set up in his house any Religion he would and no man controle him for it To look to every one therefore but especially to Mica and to care for all but above all the matter of Religion Ne quisque videat quod rectum est there that every one be not allowed to see Visions there At least Ne quisque faciat that see what they list they be not suffered to set them up But if the Eye will not be rectified the Hand be restrained And sure no where doth the eye more misse â—or the hand swerve then in this and therefore no where more cause to call for a King then for this Oâ—e would think this were impertinent and we were free enough from Mica We are not Even to this day do men still cast Images or Imaginations all as one in the mould of their conceits and up they set them at least for their own houshould to adore And then if they can get such a fellow as is hereafter described a Levite for ten Shekels and a Suit or because now the world is harder ten poâ—nd they are safe and there they have and hold a Religion by themselves For evident it is by this Text setting up of false Worship is the cause why Kings were missed and the redress of it why they were placed The cause I say and the first cause of their placing and therefore this a part and a principal part of their Charge I will touch them severally 1. A part to look to Mica and his false Worship Why this is matter Ecclesiastical It is so and thereby it appeareth I think that Kings have and are to have a hand in matters of that nature If Religion were at faulâ— because there was no King and that one there must be to set it right again For is it once to be imagined that the cause of corrupt Religion is laid on the want of a King and yet when there is one he should not meddle with it Rather the consequence is strong on the other side Mica thus did because there wâ—â— then no Kiâ—g therefore when there is one he will look better to it that never a Mica of them all shall do the like Thus it went when there was no King after when there was one I find again the not taking the High places which were plâ—ces meerly Religious where the people did Sacrifice in pated still to the King as his fault and yet shall he have nothing to do with High places or sacrificing either there or any where else Very strange it were that they who are by God himself by an express Ego dixi â—ermâ—d Gods should yet have nothing to do with Gods affairs And no less that being termed by Isaiah Nutritii Foster-Fathers to whose care the Church is committed to cherish and bring up should yet be forbidden to intermeddle with the Church in that which is of all fostering the principal part Verily when the Apostle speaketh of the service that Kings do unto God he doth not onely use the term of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Publick Officer but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too as it were Gods Deacon oâ— Servitor by a name peculiar to the Church Offices and this he uses twice for one other It can therefore neither be denied nor doubted of in that Idâ—latry came up by defect of Kings but that Kings were placed to pull down Idolatry and to plant and preserve the true Service of God In a word there is a King in Israel that there may not be a Mica in Israel That is that no man be suffered to set up any form of Worship formerly used if not now allowed which was Micha's case with his Teraphim and think that through some lâ—gal sanctimony inherent to the Ephod and to that Priest that shall officiate as being a Levite he shall be justified herein and they onely condemned that devise some new form to be exercised in their private meetings and set up some other sort of persons even some Son of their own to be their Minister therein No the use of a King will plainly appear out of what he hath said before That Gods people or a Church cannot be without such a Government which is necessary for them as a Church even for the making and keeping them the people of God that is for keeping them united in one true Relgion That to him Omnis anima every soul is to be subject having power both to direct and correct for else it would be for Israel to have no King when there is a King And therefore since as he proved he is to take care of Religion and to see what forms of Worship are set up it is not allowed to any to set up their private imaginations now as Mica did his Images of old 52. In those differences between the Nonconformists and Papists the one in their imaginations liking of no form or settlement made by humane Direction or Precept and the other attributing too much to their Images the things themselves so settled that speech of our Saviors concerning the disagreement between the Samaritans and the Jews hath by way of comparison often come into my miud I have on the one side thought that to frame a Worship out of opposition and to have no reason for it but because our Fathers did so is but too Samaritan like to worship we know not what Whilst without due consideration of the different degree of splendor and greatness which the Church shall by the goodness of God have in doing these things at one time more then another we shall ingratefully forget to make suitable return in our expressions and acknowledgments thereof in his Worship But then on the other side again when inward devotion is chiefly expected to fancy that this or that precise form might out of any inherent worth in it self or out of singular opinion we have of some persons who first instituted them be onely observed and none other were now unreasonably to follow the example of the Jews in fixing all adoration in one precise place without consideration that the Christian Church is not now like theirs included in one Nation nor can be presumed so tyed to the constitution of any one Prince herein as they were to Solomon as to exclude others of equal jurisdiction and power from making such alterations as they shall find suitable to that present condition they shall be in If upon the score of ancâ—ent inâ—itation alone we transgress the order of that Church under which we live then singularity and difference will render us but Innovators and prove us rather antick then antient in our way of Worship 53. In these much more I might have alleadged out of these Authors I have pitched upon in justification of supream Magistrates power in ordering the affairs of the Church but these alleadged being as I conceive plain and enough for satisâ—action of any unprejudiced person I have spared that labor and have also out of ease to the
