no more passe away by promise Gods right to our obedience then we can covenant to transferre and give away another mans goods or demeasnes Secondly it is harmelesse in the consequences because if any out of a reall or seeming repugnance to divine precept deny active obedience they must confesse themselves obliged by the same conscience of observing the law of God not to resist that authority which he hath armed jure gladij with the right of using the sword probably to this end that Religion might not be a cloke for Rebellion that we might not dare out of the feare of God to violate the order of divine providence by which he hath thought fit to governe the world This is the patience of the Saints which shall be rewarded with heaven because they suffer rather then doe evill for earthly considerations as being assured God hath forbiden them though for prevention of their particular and undeserved misery to disturbe the publike happinesse by resisting that power which Scripture tells them is from above It oft times pleases God to make use of ill governours and their unrighteous judgement may be his just sentence for our former transgressions if it be his will to scourge us by them no smart should tempt us to cut his rod in pieces Because generally men are hardly brought to entertaine a truth which seemes disadvantageous to them and comes in ill company attended with affliction Quis enim facilè credit propter quod dolendum est though this should not be amongst Christians who are crucis candidati quibus frui fas est Diis iratis and who ought to rejoyce in their present sufferings as the exercise of vertue and that way to eternall glory which our Saviour hath chalked out both by example and precept I will use the greater diligence in evidencing this point by all kinde of proofes of which the matter is capable If we looke backe to the law of Nature we shall finde that the people would have had a clearer and more distinct notion of it if common use of calling it Law had not helped to confound their understanding when it ought to have beene named the Right of nature Difference betweene Law of Nature and Right of Nature for Right and Law differ as much as Liberty and Bonds Jus or right not laying any obligation but signifying we may equally choose to doe or not to doe without fault whereas Lex or law determines us either to a particular performance by way of command or a particular abstinence by way of prohibition and therefore jus naturae all the right of nature which now we can innocently make use of is that freedome not which any law gives us but which no law takes away and lawes are the severall restraints and limitations of native liberty Upon this ground I have shewed already the right of nature cannot be pleaded against positive constitution that being a permission onely and not an injunction and therefore ceasing by a subsequent obligation arising from promise and compact when multitudes became one Civil body I was unwilling to weary the Reader by an unprofitable debate and different stating of the originall of power For though it be most true that paternall authority was regall and therefore this of Gods immediate constitution Their owne Scheame of Government serves our turne and justifies the Kings cause and founded in nature yet it is not much pertinent to the present decision nor can it necessarily concerne moderne controversies betweene Rulers and People Because it is most evident no King at this day and much lesse other Governours holds his Crowne by that title since severall paternall powers in every State are given up and united in one common father who cannot pretend a more immediate kindred to Adam then all the rest of mankinde For this consideration I thought fit to lay downe their owne Scheame of Government and let them make what advantages they can by presenting to your apprehension a multitude before a people like a heape of stones before they are cemented and knit together into one building I shall onely desire my adversaries would not betray so much want of ingenuity as to make this favour of joyning issue upon their owne principles a contradiction For I thought it losse of time to insist upon their mistakes in the manner of derivation of power when all of us agree well enough in the thing That after the multiplying of mankinde there was an Anarchy is confest onely they impute it to a want of all Law and Rulers and we derive it more naturally from the multitude of Governours whose wills being various were so many distinct Lawes to those who were under them when in every family was a Kingdome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Euripides describes the Cyclops their Subjects were their owne flesh and naturall Princes being wives and children when there were so many absolute Princes within the compasse of a Parish that a man had scarce roome to walke in a Territory when a Commonwealth was lodged in a Cottage this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the mother of confusion and by reason of such a multiplicity of Kings it was not ill stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though they had absolute power yet it was confined within a narrow compasse and if they exercised any jurisdiction or made use of their liberty to the prejudice of neighbour States this begot controversies and both parties having right to be Judges in their owne causes they made force the measure of decision and who was strongest could not be knowne but by the issue of the warre Quis justiùs induit arma Scire nefas summo se judice quisque tuetur Haec acies victum factura nocentem est To prevent those fatall mischiefes to which they were subject while they lived in this hostile State evidently occasioned by their divided powers a way was found out by making their individuall strengths and the many narrow authorities which still justled one another one legall power and this