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A07316
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A nevv eight-fold probation of the Church of Englands divine constitution prooved by many pregnant arguments, to be much more complete then any Geneuian in the world against the contrary assertion of the fifty three petitioner-preachers of Scotland in their petition presented in the later Parliament to the Kings most excellent Maiesty. With a ten-folde probation of the same churches doctrine touching one of the most important points of our creede, which is of our sauiours descending into Hell. By Iames Maxvvell. Master of Artes, &c.
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Maxwell, James, b. 1581.
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1617
(1617)
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STC 17704; ESTC S103373
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82,870
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119
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name Thou shalt be to Aaron as God said the Lord to Moses whom he had made a soueraigne Prince ouer his people And againe I haue made thee a God to Pharaoh and Moses calleth the soueraigne Iudges by the name of Gods saying thou shalt not rayle vpon the Gods for so it is in the originall and the Psalmist to the same purpose speakes thus God stādeth in the assembly of Gods he iudgeth among Gods and againe he brings in the great God speaking thus of his little Gods I haue said ye are Gods yee are all children of the most high Sect. 9. In that Kings are called Gods That the Kingly dignitie is immediately from God wee learne sixe notable lessons hereafter following The first that the kingly power is immediately of and from God and not of man as both Geneuians and Romanes most erroniously doe hold for none can make of a man a God on earth but God in heauen neither is it in the power of man to make one Gods seruant or minister but we must leaue it vnto God himselfe to choose and ordaine his owne seruants And truely if the King were ordained of man as he is for the good of man and therefore is by Saint Peter called an ordinance of man the Apostle Paul would neuer haue named him Gods seruant and minister but mans 1. Pet. 2.13 Rom. 13.4.1 Chron 29.23 The King sitteth in the Lords throne saith the holy Chronicler now it belongeth not vnto man to set another man in Gods seate but must let this alone for God himselfe to doe The throne is Gods and not mans Psal 21.3.1 Sam. 9.15 16 17 10 1 24 13 13 14 16 1 2. 1. King 3.7 10.9 1 Chr 29 29 2 Chro 2.11 Nehe 13 26. Dan. 4.14.23 Prouerbs 8.15.16 Wisd 6.1 2.3 Rom. 13.1 4. and he that sitteth in it is Gods minister and not mans yea he is of God called God for man cannot make a man God and therefore Kings are immediately from God and not from man an argument that all the Geneuians and Romanes in the world shall neuer be able to answer And therefore to shut vp this first lesson for in our worke of kingly controuersies we disputeit more largely and accurately three Kings Dauid Salomor Hiram one Queene of Sheba one Prince Nehemiah one high Priest Samuel one chiefe Prophet Daniel one principall Apostle Paul yea Gods Angel and God himselfe doe all of them anouch that kings are chosen of God nominated sent crowned created and set in Gods throne by God himselfe and not by man Sect. 9. The second lesson that wee learne here is that the kingly dignitie is of all other dignities absolutely the greatest and the diuinest That the kingly dignity is the diuinest and greatest of all other Reuel 2. 3. Psal 82.6 Dan. 3.26 6.20 Ioh. 15.14 15. and not the priestly as both Romane Geneuians do erroniously suppose For first as none can be greater in heauen then the God of heauen or so great so none in earth can be greater then he who is called of God to be a God on earth nor none can beso great Secondly as the highest stile that can bee giuen to any is giuen to Kings so a lower stile is giuen to Prelates and Priests for they are in the Scripture no where called Gods but well are they named Angels so that as the Angels in heauen are inferiour to the God of heauen so are the Angels on earth to wit the chiefe Priests and Prelates inferiour vnto the Gods on earth which are Soueraigne Princes thirdly Princes are called the children of the most high where as Church-men are instiled onely the seruants and friends of the most high Psal 21.3 1. Chron. 