I shall proceed now to the objections And the first is this say some have we not taken an oath of obedience to the late K. how then could it stand with our oath to disobey him to which I shal adde because both of a nature that of another party viz. Have not we covenanted to maintaine and defend and preserve the honour safety and happines of the late Kings person how then hath it consisted with our Covenant in taking away his life To both which I shall answer but a little because I refer the Reader to be more fully and amply satisfied herein by a Booke which I shall suddenly publish entituled Illumination to Sion Colledge by a moderate reply to their Letter delivered to the Generall January 18. last But to the first of the precedent objections I answer that our oath of obedienee to superiour Magistrates is not was not absolute or without conditions for then as I said before to what purpose should wee take an oath of him or them and if our oath was absolute we swore our selves slaves and therefore not a good oath because taken in ignorance but how irrationall it is to think that we swore obedience universally I need not demonstrate therfore it being cleare that our oath was conditionally to yeeld obedience unto superiour Magistrates in the execution of judgement and righteousnesse which is the very end and cause of their authority and our obedience and which if they omit we are as disingaged from subjection to them as to a private person because that in this their duty the become as and more incapable of power because offenders then private persons And therefore like to this was the Covenant that David made with Israel when he was made King 2 Sam. 5.3 Where it is said that all the Elders of Israel came to the King to Hebron and King David made a Covenant with them before the Lord a Covenant that he must keep if he would continue in his office and then after hee had Covenanted with them to make things sure for the people they anoynted David King over Israel Now the very substance which he accordingly performed of his Covenant to them is manifest in the 1 Chron. 18.14 So David reigned over all Israel and executed judgement and justice to all his people there is a great deale of emphasis in that particle so So David reigned over all Israel in the execution of Judgement and Justice as that the very being of his authority depended upon the keeping of that his Covenant to all his people his people how Why not that they were at his pleasure but he at theirs as in 2 Sam. 18.3 4. Where the people not seeing it best for themselves told David he should not goe forth in the Battell to whom hee answered in the 4. Verse What seemeth you best that will I doe and David remained in the City not for his owne safety but for the peoples in that they saw it good but they were his people while he performed his Covenant after he had executed Judgement and Justice unto them I have been longer in this answer then I thought for satisfaction sake I shall very briefly answer that Objection of the other party in reference to the Covenant that they say we made to preserve the late Kings person c. To this therefore I reply that this clause in the Covenant is qualified with the subsequent end thereof which they willingly slip over is in the preservation of our Religion and Liberties the safety whereof is the end of our Covenant and which we have sworne to endeavour in opposition to all the enemies thereof now if the Parliament should or as the late King did notwithstanding our Covenant to preserve them which was no otherwise then they should comply with us in endeavouring that end turne enemies to what wee have Covenanted solely to endeavour we are ingaged by our Covenant to oppose them as enemies and impediments of attaining our end but for more ample satisfaction herein I refer the Reader to that prenomitated Book and proceed to answer two or three objections more and then conclude Object 2 Doth not God generally throughout the Scripture injoyne obedience to Magistrates as his Ordinance I answer That though God doth frequently in Scripture injoyne obedience to Magistrates yet it is not to all Magistrates or to good Magistrates in all cases First not to all Magistrates for then Gods immediate command to Jehu 2 Kings 9.6 7 8. to doe what hee did to his Master Jehoram the King would directly contradict his owne Word if he should injoyne us obedience to all and command disobedience in him Againe God injoynes not obedience to unlawfull Magistrates such as come not duely to their Office and therefore the Apostle Peter 1.2 13. injoynes obedience to Magistrates as being the ordinance of man For saith he Submit your selves unto every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be unto the King as unto the superiour Superiour what not as the Monarch none to contradict him but as the superiour Ordinance of man or unto Governours as unto them that are sent of him for the punishment of evill doers and for the praise of them that doe well here is likewise a limitation to our subjection it is not to obey in all cases but when they execute justice in the punishment of evill doers and the praise of them that doe well for this is their place and if they doe not discharge this duty they cease to be Magistrates and this I conceive to be the meaning of that place because it agrees with other Texts 2. Samuel 5.3 Thus David was ordained Deut. 1â— 18 and Deut. 17.15 And Officers shalt thou make thee in all the Cities which the Lord thy God giveth thee c. And they shall judge the people with righteous judgement Now then it is cleare that the Lord injoynes obedience to none but lawfull Magistrates and that in the just execution of their Office I proceeed now to the Last Objection and that is this If Magistrates