is that neither Peter nor any of the eleven do take upon them to elect or design any person or persons by themselves alone but commit it to the whole Assembly and the whole Assembly elected prayed cast losts 6. That though these persons very eminent and full of the Spirit could and might design the persons but not give the power of Apostleship To this Head belongs the constitution of Decons Acts 6. Where we read of the occasion and in some sort of the necessity of this Office. For 1. The Apostles knew there was a kind of necessity of such an Officer as a Deacon and it was no ways fit to distract themselves in serving of tables and neglect the great business of word and prayer 2. That they call the multitude together 3. They propose the matter unto them and signifie what manner of persons Deacons should be and commit the election of persons amongst them rightly qualified to them 4. They elect persons fit for the place 5. They present these persons 6. The Apostles pray and lay hands on them Whether they used any form of words in this imposition of Hands we do not read The thing principally to be considered in this business is that the Apostles themselves alone do not take upon them to chuse and constitute these Deacons To this may be added that Paul doth not take upon him to send the charity and benevolence of the Corinthians collected for the poor Saints at Jerusalem but refers it to themselves to approve by Letters such as they would use as their Messengers 1 Cor. 16.3 section 12 The third branch of the power of the Keyes is that of Jurisdiction which we find exercised in the Church of Corinth or rather a command of the Apostles binding them as having that power to exercise it reproving them in that they had not done it already in a particular case and giving directions how it should be done Out of the Apostles directions 1 Cor. 5. we might pick a model of Church-government for there we have an Ecclesiastical community under a form of Government and that is the whole Church of Corinth 2. We have the members of this community and they are the sanctified in Christ Jesus and such are called to be Saints 3. We have the relation of these one to another they are Brethren yet every particular brother subject to the whole Church 4. We have the power of Jurisdiction and the same in the whole body 5. We have the power of Excommunication and by consequence of absolution and other Ecclesiastical censures and these in the whole Church which is reproved because they do not exercise it upon so great an occasion and for so great a cause They are commanded to purge out the old leaven and to cast out and put from amongst them that wicked person because they had power to judge 6. The persons subject to this Jurisdiction is every one that is a brother of that Church 7. We have the causes which make these persons and brethren of that Church liable to censure and they are scandals whereof we have a catalogue whereby we may understand by analogy others not expressed 8. We have the form of the sentence of Excommunication which must be solemnly passed in a publick Assembly convened proceeding and passing Judgement in the Name of Christ. 9. In this Judgement we have the Apostle passing and giving his vote by Writing with the rest of that Church 10. We find that neither the Apostle nor they can judge them that are without but they are reserved to Gods Judgement 11. We have the end of Excommunication which here is twofold 1. In respect of the party Excommunicated 2. Of the Church and his fellow-members In respect of the person Excommunicated the destruction of the Flesh by some punishment for a time that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. In respect of the Body of the Church the preservation of the same from infection of the old leaven of malice and wickedness that so not only single persons but the whole Society may be continued pure This is the rule of Excommunication the rules of absolution we find 2 Cor. 2. where we may observe first the person capable of it and it is such an one as having been punished by many and the punishment proves sufficient because by it he is grieved humbled for his sin in danger to be swallowed up with over much sorrow and by Satan to be tempted to despair in a word when the party is penitent and he appears really to be so 2. The nature of Absolution which is to forgive and confirm our love unto him 3. This sentence of Remission and Reconciliation must be pronounced in the Person of Christ. 4. The Persons who must pass this Sentence and see it executed are the same who Excommunicated him who here were Paul and the Church of Corinth 5. The end of this Act of Judgement which is to comfort and restore the party Penitent yet in this you must conceive all this is to be done in an orderly and not in a confused and tumultuous manner both for the Time the Place the Order of Proceeding and the Persons who manage the Business and denounce the Sentence For these things must be committed to some eminent Persons who are fit for such a work For though all must agree yet some must exercise the Power in the Person of the Church We might further Instance in the seven Churches of Asia For Ephesus though reproved for her falling from her first love yet is commended for her severity against the Nicolaitans Rev. 2.6 The Church of Pergamos is blamed for suffering such amongst them as taught the Doctrine of Baalam and the Nicolaitans so is the Church of Thyatira because she suffered that woman Jezabel who called her self a Prophetess to teach and seduce Christs Servants to commit Fornication and to eat things Sacrificed to Idols This was the remisness of Discipline and neglect of the exercise of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction wherewith not only though perhaps principally the Angels but the whole Churches are charged section 13 The total Summ of all these particulars is this That the Primary Subject of the Power of the Keyes is the whole Church This appears From the Institution acording to which we must Tell the Church The Church must bind and loose 3. Her Judgment shall be ratified in Heaven Exercise thereof in Legislation by the whole Church Constitution of Officers by the whole Church Jurisdiction by the whole Church If any shall say that the power is in the Apostles or Bishops or Superintendants lawfully constituted its true if that its in the Presbyters it s so if that its in the Brethren or People it cannot be denied Yet if any will argue from these places that its in the Bishops alone or in the Presbyters alone or in the Brethren alone or in the Officers or Representatives of the whole Church primarily it cannot be true If
Subject gives essence to the State and constitutes it in being and existence 2. It s the first part for though as superiority and subjection and so Soveraign and Subjects are Relates and in that respect simultaneous yet the Soveraign is not only the first in dignity but in some sort by origination if not as a cause For as paternity in some respect is before filiation so it is in this particular For subjection doth rather follow upon Soveraignty than the contrary And therefore in molding a State they first determine upon a Soveraign whereupon instantly and at the same time follows without any thing intervening subjection 3. This party that is Soveraign is invested with Majesty Civil Where we have two things 1. Majesty an adjunct 2. The subjection invested with it And as Power is the very essence of a Superiour so Majesty is of a Soveraign section 4 Majestas est maxima in civitate potestas Majesty is the greatest power in a Community 1. It s potestas Power 2. Maxima in civitate Potestas est Jus Imperandi Power is a right to govern It 's Jus a Right and in it self is always just and is from some propriety and as the absolute propriety so the absolute power of all things is from God and there is no power but derived from him It 's not Physical but Moral and so nomen juris and may be considered as a faculty or habit which qualifies the Subject to do something which one that hath no power cannot do The proper act of it is to Govern and in Governing to Command so as to bind the party subject to obedience or punishment This Imperium or Command is an act of the Will and presupposeth some act of the Understanding and must needs be ineffectual and in vain without a sufficient coactive force And because the Understanding may be ignorant or erroneous the Will unjust the coactive force act accordingly therefore the understanding of a Superiour as such ought to be directed by Wisdom his commanding Will by Justice and his Executive force by both And that act of Power which is not thus directed is not properly an act of Power nor any such Command of the Jewish Rulers when it was devoid both of Wisdom and Justice and it was so much the more invalid because contrary to an express command of a Superiour Lord and Master even Jesus Christ. This Power is an Excellency and makes the party invested with it like unto God and the greater it is the greater the excellency of him that hath it Though it is in it self good and just as being from God or rather the power of God in the creature intellectual