doubt since you refuse the course of all divine and humane laws with them whether by the law of nature they may not defend them selves against such barbarous Blood-suckers And then he adds Yet we stand not on that if the laws of the land where they converse do not permit them to guard their lives when they are assaulted with unjust force against Law or if they take Armes as you do to depose princes we will never excuse them from Rebellion 20. But in truth the Case above-mentioned ought not at all to be supposed or taken into consideration either with respect to this publick acknowledgment or any thing else For there is greater hurt to be feared from the making such suppositions than from the thing supposed since it is much more likely that such designs should be imagined and believed to be true when they are false as they were in the unjust outcryes against our late Gracious Soveraign than that they should be certainly true And every good man yea every reasonable man may have as great confidence that no such case will really happen as can be had concerning the future state and condition of any thing in this World The princes main interest is to preserve the just Rights of his Subjects For though it should be supposed that some princes may be tempted to think that by such means they might carry on some present design which might please themselves or some other persons who flatter them into it yet this will appear to be against their grand interest And the constant preservation of our Fundamental legal rights by our Kings doth manifest that they well understood how much their interest and their subjects were linked together and withal the confidering this is of great use to quiet and satisfy the minds of subjects and therefore I shall take some notice thereof 21. First with respect to Christianity 1. As to Christianity and the otherworld and the interest of another World For though Princes bear not the Sword in vain but may and must use severity where it is necessary against evil doers yet the precepts of Righteousness Meekness and Love and the laws of Nature and of Christianity do as much oblige the greatest persons upon Earth as other men And since they have a righteous Lord and Governour in Heaven thereupon the dying words of David spoken by divine inspiration are to them a necessary Rule He that ruleth over men must be just ruling in the fear of God 2 Sam. 23.3 And they are also as much concerned as others in the threatnings against the disobedience of these divine Precepts And the Holy Scriptures speak much of the sad estate of all persons whomsoever who practise Oppression Cruelty and Unmercifulness And the future tortures in another World of the greatest persons who were evil and injurious here is also plainly expressed by Plato Plat. in Gorg. fin de Repub. l. 10. Indeed Christianity alloweth repentance but that repentance which is available in Cases of wrong and injury must enclude a necessary care of restitution and reparation 22. Secondly with respect to their honour and esteem 2. Their honour As a good name is useful to all men so an high and honourable reputation of Princes gains them that reverence and respect in the World which is of great moment to themselves and their Kingdoms But whilest it is their honour to secure the welfare of their Subjects the open violating their Rights will expose them to be accounted persons of no Fidelity and Integrity And every man accounts his own interest to be maintained and upheld in the establishing Righteousness and Justice but when men calmly consider things they account Injustice and Oppression to be injurious to the general state of Mankind To this purpose any ordinary man who invaded what was anothers right was accounted by Philo to be Phil. de Decal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Common Enemy of humane Society What was it that made this Kingdom so uneasy and weary under those who commanded it before his Majesties Happy Restauration but that the just Rights of his Majesty and others were then prostrated and the Laws of the Realm and the established Religion subverted And the methods of unrighteousness are the more distastful to all men because he who is unjust to one if he have opportunity and can propose to himself an advantage thereby is like to be so to another 23. Thirdly with respect to their safety Salomon observed 3. Their safety Prov. 16.12 that the Throne is established by Righteousness And it must needs be so because this with other acts of goodness is the way to obtain the blessing of God and also to engage the good affections and hearts of the Subjects which are the great security and defence of Princes But where unrighteousness hath manifestly prevailed though not in the highest degree to contrive utter destruction it hath oft been of fatal consequence Cicero observed Cic. de Offic. l. 2. prope fin that when in the Lacedemonian Government Rights were frequently invaded against Justice this occasioned first the ruine of the Governours and then of the Common-wealth and brought great troubles also upon the neighbouring parts of Greece And when the Cruelties Suet. in Domit. n. 10 11 14. Extortions and Impiety of Domitian made him to be feared and hated of all his own Friends and Intimates and his nearest Relations who knew not how to think themselves secure were the persons who contrived and effected his Death 24. Fourthly 4. Their inward satisfaction with respect to the quiet peace and serenity of their own minds How much inward perplexity attendeth the greatest men who are most guilty of Cruelly and Oppression especially when their Consciences are awakened by the sense of any approaching dangers is evident from the great terrour and fearfulness which surprized Caligula Nero and others of the like spirit To this purpose the account given by Philip de Comines Comin l. 7. c. 2. concerning Ferdinand and Alphonso Kings of Naples and Sicily is very remarkable When Ferdinand through his Cruelty and Oppression was hated at home and could by no means procure Peace with the French his mere grief for his miserable condition brake his heart and ended his dayes His Son Alphonso who equalled at least the miscarriages of his Father though he seemed before to be a man of an high spirit and great Courage was now perpetually possessed with such amazement that in the night in his sleep he ordinarily cryed out of the approach of his Enemies and thought that not only men but even Trees and Stones were the appearance of the French coming against him In this his consternation he resigned his Kingdom fled from Naples into Sicily and soon died And though his Son Ferdinand was of a better temper the Subjects being disgusted by these former Kings and not being hearty in his defence he was overcome by his Enemies lost his Kingdom and a little after left the World 25. Thus severe punishments from the dirae ultrices Aurel. Vict. in Caracalla as Aurelius Victor noted or rather from the justice of the righteous God oft attend and torment the greatest Potentates for their unrighteous actions and therefore the doing justice which God particularly enjoins must needs be their interest as well as their duty And as all these things I have mentioned are useful considerations against all injuriousness so are they of especial weight against the highest oppression and designs of ruine And besides what I have here discoursed Ch. 2. Sect. 2. n. 3 4 c. I also refer the Reader to what I have said in a former Chapter concerning the security which Subjects have of their interest and property though they may not take Arms against their Soveraign And these things may be sufficient to quell and suppress uncharitable and unreasonable and unchristian jealousies and suspicions if they be impartially and calmly pondered 26. Wherefore since our Religion enjoins us to fear God and honour the King let no evil imaginations be entertained to hinder this duty For as we by the mercy of God live under a Prince