any Government no more have Kings for neither God nor the Law of Nature hath given any such Power to Men. And God gives Kings as a Blessing and happily as the best of Governments but if thereby the state of Slavery must uncontrolably be intailed upon them as it necessarily must be if they renounce their whole Liberty it 's a Curse rather than a Blessing but they can no more give it away than they can give away their rational Nature and deny themselves to be reasonable Creatures for it is a Power natural to preserve themselves essentially adhering to every created Being Besides they cannot resign their whole Power as Priests would have them without manifest sin God having made an express Covenant with all the People of Israel that they should be his peculiar People and he would be their God the purport of which Covenant was That all the People should take care that he should be purely worshipped throughout all the Land which Power they cannot resign to Kings unaccountably and absolutely without manifest breach of Covenant and so sin in breaking Covevant with God and thereby provoking his wrath and indignation would pull down Vengeance upon whole Kingdoms Of which more fully hereafter O! Sovereignty is not in the People no more than a whole Kingdom can be one Man Sovereignty being the Abstract and Sovereign being the Concrete What then yet the Power of giving Sovereign Power to this or that Man according to Laws is naturally and radically in the People Obj 〈◊〉 May 4 Car. 1628. the Commons having framed a Petition of Right to be presented to his Majesty and desiring the Concurrence of the Lords they made this addition viz. We present this our humble Petition to your Majesty with the care not only of our own â—â—berties but with due regard to leave intire that Sovereign Power wherewith your Majesty is trusted for the Protection Safety and Happiness of the People Which tearms of Sovereign Power were so distasteful and chagreen to the Commons that they would by no means admit of them alledging for their justification That they seemed to be another distinct Power from the Power of the Law They were never used in any Parliamentary Petition or Magna Charta or in any Confirmation thereof If they should grant it it would seem to imply a Sovereign Power above our known and established Laws which are well known to the Kingdom but they know no Sovereign Power It was a new thing and they would by no means have it inserted into the Petition And the Statute of Magna Charta did bind the King and all his Sovereign Power Upon which ground it was left out Besides Titles of Supreme and Sovereign are verba Solemnia words of course titular and complemental relating only to their Persons but confers no Power what Sovereign Power Kings have are given and limited by Laws of common consent and not absolute What other Laws of Sovereignty there are of right belonging to them nemo sit is past all understanding Absolute Sovereignty in Kings hath no warrant by any Law of God or Nature that belongs to God only who is Lord of all Kingdoms of the Earth and therefore there is no Sovereign Power wherewith Majesty is intrusted either by God or Man but only that which is for the Protection Safety and Happiness of the People which is the Suprema Lex and the cause is very reasonable for that uncontrolable Authority easily degenerates into Tyranny And that Sovereign Power which is in all Governments is in the Legislative Power of that Government settled by Laws of common consent And King James in his Speech to the Parliament March 1609. stigmatizeth Power not bounded by Laws with the black Character of Tyranny yea Tyranny accompanied with Perjury Obj. The People have not Power of life and death What then No more have Kings until impowered by Laws of common consent yet the Power of life and death is eminently and virtually in the People collectively taken though not formally yet they have Power over their own lives radically and virtually for that they may subject themselves to Magistracy and to Laws made by common consent the violation of which may be capital and sanguinary And Kings have no other lawful Power over the lives of their Subjects but by Laws made by like common consent That under the Law and since there have been mutual and reciprocal Covenants between King and People is without all dispute and beyond all contradiction 2 Sam. 5. 3. 1 Chron. 11. 3. 2 Chron. 23. 2. 2 Kings 11. 