shall not the King double the reward of them that deserve it in the Church of God or shall he be so curbed and manacled that he shall neither alter nor dispense with his own Law though it be for the greater glory unto God and the greater benefit both to the Church and Common-wealth Besides who can deny but that some mens merits virtue paines and learning are more worthy of two Benefices then many others are of one and when in his younger time he is possessed of a small Benefice he may perchance afterwards when his years deserve better far easier obtain another little one to keep with it then get what I dare assure you he would desire much rather * For who would not rather chuse one Living of an 100 l. a year then two of 50 l. a peice one Living of equall value to them both and shall the unlearned zeal of an envious minde so far prejudice a worthy man that the King 's lawful right shall be censured and his power questioned and clipped or traduced by this ignorant Zelot I will blesse my self from them and maintain it before all the world that the King's dispensations for Pluralities Non-residency and the like Priviledges not repugnant to common right are not against Law nor the giving or taking of them upon just causes against conscience but what the violence of this viperous brood proclaimeth an intolerable offence we dare warrant both with good reason and true Divinity to be no sin no fault at all but an undoubted portion of the King 's right for the greater benefit both of the Church and State and the greater glory unto God himself And therefore most gracious King we humbly desire your Majesty suffer The Author's Petition to His Majesty not these children of Apollyon to pull this flower out of your Royal Crown to abridge you of your just right of granting dispensations for Pluralities and Non-residency which the Lawes of your Land do yet allow you and which they labour to annul to darken the glory of God's Church and to bring your Clergy by depriving them of their meanes and honour into contempt lest that when by one and one they have robbed you of all your rights they will fairly salute you as the Jews did Christ Haile King of the Jewes when God knows they hated him and stript him of all power I speak not of his Divinity either to govern them or to save himself 3. As the King hath right and power to grant his dispensations both of grace 3. The toleration of divers Sects and sorts of religions and of justice of grace when it is merely of the King ' Princely favour as in legitimations and the like and of justice when the King findeth a just cause to grant it so likewise it is in the King's power and right to remit any offence that is the mulct or penalty and to absolve the offender from any or all the transgressions of his own Lawes from the transgression of God's Law neither King nor Pope nor Priest nor any other can formally remit the fault and absolve transgressors but as God is the Law-giver so God alone must be the forgiver of the offence so the Jewes say who can forgive sins but God onely Yet as Mar. 2. 7. God which gives the Law can lawfully remit the sin and forgive the breach of the Law so the King which makes these positive Lawes cannot be denyed this As David pardoned Absolon and Solomon Abiathar power to pardon when he seeth cause or is so pleased the offenders of his Lawes as you see they do many times grant their pardons for the most haynous faults and capital crimes as treasons murders felonies and the like and if they may grant their pardons for the breach of the Law and remit the mulâ—â— imposed for the transgression thereof it is strange if they should not have right to dispense with whom they please when they see cause from the bond of the Law and therefore we are to discuss how far the King in these Lawes of the Church may give exemptions and tolerations unto them whose consciences cannot submit
by God's holy Spirit both for the building of the Temple and the ordering of the Priests and Levites for the Service of the Temple And as Jehu had the direction of the Prophet Elisha for the suppression of the Priests of Baal so had Ezechias the Prophet Esay to direct him in the puâ—ging of the Temple and Râ—formation of those abuses that had crepâ—â—â— into the Service of God To this we answer That as Joshua the Prince was required to go in Sol. and out at the word of Eleazar the Priest so we yield that the King ought to hearken to the counsel and direction of his Bishop and Priest as David here did consult with Nathan and Ezechias with the Prophet Esay And while Religion is purely maintained the people truly instructed and the Church rightly and orderly governed by the Bishops and the rest of the Ecclesiastical Governours the Prince needs not to trouble himself with any Reformation or to meddle with the matters of Religion But the King Prince and Supreme Magistrate ought to see that all the aforesaid things are so and if they be not to correct the Priest when he is careless and to cause all the abuses that he seeth in the Church and in Religion to be Reformed Because as S. Augustine saith In hoc reges Deo serviunt sicut Augustin contra Cresconium l. 3. c. 51. iis divinâ—tùs praecipitur in quantum sunt reges si in suis regnis bona jubeant mala prohibeant non solum quae pertinent ad humanam societatem verumetiam quae ad Divinam religionem In this Kings and Princes do serve God as they are commanded by God if they do command as they are Kings in their Kingdoms those things that are good and honest and prohibit the things that are evil noâ— only in causes that do properly appertain to civil society but also in such thâ—ngs as belong and have referâ—nce to Religion and Piety And when they do so the Bishops and Priests be they whom you will should observe their Commands and submitt themselves in all obedience That the Bishops Priests ought to submit themselves to the lawful commands directions of their Kings civil Governours to their Determinations and censures For Moses was the civil Magistrate and the Governour of the people and as he received them from God so he delivered unto the people all the Laws Statutes and Ordinances that appertained to Religion and to the Service of God And when Aaron erected and set up the golden Calf to be worshipped and so violated the true Religion and Service of God Moses reproved and censured him and Aaron though he was the High Priest of God and the Bishop of the people yet as a good example for all other Priests and Bishops he submitted himself most submissively unto Moses the chief Magistrate and said Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot And I would the Pope would Exod 32. 22. do so likewise And therefore though we say the Judge is to be preferred before the Prince in the knowledge of the Laws and the Doctor of Physick in prescribing potions for our health and the Pilot in guiding his Ship which the King perhaps cannot do Yet it cannot be denied but the King hath the commanding power to cause all these to do their duâ—ies and to punish them if they neglect it So though the King cannot preach and may not administer the holy Sacraments nor intrude himself with Saul and Vzzia to execute the Office of the Priest or Bishop yet he may and ought to require and command both Priests and Bishops to do their duties and to uphold the true Religion and the Service of God as they ought to do and both to censure them as Moses did Aaron and also to punish them as Solomon did Abiathar if their offence so deserve when they neglect to do it and both Priests and Bishops ought like Aaron and Abiathar to submit themselves unto their censures CHAP. VII The Objections of the Divines of Lovaine and other Jesuites against the former Doctrine of the Prince his authority over the Bishops and Priests in causes Ecclesiastical answered And the foresaid truth sufficiently proved by the clear testimony of the Fathers and Councils and divers of the Popes and Papists themselves BUt against this Doctrine of the Prince his authority to rectifie the Obj. things that are amisse and out of order in the Church of God the Jesuites and their followers tell us Spirituales dignitâ—tes praestantiores â—sse secularibus seu mundanis dignitatibus That the Spiritual Dignities are more excellent than those that are worldly When as these two Governments Gen. 1. 16. Rom. 13 12. And though thâ— light of the Church be the greater yet that proves not but that the King should be the prime and chief Governoâ— of the Church the one of the Church and the other of the Common-wealth are like the two great Lights that God hath made the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the Government of the Church must needs be acknowledged to be the Day and to have the greater light to guide and to direct it The Apostle telling us plainly that now the Gospel being come and the Church of Christ established the night is past or far spent and the day is at hand and come amongst us And the Government of the Secâ—lar State is like the Moon that ruleth the Night and receiveth her cleerest light from the Sun as all Christian Kingdoms do receive their best light and surest Rules of Government from the Church of God which is the pâ—llar and the ground of truth But To these that thus make the Civil Government subordinate to that which is Spiritual as both the Papists and our Fanatick-Sectaries here amongst us like the old doting Donatists would do and so abridge and deprive the Christian Prince of his just right and jurisdiction over the affairs and persons of the Church I answer 1. That Symbolical propositions examples parables comparisons and Sol. similitudes can prove nothing they may serve for some illustrations but for no infallible demonstrations of truth 2. I say that Isidorus a popish Doctor preferreth the Government of the Isidorus in â—lâ—ssa in Gen. ut citatur In the Scourge of Sacriledge Kingdom before the Priesthood by comparing the Kingdom unto the Sun and the Priesthood unto the Moon 3. I say that Theodore Balsamon a good School-man saith Nota Canonem Dicit Spirituales dignitates esse praestantiores secularibus sed ne hoc eò traxeris ut Ecclesiastiâ—ae dignitates praeferantur Imperatâ—riis quia illis subjiciuntur You must note that when the Canon saith the Spiritual dignities are more excellent than the Secular you must not so understand it Balsamon in Sextâ— Synodo Canonâ— 7. as to prefer the Ecclesiastical Rule or Dignities before the Imperial State because they are subject unto it and so to be
ruled by it 4. And lastly I say that the Regal Government or Temporal State and civil Government of the Common-wealth is not meerly secular and worldly as if Kings and Princes and other civil Magistrates were to take no care of mens souls and future happiness which they are bound to do and not to say with Cain Nunquid ego custos fratris Am I obliged to look what shall become of their souls But they are called Secular States and civil Government because the greatest though not the chiefest part of their time and imployment is spent about Civil affairs and the outward happiness of the Kingdom even as the Ecclesiastical persons are bound to provide for the poor and to procure peace and compose differenâ—es among neighbours and the like civil offices though the most and chiefest part of their time and labour is to be spent in the Service of God and for the good of the souls of their people And so Johannes de Parisiis another man of Johannes de Parisiis Can. 18. the Roman Church doth very honestly say Falluntur qui supponunt quod potestas regalis sit Corporalis non Spiritualis quod habeat curam corporum non animarum quod est falsissimum They are deceived which suppose that the Regal power is only coâ—poral and not spiritual and that it hath but the care and charge over the bodies of his Subjects and not of their souls Wâ—ich is most false 2. They say as I have said even now that similitudes and examples Obj. nihil ponunt in esse and are no apodictical proofs for any weighty matters especially the examples of the old Testament to confirm the doing of the like things under the new Testament because that for us to be guided and directed by the examples of the old Law is the high-way to lead us to infinite inconveniences Therefore it followeth not that because the Kings of Israel and Juda did such things as are fore shewed unto the Priests and Levites and the setling of the Service in the Temple therefore our Moderne Princes should have the like Authority to do the like things unto the Bishops and Priests of the new Testament about the Worship of God and the Government of his Church and especially in the censuring of them that are appointed by Christ to be the Prime Governours of the same To this I answer 1. That this is as the Schooles say Petitio principii and Sol. a begging of the Question for we say that although for the pâ—rfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the edifying or building up of Ephes 4. 