Gods appointment where the Text faith hath not the Lord annointed thee to be Governour over his inheritance as also David who was Annointed King by Samuel according to Gods command 1 Sam. 16. 13. Solomon by Zadoc the Priest and Nathan the Prophet 1 King 1. 34. Jeroboam by the Prophet Ahijah 1 King 11. 30 31. all which being performed by the immediate command of God declaring his will and pleasure concerning the advancement of them to their several Power and Preheminence by Extraordinary Revelations do evidence the Right of Royal Investiture to pertain onely to God by whom Kings Raign And that not onely when he doth so declare his will by those Extraordinary means but also when that Power is attained by those ordinary wayes and means which are warranted by Gods word and the Rules of Reason and Equity as in Joas whom Jehoida the Priest made King in pursuance to the promise of God to his servant David that his house should be established for ever Or else these acts of the people are acts of seeming Power or Authority collating this Supremacy and Regal Power upon some person who hath no other Right or Title thereunto neither of Birth-right nor of Revelation from God as upon Absalom Adonijah Jehoadas Judas Theudas and Barchozba who professed himself the Messiah and drew the people into Rebellion against the Roman Emperor which occasioned those wars wherein Jerusalem and the Jewes were destroyed and these acts of the People are execrable sinful and Rebellious and so declared by Gods Judgements thereupon for wheresoever the Scriptures mention the constitution of a King after this manner you shall find that they likewise record not onely the frustration of the peoples endeavours but also that they were frustrated by some heavy and sudden Judgements of God both upon the Usurper whereby he was degraded from his undue honour and the people who presume to confer that honour upon him without a warrant from God and so by that means to obtrude a Deputy upon God of their own and not of Gods Election Whereof we have a lively instance in the madnesse of the People of England in these late times placing forsooth their Lord Protector by those horrible sins of Rebellion and Sacriledge not onely perpetrated against the Right and Power of our late dread Soveraign but even against his Sacred and most Royal Person O Heaven O Earth what satisfaction can be made for that Sacred blood shed to satiate the gluttonous and Sacrilegious lust of Traytors and Rebells who build up Sion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity But surely God will avenge the blood of his Servant crying like the blood of Abel for vengeance These acts of the people in Annointing of Kings are onely mentioned where some of these occasions happened that is where there was an interruption of the ordinary means of conferring the Supremacy by birth-right and Hereditary Succession either by the interposition of Gods just Prerogative in the Advancement of some Person by Extraordinary and Immediate Revelation or else by the usurpation of some who had no right or Title at all but Force and Violence either private of themselves and some few partners wherein God stirred up the people to vindicate the Kings right or Publick of the people but where the Supremacy and Soveraign Power with all the Appendages descended by Birthright there is no mention at all made of the people though the act of Duty and Homage was as necessary to be performed to all who enjoyed the Crown by Hereditary Succession as to Abijah Asa Jehosaphat Jehoram and the rest to whom the people were no less obedient and subject than to those who were appointed by God but I say in those cases the peoples acts of Submission and Homage are not expressed but presupposed as known acts of Duty to those Kings who attained the Supremacy by those ordinary and known means of Birthright And how many Instances are there in Scripture of the inefficacy of the peoples endeavours in this kind as in Aarons and the Israelites honouring and Proclaiming the Golden Calf to be a God and Guide in Moses stead yet did not that popular Election Legitimate that Calfes power and Title Exod. 32. And Absalom was proclaimed King by all the thousands of Israel yet did not that act of the people Legitimate Absaloms Title to the Crown For the Holy Ghost termeth it a Conspiracy when it was at the very height 1 Sam. 15. 12. Shcba had Ten Tribes for him when David had but one and yet was he never termed a King but a man of Belial 2 Sam. 20. Adonijah confesseth that although the faces of all Israel were set on him to make him King yet he never had any just Title or Right to the Kingdom for the Lord had designed it for his Brother Solomon 1 King 2. 15. upon all which God manifested the guilt of their sin by sending those fearful judgements both upon the people and the Traitors so exalted To the reason grounded upon that principle quod honor est in honorante non in honorato let it be premised that honour involves a twofold relation The one primarily and per se to that quality or excellency which is found in the person for which he is honoured and esteemed The other secondarily and virtute prioris to the act of honour and estimation whereby we judge well of the person so and so qualified and therefore all acts of honour in the secondary sence are acts of duty as being the effect of that qualification in the person so magnified and honoured So that it is evident the honour and submission which the people exhibite to their King even from this ground and principle of Aristotle are not acts of favour to be conferred and disposed voluntarily at their own will and pleasure but acts of Duty not onely morally as the acts of honour in the premised principle meerly intimates but also by a Divine necessity being thereto obliged by the Law of God And therefore must be performed to such as God esteems worthy of the honour to be his Deputies and not upon such as themselves judge worthy to be their Rulers For you know the people are obliged to exhibite acts of honour and reverence to a Judge but it doth not therefore follow that the people make that man a Judge but he is made such by Letters Patents from the King without asking any consent from the people To St. Peters Testimony I answer that the Apostles expression there relates to the subject of Soveraignty and Power which is the King and those who are over us under him As manifestly appears by the immediate following words of the Text 1 Peter 2. 