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A59793
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The case of resistance of the supreme powers stated and resolved according to the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures by Will. Sherlock ...
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Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.
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1684
(1684)
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Wing S3267; ESTC R5621
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89,717
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232
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flaves and vassals but Subjects who owe all duty and service to their Prince as far as he needs them But what is it then that Samuel finds fault with in Kingly power which he uses as an argument to dissuade the Children of Israel from desiring a King why it is no more than the necessary expences and services of Kingly power which would be thought very grievous to them who were a free people and at that time subject to no publick services and exactions The government they then lived under was no charge at all to them They were governed as I observed before either by their High Priest or by Iudges extraordinarily raised by God As for their High Priests God himself had allotted their maintenance sutable to the quality and dignity of their Office and therefore they were no more charge to the people when they were their Supreme Governors than they were when the power was in other hands either in the hands of Iudges or Kings As for their Iudges whom God raised up they affected nothing of Royal greatness they had no Servants or Retinue standing Guards or Armies to maintain their Authority which was secured by that Divine power with which they acted not by the external pomp and splendour of a Court. Thus we find Moses appealing to God in the Rebellion of Korah I have not taken one Ass from them neither have I hurt any of them 16 Numbers 15. And thus Samuel appeals to the Children of Israel themselves Behold here I am witness against me before the Lord and before his Anointed whose Oxe have I taken or whose Ass have I taken or whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hands have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith and I will restore it 1 Sam. 12. 3. Now a people who lived so free from all Tributes exactions and other services due to Princes must needs be thought sick of ease and liberty to exchange so cheap so free a State for the necessary burdens and expences of Royal power though it were no more than what is necessary which is the whole of Samuels argument not that Kingly government is more expensive and burdensome than any other form of humane government but that it was to bring a new burden upon themselves when they had none before No humane Governments whether Democracies or Aristocracies can subsist but upon the publick charge and the necessary expences of Kingly power are not greater than of a Commonwealth I am sure this Kingdom did not find their burdens eased by pulling down their King and I believe whoever acquaints himself with the several forms of government will find Kingly Power to be as easie upon this score as Commonwealths So that what Samuel discourses here and which some men think so great a reflection upon Kingly government does not at all concern us but was peculiar to the state and condition of the Iews at that time Let us then proceed to consider how sacred and irresistible the Persons and Authority of Kings were under the Iewish Government and there cannot be a plainer example of this than in the case of David He was himself anointed to be King after Saul's death but in the mean time was grievously persecuted by Saul pursued from one place to another with a designe to take away his life How now does David behave himself in this extremity What course does he take to secure himself from Saul Why he takes the onely course that is left a Subject he flies for it and hides himself from Saul in the Mountains and Caves of the Wilderness and when he found he was discovered in one place he removes to another He kept Spies upon Saul to observe his motions not that he might meet him to give him Battel or to take him at an advantage but that he might keep out of his way and not fall unawares into his hands Well but this was no thanks to David because he could do no otherwise He was too weak for Saul and not able to stand against him and therefore had no other remedy but flight But yet we must consider that David was a man of War he slew Goliah and fought the Battels of Israel with great success he was an admired and beloved Captain which made Saul so jealous of him the eyes of Israel were upon him for their next King and how easily might he have raised a potent and formidable Rebellion against Saul But he was so far from this that he invites no man to his assistance and when some came uninvited he made no use of them in an offensive or defensive War against Saul Nay when God delivered Saul two several times into David's hands that he could as easily have killed him as have cut off the skirts of his garment at Engedi 1 Sam. 24. or as have taken that spear away which stuck in the ground at his bolster as he did in the hill of Hachilah 1 Sam. 26. yet he would neither touch Saul himself nor suffer any of the people that were with him to do it though they were very importunate with him for liberty to kill Saul nay though they urged him with an argument from Providence that it was a plain evidence that it was the Will of God that he should kill Saul because God had now delivered his enemy into his hands according to the promise he had made to David 1 Sam. 24. 4. 26 ch ver 8. We know what use some men have made of this argument of Providence to justifie all the Villanies they had a mind to act but David it seems did not think that an opportunity of doing evil gave him license and authority to do it Opportunity we say makes a Thief and it makes a Rebel and it makes a Murderer no man can do any Wickedness which he has no opportunity of doing and if the Providence of God which puts such opportunities into mens hands justifies the wickedness they commit no man can be chargeable with any guilt whatever he does and certainly opportunity will as soon justifie any other sin as Rebellion and the Murder of Princes We are to learn our duty from the Law of God not from his Providence at least this must be a setled Principle that the Providence of God will never justifie any action which his Law forbids And therefore notwithstanding this opportunity which God had put into his hands to destroy his enemy and to take the Crown for his reward David considers his duty remembers that though Saul were his enemy and that very unjustly yet he was the Lords Anointed The Lord forbid says he that I should do this unto my Master the Lords Anointed to stretch forth my hand against him seeing he is the Lords Anointed Nay he was so far from taking away his life that his heart smore him for cutting off the skirt of his Garment And we ought to observe the reason David gives why he durst not hurt Saul Because he