yet it may be exercised either too little or too much For one that is invested with it may do less or more than his power doth warrant him nay he may act contrary to the Rules of divine Wisdom and Justice And such is the imperfection of man that there is no perfect Government in the world but that God doth supply all defects and aberrations For the Judge of all the World will do right and in the final Judgment will compleat all Justice and reward every man according to his works so that nothing in any person Man or Angel but shall be judged section 5 This is Power in general and may be distinguished many ways as into the Power of God or Angels or of men Here we speak of the power of men which is the power of a Father or a Master or an Officer of peace or war by Sea or Land. Again It 's Civil Ecclesiastical and both supream or subordinate The subject now in hand is Majesty Civil which is the greatest power in a Civil Community the power of a Soveraign whereby he is able to bind the whole Community and every Member thereof It 's an act of the publick and universal Will directed by the universal Judgment made effectual by the universal and general coactive force and all this is done according to the Rules of Justice and Wisdom And that the best wisest and most just are most fit to govern To know it the better we must consider 1. The principal and several kinds of acts 2. The qualities of it the particular acts of this power in one Community are numberless yet all reducible to one And that is the wise and just Government and ordering of the Community yet this is divided and subdivided by the Authors of Politicks And the several Branches of this Power are called Jura Majestatis Praerogativa Regalia c. The distinction of these Rights are made according to the several acts of Majesty conversant about several different Objects and according to the diversification of the Objects is the diversity and difference of these Rights I might here relate both the number and the method of these Rights of Majesty as delivered by Angelicus Bodin Clapmarius Grotius Bisoldus Arnisaeus and others if it were either needful or useful The Civilians and sometimes though seldom the Casuists mention them Yet hardly two of them agree either in the method or the number or the particular names of them section 6 Yet not to neglect them all attend how handsomly and briefly Grotius reduceth them to a certain Order Qui regit civitatem eam regit per se circa universalia in legibus condendis abolendis singularia alios magistratus publica circa actiones Belli pacis res vectigalia dominium eminens Privata ad publicum ordinata quae sunt res inter privatas quas dirimi oportet propter pacem Curatores Yet this is far short of some others and indeed no ways accurate The Civilians some of them reduce them into Order according to the several acts of this power which are acts of Grace Justice Bisoldus doth distinguish of Majesty and informs us that it 's Real Personal Real in the People personally in the Prince He understands by the People the Community and under God that is the primary subject of it wherein it virtually resides and out of which by the constitution it is educed It hath power to form a State where there is none and if after a form once introduced the Order be not good they may alter it What the Rights of personal Majesty is he tells us but what those of real Soveraignty be he saith nothing Majesty so naturally belongs unto the Community that upon a failer of succession or a dissolution it divolves to them and that People is not wise which parts wholly with it and absolutely alienates it as the Romans are said Lege Regiâ to have done if necessity or some very weighty cause required it not section 7 We might in this particular expect much from Arnisaeus who hath composed a whole Treatise of this subject in which he informs 1. Of the name 2. Of the nature of Majesty For 1. The name may be given to such as have nothing of the thing and so be a meer Title 2. It may signifie
Dignity or Honour without any Power The nature of it consists in Power which hath several branches concerning which he relates the Opinion and Judgment of the Philosopher of Historians of the writers of Politicks of Lawyers and in the end delivers his own mind and reduced them to certain Heads in this manner Iura majestatis sunt Majora Defensionis Gubernationis in Minora de aerario colligendo Legibus condendis Magistratibus constituendis The first division is taken from the inequality of these Prerogatives and Rights The second he seems to ground upon these words That our King may judge us and go out before us and fight our Battels 1 Sam. 8.20 Where to Judge seems to signifie to Govern by Law and Officers to go out before us and fight our Battels presupposeth in his Judgment the power of the Militia To these he adds other two concerning the ordering of Religion and Coining of Money Under these general Heads he reduceth many other particulars and so proceeds to handle 1. the greater 2. The less Prerogatives severally and that largely This with the salving of some doubts and confuting some Errours is the Scheme and substance of the whole Treatise divided into three several Books section 8 Leaving every one to his own method I will with submission to better Judgment make bold to deliver my own Majestas est Realis quae potest rempublicam Constituere abolere mutare reformare Personalis quae agit cum exteris De Bello Pace Per Foedera Legationes suis circa divina religionem ordinando humanae leges ferendo exequendo This though not exact may serve the turn and in some measure declare the several branches of this great Power which in it self is but one yet hath many acts and the same different in respect of several and different Objects and Subjects I only mention the chief Heads to which the rest may be reduced for the better and more distinct understanding of it I will more particularly explain my self 1. Therefore Majesty is Reall Personal Real is in the Community and is greater than Personal which is the power of a Common-wealth already constituted For as you have heard before this form of a Common-wealth is virtually in it before it be constituted and their consent is the very foundation of it And this consent whether mediate or immediate tacit or express is so necessary that though a people be conquered yet the Victor cannot govern them as men without their consent Nay more when God designed immediately first Saul then David yet the election and consent of the people did concur with and follow upon the Divine Designation As this Real Majesty is a Power to model a State so it s always inherent and can never be separated insomuch that when a form of Government is dissolved or there shall be a failer of Succession the Power of the Soveraign doth divolve unto them by the law of nature or rather it was always in the people As this Community hath the power of constitution so it hath of dissolution when there shall be a just and necessary cause Hence appears the mistake of Junius Brutus Buchanon Heno and others when they say Ejus est destituere Cujus est constituere if they meant it of the multitude and body of the Subjects as Subjects under a form of Government it can only be true of a Community where they have just and necessary cause Subjects as Subjects cannot do it because of their Subjection and Obligation whereas the Community as a Community is free from any Obligation to any particular Form either from the Laws of God Natural or Positive or from their own Consent or Oaths And though the People in this consideration are bound both by the Natural and Positive Laws of God to constitute a Government if they can yet they are not bound to this Form or that Another Act of this Majesty in the Community is when they see it necessary and just and they have not only Power but Opportunity to do it to alter the Form of the Government this Act as with us is above the Power of a Parliament which may have Personal yet cannot have this Real Majesty For a Parliament doth necessarily presuppose a Form of Government already agreed upon whereby they are made the Subject of Personal Soveraignity Therefore they cannot alter or take away the cause whereby they have their being nor can they meddle with the fundamental Laws of the Constitution which if it once cease they cease to be a Parliament If the Government be dissolved and the Community yet remains united the People may make use of such an Assembly as a Parliament to alter the former Government and constitute a new but this they cannot do as a Parliament but considered under another Notion as an immediate Representative of a Community not of a Common-wealth And thus considered the Assembly may constitute a Government which as a Parliament cannot do which always presupposing the Constitution as such can act only in and for the administration That Community is wise which doth and happy which can keep their Majesty so due unto them as to limit their personal Soveraigns so as not to suffer them to take it from them and assume it to themselves section 9 As there is a real so there is a personal Majesty so called because it 's fixed in some Persons who are trusted