who carefully defend and govern the Church and People of God imitating David King of Israel Psalm 101. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house he that telleth lyes shall not tarry in my sight I will early destroy all the wicked of the land that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord c. The King ought in all truth and sincerity fully and wholly to observe all the Dignities Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom and to reduce them to their Pristine condition The King also ought to do all things in his Kingdom righteously and that by the judgment of the Nobles of the Kingdom and Right and Justice ought rather to bear Rule in a Kingdom than sinful Wills and Pleasures Law is always that which doth right but Will and Pleasure is violence and force is not right And much more to the same purpose by Edward the First to whose Laws also William the Conqueror subscribed Vid. Lambert Collect p. 142. N o 17. The true Religion of God and honest Conversation even of Priests themselves is our chiefest care saith Justinian Novel constit 6. The search of true Religion we find to be the chiefest care of Imperial Majesty Legum Theodos Novel tit 2. de Judaeis Samaritanis So Gregory the Great earnestly exhorted Edelbert unto the first that was Christned of the Saxon Kings in England For this cause the Almighty God brings the good Princes to the Regiment of his People that by them he may bestow the gifts of his mercy upon all that are under them Beda hist Aug. 32. Consider in the Creation we were all created in Adam equal and equally innocent and upright and had we so continued in that state of Innocency there would have been no need of Impery one over another every one would have been a King to himself God and Nature their only Law-givers but lapsed Man sought out many Inventions and broke the Laws both of God and Nature and thereby provoked God to anger and to vengeance and instead of being homo homini Deus as in their fist Creation and state of Innocency they soon became homo homini Lupus which unavoidably introduced a necessity of Government framed by human Wisdom that they may not like Brutes devour one another but live in Unity Wealth Peace and Godliness that they might have Liberty preserved Justice equally distribute◠Honesty upheld Religion and Piety maintained and propagated all which could not be done when the Race of lapsed Mankind was multiplyed but by Laws ordained by Common Consent as sociable Parts united into one Body which Laws in common Prudence and of right do bind each to serve other and all to prefer the good of the whole before what good soever of any particular without which no House no City no Nation can long subsist in any happy condition For to govern and to be governed is not to be esteemed amongst things only necessary but as things profitable also for the benefit and sollace of all Mankind and hath its ground and warrant in Scripture in Nature in Heaven Hell the Creatures Mans nature and Conscience In Scripture by me Kings and consequently all other Forms of Government reign and Princes decree Justice By me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the earth Pro. 8. 15 16. saith Gods essential wisdom viz. not only by the secret disposition of his Providence but by the express warrant of his Ordinance by Divine Institution not by naked approbation there being no power but of God either by his commission or permission The powers that are i. e. the several Forms of Government are ordained by God Rom. 13. 1 2 3 4 5 6. i. e. politick Power in general is warranted by a Divine Law but the several Forms of Government is by the Law of Nations Princedom Empire Kingdom and Jurisdiction have their Rise from a positive and secondary Law of Nations and not absolutely from the Law of God or of pure Nature which the Lawyers call Secundariò Jus naturale or Jus gentium secundarium In sum Government is immediately from God but this or that Form of Government is immediately from God by the Interposition and Mediation of the publick consent of Kingdoms and States and so the application of the Persons to the Office is wholly in the Governed The several Forms of Government differ not in nature Morally and Theologically speaking the end of all Government being the very self same but only politically and positively For God appointed not Kings absolute and solely Independent but constituted with them also Judges who were equally obliged to judge according to the Law of God. 2. Chron. 19. 6. as Kings 17. Deut. 15. and have a co-ordinate share in the Government because the Judgment is neither the Kings nor the Judges but the Lords and both their Consciences are in immediate subjection to the King of Kings 2 Chron. 19. 