of great Clemency and Justice so there is little cause to fear that any Soveraign who stands so much concerâ—â—d from the most solemn obligations and his own interest every way to maintain and preserve the Laws and the good of his people should ever endeavour against these established Laws to contrive the ruine of them nor can there be any pretence that lesser inconveniencies should be a foundation for Warlike Insurrections And let every Christian practise that Obedience and submission to Superiours which the Rules of Equity the nature of Civil Society and especially the Laws of our Christian profession do require But let that unruly and turbulent spirit be utterly rejected unto which ungoverned passions provoke evil men Joseph Ant. l. 17. c. 3. This was one part of the bad temper of the Pharisees that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such who had a special faculty of opposing and going counter unto Kings but no such thing was in the Life or Doctrine of our Saviour nor ought to be in any who own themselves to be his Disciples 27. And now I shall conclude with an humble and hearty Supplication to Almighty God in which I entreat the Reader to join also That he would bless and preserve our present Soveraign and that he and his Successors may alwayes Rule in Prosperity and Peace and in a constant exercise of Piety Justice and Mercy That they may ever effectually maintain and promote the true profession and practice of Religion and the welfare of the Church of God That these Kingdoms may flourish and be under the continual blessing of God and his Protection and Care and that the Inhabitants thereof may faithfully serve him And that no Vnchristian Jealousies and Suspicions or any evil Seeds of Discord may take Root amongst us and that our Holy Religion may never henceforth be evil spoken of through any Vnchristian practices of Rebellion which are opposite to true Christian Loyalty Amen FINIS
Hypocrisy and dissembling with God to pray to him for the good of any person whose good and happiness is not really desired therefore the divine Precept to pray for Kings and the Christian practise answerable thereto was well urged as a sufficient evidence by Tertullian Apol. c. 31. to prove Christians to be true and real Friends and no Flatterers of Princes and Emperours wheresoever the true spirit of Christianity is embraced 7. Of obedience to the laws of our Governours Corol. 4. The chief and principal duty required is the practise of obedience to the laws of our superiours Even in lesser Societies a Father or Master whose authority is of an inferiour nature hath a power of commanding without which there can be no order in Families And it is the general acknowledgment of the World Arist Eth. l. 10. c. 9. Politic. l. 6. that the welfare of humane Society of which Government taketh care cannot be obtained without establishing laws and publick Rules and there is no Kingdom or Country in the World under any civil Government where laws have not been established and an authority to enjoin them acknowledged And obedience to such laws is plainly enjoined upon all Christians since they are obliged to be subject to the higher powers and to submit themselves to every ordinance of man But that this duty of obedience may be the better declared I shall take notice of three pretensions which are made use of for the undermining it Wherefore I shall observe 8. First That passive obedience as some call it or a submitting to penalties is in things which may lawfully be done no sufficient discharge of Conscience or performance of duty unto the laws of superiours The necessity of Active Obedience And here Active obedience only deserves the name of obedience and is necessary to be performed This is evident from these three things 1. From the general end and design of all Government which a true Christian subjection must comply with and this is to restrain disorders and evils and to promote what is good and useful in the World Now this end is obtained by the practising wholesome Rules but is not at all effected by the mere bearing penalties For by the suspending active obedience the order of the World would be turned into confusion since as Clemens Romanus urgeth in this Case As the serviceableness of an Army Cl. Rom. Ep. ad Cor. p. 49 50. dependeth much upon its being under Command and the usefulness of the members of our bodies appeareth from their being ready to perform the motions about which they are imployed so the good estate of the weal publick is procured by mens careful observing and attending to useful and profitable Rules and directions 2. From other parallel instances It is against the nature of Religion to imagine that wicked men and evil Angels who despise Gods laws and reject his Precepts are to be esteemed as blameless and Well-doers meerly because they bear the punishment and misery which God inflicts And surely no reasonable man can think that if a servant be idle careless and unfaithful by being only beaten for his fault without any amendment of his carriage he becomes thereby faithful and innocent or that if a Child be disobedient to his Parents and stubborn he hath sufficiently discharged all that duty which God or Man requireth from him by being corrected And the pretence of general performing obedience to Governours by bare submitting to penalties but neglecting in things lawful to practise what is enjoined is as opposite as these former instances to the Rules both of Reason and Religion 3. From the Sanction of punishment towards them who do evil and are disobedient For God who is so just that he will not condemn the righteous nor punish the innocent hath committed to Rulers the power of the sword to execute punishment on the disorderly and disobedient which he would never have done if the neglect of active obedience to laws which is the cause for which punishments are inflicted were not in it self a fault Prov. 20.2 But whoso provoketh him a King to anger sinneth against his own Soul 9. Secondly Nor are subjects disobliged from obeying the laws of their superiours by their entertaining doubts or scruples concerning the lawfulness of them But because what I have written elsewhere is sufficient for the proof of this I shall chiefly refer the Reader thither and shall only add 1. That if we consider doubts in themselves Doubts do not discharge from obedience since here is no certain evidence concerning the unlawfulness of the things commanded if these doubts and scruples proceed from a regular and uniform cautiousness of Conscience there is as much reason if not much more because of the plainness of the commands of obedience to scruple or doubt of the lawfulness of disobeying as of the lawfulness of obeying And so the consideration of doubts and scruples taken singly and alone can be no pretence against the performing obedience when even these very things ought to have as strong a force against the neglecting obedience 2. If we consider the duty and state of subjection it will thence appear that it was well asserted by S. Austin Cont. Faust l. 22. c. 75. that subjects may and ought to obey their Princes Commands where they are certain that what he Commands is not against the Command of God and even where they are not certain that it is so And indeed if an uncertain doubt did but make it safe not to perform obedience this would bring very great confusion and disorder into the World and would teach it the ready way which many would listen unto how children might safely disobey their Parents and servants their Masters as well as subjects their Governours But since next to the obeying God we owe obedience to our superiours even by the command of God no man can warrantably disobey them but where he knows he hath in that Case the Command or Authority of God to the contrary 10. Thirdly Whereas many persons are prone in general to account them who are least studious to comply with the authority of men though they be their Governours in matters of Religion to be men of the greatest Conscience and integrity who do not affect the things of this World nor aim at their own interest therein even this is a perfect misunderstanding and a gross mistake For 1. Since the due performance of obedience in things lawful is a duty Performing obedience is a part of integrity and good Conscience there is more integrity and good Conscience in the peaceable practising it than in the neglecting it This may receive greater clearness by comparing it with the parallel Case of obedience to Parents Now that person who shall forsake or disobey Father or Mother in a necessary Case of Religion acteth as one truly pious but he who will be disobedient to his Parents in things lawful is far from shewing himself