Object 3 offend where is there any power to punish them this objection hath in effect been cleared already but I shall answer it now more formally in case a Magistrate though the superiour transgresse there is a power above himselfe from whence he receives his Commission to which he is accountable he being as it were but the peoples Factor for God commands a people to execute Justice and Judgement among themselves no man to wrong his neighbour and many other civill Lawes to be observed of which to ease themselves and avoyde confusion they commit their trust to Magistrates and herein they promise particularly to obey them while they righteously discharge their Office but now when to advance selfe they begin to respect persons in judgement they become accountable to the people or those whom they shall choose to represent themselves in this judgement and therefore wee often read that the avenger of blood appointed on purpose thereunto was to slay the murtherer whoever he was and when ever he met him Deut. 35.21 Levit. 24.17 In other cases likewise we finde that the Congregation it selfe was to give judgement as when a man had accidentally not voluntarily committed murther he was to remaine in the City of refuge till he did stand before the Congregation in Judgement that is before such as they should appoint thereunto Joshua 20.6 And therefore when GOD so often commands the people to execute Judgement and Justice without respect of persons it lyes upon their score though God will likewise reckon with those whom they intrust to doe it for them if they omit it Levit. 20.2 Whosoever hee be of the Children of Israel or of the strangers that dwelleth in Israel that giveth his Children unto Molech he shall dye the death Now here comes in the objection What if a Ruler give his Children to Molech Who shall kill him Why the close of the Verse answereth it The people of the Land shall stone him to death But in the 4. Verse What if the people of the Land hide their eyes and wink at that man c. and kill him not why in the 5. Verse Then saith God will I set my face against that man and against his family and will cut him off c. But how sad a thing is it when God shall finde none in a Land to make up the hedge to worke righteousnesse and thereby prevent God from taking the Sword himselfe to execute judgement the Lord will power forth his indignation upon them and consume them with the fire of his wrath their owne wayes will he render upon their heads Ezek. 22.30 31. Now then the result of all will be this That Kings if lawfull under which title I comprehend all Magistrates are freely elected by the people and accountable to them for their trust But the late KING was not freely elected by neither would be accountable to the people Therefore he was not a lawfull King and his dispossession was just Againe Gods Law injoynes the execution of Justice and Judgement The Parliament in their late Transactions have executed Justice and Judgement Therefore they have obeyed Gods Law For how absurd is that opinion in some that have complyed with the Parliament in punishing of Delinquents and yet they would leave the cause of them all unpunished For how unjust would that be in any Authority to punish the Servant for ill doing and yet leave the Master at whose command he was and whom hee obeyed therein unpunished I could multiply examples of the like kinde but to rationall men the premises will be sufficient but as for that particuler way of Government by a King it is not injoyned in Scripture as a necessary way of Government in that the Prophet Samuel 1.11 to the 18. so much dehorted the Prophet from it and so highly discovered the evill of it and that it was a sinne in the people so immoderately to desire it therefore it is left to a people to establish what way of civill Government they see safest for themselves and in which Judgement may run downe as Waters and righteousnesse as a mighty River FINIS
under the penalty of it as to instance severall universall injunctions of God in Scripture Sine aliqua exceptione quae ad universos pertinent without any exception but belong to all alike as men as in particular that in Levit. 20.2 The Lord there speaking unto Moses said Thou shalt say also to the Children of Israel whosoever he be of the Children of Israel or of the strangers that dwell in Israel that giveth his Children to Molech he shall dye the death c. Moses and all the head Officers of the people being included in if in this transgression the punishment thereof in as much as they were among the Children of Israel and in the 10. verse of the same Chapter God saith The man that committeth adultery with another mans Wife c. shall dye the death Now we know that the Office of any though never so high doth not or at least should not elevate him above his being he is a man still though in Office a King and though in respect thereof God saith I said yee are Gods that is in respect of your Office be it high or low which is to manage your power in the execution of justice and judgement in which you beare my image yee are gods in being like God though I have said so yet yee shall dye like men which in the generall sense of it may have respect to a temporall death common to all men whose nature you Magistrates beare yet may very well beare this interpretation likewise Yee shall dye like men That is all sorts of men if alike qualified if murtherers ye shall dye like men that is those men that are murtherers if adulterers yee shall suffer like adulterers the rigor in reference to many sinnes not the punishment of the Law being taken away by Christ Now then the former interpretation agreeing with the precited Text shewes clearly that the Law of God exempts none neither high or low rich or poore Magistrates or