12. the body of Christ that is the Church God hath set in his Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets thirdly Teachers and so Bishops and Priests 1 Cor. 12. 28. primarily and principally to discharge the aforesaid Offices and Duties yet this proveth not that they are simply and absolutely the Prime Governours and Chief Rulers of the Church but that the Kings and Princes in the In what sense the Bishops Priests and in what sense Kings Princes may be said to be the prime Governours of the Church Esay 49. 23. other respects aforenamed may be justly said to be the Prime and Supreme Goverâ—ours as well in all causes Ecclesiastical as Temporal for the Prophet Esay speaking of the Church of the Gospel saith That Kings should be her nursing fathers and Qâ—eens her nursing mothers And I hope you will yield that the fathers and mothers are the Prime and Supremest Governours of their children rather than their School-masters and Teachers But though the progeny of the Pope and our frantick Sectaries would fain thrust out the eyes of the politick Prince and make him just like Polyphemus that had a body of vast dimensions but of a single fight scarce able to see his wayes and to govern himself yet I shall by God's assistance make it most apparent unto you by the testimony of the Fathers Councils and some Popish Authors that the Soveraign Prince hath and ought to have alwayes a peremptory Supreme power as well over the Ecclesiastical persons and causes of the Church as over the Civil persons and causes of the Temporal State and Common-wealth For 1. S. Augustine writing against Parmenian the Donatist that would with 1. The testimony of the Fathers Aug. p. 1. Cont. Epistâ—lam Parmon our Disciplinarians that are the very brood of those Donatists unarme the King of his Spiritual Sword saith An forte de Religione fas non est ut dicat Imperator vel quos miserit Imperator Cur ergo ad Imperatorem vestri venerunt legati Cur eum fecerunt causae suâ— judicem Is it not lawful for the Emperour and so the Prince or whomsoever he shall send to treat and determine matters of Religion If you think it is not Why did your Messengers then come unto the Emperour And why did they make him the Judge of their cause Whereby you see S. Augustine judgeth the Emperour or any other Supreme Prince to have a lawful power to hear and to determine the points and matters controverted among the Bishops and so to have a Spiritual jurisdiction as well as a Temporal Nicephorus also in his Preface to the Emperour Immanuel saith Tues Nicephorus in praefatione ad Immanuel Imperat Dux professionis fidei nostrae tu restituisti Catholiâ—am Ecclesiam reformasti Ecclesiam Dei à mercatoribus coelestis Doctrinae ab hâ—reticis per verbum veritatis Thou art the Captain of our Profession and of the Christian Faith and thou hast Restored or Reformed the Catholick Church and cleansed it from those Merchants of the heavenly Doctrine and from all the Hereticks by the word of Truth And I think nothing can be said fuâ—â—er and clearer than this to justifie the Spiritual jurisdiction of the Prince and Supreme Magistrate in causes Ecclesiastical Yet Theodoret and Eusebius say as much Theodoretus l. 1 c. 7. of Constantine the Great 2. You may read in the Council of Chalcedon That all the Bishops and 2. The testimony of the Councils Clergy that were gathered together to that place as the Members of our Parliament use to do were wont to lay down the Canons they had agreed upon in the Council until the Emperour should come to confirm them with his Royal assent and when the Emperour came they said These Decrees seem good unto us if they seem so to your Sacred Mâ—jesty And the Bishops of the Council of Constantinople that was after the first Council of Ephesâ—s Concil Chalcedon Artic. 1. pag. 831. wrote thus submissively unto the Emperour Theodosius We humbly beseech your Clemency that as you have honoured the Church with your Letters by which you have called us together Ita finalem conclusionem decretorum nostrorum corrobores sententia tua sigillo So you would be pleased to strengthen and confirm the last conclusion of our Decrees by your Royal
made him like John Baptist to be Magnus coram Domino Great in the sight of the Lord as for his Potency that made him Great among men And Eusebius that wrote the Life of Constantine and sets down his Piety saith The Court of the Emperour Valerian was so replenished with godly men and religious Christians that it seemed to be the Church of God rather than the Kings Court So great a care had he of Religion and the Service of God that as the Prophet David saith none should be his servants that served not God Psal 101. 9. but whoso leadeth a godly life he shall be my servant said this good Emperdu◠as good King David said before him And the Emperour Jovinian that succeeded Julian the Apostate who withdrew very many from the Christian Religion to imbrace the idolatrous service and superstitions of the Heathens when he attained unto the Empire said to the people That he would be a King of Christians or he would be no King at all And Alphonsus King of Arragon is made Famous in all Chronicles for the great love he bare to Learning and especially for the great zeal he had to the Christian Religion and the great care he took to promote the Gospel of Christ and to provide for his servants and when some other King said unto him That it was too base an office for a King to trouble himself with such affairs Alphonsus answered Vox bovis ista est potius quà m regis That voice seemed to him to be the voice of an Oxe rather than of a King And as Theodosius and Valentinian very Christian like called themselves the vassals of Christ so Constantine was wont to say That he gloried more to be the servant of Christ than in being the Emperour of the World And as these pious Kings and godly Emperours were thus zealous to maintain the Christian Religion which bare up the Pillars of their Dominions and makes their names now to live glorious though they are dead So the Throne of this Empire and Kingdom of Great Britaine hath not That this our kingdom had many zealous and most godly Kings wanted devout Princes and most worthy Kings that have trod in the steps of King David to provide Houses for God's Service and to imitate the examples of the best of the aforesaid pious Princes to see the Religion of Christ and the True Faith purely maintained within their Kingdoms as you may find it in our Chronicles and the Statutes of King Inas King Alfred King Edward that for his devotion and zeal to the Christian Religion was rightly called Saint Edward King Ethelstane and King Canutus Vide Speed lib. 8. c. 3. the Dane that laid the foundation of his Building to compose the differences of Religion and to rectifie whatsoever he found amisse therein before he entred upon the causes of the Common-wealth For I read it Registred that after sundry Laws inacted touching our Religion and the Faith of Christ as the celebration of certain Holy-dayes the right form of Baptism the duty of Fasting the teaching of the Lords Prayer unto the people the administration of the Common-prayer and the celebration of the blessed Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ thrice every year and some other Duties of our Religion this Title followeth Jam sequitur institutio legum saecularium which as Speed sheweth are most excellent for the execution Speed quo supra pag. 384. of Justice And it is Recorded that William the Conqueror in one of his Parliaments said That he being Vice-gerent to the King of kings holdeth his Kingdom to this end to defend his people and especially the people of God and his holy Church that is the Bishops and Priests to teach the people and to performe the Worship and Service of God in his Church And even in our own dayes the Holy Name of God be for ever blessed and praised for it we have had such pious Kings as I believe I may justly say The Christian World for Piety and Religion for love to God's Ministers and the care of God's Worship could shew but very few like them and none to precede them therein and that is King James and King Charles the First whose glorious name above all other Kings since Christ The rare and just commendation of King Charles the First I shall ever honour and extoll as the most constant Defender of the Christian Faith the most loving Patron of God's Ministers the Bishops and Preachers of his Word and the most faithful Witness and Martyr that lost his life for the preservation of God's Church and the Religion of Jesus Christ with whom I do alwayes when I think of him behold and see him Crowned with Eternal Glory The most Blessed of all our Kings and the Best of all our Saints CHAP. IX Of the chiefest Parts and Duties of Kings and Princes which they are to discharge for the maintenance of God's Service and the True Religion and the necessity of Cathedral-Churches and Chappels for the people of God to meet in for the Worship and Service of God YOu have heard how that God hath given the Power and Authority unto Kings and Princes to be the Supervisors Directors and Reprovers of things amiss as well in the Church as in the Common-wealth And how he requireth and commandeth them to discharge those Duties accordingly and to have a care to preserve his Religion as they do regard their own Salvation You have likewise heard how all Kings both Heathens Jews and Christians did execute that power and according to their ability discharged their Duties as well in the Spiritual jurisdiction of Ecclesiastical causes as in the decision of Civil causes It resteth that I should shew unto you the chiefest Parts and Duties that they owe to God and are to discharge for the promoting of his Service and the Religion of Jesus Christ And I conceive them principally to consist in these Four Points which may be like the four Rivers of Paradise to water the Garden The four chiefest things that Kings Princes ought to do for the upholding of God's Religion and the Service of Jesus Christ of God's Church to make it to bring forth plenty of fruits to the glory of God and the salvation of mens souls And they are 1. To take care and to cause that there should be Cathedral-Churches and Chappels fairly built and decently trimmed and adorned as befits the Houses of God for his people to meet in for the Worship and Service of God 2. To see that alle honest and religious Bishops be placed in those Cathedrals and others the like pious and painful Ministers be appointed in all the Parochial Churches and Chappels to perform the true Service of God as they ought to do and to see those Drones that neglect it and those factious Sectaries and Hereticks that defile and corrupt it and those scandalous livers that do much prejudice unto their holy Calling to be