was placed then with great prudence in one person to the end the cause of their sufferings might be fully taken away and that there might not be left a possibility of relapsing into their former miseries which proceeded from opposition between equall authorities Thus I grant to them their owne Scheame yet without prejudice to that truth delivered by Cedren who makes Adam the catholique Monarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As reason first represented to them Monarchy as the most perfect forme from which their want of government was a defection for we may say of Anarchy Non fuit sic ab initio so sense confirmed it they having happy experience of those eminent advantages peculiar to this constitution as unity secrecy and expedition The Roman story doth approve this wisedome by acquainting us with the fatall miscarriages and bad successes of their Armies when commanded by two Generalls And if we looke upon this State
ignorance drawing out of broken cisterns the seditious writings of the Roman and the Reformed Jesuites and transcribing one another and so are taught and reach to despise dominion and speake evill of those things which they know not §. 3. I Make no question the proposition is now evident that the supreme power in any State let it be where it will somewhere it must be for else it were an Anarchy and no government ought not to be resisted This makes rebellion sin as transgressing divine and humane lawes In the next place for the perfect direction of conscience Most necessary to know the subject of Supremacy wee must examine in whom the supreme power is placed a mistake in this is as dangerous as an errour in the former For as zeale which is not according to knowledge is impiety for though it have the heat it hath not the light which is required to true devotion so the most scrupulous obedience is but humble rebellion if it be misplaced and yielded to fellow Subjects against him who hath jus regnandi the right to command them Thus in an Aristocracy to aide one man against the Senate is Treason against the State and in a Monarchy because the constitution is different and places the supreme power in one to aide the Senate of which that one is the head and opposed to him they are but a livelesse trunk in order to those things to which his influence is necessary Fortescue warrants the expression sine capite communitas non corporatur against the Monarch and supreame Ruler is rebellion and treason against the State The Assumption therefore shall be The King of ENGLAND hath this supreame power when this is proved the conscience must take law from this necessary Inference therefore it is unlawfull for Subjects to hold up armes against the King of England Because as it is an absurdity in speculation so it is sinne in practice to deny the conclusion there they offend against Logique here against Religion also For whatsoever is not of faith that is not of judgment whatsoever wee doe against our owne reason and the light of conscience is transgression The matter of this discourse is of high concernment For as things now stand on it hang Heaven or Hell our salvation or eternall damnation If the King be the highest power you are bound to submit to him but if you have new Soveraignes if your fellow Subjects are become the Lords anoynted there may be some colour of justification Except this be proved you are altogether inexcusable as appeares in the last Section and therfore it will behoove you to hearken to Solomons advice My sonne feare thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change For their calamity shall rise sodainely Prov. 24. 21. 22. Certainely unconcerned men will thinke I have undertaken no very difficult taske The Kings Supremacy witnessed by out Oath If I can but perswade the Kings adversaries they have not forsworne themselves I shall recover them to due obedience but I must tell them if they were not perjur'd in taking the Oath of Supremacy not to mention now that of Alleagiance they are so in breaking it The words are so expresse that not any colourable glosse can be invented to excuse the violation of this solemne Sacrament I A. B. doe utterly testifie and declare in my conscience that the Kings highnesse is the only supreame Governour of this Realme and of all other His Highnesse Dominions and Countries as well in all Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall things or causes as Temporall c. I d◠promise that from henceforth I shall beare faith and true allegiance to the Kings Highnesse His Heires and lawfull Successours and to my power shall assist and defend all jurisdictions priviledges preheminences and authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highnesse His Heires and Successours or united and annexed to the Imperiall Crowne of this Realme So helpe me God and by the Contents of this Booke It hath beene replyed That this Oath is taken in opposition to the Pope to exclude the Supremacy usurped by him for many yeares They speake truth but not all the truth for there are two parts in it One negative by which wee professe that not any forraigne State or Potentate nor the Pope hath this power The other positive by which the Subject of this power is specified The Kings Highnesse is the onely supreame Governour of this Realme as in all Spirituall things and causes so likewise Temporall Both Ecclesiasticall and Civill supremacy are here asserted to be in the King It was not thought sufficient to tell who was not Supreme but they declare also who was When we had truly sworne the Pope out of this Kingdome what necessity was there to make the people perjur'd for certainely they forsweare themselves who solemnely testifie and declare in their conscience That the Kings highnesse is the onely supreme Governour if the meaning of those words be onely this that the Pope is not It concernes us as highly as our Soules are worth reddere