ruere It doeth not so much runne amongst the Steep-rocks as Rush Strabo in his 14 Book and Pomponius Mela in the description of Pamphilia tells us of a River called Cataracta adeo rapidus ab alta petra descendens ut longissimè strepitus exaudiatur Here it s taken for a deludge or open flood-gate of rebellion such as overflowed us lately and the Waters are not yet fully abaited Dii talem terris avertite pestem The Hebrew word is Arrubah which signifies the Flood-gates as Gen. 7 11. The windows of Heaven were opened But in the deludge of rebellion the windowes of Hell are opened For the Devill himself was the first rebell and by our scattering is his Kingdom gathered Lin. 8. Beawtie and bandes In allusion to that of Zech. 11. and 7. which tho interpreters apply to the Government of the first and second Covenant Old and New Testament Jews and Christians as Vatabulus and others yet here in a more Politick sence it signifies the Government of Church and State Lin. 12. Isthmus Is a neck of land on each side inclosed with Seas whereof we read several in Geographie in Aegypt Chersonesus the Euxin Sea and this of Peloponesus betwixt the Aegean and the Ionian Seas where Corinth stands hence it is that Corinth is called Bimaris both by Horat. lib. 1. carm Bimarisque Corinthi menia And Ovid. Fast 4. Hadriacumque patens latè Bimaremque Corinthum And Isthmus is so called by Ovid. Eleg. 10. lib. 1. Trist At postquam Bimarem cursu superavimus Isthmum Vide Martiani Capellae Satyricon Lib. 6. de tertio sinu Europae pag. mihi 210. where he hes the Description of Isthmus and Corinth with Crotius notes which he wrote being but fourteen yeares of age But Isthmus Metaphorically may be taken for any thing that divides betwixt two extreames And some hes expressed by this word the midle part or bridge of the nose as Iunius in his nomenclatura tells us of some Physitians that so expressed narium sepimentum And the learned Budeus in his annotations on the Pandects sayes this word properly signifies the Neck or the wessand of a Man and by a Metaphore only comes to signifie that narrow part of a continent inclosed by two Seas from whence sayes he that of Peloponesus by ane Antonomasie only is so called And tho there be but five miles distance yet neither Demetrius Caesar Nero nor Caligola who all attempted it were able to break throw a passage Whence it came into a Proverb Isthmum perfodere in eum qui magno conatu sed irrito aliquid moliretur Vide Plin. Lib. 4. Cap. 4. Sueton in Nero Cap. 19. Et in vitam Calig Cap. 21. And so generally it is exponed interstitium intercapedo Ab jenai ire The opposite whereof is porthmos Vide Calepine in voce SECTION IV. Lin. 9. It 's non-sence That Princes hes no power of subjects conscience CAP. III. Shewing that the King hes power of the conscience of the subject and in what sence the same may safely be maintain'd FOr clearing this we must consider these three First what conscience is Secondly what the nature of the obligation is that binds the conscience Thirdly the efficacie of this obligation Conscience by the ancients generally and more particularly by Clemens Alexandrinus is called Censor Corrector and Paedagogus animae But it will not be proper here to expatiat much on this subject I having written a treatise of the nature effects properties obligation acts and consequence of conscience in several Sermons Preached at Libertoun on Act 24 16. and Acts 2 37. and Rom. 2 15. which by assistance of God and good neighbours I intend shall see the light of the World It shall only now suffice to tell that I think it is no Act either of will or understanding but a proper facultie of the Soul it self which of all the faculties of man hes received the least hurt by the fall it even in the breasts of the most unregenerat taking ordinarly Gods part It may suffice therefore to define it that facultie whereby application of general knowledge is made to particular actions followed allwayes with joy or grief In which sence the Scriptures are not the adequat rule of conscience otherwayes the Heathen which never heard the Scriptures had had no conscience contrair to Rom. 2 14 15. The second thing to be considered is what it is to bind the conscience which is brieflie this to impose a necessity of obedience upon it so that the sence of the question is whither or not humane Laws do impose such a necessity of obedience on the conscience that the contraveening thereof is not only lyable to a temporal punishment but deservedly also to the anger and offence of God The difference betwixt mandats and Laws perpetual and cursorie constant and accidental obligations we cannot stand to discusse For the third we must 1. consider that the power of making Lawes is the prerogative Royal given by God unto Kings without which it were absolutly impossible for them to attaine the ends of Government and therefore he that said by â—e Kings Reigne said also by me Princes Decree Justice that is ordaines makes and executes just and wholsome Lawes Wherefore King and Law-giver are put together in Scriptures Isa 33 22. The Lord is our King the Lord is our Law-giver Rom. 13 1 2 3. 