laid nor her walls erected in blood he should not build his Temple but Solomon his son that was a Prince of Peace should erect it in the Place that he appointed and with the materialls that he had provided and so he did as you may see 2 Chron. c. 3. 4 5. And when this Temple was destroyed and the people for their sins and neglect of Gods service and prophanation of this House of God were led Captives into Babylon and when after the time of their Captivity was expired that is the full space of 70. years they were permitted to return into their own Land the Lord did put it into the heart of Cyrus King of Persia as the Prophet Esay fore-shewed he should do long before the birth of Cyrus to cause Ezra Zerubâ—abel Nehemiah and the rest of the Elders of the Jews to build another House and Temple unto God in the same place where Salomons Temple did stand and when the enemies of Gods people and the prophaners of Gods House like our malignants sought to hinder the building of it the Lord put it in the heart of Darius and his son Artaxerxes to cause it to be finished according to the decree Ezra 6. 1â— of King Cyrus And the Jews were so zealous to do it that they made an end of the work in five years and so by reason of their enemies and their haste it was far disproportionable and different from the former which made the old men that had seen the glory and beauty of the first to weep and lament at the mean aspect of the second And yet it was not so mean but Josephus Antiq. l. 15. c. ult that it might be admired for the beauty and majesty of it especially after that Herod sirnamed the Great had repaired inlarged and so magnificently beautified the same so that one of his disciples in admiration of Mark 13. 1. the work saith to Christ Master See what manner of stones and what Matth. 24. 1. buildings are here And the Jews tell him that it was forty six years in building before it was brought to that perfection which Zorobabel did Joh. 2. 20. unto it Cum inchâ—atum erat in secundo anno Cyri qui regnavit annis 30. Joseph Antiq. l. 11. c. 4. Et post cum Cambyses regnavit annis 8. Et absolutum erat Darii Histaspis anno 9. Et sic dempto primo anno Cyri remanent anni 46. sicut Judaei dicunt For of this Temple the Jewes here do speak as Theophlact Tolet and Calvin do observe To this Temple and Metropolitan-Church the Jews were all required Exod. 23. 17. 34. 23. 24. to meet and to appear before the Lord to do him service three times every year and because these times were too seldom and the waies too far for them to come from all the parts of Jury any oftner they had from time to time many Synagogues and Chappels like our Parochiall Churches Act 13. 27. c. 15. 21. wherein they might publickly meet as they did every Sabbath to serve the Lord and because this Cathedrall Church the Temple of the High Priest Origo â—arum tempore captivitatis Babylonicae cepit Sigon de rep l. 2. c. 8. though very large and spacious yet was not sufficient to contain the many thousands of people that were in the great City of Jerusalem they had very many Synagogues set up in this City and Paulus Phagius recounteth no less then 400 of them And Sigonius saith there were 480. And out of Jerusalem they had many Synagogues in other Cities and Provinces as there were Synagogues in Galilee Matth. 4 23. Synagogues in Damascus Sigon de repuh Heb l. 2. c. 8. Maimon in Typhil c. 11. Sect. 1. ex Goodw. Act. 9. 2. Synagogues at Salamis Act. 13. 5. Synagogues at Antioch Act. 13. 14. And their Tradition is saith Maimonides that wheresoever ten men of Israel were there ought to be built a Synagogue and the Jews acknowledged it a great favour and were very thankfull to any man that built them any of these Synagogues as the Elders of the Jews besought Christ to heal the servant of the Centurion because He loved Luk 7. 5. their Nation and had built them a Synagogue And I would our men would be as glad and as desirous to have our decayed Churches built and not to make such havock to destroy them as they do and that without any cause in the World For You may see how Christ himself and his Apostles came and taught very often not only in the Temple but also in these lâ—sser Synagogues of the Jews and it is admirable to consider how the primitive Christians as Eusebius Euseb l. 10. c. 3. 4. recordeth erected such Oratories and Basilicaes that is Royall-houses and Churches as stately as any Kings Palace and beautified the same with excessive charges to make them fit places for the publick meetings of the Christians to serve their God and so the Church of Saint Paul in London and of Saint Peter in Westminster and the rest of the Cathedrall Churches throughout England and Ireland to pass no further can bear sufficient witness of the zeal and devotion of our Christian predecessors to erect such Mâ—gnos magnà decent Great and adorn such Beautifull Houses unto God as became so great and so glorious a God as our God is to have And as the number of the Christians waxed daily beyond number and increased more and more as you may conceive by the increase which a few weeks time hath wrought after the ascention of Christ when St. Peter's sermon converted 3000. souls in one day so it caused the distinction of Assemblies and the number of Churches to be increased and multiplied in all Countreys and Cities more and more So that in Rome about a hundred year after Christ the Congregation of the Christians became so huge great that Evaristus then Bishop of Rome for the avoiding of confusion and the easier and better instruction of them caused them to be distributed and parted into fifteen particular Parishes and assigned fifteen severall Presbyters to instruct and govern them the Presbyters then being honest men and no waies contradicting Evaristus And to prove that the first Christians who lived under persecutions The fiâ—st Christians had some kind of Churches even from the Apostles time had some kind of Churches though as then not so magnificent you may see in 1 Cor. 12. 18. 22. c. 14. 19. 23. And so the most ancient of the Fathers do bear witness as Clemens Tertullian Socrates and Eusebius proves the same out of the book of Philo Judaeus lib. 2. cap. 17. And Lactantius In carminibus de passione Domini saith Quisquis ades mediusque subis in limina Templi Siste parum Whosoever thou art that comest to the House of God stay a while that is to consider whither thou goest and as Salomon saith To
for his sake for the dislike the King bare towards him the King had banished many Protestants from his Country and had killed many faithful Pastours yet would not he for all this lift up his hand against the Lords annointed but refused their gold rejâ—cted their conditions and dismissed the Embassadours Jâ—h Seâ—vinus pro libertat Ecclesiae statu Regni tom 3. Monarchia Rom. p 202. as witnesses of his faith to God his fidelity and allegiance to his King and peaceable mind towards his Country Where you see this prudent and good Prince had rather patiently suffer these intolerable injuries that were offered both to himself to the inferiour Magistrates and to many other good Christians for his sake then any wayes undutifully resist the Ordinance of God And surely this Example is most acceptable unto God most wholesome for any Common-wealth and most honourable for any subordinate Prince for I am certain this is the faith of Christ and the religion of the true Protestants Not to offer but suffer all kind of injuries and to render good for evill and rather with patience love and obedience to study to gain the favour of their Persecutors then any ways with force and arms to withstand those that God hath placed in authority which must needs be not onely offensive unto God whose Ordinance they do resist but also destructive to the Common-wealth which can never receive any benefit by any insurrection against the Prince 3. Though the King should prove to be Nerone Neronior worse then 3. Not for any tyranny that shall be offeâ—ed unto us Phalaris and degenerating from all humanity should prove a Tyrant to all his people yet his subjects may not rebell against him upon this pretence for if any cause should be admitted for which subjects might rebell that cause would be allwayes alledged by the Rebels whensoever they did rebell and whom I and many others should deem a good Prince and most pious the Rebels would proclaim him tyrannical and idolatrous And therefore in such a case when some men think their King most gracious The difference betwixt king and people to be determined onely by God and others think him vitious some believe him to be good others believe him to be evil shall we think it fit that the disaffected party shall presently with arms decide the controversie and not rather have the accused the accuser and the witnesses before a competent Judge to determine the truth of this question Surely this seems more reasonable and more agreeable unto the rules of justice when as The Law condemneth no man much lesse the King before his cause be heard And seeing such a competent Judge as can justly determine this controversie betwixt the King and his People or rather betwixt one part of his people and the other cannot be found under Heaven therefore to avoid civil warres and the effusion of humane and Christian blood and the prevention of abundance of other mischiefs both the Scripture teacheth and That we ought not by any means to resist our kings Proved the Church believeth and Reason it self sheweth and the publique safety requireth that we should transmit this question to be decided onely by him which is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and will when he seeth good bind evil Kings in fetters and their Nobles with links of iron CHAP. V. Sheweth by Scripture the Doctrine of the Church humane Reason and the Welfare of the weale publique that we ought by no means to rebell A threefold power of every Tyrant Three kinds of tyrannies The doubtful and dangerous events of Warre Why many men rebell Jehu's example not to be followed 1. THe Scripture saith I counsell thee to keep the Kings commandement 1. By the Scriptures and that in regard of the oath of God that is the oath whereby thou hast sworn before God and by God to obey him Be not hasty to go out of his sight that is not out of his presence but out of his rule and government and stand not in an evill thing that is in opposition or rebellion against thy King which must needs be evill and the worst of all evils to thy King for He doth whatsoever pleaseth him that is he hath power and Ecclesiast â— 2 3 4. authority to do what he pleaseth Where the Word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him What dost thou or Why dost thou so And Solomon saith A Grey-hound an Hee-Goat and a King against whom Prov. 30. 31. there is no rising up there ought not to be indeed I will not set down what Samuel saith but desire you to read the place 1 Sam. chapter 8. verse 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18. where you shall see what the King will doe and what remedy the Prophet prescribeth against him Not to rebell and take up arms but to cry unto the Lord that he would help them And Saint Paul saith Whosoever resisteth the power resisteth Rom. 13. 2. the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation And S. Peter saith that they which despise government and are 2 Pet. 2. 10. 12. not afraid to speak evil of dignities are presumptuous and do walk after the flesh in the lusts of uncleannesse and as natural brute beasts that are made to be taken and destroyed they speak evil of the things they understand not and therefore they shall utterly perish in their own corruption And Saint Jude in like manner calleth those that despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities the very phrase of Saint Peter filthy dreamers Jude 8. 10 11. that defile the flesh and therefore shall perish in the gainsaying of Coran This is the doctrine of God therefore Saint Paul exhorteth us not to rebell nor to speak evil of our Kings be they what they will but first of 1 Tim 2. 2. all or before all things to make prayers and supplications for our Kings and for all that are in authority And I wonder what spirit except it were the spirit of bell it self durst ever presume to answer and evade such plain and pregnant places of Scripture to countenance disobedience and to justifie their rebellion And therefore 2. The Church of Christ believeth this Doctrine to be the truth of God 2. By the Doctrine of the Church for no man saith Saint Cyril without punishment resisteth the Laws of Kings but Kings themselves in whom the fault of prevarication hath no place because it is wisely said It is impiety therefore against the will of God to say unto the King Iniquè agis Thou dost amisse for as God is Cyrill in Johan l. 12. c. 56. the supream Lord of all which judgeth all and is judged of none so the Kings and Princes of the earth which do correct and judge others are to be corrected and judged of none but onely of God to whose power and authority they are