was the Lords Anointed which is the very reason the Apostle gives in the 13 Rom. 1 2. because the powers are ordained of God and he that resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God For to be anointed of God signifies no more than that he was made King by God Thus Iosephus expounds being anointed by God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one who had the Kingdom bestowed on him by God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one who was ordained by God For it seems by this phrase he look'd upon the external ceremony of Anointing to be like imposition of hands which in other cases consecrated Persons to peculiar offices For this external Unction was onely a visible signe of Gods designation of them to such an office and when that was plain they were as much God's Anointed without this visible Unction as with it Cyrus is called God's Anointed though he never was anointed by any Prophet but onely designed for his Kingdom by Prophesie 45 Isai. 1. And we never read in Scripture that any Kings had this external Unction who succeeded in the Kingdom by right of inheritance unless the Title and Succession were doubtful and yet they were the Lord 's Anointed too that is were plac'd in the Throne by him So that this is an eternal reason against resisting Soveraign Princes that they are set up by God and invested with his authority and therefore their Persons and their authority are sacred But yet there are some men who from the example of David think they can prove the lawfulness of a defensive though not of an offensive War For David when he fled from Saul made himself Captain of four hundred men 1 Sam. 22. 2. which number soon increased to six hundred 1 Sam. 23. 13. and still every day increased by new additions 1 Chron. 12. 1. Now why should he entertain these men but to defend himself against the forces of Saul that is to make a defensive War whenever he was assaulted by him 1. In answer to this I observe that David invited none of these men after him but they came Volunteers after a Beloved Captain and General which shews how formidable he could easily have made himself when such numbers resorted to him of their own accord 2. When he had them he never used them for any hostile acts against Saul or any of his forces he never stood his ground when he heard Saul was coming but always fled and his men with him men who were never used to flie and were very ready to have served him against Saul himself would he have permitted them And I suppose they will not call this a defensive War to flie before an enemy and to hide themselves in Caves and Mountains and yet this was the onely defensive War which David made with all his men about him nay all that he would make and all that he could make according to his professed Principles that it was not lawful to stretch out his hand against the Lord 's Anointed And when these men are pursued as David was by an enraged and jealous Prince we will not charge them with Rebellion though they flie before him by thousands in a company 3. Yet there was sufficient reason why David should entertain these men who voluntarily resorted to him though he never intended to use them against Saul for some of them served for spies to observe Saul's motions that he might not be surprized by him but have timely notice to make his escape And the very presence of such a number of men about him without any hostile Act preserved him from being seized on by some officious Persons who otherwise might have delivered him into Saul's hands And he being anointed by Samuel to be King after Saul's death this was the first step to his Kingdom to have such a retinue of valiant men about him which made his advancement to the Throne more easie and discouraged any oppositions which might otherwise have been made against him as we see it proved in the event and have reason to believe that it was thus ordered by God for that very end It is certain that Gad the Prophet and Abiathar the Priest who was the onely man who escaped the furie of Saul when he destroyed the Priests of the Lord were in David's retinue and that David enterprized nothing without first asking counsel of God But he who had anointed him to be King now draws forces after him which after Saul's death should facilitate his advancement to the Kingdom 2. It is objected further that David intended to have staied in Keilah and to have fortified it against Saul had not he been informed that the men of the Citie would have saved themselves by delivering him up to Saul 1 Sam. 23. Now to maintain any strong hold against a Prince is an act of War though it be but a defensive War And I grant it is so but deny that there is any appearance that David ever intended any such thing David and his men by God's appointment and direction had fought with the Philistins and smote them with a great slaughter and saved Keilah from them and as it is probable did intend to have staied some time in Keilah But David had heard that Saul intended to come against Keilah to destroy the Citie and take him and enquires of the Lord about it and received an answer that Saul would come against the Citie He enquires again whether the men of Keilah would deliver him up to Saul and was answered that they would And upon this he and his men leave Keilah and betake themselves to the strong holds in the Wilderness But now is it likely that if David had had any designe to have fortified Keilah against Saul he would have been afraid of the men of the Citie He had 600 men with him in Keilah a victorious Armie which had lately destroyed the Philistins who oppressed them and therefore could easily have kept the men of Keilah too in awe if he had pleased and have put it out of their power to deliver him to Saul But all that David designed was to have staid there as long as he could and when Saul had drawn nigh to have removed to some other place But when he understood the treacherous inclinations of the men of Keilah and being resolved against all acts of hostilitie he hastened his remove before Saul drew near So that these men must find some other example than that of David to countenance their rebellion against their Prince for David never rebelled never fought against Saul but when he had a very potent Armie with him he and his men always fled and hid themselves in the Wilderness and places of difficult access The sum is this God from the very beginning set up such a supreme and soveraign power in the Iewish Nation as could not as ought not to be resisted This power was at first in the hands of Moses and when Korah and his companie rebelled against him God