6 7. The persons are sometimes Usurpers sometimes Abusers of their Authority as when they tyrannize or oppress such powers God owns not the Rulers that he ordains are not to be a Terrour unto good works but to the evil for they are the Ministers of God to the governed for good revengers to execute wrath upon them that do evil To such Rulers we must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for Conscience sake therefore whosoever resisteth such powers resisteth the ordinance of God And for this cause pay we tribute but not to those that are a terrour to good works the reason subjoyned is for they are Gods Ministers attending continually on this very thing but if they attend not continually on this very thing there is no absolute necessary Obligation expressed incumbent upon us for our Obedience or for our paying of Tribute Sute or Service but rather on the contary It is better to obey God than Man Acts 5. 29. The same Power St. Peter terms human Ordinances Submit your self to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well 1 Pet. 2. 13 14. so that S. Paul and S. Peter run parallel to one and the self same Sense and the Sword in the Magistrates Hand to revenge is not a material Sword to hack and hew kill and slay at pleasure but the Laws made by the common consent are the true Sword so Bishop Bilson to which both Magistrates and People are equally obliged to submit the Magistrates being but the Conduit and Pipe the Administrators not Patrons of the Powers for the sake of order through which and by whom all Laws are to pass and be executed and by the same Texts they have the like Obligation to praise them that do well as to punish those that do ill so David was taught and practised I will not know a wicked person mine eyes
and sinful Injustice and therefore cannot be from God. Dum contra officium facit Magistratus non est Magistratus quippe à quo non injuria sed jus nasci debet and consequently they who resist the tyrannous acts of Kings do not resist the Ordinance of God. What were it less than Blasphemously to charge God with prevaricating with his People if in Authorizing Kings to preserve them should give them liberty without all Politick restraint to destroy them Which is contrary to God's end in the Fifth Commandment that one Man a King should have absolute Power to destroy Millions of Souls and Bodies uncontrolably If the Kings of Israel and Judah were under censures and rebukes of the Prophets and sinned against God and the People in rejecting such rebukes and in persecuting the Prophets and were under and liable to all the Laws of God as all other People though their Subjects were then is their Power not above any Law nor absolute That these matters of Fact are true sit liber Judex Samuel rebuked Saul Nathan David Elias Achab. Jeremiah is sent to Prophecy against the Kings of Judah Jer. 1. 18. and the Prophets practised it Jer. 19. 3. Ahab could not take Naboths Vineyard against his will without the formality of Law and without the help of Men of Belial to boot for which violence offered to Law and Justice in the place where Dogs licked the Blood of Naboth shed by shamming of Laws by Innuendoes and false constructions of Laws the Dogs did lick the Blood of Ahab and did eat that cursed Woman Jezabel by the wall of Jezrael and her Carkass became as dung upon the face of the field A Document to all Kings and Princes for giving any countenance to Violence or Oppression or to shamming any Laws by any irresistable or prevalent Influences and the Inferior Judges ought not to accept the Persons of any in judgment whether small or great for the judgment is the Lords and their office as much of divine right as that of the Kings then certainly we may justly conclude That Kingly Power is neither above Law nor yet absolute for Kings who swear to Govern according to Law it is contrary to common sense nay impossible they should have an illimited or absolute Power either from God or the People for foedus conditionatum or promissio conditionalis mutua facit jus alteri in alterum it 's not to be thought that Kings can at one and the same time and in the same breath justly swear to Govern according to Law and at the same time interpretatively and secondarily swear to Govern absolutely and without Law. If the governed in Senates Parliaments and Dyets may call in question the Acts Previledges Charters and Commissions of Kings granted to any Persons and null and vacate them circumscribe and dock any of their Prerogatives may increase or diminish his Revenue and State may call into question any of his Friends Counsellors or Ministers of State and punish or remove them If the governed may appeal from Kings to Senates Dyets or Parliaments and may not appeal from them to Kings all which may and have been done as the publick Monuments of