29.23 Fourthly God putteth a crowne of golde vpon the Kings head and he setteth him in his owne throne to sit there for God as God so that as the Apostle speaking of the inferioritie of the Angels of heauen beeing compared with Christ the annointed of the Lord saith vnto which of the Angels said he at any time Heb. 1.13.14 sit at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstoole are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for their sakes which shall be heires of saluation In like manner may it be said in this matter touching the inferioritie of the Angels on earth that is prelates beeing compared with the Lords Christ and annointed one the Soueraigne Prince vnto which of the Angels on earth for Prelates are called Angels in the Reuelation seauen or eight times said the Lord euer sit in my throne Reuel 1.20 2.1.8 12 18 3 1 7 14. as hee saith vnto Kings yea I haue sought much in reading and could neuer finde in old Testament or new in Scripture or Father Greeke or Latine that euer the Lord said immediately or mediately vnto the great Archangel himselfe that sitteth in S. Angel sit thou in my throne for no man taketh or at least should take this honor vnto himselfe but he that is called of God as was Dauid or Salomon What are the angels on earth else then but as ministring spirits sent forth by the Gods on earth 2. Chro. 17 7 8 9. Exod 32.21.22 Numb 12 11 1. King 1.33 34. 2 Chton 29 11. Exod. 5.1 4 20 1 6.8 20. 10 20. 9 8 10 3 11 10 12 1. Psal 77 20. 2 Chron 24 12 13 14 31 13. the Christian Ichosophats to teach in Iuda through al the Cities of their kingdomes to minister the holy Sacraments to them that shal be heires of Saluation to gouerne the Church Fiftly the high priest Aaron calleth the Soueraigne Prince Moses his Lord and Salomon a king is called Zadoks the high Priest Lord Ezekiah a king calleth the priests his sons which doth argue the superioritie and maiestie of kings for the Lord is superior to his seruant and the Sonne inferiour to his father Sixtly the Spirit of God euery where placeth Kings before the chiefe Priests Moses and Aaron the King and Iehoiada Ezekiab the King and Azariah the chiefe of the house of God and preferreth the Princely dignitie before the priestly where they meete in one and the same person Moses in Genesis Gen. 14 18 Heb. 7 1 Exod 19.6 1. Pet. 2.9 Reuel 1.6 4.10 and Saint Paul to the Hebrewes doe obserue this order in Melchisedech whome they name a King and a Priest The same Moses or rather the Lord himselfe calleth his people a kingdome of Priests or a royall Priesthoode as speaketh Saint Peter and Saint Iohn in the Reauelation hath these words and made vs Kings and Priests vnto God and the same words are vsed of the foure and twenty Elders Seuenth ly Psal 2 6 20 9 24 7 8 9 10 29 10 95 3 98 6 Esther 13 9 15 14 3 12. Reuel 1.5 15 3 17 14 19 16
if we haue as yet attained to this perfection as to giue vnto God all that we haue if he should require it at our hands for the man that will grudge to giue a part vnto Gods Image and chiefe Minister for his sake will neuer be willing to forsake all for Gods sake no hee would neuer bee willing to bestow his whole goods vpon God himselfe that will refuse or repine to giue a part vnto his cheife Minister And cōtrariwise the man that doth cheerefully bestow vpon the Prince in regard that hee is Gods Image Deputie and Minister For he is the Minister of God for thy wealth saith the Apostle and for this cause ye pay also tribute Rom 13.1 2 3 4 5 6. for they are Gods Ministers doth in so doing euidently show that hee loueth God better then his golde and goodnesse better then his goods and that he would make no difficultie to bestow most willingly 6all that he hath vpon God yea to forsake his whole goods for Gods sake But of this matter of the Princes maintenance I haue entreated elsewhere in another worke published some two or three yeares agoe called the Golden art or the right way of enriching dedicated to the two Royal cities of these two kingdomes but much more copiously in another worke of Kingly Controuersies not as yet finished where I doe discourse of the particular manner of the maintenance of Princes amongst Gods people both according to Scripture the Iudgement of diuines and Politicians and according to the seuerall customes of kingdomes And there I show 1. that the soueraigne Prince is not Lord of the whole goods of his subiects and that his right doth not extend ouer their whole faculties as some flatterers of Princes doe falsely and dangerously hold them in hand Secondly that the soueraigne Prince hath a right only to a certaine proportionable portion of the subiects goods Thirdly that as God and not man is the institutor author and ordainer of Kings so is he the appointer of their portion and the prescriber of their manner of maintenance for if God hath ordained and instituted Kings to bee his Ministers and Seruants