of their duty in loyal obedience And indeed it would be an high reflexion on the Laws of our Realm if such things as these should be acknowledged to be matters of such a perplexed intricacy that honest and indifferent minds who stand obliged to the practice of peace and loyalty should not without consulting skillful Lawyers be able to understand the general rule of thier duty and to whom they ought to yield obedience and submission 12. Besides the words of this publick Declaration and acknowledgment against lawfulness of taking Armes which yet might be accounted sufficient in the Statutes in the time of King Edw. the third â—t Edw. 3.2 it is declared without allowance of any case or pretence to the contrary to be treason if any man do levy War against our Lord the King in his Realm or be adherent to the Kings enemies in his Realm giving them aid or comfort in the Realm or elsewhere 13 Car. 2.1 And since the restauration of his present Majesty it is also in general terms declared treason to levy War against the King within the Realm or without And to cut off all pretences either from the nature of the War as defensive only or from the authority of a Parliament or of the Lrods or commons we have in two several Statutes this Declaration 13 Car. 2.6 that both or either Houses of Parliament cannot nor lawfully may raise or levy any War offensive or defensive 14 Car. 2.3 against his Majesty his Heirs and lawful Successors In which Statutes also the sole supreme Command and Government of the Militia is declared by the Law of England ever to be the undoubted right of his Majesty and his Predecessors Kings and Queens of England 13. And from the Declaration and evidence of these Laws that Plea which hath been made from the Authority of Grotius becomes wholly void Grot. de J. B. P. l. 1. c. 4. n. 13. That learned man indeed did assert that if the supreme Government be part in the people or Senate and part in the King if the King invade what is not his right he may be opposed with just force because he hath not so far any Supremacy And this he thinks must take place though it be said that the power of War is in the King for that saith he is only to be understood of Foreign War when whosoever hath any pat in the supreme power cannot but have a right to defend that part But these words seem very strange and inconsiderate from so intelligent a person if they be intended as they seem to be concerning one simple and unmixt supremacy For to assert two capacities where each hath authority to make War with the other is not to found one only regular Government but to erect two distinct Governments each of which have a supreme power of judging and of execution Indeed in such a mixt and divided Government as is in the German Empire it is allowed by the Constitutions and Capitulations of the Empire that the several Principalities or rather the Princes and Governours thereof have a power of taking Armes if their rights be invaded by the Emperour but then these Princes in their own territories enjoy a right of peculiar Soveraignty But if the whole of this notion of Grotius be taken together it will according to his judgment conclude that the people of England Lords Commons or both jointly have no part in the supreme power because these publick Laws declare that they have no power of making so much as a defensive War against the King 14. And if we look into the Records of the former Ages we may thence discern that no Subjects whatsoever of this Realm had under any pretence an Authority to bear Armes against the King To which purpose it may be sufficient to consider the Conclusion of the Barons Wars in the latter end of the Reign of King Henry the Third Very many of the Peers and chief Barons of the Realm undertook to make War with the King under the Conduct of Simon de Montfort Earl of Leicester M. Par. An. 1264. whom M. Paris calls Baronum Capitaneum and after several Battels had been fought the Kings person was seized and taken at Lewis And not long after this Idem an 1265. the King Summons a Parliament at Winchester in which all those who acted under or with Simon de Montfort are disinherited Sir W. Raleigh Priv. of Parl. p. 31. which act of disinheriting is reported to have been confirmed in a following Parliament at Westminster But in order to the setling the State of the Realm upon more mild and gentle terms by agreement between the King and the Barons a Plenipotentiary Power was delegated and committed to twelve Peers that they might establish what they thought fit and convenient concerning them who thus stood disinherited 15. These twelve published their determination An. 51 H. 3. Dict. de Kenilw. c. 2. which had the force of a Law under the name of Dictum de Kenilworth In which it was concluded that they who had been engaged in Armes against the King unless the King had pardoned them should pay the revenue of their lands for five years And they who had no Lands were to give their own Oath and to find other Sureties for their peaceable behaviour and also make such satisfaction and undergo such pennance as the Church should appoint Ibid. c. 9. And that they who were Tenants should lose their right in their Farms C. 11. saving the right of their Lords And that they who by their perswasion did instigate any to fight against the King should forfeit the profit of their Lands for two years with many other provisions for particular Cases And they also determined that if any persons should refuse these terms which were proposed as a favourable mitigation of strict justice they should be de exhaeredatis C. 29. and have no power of recovering their Estates But some persons and particularly Simon de Montfort himself C. 21. was excluded from these terms of favour and left to the ordinary proceedings of justice in manus Regis Now those practises and enterprises which were so publickly censured condemned and punished by our Parliaments and proceedings of justice must needs be accounted by them unlawful actings 16. In the year following An. 52 Hen. 3. the Statute of Marlbridge mentions it St. Marlbridge c. 1. as a great and heavy mischief and evil that in the time of the late troubles in England many Peers and others refused to receive justice from the King and his Court as they ought to have done which is more expresly contained in the Original Latine than in the common English Translation justitiam indignati fuerint recipere per Dominum Regem curiam suam prout debuerunt consueverunt and did undertake to vindicate their own causes of themselves Now to declare that all Peers and all other persons ought to have