13 14. Submit your selves unto every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto Governours as them that are sent by him as if he had said Submit your selves to every Humane Power and Authority that God hath set over you not onely
God to Record with me when I remember makes my flesh tremble stupifies all my senses to think flesh and blood should be guilty of such execrable Acts the perpetration whereof Hell with all its damnable Crue scarcely could or ever did exceed But the prodigious guilt of this Miscreant so much exceedeth the mild point of my pen that in the further process I should but lessen my own resentments and seem to favour that which is the fittest subject for the greatest Satyre in the world The instrumental cause of Monarchy is the secondary means which God makes use of for the immediate collation of this Supremacy upon any man whereby to Intitle him to the Regal Diadem and that either Extraordinary when God doth declare his will by extraordinary revelation and that either for a blessing to his people over whom he placeth him by making him a Minister of his favours and mercies or for the Executioner of his Judgements for the punishment of the peoples sins Or Ordinary when God doth advance a man to this Regal Dignity and Honour by those ordinary wayes and means which are constant Rules for us to judge of whereby to acknowledge this Soveraignty and yeild our obedience and this likewise either when the Soveraign Power is attained by those ordinary wayes and means which are approved and warranted by the word of God and the Rules of Reason and Equity Or when the same is attained by Violence and Injustice and such cursed wayes and means as are repugnant to the word of God and the Rules of Justice and Equity The dispute of the former would be arrogant and impious for the extraordinary wayes of God are far above our Judgement and further above our imitation God never intending such for a president whereby to frame our Actions but onely our Submissions thereunto And therefore I shall insist upon those ordinary wayes and means which are the rule of our Actions in this kind which as I have said is twofold Either when attained by violence and injustice and repugnant to the word of God and the Rules of Justice and Equity which is called Vindicative Or when it is attained by those ordinary means which are approved and warranted by the word of God and this is called Gratious Concerning which there are two opinions the one propugned by some that the Right of the Royal Investiture pertaineth to the people The other and that most certainly is imputed to Birthright and Hereditary Succession Their Arguments whereupon they ground the former opinion are partly instantial and partly rational The instances alleadged for the propugnation hereof are the Inaugurations of those Kings which the Scriptures mention to be made or Annointed by the people as Saul 1 Sam. 11. 15. All the people of the Land came to Gilgal to make him King And David whom all the men of Juda Annointed King at Hebron 2 Sam. 2. 4. And afterwards was Annointed King over Israel at Hebron by all the Tribes of Israel 2 Sam. 5. 3. And Solomon who was likewise Annointed by the people 1 Chron. 29. 20. And Jeroboam whom the people made King 1 King 12. 20. And Vzziah whom the people of the Land made King 2 King 14. 21. And Jehoahas who although he was the second Son of Joshuah was made King by the people in his fathers stead 2 Chron. 23. 20. The reason they ground this opinion upon is taken from that Aristotelian principle Honor est in honor ante non in honorato And therefore the honour say they and Submission which Kings receive is originally in the people And therefore they think it not reasonable that the people should be obliged to give obedience and yield honour to any person but him whom they think and judge worthy of it and so manifest their Judgement of his worth by their Election of him to be their King and Soveraign And lastly they add St. Peters Testimony 1 Pet. 2. 13. who terms Regality an Ordinance of Man which were false if it did proceed from God and not from the people for then it were an ordinance of God and not of Man Now from these grounds they deduce two damnable because Rebellious Consequences and Corollaries 1. That though the King be Major singulis yet he is Minor universis and therefore that is no Rebellion but duty in the people to resist and oppose the King nay to depose and dethrone him where the people judge it necessary in relation to the defence of their own safety 2. That the King doth receive and enjoy this honour onely by vertue of a stipulation or Covenant between himself and the people And therefore if the King do violate this Covenant and break the Trust reposed in him by the people by any acts which are destructive ad Salutem populi whereof they presuppose themselves to be Judges that then the people are absolved from their Allegiance grounded upon that Trust and Covenant and may Lawfully provide for their own safety and welfare either by resistance deposition dethronement or any such means as themselves shall