therefore termed Despoticum herile Imperium And such a Monarch seems to be that which by Aristotle is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There be Princes invested with Majesty who challenge the Legislative power unto themselves will by a Proclamation or Edict command the goods of their Subjects and imprison their persons at will and pleasure These though they be limited by the fundamental Constitution and their Oaths are in the exercise of their power as absolute as the former This kind of Government may do well where the Subjects are turbulent insolent and unruly or of a base and servile spirit or rude and savage But where the people are ingenuous tractable and of a better disposition it 's very unreasonable for it will either cause Rebellions and Seditions or much debase their spirits This kind of Monarchy is apt to degenerate into a Tyranny of one person Yet if this kind of Sovereign be wise just and vertuous the people may live happily under his protection Yet such a power and so unlimited is not fit to be trusted in the hands of every one And if it be hereditary woe to the people that live under it Yet this power may be trusted in the hands of one yet so as that it may be allayed limited and justly and wisely poised and the Sovereign as a King. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew signifies a Governor in general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek is a word of great latitude and so is Rex in Latin and also Sultan in the Arabick and Mauritanian Language Yet some are such imperious Dictators and Masters of words that the word King must needs signifie an absolute Monarch That it often signifies a Monarch and one that hath the title of Majesty there is no doubt But the bare word or title not distinctly inform us of the power or the manifold differences of Kings which must be known another way as by the constitution of those particular States where the chief and most eminent Governours have that title For there is a great difference and that in respect of power between the Kings of Spain and France and the Kings of Poland Swethland and Denmark Neither doth the King of England in this respect exactly agree with any of them But if the word cannot the definition surely of a King should determine his power Yet neither will the common usual definition do it For thus he is commonly defined A King is a Monarch who governeth free men justly according to the Laws to the good of the Common-wealth The Genus is that he is a Monarch And if such in strict senc◠as such he can have neither Superiour nor Peer in his Kingdom The specifical difference is taken from the Subject the rule the end of his Government For his proper act is Regere to govern The subjects of his Government are Freemen The Rule is just Laws The end the publick good Abstract the specifical difference and lay the word King and Monarch aside and it agrees to all Governours Civil whatsoever For Civil government being grounded upon the eternal moral Law Love thy Neighbour as thy self and more particularly upon the fifth Commandment no person or persons invested with Sovereign power can be defined any other way and neither their power nor the exercise thereof is good further than it agrees with this definition And the more their government swerves from this Rule the more of the Tyrant is in them and if the violation of it be more than their observation and that habitually too then they are really Tyrants in exercitio For denominatio fit a parte praedominante But I have wondred why Authors have made this the specifical difference of a King which certainly it cannot be Yet this definition leaves many things doubtful For it determines not what liberty is and whether it can be perfect without propriety Nor doth it tell us what these Laws are according to which he must govern whether the Laws of God only or the Laws also of men and if of men whether the Laws of constitution or administration if of administration whether they must be made by himself alone or by some others without him or with him For if the Laws be made by him alone he is an absolute Despotical Sovereign if by others either with him or without him he is not such For there may be a King at least in name above Law and a King by Law and such as cannot command or bind the meanest Subject nor judge him but according to Law. Such a King is not a pure Monarch which I now treat of Therefore a King that is a pure Monarch differs from a Despotical Sovereign in respect of his Subjects and the measure of his power and according to this definition in the exercise of it The Subjects of the one are free and have propriety of person and goods the Subjects of the other have neither The power of the one is more absolute and of larger extent or rather more intensive The exercise of the power of the one is bounded by just Laws the power of the other is not limitted or directed by Laws and so tends not so much to advance the weal of his Subjects as his own greatness and in this respect can be no lawful and good Governour if he act according to his absolute and arbitrary power which God never gave him And Despotical Sovereigns if wise and just will do as Trajan did that is act according to the Rule of Justice and of a limitted power though they be not bound by man to do so section 6 An absolute and pure Monarchy is a very dangerous form of Government and very inclinable and propense to Tyranny and such a Sovereign as is invested with such transcendent power degenerates and turns Tyrant Experience in all times and places makes this evident Monarchy indeed in some respects is the best Government Yet such is the imperfection and corruption of man that it proves not to be so If Monarchs were like God or Saints and Angels it might be better But in a succession whether elective or hereditary we find in tract of time few good many bad and very wicked In Israel the first King was not right the fourth too bad and after the Kingdom was divided into the Tribe of Israel and Judah in Judah we find few like David many very wicked in the Kingdom of Israel not one good Yet the Laws both Civil and Ecclesiastical were made to their hands and that by God himself Sovereign power is a weighty burthen and requires much strength and excellent abilities Moses himself cannot bear it alone he hath need of one hundred and Seventy Elders and the same endued with the spirit of government to be his assistants If a Sovereign be imprudent or weak of understanding not able to judge of good counsel or negligent or timorous or wilful or destitute of good Agents and Instruments for Administrations the Government begins to
Rulers of the World. And he makes use of Angels Men Armies all Creatures to execute his righteous Judgments 6. Majesty hangs very loosely upon such as do possess it they have no strong hold of it It 's easily separable from man and man from it and it 's more easily lost than acquired and acquired many times more easily than kept Therefore it is that a Scepter is so easily turned to a spade and a spade unto a Scepter 7. Here is the proper place to examine 1. Whether Majesty can be conferred upon any person or persons upon condition 2. Whether once conferred and received it can be forfeited Not to be conditionally given and received not to be liable to forfeiture are not Jura Majestatis as Mr. Hobbs improperly calls them but if they any ways agree to Majesty as it will be hard to prove they do they are rather adjuncts than any thing else For the first Whether they be given upon condition or no cannot be well determined except we distinguish of this Power as given by God and as given by Man. 2. Between Majesty real and personal 3. Between personal of the first and of the second degree 4. Between the Sovereign materially and formally considered 1. God never gave any Power or Majesty Real or Personal but upon condition 1. That the receiver use it well 2. That he may take it away at will and pleasure 2. Real Majesty cannot by Man be given upon condition to a Community as free and such in proper sense 3. A Community may give personal Majesty upon condition and by the Laws of God cannot give it otherwise And the Condition is that they use it well and for the good of the people according to the eternal Laws of divine Wisdom and Justice for that very end for which God ordained all higher Powers and civil Government And no good Sovereign will desire it upon any other terms Hence the Oaths solemnly administred to the Sovereigns of the World which the people impose upon them not as Subjects but as members of a Free Community and this imposing referrs to the first Constitution and the fundamental Law of Government This is clear enough in the first institution of a King in England as the Myrrour tells us The Conqueror received the Crown upon the same terms And some good Lawyers inform us that before the King had taken his Oath to the people he could not require an Oath of Allegiance from them Therefore Sir Edward Coke must be warily understood when he makes the Coronation but a formality For though the setting of the Crown upon their Heads which is but a sign of Dignity and Honour be but a Ceremony yet the matter of his Oath is essential to the making of him King and if that being the substance of the fundamental Contract be not presupposed as first consented unto he cannot be a King. Bracton who advanceth our Kings as high as any antient Lawyer saith Ipse autem Rex non debet esse sub homine sed sub Deo Lege quia lex facit Regem Attribuat igitur Rex Legi quod lex attribuit ei videlicet dominationem potestatem Non enim est Rex ubi dominatur voluntas non lex l. 1. c. 8. And here he seems to understand not only the Law of constitution but administration That he means the latter is plain when he saith Non debet esse major eo in Regno suo in exhibitione juris He formerly asserted that Rex non habet param in Regno suo which is true in respect of every single person otherwise we know the King may be judged With this agrees that of the Myrrour That it was the great abusion of all to say the King was above the Laws to which he ought to be subject And we know who makes these Laws Arnisaeus who is so zealous for absolute Monarchs confesseth with the Philosopher that ubi leges dominantur the King cannot be absolute He observeth three kinds of Oaths which Princes take The 1. Is to maintain Religion The 2. To do their Duty The 3. Whereby they subject themselves to the Laws Such are the Oaths to be taken by the Kings of Poland Swethland Denmark and England whose Coronation-Oath includes all the three Yet this very man having no better Author than Holinshed is bold to affirm that our Kings were absolute hereditary Monarchs Bodin and Bisoldus seem to be of the same mind And if they be such then saith Arnisaeus they are Kings before they take their Oaths and hereditary too But who told him so How will he prove it We know for certain it 's otherwise and our Antiquaries in Law will say that he is very ignorant and yet very bold if not an impudent flatterer That Bodin with him and others should make the King of France absolute there may be some colour if we look upon their practice for they act very highly as absolute Princes Yet if Hottoman a better Lawyer and a far greater Antiquary than either Bodin or Arnisaeus be true the Kings of France are made Kings and receive their Crowns from the first investiture and that upon conditions Neither is there any Government which hath a rational and just constitution which may be known by ancient Records or unwritten constant Customs but will manifest that the Sovereigns thereof receive their Crowns and keep them upon certain conditions different from the written and natural Laws of God. And it 's remarkable that no Constitution can be good or allowable which is not agreeable to those Laws It 's true that if a people design one or more Persons to be their Sovereign and promise absolutely to acknowledge them by that designation and promise they are bound to grant him or them all the power whereby he or they may be absolute Sovereigns and if they will keep their promise they must not they cannot put any conditions upon him or them which may tend to the diminution of the Power already given And they may give it so as that he may as absolutely transmit it and derive it to his Posterity Yet if any shall do thus and set up such an absolute Sovereign that very Person or his Successor may be considered materially as such or such men or formally as such Sovereigns Materially considered especially as such as not yet invested they may be bound to such conditions as upon the non-performance of them they may forfeit But consider them as actually and absolutely invested there can be no such Obligation neither can any Conditions or Oaths be imposed upon them except they be willing to accept of them Yet if any people constitute such a Soveraignty it 's to be examined how justly and wisely they have done and whether they have not enslaved both themselves and their posterity and laid the foundation of their own misery and ruine And if this Constitution be neither just nor wise I cannot see how it should bind posterity And I