which intirely flow from the institutions of Christ as the right of consecrating ordaining and the whole power of the Keys doth Now the asserting the supremacy of Government is never designed in any wise to violate either these divine or Christian institutions or to assert it lawful for any Prince to invade that authority and right which is made peculiar thereby whether in matters temporal or spiritual Grot. de Imp. S. m. cap. 2. n. 1. Abbot de suprem pot Reg. prael 2. n. 2. Mas de Min. Angl. l. 3. c. 5. n. 2. l. 4. c. 1. Ecclesiastical and civil rights asserted Wherefore there was just cause for understanding men to tax the vanity and inconsiderateness of those men who will understand nothing else by the Kings Supremacy in causes Ecclesiastical but this that he may assume to himself the performance of all proper Ecclesiastical actions 6. Obs 2. Since the asserting the Kings Supremacy in things temporal doth not exclude the subject from a real propriety in his own estate nor declare it lawful for a Prince when he pleaseth to alienate his subjects possessions and inheritance the owning his supremacy in matters Ecclesiastical must not be so far strained as to acknowledge that the revenue of the Church may be alienated at the pleasure of the Civil power For besides that in our English laws this hath the same legal security that all other properties have Magn. Char. c. 1. and with a priority and precedence thereto it is but reasonable that that possession which beareth a respect to God should be as inviolable as the rights of any men And that revenue which is set apart for the support of the service of God and of those administrations which tend to mens eternal felicity ought not to be less secured than what concerneth their temporal welfare 7. Obs 3. Things good and evil cannot be altered but must be established by authority The Soveraign power is so supreme in things temporal as that whatsoever is good or evil by the law of nature or the command of God cannot be altered thereby viz. so as to make theft and murder good or justice chastity and speaking truth evil And in things Ecclesiastical all matters of faith worship and order which Christ hath determined in his Church must remain equally unmoveable and unalterable notwithstanding the acknowledgment of Royal Supremacy in causes Ecclesiastical And in temporal affairs what authority the God of nature hath planted in any other persons still remaineth intire notwithstanding the Royal Government over them thus for instance the power right and authority of Parents is still acknowledged such as that it is neither derived from the regal authority nor can be forbidden by it And this power which both the laws of nature and of Christianity establish hath been universally owned throughout the world and it is observed by Philo Phil. de Leg. ad Caium that when Tiberius the Son of Drusus a minor was left Copartner with Caligula in the right of the Empire by the will of Tiberius the deceased Emperour Caligula by this subtile and wicked method brought him to be so under his immediate government as to have opportunity to destroy him Sect. 3 by taking him to be his adopted Son And as the paternal power must be preserved so likewise whatsoever officers or order of men Christ hath committed his authority unto in his Church this authority doth fully still remain and reside in them and as it is not derived from any temporal power neither may it be taken away or abolished thereby But the supreme civil government hath in all these things a right and authority V. Thorndike Right of the Church Ch. 4. p. 168. of enjoining to every one the performance of their duty and also of determining many particularities which have relation to these general heads and to punish irregular exorbitances and miscarriages SECT III. The declaration of this sense by publick authority observed 1. Though these things might of themselves seem clear enough we have yet further two authentick expositions of this supremacy in causes Ecclesiastical confirmed by the greatest authority of this Church and Realm The former with a particular respect to the Oath of Supremacy was at first published in the Queens Injunctions There the Queen disclaiming all authority of ministring divine offices in the Church In the Admonition to simple peopled deceived by malicious as that which cannot by any equity of words or good sense be intended by the Oath doth declare that no other duty or allegiance is meant or intended by the Oath nor any other authority challenged therein than what was challenged by K. Hen. 8. and K. Edw. 6. and which is and was due to the Imperial Crown of this Realm the more particular explication of which followeth in these words that is under God to have the Soveraignty and rule over all manner of persons born within these her Realms Dominions and Countries of what estate either Ecclesiastical or temporal soever they be so as no other foreign power shall have or ought to have any superiority over them And then it follows and if any person shall accept the same Oath with this interpretation sense and meaning her Majesty is well pleased to accept every such person in that behalf as her good and obedient subjects 2. But this explication received a more solemn and ample publick Sanction by a statute law not long after the publication of these Injunctions 5 Eliz. 1. Therein it was enacted that the Oath of Supremacy should be taken and expounded in such form as is set forth in an admonition annexed to the Queens Injunctions in the first year of her Reign that is to say to confess and acknowledge in her Majesty her Heirs and Successors none other authority than that was challenged and lately used by the noble King Henry the Eighth and King Edward the Sixth as in the same admonition it plainly may appear 3. The other publickly acknowledged exposition of the sense of this Supremacy is in the Articles of the Church of England agreed on in the Convocation and confirmed or established by a legal Sanction 13 Eliz. 12. Artic. 37. Therein are these words Where we attribute to the Queens Majesty the chief Government by which title we understand the minds of some slanderous folk to be offended we give not our Princes the ministring of Gods word or of the Sacraments the which thing the Injunctions set forth by Elizabeth our Queen do most plainly testify but that only prerogative which we see to have been given alway to all godly Princes in holy Scripture by God himself that is that they should rule all estates and degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or temporal and restrain with the civil sword the stubborn and evil doers 4. And when Bishop Vsher in his Speech at the sentencing some Recusants in the Castle Chamber at Duâ—lin explained the Kings
matter may have recourse besides other cases to the voluntary Wars of Amaziah against Joash 2 Chr. 25.17 18 19 20. and of Josiah against Pharaoh Nechoh 2 Chr. 35.20 21 22. Where as those Wars are related to be undertaken by the choice of these two Kings of Judah so the Kings against whom they Warred sent Embassies for Peace not to any Sanhedrim but to them To this I add that if this notion had any thing of truth in it it might possibly be emproved far toward the justifying the rebellion of Absalom Seld. de Syn. l. 2. c. 16. n. 5. Seld. de Syn. l. 2. c. 15. n. 4. Schic de Jur. R. c. 1. Th. 2. against his own Father For if the power of War was in this Court it is altogether unlikely that David in his sudden flight from his Royal City should have them with him but it is much more likely if there was then any such Court it did remain with Absalom in Jerusalem where only that Court could regularly fit according to the Jewish Canons especially if that be admitted for truth Ch. Par. in Ps 140. v. 10. which is declared by the Chaldee Paraphrast that Ahitophel the chief Conspirator was the head of the Sanhedrim 14. Inferiour Courts Sanh ubi sup Seld. de Syn. l. 3. c. 1. n. 1. Quinq in Chal. Par. in Thren c. 5. v. 14. The right of appointing inferiour Courts of Judicature among the Tribes of Israel is claimed also as peculiar to this Sanhedrim And that the Judges of inferiour Courts must be made Rabbies and receive imposition of hands from this great Court is declared by Quinquarboreus But as we have undeniable evidence that in the military Government divers Captains and Generals were appointed by David and Benajah by Solomon so also David established 2700. Levites to be rulers over the two Tribes and half 1 Chr. 26.32 And as the holy Scriptures gives us an account of the Officers and Judges in his time over the other