any thing contrary to Law in a tyrannicall manner to the subversion of Justice in this case they are reserved to the judgement of God sinning against him onely Of those things which are committed to Kings by God they are only to give an account unto God So far he Tertullian in his Apologie Rhetorizes it thus We saith he doe invoke the eternall God the true God the living God for the safety of Emperours whom even the Emperours desire above all others to be propitious unto them They know who hath given power unto them who men under them who their owne soules They acknowledge it is God onely in whose power alone they are from whom they are second next him the first before all Gods and above all men Saint Jerome saith of David that he repenting after he had accumulated murther upon his adultery did say to God Against thee onely have I sinned because he was a King and feared not man Before S. Jerome S. Ambrose thus descants on him David sinned as most Kings doe but David repented wept and mourned which most Kings doe not That which private men are ashamed to doe the King was not ashamed to confesse they that are bound by Laws dare deny their sin and disdaine to aske pardon which he implored who was not bound by humane Lawes He was a King he was tyed by no Laws because Kings are free from the 〈◊〉 of transgressions for they are not called to punisment by the Laws being free by the power of their command He did not therefore sin against man because he was not subject to man After him let us confort 〈…〉 lar How far better then is the Emperour 〈◊〉 not tyed to the same Laws and hath power to make other Lawes and in another â—ce there is a command upon Judges that they 〈◊〉 revoke sentence that is once passed upon an offender and shall the Emperour be under the same Law for he alone may revoke the sentence absolve him that is condemned and give him his life Gregorie Arch Bishop of Tours thus speaks to Chelperick King of France If any of us O King shall transgresse the limits of Justice he may be corrected by you but if you shall exceed the same limits who shall question 〈◊〉 for we indeed doe speake unto you and if you will you heare us if you will not who shall condemne you but onely he who hath pronounced him selfe to be Justice it selfe Otto Frisingensis writes to Frederick Oâ—nâ—barius in these words Furthermore whereas there is no person in the world which is not subject to the Laws of the world by being subject may not be enforced onely Kings as being constituted above Laws and reserved to the Judgement of God are not 〈◊〉 by the Laws of men Hence is that testimony of that King and Prophet Against thee onely have I sinned it 〈…〉 then a King not onely nobilitated with magnanimity of spirit but illuminated 〈◊〉 divine grace to acknowledge his Creator to have alwayes in his mind the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and as much as in him lyes to take heed by all means not to fall into his hands For when as according to that of the Apostle to every man It is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God It will be so much the more fearfull for Kings who besides him have none above them whom they may feare by how much above others they may sin more freely Which sayings of the Fathers and other Writers Divine and profane thus premised I cannot but wonder at the stupid ignorance and ignorant wilfulnesse of such men who would make the world believe that it is in the power of the Pope or of the People or of the Peeres to call Kings in question and reduce them to order if they be extravagant And if there be a lawfull cause saith Bellarmine the Multitude may change the Kingdome into an Aristocracie or Democracie and on the contrary as we reade hath beene done at Rome But to speak truly there can be no cause without the expresse command of God either expressed or excogitated for which it may be lawfull for Subjects either to depose or put to death or any other way restrain their King be he never so wicked never so flagitious We doe not deny but this thing hath been done at Rome as Bellarmine confesseth but by what right let him look to it We must not look so much what hath been done at Rome as the Romane Laws advise us as what ought to be done But Bellarmine doth affirme that the King is above the people and that he acknowledgeth no other beside 〈…〉 his 〈…〉 temporall things But to returne whe◠〈…〉 The power of a King over his people is expressed by Samuel to which they must of necessity 〈…〉 without resistances Not that the King was to 〈◊〉 so by right as Samuel had told the Israelites 〈◊〉 would for the Law of God did prescribe 〈◊〉 a far more differing forme of Government Then shâ—ls in any wise set him 〈…〉 whom the Lord thy God shall choose saith Moses But he shall not 〈…〉 to himselfe nor cause the people to returne into Egypt to the end that he should multiply horses forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you Ye shall henceforth returne no more that way Neither shall he multiply 〈◊〉 himselfe that his heart turne 〈…〉 neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold But because it was the common custome of the Kings of the Nations whose example they desired to imitate in asking of a King as other Nations had so to doe For Samuel