him Had Zimri peace which slew his Master to whom he might have answered He breaks no Law that obeyeth the commands of the Law-maker no more then the Israelites could be accused of theft when they did rob the Aegyptians or Abraham of murder if he had killed Isaac but without this special command he could not have done this extraordinary work without sin and therefore that which he could not do then without the warrant of the heavenly Oracle cannot be done now by any other without Jehu's example not to be imitated the contempt of the Deity the reproach of Majesty and abundance of dammage to the Common-wealth And so not onely I but also Peter Martyr commenteth upon the place where he saith God stirred up and armed one onely Jehu against his Lord which fact as it is peculiar and singular so it is not to be drawn for any example for certainly if it might be lawfull for the people upon any pretence to expell their Kings and Governours though never so wicked and unjust from their Kingdomes and government no Kings or Princes could be safe in any place for though Petrus Martyr loâ— com class â— loc 20. they should raign never so justly and holily yet they should never satisfie the people but they would still accuse them of injustice and impiety that they might depose them And Bodinus in his Policy differeth not at all from this Divinity for he saith If the Prince be an absolute Soveraign as are the Kings of France Spain England Scotland Aethiopia Turkie Persia Muscovie and the like true Monarchs whose authority cannot be doubted and their chief rule and government cannot be imparted with their subjects in this case it is not lawful for any one apart nor for all together to conspire and attempt any thing either of fact or under the colour of right against the life or the honour of his Prince or Monarch yea though his Prince should commit all kind of impiety and cruelty which the tongue of any man could expresse For as concerning the order of right the subject hath no kind of jurisdiction against his Prince from whom dependeth and proceedeth all the power and authority of commanding as they that rise against their King do notwithstanding send out their Warrants and Commands in the Kings name and who not onely can recall all the faculty of judging and governing from his inferiour Magistrates whensoever he please but also Johan Bodinus de repub l. 2. l. 5 being present all the power and jurisdiction of all his under-Magistrates Corporations Colledges Orders and Societies do cease and are even then reduced into him from whom before they were derived But we find it many times that not the fault of the Prince nor the good The true causes that move many men to disturb the State and to rebell of the Common-wealth but either the hiding of their own shame or the hope of some private gain induceth many men to kindle and blow up the flames of civil discord for as Paterculus saith Ita se res habet ut publicâ ruinâ quisque malit quà m suâ proteri It so falls out that men of desperate conditions that with Catiline have out-run their fortunes and quite spent their estates had rather perish in a common calamity which may hide the blemish of their sinking then to be exposed to the shame of a private misery and we know that many men are of such base behaviour that they care not what losse or calamity befalls others so they may inrich themselves so it was in the civil warres of Rome Bella non causis inita sed Paterculus in Histor Roman prout merces eorum fuit they undertook the same not upon the goodnesse of the cause but upon the hope of prey and so it is in most warres that avarice and desire of gain makes way for all kind of cruelty and oppression and then it is as it was among the Romans a fault enough to be wealthy and they shall be plundered that is in plain English robbed of their goods and possessions without any shew of legal proceedings But they that build their own houses out of the ruine of the State and make themselves rich by the impoverishing of their neighbours are like to have but small profit and lesse comfort in such rapine because there is a hidden curse that lurketh in it and their account shall be great which they must render for it Therefore I conclude this point that for no cause and upon no pretext it is lawful for any subject to rebell against his Soveraign governour for Moses had a cause of justice and a seeming equity to defend and revenge his brother upon the Aegyptian And Saint Peter had the zeal of true religion and as a man might think as great a reason as could be to defend his Master that was most innocent from most vile and base indignities and to free him from the hands of his most cruell persecutors and yet as Saint Augustine saith Vterque justitiae regulam excessit ille Fraterno August contra Faustum Man l. 2â— c. 70. iste Dominico amore peccavit both of them exceeded the rule of justice and Moses out of his love to his brother and S. Peter out of his respect to his Master have transgressed the commandement of God And therefore I hope all men will yield that what Moses could not do for his brother nor Saint Peter for his Master and the religion of his Master Christ that is to strike any one without lawful authority ought not to be done by any other man for what cause or religion soever it be especially to make insurrection against his King contrary to all divine authority for the true Religion hath been always humble patient and the preserver of peace and quietnesse and as Saint Augustine saith the City Pro temporall salute non pugnavit sed pâ—tiâ—s ut obtineret â—ternam non repugnavit Aug. de Civit. l. 22. c. 6. of God though it wandred never so much on earth and had many troopes of mighty people yet for their temporal safety they would not fight against their impious persecutors but rather suffered without resistance that they might attain unto eternal health And so I end this first part of the objection with that Decree of the Councell of Eliberis If any man shall break the Idols to pieces and shall be there killed for the doing of it because it is not written in the Gospel and the like fact is not found to be done at any time by the Apostles it pleased Concil Eliber Can 60. the Councel that he shall not be received into the number of Martyrs because contrary to the practice of our dayes when every base mechanick runs to the Church to break down not Heathen Idols but the Pictures of the blessed Saints out of the windows they conceived it unlawful for any man to pull down Idolatry except he had a lawful
and the Idols out of the house of the Lord and cast them all out of the City and repaired the Altar of the Lord and commanded Juda to serve the Lord God of Israel And what shall I say of David whose whole study was to further the service of God and of Jehosaphat Asa Josias Ezeâ—h as and others that were rare patternes for other kings for the well government of Gods Church and in the time of the Gospel Quod non toâ—lit prâ—cepta legis sed perficit which takes not away the rules of nature nor the precepts of the Law but rather establisheth the one and perfecteth the other because Christ came into the world non ut tolleret jura saeculi sed ut deleret peccata mundi not to take away the rights of the Nations but to satisfie for the sins of the World the best Christian Emperours discharged the same duty reformed The care of the good Emperours topreserve the true religion Esay 49. 23. the Church abolished Idolatry punished Heresy and maintained Piety especially Constantine and Theodosius that were most pious Princes and of much virtues and became as the Prophet foretold us nursing fathers unto Gods Church for though they are most religious and best in their religion that are religious for conscience sake yet there is a fear from the hand of the Magistrate that is able to râ—strain those men from many outward evils whom neither conscience nor religion could make honest therefore God committed the principal care of his Church to the Prince and principal Magistrate And this is confirmed and throughly maintained by sundry notable men as who deâ—ended this truth The Papists unawares confess this truth Osorius de relig p. 21. Breâ—tius against Asoto Bishop Hâ—rne against Fâ—kenham Jewel against Harding and many other learned men that have written against such other Papists and Puritans Anabaptists and Brownists that have taken upon them to impugne it yea many of the Papists themselves at unawares do coâ—fess as much for Osorius saith Omne regis officium in religionis sanctissimae rationem conferendum mâ—nus ejus est beare rempâ—bl religione piâ—tate all the office of a King is to be conferred or imployed for the regard of the most holy Religion and his whole duty is to bless or make happy the Common-wealth with Religion and piety Quod enim est aliud reipublica principi munus assignatum quà m ut rempâ—bl florâ—ntem atque beatam faciat quod quidem nullo modo sine egregia piâ—tatis religionis sanctitate perficitur For though we confess with Ignatius that no man is equall to the Bishop in causes Ecclesiasticall no not the King himselfe that is in such things as belong to his office as Whitaker saith because he onely Whit. resp Camp p. 302. ought to see to holy things that is the instruction of the people the administration of the Sacraments the use of the keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and the like matters of great weight and exceeding the Kings authority yet The Kings authority over Bishops 1 Chron 28. 13. 2 Chron. 29. 1 Reg. 2. 26. Kings are above Bishops in wealth honour power government and majesty and though they may not do any of the Episcopall duties yet they may and ought lawfully to admonish them of their duties and restrain them from evill and command them diligently to execute their office and if they neglect the same they ought to reprove and punish them as we read the good Kings of the Jewish Church and the godly Emperours * As Martian apud Binium l. 2. p. 178. Iustinian novel 10. tit 6. Theodos jun. Evagr. l. 1 c. 12. Basil in Council Constant 8. act 1. Binius tom 8. p. 880. Reason confirmeth that Kings should take care of religion of the Christian Church have ever done and the Bishops themselves in sundry Councils have acknowledged the same power and Authority to be due and of right belonging unto them as at Mentz Anno 814. and Anno 847. apud Binium tom 3. p. 462. 631. At Emerita in Portugall Anno 705. Bin. tom 2. p. 1183. and therefore it is an ill consequent to say Princes have no Authority to preach Ergo they have no authority to punish those that will not preach or that do preach false Doctrine This truth is likewise apparent not only by the the testimony of Scripture and Fathers but also by the evidence of plain reason because the prosperity of that Land which any King doth govern without a principal care of Religion decayeth and degenerateth into Wars Dearths Plagues and Pestilence and abundance of other miseries that are the lamentable effects and consequerces of the neglect of Religion and contempt of the Ministers of Gods Church which I beleive is no small cause of these great troubles which we now suffer because our God that taketh pleasure in the prosperity of his servants cannot endure Psal 35. 27. that either his service should be neglected or his servants abused CHAP VII Sheweth the three things necessary for all Kings that would preserve true Religion how the King may attain to the knowledge of things that pertain to Religion by his Bishops and Chaplains and the calling of Synods the unlawfulness of the new Synod the Kings power and authority to govern the Church and how both the old and new Disciplinarians and Sectaries rob the King of this power THerefore seeing this should be the greatest care that brings the greatest honour to a Christian Prince to promote the true Religion it is requisite that we should consider those things that are most necessary to a Christian King for the Religious performance of this duty And they are And these three must be inseperable in the Prince that maintaineth true Religion For 1. A will to performe it Three things necessary for a king to preserve the Church and the Religion 2. An understanding to go about it 3. A power to effect it 1. Our knowledge and our power without a willing minde doth want motion 2. Our will and power without knowledge shall never be able to move right And 3. Our will and knowledge without ability can never prevaile to produce any effect Therefore Kings and Princes ought to labour to be furnished with these three special graces The first is a good will to preserve the purity of Gods service not onely in 1. A willing minde to do it his House but also througout all his Kingdom and this as all other graces are must be acquired by our faithfull prayers and that in a more speciall manner for Kings and Princes then for any other and it is wrought in them by outward instruction and the often predication of God's Word and the inward inspiration of Gods Spirit The second is knowledge which is not much less necessary then the former 2. Understanding to know what is to be reformed and what to be retained because not to run right is