for the gouernment of his people as we haue already showed that he hath then must it needs be true that the same God hath taken order for their maintenance And truly seeing that all wise and good masters doe prouide for their seruants and allow them meanes for their sustenance and maintenance it were a thing most vnbeseeming the wisedome and goodnes of God who is the Master of masters both for wisedome and goodnesse to thinke that he hath not as great care and taken at least as good order for the maintenance of his seruants namely of Kings as other men being masters haue taken and doe take for theirs God doth alwaies that which is most fitting and therefore hee hath designed and ordained the particular manner of the Princes maintenance for it is most fitting that the master should prescribe and appoint the quantitie of his owne seruants wages And it was so fit that God should do it that it was not fit nor expedient to referre the doing thereof vnto the will or discretion of man It was not fit that it should be remitted to the will of the Prince himselfe for he might perhaps require more then inough as for example the halfe third fourth or fifth part of the subiects goods neither was it fit that it should be referred to the discretion of the people for they lightly might allow the Prince lesse then inough and therefore God hath taken order for this thing himselfe and not left it for man to doe Rom. 14.4 For as the Apostle saith Who art thou that iudgest another mans seruant so may it bee well said in this matter who art thou that takest vpon thee to share out a portion or allowance for another mans seruant yea for Gods owne chiefe seruant doth not such an office properly belong vnto God Fourthly that God hath set downe the manner of the Princes maintenance and hath specified the quantitie of his portion in some place of his word and that hee hath done it in the fittest place that could bee for that purpose for except it were so it should not appeare when it is that a Prince playeth the Exactor for seeing that he hath a right vnto a certaine portion of his subiects goods as all doe grant how shall they know when it is that he craueth more then hee ought except there bee some law to determine his portion and to inhibite him to leuy any more then the quantitie thereof doth permit In one word Exaction in a Prince is the transgressing of Gods law and not the breaking of some humane statute or decree and therefore there must be a certaine speciall law in Gods word touching the quantitie of the Princes portion aswell as there is of the Priests the one beeing as important as the other and Princes beeing Gods Ministers and Seruants aswell as Priests and so consequently to bee maintained aswell as they Yea it behoued so much the more because that Soueraigne Princes or Kings are Gods Ministers in a higher more eminent and honourable degree and kinde then Priests are as hath beene before abundantly shewed So that it is not likely that the Spirit of God would haue omitted so important a point as this is being such as that without the certaine knowledge thereof neither can Soueraignes nor Subiects doe their dutie to one another For neither can they know when it is that the Soueraigne keepes himselfe within the bounds of equitie and moderation or contrariwise that he debordeth into oppression extortion or exaction neither yet when it is that the subiect offendeth by detention or diminution of his Soueraignes due Seeing then it was so necessarie for the quiet iust and vpright constitution of a kingdome amongst Gods people that the Kings portion should be specified aswell as the Priests we need not doubt but that the Spirit of God hath proposed the same some where in holy Scripture and euen in that place which was of all other the most conuenient for such a purpose and what place of Scripture so conuenient as that wherin the first institution of Kings amongst amongst Gods people is propounded and expounded The which place because some Geneuians and moderne diuine haue monstrously misconstered I shal refute their errour God-willing other where by 13 vnanswerable argumēts And amongst other probations we shal show it by the Hebrew Text the Chaldaick Thargums or Paraphrases the Greeke translation of the Septuagints the Latine translations of Hieronymus Pagninus Vatablus Munsterus Leo Montanus with the old English and namely that the word MISHPAT which is translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke and in Latine Ius or Lex is alwaies taken in the Scripture and in no fewer then 210. places for the vpright iudgement of God and of the Kings and Iudges of the earth and no where for vniust and tyrannicall