juramentum domino to performe unto the Lord our Oath and not to lift up those hands against the King which were layd upon the holy Gospell in witnesse of our submission to him as the onely supreme Governour What desperate malice is it to expose our Soules to every Musket shot if wee fall we perish eternally This sad contemplation that wee stand on the very brinke of Hell ready to be turned into the Lake of everlasting woes by every sword every bullet will smite our hearts and make our armes feeble in the day of battaile what confusion amazement and horrour of conscience must needs seize upon all considering men Think upon the heinousnesse of parricide to murther a Father is a sin greater then any one is able to beare But to spill the bloud of our Soveraigne which they have done who fought against him for it is murderin Gods sight his goodnesse in protecting his servant doth not excuse their sin in endeavouring to destroy their King whom God commands not to touch and whose life we have sworn to defend with the utmost hazard of our owne and we have desired the Lord to revenge it in our destruction if we doe otherwise is of a much deeper dye For the King is Pater patriae a common Father to all without a Metaphor what ever power Fathers had over and consequently whatsoever honour as an effect of this power was due to them from their children he hath right to challenge the same of all And though we should joyne together King hath paternall powers from consent of the people and call our selves the Common-wealth we can no more lawfully dis-respect give law to resist upon hard usage or say he is lesse honourable then all we then children by agreement may dispense with their duty to their parents It was our owne act which united all particular paternall powers in Him and that these
which States are setled overthrowne if the people be made Judges of their safety and allowed to use any meanes which they fancy conducing thereto without any consideration of the ground-workes Populi salus suprema lex is the Engine by which the upper roomes are torne from the foundation and seated upon fancy onely like Castles in the aire For the safety of the people is really built upon governement and this destroyed the other non jam aedes sed cumulus erit will be soone swallowed in the common confusion but this is evidently and demonstrably ruined by these principles For government is an effect not of a people 's divided naturall powers but as they are united and made one by civill constitution so that when we call it supreame power we impose an improper name and have given occasion for mistakes yet I shall not endeavour to alter the common use of speaking but onely to prevent a misunderstanding of it because indeed this power is simply one and when it doth expresse it selfe by one person or more according to different formes who yet are but severall parts of one governour there is not left in the Kingdome or Common-wealth any civill that is any legall power which can appeare in resistance because all of them have bound their naturall hands by a politique agreement Hence it followes those that will allow any power to Subjects against their ruler let it be Liberty to resist those in whom the Law places jus gladis the right of the sword destructive to the very nature of governement one man or many united by one common forme which is the consent of the major part and this is not capable of division do thereby dissolve the sinewes of government by which they were compacted into one and which made a multitude a people and so breake the Common-wealth into as many peices as they have set up opposers against it For there cannot be two powers and yet the Kingdome remaine one This is that which distinguishes Francs and England and Spaine from one another because they have three powers legally distinct and are the same in relation each to other as three particular men meeting in some wildernesse and considered as not having agreed to any Lawes of Society I am fully perswaded no sober man can imagine the policy of this State is so defective as to open a necessary way to its owne ruine that is to divide the Kingdome legally in it selfe and therefore it must necessarily be granted those that take up armes being not authorized so to do by law are guilty of rebellion and the consequences of it murder and rapine It is very easy to determine whom the Law hath armed with power because not any part of the people not the two Houses but the King alone is sworne to protect us which is an evident argument he is enabled to effect this end and that the necessary meanes to compasse it which is the posse regni is at his disposall By these generalls throughly digested and rightly applied we shall be able to rule particular decisions I shall desire one thing especially may be remembred as which hath great influence upon all cases Though what is truly the right of any one doth not cease to be so naturally by anothers sentence to the contrary yet after positive constitutions upon a Judges decision he can challenge no title to it because by his owne deed and consent he passeth it away in that judiciary determination And equity and prudence both dictate that it was a most honest and reasonable agreement as conducing to publique peace and the quiet of mankind that persons publikely constituted and more unconcerned in the decisions should put an end to all debates Because otherwise the controversie was not likely to be ended but with one of the parties For each man out of naturall favour the strongest corruptive of judgement inclining to his owne Interest there was nothing left but force to determine it There cannot be a more unhappy administration of Justice then when strength is made the measure of right and when all Iudges are bribed as passing sentence to their owne advantage §. 