with the exercise of it and may and many times do forfeit to God and in some cases forfeit to the Community or the People for when it is said it may be forfeited to the People we must understand that the People is not Plebs the meanest and the lowest rank and but a part of the Community but the whole Community it self as a Community otherwise we may lay the Foundation of all kinds of Tumults Confusions Seditions and Rebellions The Person or Persons trusted with the Majesty and Power are bound to seek the good of the whole People and for that end they are trusted with it and no otherwise Hence the saying Suprema lex salus populi esto The Acts of this Power which it hath a right to exercise are many and that in respect of those without or those within the Common-wealth For agit cum exteris it dealeth and acteth with those without This is not the first but rather the last kind of acting It ariseth from the relation which it hath to other States with which it may have some society though it hath no dependance upon it The Rules of this Acting as it respects themselves and the States with whom they deal are the Laws of Nations Yet the particular Laws of every several State may determine the Rules according to which it will act with or against another State. Because one State may wrong or benefit or strengthen and help another hence it comes to pass that sometimes there is a cause of War. For when by Ambassadours or other
of the name few know because they little understand the thing It 's not called so as many think because the Jura Majestatis are divided and given some to the Peers some to the people and some in some States to the Prince For this tends to confusion and doth not well suit with the Nature of Sovereign Power Therefore it 's the cause of many Quarrels and Dissentions But it 's called mixt because either three or at least two of the States are mixt together so as that the Sovereignty is jointly in them all and in the whole and of these there are two Sorts For some time there is no Prince in the Administration and then it 's in the Commons and the Peers not in Peers and in Commons severally but in both jointly Sometimes it 's in omnibus in Prince Peers Commons Yet these in the Administration may have their several parts and different manners of acting Therefore we must not judge of States according to the manner of Administration though the Administration will give great light and help us to understand the Constitution This kind of Government is called a Free State a popular State a Republick or the Republick and may be the best State of all others where Majestas is tota in toto yet there may be several kinds of this manner of Government which by the Philosopher as some think is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Polity Machiavel informs us That Experience of the Inconveniencies of pure States put men on work to find out this and for the most part it may be so If either of the two or any of the three States be predominant in the Administration the State is denominated from the prevailing part For where the Prince hath the Title of King and is predominant in the Exercise of the Power it 's called a Kingdom or Monarchy where the Peers it 's an Aristocraty where the Commons a Democraty and yet if it be a right mixture it can be none of these And in this particular many are deceived For where the whole Power is wholly in the whole there Populus that is King Peers and Commons are the proper subject of Majesty in the Constitution by and in which if any be predominant it cannot be a Free State. Such a Government the German Empire and the State of Venice seem to be Yet in this latter the great Council which some tell us consists of Peers is counted and judged to have the supream Power Yet if we may believe Machiavel the Families out of which they are chosen were at the first Constitution the whole People The Lacedaemonian State is thought by many to be mixt and some say the mixture was ex Democratia praedominante Aristocratia diminuta yet this is very improper and cannot be true The State of Rome seems in the time of the Kings to be a Monarchy After that an Aristocraty in the Senate and the Patricii But when Plebs did jubere Leges then it was a Democraty in the judgment of many Yet upon diligent search it will be found otherwise For though the King was the chief Pontiff and did call the Assemblies had the chief and sole command in War for they gave him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet Halicarnassaeus lets us know That this Form was taken from the Lacedaemonians where the Kings had not absolute Power they were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but were limitted by their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or great Council and amongst the Romans by their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is their Senate They must not do what they will but what the Senate did determine Yet we shall often find this mixture very imperfect or very much altered in tract of time from what it was at first To say nothing of Platonick and Vtopian Commonwealths which are not practicable nor people capable of them the summ of all this Head is this That God hath given to Men in their several Communities a power to protect the Just and punish Offenders according to wise Laws and just Judgment and also a power to preserve themselves and justly maintain their own Right against all Enemies and Invaders Yet he hath left them at Liberty to dispose of it several ways and trust it in the hands of one or more who if they once take it upon them must exercise it and be just For he that ruleth over men must be just ruling in the fear of God 2 Sam. xxxiij 3 section 10 After 1. The generals premised 2. The several ways and manners of disposing Majesty in a certain subject handled I proceed to say something of the Constitution of the State of England which hath long been governed by Kings and Parliaments There was indeed a time even after the Saxons were setled in this Nation when there was no King but Forty Lords who at length chose a King which should have no Peer And there was a time when there were many Kings And after that we find one King and Parliaments and this before the Conquest For this model of ours began in the time of the Saxon Kings and was brought to perfection some say before some say in Edward the Confessor's time What the power of these Parliaments and of these Kings were is the great Question For that once known the Constitution will be evident There was a Power of Kings and also of Parliaments severally and a power of them jointly considered we find the real Majesty in the People and personal Majesty in King and Parliament jointly and a secondary personal Majesty sometimes greater sometimes less in the Kings in the intervals of Parliament But to observe a method and proceed more distinctly I will 1. Presuppose some things 2. I will say something of the Kings 3. Something of the Parliaments severally 4. Something of them both jointly 1. Therefore I will suppose the Government of England to have been by King and Parliament before the Conquest and to have continued so till our days And whosoever will not grant this must either be very ignorant or very partial 2. I will take for granted That there have been extraordinary cases wherein the Rules of the Constitution either have not or could not be observed 3. This is also true that sometimes when they might have been followed yet either the constitution of the Parliament or the carriage of the Kings was such as that they have violated the same 4. Wise and intelligent men will not deny but that in our days the Government was so altered and corrupted that the first constitution was hardly known and it was a difficult thing either to reform it or reduce it to the ancient form section 11 These things supposed in the second place I will examine 1. How the King acquires his power 2. What his power acquired is 3. How far it 's short of a plenary personal Majesty 1. The manner of acquiring this Power and Title is either by deriving it from the first investiture or