Tribes Antiq. Jud. l. 7. c. 11. Josephus informs us that six thousand of the Levites were made Judges by David And if Judges in the Land had not usually been established by the King there had been no colour for that plausible pretence of Absalom against his Father by telling the men of Israel their matters were good and right but there was no man deputed of the King to hear them 2 Sam. 15.3 Nor can any thing be more clear than that Jehosaphat set judges in the land throughout all the Cities of Judah City by City 2 Chr. 19.5 and also a chief court in Jerusalem v. 8 -11 but that this was no such Sanhedrim as the Rabbins mention I shall hereafter manifest And that the ancient Jewish Writers did acknowledge it a right of the King to appoint judges and judicatures will appear from Philo Phil. de Creat Princip who discoursing of a Prince with a special respect to the Jewish Government directs him to write the Book of the Law with his own hand and to read therein and also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to chuse others who shall partake in the rule and Government that is as he expresseth it that the lesser causes he should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commit them to inferiour Rulers 15. Of making Laws Seld. de Syn. l. 3. c. 1. n. 1. Quinquarb ubi sup De Syned l. 2. c. 9. n. 7. Carpz in Schickard c. 1. Theor 2. p. 15. The authority of making any new Laws or Constitutions is also pretended to be peculiar to the Synedrial power And consequently their Kings must be denied to have any interest in the legislation since these Rabbinical Writers do generally affirm that the King might have no place in the Sanhedrim nor any share in its authority as hath been observed among others by Selden and Carpzovius But whereas the chief things reported to us concerning the Reign of the Kings of Judah consist either in their care of Religion or their military atchievements we have an instance of a standing military law or statute for dividing the Spoil which was established by David 1 Sam. 30.24 25. And I have in the former Chapter evidenced their establishing Orders in matters Ecclesiastical such were the division made by David of the Priests and Levites for their attendance on the service of God Ant. l. 7. c. 11. and others of like nature and Josephus tells us that this division was observed as long as the Temple and its worship stood Sect. 3 To which we may also adjoin the particular Laws or Constitutions made by Josiah and Nehemiah concerning some of the Priests abovementioned SECT III. Of the antiquity of the Synedrial power among the Jews with reflexions upon the pretences for a distinct supreme Ecclesiastical Senate 1. From what hath been discoursed it is sufficiently evident that whatsoever Courts of Judicature or Officers there were in Judah none of them under the Jewish Monarchy ever did vie for Soveraignty with it but were in subjection to it There was no such authority De Jur. Reg. c. 2. Th. 7. as is challenged by Schickard to the Sanhedrin who calleth it Synedrium magnum regiae majestatis compar or by Grotius Grot. in Mat. 5.22 who in the reign of the Kings owneth Senatûs authoritatem regiae velut parem in which expressions is asserted its equal or coordinate power with the Kings which Selden also allows Seld. de Syn. l. 2. c. 16. n. 4. p 667. Yet for giving further evidence to the truth of what I have above expressed I shall assert 2. That this chief Synedrial Government among the Jews The Original of the great Sanhedrin was since the Captivity was of a later extract than the time of the captivity and had its first original since the decay of the true Royal power There was indeed all along the Mosaical dispensation an High Priest whom the Law of Moses obliged the Judge or King in arduous and weighty matters and in such only to consult and by him to ask counsel of God And they had also Elders and men of wisdom and with some of these the Laws of equity and prudence would direct the King to advise And thus much may not improbably be the sense of those words of Josephus proposing this Rule for the King Joseph Ant. l. 4. c. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to act without the High Priest and the consent of the Senators Yet Salmasius thinketh that these words of Josephus Defens Regia c. 2. p. 47. are suitable only to those Princes who ruled about the end of the Jewish state and unless they be taken in the sense I have mentioned they are certainly no rule either founded on the law or agreeable to the government of the House of David And indeed Josephus who saw and felt the calamities which the Jews sustained under the Roman Kings was no friend to Monarchy and though he be far from the Rabbinical strain
which undertook to dispose of the High Priesthood in Jewry against both the letter of the law and the design of it But no Governours whosoever they be whether of the Church or Strangers from it have any right to do such things no more than Jeroboam had to set up the worship of the ten Tribes of Israel contrary to the Law or than the Arian Emperours had to oppose the Deity of the Son of God against the Gospel But though it be very desireable that all parts of the Christian Church should be under Christian and pious Princes yet where other powers do take care Sect. 3 that the Christian Church and Ministers do observe the true Christian Rules Spalat Ostensio Error Fr. Suar. c. 3. n. 23. as the Archbishop of Spalato tells us was done in that part of his Province which was under the Turk this so far as it is regularly performed is an advantage to the Christian Religion and no blameable exercise of their authority 3. I think it a very plain and clear truth All Soveraign powers ought to profess and promote true Religion that Kings and Princes are invested with an authority to govern in matters of Religion not as originally arising from their Christianity but from their general right of Dominion and Soveraignty Nor will there be any difficulty in this assertion if we consider that this power of governing about Religion encludeth only a right of establishing by their authority what is truly unblameable orderly useful and necessary with respect to Religion and of enquiring into the practices of their subjects thereupon in order to approbation or punishment but gives no authority against truth or goodness 4. And though some persons by popular expressions declaim against this position De Minist angl l. 3. c. 4. yet the substance of it hath been yielded by men of various perswasions Mr Mason in his defence of the Ministry of England asserteth That they who are Heathens have the same office and authority of the higher power that the Christian Magistrate hath but want the right exercise of it in matters Ecclesiastical Our English Presbyterians have asserted that Heathen Magistrates may be nursing Fathers Jas div Reg. Eccl. c. 9. S. 1. may protect the Church and Religion and order many things in a ploitical way about Religion may not extirpate or persecute the Church may help her in reforming and may not hinder her Spalatens ubi sup And Spalatensis asserteth that the power of the Prince in the external things of the Church is so necessarily connected by divine natural and positive right with the Royal power ut infidelis etiam princeps tali si velit sciat legitime uti possit potestate that even an infidel Prince may use that power if he understand his duty and be willing to perform it And this assertion is approved even by Didoclavius or Mr Caldwood Altar Dam. c. 1. fin Didoclavius being the Anagram of Caldivodius one of the most eager of the Scotish Presbyterians And Rivet very rightly averreth In Decal ad quint. praec In infideli principe non est defectus potestatis sed voluntatis tantùm that an infidel Prince doth not want authority but will and inclination to advance the true Religion 5. Surely it is past doubt that where ever true Religion and Christianity is declared and manifested in the World it is the