may be retained as with some it is and with us it is and it may be spared as it is with others spared or retained all is one no claim groweth that way But last of all where it was used as by Samuel to Saul by Zadoc to Solomon yet they claimed nothing in the parties they anointed but called them still Gods and never their own anointed They knew no claim lay by it Nay if it had been a Sacrament as it was but a Ceremony he that ministreth the Sacrament hath no interest in the party by it but God alone and then much lesse he that performeth but a Ceremony is to plead any meos So that every way this claim vanisheth of Christi Pontificis Afterwards he reproves all claim made by the people of power over them as though they were their anointed or had his right to govern from their suffâ—ages And setâ— forth also by divers instances of personal failings both in Government and Religion as well among the Roman Emperors as others that no such pretence of fault could debar the person him that was in power of this priviledg and title so as to give liberty of touching him either with hand tongue or pen or the like For saith he It is the administration to govern not the gift to govern well the right of ruling not the ruling right It includes nothing but a due Title it excludes nothing but Vsurpation And he asks the question who is anointed and answers it on whom the right rests And so again he asketh Who is inunctus and answers He that hath it not that is as I conceive hath not this right by administration to govern or immediate possession of the Government If he be a Foreigner like the Pope he is to be accounted an Usurper as medling in anothers mans jurisdiction Or if he be as he after instanceth in Nimrod one who cared for no anointing thrust himself in and by violence usurped the throne came in rather like one steeped in vinegar then anointed with oil rather as a Ranger of a Forrest then a Father of a family he was no anointed nor any that so cometh in These words at first view will seem to a prejudiced Reader to contradict and overthrow all said before in defence of the authority and respect to be given to the chief Magâ—strate but when we shall have considered those qualifications that debar him this anointing and then whether it abate Subjects in their just obedience or him only in having just title to it and then whether this repulse and resistance of such an one may be made whilst he is first entring or afterwards also and by whom then made we may then well reconcile him to what was said before For first having spoken of that sacred power which belongs to each Christian King as anointed he was to oppose to it all foreign claim whether craftily entred upon as the Pope mentioned before or forcibly as now instanced in Nimrod especially if a Heathen or of another Religion in which respect he could not be reckoned among the Christi not caring for anointing or to have care of Church or Religion which is the drift of this Discourse When as if we should understand that every one that a discontented party will call Usurpers or do make a forcible entry may be by those that live under his obeisance withstood upon any allegation we make him contradict himself in commending that submission which Primitive Christians gave to their former Emperors although known Usurpers and some of them different in Religion 43. But he will be best understood to gainsay such kind of Liberty or meaning by the immediate following words But on the other side David or he that beginneth a royal race is as the Head on him is that right of ruling first shed from him it runs down to the next and so still even to the lowest border of his issue so that then you finde that it is not that which now is usually called Usurpation the possâ—ssion of the government by a new Person or Family that is Usurpation indeed for how then should any amongst Christians be thought a lawfull beginner of a Royal Race who in his possession must needs dispossess some person of the old family which could never be supposed to want some such relating to him in kindred as to be apparantly within the lowest borders of this natural Issue as he said before And if he did do so as David did to the family of Saul and have not the like Divine anointing and warrant as he had how shall Subjects be so guided in their distinction as not mistake and think every one a Usurper For if such an one be a Usurper then are Christian Kingdoms governed by a race of Usurpers Nay by Usurpers too if as he saith right be to be derived from the first beginner of a Race 44. And it is also to be noted that this derivation of right from first seisure as though his right were best even as Davids was better then any that followed doth contradict that fancy of prescription as meer fancy indeed wherein it is made worst or rather to have no worth at all but that the Successors do arrive at Lawfulness accordcording as by degrees they shall be removed from it 45. And to prove his meaning to be that Subjects may not upon any such Allegation rise or resist we shall finde him instancing in the case of Saul of whom he saith fol. 791. I verily think God in this first example of his first King over his own people hath purposely suffered them all to fall out and to be found in him even all that should fall out in any King after him to enforce their Position that so we might find them answered to our hands To touch them in Order they would easily have quarrelled at Sauls mis government Not at the first he then was a mild and a gracious Prince Never came there from any Princes mouth a more princely speech then the first speech he is recorded to have spoken Quid populo quod flet what ailes the people to complain A speech worthy everlasting memory so they complain not without cause But within a while he grew so stern and fierce as no man might speak to him Upon every light occasion nay upon no occasion at all his Javelin went straight to nail men to the wall not David onely but Jonathan his Son and Heir apparant and no cause why In the 13. Chapter it is said Saul had then been King a yeer and reigned two years in Israel yet it is well known his reign was fourty years Their own Writers resolve it thus how long soever he reigned he was a King but two years All the time after he was somewhat else or somewhat more then a King And they let not to tell what applying to Saul that of the Psalm Tyrants that have not God before their eyes seek after my soul And that Vnder thy wings shall