1. THe following Section shall be spent in proving the proposition by which the consciences of all Subjects must be directed It is unlawfull to resist him or them in whom the supreame authority that is all the legall power of the Kingdome is placed and no dispensation grounded upon what persons soever as inferiour Magistrates or upon any cause as the extreame abuse of this power to their oppression can excuse such resistance from the sin of rebellion Upon this pillar not onely monarchy stands firme but all other governements are equally supported the generall reason being applicable according to the difference in severall formes In the third Section I will bring the case home to our selves by proving this assumption The King of England hath this supreame power and then I shall leave it to every mans conscience to inferre the conclusion therefore it is unlawfull to make resistance against their Soveraigne In the fourth Section I will answer all the evasions how plausibly soever founded which I could meete with in the severall writings of those men who though they strike at the King downe right and more immediately yet by plaine and evident cousequences they destroy all civill society By way of conclusion I will shew though such a power of resistance as they or any others have yet openly pleaded for should be granted lawfull as when in their owne defence or when he that hath the highest authority and is bound by the law of God and his owne oath to administer justice equally yet after frequent representations of their grievances and most just Complaints of their great sufferings affords no redresse yet this can be no justification of the present warre against the King nor acquit the Actors in it from being rebels Because this case is evidently not now as will appeare after a view taken of the causas of this unnaturall and illegall division The proposition to be proved is It is unlawfull to resist him or them in whom the supreame authority that is all the legall power of the Kingdome in order to raise armes is placed and no dispensation grounded upon what persons soever as inferiour magistrates or upon any cause as the extreame abuse of this power to their oppression can excuse such resistance from the sin of Rebellion I make no question every man will apprehend that by resistance here Differences betweene not obeying against law and hostile resistance to a lawfull Soveraigne is meant only hostile opposition and not a refusall to put unjust commands measured by divine or humane laws in execution for the truth is if they are or seeme repugnant to Gods law for then they are so really in respect of those who have that apprehension idem est esse apparere in this case of good and bad because whatsoever is not of
people and declared their duty This was not what he ought to do but what they ought to suffer when a King swerved from that rule by which he was bound to governe For his duty was well knowne being laid downe many ages before by Moses and written in the booke which Moses commanded the Levites to keepe in the side of the Arke of the Covenant that it might be there for a testimony against transgressors Deut. 31. 36. so that this bindes the people not to resist though they are oppressed wherefore the close of it is since there is no helpe in man they must onely cry unto the Lord 1 Sam. 10. 18. This signification is confirmed by the Civill Law where we are informed jus praetor reddit etìam cùm iniquè discernit the meaning of it is explained relatione scilicet factà non ad id quod ita praetor fecit sed ad illud quod praetorem facere convenit L. jus plur D. de just jur And in this sense summum jus is sometimes summa injuria It were happy for all States if the people were fully instructed in this Text and could distinguish Potestatem imperii ab officio imperantis the right to governe from government according to right For the former is obligatory and stands in full force though he be defective in the latter This middle way inter abruptam contumaciam deforme obsequium neither guilty of stubborne disobedience or servile complyance is very safe and honest For it acknowledges he that hath supreame authority is subject to some lawes for it was truly said by Harmenopulus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that of the Emperours is fit to be observed Digna vox est majestate regnantis legibus alligatum se principem profiteri Adeo de auctoritate juris nostra pendet auctoritas reverâ majus imperio est submittere legibus principatum l. 4. c. de legibus But he is not subject to any Judge upon earth because he hath no superiour This the Graecians called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a government not accomptable to men and they opposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a Monarchy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to such Rulers as were responsable Ambrose expresses it by non ullis ad poenam vocari legibus tutos imperii potestate The reason of these constitutions was grounded upon necessity which inforced them to place an impunity somewhere for avoiding confusion A necessity to grant impunity to some in all governments to avoid confusion For a circle in government would be infinitely absurd and of pernicious consequences when Rulers are placed over us to challenge a right to rule those Rulers The Poët very wisely was at a stand Quis enim custodiet ipsos Custodes But these men runne round till they are giddy all the foundations of government being moved by them and put out of course Because they have not setled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Galen calls it a supreame power to whose sentence the last resort must be and whose determination jus facit that is though it should swerve from the rule of justice yet it must have the effect of right it is binding to all they cannot call him to accompt for it and make him responsable for the wrong His authority is a guard to his person and though he chance to doe some things not innocently for he ought to be guided by the lawes of honesty given to mankinde and to observe his oath and promises yet he must doe all safely because he cannot be punished by any Nationall Law This impunity makes all resistance which may any way indanger his person unlawfull David clearely determines the case Destroy him not saith he to Abishai the reason of this ne perdas is now of full force and tyes up the hands of inferiours in every State For who can stretch forth his hands against the Lords anointed and be guiltlesse 1 Sam. 26. 