17. And that they were as equally and reciprocally binding is as true else Why should such Covenants be made publickly before the People if Kings did not in the Covenant tye and oblige themselves to the People And why so solemnly to be made before the Lord in the House of God if not intended to be kept or might uncontrolably break them at pleasure Was God to be called upon and to be a Witness to a figment nay to a cheat Ab sit no all the Covenants mentioned in Holy Writ whether between God and Kings or between Kings and People are mutual I will be your God and you shall be my Poople Levit. 26. 12. The Covenant is so strictly mutual that if the People break the Covenant God is freed from his part of the Covenant Zach. 11. 10. All Covenanters are under a Law before Men. So if Kings break Covenant with their People the People are freed of their Obligation to them If the Oath of God be broken as the Covenant between Abraham and Abimelech Gen. 21. 22 23. Jonathan and David 1 Sam. 18. 3. So the Spies profess to Rahab in the Covenant that they made to her Josh 2. 20. And if thou utter this our business we will be quit of thine Oath which thou hast made us to swear The Obligation of Kings in their Oaths and Covenants to the governed floweth from the peculiar Obligation National betwixt them and the governed and bindeth Kings as Kings for that such Oaths and Covenants are entred into and taken in relation to Government only and therefore are not taken meerly as Men as some vainly suppose but as Kings or as they are to be Kings over them because it is the specifick act of Kings that they are to be obliged unto to Govern the People in righteousness and holiness with their Royal Power which is given them by the People for no other end and they undoubtedly sin before God if they break their Oaths and Covenants made with the Common-wealth And to assert otherways is to suppose Kings to be under no Law of God and so consequently make them either above God or coequal with him which is no other than down-right Blasphemy Therefore it is undoubtedly true that Kings Covenanting with the People to Govern according to the Laws of God and their own municiple Laws and on that Condition receive Thrones Crowns Tributes c. from them and are
that in the beginning all Power did flow from the People and still doth which Tully excellently demonstrates De lege Agraria Cum omnes potestates Imperia curationes ab úniverso Populo proficisci convenit tum eas profecto maxime quae constituuntur ad populi fructum aliquem commodum in quo universi delegant quem populo maxime consulturum unusquisque ' studio suffragio suo viam sibi ad beneficium impetrandum munire possit Seeing all Powers Commands Curations i. e. potestas seu munus administrandi bona do proceed and flow from the People then those more especially which are constituted and do respect the good and benefit of the People in which the universality do chuse them whom they judge will most especially study and procure their good and every one by their study and suffrage may have easie access to obtain Justice and Favours And all Lawyers do agree and hold That all Laws repugnant to the Laws of God of Nature or of Reason are not to be accounted as Laws And whereas the Power of judging was Originally in the People and the English by no Lex Regia have at any time transferred it out of themselves no King of England hath been wont or hath Power to judge any Man unless by the known and approved Laws Fleta lib. 1. c. 17. What Power Kings have are given to them by the People that they may know by the Authority to them committed that they may do nothing contrary to the Law and keep our Laws but not impose their own Laws on us and the Kings Power is really and truly in the Courts of Law wherein the People by their Juries have their share also And their chief Power is in their Senates and Parliaments who have a Right and Authority over all Courts and Powers in all which Courts Kings may both sue and be sued and the reciprocal Causes to be indifferently tried according to established Laws If at any time Kings act any thing contrary to Laws they act then as private Men or as Tyrants and not by any Authority transferred on them by God or Man so to do Hence Bract. l. 1. c. 8. Non est Rex ubi dominatur voluntas non Lex c. 1. 