of Eâ—tyches Constantine the Fiâ—th called the sixth Synod against the Monothelites and so did many others in the like cases God having fully granted this right and autho ity unto them for their better information in any point of religion and the goverment of the Church And therefore they that deny this power unto Kings or assume this authority unto themselves whether Popes or Parliament out of the Kings hand they may as well take his eyes out of his head because this is one of the best helps that God hath left unto Kings to assist and direct them in the chiefest part of The unparallel'd presumption of the Faction to call a Synod without the king their royal government how presumptuous then and injurious unto our King and prejudicial to the Church of Christ was the factiâ—n of this Parliament without the Kings leave and contrary to his command to undertake the nomination of such a pack of Schismatical Divines for such a Synod as might finally determine such points of faith and discipline as themselves best liked of let all the Christian world that as yet never saw the like president be the Judge and tell us what shall be the religion of that Church where the Devil shall have the power to prompt worldlings to nominate his prime Chaplains Socinians Brownists Anabaptists and the refuse of all the refractory Clergy that seem The quality of the Synodical men learned in nothing but in the contradiction of learning and justifying Rebellion against their King and the Church to compose the Articles of our saith and to frame a new government of our Church I am even ashamed that so glorious a Kingdom should ever breed so base a Faction that durst ever presume to be so audacious and I am sorry that I should be so unhappy to live to see such an unparallel'd boldness in any Clergy that the like cannot be found in any Ecclesiastical History from the first birth of Christ's Church to this very day unless our Sectaries can produce it from some of the Vtopian Kingdoms that are so far South ward In terra incognita beyond the Torrid Zone that we whose zeal is not so fiery but are of the colder spirits could not yet perfectly learn the true method of their Anarchical government or if our Lawyers can shew us the like president that ever Parliament called a Synod contrary to the King's Proclamation I shall rest beholding to them produce it if they can Credat Judaeus apella non ego The third thing requisite to a King for the preservation of true religion and 3. An authority and power to guide the Church and to uphold the true religion the government of God's Church is power and authority to defent it for though the Prince should be never so religious never so desirous to defend the faith and never so well able in his understanding and so well furnished with knowledge to set down what Service and Ceremonies should be used yet if he hath not power and ability which do arise from his right and just authority to do it and to put the same in execution all the rest are but fruitless embryoes like those potentials that are never reduced into actions or like the grass upon Ps 1â—9 6. the house top that withereth before it be plucked up But to let you see that Kings and Princes should have this power and authority in all Ecclesiastical causes and over all Ecclesiastical persons we finde that all Ages and all Lawes have warranted them to do the same for Solomon displaced Abiathar and placed Sadoâ— in his room Jeremy's case was heard by the King 1. Reg. 2. 27. 35. Jerem. 26. How all kings and Emperors exercised this power oâ—er the Church of Israel Theodoâ—â—â—s and Valentâ—nian made a Decree that all those should be deposed which were infected with the impiâ—ty of Nestorius and Justinian deposed Sylverius and Vigilius and many oâ—her Kings and Emperours did the like and not onely the Law of God whereof the King is the prime keeper and the keeper of both Tables but also the Statutes of our Land do give unto our King the nomination of Bishops and some other elective dignities in the Church the â—ustody of the Bishops Temporalties during the vacation the Patronage Paramount or right to present by the last lapse and many other furtherances and preservatives of religion are in terminis terminantibus deputed by our Lawes unto the King and for his care and charge thereof they have setled upon him our first Fruits Tenths Subsidies and all other contributions of the Ecclesiastical persons which the Pope received while he usurped the government of this Church these things being due to him that had the supreme power for the government And therefore seeing the examples of all good Kings in the Old Testament and of the Christian Kings and Emperours in the New Testament and all Lawes both of God and man excepting those Lawes of the Pontificials that are made against the Law of God and all Divines excepting the Cassian de Incarn l. 1. c. 6. Jesuites and their sworn Brethren the Presbyterians do most justly ascribe this right and power unto Kings I may truly say with Cassianus that there is no place of audience left for them by whom obedience is not yielded to that which all have agreed upon nor any excuse for those Subjects that assist not their Soveraign to inable him to discharge this great charge that is laid upon him What then shall we say to them that pull this power and tear this prerogative out of the King's hand and place it in the hands of mad men as the Prophet epithets the madness of the people I or that furious Knox belched forth Psal 65. 7. How the Disciplinarians rob the king of this right Knox to the Commonalty fol. 49. 50 55. this unsavory Doctrine That the Commonalty may lawfully require of their King to have true Preachers and if he be negligent they themselves may justly provide them maintain them defend them against all that oppose them and detain the profits of the Church Livings from the other sort of Ministers a point fully practised by the English Scotizers of these dayes and as if this Doctrine were not seditious enough and abundantly sufficient to move Rebellion Goodman publisheth that horrible tenet unto the world that it is lawful to kill wicked Kings which most dangerous and more damnable Doctrine Dean Whittingham affirmeth to be the tenet of the best and most learned of them that were our Disciplinarians But when as true Religion doth command us to obey our Kings whatsoever their Religion is aut agendo aut patiendo either in suffering with patience whatsoever What true religion teacheth us they do impose or in doing with obedience whatsoever they do command Religion can be no warrant for those actions which must remain as the everlasting blemishes of that Religion which either commanded or approved of
Statute 25 Hen. 8. Ob. But then it may be demanded if this be so that the Laity hath no right Ob. in making Lawes and Decrees for the government of God's Church but that it belongs whâ—lly unâ—o the King to do it with the advice of his Bishops and the rest of his Clergy then how came the Parliament to annul those Canons that were so made by the King and Clergy because they had no vote nor consent in confirming of them Sol. Truely I cannot answer to this Objection unless I should tell you what Sol. the Poet saith Dum furor in cursu currenti cede furori Dâ—fficiles aditus impetus omnis habet They weâ—e furiously bent against them and you know furor arma ministrat dum regnant arma â—lent leges all Lawes must sleeâ— while Armes prevaile besides you may finde those Canons as if they had been prophetically made fore-saw the increasing strength of Anabaptisme Brownisme Puritanisme most likely to subvert true Protestantisme and therefore were as equally directed against these Sectaries of the left hand as against the Papists on the right hand and I think the whole Kingdom now findes and feels the strength of that virulent â—action and therefore what wonder that they should seek to break all those Canons to pieces and batter them down with their mighty Ordinances for seeking to â—ubdue their invincible errours or else because as they say the Eâ—clesiâ—stical State is not an independent society but a member of the whole the Parliament â—â—s not so to be excluded as that their advice and approbation should not be required to make them obligatory to the rest of the Subjects of the whole Kingdom which claim this priviledge to be tyed to the observation of no humane Lawes that themselves by their representatives have not consented unto 2. As the King is intrusted by God to make Lawes for the government of 2. To grant dispensations of his own Lawes the Church of Christ so it is a rule without question that ejus est dispensare absolvere â—njus est condere he hath the like power to dispense with whom he pleaseth and to absolve him that transgresseth as he hath to oblige them therefore our Church being for reformation the most famous throughout all the parts of the Christian world and our King having so just an authority to do the same it is a most impudent scandal full of all malice and ignorance not to be endured by any well affected Christian that the new brood of the old Anabaptists do lay upon our Church and State that they did veâ—y unreasonably and unconscionably by their Lawes grant Dispensations both for Pluralities and Non-residency onely to further the corrupt desires of some few to the The scandals of the malicious ignorants against the worthier clergy infinite wrong of the whole Clergy besides the hazard of many thousands of souls the intolerable dishonour of Gods truth and the exceeding disadvantage of Christ his Church for seeing God hath principally committed and primarily commended the care of his Church and service unto Kings who are therefore to make Laws and Orders for the well governing of the same I shall make it most evident that they may as they have ever done most lawfully and more beneficially both for Gods Church and also for the Common wealth do these three things 1. To grant that grace and favour unto their Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Three special points handled persons as to admit them of their counsel and to undertake secular authority and civil jurisdiction 2. To allow dispensations of Pluralities and Non-residency which they may most justly and most wisely do without any transgression of the Law of God 3. To give tolerations where they see cause of many things prohibited by their Law to dispence with the transgressions and to remit the fault of the transgressours For 1. Though the world relapsed from the true light and declined from the sincere 1 Point Religion to most detestable superstition yet there remained in the people certain impressions of the divine truth that there was a GOD and that this The great respect of the Clergy in former ages Saravia l. 2. c. 2. p. 103. 1. Among the Gentiles Osor p. 231. De tota Syria Palestina refert Dion l. 37. quòd rex summi Pontificis nomen habeat Strabolib 2 Apud Tertul. advers Valent. Hermetem legimus appellari Mâ—x sacerdotem maximum regem Cicero l. 2. de legibus Diotogenes apud Sâ—obâ—d cit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aethiopeâ— reges suos del gebant er numero sacerdotum Diodor l 3. c. 1. Titus Vespas Pontificatum maximum iâ—ed sese professus est accipere ut puras servaret manus Sueton iâ— Tito cap. 9. In Aritia regnum erat concretum cum sicerdotio Dâ—anae ut innâ—it Ovid De arte amandi lib. 1. Ecce suburbanae templum nemorale Dianae Parâ—áqâ—e per gâ—adios regna nocente manu Strabo lib. 5. God was religiously to be worshipped and those men that taught the worship of that God how fowly soever they did mistake it were had in singular account and supereminent authority among all Nations and as Saravia saith they were compeers with Kings in their Government so that nothing was done without their counsel and consent and as Theseus was the first that Cives Atticos è pagis in uâ—bem compulit and put the difference betwixt Nobles Husbandmen and Artificers so the Priests were always selected out of the noblest families and were ever in all their publick counsels as the Divines sate among the Athenians and the South-sayers sate with the King among the Lacedemonians in all their weightiest consultations and Strabo tells us that the Priests of Bellona which were in Pontus and Cappadocia for that Goddess was honoured in both places were regarded with the greatest honour next to the King himself and the Romans that were both wealthy warlike and wise did almost nothing without the advice and counsel of their Priests I will omit what Valerius Maximus setteth down of their care of Religion and their great respect unto their Priests and religious persons and I will refer you onely to what Tully writeth of this point where he saith that the greatest and worthiest thing in their Common-wealth was the priviledge and preheminence of the Divines which was joyned with the greatest authority for they dismissed the companies and the Councels of the chiefest Empires and the greatest Potentates when they were proposed they restrayned them when they were concluded they ceased from the affaires which they had in hand if but one Divine did say the contrary they appointed that the Consuls should depose themselves from their Magistracy and it was in their intire power either to give leave or not to give leave to deale with the people or not to deal to repeal Laws not lawfully made and to suffer nothing to be done by the Magistrate in peace or war without