by inheritance or election For the first investiture I find none to insist upon it though the rule of investing if there be any should be sought in the fundamental Charter If the Crown be hereditary to the Kings and they have it as their own Fee they may dispose of it and of themselves appoint their Successor whom they please and King Henry 8. might without any Act of Parliament have designed by will which of his Children should succeed him And Queen Elizabeth might have nominated either the King of Scots or any other besides him for her Successor Some may demand what right she had to nominate or any other after her death to proclaim her Successor One answer to this demand may be That her wise Council did forsee that this was an effectual if not the only way to prevent greater mischiefs and effusion of blood which in all probability might have followed if this course had not been taken And in an extraordinary case some extraordinary thing tending to the publick good may lawfully be done Yet this is not to be made an ordinary rule and followed as an ordinary Example A third way of acquisition is by election and consent of the people Thus the first King as the Mirrour tells us in express words was elected So were the Saxon Kings till Edward the Confessor the last King of the Saxon Race So was William the second Henry the first Stephen John. The manner and form of the Coronation which contains in a few words much of the Constitution determines the Succession to be by Election Those words of Fortescue to the Prince Non habes potestatem regiam sed a populo effluxam imply so much The Conqueror himself who as a Bastard could not inherit the Crown confesseth that he possessed not the Crown Jure haereditario To this purpose the old book of Caen is alledged These things are above me and out of my element therefore to be judged of by the learned Antiquaries in Law. But suppose it be granted to be elective yet it 's elective in a certain line for such hath been the practice for a long time which is conceived to be more convenient Yet the Author of the due Rights of the Kingdom saith That if a King had such Children so qualified and so educated that they were above others in virtue wisdom and true worth or at least caeteris pares they were the most likely Candidates for the Crown section 12 But let the manner of acquiring this regal Power be either by and from the first investiture or by inheritance or by election the second point and the same of more importance is to know what this power once acquired and possessed is For the Roman Emperors acquired their power by election and yet it was absolute as is pretended and very great And here I do not intend to say any thing of his excellent Dignity his Scepter Sword Throne Crown Robe Titles the Honour due unto them for these are not so material as the Prerogatives of the King of England Prerogatives saith Sir Roger Owen are the Flowers which by time immemorial the Commons of this Realm have granted the Kings thereof If this be true he hath no Prerogatives but such as are granted him and that by the Commons of England But Judge Crook is no flatterer he speaks plainly and saith he knows no Prerogatives the King hath but this that he cannot do wrong This may be understood either as it agrees to all Sovereigns or as to the Kings of England in a more special manner It 's true that no Sovereign though absolute and Despotical can do wrong For Id quisque potest quod jure potest The meaning is they ought not to do wrong for to do wrong is contrary to the Laws of God whereby they hold their Crowns and also to the very end for which God instituted civil Government Yet there is a more special reason why the Kings of England can do no wrong because they are Kings by Law they cannot bind by their personal commands but by their Regal which are not Regal if not Legal Again he doth all things like an Infant in his minority by his Ministers of State to whom he can grant no Power or Commission to act but according to Law. Therefore if any wrong be done as much is it 's done by them and they not the King are chargeable with it and questionable for it Yet he hath power and great power and it 's not the less but rather the greater and more like unto Gods because it 's limitted by Law. He Summons Parliaments makes Officers conferrs Honours sends and receives Embassadors and gives them answer makes Leagues with other States and other things formerly mentioned when I spake of the second king of personal Majesty Yet if we may believe Bracton he hath all this from the Law. For Lex facit Regem and he is but trusted with the exercise of it for the protection of the people and the execution of the Laws in which respect it seems to follow that if the Law be above him they who make the Laws must needs be above him section 13 But in the third place though the King hath great power yet there is some power in the Kingdom which he hath not For he cannot abolish Parliaments he cannot refuse to call them either when the Laws or the ardua Regni require them he cannot exercise the Militia but according to the Laws neither can he make or repeal Laws without the Parliament he cannot command the Purse he cannot alienate the Crown or the Crown-Revenue nor dispose of the Crown as his own hereditary Fee divers other things there are above his power Yet the Kings of England have challenged and exercised far greater power than the Laws and Constitution gives them But that was matter of fact and cannot found a Right We read that King Richard the second was charged as with other things so with these two 1. That he said the Laws were in his head and his breast that is he had the Legislative power solely to himself 2. That he denied to approve the Laws made by the Parliament that is he challenged a negative Voice In both these Arnisaeus undertakes to maintain his cause as just and that he did but challenge his due Lib de authoritate principum in populum semper inviolabili Cap. 4. Yet all his whole answer is but petitio principii For presupposing the King of England to be an absolute Monarch which we know he is not he takes upon him to answer the whole charge which he might easily do if he take for granted that which he can never prove nor English Men especially Antiquaries in Law will never grant him that he wrote against Rebellion and Treason and maintained the just and lawful authority of Princes he did well but that he should write as a Pensioner to the King and so presumtuously judge of the Constitution of a Foreign
conduce to that end Or else we are wilfully divided and no way will serve the turn but our own The first is the cause of our difference in Judgement the second of our disaffection and without an unity of the whole or at least of the major part the business will hardly be effected For we are not in any immediate capacity of a general Unity till time hath wasted and consumed some of our divisions and also the bitter enmity and rancour which continues in the Spirits of many to this day Therefore our settlement must begin in generals and necessaries and proceed by degrees 2. The Foundation to be laid is first to find out the ancient Constitution before it was corrupted too much and understand the great Wisdom of our Ancestors gained by long experience in the constitution of this our State. This may be done by some experienced Statesmen and Antiquaries in Law and that as well if not better out of Parliament than in Parliament For a Parliament it self must have some Foundation and certain Rule of their very being before they can act steadily and regularly and not spend their time of every sevâ—â—al Parliament in molding their Government a new It 's a vain and presumptuous imagination to think that we have attained to a greater measure of Wisdom than our Ancestors attained unto And let us not undo what is already done if it be consistent with the best model 3. Let no man think that the publick interest either Ecclesiastical or Civil of England is the interest of any one person or Family or any few persons or Families much less of any Sect Party Faction It cannot be denied but whilst the Succession of our Kings was limited to a Family the succession was more certain For so the next successour was more easily known and competition which in this case is so dangerous was more easily avoided Yet even this could not prevent the difference between the Houses of York and Lancaster And when the issue of Henry 8 failed we had been in greater danger if the King of Scots had not been a Protestant and one who was conceived would prove firm to the English Protestant Interest But when this limited succession shall prove as it may do inconsistent with the publick interest it s not so much to be regarded For why should the honour or priviledge of one Family prejudice the universal safety of a Nation We know that vast Empires and Kingdoms have by an unlimited Election continued long And that which might help much in this Case is that policy of the German Empire in the Interregnum to have an administrator General 4. In modelling the Government we must have a special eye unto the Constitution that it be such as that it may not only be consistent with but effectually conduce to the promoting of peace and righteousness in the administration of the State and also to the advancement of the Christian Religion in the Church And I conceive our ancient Government for these ends was excellent and did also preserve and regulate the liberty of the people and also wisely limit the supream Magistrate 5. The Parliament being a general Representative of the whole Nation and now of three and trusted with our liberty estates lives and in some measure with the Religion we profess should consist and be made up of eminent and wise men Therefore the Election of them for the manner should be more regular and orderly in respect of the Electors and better limited and more strictly tied to a right Qualification of the Persons elected which should neither be unworthy nor unfit It may indeed fall so out that in these irregular and sometimes tumultuous Elections some wise and eminent persons may be chosen and the same may prove predominant and leading Members in that great Assembly but this is but a chance and no certainty nor use