Laws do testifie who of sound judgment can deny the Power of the People in Dyets Senates and Parliaments to be above that of Kings If in an Interregnum Senates Dyets and Parliaments have Power and which is plain by Histories without regard had to right of Inheritance have created Kings whom they pleased and altered Successions In summ If Dyets Senates Parliaments are the Supreme Council of Nations constituted by the People indued with Power from them to this very thing that they may consult in common of the weighty matters of Kingdoms and common good and Kings therefore created that they should see executed what they did advise and agree upon quis nisi mentis inops can deny upon such plain evidence and demonstration that the People in Parliaments Dyets and Senates are not only co-ordinate and have a share in the Government but are also in some sense and some places superior to them for that they can do more than Kings Kings have their Prerogatives true and very fit they should have So have all other Governments be their Prerogatives what they will Power of the Militia making War and Peace calling of Councils Dyets Synods Senates Parliaments nominating Judges and other publick Officers of Kingdoms c. they are all derived from the People and transferred for their own good and so always expressed or implied If they make ill use of the Militia it 's a breach of trust and no obligation of Obedience and Submission is due if they make ill Leagues the People not bound to confirm or assist if they call Dyets and Parliaments it is not for their peculiar interests but for the good of the whole and nothing done therein can be of force unless the free assent of the convocated be first had Which demonstrates it is the Office and Duty of Kings to call those great Councils as oft as the People see cause and desire it and to continue them till they have the benefit designed And though the Royal Assent be desired it is but for the Honour of the business for what concerns common good safety and liberty they ought to pass by virtue of their Oaths and Office. Non negabimus non differimus cuique jus aut justitiam Chartae Artic. c. 29. Will not Kings deny Justice and may they deny just Laws Not to private Persons and yet to the Representatives of Nations Not in the Inferior Courts and yet in the Supreme They are created and elected Kings that they should do Justice to all indifferently Bracton l. 3. c. 9. Ad hoc creatus electus est ut justitiam faciat universis per eas nimirum leges quas vulgus elegerit Hence in Archivis H. 4. Rot. Parl. N o. 59. Non est ulla Regis Prerogativa quae ex justitia aequitate quicquam derogat Kings have no Prerogative which derogate from Justice and Equity And when Kings have refused to make or confirm Magnas Chartas good Laws they have been compelled by force of Arms and such Laws accounted as good and valid by the best Lawyers the reason given is That they of right and of their own accord ought to have assented unto that which they were forced to do All Courts of Judicatory are Authorized and Confirmed by Parliament in which it is Lawful for the meanest of Subjects to implead Kings in which Courts Judgment is often given against Kings which though endeavoured to be contradicted or countermanded by Kings yet the Judges by the Laws of God and Man and by their Oaths are obliged to refuse their Mandamus's and to give right Judgment for the judgment is the Lords Kings can justly Imprison no Man nor punish any Man nor seize their Goods or Estate without Citation out of Courts where the Judges not Kings have all the Power So
JVS REGIMINIS BEING A JUSTIFICATION OF Defensive Arms IN GENERAL And consequently of Our Late Revolutions AND TRANSACTIONS TO BE THE JUST RIGHT OF THE KINGDOM LICENS'D June 17. 1689. J. FRASER LONDON Printed in the Year MDCLXXXIX Benedictus sit prae caeteris Principibus Wilhelmus Henricus D. G. Magnae Britanniae Franciae Hiberniae REX Qualem nec viderunt Avi nec visuri sunt Nepotes qui advenerit ad Auxilium Jehovae contra potentes Papicolas Antichristianos tyrannorum pessimos Benedicta sit prae caeteris Heroinis MARIA Regina conjux Regni Consors Communicatis Imperii fascibus fruantur illi Sceptro Britannico Parentes liberorum laeti Aurei Seculi Authores Macti virtute conculcate Inimicos Religionis Protestantium Legum Anglorum Libertatum Parliamenti ut nomina vestra eant in Mille saecula sciantque posteri filii nascituri surgentes enarrent filiis suis semper fugiant infesti Osores à conspectu vestro Sic comprecatur sic vovet omni supplex humilitate WILHELMUS DENTON M. D. Majestatum vestrarum subditus humillimus ADVERTISEMFNT TO THE READER THIS Treatise hath been written several Years and kept close because the Government would not bear such Prints and might still have lain snug