3. c. 9. Rex est dum bene regit tyrannus dum populum sibi creditum violenta opprimit dominatione c. ibid. Exercere debet Rex potestatem Juris ut vicarius minister Dei potestas autem injuriae Diaboli est non Dei. Cum declinat ad injuriam Rex Diaboli minister est As nothing contrary to the Laws of God and Reason can be accounted a Law so neither can a Tyrant be a King nor a Minister of the Devil be a Minister of God seeing therefore Law is but the product of right Reason and Obedience is due to Kings as the Ministers of God so by the same Reason and Law Tyrants and Ministers of the Devil may be censured and resisted Either the People to be governed have a Right and Power to chuse their own Governor or they have not If they have not then Kings chosen by them are not Kings but Usurpers and Oppressors If they have Power to chuse then they have Power to oblige him to what Conditions they please and to keep them and if they fail of performing then they are free of the Covenant as it was between Rahab and the Spies FINIS ERRATA PAge 6. line 18. dele it ibid. l. 50. for Iliad r. Myriad p. 9. l. 11. f. doth only r. not only ib. l. 38. f. the way r. the right way p. 11. l. 15. f. our r. your ib. f. Black-guard r. Peasants p. 13. l. 3. dele and. p. 14. l. 28. f. this r. those p. 17. l. 23. f. Zalencus r. Zaleucus p. 16. l. 43. r. St. Edward p. 22. l. 20. r elegerit alibi ib. l. 58. r. Martyrs p. 24. l. pen. f. the r. thy p. 25. l. pen. dele to p. 28. l. 25. dele in the Posterity of ibid. l. 31. f. did r. should p. 30. l. 22. f. taking r. taken ibid. l. 58. dele hundred p. 31. l. 17. f. Timens r Fabius ib. l. 32. r. Fabius p. 33. l. 24. f. or r. and. ib. l. 46. f. never r. ever p. 42. l. 12 r. Commonwealth p. 43. l. 38. dele Obj. p. 44. l. 46. f. necesset r recesset p. 46. l. 10. r. elegerit p. 47. l. 16. r. perfectiora p. 48. l. 35. r. differemus cui quam p. 51. l 43. dele we p. 56. l. 41. f. magis r. majes ib. l. 46. r. saies p. 57. l. 57. f him r. them ib. l. 33. r. proscribed p. 60. l. 38. dele the second no. p. 61. l. pen. f. beareth r. bear p. 62. l. 47. after yet r. God. p. 63. l. 19. r. prepossessed p. 69. l. 27. f. ye r. yea p. 75. l. 18. f. his r. their p. 76. l. 5. in the Contents f. returns r. return ib. 5. in the Chapter f. was r. were ibid. l. 33. f. lawful r. unlawful p. 78. l. 19. f. Proplancio r. pro Plancio p. 82. l. 7. r. is seated p. 87. l. 23. f. Florentio Dianysio and Coss r. Florentio Dianysio Coss ibid. l. 35. f. Valerius r. Valeria In 4â— printed 158â— Arlstotle Pindarus Tuâ—â—y Plato alias Lex Regia v. Dr. Sherrock c. 4. n. 9. p. 282 283. Lex P. Vallerii 2. Martii Fab. Maximi Scyllae C. Gracchi plebiscitum Lex Annaria c. Vid. A. A. A. lib. 4. cap. 6. p. 181.
of Christians True but not the only Weapons lawful resistance of unlawful Force is as true which Divines both Popish and Protestants Bellarmine Turrecremata Cajetan Dominicus Soto Franciscus Victorius Pareus Calvin Eccolompadius Beza Martyr Luther Lavator Zuinglius Bucer Padre Paolo eminent for his great Learning Judgment and Faithfulness in all his Writings Bishop Bilson famous for his incomparable works especially for maintaining Christian Subjection against Unchristian Rebellion Willet Dr. Sherrock Bishop Bedel and other Modern Writers innumerable who following one another confirm the same But yet the said Mr. Clifford in the same Sermon pag. 11 12. is pleased with great confidence to Pulpit it That those that hold such Opinions are but a few deluded Creatures in the Church of Rome and a handful of zealous Fools in the reformed Churches a very severe censure on so many great and learned Men. I much wonder at his daring confidence thus to censure and which is worst to imploy his Priesthood and his Pulpit to rail and to delude his Congregation and the World with Paralogisms and false glosses and misapplications of plain Texts of Scripture as he hath done contrary to the very duty of his Priesthood which is to feed us with Wisdom and Knowledge and not to prevaricate and juggle with plain Texts To instance only in that golden Sentence as he calls it of the Psalmist viz. touch not my anointed Psalm 105. 15. which very Text though more particularly spoken of the Seed of Abraham his Servant and of Jacob his chosen yet it is so clearly and undeniably applicable to God's People in general in whom is all his delight and not of Kings in particular that it cannot be denied nay it is a reproof even to Kings themselves viz. He suffered no man to do them wrong yea he reproved Kings for their sakes saying Touch not mine anointed and do my Prophets no harm verse 14 15. which also is reinforced Psalm 149. