that our sinnes may be iudged and punished in this world as praise his mercie and fauour in giuing rest to his seruants vnder the protection of godly and gracious princes The ninth Chapter sheweth the generall consent of the Moderne Puritans touching the coercion deposition and killing of Kings whome they call tyrants THe Citizens of Geneua changed the gouerment from a Monarchie to a Democratie in the yeare of Christ 1536. In the which yeare Iohn Calvin came into that Citie to visit his freind Farellus And was chosen the publike reader of diuinitie At his first comming thither he published his Theologicall institutions Wherin he doth verie learnedly and Christianly intreat of the authoritie of princes and the dutie of subiects One onely place is harshe and dangerous deliuered in obscure and doubtfull tearmes to excuse as I conceiue the outrage of the Citizens against their prince whom they had not many weekes before expelled not to authorise other men to attempt the like against their soueraigne Magistrates His words are these Si qui sunt populares Magistratus ad moderandam regnum libidinem consttuti If there be any popular Magistrates to restraine the licentiousnesse of Kings of which kinde were the Ephori opposed against the Lacedemonian Kings Iustit l. 4. 6. 20. sect 31. the Tribunes of the people which curbed the Romane Consuls and the Demarchie which brideled the Senate of Athens And such peraduenture as things now stand are the three states in euery kingdome assembled in Parliament I doe not denie but these in regard of their dutie stand bound to represse the vnrulinesse of licentious kings Nay I affirme that if they doe but winke at at those kings which peeuishly make hauock of their people and insult against their communaltie that they want not the guilt of hainous treacherie because they betray the libertie of the people whose guardians they know themselues to be appointed Thus farre Calvin Since which time all Puritans haue turned his coniunction conditionall into an illative his aduerb of doubting to an affirmative and his permissive non veto into a verb of the imparative moode in their books of regiment secular and discipline Ecclesiasticall Christopher Goodman published a treatise of obedience at Geneva not without the verie good liking and approbation of the best learned in that citie 1557. pag. 119. wherein he affirmeth That if Magistrates transgresse Gods lawe themselues and command others to doe the like they loose that honour and obedience which otherwise is due vnto them and ought no more to be taken for Magistrates but to be examined and punished as priuate transgressors so farre Goodman Much about the same time was Knoxe his appellation printed in the same place Geneva fol. 56. wherein he feareth not to affirme That it had beene the dutie of the Nobilitie Iudges Rulers and people of England not onely to haue resisted Marie that Iezabel whom they call their Queene but also to haue punished her to the death with all such as should haue assisted her what time that she opeÌ„ly began to suppresse Christs Gospel to shed the blood of the Saints and to erect that most deuillish Idolatrie the papisticall abhominations and his vsurped tyrannie Thus farre Knox. Ann. 1560. Theodore Beza printed his Confessions wherein he auoucheth That there are vices inherent in the persons of Princes though they be lawfully established pag. 216. by succession or election viz. Vngodlinesse couetousnesse ambition crueltie luxurie lecherie and such like sinnes which tyrants delight in What shall be done in this case to these Princes I answer saith he that it belongeth to the superiour powers such as are the 7. electors in the Empire and the statesmen of the kingdome almost in euerie Monarchie to restraine the fury of tyrants which if they doe not they are traytors to their countryes and shall before the Lord giue an account of their treacherie Thus farre Beza 1561. The verie yeare after there was a contention betweene the Nobilitie and Clergie of Scotland about this matter Renum â—cot l. 17. p. 590. as Buchanan reporteth let him tel his owne tale Calendis Novembribus regina ad Missam The Queene vpon the feast of All-Saints added to her priuate Masse all the solemnities and superstitious ceremonies of the Papists The Ministers of the Gospel tooke it verie ill complained thereof to the people in their publike congregations and admonished the nobilitie of their dutie in that behalfe whereupon rose a controversie in a house of private meeting between