Reader forborn quotations of many other famous men in our Church concurring in the same judgement and made most particular choice of Mr. Hooker and Bishop Andrews as men generally held most famous and Orthodox in their generations the one in the time of Queen Elizabeth and the other since even in the time of our late King They were then and are still for ought I know held to be the great Defenders of this Churches authority and that of the â—hief Magistrate therein against the then Recusants and Nonconformists and I hope their credit is not so lost but that their authority and yet arguments will remain of the same force still to keep us from all inclinations either to Schism or Sedition that we do not thereby give the world too just occasion to say we are indeed fallen from our Principles through some sinister prejudice or partial conceit of our own 54 To direct and encourage in this constancy let us revert to thse grounds and reasons before laid down let us consider that since the maintenance of love and charity and the preservation of mankind by peace have so necessary a dependence upon submision to the Authority of that Church where we live and since the Glory Service and Worship of God here on earth hath again so near a relation unto this preservation of mankind by peace that therefore in these and thingâ— of the like nature which are not of such express divine Precept as to be demonstrable out of the Word of God or are not fundamental to our salvation there should no opposition be made to the disturbance of the peace of â—he Church but to that very end all to submit to the determination of those that have chief power therein Let not the crafts or designs of other men lead us to dâ—quiet so as to think that in things of this nature and where controversies and differences do daily arise between Church and Church Christian and Christian our salvation should be endangered while we incline to that side that maintains Charity by submitting our selves to those that have the rule over us To this end I shall here record that remarkable speech of Dr. Vsher late Primate of Armagh That in these Propositions which without all controversie are universally received in the whole Christian World so much truth is contained as being joyned with holy obedience may be sufficient to bring a man to everlasting salvation Neither have we cause to doubt but that as many as walk according to this rule neither overthrowing that which they builded by superinducing any damnable Heresies thereupon nor otherwise violating their holy Faith with a leud and wicked conversation peace shall be upon them and upon the Israel of God This as it was alleadged by Dr. Potter in his Treatise called Charity mistaken for that the Church of Rome did make all things fundamental which she held and thereupon excluded all from salvation that were not of her communion so is it by Mr. Chillingworth in his Reply fol 20. held for as great and good a truth and as necessary for these miserable times as can be uttered For if it should stand with men in the point of salvation according to that censure which each Church or sect therein doth put upon all that differ or descent from them then could no one Christian hope for Heaven insomuch as he must necessarily be a member of some Church or other which in matters of Doctrine or Discipline if not both is by some other Churches held so far Heretical or Schâ—smatical as to exclude all of that communion from hope of salvation which thing the Papists do hold concerning all Protestants in general and many of the Protestants hold of them again and do also pass their sentence as hardly of one another But our comfort is that we shall at the last day be judged by him who knows our hearts and whether we have not sought and followed his Truth according to the uâ—most of the ability he gave us and not left to the sentence of such as out of pride prejudice or other interest are so ready to put an over-value upon their own Tenets and become both Parties and Judges 55. Corcerning those aspersions of Heresie and Schism which are now so frequently thrown by one party upon another I have in the general observed that where the names and notions themselves are ofâ—nest repeated and most stood upon there the Arguments used for confutation are the less or less weighty It faring in some mens discourses and writings about controversies as with women in their scolding where she that can call Whore lowdest and oftenest is coâ—ceived to have got the better of it So usually there is nothing to be perceived but a design cast towards disparagement when the imputation of those Ecclesiastical railing terms are used towards any without any remonsâ—rance or proof wherein their ill consists or how their Opponents are justly to be charged with them 56. As â—or Heresie I do not see why any Christian mans case should be held desperate that in things not fundamental cannot bring his judgement to assent to that of anothers always provided that it proceed not from or be encreased through discontent pride or â—ffected singularity and that he hold it peaceably to himself not seeking to disturbe the peace of the Church by publication thereof to others for then it plainly shews that some of those other coâ—râ—pâ— Principles had a hand in the entertainment as well as in the divulging of iâ— And then iâ— will come to pass â—hat that which would as in it self and aâ—â—onsidered aâ— matter of speculation have been an error in judgement onely being now infused into others so as to induce action and separation will argue pravity in the will and turn into Schism which I do look upon as a sin not to be at any time or in any Persons otherwise excusable then when the foundation of Faith or good manners cannot be otherwise preserved And because in all dissenting parties that live under any Christian Authority the name of Schismatick is by either side cast on the other I do hold it for a maxime â—hat that party iâ— onely free that conforms to the Rule set down by him that iâ— Head of that place and all the rest Schiâ—maticks Even as in State differences all parties that hold not with the Sovereign Power are to be called this or that Faction whâ—n as the other is not to be called a Faction or Party but rather to be looked upon as the whole because united to the Head â—7 And therefore truly if men could be once brought to put a greater rate upon thingâ— fundamental and a less upon superstructures considering that the not holding to â—â—â— one bringâ— on the loss of Heaven and the too strict holding to the other brings on the loss of Charity and thereby shrewdly endanger the other also besides that quiet we should imutually reap in the exercise of Religion we should preserve