of right reason in it 6 When a Parliament is once assembled and begins to act if there be any thing that concerns the preservation and continuance either of the being of the State or of the Substance of the Protestant Religion that must be first dispatched and the next the punishment of crying Sins which are the Ruines of States 7 As for Religion so far as it concerns the State it 's fit that there be some general Rule both of our Profession and Worship but the Rule of profession must be brief and grounded upon plain Scriptures and so near to ancient Confessions as that no rational Christian who acknowledged the Scriptures to be the Word of God could or would scruple The Rule of Worship also must be plain and Clear. Let nothing be imposed upon all which any rational Christian as such may not recive without scruple As for Discipline as I have begun so I will go on in the next Chapter But these things have been and will be considered by far wiser men therefore I will not enlarge section 23 I might have said something more of the manner of disposing Soveraign power and with Besoldus have observed that as there may be two persons who make but one Monarch so there may be one King of two or more distinct and several Kingdoms This latter disposal was debated much in Calvin's case by the Sage Judges of the land in which debate some of them especially Chancellour Egerton did little less than make the King an absolute Monarch and the two Kingdoms in effect one but the Parliament was of another mind And the matter was far above their Courts and Cognizance the union could not be determined but by the Parliaments of both Kingdoms neither could this be done by them if the union made any alteration in the Constitution of either Kingdom In respect of mine intention this Chapter is very large in respect of the matter very brief and my desire is that others would more seriously and impartially enquire into this subject so far as it concerns our own Constitution which no doubt may be found out and if it prove defective may be perfected if men were peaceable and sought the publick good CHAP. IX Of the disposition of Ecclesiastical Power and first whether it be due unto the Bishop of Rome section 1 THe most difficult point in Politicks is that of the Jura Majestatis and the right disposal of them in a fit subject and concerning the nature of Civil power the manner of acquiring and disposing of it I have already spoken and also of Ecclesiastical power and the acquisition thereof now it remains I say something of the manner of disposing the power of the Keys in the right subject This is a matter of great dispute in these our times Therefore when I expected to find all clear because a Jus divinum grounded on the Scriptures was pretended on all hands I found it otherwise As when one of our Worthies had disemboked the Megellanick straits and was entred into that sea they call Pacificum he found the word Pacifick
let us keep communion and heartily serve our God humbly imploring his Divine Majesty in the name of Christ to open our eyes and sanctifie our hearts that at length we may be united in the same Judgement and Affection and with one Mind and with one Mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. section 8 After the consideration of a Congregational extent as too narrow and of an Universal as too large I proceed to say something of a National extent as a man between The Congregationalist will censure it as too great by far the Universalist as too little by much Yet I shall willingly as in other things refer my self to the Judgement of Moderate Pious Judicious Impartial Men Let them condemn me or acquit me as they shall see just cause First it must be remembred that the subject of this whole Treatise is the Government of men by men under God and Jesus Christ our Blessed Saviour Of Gods more immediate Government I have spoken in my Divine Politicks where I shew it 's Monarchical Supream Universal and cannot be bounded to any part of the whole Universe For he being immense and not only virtually but actually present in all places at all times is only fit to govern all Nations and the whole World as the Universal Soveraign but this is far above the power not only of Men but of Angels Therefore whatsoever he doth in Heaven we know that when through his blessing mankind was multipled and especially after the Flood and had replenished the Earth they were divided into several Societies and were subject to several independent Tribunals We never find them under one neither do we in his word or works read of a Catholick King over all Nations nor of an Universal Bishop over all Churches Howsoever some have pretended such a Title yet they could never shew their Patent subscribed by the Hand of Heaven But suppose they could have acquired the possession of the whole earth which never any did yet no one Man no one Council no one Consistory had been able sufficiently to manage so vast a power and in any tolerable manner to govern all mankind at one time living upon Earth It seemed good indeed to our wise God both in former and latter times to enlarge the power of some States and especially that of the Romans Yet that very Empire of so large extent took in but a little part of the whole Earth and this appears plainly now since by Navigation some of the remote parts of the Globe and both the Hemispheres thereof have been discovered Yet in the greatest extent it was thought by some of their wisest Princes the best Policy Cogere terminos Imperii to limit and bound it because they thought the body of too big a bulk to be well ordered either by Prince or Senate or People or by all together But to return to the matter in hand the Question is Whether a national Community of Christians may not lawfully be subjected to one supream Judicatory Ecclesiastical To understand the Question the better it 's to be observed 1. That a Community of Christians may be said to be national several ways or in several respects as 1. When all the Christians of one and the same Nation do associate and unite in one body 2. When these Christians are the major part of the people 3. When the whole Nation or the generality thereof have received and do profess the same Christian Faith. I will here suppose the major part or generality to be Christians and the association and incorporation to be made by a tacit or explicit consent which sometimes may be confirmed by the Laws of the Supream Power Yet this generality may be so understood as that there may in the same Nation be found Turks or Mahumetans Pagans Atheists Jewes which cannot be of this body and that also there may be some Schisms and Separatitions amongst such as profess themselves Christians and sometimes they may be none This in my sense is a national Community of Christians and a Church-confident before any form of external Discipline be introduced 2. When I speak of subjection I do not say that they are always in all Nations bound by any Divine Precept to be so but that they may and that lawfully according unto the Scriptures 3. I understand that this subjection so as that every several member be subject not to one man or one party but to the whole and that either properly taken or virtually for a Representative of the whole which shall have power in the name of the whole body to make Canons and in Judgement to receive last Appeals 4. I understand the Question of Nations indefinitely taken for if any be of so vast extent as that one independent Court may be either insufficient or inconvenient I rather exclude then include such For suppose all Tartary should be counted one Nation or all Chinae I conceive they are too large 5. I mention only a national Community for if that be granted the Classical and Provincial must needs come in The Congregational party I know holds the Negative And here upon the by I will take the liberty for to answer Mr. Parker's seventh argument for his Congregational way It 's taken from Politicks and to this purpose That as little States are more easily and better governed then great ones so is a Congregational Church which is but of a narrow compass than a Classical Diocesan or Provincial or National which is far greater Answ. Though less Communities may be better governed than one too great yet a great one of moderate extent may be better governed and defended than one that is too little For Gods one peculiar People and Nation which was first under Judges then under Kings was subject to one Supream Tribunal for a long time above five hundred Years and afterwards it was divided into two Yet it was better governed under one than under two when subject to one individual Tribunal than when to two but of this more hereafter section 9 For the confirmation of this we must note 1. That there is no Divine Precept in the New Testament which particularly determines either the extent of place or number of persons to which a particular independent Church is confined we do not find their either the minimum or maximum quod sic Therefore some Latitude must needs be granted 2. That the History of the New Testament doth not reach those times wherein it pleased God to fulfil those Prophesies which promised That Kings should become Nursing-fathers and Queens Nursing-mothers of the Church and she should suck the breasts of Kings who should come unto her light 2. When one should become a thousand and a small one a strong Nation I saith the Lord will hasten it in its time Where one saith he alludes to the Creation which he finished in six days hastening and could not rest and keep his Sabbath till all was ended and