the Nobles and Preachers whether the Nobles may restraine Idolatrie that is like to breake out to a generall destruction and by rigor of law compell the cheefe Magistrate to his dutie when he exceedeth his bounds The Ministers of the Church stood stedfast in opinion as they had formerly done that the cheefe Magistrate may be compelled euen by forcible meanes to liue according to law but the Noble men because of the Queenes fauour hope of honour or loue of lucre Note how basely the Puritans esteeme the Nobilitie when they thwart them did a litle wauer and thought otherwise then the Ministers and so in the end iudgement passed with the Nobles because they were more in number and of better esteeme and reputation Thus farre Buchanan 1568. The outlandish Churches in London concluded this Canon in a classicall Synode â—ezae epist 24. Si quisquam repugnantibus legibus patriae If any man vsurpe Lordship or Magistracie against the lawes and priuiledges of the countrie or if he that is a lawfull Magistrate doe vniustly bereaue his subiects of the priuiledges and liberties which he hath sworne to performe vnto them or oppresse them by manifest tyrannie the inferiour officers must oppose themselues against him for they are in dutie bound before God to defend their people as well from a domesticall as a forraigne tyrant Thus farre they 1574. We had swarmes of caterpillers namely fol. 145. Disciplina Ecclesiastica from Rochel to teach vs that the senate Ecclesiasticall hath the cheefe moderation of the Christian societie and ought to prouide that no Magistrate be defectiue in his charge and by common care counsell and authoritie to ouersee that euerie gouernour our cary himselfe faithfully in his Magistracie Thus farre that author pag. 48. Franco-Gallia from Colen wherein we finde that the people hath power to dethrone their Princes pag. 300. Iunius de iure Magistratuum as some thinke from Geneva wherein it is said that the people haue the same right to depose kings that are tyrants which a generall counsell hath to displace a Pope that is an heretique Eusebius Phyladelphus from Edenbruge wherein we read dialogo 2. pag. 57. that it was as lawfull for his brethren of France to defend themselues against the tyrannie of Charles the ninth King of that name in France as for wayfairing men to resist and repell theeues cutthroats and wolues nay further I am saith he of opinion
that there is a power in ordine ad spiritualia to punish kings denying his hypothesis viz. that the Pope hath such power This beeing granted saith q Resâ— Dan 〈◊〉 ad â—ellaâ— de pontif lib. 5. cap. 7. pag. 541. Danaeus that Bellarmine contendeth for it doth not followe that the Bishop of Rome or any other Prelate hath temporall iurisdiction ouer that ciuill Christian Magistrate which doth either enact lawes against the spirituall determination or gouerne the Commonwealth contrarie to the spirituall regiment of the Church We confesse those lawes and that gouernement should be reformed but it ought to be done by the publike assembly by the Parliament of the kingdome or by the Peeres themselues of the whole kingdome Yea in case the king deserue to be deposed the Pope and other Bishops or Priests haue no right to dethrone him * Neither batell better hering Verùm id fieri debet r Idem ibidem pag. 517. à concilio publico à Parliamento regni vel ab ipsis regni ordinibus but that ought to be done by the publike Councell the Parliament of the kingdome or by the Estates of the land Haec ille Thus farre my good Lord they agree in substance touching the punishment and depriuation of Kings though they vary in this point of circumstance whether the Pope the Peeres or the people shall punish or depose them As concerning the third opinion which is for the excommunication of Kings all Presbyteries which are the tribunall seates of Iesus Christ as Beza saith in his book against Erastus do chalenge right and power Theodorus Beza pag. 116. Guli l â—eppetus Discipl Eccl si as Christs immediate Commissaries in earth to excommunicate the chiefe Christian Magistrates as may appeare by these places viz. Beza de Presbyterio pag. 115. Thomas Cartwright Lamb. Danaeuâ— Gellius Snecaâ— Thomas Cartwright in his last reply pag. 65. Lambertus Danaeus in his Christian Policy lib. 3. pag. 232. Gellius Snecanus in his booke of discipline pag. 456. Galiâ—l Bâ—â—â— Herm Reâ—â—â— William Bucanus in his common places of Diuinitie pag. 582. Hermanus Renecherus in his obseruation vpon the first Psalme pag 68. The counter pâ—â—son