Subjects from the punishment in case of transgression thereof now for any man to plead freedom because in the highest authority which notwithstanding is derived is to contradict the Word of God which saith Numb 35.30 Whosoever killeth any person the Judge shall slay the murtherer through witnesses c. And yet such would bee outlawes will plead exemption I speake not onely in reference to this opinion in the late King but to such that are of his spirit that connived at and still approve of such an opinion in him at least at the impunity of it whether they be Magistrates or others yee looke more at the priviledge and the honour then the care of the Office and therefore he was and you are far from Solomons spirit that discerned it to bee the hardest matter to governe the people in righteousnesse and therefore made it his prayer to God to begge wisedome and that not for his owne ends but to rule the people in equity he made their good the center of his endeavours you the late Kings prerogative his riches greatnesse and long life the centers of yours Solomon rejected all these in competition with the peoples good and how acceptable it was to God will appeare in 1 Kings 3.11 An example we have of the same spirit in Christ himselfe towards the good of his Sheep John 10.11 Where he saith I am that good Shepheard that good Shepheard layeth downe his life for his Sheepe But how distant was the spirit of the late King from such a temper that for a little selfe accommodation and forcible preservation of a few usurpt Priviledges to himselfe sought to destroy if hee were as Shepheard his Sheep The same example wee have of Nehemiah 5.14 that would not burthen the people to pleasure himselfe By this therefore it is evident that Kings have some earthly power above them which they serve and whose good must bee the end of their power to which then as their superiour they must be accountable without which their power is usurpt and by which they are deposed prevented or punished according to the demerit of their fault Now then to confirme this there is the example of Solomon who was so farre from pleading any title of his owne to the Office that in the former part of his prayer he saith Lord thou hast made thy servant King speaking of himselfe in stead of David my Father now that it is a righteous act upon just grounds to prevent a successor it is manifest by this Gods owne example because that Adonijah by right of succession was heyre to the Crowne yet notwithstanding was prevented by God who foresaw that the peoples good would not bee so much aimed at by him as by Solomon So that here will sitly intervene this observation that the Authority of all Magistrates depends upon their good behaviour and that it is lawfull in case of misdemeanour either to prevent or disposesse them of their power The proofe whereof I shall further amplifie in discussing particularly the kingly Office in the quality of it what it is which I shall briefly resolve in two particulers First It is a trust Secondly An Office or Duty A trust in that it is committed not from God by injunction by which onely trust is imposed but by his permission to a man from men so then it cannot bee from succession which if lawfull hath onely in case of good behaviour a preference to the trust that is a man lawfully succeeding if as well qualified as others is to be prefer'd in choice to the trust before them therefore as it is a trust so secondly it is a duty in that hee is injoyned to performe that trust as by God that would have every man like himselfe faithfull so by men from whom hee receives his charge and therefore they must needs be his intrusters in that likewise the end of his trust is for their owne good and welfare to whom then he must without question be accountable and therefore a King to a people is as an accountant to a Company a Cash-keeper to his Master Now if a King or any other Magistrate shall act quite contrary to the end of their trust viz. the peoples good which was the conditions of their authority and in stead thereof make it as a mantle that thereunder they may more securely preadvance their owne private interest though directly prejudiciall to the end of their Office let the meanest capacity judge whether such a Magistrate or Magistrates have not forfeited their trust upon which the intrusters may justly cease as to render to the person or persons so offending according to his or their deserts therein so to institute that trust that way the see best to discharge it seeing the end thereof is their owne welfare it is reason it selfe therefore that the Servant should bee accountable to his Master for how ridiculous would it be for any Servant a King being so to a people because long intrusted without examination to refuse accounting when by
his Master called thereunto wherein if defective he may justly exclude him his service for otherwise such a servant would bee an intollerable burthen and so frustrate the designe and end of service which is for good and ease to his Master and therefore the reason why God when he commanded the people to choose themselves a King from among their brethren Deut. 17. from the 15. to the last verse prescribed him Lawes and rules to walke by and many things was forbidden him that hee might not be exalted above his brethren And therefore Samuel 2.5.1 the Elders of Israel made this among others as an argument to them to make David their King in that they were his bones and his flesh Now I need not make any application of this to the late King since it is publiquely knowne how much he was and in his seven yeares contention sought to have been exalted above not his brethren because not chosen from among them the people but it being before clearly demonstrated that he is guilty of breach