1 Pet. 2 13. shewes what power Kings are invested with and there is a great reason for it the execution of the Law being that mean whereby the publict good may both be preserved and promoved and wherein essentially the office of the Magistrat doth consist and the difference betwixt him and his subjects lyes for which end God conferrs on the Magistrat Numb 11 17. a particular Spirit of Government 1 Sam. 10 6. Samuel tells Saul that the Spirit of God shall come upon thee and thou shalt be turned into another man And this by Solomon Prov. 20 12. is called the seeing Eye as subjection is called the hearing Eare. It was the Magistrat ruling by the civill Law even before it was Christned to which we are commanded to be subject by the Apostle Saint Paul Rom. 13. and Saint Peter 1 Pet. 2. And to the Priviledge of the Roman Policie Saint Paul did appeal Acts 25 10. All which invincibly infer not only ane approbation of the Law being made but also the Magistrats power in making of it Neither was this ever denyed but by Carolostadius and the late rable of Monsters amongst our selves who would send us from our Laws as far back as the judiciall System amongst the Jews tho it be confessed by all to be abrogated as being only temporary and accommodat to certaine circumstances of times places and persons which now can have no obligation upon us 2. These Laws made and promulgat by the Magistrat are of force to bind the conscience many both Protestants and Papists are down right against this proposition affirming it
proper to God only to bind the conscience So sayes Calvin lib. 3. instit 9. cap. sect 15. And Sibrandus lib. 8. de pontifice Romano cap. 7. Vasques lib. 1. Illust contravers 28. 1. And these would only have the Magistrats power to reach the body or Fortunes of the subject alleadging no humane power can go further To which we oppose these following arguments 1. A man may bind his own conscience as is confessed by all in the case of Lawfull vowes they are in our own power before they are made Act. 5 4. But after that they are Gods bondes and do bind the conscience to performance Wherefore that doeth not altogether hold that God only can bind the conscience Otherwayes either vowes do not bind or else no man can ingage himself in them either of which to affirme is absurd I find Alsted Theol. cas cap. 2. reg 2. to make great use of this argument 2. In the Rom. 13. we learne that Magistrats have power and authority to enact Laws and therefore they are called powers 2. That these Lawes of the Magistrat do receive strength and force from the Law of God for the powers that are sayeth he are ordained of God 3. That the Laws made by the Magistrat have power to bind conscience v. 5. We must be subject not only for wrath but conscience sake And if we resist them we resist the ordinance of God and pull down Gods judgment and bring condemnation on our selves when we so do sayeth the Text verse 2. And therefore to contemne the Laws of men tho not expressely for then they are Gods but virtually contained in the word of God is to be disobedient to God himself 3. Consider that conscience hath relation not to God only but to man also Acts 24 16. Conscience both towards God and man it hath the principal relation to God as being the absolute binder thereof yet in and through him to man and his Laws also For it is to be here remarked that at that same instant Saint Paul was pleading before ane Heathen Magistrat 4. We must consider that we are not only to make conscience of Religion and the worship of God but of civil things also For tho things that are civil as civil do not of themselves and immediatly bind the conscience yet by vertue of ane higher Law to which they are subordinat and subjoyned being made by the Magistrat as the Minister of God and backed by his Authority which is Gods Seall so they oblidge the conscience and not to performe obedience to such Laws as for instance sumptuary Laws made for moderating expence at banquetings or burialls or in apparel or the like such as Aulus Gellius makes mention of in his 2 Book Cap. 24. out of Lucilius the old Poet and the Lex Fannea Emilia Ancia Iulia c. To contemne such Laws tho in it self be a civil fault only yet in another respect it is a moral sin the Law being made contrary both to Justice Charity Peace Saftey and Wel being of the common wealth 5. Who ever resists the ordination of God offends God but every offence of God is a wounding of conscience wherefore of necessity it must follow by the Law of contraries that we are bound in conscience to obey the Lawes of man He is the Minister of God Rom. 13. Gods Legat and Ambassador therefore what contempt he or his Laws for both are one the King being lex animata do sustaine from us it redoudes unto God whose Minister he is And