but that I daily see great endeavours by various Prints and Pamphlets casting false glosses upon a good Cause designing to bring us back to Onyons and Garlick and to Popery the worst of Tyranny Among which Prints the History of Passive Obedience at first view seems to carry in it's Front for its better countenancing of Non-resistance the most flourishing shew of our Articles Injunctions Canons Homiles Liturgy both our Universities Bishops Martyrs Confessors c. Which at first view presents a wonderful and an amazing cloud of Witnesses ready to confound the Doctrine of Resistance and Defensive Arms without farther Inquiry and to make good that enslaving Doctrine of Passive Obedience absolutely absolute without reserve of which I shall make but one or two plain Remarks leaving the rest to better Pens 1. Granting all the Quotations to be true yet are they to be understood of private Men and of private Authority only and not of Ordines Regni States and Kingdoms and Commonwealths 2. Calvin though quoted in this History as an Assertor of such Passive Obedience of which he Treats very Learnedly giving it all its just Allowances and Dimensions yet concludes notwithstanding all those specious Expressions which seem to favour Passive Obedience That he is to be understood always speaking of private Men For if there be at this time any Magistrates for the behalf of the People as the Ephori amongst the Lacedaemonians or Tribunes at Rome as the Demarchi at Athens or the same Power also which peradventure as things are now the Estates have in every Realm when they hold their Dyets Parliaments principle Assemblies he doth not forbid them according to their office to withstand the outragious licentiousness of Kings And farther he affirms That if they wink at Kings wilfully ranging over and treading down the poor Commonalty their dissembling is not without wicked breach of Faith because they deceitfully betray the Liberty of the People whereof they know themselves to be Protectors appointed by the Ordinance of God. Calvin Instit lib. 4. c. 20. par 32. Likewise his Quotation of Dr. Jackson in the Chapter of the Bounds of Christian Obedience will serve his turn as little as that out of Calvin for in the same Chapter p. 929. it being objected to him by the Author of the Prince and Prelate That many besides the Separatists and Enthusiasts many of note in reformed Churches have published in writing that Kings and Princes may in some cases be deposed which saith Dr. Jackson if spoken universally their Doctrine is false and for such condemned by our Church if thus they taught indefinitely only as that some Kings some chief Magistrates may be deposed he knows no Church that justly condemns them But for Divines to determine or dispute what Princes in particular may be deposed or in what cases is matter without their Commission unless commanded by their Princes p. 927. And I think he knew the Doctrine of this and other Churches as well as the Author of this History So Bishop Jewel explains St Paul and himself in the very same Quotation viz. That whosoever striketh with the Sword by private Authority shall perish with the Sword which Opinion if rightly considered is the sense or meaning of all or most of this Historians Quotations and are so to be understood Bishop Bilson how slightly soever represented by this Historian was as profound a Scholar and Divine as ever sate upon that See in his Book of Christian Subjection and Unchristian Rebellion treats of nothing else but of Passive Obedience and Non-resistance at large and no Man better or more solidly in defence of them yet will not rashly pronounce all that resist to be Rebels If a King should go about to subject the Kingdom to a Foreign Realm which happily is not much dissimular to our present constitution and transactions to change the Form of a Commonwealth from Impery to Tyranny or neglect the Laws established by common consent of Prince and People to execute his own pleasure in those and other cases if the Nobles and Commons join together to defend their Ancient Liberties Regiment and Laws they may not well be accounted Rebels very modestly expressed p. 520. And more at large to the same purpose may be read in several places of this Book which Opinion of these great and learned Men are a justification of the present Transactions of our Ordines Regni who have so considerable a share in the Government that no Law can or ought to be made without them And I may truly say without prejudice that those very Authors being all of the Historians own quoting have written as profoundly and solidly for Passive Obedience and Non-resistance as it will bear or that all his other Quotations do or can make out And Bishop Bilson that great Scholar and Divine printed his Book 1585. and