judge thereunto conducent Now to confute this opinion concerning the Peoples Right and Power in this Regal Investiture and in answer to the Arguments alleadged for the propugnation thereof and to those damnable and execrable inferences grounded thereupon we must know that these acts of the People mentioned in the premised instances of Scripture of making and Annointing Kings are Either acts of Homage and Duty by way of acknowledgement and testification of the Supremacy already Legally confirmed upon the person to whom these duties are performed which in Scripture are expressed upon two several occasions The one where God did confer this Supremacy and Regal Honour by any extraordinary wayes and means as in Saul David Solomon and Jeroboam The other where God used their means for the vindication of the Kings just Title against an Usurper as in Joas whom Jehoida the Priest and the Captaines and the people crowned and annointed King in the Temple restoring him to his just Rights which had been usurped by his Grandmother Athaliah 2 King 11. 12 13. And in Hosiah the son of Amaziah whom the people restored to his just Power which the Conspirators who slew his Father had usurped And in both these cases the acts of the People are good and Lawful and approved by God being declared to be the will of God upon the former occasion extraordinarily upon the latter ordinarily And indeed is nothing else but the peoples necessitated assent and manifestation of joy for that blessing which God hath bestowed upon them and therefore bound to perform all acts of obedience and Loyalty to him so Invested whereunto they do by this act of theirs silently and implicitely promise and engage And not by this act of theirs stipulating or adding any Authority or Supremacy to the person so inaugurated as in those instances if severally and seriously considered will appear For 1 Sam. 10. 1. we find Saul and that by
the restitution of their Lawful Soveraign to his just Rights as Jehojada and the people restored Jehoash by the Deposition and Murther of Athaliah after she had Raigned peaceably for six years 2 King 11. and as the people restored Vzziah by the Deposition of those Conspirators who slew his father Amaziah after they had Raigned peaceably eleven years 2 Chron. 26. Quest If it be not Lawful for a people to Elect their own King nor any means assigned by God for Collation of this honour but either Birth-right or Conquest what is to be done when the Royal Family is Extinct and no Conquerer doth claim and where a mixt multitude amongst whom there is no Relation of Blood to Preheminence one above the rest do consent to make a Plantation and to Erect a new Commonwealth Ans Samuel hath set us a President in this case 1 Sam. 10. 20 21. For though the Lord had revealed his will to Samuel concerning his own Election and appointment of Saul to be King 1 Sam. 9. 15. yet because Samuel foreknew that King should be a Tyrant to plague the people for their Idolatrous Trust in a King he concealed that Revelation and would not nominate their King lest the people should afterwards when they suffered by Sauls oppression blame Samuel for appointing him but used the means of Lots to declare the will and pleasure of God in Electing of a King unto the people And the like was used by the Eleven Apostles when they had no warrant from God to Appoint or Elect another Apostle nor durst presume to confer that High calling upon any man without a warrant from God as you may read Acts 1. 23. So that in both those cases mentioned in this question we are to use the means of Lots for that means is likewise warranted by God where his will is not otherwise known and declared Prov. 16. 33. but the peoples Election is absolutely unlawful as the premises I hope have sufficiently manifested either in those or any other cases And this of the Efficient Causes of Monarchy The End or Final Causes thereof are either Principal and that is Gods Glory and the Kings Honour or less Principal and that is the Subjects welfare The principal End of Monarchy is either as the Schoolmen term it Originans which is Gods Glory or Originatus that is the Kings Honour Now concerning the Original Principal End which is Gods Glory it is to be understood that we do not speak of it here in its extent and latitude as it is the universal end of all things but onely as it is limited to Monarchical Actions and Duties in which sence Gods Honour and the Kings are not really but modally onely different both of them consisting in the very same Duties and are of the same Nature in reference to Monarchy For all excellency worth and goodness is radically and essentially in God from whom is communicated Personae honoratae that worth and goodness for which he is honoured and esteemed And therefore this Politick honour which Preheminences the Monarch above all others in the same Society is that excellency which God communicates to him enabling him for the execution of the Duties of his Calling in the Rule and Government of his people and subjects and with a Power to constitute and Enact Laws and Statutes for the Publick good and benefit of the Common-wealth and with power to execute the same Lawes either by remunerating the integrity of pious and just men according to the merits of their service and obedience or by correcting and punishing the Delinquences of Disobedient and evil men For a Seditious person seeketh onely evil and a cruel messehger shall be sent against him Prov. 17. 11. Obj. But it may be objected that seeing the Kings Honour is subsequent to Gods Glory it being the chief principal End of Monarchy that then when the Kings Commands are contrary to Gods we may resist Sol. We may resist his Commands but not his Power for in those Cases we must obey God by an Active the King onely by a Passive Obedience For which we have the president of the Apostles themselves Acts 4. 