God takes it done to himself what is done to or against the Magistrat Toutch not mine anointed 6. Every just and good Law flowes from the Law of God the Law of nature as the Stream from the Fountain And therefore hes an Intrinsick power of direction and obligation as a rule of life and manners The deviating from which is a sin and consequently a wounding of the conscience For if conscience be the sence of sin and fear of judgment as some discribe it tho rather by its effects then by it essential nature as else where I shall make evident then it is certain what ever induces to sin concernes conscience and brings along with it the fear of judgment but violating of a civil Law does inferr sin for every particular breach is a violation of the general Law of obeying the Magistrat and becomes a morall sin against the fifth Commandement Therefore by the rule of contraries the civil Law doth infallibly bind and inevitably oblidge the conscience 7. Every Law is either contrary to the will of God or conforme to it every Law is either just or unjust But herein we must cautiously observe a twofold injustice either intrinsick or extrinsick The intrinsick is when the mater of the Law it self is injust The extrinsick is when a thing intrinsically just in it self may be unjustly commanded and imposed upon me The first only takes away the obligation to obedience as dissolving the intrinsick ty of conscience for suppose a Prince should command something that in it self were not unjust meerly to please his own ambitious Tyrannical or covetous humor that indeed would be unjust on his part but I and every other subject were oblidged to obey tho he should sinne in commanding yet I should sinne if I obeyed it not But on the other hand no humane Laws that on the matter are unjust can obleidge the conscience for it is better to obey God than man From whence we may draw this invincible argument from the intrinsick nature of reason it self that no man at one and the same time can be oblidged to contradictories but if a man were oblidged to performe ane unjust Law he should be oblidged in conscience to that to the not performance whereof the Law of God oblidges him And to performe and not performe are contradictories Whereas humane Laws in things just oblidge the conscience by a supervenient obligation to the Law of God for obligatio prior tollit posteriorem But on the other hand if Laws be enacted by these who are not invested with lawfull power then they do not oblidge the conscience no more then a Sentence given by one who is no judge can oblidge the party to performance for where the power is wanting the efficient cause of the obligation is wanting also 8. We must distinguish betwixt a direct and indirect a mediat and immediat obligation we doe confesse the Lawes of man do not immediatly and directly oblidge the conscience but by vertue of Gods command requiring to give obedience to the Magistrat and his Laws under the paine of Gods wrath and displeasure We are bound to performe civil duties on grounds of Religion and so humane Laws tho not qua humane binds the conscience It s Gods command binds my conscience to observe mans as ye see it clearly and expressely Eccles 8 21. I Counsel you to keep the Kings commandement and that in regarde of the Oath of God It
would be a very Fanatick these to affirme that a Childe is not bound in conscience to do any Lawfull thing which his Father commands him Id est totidem verbis it is not his dutie because perhaps totidem Syllabis it is not contained in the Scripture But certainly secundarly and consequentially with respect unto Gods general command he is bound in conscience to do that for his Fathers command which he was not bound to undertake without it See this fully asserted and cleared by Vrsine in his Explicatio Catechetica quest 69. And in Loci Theologici in pree 2. de cultu Dei So Pareus edicta Magistratûs obligant conscientias So Alstedius ut supra But above all most particularly and fully the learned Bishop Sanderson de obligatione conscienciae and Bishop Taylor in his Ductor Dubitantium Lib. 3. Cap. 1. rule 1. and 5. and Chap. 4. rule 5. Vide Falkner in his Libertas Ecclesiastica Lib. 2. Cap. 1. Section 7. Par. 6. But here we must take along with us these three caveats first it must be acknowledged that no humane authority can bind the judging power of conscience so that it is oblidged to judge that a dutie which is commanded without having a liberty to consider its lawfulnesse 2. The Laws of man does not so illimitedly bind I must obey God on the bair sight of his will but I may examine the Lawes of man whither they be just and equall and suited to the publick safety as Acts 9 29. 