dedicated it to Queen Elizabeth of ever blessed Memory whose happy Government was such as she did not think such Resistance unlawful and therefore she soon promoted him to be Bishop of Worcester Anno 1595. and soon after viz. Anno 1597. translated him to Winchester And I think these Men understood the Doctrines Articles Canons Liturgy Homilies Universities c. of this and of other Churches abroad as well as this Historian or as any of the other Authors as he hath named Besides Queen Elizabeth did not only approve the publication of such Doctrines in her Government but being willing to avoid the Curse that bitter Curse of Meroz on her and her Kingdom she gave this farther Testimony and Demonstration by her owning and countenancing such Resistance and by her enâ—ring into Contract with the Protestants of France against the Mighty by sending Mony and
afterwards were that after Samuel from the mouth of God himself had solemnly protested unto them read their destiny shewed them what would betide them and that when it did happen though they should cry out in that day because of their King which they had chosen the Lord would not hear them ver 18. that yet notwithstanding all these forewarnings would yet reject God's Righteous and easy Government for a Heathenish they were but justly served and their usage afterwards was but a just recompence and reward of their rejection and folly for Saul had never been King if they had not chosen him and it was in wrath and displeasure that God gratified them therein as a punishment of their Folly and Rebellion which is no Justification but a Condemnation rather of that kind of Arbitrary Government and therefore the same Prophet told them also That if still ye shall do wickedly ye shall be consumed ye and your King and so it proved Those our Teachers are but false Prophets that teach that the Right of Kings is set down by Samuel chap. 8. and ought to be punished for neither did the People of Israel ever allow or the Kings avow any such power to be their just Right as appears by the Story of Ahab and Naboth Some indeed did exercise it but that is no more a proof of the right thereof than their practice of Adultery Idolatry or of any other sin was of the lawfulness of such sins When Cambyses designed to marry his Sister his Magi told him that no Law did allow it yet there was a Law which did allow the King of Persia to do what he would Just such Magi are our Priests that teach that there is no Law for Kings to Tyrannize or Oppress yet if he do he is unaccountable If this had been the right of the Kings of Israel that lex Regia commanded Deut. 17. and the strict injoyment of the perpetual reading perusing and observing the Book of the Law was in vain and to no purpose What if the Rebellious Stubborn and Stiff necked Jews a foolish People and unwise had a mind to be so governed what doth it concern Christians those that know better things have more wit and more grace and willing to enjoy the liberty and freedom that God hath given them in a Government where their Kings are solemnly obliged by Laws and Oaths as well as themselves whereby their duties become reciprocal and obedience due and expected accordingly Besides is it rational to believe any People except Jews that to day will have a King like other Nations and to morrow will not have this man rule over them and that with cursed Imprications Let his Blood be on us and our Children which is still executing even to this very day to be so sottish to give Kings such vast Revenues and such absolute unquestionable Powers as to whip them with Scorpions and tear their Flesh with Briars and Thorns impune and none to say unto them Why do you thus O but the Prophet tells you Ye shall be his servants 1 Sam. 8. 17. True and the Prophet tells you their Kings shall minister unto thee i. e. to the Church Isa 60. 10. And thus saith the Lord I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles i. e. The Church which shall be gathered by the Preaching of the Gospel which Church we are and they shall bring thy Sons in their Arms and thy Daughters shall be carried on their Shoulders And Kings shall be thy Nursing fathers to carry them in their Bosoms as Nursing-fathers beareth the sucking Child Numb 11. 12. and Queens shall be thy Nursing-mothers they shall bow down to thee with their Face towards the Earth and lick up the dust of thy Feet Isa 49. 22. 23. in which Church Christ her Head is always included and always to be understood As for the place in Samuel ye shall be his Servants it is but a foretelling and premonition that he would make them so be it right or wrong not that they had any just right to make them so but be it so what then even then also there is a reciprocal duty between Masters and Servants Servants are to obey their Masters in singleness of Heart as unto Christ with good will doing service as unto the Lord Eph. 6. 