The humble petition The defence of 〈…〉 The counterpoyson pag. 175. The humble petition to the late Queene pag. 55. And the defence of discipline against M. Bridges pag. 127. And this power haue they put in practise to the glorie of Sion against diuerse kings in the Christian world as the said disciplinarian * pag. â—â—8 Champion boasteth in more then insolent manner Consider honourable Lord whether any King may thinke his state secure where euery offence though but suspected doth procure a citation euerie citation doth inforce apparence euery apparence doth vrge confession or inioyne purgation and the least contempt doth breed a contumacie to drawe the greatest censure These Parish-popes shall neuer be able to shewe any record in the sanctuarie or practise of Prelates for a thousand yeares after Christ to warrant this Puritan-popish manner of proceeding against Princes I like well of the opinion in Iohn de Parisijs Å¿ De potest reg papal cap. 13. Euerie Minister of God must rather submit his life to the Princes pleasure theÌ„ admit him to the Sacrament that sheweth manifest tokens of impietie or infidelitie but the Puritans speake not of the Church ministerie but of their Lordly consistorie at the Papists due of the Popes court whom not God but the Deuill and Antich ist hath exalted ouer Kings concerning the power of the Keyes Non quilibet peccator c. Euery offender neither is nor ought to be subiect to the power of the keyes and Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction but the sinner which is subiect thereto And therefore the said power hath no effect except against them that are subiect vnto it which subiection maketh a man fit matter whereupon the power of the keyes hath his effectuall operation Haec ille The politique Puritans meddle not with this dangerous question of Deposing and Killing of Kings but stand aloofe to giue ayme while other desperat archers shoote that if they misse they may step aside to saue themselues or in case the marke be hit they may step in to part the stakes I accuse not without cause M. Beza beeing seriously consulted by some brethern of England whether inferiour officers might not lawfully arme themselues against him who beeing lawfully confirmed Magistrate doth take away the priuiledges and infringe the liberties which he hath sworne to performe to the subiects or doth oppresse them with manifest tyrannie c. returned this fectlesse answer u Beza epist 24. cogitmur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We must demurre vpon this point not onely because it is dangerous specially in our time to set open such a window but also for that we may not determine the state of this question simply as you propound it but vpon consideration of many most waightie circumstances x Iraque in hoc Aphrorismo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore for the present we deferre our answer to your demaund Thus Beza demurred at Geneua in communi fratrum ex verbe agro collectorum caetu in the common assembly of the Brethren out of the Citie and Suburbes 25. Iunij Anno Domini 1568. the very yeare before Morton the Popes Nuncio came to England to stirre vp the Peeres of the North against our late Queene for pretended heresie and tyrannie While the proposition was demurred at Geneva the Assumption was framed at Rome and the conclusion practised by traytors in England could not Beza answer why did he not confesse it or if he could why doth he dissemble it It is truth without colour that must direct the conscience and settle the simple desirous to be resolued Dissimulation is but dawbing with vntempered morter ad perdendos homines in sermone mendacij to bring men to destruction with the words of lying and a verie readie way to bring religion to scandale Princes to iealousie and male-contented men to mutinie I haue endeuoured according to my mediocritie of learning to set downe the iudgement of the Church of God in all the former ages concerning the Authoritie of Kings and the Dutie of subiects that the late learning of Papist and Puritane compared with the old doctrine of ancient Orthodoxals may appeare to be as new as it is naught which I offer to your Honourable protection aswell in respect of your dutie to God as of my seruice to your Lordship Your dutie to God for he that hath made you his instrument of honour to saue the Kings life doth require at your hands the maintenance of the Kings right And seeing it hath pleased you to admit me into the number of your servants I hope you will fauourably accept of this my seruice wherein I doe my best endeauour to make vp the gappe against Schisme in the Church and sedition in the State The great God and King