of trust herein I need not appeale to rationall men of the justnesse of the Parliaments and Armies late proceeding against him or make any further proofe of that his and his complices wilfull errour for an absolute power in him yet for full and cleare conviction I shall demonstrate another proofe of the unlawfulnesse and perniciousnesse of such an inaccountable power in any Magistrates and then cleare objections and conclude The Proposition was this That the authority of Magistrates depends upon their good behaviour I shall turne it into the negative and from thence prove it so then if the authority of Magistrates superiour as well as inferiour depends not upon their good behaviour then their power is absolute and they may doe what they will without contradiction or questioning which is incroachment upon and directly oppugnant to the rights and liberties of the people and therefore such a power is unlawfull For first it is against the Covenant that Magistrates take when they are first invested with power which signifies that there is some bond or tye upon their will that they cannot doe what they please else to what purpose should they take a Covenant whence by the way I note that that man which assumes an absolute power where it is not given him at the same time he both breaks his Covenant and usurps that power Secondly If Magistrates have an absolute power as some would have had wholly in the King why then the Kingdome lies at a very great uncertainty it is upon one perhaps that if the King or superiour Magistrates be good the Kingdome will be saved but there are ten perhapses ten it may bees for one that is contrary that the King or Superiour Magigistrates are bad especially they knowing themselves to have such a power upon which the destruction of the Kingdome lies now there is no reason I speake for prevention of danger for future whatsoever government shall be setled that wee should expose our selves to chance among such rocks especially when wee know where they are and how to avoid them whereunto this is a strong motive to consider that though extreamity be the fittest season for God to step in and deliver yet all other meanes must faile otherwise it is to tempt God for though God doth often deliver with the meanes yet hee saveth not where lawfull means is not first used why so if there were no meanes of avoiding this absolute power in Magistrates we were free from our own destruction but if we will obstinately venter upon these rockes as the Israelites upon a K. it may be just with God to split us upon them for the greatest sin of the Israelites was their desire to return into after God had released them Aegyptian bondage which at last proved their greatest plague Thirdly and lastly If Magistrates have an absolute power over the people then that generall and undeniable maxime salus populi suprema lex is but a vapour it vanisheth away and so that which out of duty they are to prefer as the end of their trust becomes subject to their unconstant wills and disposions For the peoples safety it being really consonant to the word of God in that it confirmes propriety every man to sit under his owne Vine as a blessing that should by all if not ordinary extraordinary meanes be endeavoured is hereby made postrema lex or rather no law at all in that it is then dependant upon the wavering disposition of Magistrates which if good as it is tenne for one to the contrary in that they have more aboundance of temptations from such an inherent power in them yet where will appear the supremacy of the peoples safety when it lies in the Magistrates power Nay can we repute that people any other then slaves whose rights and liberties lie wrapt up in the will of usurping Magistrates whether in a King or others Indeed the rights and liberties of the people are much talked of but when they come in question of preferment alasse they gulp downe all the liberties and therein the livelihoods of the people into the honour safety and happinesse of such trust-usurping men whose principles are to maintaine such a power which surely is not derivative and therefore usurpt then which nothing can tend more to enslave a people to whom while so to ascribe any rights or liberties is to mocke and deride them For how can the people rights and liberties be dissolved into a Kings or any other Magistrates will and power and yet be theirs therefore when wee speake of the peoples liberties we doe or at least should meane something peculiarly theirs that for any man to usurp must needes induce the slavery which is as much contrary to liberty as light to darknesse Now then it being clear that it is usurpatiō in Magistrates to assume an absolute power it follows by consequence that those that doe so are accomptable for the very motion life and soule the marrow and the nourishment of such a power in Magistrates is the peoples incapacity of opposing and punishing that irruption upon their liberties by them and to take away this power from the people is to deprive them of their liberties for how can those be the poples in that they are made incapable to maintaine them liberties when they are subject to the power of out-lawes or wherefore have they a right or a title to them if they cannot enjoy them and how can they enjoy them when they are at others command therefore seeing the people have a peculiar right and title unto liberties which cannot be enjoyed unlesse by their own power maintained it is cleare that the same law by which they may justly endeavour the enjoyment of which cannot be but in opposition to those that would usurpe their rights they may impartially punish such usurpers answerable to their crimes for the attempt of such a power deserves devestment and much more the practising of it punishment