these were not called but the chief of them as Earls who possessed twenty Knights Fees and Barons which had to the value of thirteen Knights Fees and a third part of one 3. That because these were too many some of them were call'd to Parliament some omitted and only such as were called were counted Barons the rest not 4. This being taken ill the Barons caused King John adigere to covenant under the Broad Seal to summon severally by so many Writs the Arch-Bishops Abbots Earls and the greater Barons of the Kingdom 5. Yet Henry the Third so little regarded that compact that he called and kept a Parliament with an hundred and twenty Spiritual and only twenty five Temporal Lords though he had numbred two hundred and fifty Baronies in England 6. Edward the First omitted divers of those whom Henry the Third had summoned So that it will be a very difficult thing to rectifie or reduce unto the first institution this House as distinct from that of the Commons For it should be known 1. What kind of persons must constitute this other House 2. What their Priviledges be 3. What they must do which the House of Commons may not must not do section 15 By all this something of the nature of the Parliament may be known But then what is the power of this assembly either severally considered without the King or jointly with the King And that they may make Orders and Ordinances pro tempore will be granted and also which is far more if the King have no Negative voice the Legislative and Judicial power is in them and their ultimate Resolves and Dictates in all matters of Counsel must stand And if so then reason will conclude that if the King refuse to be personally or virtually present and to act with them they may do any thing for the good of the Kingdom without him which they may do jointly with him Yet because Laws and Judgment are ineffectual without execution therefore the King being trusted with the execution was required to give his consent that he might take care of the Execution For to that end was he trusted with the Sword of Justice and War that he might protect the people and see that Laws and Judgments be executed If we consider the Parliament as consisting of King Peers and Commons jointly it is the first subject of Personal Majesty and to it and it alone belongs all the Jura Majestatis personalis They have the power Legislative Judicial Executive to exercise it in the highest degree and may perform all acts of administration as distinct from the Constitution They are the highest assembly for Legislation the highest Counsel for advice the highest Court for Judicature section 16 This is the power of the Parliament which can do many and great things yet some things they cannot do for they are limitted not only by the Laws of God but also by the Laws of the Constitution Sir Roger Owen tells That the Parliament cannot do all things For 1. Many Acts are Voted for errors in matter of fact and for contrariety in words and sometimes they have idle and flattering proviso's 2. A Parliament hath not power to ordain that a Law shall not be abrogated for the space of twenty years for a latter Parliament may repeal their Acts. 3. That a Parliament cannot Enact that if there were no Heir to the Crown that the people should not be able to chuse a new King. 4. It cannot change the form of our Policy from a Monarchy to a Democraty 5. It cannot take away divers Prerogatives annexed to the Crown of England or that the King should not be able to dissolve the Parliament at will and pleasure yet in another place he tells us that he cannot dissolve the Parliament at will and pleasure and again he is not above the Parliament because he cannot be above himself and in Parliament he is Maxime Rex He further informs us that the common Law is the King's Inheritance and how the Parliament may wither away the Flowers of the Crown The true reason why the Parliament cannot do some of these things nor others not mentioned by him is because they have not real but personal Majesty They cannot alter the Government nor take away divers things belonging to the Crown because they did not give the Prerogatives of the Crown at the first the Commons of the Realm gave them as he confesseth The form of Government was first constituted by the Community of England not by the Parliament For the Community and people of England gave both King and Parliament their being and if they meddle with the Constitution to alter it they destroy themselves because they destroy that whereby they subsist The Community indeed may give a Parliament this power to take away the former Constitution and to frame and model another but then they cannot do this as a Parliament but as trusted by the people for such a business and work nay they may appoint another assembly of fewer or more to do such a work without them They may set up a Consilium sapientum which may determine what matters are fit to be proposed to the Parliament and in what order and also contrive a Juncto for all businesses which require expedition and secrecy which may act without them whether the Parliament it self can do such things or no may justly be doubted What may be done in extraordinary cases is one thing what may be done in an ordinary way another When he saith that the Parliament cannot change the form of Policy from a Monarchy he presupposeth our State of England to be a Monarchy yet if he distinguish not between the Constitution and the administration he may be guilty of an error For it 's not a Monarchy but only in respect of the Executive part in the Intervals of Parliaments Our Ancestors abhorred absolute and arbitrary Monarchs therefore before they did establish a King they made a bridle to keep him in and put it upon him This is plain from Bracton Fortescue the Coronation Oath and the Mirror section 17 From all this we may conjecture what the Constitution of England was It was no absolute Monarchy that 's plain enough Neither was it a State of pure disposition but mixt Neither were the Jura Majestatis divided some to the King some to the Lords some to the Commons it was of a far better mould The personal Majesty primary was in King Peers and Commons jointly in the whole assembly as one body this may appear several ways as 1. From this that it was a Representative of the whole Nation and as it was a general Representative of all England and no ways else was it invested with this personal Sovereignty It must represent the whole Community all the Members thereof of what rank or condition soever not only the Laity but the Clergy too these are words used in our Laws and good enough though disliked by
it and settle it But still we must prefer the publick good before any particular form of Government and seriously consider what is best to be done for the present For when we cannot do what we will we must be willing to do what we can whosoever will not submit in such a case nay and act too for the publick good and interest of his dear Country must needs be guilty before God as not loving God and his publick Neighbour as they are bound to do It was a just resolution and profession of some who returned to act in Parliament after the Members were secluded and the King put to death and said though they did not like and approve of some things already done yet they would joyn cordially with the rest to promote the publick good for future times So likewise the Judges after another great alteration was made debating what to do they unanimously agreed to act because there was a necessity that Justice should be administred unto the people and the Laws kept in force They did not think it fit to demur and delay till the names of King and Parliament should be put in their Commission they knew they were not essential to Justice or necessary or so much as conducing to the administration thereof as the case then was Neither did they scruple to undertake the work because of the former Oaths Protestation Covenant Engagement for if these did tye their hands from doing God and their Country service they knew they must be vincula iniquitatis but so they did not understand them The sum is there was an extraordinary power besides the Allegiance due unto God and our Country and therefore subjection was due from all English men Let us suppose an Inter-regnum as there hath been is and in part will be till we be more fully settled and the power ordinary brought into a constant channel will any man doubt or fear to submit and act because he conceives things are not ordered according to his mind And shall there be no Government no submission till he be satisfied and his Idea established Suppose all should do so especially such as are of parts and ability what will become of us all Let wise men consider what would be the consequents thereof It 's true no party should engross the power to the prejudice of our Liberty and the publick good yet we must stay God's time and use such means as may stand with the publick safety Some kind of remedies may at some times help which at another may do mischief not cure but kill We should remember that it 's not committed to man but reserved by God unto himself to dispose of the Kingdoms and States of the World. It 's not in our power to have and chuse what Government and Governours we will. That we after such bloody Wars and bitter Dissentions have not a settled State it 's God's Judgments upon us for our sins that for the present we enjoy peace and the Gospel it 's his unspeakable mercy Let every soul therefore be subject to the higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God. Let us submit our selves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether to the king as supream or unto governours as unto them who are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers and the praise of them that do well Where amongst other things these are observable That Governours and Government are of God. 2. That the end of Government is the punishment of Evil-doers and the praise and protection of them that do well 3. That Governnours are supreme and subordinate For by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 turned ordinance of man is meant Civil Government molded by man and Governours designed and created by man to rule over man. 4. That subjection to these is due by Divine Law and Ordination These things I thought good to deliver and to express my mind briefly in the matter of subjection and do humbly in this as in all the rest submit to wiser men and my intention is peace and my end the publick good which I with a single heart desire to promote without any inclination to a Faction or Party The Authors of Politicks speak of the distinction division and education of subjects and though some of these belong to a Community or are presupposed before a Community can be compleat some of them are reduceable to administration the second part of this Art yet I will briefly handle them in this place because they are accidents to pars subdita 2. Because they prepare the Subject for Government and so facilitate Administration The method is this Subditi distinguuntur in eos qui tales imperfecte ut peregrini Ecclesiastici incolae utrique Ecclesiastici perfecte nati utrique Ecclesiastici nobiles plebai facti utrique Saeculares Dividuntur in partes 1. majores Provincias Comitatus minores Centurias Decurias 2. Aequales quae co-ordinantur In aequales quae subordinantur Minores majoribus singulae toti Educantur modo nobiliori in Scholis Collegiis Academiis studii generalis Philosophiae Jurisprudentiae Medicinae Theologiae Minus nobili ad Rempublicam conservandam hinc agricultura opificium quod melius ordinatur per Collegiae Vniversitates defendendum hinc ars militatis ditandam ornandam hinc Mercatura This though not so accurate is sufficient for my design seeing the principal subject of my discourse is Ecclesiastical Government and for the more particular and distinct knowledge hereof I refer the Reader to other Authors who have written more at large concerning these particulars Yet not to be altogether silent let us speak first of strangers then secondly of compleat subjects Incomplete imperfecte subditi sunt peregrini incolae Strangers are such as either only sojourn or such as fix their Habitation in another Common-Wealth where they are neither perfect Members of the Community nor compleat Subjects of the Common-Wealth Such as only sojourn or travel out of their own state are called Peregrini in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is their name when they are in another Common-Wealth There may be many Reasons and Causes sojourning and peregrination Abraham by Gods special command forsook his own Country and sojourned in the Land of Canaan so did Isaac and Jacob. Some are persecuted and fly from their own Country for safety and shelter some guilty persons fly for to avoid punishment some sojourn for succour in a time of Famine as Israel in Aegypt some live in Forraign Nations for Traffick some for to improve their Knowledge and gain Experience in several kinds of Professions To such we owe much of our skill in Trades several Workmanships in Learning in Geography in the nature of their Soyl Buildings Military Art the Manners and Customs of several Nations the Disposition and Nature of the Inhabitants in the Model of States in