Bodies Politick as Universities Corporations Counties Armies and Common-wealths This is God's way of Government which the wisest Governours did always imitate Thus Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them Rulers over the People Rulers of thousands Rulers of hundreds Rulers of fifties and Rulers of tens And they judged the people at all seasons the hard causes they brought to Moses but every small matter they judged themselves Exod. 18.25 26. In this Text considered with the antecedent many things as proper to Government are observable 1. There must be Laws 2. Officers 3. Courts according to the tria Jura Majestatis of Legislation making Officers and Jurisdiction These presuppose a Community and a Constitution 1. There must be a power of making Laws that belongs to the Soveraign 2. Laws by this power must be made for Administration which without them must needs be arbitrary and irregular 3. Those Laws once enacted must be promulgated that they may be known 4. Once known they must regulate both the peoples obedience and the acts of Officers and judgment of the Judges After Laws once established they must be executed and that cannot be orderly and effectually done without a division of the people For 1. they must be numbred divided into tens fifties hundreds thousands tribes 2. They must be co-ordinate and equally poised tens with tens fifties with fifties hundreds with hundreds thousands with thousands 3. They must be subordinate ten to fifty fifty to an hundred and hundreds to thousands and all unto the whole When this is done Officers by whom these Laws must be executed must be made These must first be well qualified 2. The people must chuse them Deut. 1.13 3. Moses must appoint them their places assign them their circuits give them their charge 4. They must have their Courts and Sessions judge execute the Laws and be subordinate the lesser Courts to the superiour and all to the Supream For their Causes especially if difficult must ascend till they came to Moses and he brought them to God who was their Soveraign this was extraordinary But afterwards they had their Sanhedrim and Court of Appeals This subordination seems to be implied in those words of our Saviour Matth. 5.22 But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement and whosoever shall say unto his brother Racha shall be in danger of the council but whosoever shall say Thou Fool shall be in danger of hell fire One thing in all this is considerable That Moses did not make every Division nor every Court severally independent but subordinated all unto one supream Consistory A Multitude though National therefore is no impediment to good Government especially when they are numbred divided co-ordinated and subordinated and so by a certain and fixed order made one section 11 As a Multitude is no hinderance so neither is a national distance of parts For if we should enquire into the Constitution of the Chaldean or the Persian Empires of both which we might learn much out of the Holy Scriptures especially in the Books of Ezra both first and second called Nehemiah and Ester and Daniel most of all we should find 1. That the extent of them was far more than National and the distance of the parts far greater 2. That these were divided subordinated not only in the parts less to the greater but also in their Officers both for War and Peace the Revenue and the Administration of Justice and so by order united under one Head. The Empire of Rome the parts whereof were severed at a very great distance as from the River Euphrates in the East to the Ocean upon the West of France and from Aegypt Southward to the North of the Lesser Asia was according to their principles of Policy as well governed as any European petty State at this time is The Turkish Seigniory tho' of great extent is as well ordered as divers several Kingdoms Christian confined to a far more narrow compass Their order is good their strength great their Counsel which doth manage it politick their Laws for administration of Justice certain their divisions from matters of Religion few or none and their internal strength must needs be firm and the continuance of their Dominion hath been long Some attribute the excellency of their Government to their severity in punishments and their bounty in rewards yet though these add something yet these are but the least part The Dominions of Spain are many and scattered at a very great distance round about the Globe on both sides the Line within and without the Tropicks yet all these are subjected to one supream Judicatory and are tolerably governed and by a great deal of policy have been kept together till of late France indeed is stronger because divided into thirty Provinces it 's united in one Vicinity and subject to one Monarch Yet in these vast Dominions and great Empires the union of their many parts so distant did depend not only upon ordinary means but some extraordinary acts of Divine Providence From all this it 's evident that by division co-ordination subordination the supream power of one Nation nay of many Nations may be diffused through the whole Body so as to animate it and reach every part even the remotest section 12 Yet it may be objected that all the Members of a National Church can never meet together in one place and Assembly It 's true they cannot neither is it needful Joshua called and assembled all Israel when yet none but their Elders their Heads their Officers their Judges were called and convented Josh. 23.2 Upon which place Masius thus comments Cum dictum esset omnem Israelem fuisse convocatum ipsa deinde universitas ad eos deducitur qui populum omnem repraesentabant So that all Israel met in their Representative Thus David thus Solomon did use to convocate all Israel As our State hath its Wittena Gemot the Parliament which Cambden calls Pananglium so a National Church may have a general Assembly to represent the whole And this may be so composed as to be an abridgement and contraction of the quintessence of the wisdom piety and learning of a National Church This is a most excellent way for a Community to act by This may be both the terminus à quo ad quem of all these publick acts which are of weight and general concernment By this the Nomothetical Power is exercised to this by Appeal the highest causes are brought and finally determined yet here it 's to be observed that a Representative of the whole is not the whole properly but synecdochically and an Instrument whereby the whole doth so act yet if any thing be done amiss in a former particular Assembly the whole may correct it by a latter 2. That if the Constitution of a general Representative be right and the Members thereof duly qualified and act according to their qualification there will
as some say at the King's command and that without Law and Authority of Parliament were confessed by many and exclaimed against generally and divers charged the Bishops as guilty of Usurpation And how could they be less when they imposed the reading of the Book of Sports and Recreations on the Lord's Day and punished divers Ministers refusing to read it and which was not tolerable the Rule of their Proceedings in the Exercise of their Power were Canons never allowed by Parliament besides the business of Altars and bowing towards them which had no colour of Law. Many began to set up Images in their Churches and innovate in Doctrine In consideration of all these things a Reformation if it might be had was thought necessary not only for the perfection of the first but also for to cut off the late introduced Corruptions and prevent the like for the future An opportunity seemed to be put into the hands of a Parliament with an Assembly of Divines for Advice to do this A Reformation they promise begin to act in the way and the expectation was great But instead of perfecting the former Reformation they cause a new Confession of Faith and new Catechisms to be made instead of the former Litany and Set-form of Worship a new Directory is composed and allowed for Discipline the Episcopal Power is abolished and the former Government dissolved the Presbyterian way and that very near to that of Scotland is agreed upon So that whatsoever was formerly determined by Law is null and void In the end all that was done in Doctrine Worship and Discipline in a time of War without and against the mind of the King did vanish was rejected by many and received by few and such an Indulgence under pretence of favouring tender Consciences was granted that every one seemed to be left at liberty Hence sprang so many Separations and Divisions that England since she became Christian never saw the like There were Divisions in Doctrine so many as could not be numbred and men were in their judgments not only different but contrary