5. who did refuse to obey the Commands of the Rulers prohibiting them to preach in the Name of Jesus but yet submitted to their power in yeiding themselves to be imprisoned and beaten according to the commands of the Rulers So that they obeyed both God and the Magistrate the first by doing the latter by suffering For Rom. 13. we must needs be subject not onely for wrath but also for Conscience sake by Christs example who needed not to have submitted to Pilate or the Jews for wrath for he was able to overthrow them all with a blast of the breath of his mouth but yet to honour the Substitute and Deputy of his Father he submitted to their power Acts 4. 28. which is the Ground of Nazianzens advise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We must submit to good Kings as to the Lord himself to bad Kings for the Lords sake And Solomon Eccles 10. 20 makes this more evident where he extends the Honour and reverence due to Kings unto the very thoughts and imaginations of the heart notwithstanding they were both Fools Tyrants and Idolaters for when Solomon prohibited the cursing of the King yea even in the thought he was not ignorant that Saul had been a Tyrant himself an Idolater and that his Son Rehoboam who should succeed him was a fool Object You will say what must men then think and believe manifest lyes must we neither say nor think that those Kings are evil and wicked which manifest themselves to be such in all their actions such as the Scriptures record for most infamous and notorious finners Sol. Kings in reference to their duty towards God may be more wicked than other men because they may offend in a double capacity First In their Natural by transgressing Gods Commandments which do oblige them equally as they do other men Secondly In their Politick as Gods Deputies by breach of that Trust which God hath reposed in them for Ruling and Governing of his people according to Justice and Equity But in reference to their duty towards us they cannot do wicked things as before shewed so that the words of Solomon are to be understood onely of Kings in reference to the exercise of their Power upon us which whether it be for good or hurt is still from God And therefore we may not think them evil and unjust to us for the Judgement is not theirs but Gods Prov. 26. 29. who cannot be unjust Now as God did deligate unto Kings a Power over our persons in his Ordinance for their Primary power and Authority so did he likewise give them a Power over our Estates for the Magnificent Maintenance and support of that Honour which is their Secondary honour of Maintenance and Revenue Which was the ground of Christs command Matth. 22. 21. to render a Tribute of our Goods to Caesar intimating that this temporal honour of Tribute was by vertue of Gods Deligation as due unto Caesar as the spiritual honour of Praise and Worship was unto God And upon the same ground St. Paul commands to render Custome and Tribute to Kings not as a gift and favour but as a due and just debt Rom. 13. 7 and gives this reason for it because they are Gods Ministers appointed to supply his place in Ruling and Judging us And seeing God hath transferred the greater power to Kings viz. over our lives by putting the sword into his hands the Apostle thence concludes their Investiture with the less viz. a Power over our Estates and the like Power we see exercised by Pharao in that Ordinance for storeing up a fifth part of all the Corn in Egypt for seven years together which Law was Enacted by Pharao upon the single Counsel of Joseph with the Approbation onely of Pharao's servants or Council and not by the general consent of the people Gen. 41. 34. neither can we pretend this Law to be Tyrannical for it proceeded from the wisdom of God who in this business directed the mind of Joseph Gen. 45. 57. nor can any man imagine but the State and magnificence of Saul David Jeroboam and others who of private persons and others were advanced by God himself to Regal Honour and Dignity was supported by this means of Custome and Tribute nor do I find any particular Law or Statute for the particular endowment of those Kings but onely that general Right and Prerogative which they derive from God Investing them with a Power over both our Persons and Estates And now I hope our obedience either Active or Passive being a necessitated Duty and incumbency upon us as the premises do sufficiently declare to be performed both from our Persons and Estates to our Lawful King and Monarch doth absolutely manifest the peoples welfare to be the less principal end of Monarchy which though it be really distinct from the Kings honour yet is indeed a meer result and product of the same For Salus populi can never be effected or energated by any other means but those which in the first place do effectuate and energate the Kings honour whether we look upon the Monarchical Actions of King or Subjects both which are versant about the same object and matter onely in a divers manner For the King is Interested onely in the Active part of Government by Enacting and duly Executing of Lawes for Gods Glory his own honour and the peoples welfare the people in the Passive part of Government by their obedience and submission to such Laws and Commands of the King the violation whereof is a direct means of Dishonour to God and the King and of Ruine and of Destruction to the people FINIS * Quicquid est quod dat patri filius utique minus est quia hanc ipsam dandi facultatem patri debet Seneca lib. 3. †1 Tim. 5. 4. a The Stork * St. Leonards Colledge in St. Andrews in Scotland and Graies Inne in London lib. de Moderatione in disp Servand Ad rusticum Monachum * Jerom. cap. 1. ad Titum Ep. ad Evagrium