which should be united Some desire to propagate their own Opinions though false unprofitable blasphemous and their design is to draw Disciples after them These prevail the more because they find the minds of many so ready to receive any impression For some have itching ears and every new and strange opinion doth affect and much take with them Few are well grounded in the principles of Christian saving truth so as to have a distinct methodical knowledge of them with an upright humble heart disposed to practise what they know for a distinct knowledge of Fundamentals with a sincere desire and intention to practise and live accordingly are excellent means to avoid Errors for such God will guide in his truth some aim at an higher perfection than this life can reach and boasting of their high attainments insolently censure others or look upon them with scorn and contempt as far below them Some design to make Men Scepticks in all matters of Religion that then their minds being like Matter ready to receive any form they may more easily imprint upon them what they please yet in the issue many of them prove Atheists and enemies to all Religion The grand Politicians and chief Agents who do least appear animate the Design take all advantages watch all opportunities single out the fittest persons and make men even of contrary Judgments and of a temper quite different from themselves instrumental and efficient to their own Ruine yet I hope that God in the end will not only discover but disappoint them All these bandy together and do conspire to destroy the Protestant English interest and it 's a sad thing that Orthodox Christians take little notice of these things but fearfully wrangle about matters of less moment to the great prejudice of the necessaries and substantials of Religion section 5 All this is come upon us for our neglect and abuse of a long continued Peace and the light of the Gospel shining so gloriously amongst us We are guilty but God is just and also merciful and wonderfully wise For he is trying of us to purge away the Tin and dross and he expects that we should search more accurately pray more fervently and more humbly depend upon him whose wisdom is such as that he can and will bring light out of darkness good out of evil and a far more excellent Order out of our confusions The prayers of the upright for this end are made and heard in heaven already and what we desire in due time shall be effected For he will comfort Sion he will comfort all her waste places and he will make her Wilderness like Eden and her Desart like the Garden of the Lord. This indeed is a work to which man contributes little hinders much retards long that Gods hand and Wisdom may the more appear and that he may have the glory In the mean time Christ takes care of the universal Church and the parts thereof converting some confirming others and directing all true believers to eternal Glory and though a storm be raised and the same very terrible yet it 's nothing but we may be confident when we consider the skill and miraculous power of our Heavenly Pilot. section 6 My intention is not to instruct the learned who are more fit to be my Masters yet to these endued with far more excellent gifts I would give occasion and also make a motion to exercise their improved parts and learning in this Subject and do this poor distracted Church of ours a part of the universal some far more glorious service God may make me though very unworthy an instrument of his Wisdom to inform the ignorant and remove their Errors and correct their mistakes It may also through God's Blessing contribute something unto Peace by uniting well affected minds I am enemy to no man yet professedly bent against errors and that not only in others but also in my self if once I know them I am not pre-engaged to any Party but a servant unto truth and devoted unto Peace I wish I may not be prejudicate or partial or precipitate as many do who contend to maintain a Party or a Faction but do not care to search out the truth these do not close up but open the breaches amongst us and make them wider and leave others unsatisfied Our differences be so many and so great that we seem to be uncapable of any Peace yet God can do wonders and we may trust in him who in his time will give us Peace if not on Earth yet certainly in Heaven the place of our Eternal Rest. CHAP. II. Of Government in general and of a Community Civil CHurch-Government presupposeth the Rules of Government in general therefore he that will know the latter must understand the former For he that is ignorant of Government must needs be ignorant of Church-Government and this is the very case of many in our days and this is one cause of many differences amongst us at this time to give some light in this particular I will say something of Government in General the Government of God whereby he more immediately orders man to his final and immortal estate I have according to my poor ability declared in my Theopolitica or Divine Politicks therefore I will confine my discourse to the Government of man by man or rather the Government of God by men set over men For God communicates some measure of his Power to mortal men and such as are entrusted with it become his Vicegerents and bear his name according to that of the Psalmist I have said ye are Gods Psal. 82.6 My design in this Treatise is not to deliver an exact Systeme of Politicks yet I will make use of those rules I find in political writers of better rank but with a reservation of a liberty to my self to vary from them as I shall see just cause To pass by the distinction of Government Monastical and Oeconomical I will pitch upon that which is Political The subject whereof is a Community and Society larger than that of a Family and may be sufficient to receive the form of a Common-wealth section 2 To this end we must observe what Politica which some call the rule of Government of a Politie is 2. What a Politie or Common-wealth 3. What the parts of Politica be Politica or Politicks is the act of well ordering a Common-wealth A Common-wealth is the order of Superiority and Subjection in a Community for the Publick Good. Of Politicks there be two parts the constitution administation of a Common-wealth These Rules are the foundation of the following Discourse and inform us that Politica is an act that is a rule of Divine Wisdom to direct some operations of the Creature for so I understand it here 2. That the Object of this rule is a Common-wealth 3. That the proper act is to direct how to order a Common-wealth aright so that it may attain its proper end 4. That the subject
Dignity or Honour without any Power The nature of it consists in Power which hath several branches concerning which he relates the Opinion and Judgment of the Philosopher of Historians of the writers of Politicks of Lawyers and in the end delivers his own mind and reduced them to certain Heads in this manner Iura majestatis sunt Majora Defensionis Gubernationis in Minora de aerario colligendo Legibus condendis Magistratibus constituendis The first division is taken from the inequality of these Prerogatives and Rights The second he seems to ground upon these words That our King may judge us and go out before us and fight our Battels 1 Sam. 8.20 Where to Judge seems to signifie to Govern by Law and Officers to go out before us and fight our Battels presupposeth in his Judgment the power of the Militia To these he adds other two concerning the ordering of Religion and Coining of Money Under these general Heads he reduceth many other particulars and so proceeds to handle 1. the greater 2. The less Prerogatives severally and that largely This with the salving of some doubts and confuting some Errours is the Scheme and substance of the whole Treatise divided into three several Books section 8 Leaving every one to his own method I will with submission to better Judgment make bold to deliver my own Majestas est Realis quae potest rempublicam Constituere abolere mutare reformare Personalis quae agit cum exteris De Bello Pace Per Foedera Legationes suis circa divina religionem ordinando humanae leges ferendo exequendo This though not exact may serve the turn and in some measure declare the several branches of this great Power which in it self is but one yet hath many acts and the same different in respect of several and different Objects and Subjects I only mention the chief Heads to which the rest may be reduced for the better and more distinct understanding of it I will more particularly explain my self 1. Therefore Majesty is Reall Personal Real is in the Community and is greater than Personal which is the power of a Common-wealth already constituted For as you have heard before this form of a Common-wealth is virtually in it before it be constituted and their consent is the very foundation of it And this consent whether mediate or immediate tacit or express is so necessary that though a people be conquered yet the Victor cannot govern them as men without their consent Nay more when God designed immediately first Saul then David yet the election and consent of the people did concur with and follow upon the Divine Designation As this Real Majesty is a Power to model a State so it s always inherent and can never be separated insomuch that when a form of Government is dissolved or there shall be a failer of Succession the Power of the Soveraign doth divolve unto them by the law of nature or rather it was always in the people As this Community hath the power of constitution so it hath of dissolution when there shall be a just and necessary cause Hence appears the mistake of Junius Brutus Buchanon Heno and others when they say Ejus est destituere Cujus est constituere if they meant it of the multitude and body of the Subjects as Subjects under a form of Government it can only be true of a Community where they have just and necessary cause Subjects as Subjects cannot do it because of their Subjection and Obligation whereas the Community as a Community is free from any Obligation to any particular Form either from the Laws of God Natural or Positive or from their own Consent or Oaths And though the People in this consideration are bound both by the Natural and Positive Laws of God to constitute a Government if they can yet they are not bound to this Form or that Another Act of this Majesty in the Community is when they see it necessary and just and they have not only Power but Opportunity to do it to alter the Form of the Government this Act as with us is above the Power of a Parliament which may have Personal yet cannot have this Real Majesty For a Parliament doth necessarily presuppose a Form of Government already agreed upon whereby they are made the Subject of Personal Soveraignity Therefore they cannot alter or take away the cause whereby they have their being nor can they meddle with the fundamental Laws of the Constitution which if it once cease they cease to be a Parliament If the Government be dissolved and the Community yet remains united the People may make use of such an Assembly as a Parliament to alter the former Government and constitute a new but this they cannot do as a Parliament but considered under another Notion as an immediate Representative of a Community not of a Common-wealth And thus considered the Assembly may constitute a Government which as a Parliament cannot do which always presupposing the Constitution as such can act only in and for the administration That Community is wise which doth and happy which can keep their Majesty so due unto them as to limit their personal Soveraigns so as not to suffer them to take it from them and assume it to themselves section 9 As there is a real so there is a personal Majesty so called because it 's fixed in some Persons who are trusted with the exercise of it and may and many times do forfeit to God and in some cases forfeit to the Community or the People for when it is said it may be forfeited to the People we must understand that the People is not Plebs the meanest and the lowest rank and but a part of the Community but the whole Community it self as a Community otherwise we may lay the Foundation of all kinds of Tumults Confusions Seditions and Rebellions The Person or Persons trusted with the Majesty and Power are bound to seek the good of the whole People and for that end they are trusted with it and no otherwise Hence the saying Suprema lex salus populi esto The Acts of this Power which it hath a right to exercise are many and that in respect of those without or those within the Common-wealth For agit cum exteris it dealeth and acteth with those without This is not the first but rather the last kind of acting It ariseth from the relation which it hath to other States with which it may have some society though it hath no dependance upon it The Rules of this Acting as it respects themselves and the States with whom they deal are the Laws of Nations Yet the particular Laws of every several State may determine the Rules according to which it will act with or against another State. Because one State may wrong or benefit or strengthen and help another hence it comes to pass that sometimes there is a cause of War. For when by Ambassadours or other