And the former Errours pretended to be great were few in number far less noxious in quality to these latter which were very many and some of them blasphemous and abominable All the old damned Heresies seemed to be revived and raked out of Hell and the more vain and blasphemous the Opinion was it was by some the more admired For Worship instead of some Ceremonies or Superstitions at the worst all kind of Abominations brake out of the bottomless Pit. Some professed high Attainments and Dispensations to the contempt of Sabbaths Sacraments and Scripture it self Some turned Ranters as though the old abominable Gnosticks had been conjured up from Hell. Some become Seekers till they lost all Religion Some were Quakers and most rude uncivil inhumane Wretches deadly Enemies of the Ministery and most violent Opposers of the Truth and some no ways ill affected but otherwise well disposed people seemed to be suddenly bewitched as the Galatians were and could give no Reason nor Scripture for the Separation and Alterations To be Anabaptists seemed to be no Offence in comparison of the former For Discipline some adhered to the Prelatical Form and refused Communion with the Presbyterian Party who with the Scottish Kirk thought their way to be the pattern in the Mount. The Congregational was of another mind and stood at as far a distance from them on one hand as the rigid Prelatical Party did on another Yet in all this God preserved an Orthodox Party who retained the substance of the Protestant Religion with moderation and these are they whom God will bless and make victorious in the end For all these came to pass and were ordered by Divine Providence to discover the Frailty of all the Wickedness of some the Hypocrisie of others to mainifest the Approved to confirm the Sincere and let men know what a blessing Order and Government in Church and State must needs be Here are many Separations some passive but many active As for the Quakers Seekers Above-Ordinance-Men Ranters their Separation under pretence of greater Purity is abominable The Antipedobaptists and the Catabaptists cannot justify themselves and in the end it will appear The Dissenting Bretheren and Congregational Party after they began to gather Churches with the rigid Prelatists and Presbyterians cannot be excused They who actually concurred to procure a Liberty and Indulgence especially the Zealots in that work who had a design to promote their own way have much to answer for and their account will be heavy And surely they are no ways innocent who took away the former Laws and Government before they had a better and in their own power effectually to establish them And whosoever departed from the former legal Doctrine Worship and Discipline in any thing wherein it was agreeable to the Word of God must needs be worthy of blame as also those who took an ill course to introduce that which was better They who will not Communicate with others or refuse to admit unto Communion with themselves in all parts of Worship such as are Orthodox and not changeable with Scandal are Offenders and cannot be free from Schism in some degree The Usurpations of the Bishops and the Innovations made by them and their Party together with their Negligence and Remisness in the more material parts of Discipline gave no little cause of Divisions and Separations To be hasty high rigid in Reformation is a cause of many and great Mischiefs This Church of England upon the first Reformation within a few Years brought forth to God even under that imperfect Reformation many precious Saints and glorious Martyrs And after the Persecution how did she multiply and yield as many able and godly Ministers and gracious Servants of God as any Church in the World of that compass And all those good Children were begotten nursed and encreased whilst under one supreme independent national Judicatory And though the first Reformation was imperfect and the Church in some things corrupted and many Members of the same without sufficient cause persecuted by some of the ungodly and unworthy Bishops yet for any of the Subjects and Members to separate from her without some weighty cause must needs be a sin A Reformation might have been made without pulling down the whole Frame and opening a way to the ensuing Divisions Imperfection is no sufficient cause to separate from that Church wherein any person receives his Christian being or continuance or growth of that being neither is every kind of Corruption No Church but hath some defects but hath some corruptions and no man should depart from any Christian Society further than that Society is departed from God. To depart and divide upon conceits of greater purity and perfection or out of a spirit of Innovation or in any thing which is approved of God and not contrary to his Word cannot be lawful Let every one therefore reflect upon the former Divisions and
is great danger to the Common-wealth therefore as every thing is armed with some power to defend it self so a sufficient strength is required in every political Body for to continue the safety thereof And this is a Sword not only of Justice but of War. This Sword of War especially cannot be well managed without a sufficient skill which cannot be had without instruction exercise and experience Hence the Art Military is not only useful but necessary in every well ordered State. One thing especially requisite in this profession is to have good Commanders men of valour and prudence able to lead and instruct others God himself would have Israel his own people a Warlike Nation Therefore after that he had given them possession of the Land of Canaan he left some certain Nations unsubdued only that the Generations of the Children of Israel might know how to teach them War at least such as knew nothing before of it Judg. 3.1 2. Those who lived in the times of Joshua were well experienced but the Generation following had no experience neither could they learn any without some Enemies constantly to exercise them Therefore though Wars be heavy Judgements yet it 's the will of God there should be warlike dissentions and that for many ends 1. To punish the wickedness of the World. 2. To let men know how sweet a blessing Peace is 3. To be a Nursery and School of breeding gallant men especially when he by them intends to do some great work In consideration of these things its good that any State in time of peace not only chuse Captains train Souldiers provide Arms but also send some into forraign Wars to learn experience Of this part of Institution as also of that of Learning you may read at large in Contzen Polit. lib. 4. lib. 10. Of the Laws of War Grotius may be consulted That some Wars are lawful especially such as are necessary and undertaken for our defence there 's no doubt and not only defensive but offensive arms may be justified out of the Holy Scriptures and from the Example of Abraham Joshua many of the Judges and David who were excellent Commanders under whom many gallant men served when God intended to ruin Judah he threatens to take away the mighty Man Esay 3.2 It 's a sad presage when the Gentry and Nobility of a Nation become vicious and effeminate and this was one cause of that heavy Judgment of God which many of them suffered in the late Wars Wherein England gained great skill and experience both by Sea and Land yet with the woful expence of much of her own blood And how happy had we been if so much valour had been manifested in the ruine of the Enemies of Christ and his Gospel Whosoever desires to understand more of this Subject as belonging to Politicks let him read Military Books If this be so necessary for the defence and safety of an earthly State how much more is the spiritual Militia necessary for the defence of our Souls section 18 There is another profession and the same useful for many things but in particular for to enrich the State it s that of Merchandise and Traffick These Merchants are of several sorts some deal in petty Commodities and sell by parcels some are for whole sale but the chiefest are such as are great Adventurers and Trade by Sea and Traffick with all Nations These are the great Monyed Men of the World who have great Princes and whole States their Debtors These furnish us with Rarities and Varieties of the Earth and enrich us with the Commodities of East and West South and North and the remotest parts of the World. These make new discoveries and might furnish us with many rare inventions Books and Arts but most intend rather private gain than publick good It were to be wished that our luxurious and wicked expences were turned another and better way to maintain Schollars in those Countries where they maintain Factours for the improvement of Learning and the propagation of Religion The King of Spain and the Jesuites are the only Politicians in this kind though it be a Question whether this profession be not derogatory to Nobility Yet King Solomon and Jehosaphat were Adventurers in Corporations and great Cities these Tradesmen and Merchants have their several Companies and their Orders and are called by some Systemes which cannot be well regulated without some Laws of the Soveraign power CHAP. XVI Of