9. The substance of this anointment which makes their persons sacred and not to be touched with violence remaines even where the Ceremony is not practised For it is nothing else but jus regnandi the right of supremacy a true title to reigne over them and therefore Cyrus a Heathen King is called Gods Anointed Es 45. 1. though the material ceremony of powring oyle upon him was not in use amongst the Persians It is a metaphoricall expression of supereminency taken from that quality of oyle which is when it is mixed with other liquours to be uppermost The Fathers unanimous glosse which certainly ought to beare greater sway in our actions then the authority of those men not knowne to us but as the causes of our misery upon Davids confession Against thee thee onely have I sinned Psal 51. 4. pleads for this impunity Notwithstanding he had abused Vriah's wife and contrived the death of so gallant a man who forgot what was dearest to him next unto the Kings honour and would not goe in unto his wife untill the Kings enemies were destroyed yet he saith in the height of his humiliation he had sinned against God onely because there was no Tribunall amongst men to which he was responsable Our Common Law seemes to expresse it selfe in the same sense le Roy ne fa tort the King can doe no wrong Though we may suffer undeservedly yet no sense of injuries received can dispence with the obligation of not righting our selves by force I have done with my proofes out of the Old Testament and I desire my readers to weigh how much is concluded lest they should thinke the application hollow because all Kings have not the same rights which belonged to the Kings of Israel First therefore it hath beene shewed How much is concluded out of the old Testament to the present case to restraine this liberty of resistance is a wise government because of Gods owne institution and so that temptation which hath strong influence upon many ought to cease that it is folly to contract to be obedient in such a way as may leave them without remedy for great grievances And secondly it is evidenced that the same power which the Judges before and the Kings of Israel after had is in every State somewhere that jus consistens in impunitate delictorum a right of not being accomptable for their actions which fences the person or persons in whom suprema dominatio is and secures them as strongly as Lawes can doe from all violence is either in one man so alwayes in a Monarchy or in a certaine body whose power though abused must give Law in order to non-resistance to all inferiours There is a possibility of suffering very great inconveniences without any lawfull meanes of redresse It is an unhappy condition we shall live in if he or they should be Tyrants and take delight in our oppression But we cannot helpe it God out of his dominion might thus dispose of our fortunes and lives and he declares his pleasure so to doe and therefore we
Members and the Head cannot thrive by a consumption of the Members Illegall gainings from the people are shifts rather then true policy they may serve a present turne yet are not worth the price at which they are purchased envy and discontents wheras the gratitude of the Subject is a constant and cheerefull patrimony When the King like the Sunne in consideration of what is drawne up from them shall returne it in plentifull showres and the blessings of a just government which makes a Land fruitfull Upon these grounds wee have very good reason to promise to our selves a happy government our hopes are much above our feares especially after his greater experience of the unfortunate consequences of some miscarriages and the strange blessings upon his strict observation of the certaine and knowne Lawes They that require fuller information in the nature of this government may finde ample satisfaction in Stawnford Dyer Crompton and Sir Edward Coke That the King is the fountain of all justice and consequently that the Lawes have placed the supreame power in the Crowne I have chosen rather to shew it out of Bracton a man worthily famous for his knowledge in the Civill and Common Law because the booke is lesse common and I finde his authority often abused to justifie their cause Sciendum quòd ipse dominus Rex qui ordinariam habet jurisdictionem dignitatem potestatem super omnes qui in regno suo sunt Kings Supremacy proved out of Bracton habet enim omnia jura in manu sua quae ad coronam laicalem pertinent potestatem materialem gladium qui pertinet ad regni gubernaculum Habet etiam justitiam judicium quae sunt jurisdictiones ut ex jurisdictione suâ sicut Dei minister Vicarius tribuat unicuique quod suum fuerit Habet enim ea quae sunt pacis ut populus sibi traditus in pace sileat quiescat ne quis alterum verberet vulneret vel male tractet ne quis alienam rem per vim roberiam auferat vel asportet ne quis hominem mahemiet vel occidat Habet etiam coercionem ut delinquentes puniat coerceat Item habet in potestate suâ leges constitutiones assisas in regno suo provisas approbatas juratas ipse in propriâ personâ suâ observet subditis suis faciat observari nihil enim prodest jura condere nisi sit qui juratueatur Habet igitur Rex hujusmodi jura sive jurisdictiones in manu suâ lib. 2. cap. 24. § 1. And againe ea quae jurisdictionis sunt pacis ea quae sunt justitiae paci annexa ad nullum pertinent nisi ad