decline even in most peaceable times and the Subjects become suddenly unhappy But if he be Wicked Vitious Insolent Impetuous Cruel he instantly becomes a Tyrant and then both Church and State begin to suffer much Religion is corrupted or suppressed and persecuted the Wicked are predominant and the best under Hatches Yea though the Prince may be of a good Disposition yet facile and flexible devoid of Wisdom and Courage and also destitute of good and faithful Counsellors and beset with wicked Men how easily is he misled involved in many Troubles and in the end brought to Ruine Sometimes a few cunning Politicians act him as a â—hild drive on their own Interest and neglect yea pervert the publick Good. How much more if the Monarchs be Children or Ideots as some be If in such a model God raise up a David a Solomon a Jehosaphat an Ezekiah a Josiah the People may be happy and have great Cause to be thankful for so great a Blessing There is another way of disposing Majesty than the former and that is when it 's fixed section 7 Purely in more than one And that is twofold in obtimatibus plebe When it is disposed in few and the same more eminent it 's called an Aristocraty so called from the quality of the persons who govern For they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 optimates primores praecipui the most eminent in the Community and above the common Sort or Plebean Rank for they are not only formaliter but eminenter cives as you heard before Their eminency ariseth from their noble Extraction as being descended from noble and ancient Families or from their great Estates or from both or from their excellent Vertues And such as in whom all these concurr are the fittest for Government Amongst the Romans these were called Patricii This Order of Peers which may be so called in relation of one unto another amongst themselves is sometimes confined to certain Families as they say it is in the Rhagusian and Venetian States and with a permission or prohibition to marry in inferior Families or there may be way made open for the Adoption of other persons for their eminent Vertues though of meaner Rank For virtus vera nobilitas Such were the Patricii minorum Gentium amongst the Romans And though political Vertues as Wisdom and Justice do best qualifie them for the place yet it 's requisite they have good Estates or sufficient Allowance otherwise they will oppress the people or be unfit to attend the publick Service Yet such as are born of noble and ancient Families have some advantage because they many times inherit great Estates are more honoured by the People have the benefit of the best Education sometimes participate some measure of the noble Spirit of their Ancestors whose rare Examples may do something too These though physically many yet morally are but one person collective They may have a president and such as the Duke of Venice And his Privileges Honour State and Dignity may be Paramount and he may have the precedency yet no negative Voice nor Power above the rest For the Power and all the particular Rights of Majesty are in them all jointly And when they in any business of State do differ the major part carries it and the rest submit This may be an excellent Government when all or the greater and predominant party are Wise and Just and follow some certain Rules of the Constitution and seek the publick good as all other Sovereigns should do If there be not care taken in the Succession that the best may succeed the best the body will corrupt and degenerate into an Oligarchy which is then done when either they agree to advance their own private Interest to the neglect of the publick or if they be divided one party bears down another and a few prevailing engross the Power and Usurp far more than is due and oppress the People and so prove a number of Tyrants When the richest engross the power to themselves it 's called a Timocraty If the Succession into places vacant either by death or some other way be by Election an excellent qualification prerequired some strict order for the admission should be observed least unworthy persons enter by Favour Money or some Indirect way And in this particular the State of Venice seems to excel Neither must any of them be suffered to swell and rise above the rest as many ways they may do especially if they be Men of excellent parts and successful and be trusted with too great a command in the Administration For some wise Men have observed That the unlimitted Commission granted Pompey at the first for the Pyratick War laid the Foundation of those bloody Civil Wars which followed Majestas pure disponitur in Plebe section 8 This is the last and basest kind of the pure Models For Plebs signifies the inferior rank of People which for number far exceed the rest Among these besides Artificers Husband-men and such as are for Trade and Traffick there may be some Merchants of great Estates some of more noble Descent and competent Revenue yet far short of such Eminency as is required in Peers or Princes which this kind of Government cannot brook Yet it may be so ordered as that the exercise of the Power may be trusted in hands of some just wise and experienced Persons which either must govern by course or be removed least trusted too long they engross the power to themselves or to some few Families or to a Faction predominant For this kind of Government is very subject to Faction Disorder and Tumults The name of it is a Democraty in which there is the greatest Liberty not only because they are free from Peers and Princes but because every one may be a Magistrate and proceed in such a way as opens to that end Yet because in such a State there be few Men of Learning Wisdom Experience in matters of State most of mean Education and many so taken up with their own private Affairs it can hardly continue long without some Alteration if not Ruine It presently degenerates into an Ochlocraty and when such there it cannot stay long before it become an Anarchy It 's a Curse and heavy Judgment of God to live in such a Government according to that in the Prophet And the People shall be oppressed every one by another and every one by his Neighbour the Child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient and the base against the honourable Esa. iij. 5 The Philosopher reckons up four several kinds of this Democratical Form and there may be many more some better some worse Of the Tumults and Intestine Dissentions amongst these Plebeans Histories tell us much But this is a subject which is not very profitable and I list not to enlarge upon it Majestas disponitur mixte in pluribus section 9 omnibus There is another kind of disposition different from the former and it 's called a mixt Government The reason
of the same and Scotland vanquished In all our sad divisions which happened from first to last and are not wholly yet ended to this day Two things are worthy the serious consideration of wiser men than I am 1. What party for time past hath been most faithful to the English interest 2. What course is to be taken for to setle us more firmly for time to come For the first we must understand what the English interest is The interest of England is twofold Civil and Ecclesiastical for we are English men and Christians The Civil interest is salus populi Anglicani there is no doubt of that for the peace safety liberty happiness of our dear Country is the end whereat we are all bound both by the written and natural Laws of God to aim The interest Ecclesiastical is the Protestant Religion and the perservation of the substance thereof Prelacy Presbytery Independency much less Antipaedobaptism and other Sects are not essential but accidental to it This being the interest of England we cannot judge of the faithfulness either of the King 's or Parliaments party by the quality of the persons of either side For there were both good and bad on both sides who had their several grounds of adhering to this or that party and their several ends and neither their grounds nor ends good Nor can any man justifie all proceedings and actings of either side both had their errours Nor must we judge of them according to their protestation for both could not by such contrary means attain the same end as both sides protested to maintain the King the Parliament the liberty of the Subject the Laws and the Protestant Religion Neither in this particular must the Laws of the English Constitution and Administration be the rule for both acted not only above the Laws but contrary to the latter of them at least For no Laws could warrant the Parliament to act without the King or the King without the Parliament much less was it justifiable that there should be in one Kingdom two not only different but contrary commands supreme and from different heads and persons This was directly against the very nature of all Common-Wealths which have only one first mover and one indivisible supreme power to animate and act them section 19 The Rule therefore must be the Laws of God as above the Laws of Men and we must consider according to these divine Rules what was the state of the Controversie the justice and equity of the cause made evident and the just necessity of doing that which was done Neither must we look at the cause only as just in it self but also how it 's justly or unjustly maintained For men may use such means as shall never reach the just end intended but also such as may be destructive of the cause it self and raze the very foundation of it Besides all this before a perfect judgment can be made the secret counsels contrivances designs hidden actings of the chief Actors should be known yet these many times lie hid and are not known or if known yet to very few and some of these few cannot found the bottom Many things are charged upon the King as acting against the English interest as Civil as that he dissolves Parliaments without just and sufficient cause that he intermits Parliaments for sixteen years together that having signed the Petition of Right he acts contrary to it imposeth Ship-money calls a Parliament signs the Act of Continuance deserts it calls the Members from it calls another Parliament at Oxford challengeth a negative Voice to both the Houses raiseth a War against it though he was informed that this tended to the dissolution of the Government that whosoever should serve to assist him in such Wars are Traitors by the fundamental Laws of this Kingdom and have been so adjudged in two Acts of Parliament 11 Richard 2. and 1 Henry 4. And that such persons ought to suffer as Traitors These with other particulars charged upon him seem directly contrary unto the civil Interest of the Kingdom Again to Marry a Popish Lady upon Articles directly contrary to the Laws of England and the Protestant Religion established by Law to entertain Twenty eight Popish Priests with a Bishop to tolerate Mass in the Court to receive Three Agents from the Pope one after another Pisano Con Rosetti to maintain the Queen-mother to engage the generality of the People of England to retard the relieving of Ireland to admit divers of the Popish Irish Murtherers and Rebels into his Army to call our English Forces sent to relieve the poor distressed Protestants of Ireland out of that Nation and employ them against the Parliament of England to suffer some of the Heads of the Irish Rebels to be so near his Person to endeavour to bring in the Duke of Lorrain with his Forces into this Nation to contract with the Irish Rebels upon condition to enjoy their Religion to furnish him with Ten thousand Irish Rebels to strengthen his party in England with divers other acts like unto these is conceived to be not only inconsistent with but plainly destructive of the English Protestant Interest And if this be true it must needs be so Yet it might be said that the King endeavoured to maintain his own regal Power the Episcopacy and Liturgy established by Law and that he did not oppose the Parliament but a seditious party in the Parliament and other Sectaries whose principles were destructive both of all civil and also Ecclesiastical Government and without the judgment of able Lawyers and learned Divines he did not undertake the War either against Scotland or England or any other It 's true that of those who adhered to the King and liked not the Parliaments proceeding there were some consciencious persons who judged the King an absolute Monarch and did not like many things done by that party yet they thought it the Duty of Subjects to suffer and that it was no ways lawful to resist But the Casuists say That Ignorantia excusat a tanto non a toto their Ignorance might make their Crime less yet no ways free them from all Guilt It was not Invincible they might easily have known that the King of Enland was no absolute Monarch seeing he could not impose any Subsidy upon the Subject nor make or repeal a Law without the Parliament neither could he by his Letters or personal Command revoke the Judgment of any Court. And though they might be Civilians or read Foreign Writers which take our Kings for absolute Sovereigns yet no ancient Lawyers no Parliaments did declare them to be such Nay they might have known that they themselves obeying the King 's personal Commands disobeyed him as King and that serving him in the Wars they were guilty of High Treason against the Kingdom and against the King's Crown and Dignity Of these Royalists some have been high and cruel against their Brethren the Parliamenteers and have censured them