publica manifesta saevitia licet fieri supplices implorare auxilia ab alijs 〈…〉 suscipere corum defensionem alijs regibus licet Subiects when they endure publique and manifest wrong may lawfully become suppliants to foraigne states and craue their ayde against their Princes and other Kings ought to take vpon them their defence and protection So farre Bucan Subiects must square their subiection according to the rule of Gods word not after the affection and fancies of men a â— Sam 12. â—8 Saul commanded Doeg to murther 85. Priests to destroy their citie men women and children with the edge of the sword Did Dauid for whome they were slaine when he had Saul in his power take reuenge or suffer his seruants to doe it when they were readie and offered themselues to slay Saul Dauid b 2. Sam. 11.4.17 defiled Vrias his bed and caused him to be killed Did Absolon well to conspire against him that was both a murtherer and an adulterer Salomon c 1 Reg. 11.8 brought into the land many strange wiues and as many different religions into the Church Did the high Priest the Peeres the Prophets or the people offer to chastice or depose him Achab d 1 Reg. 11.8.9 suffered Iezabel to put Naboth to death and to kill the Lords Prophets Did Elias depose him intice his subiects to rebell against him or implore foraigne aide to destroy him Herod e Mar 6.27 Act. 12.24 beheaded Iohn Baptist killed Iames imprisoned Peter and would haue slaine him also if he had not beene deliuered by an Angel Did Peter take vengeance on Herod which he might haue done with a word as well as on f Act 5.5 Ananias No he did leaue him to the Lord whose iudgement insued in most g Act. 12.23 fearefull manner In a word wicked Princes haue neuer beene lawfully punished by Prelates Potentates or people of their kingdome as the Papists and Puritans averre but must be reserued to the iudgement of God as the Protestants affirme Gregorie Nazianzen in his oration at the funerall of S. Basil reporteth that the Emperours Deputie in Pontus commanded S. Basil to put out a widow that had taken sanctuarie to saue her selfe from forced mariage Basilius magnus The Bishop not willing to violate the Ecclesiasticall laws granted by the Imperiall Maiestie refused so to doe The gouernor called the Bishop before him threatned to whip him and to teare his flesh with iron hookes the people hearing that indignitie offered to the Bishop fell to an vprore and would haue slaine the Lieftenant had not that innocent man of God with much adoe staied that furious tumult and deliuered his persecutor from that perill Monodia Nazian inter opuscula Basilij fol. 95. to whose pleasure he did afterward submit himselfe The same Nazianzen for his admirable learning called the diuine writeth of Iulian the Apostata-Emperours death Iulian was punished by the mercie of God thorough the teares of Christian men which teares were many and shed of many for that they had no other remedie against that persecutor Thus farre Nazian 1. orat cont I dian This godly father liued vnder fiue Emperours Constantius Iulianus Valens Valentinianus and Theodosius in all which time he could find no remedie against the tyrannie heresie and apostasie of Princes beside prayers and teares The deuill of hell had not as yet hatched the distinctions of propriè and impropriè directè and indirectè simpliciter and secundum quid absolutè in ordine ad spiritualia wherewith the Iesuites doe fill the schooles with clamorous evasions the Church with erroneous superstition and many Christian states with tragicall sedition Lucifer Calaritanus in sundrie bookes against Constantius vseth many immodest and disloiall speeches but he perswaded not the Pope to depose him the state to punish him the people to rebell against him or forraine aide to suppresse him but threatned him with the dreadfull punishment of God He that in the feruency of zeale durst call so cruell an Emperour Theefe Church-robber Murtherer Beast Hangman Heretique Apostata Idolator the forerunner of Antichrist and Antichrist himselfe would surely haue encouraged the Pope the Peeres or the people to haue remoued that euill king and placed a better in his stead if there had beene any such opinion in those daies as our moderne Iesuites and Puritans beare now the world in hand As this father in his writings kept not the modestie of the other fathers which