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his People and will put a two-edged Sword in their Hands to bind their Kings in Chains and their Nobles with Fetters of Iron to execute upon them the judgment written This honour have all his Saints What is this but to betray and smother and reproach Truth it self very ill becoming Priests of the most high God. He hath done as much by other Texts as Psalm 51. 4. 1 Sam. 8. Prov. 8. 15. And indeed most Texts he quotes he dissembles and puts false glosses upon them But let these pass I only wonder how Priests dare be so sawcy with the Word of God. Neither is it true as often objected That infinite scandals would arise and grow from such Doctrines on the Christian Religion but it is true that they would grow out of the contrary for so should Tyranny be brought into Commonwealths which as a publick fault is more pernitious Even as no more is it true that by this Doctrine there would grow confusions in Families Cities and Kingdoms because every one might defend himself from the Sergeants from the Comito in Gallies and from the Prince who would force them to pay Impositions and Taxes not granted by publick consent For indifferences between Princes and Subjects both cannot have right on their sides but of necessity that if they who use force do it lawfully the defence must be unlawful and where the force is unlawful the defence of necessity must be lawful and therefore vim vi repellere licet is always to be understood of that force which is unjusty used And these Doctrines are most especially to be understood of publick Kingdoms Commonwealths free States and Cities and to preach Patience unto such under Tyranâ—â— and Oppression is a Medicine fitter for mad Dogs than for reasonable 〈◊〉 especially Christians for whose sakes God rebukes even Kings saying Touch not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and do my Prophets no harm Psalm 105. 15. To which sort of Remedy no Man â—bound nay rather oftentimes a Man should sin in using it as when the remedy were not only prejudicial to themselves but also to others Another Remedy often urged is Obedience be it so This is a Remedy but when unjust and prejudicial and not only to the Liberty which God hath given to the governed but also to their Lives Goods and Honours they are not bound to use it and by reason of prejudicing another they should sin if they should use it Obedience is a Divine Precept and is to be yielded to a just and holy command but when it is referred to unjust and tyrannical commands it is not good but natural defence doth then succeed in its room Submission to unjust commands is Obedience in name but indeed an extreme disobedience towards God and the governed Gregory II. Quest 7. yields the reason Admomendi sunt subditi ne plus quam expedit sint subjecti ne quum student plus quam necesse est hominibus subjici compellantur etiam vitia eorum venerari That Subjects must be admonished that they make not themselves more subject than is convenient lest they are inforced to flatter them in their Vices whose subjects they make themselves more than they should Besides one abuse of Power and Authority gives a greater scandal to the World and is a cause of greater mischiefs than many disobediences and the Prince as more eminent is much more bound by his greater Obligation to God to do his duty Kings that have a serious intent to live Christianly in good earnest will be careful to observe the Commandments of God and that they be preferred before his own These Doctrines of Resistance and Passive Obedience have of late been very bitterly controverted by our Spiritual Guides and Mr. Miles Barne tells us That it is the duty of private Men to submit their judgments in matters of Religion to the determinations of those whom God hath constituted to be their Spiritual Guides and Governors in his Sermon preached before his Majesty October 17. 1675. which undeniably is false Doctrine and makes us not their Disciples but their Slaves and we are never the nearer the Truth if we do For Prester John may believe with Julian and John of Jerusalem with Jovian both Spiritual Guides and so the Position satisfied and yet the Controversie as indeterminable and as far undesided as before And for certain private Men are no more obliged to believe their Spiritual Guides because such than Spiritual Guides are obliged to believe private Men but both the one and the other are to be believed or disbelieved according to the Doctrines they do deliver are true or false But this is not the only false Doctrine he hath preached Besides his faculty of preaching false Doctrine he excels in the faculty of Railing and dares to Pulpit more against Julian than Michael the Archangel durst do against the Devil for in his Sermon on Luke 19. he tells us That amongst Phanaticks and Atheists transformed into malicious Fiends by the Hellish Divinity of that