themselves to the observation of the established Laws for seeing Christ biddeth that the tares should grow Matth. 13. 30. And the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there must be heresies therefore there must be a toleration of divers Sects 1 Cor. 11. 19. Four special sorts of false Professors 1. Jewes Whitak against Campian translated by Master Stoke p. 311. With what cautions the Jewes are to be suffered all men are not of the same faith nor do profess the same Religion and it is the nature of all men to dislike that which themselves will not profess and if opportunity serve to root out that which they dislike it is requisite it should be shewed how far a prudent and a pious Prince may grant a toleration the Law in terminis not forbidding it unto any of these Sects that may be commorant within his Kingdomes Touching which I say that besides dissembling hypocrites and prophane worldlings that have no faith nor any other Religion but the shadow of that Religion whatsoever it is which is profest wheresoever they are there may be in any Kingdome Jewes Turkes Papists Puritans and the like or to call them otherwise Idolaters Hereticks Schismatickes c. And 1. For the Jewes though they have many things in their Religion which will ever alienate them from the Papists yet they have free leave to use their ancient Ceremonies in Rome saith Doctor Whitaker and it is well known that many pious Princes have permitted them to dwell and to exercise their own Religion in this kingdome the old Jury in London is so called because it was allotted for their abode and the Lawes of many Christian Emperours have in like sort permitted them to do the like in their Dominions but with those cautions and limitations that Moses prescribed unto the Jewes to be observed with the Heathens and Idolaters that dwelt amongst them that is neither to make marriages with them nor to communicate with them in their Religion And Saint Augustine is reported to be so favourable towards them that he alleadgeth several reasons for their toleration As 1. That above and before others they had the promise of salvation and Deut. 7. 3. Exod. 23. 32. Doctor Covel c. 14. p. 199. 1 Reason for their toleration Rom. 11. 24 25. 2 Reason Psal 59. 11. therefore though some of the branches be cut off and the case of the rest be most lamentable yet not altogether desperate and incurable if we consider what the Apostle sotteth down of their conversion and re-unition unto the good right olive tree 2. That the Prophet David speaking of them made that prayer unto God Slay them not O Lord lest my people forget it but scatter them abroad among the Heathen and put them down O Lord our defence for many excellent ends as first that their being scattered among the Christians might shew both the clemency and severity of God towards us mercy and clemency and towards them justice and severity which may likewise happen unto us if we take not heed as the Apostle bids us Be not high minded but fear and secondly that being among Rom. 11. 20. We may not force the Jews to beleive the Christians they might the sooner at all times by their charity and prayers be reduced the more willingly to imbrace the faith of Christ when as unwillingly we may neither compel them nor take their children to be baptized from them And therefore as the Princes of this Realm for divers causes hurtful to their State have banished them out of their Dominions so if they see good cause to permit them as time may change the condition of things they may do as by their counsel they shall be advised either the one or the other to receive them or reject them without offence because we finde no special precept or direction in Gods Word either to banish or to cherish them in any kingdome 2 Turkes 2. For the Turks the reasons are not much unlike though something different and in my judgement no less tolerable then the other because somewhat nearer to the Christian faith therefore I leave them to the Laws of each kingdome to do as the wisedome of the Prince shall think fit 3 Papists 3. For the Papists the case is far otherwise with them then either with the Turks or Jews because 1. They profess the same faith quoad essentialia the same Creeds the same Gospel and the same Christ as we do 2. It is not denyed by the best of our Divines but that they together with us do constitute the same Catholick Church of Christ though they be sick and corrupted yet not dead and we strong and sound yet not unspotted members of the same as I have more fully shewed in my book of the true Church 3. It is not agreed upon by all our Divines that they are Idolaters though they be in great errours and implunged in many superstitions because every Church in errour though never so dangerous is not so desperate as that Church which is Idolatrous or be it granted which some of our Protestants will not admit that they were Idolaters yet seeing not onely seaven speciall sorts of Carol. Sigon l. 5. c. 11. p. 274. heresies as 1. the Sadducees 2. the Scribes 3. the Pharisees The Hemero-baptists such as baptized themselves every day 5. The Esseni which Josephus calleth Essaei 6. The Nazarites And 7. the Herodians whereof some demed the resurrection and the being of Angels and spirits but also Idolaters and heathens that knew not God but worshipped the Devill instead of God were not inhibited to dwell and inhabit among the Jewes of whose Religion notwithstanding God was as carefull to preserve the purity of it and as jealous to keep them from Idolatry as of any Nation that then or ever after lived upon the earth it is no question but if it please the King permission may be granted them to exercise their own Religion not publickely and authoritativè equally with the Protestant but quietly and so as I have shewed in my Grand Rebellion for I Grand Rebell c. 1. p. 5. 6. am not of their faith which hold it more safe and less dangerous to be conversant with the Turkes or Jewes and to have more neerness with them then with an Idolatrous Church that professeth Christ because that where the greater distance is from the true Religion there the lesser samiliarity and neerenesse should be in conversation and the greater distance in communion therefore as the wrath of God was kindled against the Israelites because they had the Jewes their own brethren in greater detestation then the Idumeans or the Egyptians whose idolatry must needs be far greater and their Religion far The least familiarity in conversation where there is greatest distance from truth worse in their own judgement then that of the Jewes so we may feare the like anger from God if we will be so partiall in our judgement and so
to make this both the more plaâ—sible and probable they alleadged how Kings were thus eligible and likewise deposable by the community of the people for out of this Buchanan saith Romani Pontifices longè regum omnium conditione superiores legum Buchan de jure regni p. 25 91. tamen poenis haâ—d eximuntur sed eos quanquam sacrosanctos Christianis omnibus semper habitos Synodus Basiliensis communi ordinum consensu senatui sacerdotum obnoxios esse pronunciavit that is in brief the Popes are deprivable by the Council So are Kings by the community of the people and so both the Papist and the Puritan do agree to depose their Kings and as the Poet saith Ausus utérque nâ—sas domini respersus utérque Claudian de 4. Consul Honorii Insontis jugulo never a barrel better herring both alike friends to Kings But to this Blackvodaeus answereth most truely that although the Pope should be deprivable by the Counâ—il which I am sure neither Pope nor Jesuite will allow yet for divers different reasons betwixt the examples Kings are not deposable by their Subjects especially if you consider the great difference betwixt the Church of Christ that is guided by the Spirit of God and the representation thereof in the flower of her Clergy and a giddyheaded multitude that Blâ—c cap. 23. p. 304. is led by their unruly and unreasonable passions and are represented by those that either basely bought their Votes as the Consuls and other great men did the votes of the people of Rome or that their partial and most ignorant affection oftentimes without judgement have made choice of ex quo sequitur ut non sit eadem potuli potest as in regem quae in pontificem est Ecclesiae So that the reason is far unlike But though the Sorbonists to justifie their former tenet were the first broachers The Puritans opinion worse then the Jesuites in two respects of this unjust opinion of the deposition of Kings by the people from whence the Jesuites to subject the King unto the Pope suck't it afterward Yet in two main Respects I finde this tenet as it is held by the Puritans far worse then the doctrine of the Jesuites 1. Because some of them say that the people may not restrain the power 1. Respect which they have once transmitted unto the King when the Law of justice doth not permit that Covenants should be repealed or a donation granted shoud be revoked though it were never so prejudiciall to the donor and Bellarmine makes this good by the example of the souldiers that had power to accept or reject Bellar. in tract cont Pat. Paul their Emperour before he was created but being once elected they had no coactive power over him whereas all the Puritanes will make and unmake promise and breake doe and undoe at their pleasure Because the Jesuites permit not the people nor any Peers to depose their King 2 Respect untill the Pope as an indifferent judge deputed by Christ shall approve of the cause and our Sectaries depresse kings so far as to submit them to the weake judgment and extravagant power of the people who to day cry to Gideon raign thou and thy son over us for ever and to morrow joyne with the base son of Jerubbaal and the Sichemites to kill seventy of the Children of Gideon and Judges 9. to create Abimilech to be their king But though the Anti-Cavalier takes it ill that I should affirm that the kings Our Opinion proved Anti-Cav in Os Ossor p. 25 power and right unto his government is immediately from God yet if he would believe learned Authours he might find enough of this judgment for the sublime power and authority that resideth in earthly Potentates is not a derivation or collection of humane power scattered among many and gathered into one head but a power immediately granted by God to his Vicegerents * So acknowledged by Act of Parliament 25 H. 8. c. 12. 28. c. 10. Dr Sarav sol 175. Bellar. de Laicis cap. 6. 8. quam nunquam fuisse populo demandatam legimus which God never communicated to any multitudes of men saith Saravia And Bellarmine himself against the Anabaptists confuteth their error that denyed the power and authority of kings to be immediately from God I. From Script Sap. 6. Esay 45. Hierâ—m 27. Dan. 2. Rom. 13. 1 Pet. 2. II. From the Councill of Constans Sess 8. 15. III. From S. Aug. de civit Dei l. 5. c. 21. where he saith non tribuamus dandi regni potestatem nisi Deo vero which giveth felicity in the kingdome of Heaven onely to the godly but the earthly kingdomes he giveth both to the godly and to the wicked nam qui dedit Mario ipse Caesari qui Augusto ipse Neroni qui Vespasianis vel Idem de Rom. Pont. l. 5. c. 3. Irvinus de jure regni c. 2. p. 40. patri vel filio suavissimis imperatoribus ipse Domitiano crudelissimo qui Constantino Christiano ipse Apostatae Juliano And IV. it is proved from the confession of the Popes of Rome as Leo. ep 38. 43. Gelasius epist ad Anastasium Greg. l. 2. epist 61. Nicholans epist ad Michaelem out of all which saith Irvinus it is apparent all and every king non multitudini aut hominibus sed Deo soli regum regi quicquid juris habent acceptum ferre And he might consider that a thing may be said to be immediately from God divers wayes as specially 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absque ullo signo creato 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum aliquo actu conjuncto that is 1. Solely from God and no other presupposing nothing praevious to the obtaining of it So Moses and Joshua had their authority from God 2. Joyntly with an interposed act of some other instrument as the Apostolicall Heningus fuse c. 1. p. 4 5. de distinct duplici jurisdict Sive electione sive postulatione vel successione vel belli jure Princeps siat Principi tamen facto divinitùs potestas data est Cunerus c. 5. de offic Princip power of Matthias was immediately from God though his constitution was from the Apostles so Kings though some of them be after a sort elected by men yet as our Saviour saith to Pilate that his power was from above though he was deputed by Caesar So may they be said to have their authority immediately from God though they should be some wayes deputed by men for we must distinguish betwixt the soveraignty the Subject and the collation of the Soveraignty to the Subject the Soveraignty is immediately from God the Subject is from it's naturall cause and the unition of the Soveraignty to the Subject is likewise immediately from God not onely approving but appointing the same in all the Kings of his ordination or to speak with the Schooles we must distinguish betwixt deputationem personae