liued in that age vnder Constantius so he did not continue in the vnitie of the catholique Church Lucifer saith Ambrose deuided himselfe from our communion 〈…〉 though he were banished with vs for our religion When Ambrose was commanded to deliuer vp his Church in Myllaine to Maxentius an Arrian Bishop he declared his resolution in a sermon to the people which were verie sorie for his departure Quid turbamini volens nunquam vos deseram 〈◊〉 Ambro iâ— ad popâ—lâ—â—a â—nter epistol 32.33 Why are you troubed I will neuer willingly depart from you If I be compelled I haue no waie to resist I can sorrow I can weepe I can sigh my teares are my weapons against Souldiours Armour Gothes such is the munition of a preist by any other meanes then teares I neither ought nor can resist so farre Ambrose Not disabilitie but dutie not want of strength and martiall forces but a reuerend regard of the Emperours Maiestie commanded by the law of God kept this blessed Ambrose from resisting For he might easily haue wrought the churches liberty his owne saftie and the Arrians calamitie by the ouerthrowe of the Emperour through the force of the Garison in that Citie which refused to attend the Prince to any other Church then that wherein Ambrose was The stout and peremptorie answer of the Captaines and souldiers is thus reported by Ambrose in an epistle to Marcellina a religious woman Epistol 33. Si prodire vellet haberet copiam se presto futuros The Emperour may goe at his pleasure they would be readie to attend him if he would goe to the catholike assemblies or otherwise they would keepe on their way to that Congregation wherein Ambrose was Thus farre the souldiers They refused as you see to obey and preferred Gods true seruice before the Emperours fauour they reuiled not his sacred person they resisted not his soueraigne power but yeelded themselues to his mercy and pleasure to saue their soules from Gods wrath and displeasure as we find in the same epistle Vnum Iob miraturus ascenderam I went to Church to extoll the patience of Iob Epist eadem where I found euerie one of my hearers a Iob worthie to be extolled In euerie one of you Iob is reuiued in each of you his patience and vertue shined what could be said better by Christian men then that which the holy Ghost this day spake in you We beseech O Emperour we offer not to fight we feare
as it is in the prouerbe nimium alter cando veritas amittitur seeing that in this opposition the truth is not lost but diuided among them For their premisses brought together wil vnauoidably conclude that this deposing power is neither in the Pope the Peeres nor the people Though it were the reason of the seditious Papists and Puritans à facto adius is sophisticall in the schooles where nothing can be concluded ex meris particularibus of meere particular instances Absurd in law quia legibus non exemplis vivitur for men must doe as the law requireth not as other men practise Erroneous in diuinitie non ideo quia factum credimus August ad Consen de mendacio cap. 9. faciendum credamus ne violemus praeceptum dum sectamur exemplum We may not doe that which hath beene done by other men least we breake the law of of God in following the example of man And dangerous in policie as my Lord of Northampton the ornament of learning obserueth The flie saith that noble Earle sitting on the cart wheele might as well wonder at the dust raised in the way as Gregorie or Zacharie draw counsell to power and make that fact their owne which was hammered in the forge of ambition countenanced with the colour of necessitie and executed by Pipin a minister that beeing wearie of subordination resolued by this tricke when the meanes were fitted and prepared to the plot to make himselfe absolute The case of Kings were pitifull if ex factis singularibus it were lawfull to drawe leaden rules in their disgrace Thus farre the Earle The eight Chapter sheweth the danger of this Doctrine and the originall of the Puritan position concerning the power of stastesmen to punish and depose Princes in Monarchies THese desperate attempts suggested by the Deuill executed by the people encouraged by the state approoued by the Pope must serue as admonitions to Princes to humble themselues before God Qui non dabit sanctos suos in captionem dentibus eorum who will not giue his Saints for a pray to their teeth For it is not heard as our great King remembreth That any Prince forgeteth himselfe in his dutie to God or in his vocation Law of Monarch p. 60. But God with the greatnesse