coronam dignitatem regiam nec à corona separari poterunt cùm faciant ipsam coronam The english of it in briefe is this The King hath supreame power in all civill causes and is super omnes over all persons over the body politique all jurisdictions are in him the materiall sword of right belongs to him and whatsoever conduces to peace that the people committed to his charge may lead peaceable and quiet lives The power of holding Assizes is derived from him and of punishing delinquents For Laws were vainly enacted if there were not some body enabled to protect us by defending them c. These conclusions are naturally deduced from his premises To dispose the Militia of the Kingdome without the consent of the Soveraigne and much more against his expresse prohibition is illegall To issue Commissions by any other authority then his for killing and slaying or taking mens estates by force is against the known Lawes and to forbid the holding of Assizes upon whatever pretence of advancing the Subjects property by stopping the course of Justice is destructive of the rights both of King and Subjects He defines the Sword lib. 1. cap. 8. § 4. lest Subjects should thinke it lawfull to take it up in their owne defence without his authority significat defensionem regni patriae it is the right to defend the Kingdome Populi salus the safety of the people the pretence of which hath ingaged them in a likely way of ruine cannot dispense with our Lawes which have enabled onely him to protect them It is not possible to speake more home then he hath done in the fifth Paragraph Omnis quidem sub rege ipse sub nullo nisi tantùm sub Deo Parem autem non habet in regno suo quia sic amitteret praeceptum cum par in parem non habeat imperium Item nec multo fortiùs superiorem nec potentiorem habere debet quia sic esset inferior sibi subjectis inferiores pares esse non possunt potentioribus Ipse autem Rex non debet esse sub homine sed sub Deo sub lege quia lex facit regem All are under the King and the King is under God only He hath no equall in his Realme no coordination here because then he could not command all for amongst equalls there can be no Empire Therefore much lesse are any his superiours or can challenge greater power because then he would be under his Subjects c. The King ought not to be under man He is under God and the Law because the Law makes him King The last words though advantage be made of them and Fortescue is quoted to the same purpose can afford no just ground of scruple for he explaines himself within a few lines Lex facit regem signifies no more then that of the Roman Emperours Adeò de autoritate juris nostra pendet autoritas l. digna c. de legib The meaning may be extended thus farre That the people had a hand in the conveyance of their divided rights into him and he may now challenge them by vertue of their owne agreement and by divine right also but as presupposing this consent because God doth not immediately dispose of Kingdomes now and conquest signifies greater force not juster title that oft times gives possession and a subsequent compact creates a true right I doe not deny but that conquest in some cases may be a lawfull way of acquisition the provocation may be so great that persons and estates are forfeited to the victor but because the will is not capable of being forced it doth not follow he hath got a right over their goods and bodies therefore they are His Subjects and owe to him obedience For to be subject being a morall bond where God doth not lay upon us any obligation as the duty of children towards their Parents doth not depend upon choice it can only flow from our consent But this consent of the people was not an adequate cause but a necessary qualification to make him capable of receiving a larger commission from God The Sword of Justice is blunt the peoples agreement could not put an edge upon it to cut off offenders this is done by the Magistrate as Gods delegate That the
bring in a certaine confusion For they tell us obedience is commanded onely to good Magistrates if men intrusted to governe according to Law faile in their duty they cease to be Magistrates for these are defined Dei ministri nobis in bonum The Ministers of God for the good of the Common-wealth so that to destroy such is to resist the men onely and not the power it is a warre against the person onely and not the authority which is none if used against Law because that doth not enable any to destroy it selfe the Law cannot die legally by power is not meant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what they may doe by strength but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what they ought to doe in right This is the most reasonable doctrine because coherent to it selfe throughout but the most seditious doctrine likewise because it gives a full liberty to the people not onely in a representative body and therefore in the diffusive much more because all the right that can pretend to against the King is derived from this but to any part of them to any private man to resume as some expresse it their power or as others to make use of that power which they never parted with to their owne inconvenience and so all necessity of suffering except when they have deserved it is taken away and Christianity is made a tame madnesse To returne to Calvin whose following words are much abused though I must confesse some conceive them craftily laid downe by him in reference to the time and place when and where he lived and that his designe was to insinuate some small colour in plausible Generalls for that most unjustifiable action of the Citizens of Geneva who had lately cast off their true Prince because a Bishop of a contrary religion after he hath informed us that God requires all private men to obey or suffer though under Tyrants he addes Nam si qui nunc sint populares magistratus c. If there be at this time any