which are the great Bulwark of the Kingdom had been intermitted for sixteen years at length when no man did expect one is called but suddenly dissolved Yet the Scots entred with a puissant Army into the Kingdom made a necessity of calling a second which is summoned confirmed by an act of continuance acts high makes great demands continues long Yet it 's deserted by the King and many of the Members opposed by an Army defends it self undertakes the King in England Scotland Ireland It maker a new broad Seal having formerly seized upon the Navy and the Ports recruits it self by new Elections Then they fall out with the Army after that they are divided amongst themselves In the end follows the seclusion of many of the Members and the remnant act and by the Army and the Navy doth great things but at last even this remnant by this Army is totally routed and dissolved This is that long-sitting Parliament which some say might have been good Physick but proved bad Diet. Never Parliament of England varied more never any more opposed never any suffered more never any acted higher never any effected greater things It made an end of Kings and new model'd the Government 3. The King deserting the Parliament set up his Royal Standard and is opposed fought beaten finally and totally conquered delivered by the Scots into the Parliaments hands is confined secured as a guilty person tried judged condemned to death executed His Family and Children banished and disinherited of the Crown wander in foreign Countries and many great Ones suffered and fell with him Many foreign States stood amazed when they saw the potent Prince and Monarch of three Kingdoms reigning in greater power and splendour than ever any of his Predecessours cast down so suddenly from the heighth of his excellency laid in the dust and brought to nothing 4. The Civil Government was much changed from the primitive Constitution neither could the Petition of Right help much because the King and Ministers of State would not observe it but acted contrary unto it So that it was arrived almost at the height of an absolute Monarchy But as the winding of a string too high is the breaking of it so it fell out with Monarchy 1. The Parliament first require an explication of that Act for Liberty afterwards limit the Regal Power curb it assume it exercise it and in the end take it wholly away Some indeed of the Lords and Commons declare That they had no intention to change the fundamental Government by King Peers and Commons and perhaps really intended what they spake yet they could not perform for that very frame was taken asunder and abolished Upon which followed three several models one after another The 1. By the act of alteration The 2. By the new instrument The 3. and last by the humble petition of advice and yet we are not well setled So difficult it is after that a Constitution is once dissolved to establish a new frame So that it may be truely said that never King acted so much against a Parliament never Parliament prevailed so much against a King. Some were for the State of Venice and that form of Government as the most perfect model for England Some intend levelling some did judge it best that the General should have continued onely General for a while and to head onely the godly party a strange fancy and conceit 5. As for the Church many of the English began to look towards Rome many came home unto the Church and turned Papists Innovasions were daily made in Doctrine and Discipline and Prelacy seemed to advance with the Royal Power But this great Parliament puts a stay to all begins to reform and in reforming incline to an extream They take away Episcopacy Root and Branch abrogate the Liturgy make some alterations in the Doctrine compose a new Confession of Faith a Directory for worship and begin to settle a Presbyterian Discipline Yet that in the very rise was opposed by the Dissenting Brethren and never could be fully and universally so imposed as to be received Hereupon contrary to promise the Golden Reins of Discipline were loosed a general Liberty taken and swarms of Sects appear profess and Separate Errors Heresies Blasphemies do almost darken this Church and overspread the same Never from the first receiving of Christianity in this Nation was there so great a change in Religion known to be made in so short a time 6. Yet after all these bloody Wars and greatest Alterations in Church and State the substance of the Protestant Religion continues the Universities stand Schools remain Learning flourisheth Sabbaths are observed Ministers maintain'd never better Sermons never better Books The Orthodox Christian is confirmed Matters in Religion are not so much taken upon trust and tradition as formerly Arts and Languages advance the light of the Gospel shines The Laws abide in force Justice is administred peace enjoyed the Protestant Interest in forraign parts maintain'd England is become a warlike Nation furnished with gallant Men both by Sea and Land is courted by great Princes is a terrour to our Enemies a protection to our Friends and if we could agree amongst our selves it is an happy Nation Yet all this is from the wonderful wisdom of our God who knows how to bring Light out of darkness good out of Evil and from his Exceeding mercy who hath heard the Prayers of a remnant of his people in behalf of this Nation to which he intends good if our sins do not hinder And for my part I will not cease to Honour and to pray for such as from their hearts have endeavoured our good and especially for such which God hath made so eminently instrumental for our present happiness Such as are trusted with great power and employed in great business are many times perplexed with great difficulties and especially in distracted times And if they do something amiss we should not harshly Censure much less envy them but rather pity them and pray for them and remember our own frailty and that if we had been in their place we might have done worse But to draw unto a Conclusion of this long Chapter and not to offend the Reader let 's consider what may be done to finish and perfect any thing begun tending to our settlement Far be it from me to presume to prescribe any thing to wiser men who have seriously considered of this very thing already Yet I may be bold to deliver mine own Opinon with humble submission to my betters and if I err I may have the greater hope of pardon because I shall speak as one unbiassed and aiming with a sincere heart at the publick good of the English Church and State which though fearfully shaken and shattered are not yet destroyed And 1. This is certain that there are but two reasons of our unsettlement 1. Ignorance 2. Wilfulness For we either know not how to settle and what the best means are which most effeually
New Testament where it s used a hundred and eleven times at least and in all these places signifies an Assembly or Society Religious except in Acts 19.32 39 41. where it signifies both a tumultuous and also an orderly Assembly or Society or Convention as a civil Court of Judgment which signification is here applied by our Saviour to a Spiritual Judicatory for Spiritual Causes Though this be a special signification yet it signifies the number and Society of Believers and Disciples who profess their Faith in Christ exhibited and this is this Church-Christian and the People of God. Yet it signifies this People under several Notions as sometimes the Church of the Jews sometimes of the Gentiles sometimes the Universal Church sometimes particular Churches sometimes the Militant Church either as visible or mystical sometimes the Church Triumphant sometimes a Church before any form of Government be introduced sometimes under a form of Government so it 's taken and supposed by our Saviour here Grotius his Conceit that our Saviour in these words alludes to the manner of several Sects Professions as of Pharisees Sadduces Essenes who had their Rules of Discipline and their Assemblies and Convention for the practice of them may be probable Yet without any such Allusion the place is plain enough from the context and other Scriptures Erastus upon the place is intollerable and most wofully wrests it so doth Bishop Bilson in his Church-Government and is point-blank contrary to D. Andrews who in his Tortura Torti doth most accurately examine interpret and apply the words and most effectually from thence confute Bellarmine One may truly say of that Book as he himself said of Austin's Treatise De Civitate Dei it was opus palmarum For Civil Common Canon-Law Politicks History School Learning the Doctrine of the Casuists Divinity and other Arts whereof he makes use it is one of the most learned and accurate of any put forth in our times By his Exposition of this Text he utterly overthrows the immediate Jus Divinum of Episcopacy in matters of Discipline and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction He plainly and expresly makes the whole Church the primary subject of the Power of the Keys in foro exteriori Therefore suppose the Bishops were Officers by a Divine Right as he endeavours to prove tho' weakly in his Letters to Du Moulin yet at best they can be but the Churches Delegates for the exercise of that Power And it is observable that divers of our Champions when they oppose Bellarmine's Monarchical Government of the Church peremptorily affirm the Power of the Keyes to be in the whole Church as the most effectual way to confute him yet when they wrote against the Presbyterian and the Antiprelatical party they change their Tone and Tune But to return unto the words of Institution 1. The word Church here signifies an Assembly 2. This Assembly is an Assembly for Religion 3. The Religion is Christian. 4. This Assembly is under a form of External Government 5. This Government presupposeth a Community and Laws and Officers Ecclesiastical These presupposed it 's a juridical Assembly or a Court. 6. Because Courts are Inferiour Superiour and Supream it signifies all especially Supream 7. It determines no kind of Government but that of a free State as shall more appear hereafter 8. Christ doth not say Dic Regi tell the Prince or State nor Dic Petro tell Peter or the Pope as though the Government should be Monarchical either Civil or Ecclesiastical nor Dic Presbytero tell the Elders nor Dic Apostolis Episcopis aut Archiopiscopis that the Government should be purely Aristocratical nor Dic Plebi that the Government should be purely Democratical nor Dic Synodo tell the Council general or particular But it saith tell the Church wherein there may be Bishops Presbyters some Eminent Persons neither Bishops nor Presbyters There may be Synods and all these either as Officers or Representatives of the Church and we may tell these and these may judge yet they hear and judge by a power derived and delegated from the Church and the Church by them as by her Instruments doth exercise her Power As the body sees by her eye and hears by the ear so it is in this particular but so that the similitude doth not run on four feet nor must be stretched too far This being the genuine Sense favours no Faction yet admits any kind of Order which observed may reach the main end For this we must know and take special notice of that Christ will never stand upon Formalities but requires the thing which he commands to be done in an orderly way Yet it 's necessary and his Institution doth tend unto it to reserve the chief Power in the whole Body otherwise if any party as Bishops or Presbyters or any other part of the Church be trusted with the power alone to themselves they will so engross it as that there will be no means nor ordinary jurisdiction to reform them Of this we have plain Experience in the Bishops of Rome who being trusted at first with too much Power did at length arrogate as their own and no ways derived from the Church and so refused to be judged For if the Church once make any party the primary subject of this power then they cannot use it to reduce them Therefore as it is a point of Wisdom in any State to reserve the chief power in the whole Community and single out the best and wisest to exercise it so as if the Trustees do abuse their power they may remove them or reform them so it should be done in the Church If any begin to challenge either the whole or the Supream power as Officers many of these nay the greater part of them may be unworthy or corrupted and then the Church is brought to straits and must needs suffer Some tell us that the King of England by the first Constitution was only the Supream and Universal Magistrate of the Kingdom trusted with a sufficient power to govern and administer the State according to the Laws and his chief work was to see the Laws executed Yet in tract of time they did challenge the power to themselves as their own and refused to be judged Yet in this Institution if Peter if Paul tho' Apostles do offend much more if Patriarchs Metropolitans Bishops Presbyters do trespass we must tell not Peter not Paul not an Apostle not a Bishop not any other but the Church No wit of Men or Angels could have imagined a better way nor given a better expression to settle that which is good and just and prevent all parties and factions and yet leave a sufficient latitude for several orderly ways to attain the chief end section 7 The Judge being known the Judicial Acts of this Judge must be enquired into in the fifth place and these are two the first is binding the second loosing For all Judgment passed upon any person is either against him and that is binding