5 6 7 8. So the Masters are to do the like things unto them forbearing Threatning knowing also that your Master is in Heaven neither is there respect of Persons with him ver 9. Such Service all Subjects owe to their Princes and other Services no Prince ought to command Job who was the greatest man of the East solemnly protested to God his Integrity towards his very Servants If I did despise the cause of my Man-servant or of my Maid-servant when they contended with me what then shall I do when God ariseth up and when he visiteth what shall I answer him Did not he that made me in the Womb make him And did not one fashion us in the Womb ch 31. 13 14 15. By which it is apparent that there are reciprocal duties between King and Subject between Master and Servant So the Gibeonites who were sent from the Elders and all the Inhabitants of their Country became Servants unto Israel with whom all the Elders of the Congregation made a League with them and did swear unto them which though the Gibeonites got surreptitiously yet they solemnly kept it and would not smite them when they came before their Cities because the Princes of the Congregation had sworn unto them Josh 9. 11 12 13 14 15. As there were Laws for Children Strangers Men-servants and Maid-servants so there were Laws for Kings Parents and Masters by Gods own prescription and to be reciprocally observed If a Stranger sojourn with thee in your Land ye shall not vex nor oppress him but he shall be unto you as one born amongst you and thou shalt love him as thy self for ye were Strangers in the Land of Egypt I am the Lord your God Exod. 22. 21. 19. Lev. 34. Shall these have their remedy against their Lords and Parents And shall a free People whole Nations be left to merciless Tyrants without Remedy Laws for the King Deut. 17. 17 18 19 20. So Jerem. 22. 3 4. Call to mind the bondage and cruel usage of Gods own People the Jews in Egypt who because they were under no reciprocal Covenants nor had power to relieve themselves therefore God himself stood up in quarrel of his own Covenant and pleaded their cause and brought them out of that Iron Furnace with a high hand and stretched out Arm in despight of the Lawless Hectoring Pharaoh whom neither the Plague of Frogs nor Lice nor Flies nor Murrain of Cattel nor Boyls nor Blains nor Hail nor Locusts nor loss of Cattel of Fruits of Water and of the First-born of all the Land could prevail with him to let go his sin nor the Israelites but will once more rush into the midst of
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
had the force of Laws for Quintus Hortensius when the Commons of Rome had withdrawn themselves into Janiculum a Town beyond Tyber made a Law that those things which the Common People had commanded all the Quirites the Roman Citizens should be obliged by and observe which Law L. Valerius and M. Horatius had granted Centuriatis Comitiis i. e. to the general Assembly of the People of Rome assembled to treat of common affairs There was great difference between Plebiscita Orders made by the common People and the Laws for the Plebiscita the Tribunes demanded those things which did belong to the People but the Laws either Consul or Praetor or other Magistrate advising rogabantur were demanded whether they should be ratified or not They made also a difference between Populus the Citizens of Rome and Plebs the common Rout for that among the People were Patricians Senators and the Nobility but among the Rout there were no Patricians Notwithstanding whatever the People commanded was not always to be ratified because whatever was not just the People might not command The Counsels of the Senate though they were not brought yet if the Tribunes approved thereof and would have them ratified they obtained the force of Laws The Edicts and Interdicts of Praetors also sometimes and under some qualifications had the force of Laws which were intituled Jus Honorarium which were taken away by the Lex Cornelia Also the Responses of Wise-men went sometimes for currant Likewise the ablest and wisest Lawyers were esteemed and used as the best Interpreters and Judges of the Laws which some say was granted to them by Augustus others as confidently affirm they had it not from Augustus and other Princes but of antient custom and right long before But Caligula that Monster and Enemy of Mankind caused all the Decrees of the Lawyers to be forbidden and no body but himself to be the Interpreter and Judge of them At least the Decrees and Constitutions of Princes went for currant Law For when Caesar and the following Emperors had obtained the chief Empire and they only gave Laws and all the Right and Power of Legislation was