duty of all men to receive and embrace it because as they are Gods Creatures they ought to obey and honour him and submit to his Laws and believe his Revelations and thereupon every supreme Magistrate ought to advance the name of Christ and the true doctrine and Religion And if a Pagan Prince upon understanding the truth shall use his authority for its advancement this power is justly exercised in such Causes Ecclesiastical I presume no Christian will deny that Nebuchadnezzar did well in making a strict Law Dan. 3.29 that none should speak amiss against the God of Israel and Darius also in making a Decree that men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel Dan. 6.26 and Cyrus Darius and Artaxerxes in giving order for the rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem restoring its Vessels and furnishing it with Sacrifices and executing judgment on the opposers hereof with respect to which thing good Ezra blessed God who had put such a thing into the heart of Artaxerxes And that other Princes in like circumstances should follow the steps of Nebuchadnezzar Darius and the King of Niniveh who proclaimed a strict fast and commanded his people to cry mightily unto God Aug. Ep. 50. Tertul. Apol c. 5. is justly asserted by S. Aug. in his Epistle to Bonifacius 6. Nor are those Heathen Emperours to be censured who acted any thing on the behalf of Christian Religion as Tiberius threatned them who at their peril should accuse Christians for their Religion and other publick rescripts there were of Adrianus Eus Hist Eccl. l. 4.9 Antoninus ibid. c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aurelius Tertul. Ap. c. 5. and Galienus Eus Hist l. 7. c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which were in the favour of Christians And it is a known and famous case concerning Paulus Samosatenus who for Heresy was deposed by the Christian Bishops in the Council of Antioch and Domnus appointed to succeed him Eus Hist l. 7. c. 24. But Paulus refusing to leave his possession the Orthodox Christians appeal to Aurelianus a Pagan Emperour who referring the case to be heard by the Bishops of Italy and about Rome ordered the Church to be given to him for whom they should determine and by his authority was Paulus ejected and neither his interposing nor their appeal unto him hath been ever thought culpable nor yet Paulus his being dispossessed Constantine before his baptism exercised authority in things Ecclesiastical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the secular power 7. But above all others the acting of Constantine the Great before the time of his Baptism seemeth very considerable to evidence what power hath been exercised in things Ecclesiastical with the general approbation of Christians by one not yet admitted into the Christian Church Of which I shall give some particular instances to which more may be added beginning with what hath relation to the peace and concord of the Church Africa in a short time gave birth to the Schism of Donatus and of Meletius and the Heresy of Arius The Donatists separated themselves from the Church upon some exceptions they made against the Ordination of Caecilianus and being condemned by the African Catholick Bishops they apply themselves to Constantine the Emperour Opt. cont Parm. l. 1. But he being not versed in things of that nature as Optatus tells us did not or as S. Austin several times saith Aug. Ep. 162. 166. durst not undertake the judging of the case himself but by his authority he appointed Melchiades then Bishop of Rome with three Bishops of Gallia to judge
Constantius De Episc Presbyt and other succeeding Emperours which may be seen in the Code of Theodosius 11. And for the Judicatures of Christian Bishops who therein tryed civil causes under the time of christian Emperours no man in reason can think but this must be done by favour and a delegated authority And it is manifest from the Imperial law that this was a priviledge granted unto them out of respect to the honour of Christianity God l. 1. Tit. 4. l. 7 8. Nov. 83. 123. it being therein enacted that whatsoever persons shall please by their own consent to have their Cases tryed and adjudged by the Bishop they shall have liberty so to doe 12. Obs 3. That the Canons were never intended to disclaim the Supremacy of Princes over the Clergy is manifest because in them is allowed the application to the secular authority against such bishops as will not submit to the determination of the Ecclesiastical This was done by a Carthaginian Synod Conc. Carth. gr c. 53. Conc. Trull c. 2. against Cresconius a Bishop of that Province as is manifest from the Greek Copy of the African Code which was the Copy confirmed in the sixth general Council And this particular Case is approved in the Comments of the Greek Scholiasts and is also referred unto in the Nomocanon of Photius Nomocan Tit. 9. c. 8. as giving direction when one Bishop may prosecute another before a secular ruler And it may be further observed that the Canons from the 37th to the 61st of that Greek Code were taken out of the third Council of Carthage this fifty third Canon to which this action is there annexed or according to Justellus his code the forty eighth is the thirty eighth Canon of that Council wherein a particular Canon for the priviledge of the Clergy was established And the Canons prohibited applications to the secular power against any of the Clergy almost in the same manner as they forbad the application to a general Council against a Bishop Conc. constant c. 6. which was condemned unless the other methods by the Bishops of the Province should prove ineffectual CHAP. VI. Of the renouncing all Foreign Jurisdiction and Authority and particularly the Supreme Power of the Bishop of Rome SECT I. The latter part of the Oath of Supremacy considered Sect. 1 1. THE Royal Supremacy will be further vindicated by resuting the pretences which are vainly made by others to the whole or any part of the just Soveraignty of Princes wherein I must chiefly consider the claims of Foreign Jurisdiction Foreign Jurisdiction disclaimed which are rejected and disowned in the Oath of Supremacy In which Oath it is declared that no Foreign Prince Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preeminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm and therefore all such Authority is disclaimed and renounced 2. But thereby it is not intended that no Foreign Bishop Priest or Deacon shall be owned in this Realm to have that preeminence of Order in the Catholick Church The just auâ—â—â—ty of Church Officers asserted unto which they have been duly received nor that their power of order for the performing Ecclesiastical Offices is invalid and null if they come into this Realm But this is no power of Government and Jurisdiction within this Kingdom by a Foreign Authority which is herein rejected Neither is it hereby meant that if the Ecclesiastical Governours of any Foreign Church do within their Jurisdiction duly admit any person into the Church or do clave non errante excommunicate or absolve any that the Christians in this Realm have no obligation upon them from the authority of such proceedings to embrace or avoid Ecclesiastical Society with such persons For thiswould be contrary to the Article of our Church which asserteth Article 33. that that person which is rightly cut off from the Vnity of the Church and Excommunicate ought to be taken of the whole multitude of the faithful as an Heathen and Publican until he be openly reconciled by penance and received into the Church by a Judge that hath authority thereunto Can. Apost 12. Conc. antioch c. 6. And the ancient Canons of the Church did determine that he who was excommunicated by his own Bishop might not be received by another 3. But the obligation which in this Case lyeth upon us and all the members of the Catholick Church is not from any Jurisdiction or Superiority which we acknowledge any such Foreign Officers of