some Congregations in some cases may be the subject of this power in this degree nor whether every well constituted Congregation may not have and exercise Discipline within themselves for some particulars For this will be granted them For both the Presbyterian and also the Parochial Congregations and Vestries did so under the Bishops But whether their Congregations gathered in their manner be this primary Subject and this according to any precept of Christ Or if we leave out that restriction of being gathered in their manner whether by any Institution and precept of Christ the independent power of Discipline doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 primarily belong unto a Congregation For if it do then it belongs in this manner to them and them alone as single Congregations and to no other Association of Christians And if any other Association do assume it they transgress a precept of Christ which is of universal and perpetual Obligation For to prove the affirmative Mr. Parker makes use of the words Synagoga and Ecclesia as most commonly taken in Scripture And the dissenting Brethren instance in the first Apostolical Churches Mr. Parker's first Argument is taken from the signification of the words Ecclesia and Synagoga in Scripture And 1. He presupposeth that these signifie a Congregation 2. That a Congregation is an Assembly meeting in one place 3. Hence he infers that nulla Ecclesia prima quae non Congregatio His meaning is that if the people of any Precinct as of a Diocess or Province exceed the bounds of a Congregation so that they cannot conveniently and ordinarily meet in one place they are not that first Church to which the power of the Keys doth primarily and originally agree And he alledgeth for this purpose Dr. Reynolds saying That in every place of the Old and New Testament Synagoga Ecclesia est and as well Synagoga as Ecclesia when they are said to speak of a Congregation political signifie only an Assembly meeting in one place Polit. Eccles. lib. 3. sect 3. For answer hereunto it will be sufficient to examine the signification of these words as used in the Scripture and by that we shall see whether the Argument from the signification of the word be good or no. To this end it may be observed that the word Synagoga is used by the Septuagint a hundred seventy times if not above in the Old Testament under 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we find it an hundred and twenty times and in the first eight places it signifies the Congregation of all Israel which consisted of six hundred thousand fighting men besides women and children as Exod. 12.3 6 19 47 verse and chap. 16.1 2 9 10. Judges 20.12 It 's an Assembly of four hundred thousand at least The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 37 turned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Congregation and in the three first places an Assembly or Congregation of Nations as Gen. 29.3.35.11.48.4 Cyrus his Army gathered out of many Nations is Kahal Synagoga Jeremy 50.9 So the vast Army of Gog and Magog is Synagoga a Congregation Ezek. 38.4 Again as Synagoga may signifie a Congregation of many thousands and a far greater number than Mr. Parker's Congregation so the word Ecclesia is used under the word Kahal seventy times as formerly upon another occasion was noted and in the first place it signifies the Congregation of all Israel both in Levit. 8.3 and also Deut. 18.16 It many times signifies the Assembly of Israel sometimes a general Representative In the New Testament Heb. 12.23 it 's the general Assembly of the first-born which are written in Heaven Eph. 4.22 it 's that body whereof Christ is Head and Chap. 2.20 that building whereof the Apostles and Prophets are the foundation and Christ the chief corner-stone From all this it 's clear that the words Ecclesia and Synagoga signifie besides Civil and Military Ecclesiastical Assemblies and the same either political or local and the place is either particular or special or general in which sence a whole Region and vast Country may be one place So that one fallacy 1. is in the word place 2. another in the word Assembly meeting in one place For 1. The Assembly and Meeting may be rare and extraordinary as the words do divers times signifie as is evident and this cannot agree to Mr. Parker's ordinary and convenient Meeting 2. They signifie Assemblies meeting in far greater numbers than in his Congregation For the number of persons which made up divers of these Assemblies were thousands nay hundreds of thousands as four hundred thousand five hundred thousand nay millions and whole Nations And if so then they who stand for a National Church will desire no more the Provincial and Diocesan party will be content with fewer Again the words sometimes signify a political Society consisting of such persons as shall never meet together in one place except at Christ's right hand and in the place of Glory So that if the former distinction used in stating the question be remembred and the question be understood thus That some Congregations such as Mr. Parker describes the Church to be may sometimes in some respect be the subject of an independent power of the Keys then these places are not much against him But if he understand it so that if any Church exceed the bounds of his Congregation of so many as may ordinarily and conveniently meet together it 's not of Christ's Institution nor can be the primary Subject of this power then his Argument a nomine ad rem from the word to the thing is no Argument But suppose the words should always signify one Congregation which may ordinarily meet in one place which yet they do not how will it follow from any of those places that such a Congregation and none other is this primary subject section 5 His second Argument is taken from the description of the Church as represented to John the Divine Rev. 4. For he takes it for granted that the Church there mentioned consisting of twenty four Elders and the four Beasts was a congregational Church or rather that the Church there was a Congregation in his sence Answ. But 1. Let it be granted that there is a description of a Church and the same Christian visible yet it will no ways agree to his Congregation For 1. There is an allusion made to the Congregation of Israel pitching in four Squadrons under four several Ensigns as the Ensign of Judah was a Lion and three Tribes under every Ensign with the Priest and Levites encamping next the Ark between it and the Squadrons This was a Congregation as you heard before of 600 000 Men besides Women and Children 2. This Congregation of the four Beasts and twenty four Elders sing a Song of praise unto the Lamb Christ and acknowledge that he was slain and had redeemed them to God by his blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation Rev. 5.8 9. This is a Congregation
be so much reason and wisdom in their Determinations as that they will bind more by vertue of the matter than the authority and votes of their persons We might add that in these Independent Congregations there is neither any conveniency or necessity that all the Members should meet either for Juridical or Legislative Acts though it be expedient that all should know what is done They call women and children together for Worship but not for matters of Judgement and Discipline It 's sufficient if such as are rational and judicious have suffrage in the same matters Marsilius in his Defensor Pacis determines the Power of Legislation to be in Populo aut civium universitate Yet he grants that the Laws may be made Per valentiorem partem or their Trustees and that what is so done by them is done by all But in this particular he excludes women children servants strangers though inhabitants if not incorporated likewise Mr. Parker who gives the whole and independent Power of the Keys into a Congregation under a Democratical form yet will have the exercise of this power in the Officers in an Aristocratical mode Seeing therefore that neither multitude of persons nor distance of place nor impossibility of a vertual and sufficient Convention of all the Members being the differences between a National and Congregational Church and conceived to be the impediments of good Government are no impediments I know no reason but that all the Christians of a Nation may be as well governed by a subjection to one supream Judicatory as a Congregation independent section 13 But let us oppose this National Community under one supream Tribunal to a thousand or more Independent Congregations as hitherto we have compared it with one single Congregation and then that which was affirmed will be more apparent For 1. a National Community Christian may have the same Members the same gifted Men the same Officers and the like Assemblies for Worship as subjected unto one Tribunal which the same number of Christians in the same nature divided into a thousand or more Independent Polities may have And the same gifted Men and Officers may act more effectually for the good of the whole when they are thus united then when scattered and divided like the vital Spirits in so many several Bodies For vis unita fortior and the being more firmly orderly and regularly united may more easily animate and effectually move and direct one body though great then so many bodies independent one upon another and severed though little 2. Again in this National Body every Congregation Classis Province may act order hear and determine matters belonging to their Cognisance and within their Precincts without troubling any general Representative except in the highest most difficult businesses of general concernment which with all extraordinary matters are reserved for that highest Assembly And all this is done according to the Rules of Government allowed by God and practised by the best Polities in the World. 3. The Congregationals grant that any of their single Congregations independent in a difficult point or business may take the advice of twenty thirty forty other Congregations or more yet if the Major part of them or all should agree and give their judgment that one Congregation shall not be bound by their advice but shall have power to judge against it or subscribe unto it seeing in this case no Scripture binds this or other Congregations to be independent or perhaps allow any such thing except in some extraordinary cases it were worth the serious consideration of wise men whether it be more agreeable to the Rules of good Government and the general Precepts of Church-discipline that one of these Congregations alone should have the power to determine and that finally this difficult cause and all the rest only to advise then that joyntly with this one all the rest and most of them as good and some perhaps better should have power not only to advise but determine And whether this determination of all joyntly were not likely to prove better and more effectual and more conducing to the end of Discipline than that Determination of one But against this two things may be said 1. That all those other Congregations may err but this is but to suppose and to suppose a thing both unlikely and extraordinary that forty well constituted Churches may err and that one be free from errour 2. By this it seems to follow that in some difficult cases one National Church may not only take the advice of many others but subject themselves unto them But 1. we are bound only to submit unto the Word of God made clear unto us though it be very likely that many seeking God and making right use of the means are more likely to find out truth and understand the Word of God better than one 2. I staid at a National Church and did not expatiate further because experience hath taught us how prejudicial it hath been even to this State to suffer Appeals to be made either unto Forreign Churches or States Neither is it fit in respect of the Civil Soveraign Christian that the Church within this State should any ways depend upon any other Church whatsoever section 14 I had said before that a national Multitude of Christians associated into one Body and subjected to one supream Power of the Keys may be as easily and as well governed and edified as if they were divided into many several Communities and independent Congregations Now I add that in divers cases they may be more easily and better governed and edified This might be made manifest 1. From the many conveniences which will follow from the Multiplication of Independencies in a national Church and Christian State all which by an internal connexion and subordination may be avoided Histories read with attention and understanding will manifest this and the experience of these times in our Church and Nation 2. From the disproportion and also the difference between the Church and State in respect of the extent and the multitude of independent Polities Ecclesiastical within the bowels of one entire Civil Common-wealth Christian. I do not mean that the Constitution of the Church and State should be the same so that if the State be Monarchical the Church should be such too or if Aristocratical it should be Aristocratical For though God hath determined the model of the Church yet he hath not so particularly defined the Constitution of the State. Neither do I affirm that the Church by any Divine Precept is bound to be co-adequate to the State only this I say it will be convenient advantagious to the Church and agreeable to the general Rules of Decency and Order 1. That it be co-adequate to the State. 2. That there be but one independent Church in in one national State except there be some special impediment But not to insist so much upon these a third and greater reason to prove this is taken from the insufficiency