Subjects in an Ecclesiastical Politie section 1 OF subjection in general and subjection to a Civil Power I have spoken and because there is an Ecclesiastical power and subjection due unto it therefore order requires that I conclude the first part of Politicks with the explication of the nature of spiritual subjection and subjects This spiritual relation and duty arising from it presupposeth subjection 1. Absolute to God as Creatour and Preserver 2. To him as Redeemer 3. To Christ as Head and Universal Administratour of the Church and to him as having instituted an Ecclesiastical Discipline and promising to every particular Church using the Keys aright in their judical proceedings to be with them so as to make their judgment effectual and that what they bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven and what they loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven So that this subjection is due to the power of Christ in every particular visible Church For when a multitude of Christians associate and according to the Rules of Christ erect an independent Judicatory it s the duty of every one in that Association to submit unto it if he will be a Member of the same and enjoy the benefit of that external Government and by the very institution of Christ though there be no solemn Confederation they are bound so to do This subjection is different from that which is due from the people to their proper Pastours The power external of the Keys as you heard is 1. In the whole Church particular according to the extent as the primary subject of the same 2. In the Representative exercising this power 3. In the Officers The Representative is either general to which every particular person must submit or particular to which the particular Members of that Association and Division are bound to submit and none else Submission is due unto the Officers according to their intensive and extensive power and no further The Rule and Measure of this subjection are the special or general precepts of Christ and his Apostles and if a Church or its Representatives or Officers transgress these precepts they cannot justly challenge any submission as due unto them In this respect its necessary there should be Canons to regulate both the fundamental and also the derivative power and the same agreeable to the Gospel The want of these and the observation thereof may be an occasion if not a cause of separation whereof the Church it self may be guilty and will prove so to be This subjection ariseth from this
that they are Members of such a Church for every single Member is subject to the whole Here is no exemption of any though they should be Bishops Metropolitans Patriarchs The Patriarchs of Rome may challenge a transcendent power to be above all Laws and all Judgments he will command all judge all will be commanded will be judged by none But all this is but an unjust and insolent Usurpation For Christs Institution in those words Tell the Church excludes such powers dethrones such persons He that will sit in the Church of God as God must needs be the Son of Perdition From this subjection ariseth an Obligation to acknowledge the just power of the Church to be faithful unto it and by all means to seek the good thereof to obey the Laws and submit unto the just Judgment of the same section 2 This being the brief Explication of subjection whence a Christian is denominated a subject of a particular Church under a form of Government the next thing to be done is to enquire who are subjects how they may be distinguished and how they may be divided and how educated Subditi enim Ecclesiae distinguuntur distincti dividuntur educantur 1. They are distinguished both from others and also among themselves from others they are differenced for some are within some without some are Brethren some are not This is implied by the Apostle when he saith If any man that is called a Brother and what have I to do to judge them that are without Do not ye judge them that are within 1 Cor. 5.11 12. Therefore there are such as are not Brethren such as are without and cannot be judged by the Church these are no Subjects There are Brethren such as are within and may be judged these are Subjects By this distinction Mahumetans Pagans unbelieving Jews are excluded For none can be a Member of a Church Christian but a Christian who by Baptism is solemnly admitted to be a Subject of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and a Member of the Universal Church And whosoever shall be such may be a Member and so a Subject of a particular visible Church Yet one may be a Member of one particular Church and not of another for as in civil politicks none can be a subject of two several States civil at one time so in Ecclesiastical Government no person can be a subject of two particular Independent Churches at the same time Therefore when the Apostle saith Do not ye judge them within is to be understood of the Members of that particular Church of Corinth For they could not judge them of the Church of Rome of Ephesus of Jerusalem or any other but their own yet here is to be observed that manifest Apostates though they have been Christians cannot be received into a Christian Church nor such as have been Members of an Heretical Superstitious Idolatrous Church till they have renounced their Heresie Superstition Idolatry Neither must any subject himself to any such Church nor continue in it if formerly he hath been a Member for all sinful Communion is unlawful Yet wherein there is no such thing and God in his Providence casts him upon another Church he may subject and also continue As in a civil State there are sojourners and strangers and also plenary subjects so there may be in a particular Church For all such as are Members and Subjects of one Church and yet either sojourn or inhabit in another for less or longer time they are not Subjects till they be incorporate yet they are Subjects of the Catholick Church in any part of the World. And upon Letters Testimonial or any other sufficient Information they may be admitted to Communion in Word Prayer and Sacraments for these are priviledges of the Universal Church and common to all Christians of Age as Christians But these doth not render them Members of that particular Church for Discipline without Submission and Admission Only if they do offend against the just Canons of that Church where they are Strangers The Rule of delictum in alieno territorio c. holds good and they may be censured where the Offence is committed and where the Scandal is committed Of plenary subjects some are such by Birth some by Election Those by Birth are like the native Jew those by Election are like the Proselite Yet this is to be observed that as one who was an Heathen might be made both a Proselite and a Member of that Church of Israel at the same time and the same Act so one that was of no Church as being no Christian may be made a Christian and a Member of a particular Church visible at once Therefore we must distinguish of such as are incorporated into a Church for as Ephes. 2.11 12. There were such who were Gentiles and so none of God's people and aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and strangers to the Covenants of Promise who afterwards ver 19. were no more Strangers and Forraigners but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the Houshould of God and so of no people made a people and more of no Christians made Christians There be others who formerly were Christians and that which is more Subjects of some one particular Church which are made Subjects of another This is so to be understood as that to be a Christian or a Member of a particular Church is not meerly from Birth but from birth of Christian Parents who are Members of the Church Universal and sometimes nay often of a particular Church under a form of Government Neither doth this Birth without Divine Ordination incorporate us into the one or other For to be a Christian is not from Nature but from God's gracious Ordination which requires that even those who are born in the Bosom of the Church and baptized too should when they come to Age be instructed in the Covenant and also own their Baptism by profession of their Faith and promise for to keep the Covenant The neglect of this is the cause why many Congregations have such unworthy Members Yet it 's not necessary by any Divine Precept that all should be excluded whom we do not certainly know to be real Saints And here I will take occasion to debate of two things much controverted in these times 1. Of the qualification of a Member of the Church 2. Of separation from a Church section 3 For the qualification of the Church-member it 's agreed that visible Saints though not real may be Members of a Church But the Question is what a visible Saint is By visible the Congregational party in particular Mr. Hooker of New England understands one that shall appear to such as should admit him to be a Saint This Saintship is as he informs us in knowledge and practise and he grants a latitude in both This visibility is that whereby they appear to us to be Saints in respect of their knowledge and practise And thus they appear and may be