who violates them and not by him who was obliged only on Conditions and thereby becomes free of the Obligations not by his own Acts but by him who first broke the Conditions Therefore Supreme Magistrates becoming Tyrants by their own Perjury and breaking their Covenants do free their Subjects from their Oaths and Allegiance and not the People when they deservedly make use of their Power to curb thâ—m and to right themselves That Kings should not be obliged by Law is contrary to all the received Opinions and Sentences taken from the right of Nature by the most profound and judicious Lawyers Eos qui leges ferunt legibus quoquâ—â—btemâ—â—rare quod quisque juris in alium statuerit ipse ut codem jure utatur nihil â—â—perio magis conducere quam ex legibus vivatur dignam denique vocem esse Principem legâ—â—us â—â—se â—ubdâ—tum prâ—fitert Itaque quod alibi à Juris consultis dici videtur Principem esse supra leges aut Principem à Legibus sâ—lutum non nisi de legibus civilibus deque particulari privatorum jure est intelligendum verbi gratia de testamentis de detractione Trebellianae aut Falcidianae non autem de Jure publicâ— ad statum ut dici solet pertinentâ— mulcoque minus de jure naturali aut divino cui quum onâ—â—es singuli homines subjiciantur quatenus homines nati sunt omnino efficitur aut Reges homines non esse aut illos hoc jure teneri CHAP. VI. Principles and Tenets of some Divines and others destructives to all human Societies Kings made and chosen by the People and to them accountable His greatest Authority is in his Courts and not in his Personal Commands The People chuse their Kings and oblige them by Laws which they swear to keep MAchiavel I know and so doth the Ecclesiastical Polititian instruct Princes how they may treat Subjects not as Brethren but as â—â—asts as the basest Beasts of drudgery teaching them by subtilty and by the strength of the Militia to support their own will and to make meer Spunges of the publick Coffers with which his Writings are full fraught Leviathan or Malmsbury Hobs 's Positions or Sentiments smell rank of the same Leaven or more abominable if more abominable can be viz. That the Power of Kings cannot without his consent be transferred to another that he cannot forfeit it that he cannot be accused by any of his Subjects of injury that he cannot be censured by them that he is Judge of Doctrines that he is sole Legislator and Supreme Judge of Controversies chap. 20. p. 102. Some Pulpits also preach much after the same rate viz. That it is the Sacred Priviledge of Kings only for their offences to be exempt from all human Jurisdiction That Kings as such are above the Law That though they transgress yet they are not in the least liable to the censure of any Man no Tribunal under Heaven hath Power to take Cognizance of them or call them into Question p. 5. That they have Power to Dispence with the Laws at their Pleasure p. 7. That for Subjects to question the Actions though offensive or Authority of their Princes is inconsistent with the nature of the Kingly Office and diametrically opposite to the Liberty of the Subject p. 7 8. The Scepter being put into their hands by God Almighty alone and with that the Power he gives them is so great as that he maketh them capable of being accountable to none but God himself according to Prov. 8. 16. By me Kings reign p. 16. That Kings may alter Religion at their pleasure according to the old unalterable Maxime qualis Rex talis lex p. 25. William Clifford 's Sermon preached at Wakefield Octob. 30. 