in this place is subjection to a publick power and the same is 1. Civil 2. Ecclesiastical 1. Civil subjection will be best known if I first define a subject 2. Consider how many degrees and distinctions of Subjects there be Bodin taking Civis and Subditus for the same saith that Civis est liber homo qui summae alterius potestati obligatur De Rep. lib. 1. c. 6. Arnisaeus is more exact for thus he defines Subjects Sabditi sunt partes Reipublicae quae summae potestati quoad omnia obligantur pro quo omnibus juribus privilegiis fruuntur Constit. Pol. cap. 12. As for Bodin he mistakes much by confounding Civis subditus For though every Subject be Civis yet every Civis is not a Subject A person is said to be Civis as a Member of a Community before any form of Government be introduced A Subject presupposeth a Supream power determined and thereupon being under that power becomes a Subject The one is a Member of a Community the other of a Common-Wealth In the latter Definition we may observe 1. The General 2. The special Nature and Difference of a Subject The general nature is That Subjects are a part of the Common-Wealth For as you heard before a Common-Wealth hath two parts 1. The Soveraign 2. The Subject By parts are meant Members or integral parts which united constitute and make up the Body of a State wherein none can be found but they are either Subjects or Soveraign In this that they are parts they differ not from the Soveraign who is also a part though the most eminent and principal In the special nature thereof we may observe two things 1. The duty of a Subject 2. The benefit The duty is implied in the Obligation the benefit in the Enjoyment of some advantages In the duty we may observe three things 1. An Obligation 2. The party to whom Subjects are obliged 3. The measure of their Obligation The Obligation as I said formerly follows upon a subjection and the subjection upon the designing of a Soveraign For in a designation of a Soveraign by a general consent according to reason and Gods Ordination men deprive themselves of that unlimited liberty which they had as Members of a Community and bind themselves to a certain rule and order of inferiority they divest themselves of some power and take a lower place and resign themselves up unto a Superiour will. Upon this resignation and from it they become subject and by their very place are bound to submit So that this Obligation follows a kind of former subjection But neither of the former Authors tell us what the Act or thing is to which they stand obliged though both of them do imply it And it is a constant submission and fidelity and both voluntary And though they may perhaps refuse to give this submission and fidelity yet they are bound to yeild it This is the Obligation 2. The party to whom they are bound is the Soveraign and they mean the Civil Soveraign And because they are bound unto this Soveraign in respect of his power they express the power and imply the party invested with this power and he cannot be a Soveraign except his power be Supream and Universal in respect of the whole body of the Community therefore they say Subjects are bound to the Supream Power for though they are under the power of Officers and Inferiour Rulers yet the power of such is but the power of the Soveraign trusted in their hands for the exercise thereof This Soveraign as you heard before may be either as the whole Community reserving the chief and radical power to themselves or personal as a general representative or a chief and universal Magistrate 3. The measure is quoad omnia in respect of all things as their Goods Persons Lives Actions in reference to the Publick good Yet this Obligation must be legal as the Power is legal regular and rightly bounded For absolute submission is due to God alone according to the first Commandment of the first Table a limited submission is only due to man according to the first Commandment of the second Table For man is first bound to God and then to man in an inferiour degree and every Subject as bound to man is first bound to real Majesty and to seek the good of the whole then to personal Majesty so far as it extends to the benefit of the whole and no further for as Salus populi the good of the People is the chief end whereat all power should aim so it 's also the chief end of subjection And according to the measure of the power is the measure of subjection they must be Commensurable and Coadequate neither less nor greater As power must be just and conformable to the Laws of God so subjection must be too and we cannot be bound to submit in any thing that is unjust and unreasonable neither ought we neither is it wisdom to give too great or an absolute power unto any so as to destroy our propriety and just liberty This is the duty section 3 The benefit follows for no subjection but should aim at some good and it 's either unjust or vain if no benefit redound from it The benefits here mentioned are Rights and Priviledges In every well constituted and well ordered State there are certain general Rights and also Priviledges both real and personal which are not due unto Strangers No rational people will subject themselves but upon condition of Protection both from wrongs within the State and from violence of Foreigners and so to better their Estate For power being ordained of God was intended for the good of the parties to be governed For the Sword is put by God into the hands of higher powers for to punish the Unjust and protect the Just in their rights and due As for Priviledges he understands them in an unusual sence For Priviledges being reckoned amongst Laws which were favourable as opposed to such are called odious and bring grievances and charges upon the Subject are usually made for the benefit of some single persons For if they were general as here they are taken they were not priviledges properly except in respect of Strangers of other States which in that particular State none but the Subjects could enjoy From this subjection it follows that if the Soveraign require Fealty and Homage he acknowledging his power must solemnly testifie it and if it be demanded confirm it by oath For as Princes and personal Soveraigns swear to the people so the people are bound to engage themselves to them again And by this Oath of Fealty they renounce all other powers not only Forreign but Domestick too For upon what reason can protection be due if the persons protected be not Faithful and Loyal according to the constitution of the State. By this subjection if the Soveraign make Laws the Subject is bound to obey or suffer And if the command be unjust he
the manner of Administrations Some converse in other States to learn Fashions or Wickedness some as Spies and Intelligencers The ends and the events are therefore several Some are good and benificial to themselves to their Country to other Nations The Issue of some mens Travel is Vanity or Vice or Mischief There are Strangers who do not meerly Travel and Sojourn but also fix their Habitation in other States these are called Advenae incolae and in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though the word be used for Pilgrims and Sojourners Neither of these are properly Subjects of that State where they live yet they ought to carry themselves fairly and not do any thing to the prejudice of the Laws or Government of the places where they do converse and according to their good carriage they are to be used civilly It was Gods charge to Israel to use Strangers well because they themselves had been Strangers in the Land of Aegypt For Strangers are used strangely and in Forraign Countries exposed to many abuses and dangers But special kindness is to be shewed to such as are miserable and fly for Religion or for protection The Magistrate of every Common-Wealth should have a special eye upon these Strangers and enquire into their carriage and their practice To receive too great multitudes of them may be dangerous and some may do mischief either by corrupting the Subjects or seeking to betray the State. Neither is it safe to naturalize many of them much less to advance them to places of Power and Trust which must needs offend the Subjects and and Natives especially when these are favoured and prefered and the other are neglected The Judgment of God upon the Jew in this respect is very heavy for they are commonly hated in all places and not suffered to inhabite in any Nations and where they are permitted to dwell and trade hard terms are put upon them Perfecte plene subditi sunt nati section 12 facti There are besides Strangers such as are properly and compleatly subjects who according to their subjection enjoy the benefit of protection the rights and priviledges of Subjects Yet there is a great difference amongst these according to the several constitutions of States For some are far more free and enjoy far greater priviledges as the Roman Subjects did as is evident in Paul who said to the Centurion Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned Acts 22.25 For a Roman could neither be condemned unheard nor scourged if not condemned These had divers other priviledges which the Provincial Subjects had not before they were infranchised The Subjects of England if they enjoy their right are more free then the Subjects of France or Spain and divers other Countries Some are little better than Slaves especially such as live under Despotical Soveraigns The right and priviledges of Subjects are acquired several ways which may be reduced to two For some are such by birth which are called Cives originarii some by allection This distinction is the same with natural and naturalized as you heard in the Doctrine of a Community This distinction is implied in these words of the chief Captain Lysias saying With a great summ obtained I this freedom and of Paul who answered but I was free born Acts 22.28 The seas Subjects were essentially the same and if either should as such be perferred the native Subject caeteris paribus had the priority Subjects also as Subjects are equal though in divers other respects accidental unto them they may be very unequal some may have special priviledges some may be Officers and by vertue of their Office have their priviledges Here some take occasion to speak of the multitude and paucity of Subjects in the same Territory and State. If they be few they may receive Fugitives and adopt Strangers as Romulus did If they be too many they may send out Colonies and make new Plantations If the multitude be not too great it 's the honour of the Soveraign and safety of the State if too few it 's the weakness of a Nation and a danger of destruction For in the multitude of people is the King's honour but in the want of people is the destruction of the Prince Prov. 14.28 Yet this is to be understood of a multitude well qualified and ordered by a good Prince For Tyrants and Oppressours waste and destroy their people to their own ruin section 13 There is another distinction of Subjects for they are Ecclesiastici Saeculares By Ecclesiastical persons are understood such as are indeed Subjects yet their Office and Work is in matters of Religion they act between God and Man as Messengers and Mediators between them They deliver God's mind to men and offer mens Prayers and Gifts to God. They officiate in Divine Services and that 's their chiefest Work. They are singled out from amongst men to direct others unto eternal Life These anciently were called Priests and their place was honourable yet there was an imparity amongst themselves In the New Testament these Ecclesiastical persons never called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Priests but Ministers of the Gospel or Presbyters under which words are signified all Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastours and Teachers So that the word Priest was only given to Christ or Melchisedeck or the Levitical Pontiffs and Ministers or some Heathenish Sacrificer Yet in after-times because the Sacrament of the Eucharist was a Commemoration of the Sacrifice of Christ therefore in respect thereof the Table was called an Altar and the Minister a Priest. At length the Church of Rome turned the Sacrament into a Sacrifice properly so called and the Minister into a Priest. And this was the original of the Mass. This Ecclesiastical Function was instituted by God and very honourable both in that respect and also because their work is so excellent and necessary for upon it under God Religion and the benefits of Religion both private and publick temporal and eternal do much depend To these by divine Commands Maintenance is due from the people and they have been much honoured in well constituted States with many priviledges and immunities But their own unworthiness and the prophaneness of the people have much debased them Yet good Ministers with good people will be much esteemed to the World's end and when the chief Shepheard shall appear They shall receive a crown of glory which fadeth not away 1 Pet. 5.4 These were accounted as a distinct and eminent Order of Subjects as they were solemnly ordained The rest of the subjects and the Soveraign in respect of these have the name of Seculars and the Subjects are called Laicks or Lay-people This distinction is not so to be understood as though the rest of the people had nothing to do with Religion For they are bound to serve their God and seek Eternal Life which that they might attain this spiritual Office was ordained from Heaven And every