Magistrates appointed by Law in behalfe of the people to restraine the licentiousnesse of Kings such as were the Ephori opposed and set over the Lacedaemonian Kings the Tribunes of the people which curbed the Roman Consuls and the Demarchi who bridled the Senate at Athens c. upon this supposition they not onely may but ought to reforme the abuses of government and to doe right to the poore Commonalty whose guardians they are This is undenyably true but impertinent to the present controversie because the People or Nobles cannot challenge that power in a Monarchy with which they are invested under an Aristocraticall or Democratical regiment such as Athens Rome and Sparta were It is very observable by the way that by reason the supreame power was placed in the Lacedaemonian Ephori and Roman Tribunes c. their office made their persons sacred and inviolable They did justly challenge the same impunity which we maintaine belongs to Kings in a true Monarchy for I argue not from the name for though the Duke of Venice were called King it would not inlarge his authority and the Spartan Kings had onely a Royall title but were truly Subjects as we learne from Plutarch and Polybius but from the nature of that power wherewith the constitutions of a Realme doe invest one person Hence appeares the unreasonablenesse of their seditious invectives founded upon some inconveniences because power will probably be sooner abused if any person may doe what he will and not be responsable for his injustice These kinde of Declamations with which their Presses and Pulpits labour strike equally at all government For there is a necessity we should lie open to some possible evils from the abuse of authority or else we cannot provide for greater and certaine goods of common peace and publique tranquillity It is no prudence to cure the miscarriages of government by a legall confusion since even the worst government is lesse miserable then Anarchy I beleeve I can make a full discovery of those wicked Arts whereby crafty men have opened a way to the advancement of their covetous and ambitious designes at the price of publique calamity Tib. Gracchus was excellently learned in those damnable politiques and I desire all indifferent men to judge whether the unhappy disturbers of England have not exactly managed the miseries of this Kingdome according to his principles He proposed some Lawes which might well become a reall lover of his Country Graccus his seditious practises their patterne but his violence in the illegall establishment of them which did evidently tend to confusion did make it apparent that publique pretences were taken up in order to the satisfaction of private lusts Marcus Octavius as his fellow Tribune had the right of a negative voice for if one Tribune dissented no Ordinance could be made which ought to have the power of Law He not able to effect his ends informes the people that this opposition betweene their equall authorities did threaten civill warre and therefore it would concerne them as they loved their owne safety which was the supreame Law to decide this difference by recalling that power which they had bestowed to the end they might receive benefit therefrom but which was now abused contrary to a trust reposed to their prejudice The issue was he prevailed with them to depose Octavius and he made them substitute a meane person one of his dependants But being sensible afterwards that amongst all his illegall Acts this gave most distaste not onely to the Nobility and Gentry who were indued with clearer understandings but even to the slowly apprehending Commons and that it proceeded from lawlesse passion to debase the highest dignity of Tribune of the people and expose that sacred function to scorne and contempt which ever before was justly esteemed inviolable and such as secured the persons from being touched hee brings these colours to excuse that most unpresidented action The Authority of Tribunes is truly sacred and inviolable but for no other cause then as particularly devoted to protect the people and established to advance their welfare If therefore a person thus highly intrusted failes in performance of duty suffers the people for whom he serves to be oppressed and endeavours to abridge their power and denyes to them the meanes of expressing their will and pleasure by his vote for he is but their mouth enabled by them to declare their meaning In this case he forfeits all Prividedges and Prerogatives due to his office because hee thwarts those very ende which first moved the people to bestow upon him such large preeminences for if otherwise we must be bound to sit still while he pulls downe the Capitoll or sets the Navy on fire and notwithstanding any violences or whatever exorbitancies of his lusts and wildest passions tamely to obey him as our Tribune that is such an one who by vertue of our trust for the improvement of our safety usurpes a right to cut our throats and is
and gaine time and if that would not doe he would dismisse the assembly and command another meeting Then would he appeare first upon the place in mourning apparell and with afflicted lookes and humble countenance sadly requesting the people to take compassion on him who suffered such miserable things and feared worse only for doing them service and desiring them to reward his faithfull endeavour by loving his poore Wife and little Children for he gave himselfe for a lost man since he had reason to feare yet the cause in which he should fall was an unspeakable comfort that the enemies of the Common-wealth and such as maligned their happinesse would come upon him in the night and force his house and murther him These well dissembled griefes so wrought their passions that the abused Citizens set up Tents about his house at their owne charges and maintained a constant Guard for his protection When such men shall make a State miserable under