doth not speak to him that should be their King but to the people that desired a King Yea and he wrote this Law of a Kingdome which he there describes in a 〈◊〉 and put it before the Lord that is into 〈…〉 of the Covenant that it might be for 〈…〉 all for ever and a testimony to their posterity of those things which he had foretold Joseph l. 6. Antiq. Judaic c. 5. Where yet we must distinguish between the rash and gready desire of Kings and the utility and necessity of Common-wealths If a King spurred on by a private desire and ravenous lust of having doth claime such things as are there described he deales unjustly and tyrannically but if the safety and necessity of the Common-wealth so requiring he demands those things then he doth not unjustly if he doth use his Kingly power Againe we must distinguish also betweene the thing and the manner of the thing If a King in exacting these things doth observe a just and lawfull manner and without compulsion violence doth require the help of his subjects as their labours tenths and tributes for the supporting of the State and necessity of his Kingdome he cannot be said 〈◊〉 be a tyrant or deale injuriously But if he shall goe beyond the bounds of Necessity and â—egality
Saturne Jupiter and Cecrops of the Garamantes a people of the middle of Lybia Cambyses of the Romanes Romulus from whom at first to L. Tarquinius Superbus and afterwards from C. Julius Caesar to this day they have retained a Monarchie Bellarmine would divine that the Civill power ought to be immediately if not by the Law of God yet by the Law of Nature in the whole multitude as in its subject and from it to be transferred by the same law of Nature to one or more But he much deceives himselfe and others also with such his hallucination For this power of Life and Death is given by Nature unto none None seemes to be Lord of his owne Members much lesse of anothers Onely God who gives Life to Men hath the power of taking it away from them or those to whom by a speciall favour he hath communicated that power And surely your blood of your lives wil I require saith God at the hands of every Beast will I require it and at the hand of Man at the hand of every Mans Brother will I require the Life of Man Whosoever sheddeth mans bloud by man shall his bloud be shed for in the image of God made he man Hence is that precept both of God and Nature Thou shalt not kill But if this power were given by Nature unto men it should surely have been given to one man rather than to all for the command of one man even Bellarmine himselfe being the Judge is the best and most agreeable unto nature but the command of a multitude the worst Now Nature in every thing as the Philosophers will have it doth intend that which is best So that out of the politique society and a certaine forme of Civill Government there is not any Politique or Civill Power given unto men But all consent that all ancient Nations as formerly was spoken did at first obey Kings and that it was the first name of command upon earth Yea as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth Kingdomes are of greater antiquity than Common-wealths In the beginning of States saith Justine the command of People and Nations was in the Kings It must needs be then that Kings not receive their power and authority from the multitude or men but from God onely the King of Kings For it is a Maxime and Principle among the Lawyers that no man can transfer more power upon another than he hath himselfe Nor is this assertion contradicted though you should alledge that Princes as I said before are sometimes chosen by men more often if not alwayes inaugurated by them For hence it is that S. Peter calleth a King {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the ordinance of man which is not so to be understood Causally as if it were excogitated or invented by men but Subjectively because it is exercised by men and Objectively because it is versed about the government of humane society and then Finally because it is constituted by God for the good of men and the conservation of humane policie For the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} doth recall us to God as to the first Author of authority and although Kings are created by men that is erected anointed and inaugurated by them yet the first Creator of Kings is God to whom all creation doth appertaine and from whom all power doth come For there is no power but of God if we will beleeve S. Paul who from his Master tels us that the powers that be 〈◊〉 ordained of God The Finall cause of sover aignty is the glory of God and the happinesse of the subject that a King as the Keeper of the two Tables in the Decalogue with one eye looks up unto God whose Vicegerent he is in advancing and defending Religion and piety and with the other upon his Subjects that they may live in peace and prosperity For this cause saith Epiphanius are powers ordained that all things from God may be well disposed and administred to the good order of government of the whole world This is that goale to which the Princely Champion runs which is no other as Lipsius speaks than the commodity security and prosperity of Subjects And this is the end which S. Paul expresseth when as he saith that the