1681. Salmasius more excusably as being a stranger to our Laws dances after the same Pipe That Kings have none to judge them but God only That they are above Laws That by no Law written or unwritten natural or divine can they be made guilty of any ill by their Subjects or towards them In which Positions there is a woundy deal of wicked Policy but not one Iota of true Religion and Piety highly injurious to the Liberty and Happiness of the whole Race of Mankind for whose Happiness and Solace the whole World was created as if a few Princes and Potentates were born like Leviathan only to take their Pastimes in this World to be clothed in Purple and Scarlet to lie upon Beds of Ivory and to stretch themselves upon Couches to chant to the sound of the Vial and drink Wine in Bowles and to nourish their Hearts as in a day of Slaughter and all others to be governed with Whips and Kicks Thornes and Briers and yet we must not so much as mutter or peep against them or say What dost thou Not considering that God that made them in the Womb made these and made them all equal and that they were created out of one and the self-same Clay and redeemed by one and the same precious Blood without respect of Persons and that it was the People that differenced them by making them Kings and Queens and Princes sitting upon Thrones riding in Chariots and on Horses they and their Servants and not they the People What is this but to be brutish in Knowledge That Machiavel and Hobs should belch out such Principles I do not much wonder but that any Protestant Pulpits should Preach out such Doctrines I stand amazed To such the 21st verse of the 10th chapter of Jeremiah may justly be applied the Pastors are become brutish In populo regendo Rex habet superiorem legem per quam factus est Rex Curiam suam viz. Comites Barâ—nes Comites dicuntur quasi socii regis qui habet socium habet Magistrum ideo si Rex fuerit sine fraeno i. e. Sine lege debet ei fraenum ponere Bracton lib. 2. c. 16. â—â—â—ta l. 1. c. 17. In Government Kings have Superiors viz. the Laws by which they are made Kings and his Court of Parliament therefore if Kings are without a Bridle i. e. without the Laws they ought to have Bridles put upon them Every single Person hath his remedy by Law in the Courts of Judicature against Kings how much more just is it reasonable and necessary that if Kings injure all all should have their remedy to Bridle him It 's great simplicity to provide against petty Injuries of Kings against private Persons and yet to be lawless against common and publick injuries whereby they may destroy all without Law that by Law could not injure any single Person As for the Title of Supreme Head and Governor as it is meant of single Persons not of Courts or of the Collective body in Parliament so it is meant in Curiâ not in Camerâ in his Courts that his Majesty is Supreme Head and Governor over all Persons and in all Causes and not in his private Capacity And most truly
and most properly it is only in his high Court of Parliament wherein and wherewith his Majesty hath absolutely the Supreme Power and consequently is absolutely Supreme Head and Governor from whence their is no Appeal And without doubt the Parliament may take an account of what is done by his Majesty in his Inferior Courts and therefore much more of what is done by him without the Authority of any Court. What more usual than for Parliaments to call to an account all other Courts of Justice and all Officers and Ministers under his Majesty even for such things as they shall do against the Law though by his Majesty's express command And what is this but to take an account of the discharge of his Majesty's Trust The Law exempts his Majesty from account in no other sense than it exempts him from fault because he is to do publick Affairs of the Kingdom by his Officers and Ministers of State and not by himself and they are to give an account of that which the Kings doth by them In which respect Sir William Thorp Chief Justice in Edward the Third's time was charged for breaking the Kings Oath as much as in him lay The King's Authority is above his Person and his Personal Commands ought not to controul those that proceed from his Authority which resideth in his Courts and his Laws and in his Person acting by the one and according to the other We are really such admirers and so fond of Kingship and so willing to excuse all his Peccadilloes that we retain it as a Maxime That the King can do no wrong i. e. he can do nothing but by Law which can do no wrong And if he do against the Law his personal Acts Commands or Writings oblige no more than if they were a Childs and the Books call him an Infant in Law though his publick capacity be not in non-age as the Parliament declared in Edward VI. which is not to exempt him from Errors or excuse his Crimes but to shew that he ought to be guided by his Council and that his own personal Grants or Commands cannot hurt any more than an Infant which may be reclaimed or recalled not to say corrected by the Courts of Justice or the Council of the Kingdom King James of happy memory in his Speech to the Parliament at White-Hall March 21. 