rent from the People Lege Hortensia and was given to the Caesars so that their Wills and their Decrees without the counsel or consent of the People as formerly had the force of Laws contrary to the Laws of God Nature and Reason Caracalla being fully possessed of this exorbitant power used it accordingly who first killed his own Brother Geta who had equal share with him in the Government by the appointment of Severus their Father and then caused the great Lawyer Papinianus to be put to death because he would not defend that barbarous Act of his before the Senate alledging for his justification that it was easier to commit Parricide than defend it but afterwards this Caracalla was contented more Majorum to have him Canonized Divus modo non sit vivus to deify him being dead in another world rather than to have him a living Co-partner with him in the Empire On the contrary Trajan that most excellent Emperor being possessed of the same power and having published some private and special Laws or Indults for great merits and understanding that some relying thereon made ill use thereof by drawing them into Example and fearing lest contrary to the Laws and Customs of the Antients they should be drawn by application unto wrong Causes and being brought into Judgment and Courts of Justice or Pleadings as Precedents they should pass for Laws he refused afterwards to answer Plaintiffs or Defendants by any writing or Libel of Record lest thereby pernicious examples and as it were Seminaries of ill might spring from thence Antiochus had so great veneration for the Laws that by his publick Edicts he did declare that if he had at any time decreed contrary to Law and Right it should not be obeyed but should be freely opposed by whose example Agesilaus would be obliged by no Promises that he should make but on condition that they were just At what time the Common People did choose their Magistrates whom they always accounted as sacred in the sacred Mount it was provided by a Law that it should not be lawful for any Patrician to apprehend or disturb any of them and not without cause for when against the Power and Insolencies of the Patricians the common People did assemble to choose Tribunes as Champions and Defenders of their Laws and Liberties to hear complaints against the Patricians it would be very unjust that in that in which the People did choose their Defenders to the height and pitch of Honour they should admit those who were most adverse and shagreen to their Liberties and Franchises They esteemed their Tribunes as the Ephori among the Lacedaemonians advanced and delegated to that office to curb the Insolencies of the Spartan Kings lest they should abuse their power to the prejudice of the People Theopompus a Spartan King instated Five of his Friends to be Ephori as his Auxiliary Ministers in his Government at home when he went abroad in Person with his Armies though it was provided by the Laws of Sparta that their Kings should not go out in Person with their Armies which Ephori in process of time came to have so great a power over their Kings that they directed them what they were to do and also were Censors of all they did insomuch that they called Archidamus to account imprisoned him laid a great mulct upon him and at last took his life away The like they did to Pausanias and Agis Lacedaemonian Kings and were so terrible that they erected Timoris Sacellum a Chappel of Terror which Ephori together with their Kings did take Oaths every Month that they would observe the Laws of Lycurgus and preserve the Kingdom in peace In tract of time they grew so insolent that Cleomenes broke their Empire and restored the Kingly Power It was not lawful for any Patrician to accept of being a Plebeian Magistrate and Volero Tribune of the People ordained by a Law proclaimed with the consent of the Plebeians that the Plebeian Magistrate should be made without the Patricians and only the Plebeians admitted to the Tribunitian Councils And though formerly to be Dictator Consul Praetor or Censor none but Patricians were to be admitted yet afterwards the Patrician Magistrates were to share and communicate with the Plebeians So Sextius Primus of a Plebeian was made a Consul which then was ratified Lege Licinia which C. Licinius and L. Sextius Tribunes of the People proclaimed that the Consulship should be common with the Plebeians Q. also P. Philo and Cl. Licinius Stolo Plebeians the one did bear the office of Pretorship the other the Master of the Horse with the Patricians Moreover the Dictatorship in which was placed the greatest glory and Censorship we find to be in common with the Plebeians For both M. Rutilius the first Dictator and Censor then Q. Pompeius and Q. Metellus
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