Magistrate is the Minister of God to them for good Where by good we may understand good Naturall good Moral good Civill and good Spirituall First the King is the minister of God to his Subjects for their good naturall whenas he makes provision of corn and victuals whereby they may live Secondly he is a minister of God for their good morall when as he doth prescribe such Laws to his Subjects as that they conforming their lives to them may live honestly Thirdly he is the Minister of God to them for good Civill when as by his sword he doth preserve their persons and estates from injury and mainteine the publique peace And lastly he is the Minister of God for good unto them good spirituall when as hee doth advance and maintain Religion and piety and suppresse prophanenesse and superstition The materiall cause of Soverainty is the King and people with which as with its integrall parts it is compleat and absolute and without which it cannot at all subsist The formal cause of it consists in that order which is betweene the King and his Subjects by which he is above them and they under him he commands and they obey he rules and they submit of which as Lipsius saith there is so great a force or necessity rather that this alone is the stay or prop of all humane things This is that same Bond saith Seneca by which the Common-wealth coheres that vitall spirit which so many thousands of men doe draw who otherwise of themselves would be nothing but a burthen and a prey if this soule of command were withdrawn from them This is that same Circaean rod with the touch of which both beasts and men become tame and ruley which of all otherwise head-strong and untractable makes every one obedient and plyable each man with the feare of it A Common-wealth saith Aristotle is a certaine description or order of those men which doe inhabit it The King he is above all others according to that power which God Almighty hath communicated unto him and the Subjects they are under him by the same authority And therefore Princes are called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that is supereminent seated in a more sublime estate And Subjects they are called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} subordinate reduced into order The metaphor is taken from military discipline in which the Commander placed above all others over-looks the whole body whiles every one besides him standing in their ranks keepe their stations Whereupon as souldiers in an Army placed in order are subordinate to their Captain and performe obedience to him as
confirmed it with an oath Now what is more unjust than that a Prince should be bound to maintain and keepe those Laws which it is necessary that they must be either Antiquated or the Common-wealth come to ruine Although all change whatsoever as it is in the Proverb is very dangerous yet that of Laws is most pernicious And yet it is as certaine on the other side that the change of manners doth efflagitate a change of Laws and that there is no Law so honest and inviolable or so deare even by the shew of antiquity it selfe but that necessity so requiring it may ought to receive a change Salus Populi suprema lex esto The peoples safety is the chiefest Law To conclude If that Kings and Princes breaking all bonds of Laws which yet God forbid they should doe falsifie their promises and disrespect their vowes making no account of what they have engaged themselves to by their Protestations yet the people must not rise up in rebellion against them or shake off the yoake of obedience from them seeing they are to have no other than God himselfe to be their Judge and their avenger CHAP. II. THE SVBJECTS LOYALTY OR The duty of Subjects to their Kings HAving in the former Chapter set forth unto you the Royalty of Kings over their Subjects where I have declared their Originall from God and their end next to God their Subjects good and that though they should come short of that end for which they were constituted and ordeined yet they ought not to be cut short by the people under them but are to be reserved to the judgement of God next to whom they are second here upon earth and under whom they have no Superiour being above all Laws of men and themselves a Law unto their Subjects I now come to describe unto you the Loyaltie of Subjects towards their Kings and the peoples duty For a King and Subjects being relatives and the formall cause of a Kingdome consisting in that order which is betweene the King and his Subjects by which he rules and they submit he governe and they be governed he commands and they obey It is very requisite in these miserably distracted times where most men would shake off the yoke of obedience from their shoulders and live as they list without all order That having spoken of Kings and their power over their Subjects I should now say somwhat of Subjects and their duty to their Kings And here that we may the better setforth their duty it will not be amisse to expresse their nature for so knowing what they be we shall the sooner come to know what they must doe Now if wee consult Bodinus about them he will tell us that Subjects are those who are bound to maintain and fight for the dignity safety of their Prince as for themselves and to have