fight our battails Out of which two places we finde two special parts of the King's government 1. Principatum bellorum the charge of the wars in respect whereof the Sigon l. 7. c. 1. Kings were called Captains as the Lord said unto Samuel concerning Saul Vnges eum ducem thou shalt anoint him to be Captain over my people 1 Sam. 9. 16. Israel 2. Curam judiciorum the care of all judgments in respect whereof David 1 Reg. 3. 9. Psal 72. 2. Arâ—isaeus de jure Majest l. 2. c. 1. p. 214. and Solomon and the other Kings are said to judge the people So Arnisaeus saith Majestatis potest as omnis consistit vel in defendenda repub vel in regenda all the power of royalty consisteth either in defending or in governing the Common-wealth according as Homer describeth a perfect King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer Iliad â— And so you see the two principal parts of the King's government are the Offices 1. Ducis in bello gerendo 2. Judicis in jure reddendo 1. Part. In the time of War Ordo ille naturalis mortalium paci accommodatus hoc poscit ut suscipiendi belli autoritas atque consilium apud principes siâ— Aug. cont Faust l. 22. 〈◊〉 l. 2. c. 5. p. 345. Plato de legib lib. 2. 1. Of a Captain in the time of War 2. Of a Judge in the time of Peace 1. Then it is the proper right of the King and of none but the King or he that hath the regal and supreme power to make war and to conclude peace for Plato in his Common-wealth ordained that Si quis pacem vel bellum fecerit cum aliquibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Julian Law adjudgeth him guilty of High Treason Qui injussu principis bellum gesserit delectúmve habuerit exercitum vel comparaverit that either maketh War or raiseth an Army without his Kings command And to this part of the regall government which consisteth in the Militia Luc. 14. 31. 32. Aristot Polit. l. 7. c. â— Arâ—is l. 2. c. 1. in Armes for the defence of the Kingdome pertaineth 1. The proclaiming of War which our Saviour properly ascribeth unto the right of Kings when he saith not what State or Common-wealth but What King going to war with another King c. 2. The concluding of Peace which our Saviour ascribeth also unto the King in the same place 3. The making of leagues and confederacies with other forraigne States 4. The sending and receiving of Ambassadors 5. To raise Armes and the like which the Lawes of God and of all Nations justifie to be the proper right of Kings and to belong onely unto the supreame Majesty But then you will say did not the Judges Moses Joshua Gideon Jephta Judges 11. 11. Barac Samson and rest make war and yet they were no Kings Why then may not the Nobles make war as well as Kings I answer that they do indeed make war and a miserable wretched war but I speak of a just war and so I say that none but the King or he that hath the Kings power can do it for though the Judges assumed not the name of Kings nor Captains sed à potiore parte vocati sunt judices but from the sweetest part of the Royall government were termed Judges yet they had the full power ducendi judicandi populum both of war and peace saith Sigonius and so the men of Gilead said unto Jephthe veni esto princeps noster and they made him their head by an inviolable covenant And of Moses it was plainly said He was King in Jesurun and when Deut. 33. 5. there was no Judge it is said there was no King in Israel for I stand not about Judges 17. 6. 18. 1. 19. 1. words when some were called Kings for the honour of the People and yet had no more power then Subjects as the Kings of Sparta and others had not the name of Kings and yet had the full power of Kings as the Dictator and the Emperour and the great Duke of Muscovie and the like But when a war is undertaken by any Prince how shall we know which party is in the right for to make an unjust war cannot be said to be the right of any King yet as the Poet saith Quis justius induit arma Lucan lib. 1. Scire nefas summo se judice quisque tuetur Every one pretends his cause is just he fights for God for the truth of the Gospell the faith of Christ and the liberty and Lawes of his Countrey how then shall those poore men that hazard their lives and their fortunes yea and soules too if they war on the wrong side understand the truth of this great doubtfull and dangerous point I answer all the Divines that I read of speaking of war do concur with Dambaud in praxi criminal cap. 82. what Dambauderius writeth of this point that there must be foure properties of a just war 1. A just cause Foure properties of a just War 2. A right intention 3. Meet Members 4. The Kings authority Sine qua est laesa Majestas without which authority the Warriours are all Traytors And I would to God our Rebels would lay their hands upon their hearts and seriously examine these foure points in this present War 1. What cause have they to take Armes against their King and to kill and 1. A just cause murder so many thousands of their own Brethren they will answer that they do it for the defence of their Liberty Lawes and Religion but how truely let God himselfe be the Judge for His Majesty hath promised and protested they shall enjoy all these fully and freely without any manner of dimunution and we know that never any rebellion was raised but these very causes were still pretended And therefore 2 A right intention 2. Consider with what intent they do all this and I doubt not but you shall finde foul weeds under this fair cloak for under the shadow of liberty and property they took the liberty to rob all the King 's loyal Subjects that they could reach of all or most of their estates and to keep them fast in prison because they would not consent to their lawless liberty and to be Rebels with them against their conscience And under the pretence of Lawes they aimed not to have the old Lawes well kept which was never denyed them but to have such new ones made as might quite rob the King of all his rights and transfer the same unto themselves and their friends so he should be like the King of Sparta What Lawes and Religion the Rebels would fain have a Royal Slave and they should be like the Ephori ruling and commanding Subjects And for the religion you may know by their new Synod which are a Synod not of Saints but of Rebels what religion they would fain have not that which was
that e're long the King shall have but few Nobility when not onely the Mechanicks and Rusticks will all cry out against this Lordlinesse and say as they did in the rebellion of Jack Cade and Wat Tyler When Adam delv'd and Eve span Who was then the Gentleman And why should we now indure so many titles of vanity and so many vain honours to vapour it over us but the Puritan Clergy also seeing themselves deprived of their due honour and made all equall all as base as Jeroboams Priests will be apt enough to blow up this conceit and to put it into the Creed of all the vulgar that God made us all equall and to be Lords is but to be tyrants over their Brethren and the Presbytery whose pride could not obey the authority of their Bishops will not abide the superiority of any Lords but if they cannot Lord it themselves will be sure to take away the Lordship from all others And therefore if the Nobility be not wiser then to lay our honours in the dust as I see some about his Majesty that would faine be the Priests to bury it which meere policy though they wanted piety should prohibit they shall find that Jam tua res agitur paries cùm proximus ardet Virgil. Aeneid l. 1. When our Cottages are burnt their next Palaces shall not escape the fire but through our sides their Honours shall be killed and buried without honour 3. Jus legitimandi the right of legitimation belongs unto the King without 3. Jus legitimandi which legitimation the Lawyers tell us that as the world now standeth a mighty emolument would happen unto the Crown if the King granted not this grace to them that want it 4. Jus appellationes recipiendi the right of taking notice of causes and of judging 4. Ius appellationes recipiendi Act. 25. 11. the same by the last appeale definitively doth alwayes belong to the supreme Majesty because that as Saint Paul appealed unto Caesar so the last appeale is to the highest Soveraigne from whom there lyeth none appeale but onely to him that shall judge all the Judges of the earth 5. Jus restituendi in integrum the right to restore men attainted or banished 5. Honores restituendt or condemned to death unto their Country wealth and honour is likewise a part of the royall right So Osorius saith that Immanuel King of Portugall restored Osorius de rebus Imman p. 6. James son of Fernandus and his brother Diâ—nysius and others unto their forfeited honours and so not â—nely the Scripture sheweth how David pardoned 1 Reg. 2. 26. Absolon and Shimei two wicked Rebels and Solomon pardoned Abiathar that were all worthy of death but also Saint Augustine speaking of other Kings and Veniam criminosis indulgere Emperours saâ—th judicibus statuendum est ne liceat in reum datam sententiam revocare the Judges may not pardon a man condemned to death numquid ipse Imperator sub hac lege erit but shall not the Emperour or King pardon him are they likewise under this Law of restraint by no meanes Nam ipsi soli licet revocare sententiam reum mortis absolvere ipsi ignoscere for he and he alone that is the Emperour or King may revoke the sentence and absolve him that is guilty of death And so our King according to this his undenyable right hath most graciously and not seldome offered his pardon unto these intolerable Our kings unparallel'd elemency and piety towards the Rebels Rebels a pardon not to be parallel'd in any History nor to be beleived unlesse we had seen it that a man could be so far inclined to elemency and mercy as to remit such transcendent impiety which will render them the more odious both to God and man and their names the more infamous to all posterity that after they had filled themselves with all kind of wickednesse with incredible transgressions they should be found contemners of so favourable a pardon But though it be the Kings right to pardon faults and to restore offenders yet herein all Princes should take great heed especially when they have power 2. Sam. 3. 39. to take revenge for sometimes the sâ—nners may be like the sons of Zervia too strong for David how they pardon thâ—se great crimes that are committed to the dishonour of God and do so far provoke him to anger as to plague both the doers and the sufferers of them because that although they be sâ—luti legibus suis not Arnisaeus l. 1. c. 3. pag. â—9 bound to their own Lawes yet they are not soluti ratienâ— praeceptis divinis but they are bound to observe Gods Lawes and to punish the transgressors of his Commandments or if they do not when they can do it they shall render a strict account to God for all their omissions as they may see it in the example of King Saul 1 Sam. 15. 9. 6. Jus convocandi the right of calling Synods Parliaments Dyets and the 6. Jus convocandi Synodos Parliamenta c. like were the rights of the kings of Israel and are the just Prerogatives of the kings of England howsoever this saction of the Parliament hath sought to wrest it as they do all other rights out of the kings hands by their presumption to call their Schismaticall Synod to which they have no more colour of right then to call a Parliament 7. Jus excudendi the right of coyning mony to give it valxe to stampe his 7. Jus mone tas excudendi Matth. 22. 20. armes or his image upon it as our Saviour saith Whose Image and superscription is this and they say to him Caesars is the proper right of Caesar the prerogative of the king The second sort of the King 's right is circa Magistratus and containeth jurisdiction 2. About the Magistrates rule creation of officers appointing of circuits provinces judgements censures institution of Scholes and Colledges collation of dignities receiving of fidelities and abundance more whereof I intend not to speak at this time but refer my Reader to Arnisaeus de jure Majâ—statis if he desires to be informed of these particulars Arnâ—s l. 2 c 2 And as these and the like are jura Regalia the rights of Majesty in the time of peace so when peace cannot continue it doth properly belong unto the King and to none else but to him that hath the Soveraignty whose right it is alone to make war either to succour his allyes or to revenge great injuries or for any the like just causes and as he seeth cause to conclude Peace to send Ambassadours to negotiate with foreign States and the like are the rights of Kings and the indeleble Characters of Soveraignty which whosoever violateth and endeavoureth to purloin them from the King doth with Prometheus steal fire from Heaven which the Gods would not suffer as the Poets feign to go unrevenged And these