consider the present distractions and examine himself how far he either is or hath been guilty and confess his sin to God desiring pardon and for time to come endeavour peace and supply the defects of understanding which in some things is the cause of difference in judgment with the greater measure of Charity For though we had less knowledge then we have and yet more charity the breaches of the Church might easily be made up Thus far I have digressed and enlarged upon this Subject out of a desire to perswade every Member of a particular Church to submit unto the lawful Power thereof and continue united in the same Body till God shall give a Command and Commission to come out or separate section 5 The end of this Discourse concerning the distinction of the subjects of the same Church is to shew the nature and measure of subjection and the manner how we become subjects and what the Duties of Subjects are Something might be added concerning the manner of Admission which Mr. Parker and so many of the Congregational Way do think was not good and allowable His and their Exceptions I will not here mention but will with them confess 1. That as they be born in such a Parish or forced by the Magistrate they could not be Members of the Church 2. That Baptism without instruction of such as are capable is not sufficient 3. That it 's fit that every one when they are instructed so as to understand the substance of the Covenant should publickly in their own persons profess their Faith and make their Vow 4. That when this is done some care should be taken of their lives that it may be known whether they walk according to their Profession and their Promise Yet this may be said that by good Ministers something to this purpose was done though by others it was neglected And the Church even from the first Reformation required and intended this in the strict command of Catechising and in Confirmation For though Confirmation was no Sacrament nor proper to a Diocesan Bishop by Divine Institution yet the end was good and the effect might have been happy if it had been duly observed For it would have so qualified the Members of the Church that we should not have had so many ignorant so many scandalous in every Parochial Precinct But it was either neglected or abused But because to be a right qualified Member of a visible Church is not sufficient let every one remember that it 's his duty to be a Citizen and Subject of Heaven and to live accordingly For as the Apostle saith Phil. 3.20 Our conversation is in heaven so we turn it though there may be more in the Original For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be turned Jus municipum aut civium aut municipatus as Hierome Tertullian and Sidonius understands it with Beza à Lapide Musculus Heinsius The sence is that we are Burgesses Denisons and Subjects of Heaven and incorporated into an Heavenly Politie therefore let our life be holy and heavenly and let us converse most and chiefly with God and remember that we are but Pilgrims and Strangers upon Earth and by the observation of the Laws of this heavenly Kingdom we tend to our abiding Mansions above And if our lives and carriage be such though men may persecute us cast us out separate from us refuse to admit us yet we know our God approves us we have fellowship with him and with Jesus Christ his Son whilst we walk in the Light as he is Light and in the end we shall be happy and our Joy will be full section 6 As the Subjects must be divided and subordinated in a Civil State so must they be in a Church The people of Israel were three times numbred and divided the first numbring was by tens hundreds and thousands that Moses might make Officers and Judges for the civil Government Exod. 18. The second which was most exact and purely Ecclesiastical as you may read in the four first Chapters of the Book of Numbers which was so entitled by the Septuagint because of this Numeration and Division of the People They were also numbred the third time Numb 26. The end of the second numbring was that they might according to an excellent order encamp about the Tabernacle and also march in order before and after it The first division upon the numeration was of the Body of Israel into two parts 1. That of the Levites which was subdivided into four parts The second of the other twelve Tribes in one body first separated from the Levites and this was subdivided into four Squadrons and in every Squadron three Tribes which acccording to their Ensigns quartered at a distance East West North South of the Tabernacle the Levites being within them The Description of the Universal Church Revel 4. as learned Men have observed alludes to this order And both these Scriptures teach us that without numeration division and subordination there can be no order in the Worship of God or the Government of the Church And the first thing done upon this division according to God's command was the removing of the Lepers and Unclean out of the Camp which was the more orderly and easily done upon the former division and doth teach what must be in the constitution of a Church and exercise of Discipline section 7 Of the division either of particular Churches of one City and the territories thereunto belonging or of several Churches in one Province according to the Cities of the several Provinces we read nothing at all in the Scripture Neither can any such thing be evidently and certainly proved from the seven Angels of the seven Churches of Asia the less now called Natolia As for the divisions made afterwards in the Roman Empire I shall say something anon The Church of England if we may believe Mr. Brerewood was anciently divided into three Provinces according to the three Provincial Cities York London Cacruske in Monmouth-shire though after that we find Valentia and Flavia Caesariensis added to make five of which divisions we find something in Cambden Yet afterwards we find another division of the whole Island into two Provinces York and Canterbury These were divided into several Diocesses the Diocesses into Archdeaconries the Archdeaconries into so many Rural Deanries the Rural Deanries into Parishes This was an orderly way and did facilitate Government much The Church of Scotland was divided into Provinces and Shires and upon the Reformation as some tell us these Shires into Classical Presbyteries but afterwards reduced in our times under a certain number of Bishops Yet Arch-Bishop Spoteswood inform us out of their publick Records that from the first Reformation they had Superintendents In the Reformation intended in England when Episcopacy was taken out of the way and the Presbytery introduced they divided the Church according to the Counties the Counties into Classes the Classes into Congregations The Subordination was of Congregations to a
of the Ministers in the Church of the New Testament Thus Dr. Andrews 8. That most Reformed Churches have Bishops or Superintendents and something answerable to Bishops The design of all this seems to be this to prove that Episcopacy and Hierarchy are Apostolical and Universal Yet none of these produce any clear divine Testimony for this much less any divine Precept to make this Regiment to be of perpetual and universal Obligation Neither doth any of them all tell us distinctly what the power of Bishops of Metropolitans of Patriarchs was nor whether they exercised their power as Officers or Representatives or by an immediate Jus divinum derived from Christ unto them All that can be made clear is that some kind of Bishops may be lawful and have been ancient and of good use tho' of no necessity As for the Hierarchy it 's meerly Humane and being at first intended for Unity was in the end the cause of the most bloody Schisms that ever were in the Church and an occasion of intolerable Ambition Emulation and Contention section 10 Subjects Ecclesiastical being distinguished and divided must be educated and so I come to Education and Institution Tho' spiritual Education be far more useful and necessary yet we find most men more careful to improve their Children for this World than the World to come The reason is they seek these earthly things more than God's Kingdom love the World more than God and prefer their Bodies before their Souls we should provide for both yet for the one far more than the other For what will it avail us to be temporally rich and spiritually poor to gain the World and lose our Souls This therefore is a special work of the Church to educate her Children and nurse them up for Heaven and the Magistrate Christian is bound to further her in this work Adam tho' Lord of the whole Earth and one who might give his Chrildren far greater Estates in Land than any man ever could yet brought them up not in idleness but honest labour But his principal care was to teach them how to serve their God and when they were at age to bring their Offerings before him God saith of Abraham I know him that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him Gen. 18.19 Joshua saith As for me and mine house we will serve the Lord Josh. 24.15 It was the command of God that Israel should diligently teach their Childrin the words of God and talk of them when they sit in their houses and when they went abroad and at their lying down and rising up Deut. 6.7 How often doth Solomon exhort to this duty and earnestly perswade all especially Children to hearken unto understand remember and constantly follow the Instruction of their Parents and their Teachers This was the care of Moses of Joshua the Judges and good Kings of Judah For this end the Priests Levites and Scribes were ordained of God and the Schools of the Prophets were erected for this work This was one prime work of the Levite to teach Jacob God's Judgments and Israel his Laws Deut. 33.10 This same commandment of spiritual Education is repeated in the New Testament Parents must bring up their Children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. This was the great work of Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastours and Teachers For they must not only pray but teach and labour not only for conversion but the edification of the Churches children Every Christian should help and further one another in this work As Parents in their Families should have knowledge and be able to instruct their Children so all Schools should have a care to inctruct the Schollars not only in Languages and humane Learning but also in the saving Doctrine of Salvation This was the reason why by the Canons of the Church they were bound to Catechise the Children committed to their charge The Universities and Colledges were bound to this likewise and were Seminaries not only for Lawyers Philosophers and Physitians but especially for Divines who though they improved their knowledge in Arts and Languages yet it was in subordination to their diviner and more excellent Profession To this Head belongs correction good example and prayer For the principal Teacher is the Spirit who must write God's truth in the heart and make all means of Education effectual The publick and principal Officers trusted by Christ with this work are the Ministers of the Gospel whose work is not meerly and onely to preach and expound but to catechise In these works we are either very negligent or imprudent For we should plant and water and pray to God for the encrease we should lay the foundation and build thereon yet some will do neither some will preposterously water before they plant and build before they lay the foundation and so do Christ little service and the Church little good Some â—ake upon them the Charge and are insufficient Men may teach by word or writing By word first the principle should be methodically according to the ancient Creeds and Confessions be taught this is the foundation Without this Sermons Expositions reading of Scriptures and Books of Piety will not be so profitable and edifying as they might be People should be taught to believe the saving and necessary truths of the Gospel obey his commands pray for all blessings and mercies and especially for the Spirit that their faith may be effectual their obedience sincere and also to receive the Sacrament aright and make right use of their Baptism Expositions should be plain and clear that the people may not only hear but understand and be moved by the truth understood Sermons should be so ordered as that the Texts proposed and the Doctrines and divine Axiomes thereof may be cleared understood according to the drift and scope of the Spirit And the application should be pertinent to inform the understanding with the truth and remove errours and when that is done to work effectually upon the heart and make it sensible of sin past and pertinent by the precepts the comminations and the promises to comfort and raise up the soul dejected and this especially by the promises of the Gospel and upon motives to exhort to duty and upon reasons restrain from sin This Ordinance and means of divine institution is much abused many ways by instilling of erroneous and novel opinions with which the people are much taken if delivered with good language by impertinencies digressions quaint terms and formalities But of these things I have spoken in my Divine Politicks This institution is so necessary that without it the Church cannot subsist nor the Government thereof be effectual section 11 Thus you have heard that the subject or as some call it the object of Politicks is a Common-wealth the subject whereof is a Community