the same friends and enemies with their Prince Or as others doe describe them Subjects are a part of the Common-wealth which are obliged to the supreme power even to all that they have and for this cause it is that they doe enjoy all the priviledges of the Weale publike This is the nature of a Subject But then if any should aske me who are Subjects as well as what are Subjects I must again have recourse to the Politicians who do give us to understand that by the name of Subjects we are to take notice of the multitude of men which are governed or rather who submit themselves to be governed And in this name we must comprehend all and every one of what state and condition soever they be that are in that City Provance Countrey where a Magistrate is the head For so many as do belong to a Common-wealth doe appertaine to the one part of it viz. They are referred to be either Magistrates or Subjects whence it follows that the name of Subject is more general than that of Citizen specifically and properly so called although in writers we finde them to bee promiscuously used For he that is a partaker with others of publike honour and dignity is properly a Citizen but hee that partakes onely of burthens and taxes not as wel of honours and dignity in the Common-wealth where he resides lives is not a Citizen but a Subject They are termes contrariant not reciprocall Every Citizen is a Subject but every Subject is not a Citizen There is also another disagreeing respect for a Citizen is so called in respect of his native Countrey or Common-wealth where he is borne or to which he is ascribed But he is a Subject in respect of that Magistrate which he obeyes wheresoever he is Now men are said to be Subjects two manner of wayes either by their nativity and birth or by their dwelling and habitation That a mans nativity and birth doe make him to be a Subject is plainly evidenced ex L. assumptio 6. 1. ad Municip Filius Civitatem ex quâ pater ejus originem duxit non domicilium sequitur A sonne follows the City from which his Father doth derive his originall not his house And if a man be born of parents of divers Cities he follows the condition of his father not of his mother L. Municip 1. 2. F.eod. The house or dwelling in which any doth fixe and settle the seat of his fortunes doth make him a Subject But what space of time is required to contract a house or dwelling the Interpreters of Law doe varie Because in this thing the Laws and manners of every particular Common-wealth is to be respected Agreeable to this is that distinction of the Jurisperites who discriminate Subjects by a naturall and a voluntarie obligation He is a Subject say they by a naturall obligation who is borne under the jurisdiction and in the Dominions of that Magistrate to whom he is subject And he is a Subject by a voluntary obligation who willingly and spontaneously offers himselfe to any Magistrate and acknowledgeth him for his supreame head although he be not born within his territories and dominions To which two sorts of subjects we may not without good reason adde another species viz. such a one as being vanquished in warre is made subject to him that did subdue him For when a Prince or Magistrate overcomes any in a lawfull War they are then made subject to his jurisdiction and power But be they subjects these or any other wayes they are bound whosoever they be that are subjects to yeeld obedience to him who is their Prince and Governour If any should doubt of the truth of this assertion because the contrary doctrine is now broached and published by our Novel Divines let him but consult the Apostle to the Romanes unlesse perchance for the same tenet he be held a Malignant and he will satisfie him Let every soule saith he submit himself unto the higher powers They are his expresse words {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} In which universall precept
he includes all of all orders and states all sexes and conditions As if hee should have said All whatsoever they be that do live in a Common-wealth must submit themselves to the supreme Magistrate that is the head of that Common-wealth So that in the Apostles precept we have not onely implyed the qualities of their persons that are subjects but we have also expressed the nature of their duties viz. Subjection and obedience We shall not need to goe farre then to search after the duty of Subjects to their Prince the Apostle he hath done it to our hands it is Obedience And so the Augustane Confession in the 16. Article doth acknowledge it The first Commandement of the second Table which as the Apostle speaks is the first Commandement with promise doth set forth this duty by the name of Honour For So we read it in the Decalogue Honour thy father and thy mother that thy dayes may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee Exod. 20.12 Where by father according to the unanimous consent of all Divines we are to understand not onely our naturall father that did beget us but our spirituall Father also that doth teach us and our Civill father likewise the King who is Pater patriae the Father of our Country that doth protect us And then by honour which we are commanded to yeeld to this Father we are to conceive all those duties which are