the Church to have over us because this obligation equally lies upon all Catholick Bishops Metropolitans and Patriarchs as well as upon ordinary and private Christians And it would bring in an unaccountable confusion to assert that every Bishop under the Patriarch of Alexandria should have a superiority over all the Bishops and Patriarchs of the Roman Constantinopolitan and other free Churches throughout the World not excepting the Alexandrian it self and at the same time to assert that every Bishop in any of these other Churches hath upon the same account superiority over him and all other Bishops and Churches But this duty is incumbent upon us from the nature of our Christianity and Christian Vnity For Christ having made his Church to be one Body who ever undertakes Christianity is thereby obliged to own Communion with this Church and all the regular Members thereof and to disown Communion with those who are rightly cut off therefrom and he having appointed Officers in his Church hath accordin gto their Offices given them authority to exercise the power of the Keys in his name in the Churches committed to them And hereupon Synesius Bishop of Ptolemais having excommunicated Andronicus and others Svness Epist 58. by vertue of his Sentence pronounced against them did require the Churches all over the Earth that they should not receive them into Communion 4. But this Oath tending according to the design of that Statute by which it was established to restore to the Crown its ancient Jurisdiction that authority which ischiefly rejected thereby is such as invaded or opposed the Royalty of the King and particularly that which claimeth any supreme cognisance of Ecclesiastical affairs as if they were not under the care of the temporal power or that pretendeth to any other authority above or against the just rights of the Crown And suh is the arrogance of the See of Rome which assumes to it self a claim of supreme authority in matters Ecclesiastical and even in temporal also which many of its followers defend as belonging thereto upon account of its spiritual authority Bellarm. de Rom. Pont. l. 5. c. 6. Thus Bellarmine declareth that if the management of temporal affairs appeareth prejudicial to spiritual ends potestas spiritualis potest debet coercere temporalem the spiritual power may and ought to restrain the temporal by all ways and means which shall seem needful to that purpose And Boetius Epo
received justice only from the King and his Courts and not to revenge themselves or be Judges in their own Cases doth more especially condemn the entring into War it self which is an undertaking founded upon a direct contrary proceeding And thus far we have a sufficient censure in our English Laws upon that War against the King which those who have pleaded for the lawfulness of Subjects taking Arms do account the most plausible instance for their purpose which our Chronicles can furnish them with And it is needless to go about to prove that many other Conspiracies and Rebellions have been justly condemned and punished according to their demerit 17. And whereas unchristian and evil actions Some pretences shortly reflected on may oft be carried on under some fair colours and appearances all such pretences for taking Armes against the King are in this acknowledgment disclaimed the truth of which will be justified in the following Chapters And I shall here only shortly reflect upon some few of those pretences which are commonly made 18. Some have accounted the defence of Religion to be a sufficient Warrant for taking Armes But if the Christian Religion giveth a right to him who professeth it to defend himself and his profession against his Superiours by Armes then must not our Religion be a taking up the Cross but the Sword and it would then be perfectly unlike the Religion of the Primitive Christians and Martyrs and would be no longer a following of Christ our Lord and Saviour 19. Others have asserted the defaults and miscarriages of Superiours Jun. Brut. Vindic. Qu. 1. 3. to be a forfeiture of their Power and Dominion even as a tenure may be forfeited upon the non-performance of the conditions upon which it is held But though God may justly as a punishment of Offenders deprive them of what good they here possess he hath not made inferiours the Judges of their Superiours nor can any such forfeiture devolve on them And he who considers the great viciousness and cruelty of Saul of Tiberius and of Nero under whose Reigns the Holy Scripture presseth the duty of Allegiance will thence discern that the making such a pretence as this is contrary to true Religion and Christianity 20. By many the defending of the rights freedoms and liberties of the Subject hath been esteemed the most specious pretence of all the rest But whereas there are other better wayes to preserve these rights which are most violated by Wars and intestine Tumults and Broils it cannot easily be thought probable that he may be a judge and avenger of his own cause by force against his superiour who may not be so against his equal And since the tenderness of Davids Conscience was such that notwithstanding the many undeserved injuries he sustained he durst not stretch out his hand against the Lords anointed and Peters drawing his Sword to defend his Master was severely rebuked of which things more hereafter the management of this objection must proceed from a Spirit contrary to that of pious David and to the doctrine also of our Lord and Master SECT III. Of the traiterous Position of taking Arms by the Kings Authority against his person or against those who are commissionated by him 1. The other clause in the forementioned Declaration or acknowledgment is intended against another particular pretence of taking Armes and is this That I do abhor that traiterous Position of taking Armes by his the Kings authority Sect. 3 against his person or against those that are Commissionated by him The Position or assertion here rejected is thus expressed in the Oath to be taken by the Lord Lieutenants and Souldiers 14 Car. 2.3 That Arms may be taken by the Kings Authority viz. though the King never own them or give any Commission for them yea though they be against his own person or against those which are Commissionated by him And this Position Taking Arms by the Kings Authority against his person disclaimed exposing the sacred person of the King to the highest danger and being against the safety of his Life and Crown is justly declared to be traiterous and it standeth chargeable with these enormities 2. First It is so unreasonable as to be against the common sense of Mankind Would it not look strange and be accounted a prodigious thing to see a Company of Children or Servants beat and abuse the person of their Father or Master dispossess him by violence and possibly at last to confine and murder him and yet to expect that all men should believe they did this for the preservation of his Right and Government and in obedience to his Authority yea though he plainly declared and protested against these things as being heinously injurious and unnatural And it is no less unaccountable to pretend the Kings Authority Judic Univers Oxon de foedere p. 66. for taking Armes against his person This is as it hath been expressed a like contradiction in sense reason and polity as Transubstantiation is in Religion both which must suppose such a presence as is impossible to be there and is contrary to the plainest evidence This pretence of the Kings Authority against his person was hatched under the Romish Territories and made use of in the Holy League of France In the Guisian attempts against Henry the Third Hist of Civil Wars of France l. 5. an 1588. it hath been related as a matter of wonder to the common sense of men that they should besiege the Loure where the King was and yet this should pass under the disguise of obeying the King and defending the King and Country That the name of the King doth denote the royal person