1009. told them That a King Governing in a settled Kingdom leaves to be a King and degenerates into a Tyrant as soon as he leaves off to Rule according to his Laws In which case the King's Conscience may speak unto him as the poor Widow said to Philip of Macedon either Govern according to your Law Aut ne Rex â—is Therefore all Kings that arenâ—t Tyrants or Perjured will be glad to bound themselves within the limits of their Laws and they that perswade them the contrary are Vipers and Pests both against them and the Commonwealth Ibid. 531. I will ever prefer the Weal of the whole Commonwealth in making of good Laws and Constitutions to any particular or private ends of mine thinking ever the Wealth and Weal of the Commonwealth to be my greatest Weal and Worldly Felicity p. 493. The Arguments brought for Kings being appointed by God only and their Power derived from him only are grounded on some few wrested and misunderstood places of Scripture viz. By me Kings reign and Princes decree justice By me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the earth Prov. 8. 15 16. which are applicable to all other Governments as well as Regal and make only for the institution of the Kingly Office and nothing at all for the designation or application of the Person to the Office or Gods immediate nomination or appointment of Kings but for approbation of Kingly Government among other Governments by Judges or others whereby it manifestly appears that Kingly Authority hath no more of Divine Right than any other form of Government And it is manifest to all the World That God did not of his own free choice primarily erect and establish Regal Government but that of the Judges as the best Form of Government but waved his own Prerogative and Wisdom and to gratifie the publick desire of a froward ungrateful and rebellious People who were used accordingly by such their choice and felt the smart thereof accordingly as Samuel foretold so indulgent was God himself to National desires which should be a Document to Kings to comply very readily with the desires of their People in Government of their Kingdom as God here did Besides I must repeat again That no Man can have Lawful Authority to be King over any Nation but he must have it either immediately from God Almighty unto which there can be no possibility of pretence or from the publick consent of the Nation therefore Kings must have their just Authority from the People Let Scripture it self be judge all Israel made Omri captain of the host King over Israel not Zimri and his Son Achab rather than Tibni the Son of Ginath 1 Kings 16. 16 21 22. And the People made Solomon King not Adoniah though he were the elder Brother 1 Kings 1. God by the Peoples free suffrages createth such a Man King because by the Authoratative choice of the People the person is made of a private Man and no King a publick Person and a crowned King 2 Sam. 16. 18. The men of Israel said to Gideon Rule thou over us both thou and thy Son and thy Sons Son also And all the men of Sechem made Abimelech King Judg. 9. 6. So the elders of Giliad made Jepthah head over them Judg. 11. 8 9 10 11. So all the people of Judah made Azariah King instead of his father Amaziah 2 Kings 14. So in the change of Government when Israel not pleased with their Government by Judges whom God himself had appointed over them but would have a King like other Nations Wherein God so far waved his Prerogative that he complied with their publick desire and gratified them therein though contrary to his own Infinite Wisdom And Samuel said unto all Israel Behold I have hearkned unto your voice and in all that yee said unto me and have made a King over you And all the Congregation made a Covenant with the King Behold the Kings Son shall reign 2 Chron 23. 3. God himself by Moses gave the People power to chuse themselves a King and withal directions and qualifications whom and how qualified they should chuse when thou shalt say I will set a King over me like all the Nations round about me thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall chuse i. e. according to his Rules and Prescriptions and Dictates viz. one from among thy Brethren shalt thou set King over thee thou maist not set a stranger over thee which is not thy Brother Deut. 17. 15. Consider also those Kings whom God most immediately caused to be anointed Kings and it will