comprehended in it Now the Politicians doe tell us that this name of Honour doth consist of sixe severall members which doe imply as many severall duties which every Subject is bound to performe to the Prince his head viz. Agnition Reverence Love Obedience Gratitude and Equity The first member wherein this honour doth consist and the first duty which every Subject is to performe unto his Prince is Agnition that is an acknowledgement of Gods Ordinance in the office of the Prince For God will have his owne Ordinance to be acknowledged in the Civill Magistrate and that we doe conceive of him as constituted by God seeing that as the Apostle speaks there is no power but of God and the powers that be are ordained of God After which manner did the woman of Tekoah conceive of King David when as she being sent by Joab to intercede for Absolom that he might returne from his banishment into the Kings favour For as an Angel of God saith she so is my Lord the King to discern good and bad And a little after My Lord is wise according to the wisdome of an Angel of God And so did Mephibosbeth esteem of him when as he did compellate him with the same title But my Lord the King is as an Angel of God Which agnition and acknowledgement of Gods ordinance in him is a notable meanes to stir up our obedience to him The second member wherein this honour doth consist is Reverence when as Subjects look upon their Prince not onely as a man but as a man of God and reverence not so much his person as his office For the King is Gods legat and his Vicar presenting his person And therefore Saint Peter when he exhorts to the feare of God he doth annex the honour of the King as if there can be no true feare of God without due reverence to the King who presents Gods person For which cause Solomon the wisest of men richest of Kings doth joyne the feare of God and the King together the King for presenting Gods perion is called God not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as Plato styles him as a God amongst men but {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} an earthly God being Gods Minister Yea as the Prophet David and before him Moses God himselfe Yea to goe farther God himselfe doth so call him Ego dixi I have said it Ye are Gods Which yet we must not understand as if they were so {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} indeed but {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in name not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} by nature but {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} by office And so much the very heathen did acknowledge For it is reported of Philip of Macedonia that he was wont to say that a King ought to remember that he being a man doth discharge the office of God and the office which he doth execute is from thence named {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a power like unto Gods Whence it is that S. Augustine saith the King bearing the image of God ought therefore to be reverenced if not for himselfe at least yet for his office sake The third member wherein this honour doth consist is Love And it is another duty of Subjects to love their Princes Not onely for their office which they in the name and place of God do undergoe but for the manifold benefits and commodities which they receive from them by their happy government Thus was King David accepted in the eyes of all the people whither soever he was sent Kings as you heard are Patres patriae Fathers of their Country and therefore Subjects ought to respect them with a filiall love even as children do love their fathers A fourth member wherein this honour doth consist is Obedience Subjects must willingly and readily yeeld obedience to all the just and honest commandes of their Princes which do no wayes repugne the lawes of God They must not onely acknowledge Reverentiam Subjectionis a reverence of Subjection but they must also give them obedientians jussionis an obedience to their just commands For as Saint Chrysost 〈◊〉 observeth a people that obeyeth not their Prince is like to them that have no Prince at all yea and in a worse estate for you cannot call that a Kingdome where the King is neglected and his Laws not observed He seemeth to mee to have lost his Kingdome saith the Philosopher who hath lost his due obedience from his Subjects And therefore Subjects must obey their Prince not onely for feare of wrath that is to escape punishment if they neglect their duty but also for conscience sake as the Apostle teacheth because God commands them The fift member wherein this Honour doth consist is Gratitude Subjects are bound by way of thankfulnesse to honour their Princes if it were for no other reason but because they do dayly enjoy the benefits of peace prosperity and protection by them Which gratitude must expresse it self by two other virtues as necessary as it self and without which it cannot subsist and they are these Verity and Justice Verity in acknowledging what great blessings favours and emoluments they receive by them and Justice in endeavouring to make satisfaction and compensation for them And for this cause it is that they pay them Tenths Subsidies Customes and Tributes without which not the King onely but the Kingdome also