who governeth is the general apprehension of Mankind And it is vainly pretended that all the proceedings of justice being always in the Kings name and by his Authority when many of them are not particularly known to his person must require the forming such a legal Idea or Notion of the King as is distinct from his person but this supposeth the Soveraign Authority to be in his Royal person under whom and from whom other Ministers of Justice do execute their several Offices As when any man intrusts another to manage any part of his business and affairs in his name and by his Authority this doth not make the man who commits the trust to become an Idea or Notion distinct from himself or his person 3. Secondly This strained perverting of plain sense in this particular is not only against the security of the King but may upon the same foundation become fatal to the lives of the subjects Manual concerning some priviledges of Parl. p. 16 17 and p. 60. For whereas some who managed this conceit did assert in plain words that even the Statutes which condemned treason against the King had respect to the King in this Novel Idea as intending thereby the Laws and the Kings Courts of Justice it is easy to discern that any subjects who
of them were assaulted by force overcome and slain and two of them in one year Salian An. m. 3264. n. 1. which Salianus observed as an ill omen giving indication of the fall of that State and Government Tres hoc anno in Israele Reges magnum collabentis Reipublicae argumentum During this time there was usurpation upon usurpation in that Kingdom and every one of the succeeding Usurpers had this Character that he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. And such Calamities then befel that Kingdom that during this time in a chief seat of these Wars 2 Kin. 15.16 all the Women with Child were ript up and this Kingdom being greatly weakened by its home divisions was in that compass of time twice invaded by Foreign Enemies at the first time it was forced to pay a very great composition 2 Kin. 15.19 20. and at the second time a great part of the Kingdom was lost and the Inhabitants carried Captive v. 29. And in the Reign of Hoshea who was the last of these Conspirators the Kingdom of Israel became first tributary to Assyria and soon after in his Reign was the utter Captivity and ruine of the ten Tribes and the total subversion of that Kingdom Josep Ant. l. 9. c. 14. and this as Josephus accounts it was the end of those Israelites a Kingdom divided against it self being brought to desolation So that if peace safety and prosperity be desireable to a people the violent resistance of superiours must be hurtful to them 3. And if we reflect on the ordinary effects of such undertakings for some few instances where the people did by Armes assert themselves into liberty from injurious oppressions which things our English constitution doth excellently and effectually provide against divers instances may be given where divine providence hath wrought deliverances for them who discharged the duties of obedience and many others of great devastation and ruine which hath been the consequent of such enterprises And the tragical relations which have attended Rebellious takeing Armes in the ancient Empires and more lately in the Eastern and Western Empires in Germany France England and other Countries might fill Volumes with a sad account of heavy Calamities cruel Sufferings and wicked practises 4. 2. By Authority becoming thereby ineffectual of its necessary ends Cons 2. It is the necessary continual interest of Subjects that so great a power be in their Soveraign that none in his Realm may withstand his authority This is consequent upon what was proved in the first Section And if any Prince should allow his Subjects when they think it necessary to take Armes against him which it cannot be his wisdom to do the Subjects would have a greater loss than gain thereby For instead of gaining that which silenceth their suspicious fears of their Princes power whose interest it is to defend and preserve them they lose the constant advantages of his Government since justice cannot be in all Cases so effectually administred nor peace so surely preserved And upon this very account they have much more cause for frequent fears of suffering greater evils from the mischievous designs of usurping spirits Theodor. Metochit Hist Rom. à Jul. Caes who coming like empty and hungry flies upon a sore to which they have sometimes been compared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They will grievously torture Now it is highly imprudent to seek a remedy for a possible inconvenience which may be otherwise prevented by procuring a more certain mischief As if all the strong men in a Nation should have their sinews cut lest they should hurt the weak whom the Laws desend though thereby the Realm be left without any men of might to oppose its Enemies 5. Cons 3. It is chiefly to be observed 3. Because there must still at last be owned a power that may not be resisted that unless all things be in utter confusion and Anarchy it is not possible but that there must be acknowledged such an authority which none have power of resisting but this can no where be so well placed for the subjects interest as in their Soveraign Prince and supreme Governour Wherefore to give place at present to fiction and imagination concerning any possible forms of Government it is all one to assert that there must somewhere be fixed such an authority against which none hath power of taking Armes and to assert that there must be in one or other some chief authority which hath the highest command of the strength and Military force of a Nation For whosoever hath this authority all the military power ought to be subject to him and none hath any right of commanding it against him But unless it be admitted that this commanding power is placed in some person or persons the Military power must be under no Governour nor can Subjects know whom to obey with respect to Peace and War Now this power of the Militia Ch. 1. Sect. 2. n. 12. must either be placed in the King as our Laws above-mentioned declare it is in this Realm or else either ordinarily or in some certain Cases in some other single person or Senate and Company of men or in the whole body of the people or in so great a number as will repute themselves to include the whole And the allowing this power to any of these last mentioned is lyable to as great or greater danger than the first 6. This is more dangerous to the people to be in any other than their Soveraign To place any such power over the Military Force of a Nation in any person or persons who are n ot the ordinary supreme Governour is a thing can scarce be supposed because the giving them this authority is the giving them power to execute supremacy of Government when they think it fit But if such a supposition be made this must needs cause constant jealousies between the oridinary supreme Governour and them and thereby that Nation and Government must be under much unsettlement And there is greater danger of this power being exorbitantly abused by such persons who may be tempted to affect their own further advancement than there can be in him who is already supreme and whose interest it is to preserve the liberties of his people 7. If a Senate supposed to have this power should become Patrons of injustice and opposers of known legal rights and the same Company of men have also authority of making laws and raising moneys it is not easy to know how far the ill consequences of this may extend For then they are put into the fullest capacity of oppressing innocent persons and depriving them of Estate Liberty or Life and of serving private interests of themselves or a party and even of establishing iniquity by a law And he that thinks that no such thing may be supposed that the major part of such a Senate may be either so formed or over-witted or over awed as to comply with unjust