pretence of improving its happinesse and challenge to themselves a right to breake all setled constitutions under colour of forcing upon the Kingdome new Lawes which will be more beneficiall when they shall imprison us at pleasure that wee may injoy our liberties and take away our goods to secure our property and punish the most orthodox conscientious and painfull Preachers and impose upon Congregations factious Lecturers to settle true Religion and when they have acted such high mischiefs shall tell us the Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdome are Malignants and delight in and contribute their aides to advance an illegall government who are certaine to suffer most in it it is then time to cry out Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes I have beene tempted to a large digression because the same Artes which made Rome miserable are visible in our calamities I will now proceed with Calvin after he hath very conscientiously instructed us in our christian duty by saying all resistance is unlawfull unlesse undertaken by the authority of Magistrates whom the Law enables to be the peoples protectors and gives them the highest power which can only be in an Aristocracy or popular State he hath afforded too great an occasion for mistake by an ungrounded conjecture Et quâ etiam fortè potestate ut nunc res habent funguntur in singulis regnis tres ordines quum primarios conventus peragunt And the same power which the Tribunes of Rome c. had as things now stand peradventure belong to the three Estates when they hold their principall assemblies I could wish I were able to excuse him from temporizing yet he layes it down extream cunningly perhaps peradventure if this chance to be otherwise you have nothing to say for your selves you are condemned out of his mouth and in a poynt of such higly concerning consequences you have no reason to change his adverbe of doubting into an assertive I shall oppose to his perhaps it is certainely not so in England because our Lawes make this a Monarchicall government and so different from that of Rome or Athens or Sparta and therefore conscience hath no warrant for resistance against him in whom the supreme power is placed The worke of the second section was to prove it unlawfull for Subjects to resist him or them in whom the supreame authority that is all the legall power of the Kingdome in order to raise armes is placed I shall now shew the invalidity of their exceptions against it by manifesting that no dispensation grounded upon what causes soever as indeavours to make them slaves or beggars or to introduce another and a false religion and what else may be comprehended under the extreame abuse of this power to their oppression or upon any persons as inferiour magistrates or any colour of preserving the authority of the man by fighting and as much as in them lies destroying the man in authority or of making the power well used for the good of the people and not the person abusing that power to be the minister of God c. can excuse such resistance from the sin of rebellion and from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fighting against God in despising his ordinance Tyrannicall abuse of power doth not make taking up armes against the supreame governour lawfull This truth is confest in words even by their cheife writers Tyranny doth not dispense with the Subjects duty of alleageance though in the meane while they make use of such arguments to prevaile on the peoples affections and exhort them against the King in the feare of God as clearly overthrow this acknowledgment The fuller answere to Doctor Ferne saith thus there are two kinds of tyranny regiminis and usurpationis that of government though never so heavy yet must be indured not only to the good sayes the Apostle 1. Pet. 2. 18. but the froward too and therefore I know no man that defends the ten tribes revolt from Rehoboam p. 22. when they complained of some greivances under which they had groaned in his fathers reigne he was as indiscreete as unjust and told them he would oppresse them more and yet because he had jus regiminis it is ingenuously granted it was unlawfull for them to Rebell The breife answere to Doctor Ferne thus we professe against resisting power authority though abused He doth not hide himselfe as ordinarily by dividing the power from the person who is invested therewith but concludes against resisting the men also If those who have power to make lawes shall make sinfull lawes that is prove tyrants and so give authority to force obedience we say here there must be either flying or passive obedience p. 113. By the same reason if he that hath the only power by lawes already made to traine array and mustar and to dispose of the Militia with which he is intrusted for his Subjects protection and his owne safety should put them into hands which they cannot confide in yet there must be no warre waged to prevent a supposed danger there must be either flying or passive obedience But if one that is in authority command out of his owne will and not by law I resist no power no authority at all if I neither actively nor passively obey no I do not resist so much as abused authority If you meane by not passively obey take up armes ◠against which you must if you speake pertinently and would make an application of this answer to the justification of hostile resistance in Subjects you do resist power and authority in this case For though you are no obliged to yeild obedience either contrary to divine praecept or the knowne lawes of the realme yet by making use of armes you transgresse that law which disables Subjects to make warre without the Princes authority much more against his expresse command to the manifest indangering of his royall Person He answers this had beene but accidentall p. 121. and so we are told by others he might have stayed away Those damn'd assassins and