3. As not so illimitedly nor so immediatly so neither does humane Lawes so absolutly bind the conscience For Gods command binds even in Secret and that perpetually and to active obedience too but the Law of man may be obey'd by suffering the penalty yea in private where there is no scandall nor danger of contempt of authority I may do the contrary especially in things in themselves indifferent Wherefore when it is said Iam. 4. and 12. There is only one Law-giver it must be understood one only absolute and supream whose will is the rule of Justice the Magistrats under him being but deputes and substitutes responsable still to their Superior 2 Chron. 19 6. Take head what you do for you judge not for man but for the Lord. Aquinas handling this same very question primâ secundae quest 96. art 4. determins it as we have done in the affirmative justae leges humanae obligant homines in foro conscienciae ratione legis aeternae à quâ derivantur 9. Therefore any Law of the Magistrat that wants the Authority of Gods Law to confirme it is null and ought not to be obeyed But being a thing or matter indifferent the Lawfullnesse of it is determined to me by that particular Law which is derived from the general Law of obeying these in Authority Yea even these same things in case of scandal will bind us to obedience tho not in case of conscience simplie considered as is clear in our Saviours paying Tribute Mat. 17 27. Rather then any scandall should have arisen So Abraham gave Lot his choice of the Countrey tho he might otherwayes have disputed his right The last is the efficacie of this obligation and it arises from the nature of conscience it self which being so intimat with every man so important ane enemy and so worthy and true a friend a faithfull admonisher a sad accuser a severe witnesse an uncorrupt judge considering that it accuses to him who is the dreadfull judge of all the Earth whose wisdome cannot be deceived nor his Justice bribed or corrupted the Execution of whose Sentence can neither be suspended nor avoyded so that upon the one hand this meditation obviats all grounds of rebellion discontent pride ambition covetousnesse and hypocrisie and overawes a man in the first rise of these corruptions destroying the Cockatrice in the Egg so on the other hand it manifests that horror and anguish must be a Traitors portion both here and hereafter His opprobrious Kirk of King Iames its known to all that knows his Historie how opprobriously the Kirk-men used him not only molesting and contemning but counteracting him on every occasion When he appointed a Feast they appointed a Fast è contra And after all their Pranks they openly scorned to answer his tribunall contrarie to the practice of Christ and Saint Paul both before Jews and Heathen Magistrats But alace Christ and Saint Paul were both Episcopall The jurisdiction of their Kirk was Paramount to all his decrees Yea in his Basilicon Doron he tells how they persecuted him even before he was born all along till he came to the Throne And when he was gloriously seated there the only Eclipse of his glory was from the Kirk One passage whereof I cannot omitt which will indeed justifie my Epithet of that Kirk Crebrae adversus me in concionibus calumniae spargebantur non quòd crimen aliquod designassem sed quia Rex eram quòd omni crimine pejus habebatur That they constantly reviled and reproached him not only in their private conventicles but in their publick Preachings not for any crime he had done or intended to do but because he was a King which in their opinion was the worst of all crimes And this they made evidently appear in the Person of his Son that incomparable Prince and blessed Martyr of whom we may say according to the Letters on his Coffin C. R. I. Clementia Religiosa interfecit Here lyes the only King since Christ did die Was murthered for his pious clemencie It was they broke his Scepter in pieces by throwing the Militia out of his Royal hands that tore the Crown off this head baffled his supremacie barrd him the very liberty of his conscience in the point of Church Government which he believed and strongly defended to be jure divino Episcopal And would have him to acknowledge himself guiltie of all the blood they had spilt And after they had hunted him like a Partridge on the Mountains at last surprized and murthered him in his own House It was the Presbyterians held him by the Hair as he who wrote the History of Independency well observes till the Independents a kind of Synonymous word for one thing cut off his head Pudet haec opprobria nobis Et dici potuisse non potuisse refelli Ovid. We 're sham'd that such a Tainture should be laid Upon these Lands that cannot be gainsaid Sandys Ovid. Met. 2. Lin. 10 Ioyned with Soveraignity so Diotogenis Pythagorici verba apud Stobeum anagkaton teleion basilea strategonte agthaon hemen kai dikasten kai hierea Lin. 11. So Numa Livius lib. 1. De Numa tum sacerdotibus creandis animum adjecit quanquam ipse plurima sacra obibat And a little after Flaminem Iovis assiduum sacerdotem creavit Julius Caesar Pontifex maximus fuit Suet. in Julius Cap. 13. And Augustus Suet. in Octavius 31. Pontificatum maximum suscepit And a little after Sacerdotum numerum dignitatem sed