put away their strange Wives according to the Law The second of Christians and indeed of most Christian Kings and Princes that is of Queene Elizabeth's assisting the Hollanders against the King of Spain and of King Charles assisting the Rochellers against the King of France To both which examples and all other things that are conteined either in the Covenant it selfe or the exhortation of the Assembly thereunto annexed I do understand there shall be a full and a perfect answer made by one that hath undertaken the same ex professo yet give me leave in the interim to say this much 1. What vows and covenants are allowable First touching Covenants and Vowes it is plain enough that although the superior may with Ezra cause the inferior to Vow or swear the performance of his duty that he is bound by the law of God and nature to performe Gen. 24. 3. so Abraham caused his servant to swear fidelity when he sent him for Isaack's Wife And so the King may cause his Subjects to take the Oath Numb 20. per totum of their Allegiance and the lawful General cause his Souldiers to swear their fidelity unto him yet the inferior subject can not swear or if he swears he ought not to observe it when he doth it contrary to the command of him that hath command over him as you may see in Numb 30. throughout Therefore as children may not vow any thing though it be never so lawful contrary to their Fathers command or if they do they ought not to keepe it so no more may any Subject Vow or make a Covenant contrary to their Kings command or if they do they ought not to observe it and they are as you see absolved by God himself If you say Ezra and the Jewes did it contrary to the command of Artaxerxes Ob. Sol. 1 that was then their King I answer that it is most false for 1. Ezra was the Priest Nehem. 8. 2. and 9. and the chief Prince that was then over them and Nehemiah had his authority from the King and he was the Tirshatha that is their governour saith the text Nehem. 10. 1. and therefore they might lawfully cause them to take that Covenant 2. They had the leave and a large commission from Artaxerxes to do all that they did as you may see * See Ezra 7. 11. 22 c. 3. For so the text saith Let it be done according to the Law Ezra 10. 3. neither can you finde any syllable that Artaxerxes forbad them to do this in any place 3. This Covenant of Ezra and his people and Nehemiah's was to do those things that they had covenanted before to do which God had expresly commanded them to do and which they could not omit though they had not covenanted to do it without great offence so if our covenanters swear they will serve God and be loyal unto their King as they vowed in their baptisme they shall never finde me to speak against them but to propose a lawfull Covenant to do those things that God commandeth and is made with the leave and commission of the supreme Prince to justifie an unlawfull Covenant to do those things that were never done before never commanded by God but forbidden both by God and especially by the King in the expressest termes and most energeticall manner that might be is such a piece of Divinity as I never read the like and such an argument a dissimili that never schollar produced the like 2. The examples of Queen Elizabeth and King Charles answered 1. By way of Divinity 2. For the examples of Queen Elizabeth and King Charles assisting Subjects for their Religion sake against their lawfull Princes two things may be said the one in Divinity the other in Policy First for Divinity I say vivendum est praeceptis non exemplis we have the sure word of God to teach us what we should do and no examples unless they be either commended or allowed in Gods word ought to be any infallible patterne for us to follow 2. By way of Policy Secondly for Policy which may be justified to be without iniquity I doubt not but those men which knew the secrets of State and were privy to the causes of their actions are able to justifie the proceedings of these Princes in their assistance which perhaps they did not so much simply in respect of their Religion as of some other State Policy which we that are so far from the helme have no reason to prie unto Besides you may know that neither King Charles nor Queen Elizabeth were Subjects to the other Kings but were every way their equall if not more and independent Princes And to bring the actions of such absolute Monarchs the one How wickedly they deceive the simple against the other to justifie the actions of Subjects against their Soveraigne is such Logick as the other example was Divinity Queen Elizabeth did so against the King of Spain ergo any Subject may do so against his king or rather Queen Elizabeth did that which for ought we know was most lawfull to be done against the king of Spain ergo the Earl of Essex may do that which we do know to be most unlawfull against King Charles This is the doctrine that they teach their Proselytes but that they give this poyson in a golden cup and hide their falsehood under a shew of truth but I hope ere long you shall have these things more fully manifested unto you CHAP. XX. Sheweth how the Rebellious Faction for swore themselves what trust is to be given to them how we may recover our peace and prosperity how they have unking'd the Lords anointed and for whom they have exchanged him and the conclusion of the whole AND now having committed all these things and much more wickednesse then I though I had the tongue of Angels can expresse I am perswaded many of them seeing the miraculous mercies of our God in protecting and assisting His Majesty far beyond their thoughts and imaginations do begin to think on peace and accommodation which they presuming on the Kings lenity made sure to themselves whensoever they pleased and indeed dâ—lce nomen pacis and the Esay 52. 7. feet of them that bring tydings of peace are more specious then the fairest countenance Psal 85. 10. Rom. 1. 7. 1 Cor. 3. 2 Cor. 2. c. of Aurora then the sweet face of Helen But seeing righteousnesse and peace have kissed each other and the Apostle joyneth grace and peace alwayes together as two deare friends saith S. Aug. so deare that si amicam pacis non amaveris neque te amabit pax ipsa and these men are filled with all unrighteousnesse and have trampled the grace of God and their King under feet and having sworne and forsworne themselves over and over as at their baptisme that they would keep Gods Commandments whereof this is one to be obedient unto our Rom.
Ordinances are made against all Lawes equity and conscience 213 CHAP. XX. Sheweth how the rebellioâ—s Faction forswore themselves what trust is to be given to them how we may recover our peace and prosperity how they have un-king'd the Lords Annointed and for whom they have exchanged him and the conclusion of the whole 127 PSAL. 39. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verily every man living or in his best estate is altogether Vanity Sela. OUR Blessed Lord and Saviour saith the night cometh when no man can work therefore I must work the Works of him John 9. 4. that sent me whilst it is day and S. Paul tels us the time will come when men will not endure sound Doctrine but after their 2 Tim. 4. 3. own lusts they shall heap to themselves Teachers that is Teachers enough in every place and every time so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth but what kind of Teachers shall they heap unto themselves the Apostle tels you they shall be teachers after their own lusts that is such Tub-teachers of the new Order as will study rather to satisfie their lusts and to preach what they please best than to edifie their soules And I believe all wise men see that time is now and not till now fully come therefore it behoves all the true Teachers to bestir themselves to work the works of him that sent them while it is day while they have any time and while there is any true Light yet remaining before the sad night and darksom clouds of Errours and Heresies be grown so far and to prevail so much against the Truth that you shall scarce find any place or person where or by whom the new lights may be confronted and the old Truth confirmed unto us So it behoveth me and it is my duty to employ my Talent to the uttermost of my power against these false Prophets of the Great Antichrist that is now come into the world and by these heaps of his Emissaries laboureth quite to overthrow the Church of Christ And as Clement recordeth that when Barnabas came to Rome to preach the Gospel of Christ and divers rejected it he briefly said In vestra potestate est vel recipere quae annuntiamus vel spernere It is in your choice either to receive what we teach or to reject it but we may not be silent and not speak quod vobis expedire novimus what we know to be expedient and necessary for you quia nobis si taceamus damnum est vobis quae dicimus si non recipiatis pernicies est so Clem. Recoâ— l. 1. p. 6. say I. And therefore that you may be somthing and so happy I beseech you listen to these words that testifie that in your selves you are nothing â—ut Vanity For verily every man And the nearest way to exchange this Vanity for Eternity and so to make us happy that are in misery is to know our own vanity and to understand our own misâ—ry For Knowledge saith Hugo Card. is the way to God and undeâ—standing saith the Prophet David is that which distinguisheth and differenceth man from Psal 49. 12 20. beast for man though he be never so great in honour never so powerful in place and never so rich in wealth yet if he hath no understanding he is compared to the beasts that perish And the two chiefest parts which are like the Body and Soul of all the Knowledge that makes us happy are these two Precepts so much commended and so often urged unto us even by the Heathens themselves that yet notwithstanding were destitute of all true Knowledge that could make them happy because they knew rightly neither of those two things that they so much commended which were For 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know God 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know thy self 1. Our Saviour tels us this is eternal Life to know God i. e. to know the Father John 17. 3. 1. To know God the only way to make us happy to be the only true God and whom he hath sent Jesus Christ For the Heathens know that God alone is the fummum bonunt and the only true and perfect Eternity to which all men naturally have a propensity and desire to be united but yet cannot because they know him not and therefore is that Precept to know him so often urged And the reason why we know not so much of God as we should and which The reason why we know not so much of God as should make us happy should make us happy is because we know not our selves we know not our own vanity and misery for the nearest way to bring us to Eternity is to understand our own vanity and the first step to happiness is to know our selves to be unhappy and that this unhappiness was derived unto us by that sad accident of sin which separated us from God who is felicity and eternity and made us wholly to become vanity and replenished with all misery and therefore 2. The very Philosophers could tell us that to know our selves is the ready way 2. To know our selves the best way to know God both to know God and to enjoy God For as he that knoweth God will never relie on himself so he that knoweth himself will alwaies seek to rely on God because he seeth his own vanity his weakness and his frailty to be such and so great that he cannot subsist without God and therefore Socrates seeing this sentence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know thy self engraven upon the Portal of the Temple of Apollo and considering with himself that there could be no access unto God but through his House and no entrance into the House but by the Door and then seriously musing with himself why this Sentence should be set upon the door he concluded that the readiest way to come to God was to know himself and therefore he left the course and practise of other Philosophers that searched into the motions of the Heavens and the influence of the Planets and applied their studies rerum cognoscere causas to understand the causes of all natural things which they conceived was the only thing that could make them happy and bring them to enjoy the summum bonum and he gave himself wholly to learn the knowledge of himself and he conceived there was no folly comparable to this to be painful and diligent to know all other things and to be ignorant and know nothing of himself to study Arts and Sciences and to forget himself and therefore non se quaesiverit extra but he employed all his time and his pains to know himself because he conceived that the knowledge of himself would be more beneficial to him than the knowledge of all other physical things whatsoever For which cause and no other the Oracle seeing him preferring the moral Philosophy before the Natural pronounced him the wisest man in Greece not because his knowledge was more compleat or his