of the plague reuengeth the greatnesse of his ingratitude These practises therefore must be no president for Peeres or people to follow because God hath forbidden Christian subiects to resist though kings raigne as Tyrants commanded them to endure with patience though they suffer as Innocents And also because that in stead of releeuing the Common-wealth out of distresse which is euer the pretence of seditions practitioners they shall heape mischeefe on it and desolation on themselues as Aquinas if he be the author of the booke de regim principum sheweth manifestly Esset multitudini periculosum eius rectoribus de regim princ l. 1. c. 6. It were dangerous to subiects and gouernours that any should attempt to take away the life of princes though they were tyrants for commonly not the well disposed but the ill affected men doe thrust themselues into that danger And the gouerment of good Kings is as odious to bad men as the rule of tyrants to good people Wherefore the kingdome by this presumption would be rather in daunger to forgoe a good prince then a wicked tyrant So farre Thomas They that are the authors or abettors of sedition can neither avoide shame in earth nor escape eternall damnation Though God the great Iudge do sometime permit rebells in his Iustice to preuaile against Kings for their contempt of the lawe of the highest and the neglect of their owne dutie The reward of rebellion shall be no better then the recompence of Sathan who is the instrument of the Lords wrath for the punishment of all disobedience It is most true that as sicke men neere their death Chrysostom haue many idle fancies so the world before the ende thereof shall be troubled with many errors In these declining dayes of the world many countreys Cities and Cantons renounced their old gouernment and submitted themselues to such a newe regiment as they best liked for confirmation of which practises there wanted not politike Diuines what wine is so soure that some hedge grapes will not yeeld to inuest the people and Nobles with the power ouer Kings to dispose of their kingdomes The heathen Politicians from whome this politike Diuinitie is deriued knowing not the true God and hauing no rule to direct them but naturall reason thought him no murtherer but a defender of his countrey that killed tyrants But this pagan principle beeing a plant that Christ hath not planted must be plucked vp by the rootes I can finde no ground of this leud learning beyond 220. yeares in the Christian world the first authors of it beeing Iohannes de Parisiis Ioh. de Parie de potest regia papali cap. 14. Iacobus Almain and Marsilius Patavinus Vbi peccat rex in temporalibus saith Iohannes de parisiis papa non habet ipsum corrigere when the king offendeth in the temporall gouernement the Pope hath no authoritie to correct him but the Barons or Peeres of the Realme and if they either cannot or dare not meddle with him they may craue the the Churches aide to suppresse him so farre Iohn of Paris Tota communitas saith Iacob Almain potestatem habet principem deponere All the communalty Iacob Almain de potest eccles cap. 1. hath power to depose their Prince which power the communalty of France vsed when they depriued their king not so much for his impietie as for his disabilitie to manage so great a charge so farre Almain Regis depositio alterius institutio saith Marsilius Patavinus the deposition of a king Marsil Patav de translat imperij cap. 6. and the institution of another in his place belongeth not to the Bishop of Rome to any priest or to the colledge of priests but to the vniuersall multitude of the subiects So farre he From these the Puritans haue learned their error of the power of States-men ouer Kings then which no opinion can be more daungerous where the Nobilitie are as readie to practise as the Puritan preachers are to prescribe What presumption is it in men to passe the bounds which God hath set them to controll the wisdome of the Lord and his vnspeakable goodnes when he maketh triall of the patience of his Saints by the outrage and tyrannie of cruell kings that they which are found patient in trouble constant in truth and loyall in subiection may be crowned with glorie Were we perswaded that the hearts of Kings are in Gods hand that the haires of our head are numbred and that no affliction can befall vs which God doth not dispose to the exercise of our faith the triall of our constancie or the punishment of our sinne we would as well admire the iustice of God in permitting tyrants